Crashed

My computer crashed! Serious stuff here people. I have been without it for 6 days now! Can I tell you how amazed I was at all of the stuff I have got done since not having a computer? Wow, I have impressed myself, which is not hard to do :o)
So until my computer is back up and running I will not be posting very much. i got a great guy (my brother-in-law) working on the problem. He has said to be prepared to loose everything! I am not a backer-upper so this would not be good. But if it does happen, I know it is on God's will.
Talk to you all soon.
Happy Cooking!
~Caroline
p.s."Hi, Tess"

I will be back, eventually

Hello friends~ Just so you all know I will be taking another short break from blogging. Hopefully once my whole heart/health issues are under control I will be bcak in full swing. Until then I will be resting. I do have a couple posts for recipes almost finished so I will try to get those up in the next couple of weeks.
Blessings and Happy Cooking!
~Caroline

Back in action...sorta :o)

I got a lot more done last week with hubby on vacation, than I have in the last month! I was finally able to get back to CVS and Walgreens and got some awesome deals. Unfortunately, one thing that I learned is that when your husband and 2 children are with you at the store and you are doing multiple transactions and they are ALL trying to help you, you end up loosing your receipts! And since my brain has been completely fried by some of medications I could not even remember the transactions and the amount spent and saved and all of that. So I am very sorry that I do not have any details for you all. Maybe this week we will get into that :o) I am taking baby steps to get to what normal is for me now.

I can say this, at walgreens I spent $10 and have $16 coming back to me in rebates! So that was a good money maker and it stocked me up on meds for the winter! Yee Haw!

I was also able to do a day of cooking last week. I cannot even begin to tell you how much I enjoyed spending time in my kitchen all by myself cranking out meals. I will have to say that this was the best cooking session I have ever had! Seriously. Here are the specks:

2 meals-Citrus marinated Shrimp
2 meals-Pineapple Salsa with Salmon
2 meals- Italian Hamburgers
2 meals- Raspberry Chipolte Chicken
2 meals- Honey Sesame Pork Chops
1 meal- Savory Garlic Steak
1 meal- Mexican Flare skirt steak
2meals- Pork Chops ready to be BBQd
2 pounds- ground beef cooked and divided
4 meals- Alfredo Sauce
____________
Total meals made= 18 (plus 2 lbs. ground beef )
Total spent= $75!!!! That's about $4 per meal!!! Now remember I am only cooking for 4 people. But still I was flabbergasted that I did this good!

My mom has also made us :
2 meals- Pot Pies (one has already been devoured)
2 meals- Coffee Cakes
and she is planning on making this week:
Beef and Cheese Enchiladas
Chicken Enchiladas in a Cream Sauce
Re-Baked Potatoes

So our freezer is stocked and I can focus on hubby, kids, schooling, theraping, and getting better myself! God is so good :o)

Oh, did I tell you that it took me less than 2 hours to make and clean up all that food! I had to take an extra one of my medicines because I was feeling bad, and it gave me this huge kick of energy and I was just going like a mad woman!

I will try to post recipes and pictures of this stuff as we eat it up in the next few weeks so you can all enjoy it with me.

One last thing, I love to share how God blesses the Howard family. After my 2 hours of mad cooking I crashed on the couch and thought, "I really don't want to make dinner tonight." Right about that point hubby calls and says that one of his customers just gave him a bunch of food. Here is what a bunch of food was: 2 racks of BBQd Ribs, 2 BBQd Chicken Quarters, 1 very large BBQd Tri-Tip, a loaf of french bread all buttered and wrapped in foil, a big thing of Potato Salad, and a Big thing of their Homemade Baked beans! We called up my parents to come over and our neighbors and we all had a feast! I love it when we are blessed beyond what we need and we can turn and bless others with it as well! God is good. He has showed me that a lot in the last 7 weeks.

Sorry this became such a long post :o) I will chat with you more this week with recipes and pictures!
Blessings and Happy Cooking~Caroline

Filling but not frugally

(Pipi Longstocking/aka:Emma!)

I promise I will be back to regular posting soon. And I am especially hoping to post a lot more recipes for all of you who have asked :o)

I am trying to adjust to this new, much slower paced life that God now has planned for me. I will admit that it has not been easy as I am a multi-tasker, think aheader and I have had to become a one thing at a timer and moment by momenter :o)

OK, so I have a confession......I have been filling my freezer a little bit, but not very frugally. I am ashamed to admit it. Today I bought some pre-made freezer meals out of the freezer section at Target. Yikes! Late afternoon and dinnertime have been the hardest parts of the day for me so I am doing whatever I can just to get by.
Hubby is taking vacation time next week and agreed to help me make some meals for the freezer one day. He actually sounded excited about it! I plan on trying some new recipes and will post them for you all IF they turn out OK :o) My mom has also offered to make a few meals for my freezer as well. So all I need to do is get through this week and we should be in much better shape next week.

I have not done any of my couponing in the last few weeks. But can I just tell you how much my past couponing has blessed us lately! We are well stocked on most of our daily care needs and household supplies. How nice it has been to not have to run out to the store because someone has ran out of deodorant. Hubby even noticed how well stocked all of his stuff was and thanked me for being so frugal. He's a great guy!

I will chat with you all really soon!
~Caroline

A quick update

Sorry it has been so long since I have been here. Thank you for your e-mails and prayers. They have been much appreciated. Well I can't say much has been determined in the area of what is going on in me health wise. They have determined that my heart rate is way to high which somehow helped caused some kind of neurochemistry thing in my brain which triggered panic attacks. All that to say, I still don't have all the answers as to why this all happened. They have put me on a couple different prescriptions which help but knock me for a loop.
Needless to say I will continue to be a little quite here on the blog as I get back up to speed. Sad to say, I have not even been doing CVS or Walgreens much the last few weeks :o( I am sure I have missed out on lots, but that's OK.
If you feel led, here are some specific prayer requests:
~That an answer as to why this is all happening can be found.
~That I can eventually taper off all medications
~One of the meds makes me extremely fatigue, gives me an almost constant headache, and causes lightheadedness (I can't even tell you how many walls I have ran into in the last couple of weeks :o) ) pray that I can have the energy to just get the household chores and meals done. I am not asking anything beyond that. I just want to be able to take care of my family.

Thank you all for your continued prayers and love!
~Caroline

Hi Y'all

I am still here :o) I will be taking a bit of a break due to some health issues. Once everything is back to normal I will be back to blogging, I promise. I didn't even get CVS this weeks so I have no deals to post. So sorry. See you soon.



Blessings~Caroline

New Title, finally :o)

Would you believe me if I told you that I completely forgot that I had asked you all to help me figure out a new title? I didn't think you would. Really, I am not that forgetful, but I think all the hair dye I have been inhaling lately has damaged some brain cells :o) Kidding.

So I was lounging poolside with my dear friend Kendra, it's therapeutic for both of us, when one of her sons asks me the name of my blog. She then mentions that I am changing the name. Yep, that's when the light bulb went off, "oh yeah, that's right I was doing that." Oh man that's bad.

I decided to go with Kristi's title, "Filling your freezer and other frugalitarian ideas". And pleas don't worry, she was not hurt at all in the processing of thinking this up. Although there were some broken blood vessels felt when she was trying to figure out how to spell "frugalitarian", but she has recovered :o) Thanks Kristi for helping me out. Oh, by the way, the $20 she slipped me in Church last Sunday did help to tip the scales. Kidding again :o)

~Caroline

No CVS today :o(

I did not make it to CVS last night. Emma was just way to sick so I just ran to the store quickly for eggs and milk. We have been without these 2 items for a week! My poor family. But we managed and made it work without these staples. Hopefully I will make it to CVS tomorrow.

So it seems that Fletch was the only one who could come up with a title. I'll give you all a couple more days to see if any one else has any ideas before I decide :o)

Thanks to the rest of you for your nice comments on my talk. And Lis', don't worry about cutting me off :o) I know that God had me get out what He wanted me to get out on Saturday.

My plan is to post my whole talk in the next few days. That way those of you who were not there will get it all! And those of you who were there can hear it all again :o)

~Caroline
p.s.~If you could please keep Emma in your prayers. Pray that her fever breaks (caused her some hallucinations last night). Also pray that the rest of us, especially Gillian, do not get this bug. Thanks.

New Title!

Happy Monday to you all!! We had a great time at our Church's Homeschool Encouragement Day. I was able to give my talk on Freezer Cooking and Frugal Living without throwing up :o) Yee haw!!

After my talk I had quite a few people ask me if I could post my weekly CVS deals. I also, due to limited time, did not get to give my whole talk. So I will post the rest of my talk sometime this week. I will also be posting my CVS deals every week. I am hoping to have them posted by Tuesday mornings that way you have plenty of time to go and get the deals yourself.

So due, to added more content to my blog I have added to the name. (See above) The only thing is that I don't think I really like the name. I like the filling my freezer but I don't like the way the frugal part sounds. So if there are any talented people out there, and I know there is, please give me some ideas on how I can word the title. I will be ever so grateful to you :o)

I had planned on doing my CVS shopping this morning, but my 5 year old woke up with a headache and a 101* temp! So we are home bound. I might go out tonight after hubby gets home. So come back tomorrow for my deals.

~Caroline

What's New?

Hmmm, good question. And the answer? Lots!

For starters I shall tell you all the biggest change in my life (no I am not pregnant!). This past Friday we had our very last Cooking Day. Yep, that's right, I will no longer be putting together the monthly Cooking Days. Yes, many were sad but all were very understanding.

I have said all along that I would continue to do Cooking Days as long as I was having fun. Well, the fun had stopped and it was feeling like a lot of work and I was actually starting to dread it each month, a point I never wanted to get myself to. But have no fear my dear friends! I plan on continue to blog about freezer cooking and I plan on continuing to post lots of recipes. I also plan on doing my own cooking days at home with my girls. Should be lots of fun!

Other new stuff....I bought my first 2 gallons of paint for the new house!!! It was so much fun. And even more fun was the fact that I found the paint on the "oops" table at l*wes! That means I got 2 gallons of paint that were originally prices at $27 each for only $6 a gallon!!!! I love it when the Lord blesses me that way! The guy at the paint counter was even kind enough to add more purple to one of the paints for me to get it more towards the color I wanted! Great fun!

Anybody out there like to paint? Let me know if you want to join my paint party on the day we close escrow! :o)

I plan on giving you all a new recipe tomorrow so come on back then. Oh, and I promise, um, no I don't promise because more than likely I will break that promise, I will TRY to remember my hardest to start taking more pics of the food I make to post with the recipes! It's always much more fun when there are pictures to look at :o)

Happy Cooking!

~howiesgal

(do not try this at home, peoples!-This photo was taken while traveling down the freeway at speeds up to 70 mph! I couldn't help it, Emma was yelling at me, "mom, mom, take a picture of us! We are being nice to each other!." Now really you just can't miss those rare oppotunities when siblings are "being nice to each other" in the car. :o) )

Qualities 5-7...Leadership

Quality #5- "He had a practical, balanced grip on reality"- Reality? What's that? Oh yeah, reality. Yep, I need to get a grip on that. A balanced grip at that. Swindoll says, "He (Nehemiah) acted without overreacting, he was gracious but unbendingly firm." Do you ever overreact when your child spills his drink at the table? Or does any number of other things for the umpteenth time! We all need to stop and take a breath every now and then and get back to the here and now, the reality. Oh and grace...yes, this is something I am working really hard on right now. Extending grace to my children while still being firm as to what I expect from them daily.

Quality #6- 'He had a willingness to work hard and remain unselfish." I have to admit here that I really struggle with this one. Especially after a week of doing so much for so many other people. I often find myself screaming in my head, "I just wish someone would do something for me!". Not exactly the selfless attitude God calls me to have. We are to be servant-hearted leaders. That is what God sent His only Son here to do, to serve others as He lead them. Aren't we suppose to be striving to be just like Him?

Quality #7- "He had the discipline to finish the job"- "Good leaders are finishers. When the task loses its luster, they don't rush elsewhere. They stay at it 'in season and out'". Need I say more? Nope!

I would like to encourage you to read through Nehemiah's Journal. You will not be disappointed at all :o)

Next week I will get back to "Filling My Freezer". Lots has been going on around our house this week and I am excited to tell you about it!

Happy Leading!
~Caroline

Qualities 1-4.....Leadership

Alright, are you ready for this? I sure am! Let's get going......



Quality #1- "he had a passion for the project"- Oh wow! This hit me hard. Do I have a passion for homeschooling? I have to admit, if I did ever have one it is gone now. How can I lead my children in schooling if I don't have the desire. Chuck goes on to say that, "passion, vision, enthusiasm, drive and determination are absolutely essential", in leadership. Oh sad, sad me. I admit I have none of these. My plan: ask God daily to fill me with passion and enthusiasm for teaching my children and to daily give me the drive and the determination and to teach them. Oh, Lord fill me with your presence as I go forth and do Your will!



Quality #2-"He had the ability to motivate others"- I love this! Do you ever feel like you have to ask your kids a thousand times to do something and when they finally do it they do it haggardly? Of course, we all feel that way! Chuck goes on to say, "what good is leadership if it cannot move people into action? People like Nehemiah inspire others to do their best". Yes, yes, I want to inspire my girls! I don't want them to do it just because I told them to. I want them to do it because I have inspired them to do it and they do it well. Case and point: laundry, yes, for us this is part of our homeschooling day. I hate laundry, but if I go about my day with that attitude how would my kids be motivated to help me? If I change my attitude and, mostly, my heart, about the way I feel about laundry and I let that shine through, then my girls would be glad to help out with the laundry. This would work in all areas of life. We have to be enjoying what we are doing for people to want to do it with us.

Quality #3- "He had an unswerving confidence in God". "While (christian leaders) may occasionally doubt their own ability, they do not doubt God's invincible commitment to His work." Yep, another good one! I know for a fact that I do not have all the abilities I need to homeschool a first grader and a special needs child. I do know that God called me to do this work and that He will give me just what I need right when I need it! He is so great like that. Swindoll goes on to say that "he (Nehemiah) constantly reminded the people of the Lord's presence and protection." Are we reminding our children of this? Do we believe it ourselves?

Quality #4- "He was resilient and patient through opposition". "The best leaders have broad shoulders and have no trouble shrugging off petty offenses." Do you have friends or family who are constantly harping you about homeschooling? Do you care what they think and let them get to you? We have to remember that it only matters what GOD thinks. Are we pleasing Him, glorifying Him, walking in His will? If we are then it does not mean a thing what others say or think.

I don't know about you, but this is a lot for me to digest! My plan is to take each quality and work on them one at a time. Praying daily that God will make me into a great Godly leader in my homeschool.

Tomorrow I will post qualities 5-7 and wrap it up :o)

~Caroline

"Be still and know that I am God"

Don't you just love it when God speaks softly to you? It sure beats Him hitting you over the head with a 2x4. Oh, yeah I have had that happen quite a few times in my life! I much prefer it when I take the time to be still and then I hear Him whispering in my ear. What sweet moments those are with my loving Saviour. I recently relished in one of those moments.

I have been packing away all the unnecessary stuff in the house, the nick-knacks, pictures, and so ons. Last week I packed away all the books on the bookshelf. I decided to just keep out one book that I have been wanting to read, one devotional and my Bible. No need for anything else for the next 6 weeks. The devotional I chose is one that I received after graduating high school. It has been collecting dust for the past 15 years. I did read through it when I got it but then stashed it away. The book is titled "The Finishing Touch, Becoming God's Masterpiece" and is by author Charles R. Swindoll (better known as Chuck Swindoll). I have always enjoyed Chuck's writing and this devotional has been no exception!--Note: you can find this book used over at amazon.--

Over the next few days I want to tell you what God said to me when He whispered in my ear as I stood still. The title of this days devotion was, "Closing the Gap". As I began reading he talked about how he had been reading through Nehemiah's journal. I just loved how he phrased that because the book of Nehemiah truly is his journal of a period in his life. He then moved on to say how the book of Nehemiah was a great insight into leadership and should be required reading for any person in a leadership position. I have to tell you that at this point I started zoning out a bit. He had listed a few leadership positions: elders, deacons, pastors, school boards, etc..... Well, I didn't fit into any of those categories, but I continued to read. This was the point that I felt God nudging me. I always get so excited when He does that! Then I realized that I was in leadership! Duh! I stay at home and homeschool my 2 daughter. Does that not put me in a leadership position? Light bulb! I can just picture God up on his throne chuckling and saying, "there you go, Caroline, you got it!".

I continued to devour the rest of the devotional soaking in every word. Charles went on to list the 7 qualities of a leader he saw in "Nehemiah's journal". I translated these qualities into my life as a homeschooling mom.

I will continue with the qualities tomorrow as I don't want to loose you in a really long post :o) This is good stuff here people! And for any of you who are down about homeschooling or feeling frustrated or loosing your vision don't miss what's in store. I am so looking forward to becoming the leader God has called me to be!!!

~howiesgal (aka: Caroline) :o)

New House Pics......

We went and looked at the new house again and this time brought out camera! We're smart like that every once in a while....but not to often :o) Move in date has already been pushed back, but that's OK, I am still smiling :o) See, that's me smiling. And now, for your viewing pleasure here are some pics of the new digs.....

Here's the front of the house. It's blue. My plan (per my sister's advice) is to paint all the shudders a dark navy blue. The front door will be red! I love red.

Here's the entry. That's my dad (aka, our realtor) opening the door. :o)

The Kitchen. Can I let you in on a little secret? See me, see my red hair? It's not red anymore! See the black shirt I am wearing? Yep, that's the color of my hair now :o) I had to get it out of my system and the hair color was free, due to my couponing, and I think it's really cool. It's not a permanent die so in a couple of months or so my red will be back. Emma says I look like Snow White :o) Gotta go work on my tan now! OK, back to the house....Gas stove! I have never cooked on one before and I am really excited about it.

This is the dining area right off of the kitchen. Through that door is the 1/2 bath and the really big family room, which will also be the school room and my office space and the therapy room since it has high ceilings. Oh, and in that little space past the door....I have a pantry! I have never had a pantry before and am sooooo excited about it. I plan on painting the door with chalkboard paint! Fun fun.

The backyard is huge. On one side of it there is an enormous fruitless mulberry that shades about half the town, no not really half the town, but it is huge and it does give us an abundance of nice shade. There is also a nice shed in the backyard, which is good as there is no garage. Hubby is having a hard time with this and has had a couple of nervous breakdowns but after breathing into a paper sack for hours were able to come up with ideas and he is good now. We have an alley behind us and since the yard is so big we plan on building a 10x15 "garage" type space (possibly 2 stories) in the next year or so.

This picture is of one of the side yards where my garden will be! I LOVE gardening and have gone through a bit of a slump since I don't have one right now (didn't want to plant one in the house we are at now because we are moving.). This year I will not have my summer garden but will have plenty of time to get all this space ready for my winter garden! I love that there is already a little gate there to block it off from the rest of the yard. You can't see it very well, but all over the fence are morning glories. They are absolutely beautiful and Emma keeps saying she is so happy we are moving into the "Morning Glory house"!

I have many more photos but will save you all from boredom :o) Thanks for taking the little tour with me and I can't wait to paint and move in and show you what it looks like then! But you will have to wait a couple of months to see that. Until then....

Happy Cooking and Homemaking!

~howiesgal

What a difference a week makes

Let's see in my last post I chatted about my frustrations with not finding a house. Guess what.....We got a house!!! Yep, we really did. Escrow close date is July 10th.
I also have on every sick 5 year old. She is usually my hyper child that keeps me going. Since she is so under the weather she has been on the couch the last 2 days and I have been able to start packing! Yes, I know I have plenty of time, but with being at my mom's so much lately I figured I should pack when God gives me the time. And He has given me 2 days so far and since she is still really sick today I will pack some more today!
I know that this is a Freezer Cooking Blog and I promise I will get back into that this week :o) More recipes and ideas are on their way!

Happy Cooking!
~howiesgal

Life and Citrus Marinated Chicken Wings

It has been a long couple of weeks and the next 4 months proves to be just as long. But that's OK. I have been spending most of my days at my mom's helping her out. I have learned to juggle 2 households while helping out my sister with her kiddos and tending to my grandmother's needs. As long as no one else breaks a bone in the next 6 months I think we will be just fine. :o)

Hubby and I are also looking for a house to buy. We have been doing this for over 6 months now! Yes, that is a long time. We have had many different offers on many different houses that we have fallen in love with and on most of them we have come in second place with our offer. Second place is good sometimes but when it comes to offers on a house, it means you have lost. Monday we lost out on another great house so I spent the day yesterday, with kids in tow, looking at houses again. Hubby went out last night to look at a few more and today I will look at the one he liked. Oh, did I mention our realtor is my dad?! Yep, that makes it so much more fun. We always treat ourselves to a st*rbucks. Makes the looking easier :o)

So I guess you can see there are no dull moments around the Howard house right now! This weekend is backed full as well with my sister and I making lunch and dinner for 20-30 people on Saturday. Saturday night hubby and I get a night out with some dear friends that we have a dinner group with. This will be certainly be the highlight of my week and I am looking forward to it.

I leave you all with a great recipe, since that is what this blog is suppose to be about :o) Enjoy!

Here's an easy appetizer to make up for all your get togethers. You have 3 option on serving day of how you want to cook them.

Citrus Marinated Chicken Wings

~Place 30 chicken wings (the little ones) in each bag.

~To each bag add:

-1/2 cup orange juice concentrate

-1/2 cup lime juice

-1/2 cup honey

-2 Tablespoons olive oil

-1 teaspoon Tabasco sauce

-2 Tablespoons minced garlic

-1 Tablespoon ground cumin

-1 teaspoon black pepper

~Seal bag and mush to coat wings.



SERVING DIRECTION: Thaw chicken before cooking. Remove chicken from marinade and cook on the BBQ or cook in oven at 350* 20 minutes or until cooked through or add wings and sauce to crockpot and cook on low all day.

Hold them Loosely

My friend Cheryl from Copperswife often talks about how we are to "hold our plans loosely". We can sit and plan our weeks and days to the minute but it is God's plan who ultimately reigns. I have realized this head on this past week.

On Saturday as my sister and I were preparing for our annual Mother's Day brunch, for my mom and grandma and her mother-in-law , my mom slipped and fell and broke her arm. We are not talking about a little break we are talking about 2 major breaks plus some spiral fractures in the femur of her right arm. And yes, she is right handed.

So all plans have been axed this week, including Cooking Day on Friday, so that I can be at my mom's house helping her out. She is going to the Orthopedic Surgeon today to find out what the next step will be, possibly surgery.

I do have a few specific prayer requests if you would like to pray for my family at this time...
~Please pray that surgery will not be needed. My mom does not have insurance and surgery would rack up the medical bills pretty fast.
~Pray for my mother, specifically that she would be at peace with the whole situation. My mom is a giver and a doer not a sitter and a taker. It is killing her that she has to ask for help and that she cannot help others right now.
~Pray for my dad. My mom is his everything and it breaks his heart to see her this way. He is trying his hardest to help her out but is getting frustrated that he can't make it go away.
~Pray for my sister and I as we spend time in my mom's home caring for her and tending to her household needs as well as tending to our own kids and our own households.
~This last one I can write because I know my grandma does not read my blog :o) Please pray for my grandma as she does not do well when the attention is NOT on her. My mom does a lot for my grandma and I am taking up the reigns right now since my mom is down. This is no easy task and she is very demanding with little gratitude to follow the demands. I wake up daily and pray for the grace I need to deal her with right now. I know that the Lord will provide the grace that is sufficient for each day.

I guess that was more than a couple :o) Thank you to all who are praying for my mom right now. Jehovah Jirah!!!! The Lord WILL provide!!!!

~howiesgal

Oh that's right......

I have a blog!! Silly red-head. I forget sometimes that I need to pop over here and post something. Wow, that's pretty sad isn't it? :o)

Well just to let you know, I am still here. This week has been filled with great weather playing outside, the loss of Emma's first 2 teeth, and cousins...lots of playing with cousins! Back to Emma's teeth, we didn't do the whole tooth fairy thing. She didn't even ask and besides she made $8 off of those 2 teeth from the grandparents! Who needs the tooth fairy ;o) She was so excited about loosing her first tooth on Tuesday night. But that excitement was over when I told her that a new tooth would grow back in. The poor girl was thinking she would be toothless forever and she was happy about that! She's a re-head too :o)

Next week is Cooking Day so stay tuned for the menu and new recipes!

Happy Mother's Day to all the moms out there. Did you see the article about how much moms would actually make if they were paid in dollars instead of hugs and kisses? $117,ooo a year!!!! Seriously!!!! I think we could all get some union support on this and start striking for pay, naw, I prefer the hugs and kisses over money any day :o)

Happy Cooking!
~howiesgal

Guess What I Did......

(Magnet Set)

I finally opened up an Etsy Shop!!! I have been wanting to do this for months now and finally got around to it this week! Yeah me!! OK, sorry, just had to toot my own horn and give myself a little pat on the back. Now I have a busted eardrum and a sprained arm :o) Just joking.
(Kids Hair Clips)

So here's the link to my shop if anyone is interested.

http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=5830054

(Magnet Set)

I also have to tell you that my Monday turned out to be a pretty great day! I started off the day with this.....
My wonderful 5 year old made me breakfast! Buttered waffle and a cup of Hot Green Tea! It was delicious.

My husband surprised us and met us at Target for lunch. We never get to lunch with daddy so the girls were very excited. Then we went to the park and played for an hour. The weather was perfect. We ended our day at McDonalds with my Uncle who is visiting from Idaho. He took the girls to the store to let them "shop". They both came home with new toys and a belly full of a happy meal. Yep, we had a pretty great Monday!

Today I am taking that wonderful 5 year old out to lunch. Just the 2 of us. She has been asking for this for awhile and we are finally able to make it work today. She wanted to go to the Disney store after lunch but last night she said there was no need as Uncle Bruce (mu Uncle) had already bought her good stuff!!

Have a beautiful day loving your children and praising God! I know I will :o)

~howiesgal

Baking :o(

Thanks to all of you for your nice comments. I am thrilled that you are using and enjoying all the recipes! Now for a subject that I don't like to talk about...baking...

Baking is not my thing. I love cooking but I am not a baker. With cooking you don't really have to have things precise, a pinch of this, a dash of that, a throw of this, a splash of that. In baking you have to have it exact or you mess the whole thing up.

My grandfather was a baker. My mom grew up in his bakery. My mom is a baker. The woman loves to bake! Any time that you walk into her house there is some kind of baked good either in the oven or sitting on a plate waiting to be eaten. Walk into my house and you will find nothing waiting for you, except for me and I truly do think that should be enough :o)

I guess that if I really wanted to, I could get into baking. My sister loaned me her bread machine and I love baking breads of all sorts. The biggest reason (besides all the exact measurements) that I don't get into baking is because what you bake must be consumed! And in that lies the problem my friends. Yes, yes I know that those of you who know me are mumbling under your breath (actually you all would say it straight to my face), "You can afford to eat it all skinny". But truly, my dear friends (yes I still call you my friends even after that harsh comment) it would not be healthy to eat it all. Right? Right.

I really only like baked goods right as they come out of the oven. If it sits there for any length of time, to me, it is no longer good. I would also, much rather have an OREO than a homemade cookie. Oh, wow, I just heard you all gasp. Sorry mom. I grew up coming home from school to fresh cookies almost everyday. I loved it then but am not huge on it now. I guess I am just weird.

I do love pastries. Oh heavenly pastries! But I have never tried to bake them. That's could be because if I did bake a batch of Pineapple cream cheese pastries I would sit and eat the whole batch within minutes. Oh the bliss it would be, though. I do make cinnamon rolls out of Bisquick mix. My friend calls them cinnamon biscuits, because technically they are not a real cinnamon roll. I made the "real" cinnamon rolls one time and after giving the kids each one and then finishing off the rest for myself, I decided I should not do that again.

So to sum this all up...I do not like to bake. I would rather have oreos than a homemade cookie. If anyone wants to make me any sort of pastry 1) I don't like nuts in things and 2) I will be grateful and eat it all right then and there :o)