Patience Please...

...while we are under construction. I have decided to try and make some money with my blog in the new year, we will see how it goes. I am not sure I want to flood it with google ads, I would rather pick up sponsors, which would be more work, but make for a much prettier site. I am hoping that I can have guest bloggers to share their special crafting talent, I already have a few people in mind for that.

I really have a passion for healthy cooking and green living, so more on those subjects will appear in the coming months. I have a few book reviews to do to. I will also be doing some giveaways (hopefully ones that aren't to lame, lol).


*after some online searching and the like, I may simple create another blog and keep this one for my family stuff and entering giveaways for myself. When the new one is finish, (hopefully soon) I will set up links.

Giveaway Entering Maniac

I have entered quite a few diaper giveaways today, but my little guy is one and hopefully we won't be in diapers much longer, so I don't want to invest a whole lot more money in them, but I am having to change him in the middle of the night because the kid might as well be a geyser. Wish me luck, hopefully I can add to my stash!!

If you CD or know some one who does I am an affiliate member at Diaper Junction. They carry some awesome lines of dipes and she post giveaways that are going on too!

And, I finally joined twitter, mostly so I could get extra entries for the giveaway, so I can't really say that I will use it for much more than that but you never know. I am close to joining Facebook, but I only have so much time to maintain blogs and the like, so that one may have to wait.

Suburban Saving Mama...

... Has some great giveaways going on right now.

(1) The first is from Crickett's Diapers is offering on lucky reader a diaper of their choice of size. These look so soft and comfy! (ends 1/4)

(2) The second is from Nifty Nappy, they are offering a $40 gift card to one lucky reader. She has some a really cool diaper wrap, I hope that I win!! (ends 1/4)

(3) The third is from Rockin' Green Laundry Detergent, this could actually get me excited about doing laundry. They have some really fun scent. (ends 1/18)

Go check em' out, there is some great stuff here if you cloth diaper your baby!!

Fluff Friday

Over at The Cloth Diaper Whisperer they are having a great giveaway. Contest runs through the 31st!

(1) Kissaluvs Marvels One-Size Cover
(2) Kissaluvs Marvels One Size Fitted Diapers
(1) Kissaluvs Cloth-n-Go Bag

Thirsties Duo Diaper Giveaway

Over at Inquisitive Mom she is hosting a giveaway for the Thirsties Duo Diaper, it looks like and awesome diaper and she gives you tons of chances to win. The contest is open until December 31!! Click on the link or her button on my sidebar!

Christmas Morning

We live closed to my mom and dad's now so this year was the first year that Santa has come to our house. It was so layed back and a ton of fun.

Grace is really into everything princess right now so from us she received another snap dolly, one of the coolest things out there. The clothes are a hard plastic and snap on and off. She plays with them for hours. Santa gave her a new princess castle with a princess and a prince.

Trying to get everything out of the box must seem like it takes hours to a kid.

The boys got new games, fishing gear, and lots of different kinds of books. They also received some new movies so hopefully they will be entertained for awhile. They are actually really good about that sort of thing, every time I try to sort out toys to decrease our stash I realize that there really isn't anything that they don't play with.

Look at that wild hair! At first all he did was pull all the gears off and throw them around, but it seems like he's getting the hang of it now.

Getting It All In

The next series of posts is just me trying to get in everything from the last year that I have neglected to write about, with the hopes that I will do better in the comeing year.

It's What Happens...

...When your big brother's leave out their art projects that were done in washable marker. It is never boring around here, that is for sure!!

A Winter Wonder Land

After snowing on and off for the last four days this is what the Minnesota Northwoods looks like Beautiful! I love it when it looks like this, I only wish that sun would have come out this morning so that it would have been all sparkly and not so dark and gray.

This is our little snow covered chicken coop, we have odd chickens, they seem to love the snow, most mornings they can't wait to get out of the coop.

This is our back yard, we literally live in the sticks, the land is parcelled in 80 acre tracks, but you couldn't pay me enough to move back to the city.

I hope all of you had a very Merry Christmas and that the new year will bring God's richest blessing to you and your family.

I Did It...

I think. I got all the jammies done, now all they need is a wash. I have been able to work on some bonus projects for my little girl. She had a rough week last week, this summer she fell and hit the bathtub with her chin and split it open. It was derma-bonded back together, but last Tuesday she took another good fall on our hard wood floor and split it open again, this time needing three stitches. It was the most horrid moments of motherhood thus far to date and the fact that I got an on call doctor that was a dink (that's being nice) didn't help any. I took the stitches out tonight after she fell asleep so we didn't have to go through any more excessive trauma. Looks good, but she is going to have a nasty scar, the stitch job was not so good, but at least it's under her chin. I figured some twirly skirts would be fun for her. Maybe the sun will shine long enough tomorrow for me to get some pictures of what I got done. If I don't get back till after Christmas, then Merry Christmas to all!!

Luke 2:1-20 The Christmas Story, the reason for the season, Jesus Christ!!!

0 Degrees F

It was zero out last night when we were coming home from AWANA. I am actually partial to cold weather, because you can always put more clothes on. When it is hot you can only take off so much clothing before you are considered inappropriate. The hubs is going out to work on our skating rink, which will be about 60x60 this year, can't wait. We also need about 10 more inches of snow so that we can go back on our sledding hill. It is a monster, we looked into getting a tow rope because we snowboard down in too, but the rope would have bankrupt us, so, we get some extra exercise walking back up the hill.

Craftiness at its Best

I have been having so much fun that it was hard to take a break and blog. I don't have any pictures, you will probably get them all at once. The little girl I babysit is in Australia to visit family, hopefully their flight left the airport before the snow it yesterday. And, we will be on break from school starting this Friday and won't have to start again till Jan., I love homeschooling, we have such flexibility and the boys are flying by leaps and bounds. Asa read an entire Magic Tree House book last night before he went to bed and he's only seven.

I am hoping to be able to carve out some time to do some major updating to this blog, I have read some great books, finished some projects and have taken tons of pictures of the kids. I also have some projects that I have set aside for myself, a new vest and a new messenger bag. So, I am ready and set and now I am going to go!!!!

Here is some baby goodness for you all, and yes he has a pink bib on, a hazard that comes from having a sister that is only two years older than you are. He loves pasta of any kind and insist on feeding himself. At least this time he didn't use his food as hair gel.

Oh So Blue!

I must say that at the moment I am kinda in a funk, I haven't gotten to make anything lately and my studio is a mess. The is a little girl who shall remain name less that has visited more that me lately and pulled out all of her favorite fabrics for dolly blankets. This mom is not all that happy. I don't mind not being able to sew or craft because the kids keep me to busy, but when I am the one that keeps me from sewing, it erks me. I have been so tired lately, I was ready for bed at seven last night, seven? really? I barely made it through bedtime with the kids. I am hoping that it is just because my little man has decided that getting teeth one at a time is for sissies(he's getting four at once) and not sleeping and maybe I am still recovering from what ever it was that I had last week, because if this lasts much longer, I am going to go nuts. I sooo need my crafty time.

I also realized that I am not that person that can sew four skirts in two hours, I just can't go that fast, which is also frustrating. My kids would like their jammies before they grow into the next size. I would like to be able to finish all those projects that I have bough fabric for, like my corduroy vest and matching messenger bag, one of the few things that I have gotten for myself. So what's a girl to do, take a deep breath, say a little prayer, and be thankful for all I have been given, because this day shall pass to quickly.

This Weeks Cloth Diaper Giveaway

This week you can win
1 Gro Baby One Size Diaper and Gro Baby Disposable Diaper Soaker Pad. They look really neat, I wish that I could buy a few but I have a ton of diaper fabric downstairs, so this mama needs to get her butt in gear and make a few more dipes for my little dude. So, cross your fingers and hope that I win this one.

Ahhhh!!

I have decided to keep a notebook and pen beside the computer when I am checking out all the cool blogs out there because I see something really cool that I want to do and I think "I can remember that one" , but I don't. I was just over at Little Birdie Secrets looking for something and found the post on the fun crochet washcloths that I had wanted to make but never got around to it. Ultimately there are just to many fun things to try and not enough time to do all of them. I have been trying really hard to prep all of my projects in the evenings so that on Saturday I can sew like a mad women and get lots of things done. So far its working, so hopefully I will have some great pics by Sunday night, but I can't promise because it is deer hunting opener this weekend and Jake will most likely be out all of Saturday so my sewing time will revolve around nap time. Maybe I can send the boys to Maga's for awhile.

Weekly Diaper Giveaway

This weeks giveaway is an Econobum One Size Cloth Diaper Kit. I looked at them at Diaper Junction and they are way cool. The covers work from birth to PTing and it seems super easy to use. If my stash wasn't complete, then this is what I would be buying. Right now, at Diaper Junction they are on sale and if you spend more than $75, you get free shipping.

After

Not completely finished but as good as it was going to get. It has worked out tremendously well considering that at the old house the only place I had to sew was at the kitchen table. My hubby put up lots of new shelf space and put in 2' by 6' shelves to cut and sew on. If I have something really big to cut out I do it on the floor. He was going to give me a 4' by 8' sheet of finished plywood as a cutting table but we realized that if we did that there would be no room for anything else in the room. I used left over paint from other projects to paint the wall and hated it but figured that most of it would be covered with fabric and the like so I didn't take the time to repaint it.


These not so great photos were taken a couple of months ago and my shelves are now overflowing with fabric, quilting supplies, etc. My mom received most of my Aunt Graces stuff when she pasted away and we brought it all down here so that at least all the stuff was together in one place and we would know what we have. We have a lot!! But I am having so much fun I don't care. The only thing that I would love to be able to do is finish a project from start to end without being interrupted, I know that day will come, so for now I will appreciate the time I have.

Before

This is what my studio space looked like a few short months ago. It was/is the storage/furnace utility room and it was so stuffed with everything from the move that I thought I would never get it back. The only real bummer is that the only window I have is the little one and it doesn't let in much light which means most of my photos are not that great unless I come upstairs which involves trying not to be seen by the local natives for fear of being captured and never returning to my space. My wonderful husband has said that he would be more than willing to build me my own space outside the house but with little ones that doesn't seem very practical. Right now I can at least sneak away for a second when I am "doing laundry" to finish up a seam or sew on a button.

I like to refer to the space as "my studio" because it sounds so grown up and people take you more seriously than when you say "craftroom", next up, the after pictures.

Diaper Give Away

There's another great diaper give away at clothdiaperblog. This week it is 1 Kissaluvs V2 Fitted Diaper, 1 Kissaluvs One Size Contour Diaper, and 1 Kissaluvs Marvel Diaper.

Did Somebody Say Pizza

This picture was just to pretty or yummy, which ever you chose, not to share. Zach was having a really hard day so I took the extra time to make him a stuff crust pizza and it turned out really, really good. It has a whole wheat crust, so its a little better for you, at least we are getting a couple servings of whole grains.

Another Diaper Idea

For all of those who are cloth diapering out there or soon will be, here is another idea. I used a plain old shoe lace from the odds and ends box to secure this diaper instead of velcro or snaps. It works really well and I can even just let him run around as is, it will stay on without a cover. The only thing I would change is I only sewed the shoe lace on in one spot in the back instead of around the diaper to the side flaps.

We Have Eggs

And not just any eggs, our very own eggs from our very own chickens. The boys are still really excited every time they find one or two. We have even had a few that have had double yokes. Store bought eggs are just about the grossest thing after you have had the real deal. Store eggs run all over the pan and have pale yellow yokes, even the free range ones that we were buying before. Asa dropped one of our eggs on the floor this morning, I was able to pick it right up even though it split in two and fry it right up (non of it ran out, it all stayed in its shell) they stand right up on the pan and look like a poached egg on your plate they are so compacted. Yum!!!

This is my cast iron double skillet and I absolutely love it. It was a gift from my dad before we went camping. I love cooking on cast iron, the heat distribution is perfect once you learn how to cook on them, there is a bit of a learning curve. I ditched my non-stick pans once I found out that they leach florin gas into your food as it cooks, not really some thing that I want my family to be ingesting.

Our eggs may be little, but they have awesome flavor to make up for it. The yokes are about the size of a quarter. I was holding the quarter as close to the egg as I could without getting burned.

This was our egg with a double yoke, I ended up breaking the one so it looks like it has three yokes, Asa got this one and he was about as happy as can be.

Queen of Hearts and Alice in Wonderland Costume Set GIVEAWAY!!!!

Queen of Hearts and Alice in Wonderland Costume Set GIVEAWAY!!!!

Smoothie Heaven

My baby will be a year old in a month, where does the time go? Dad's smoothie turned into his smoothie and he was all smiles and excitement. I think I saw his facial expressions change about five times before the camera took the picture.

Smoothie Recipe
1 organic banana
6 cubes of organic pineapple
1 small organic orange
small handful of organic blueberries
1/3 cup of Nancy's Organic Whole Milk Plain Yogurt

Blend and Enjoy

Quiet is Scary

In one of my last post I mention when all is quiet, not all is good and it is good to check on the situation sooner rather than later. When, this is the result when you check later. Grace has potty trained herself at 2 1/2. She does awesome, she doesn't require any help, just supervision which I failed to provided. Apparently the temptation to unroll the tp got the better of her and then the lack of knowing what to do with all that tp led her to try and flush it. The more she flushed the worse it got, until, in her words, there was a toilet water flood all over the bathroom. She, being a do it yourself girl, set to work on unclogging the toilet, so the plunger was out. I guess that didn't work so then she tried to use the toilet bowl brush to clean up the mess, but that didn't work out so well either.

Yes, that happens to be my toothbrush on the floor, I'm just thankful she didn't put it back in the toothbrush basket.

By then she was all wet and icky, so she climbed up on the counter and proceeded to turn the water on full blast to clean herself up, flooding the counter top, too. Of course it had to be the upstairs bathroom that all of this took place in, so there was a huge puddle in the middle of the downstairs living room, thank goodness that we haven't finished the basement ceiling yet.

And, through it all I had to keep myself from laughing. This was my own fault, I should have checked on her when she yell "I have to go potty", a bit exasperated, but I have learned my lesson.

The First Snow

It feels funny saying that considering that it is only October 10th, but it did and it is freezing outside. The kids are having a blast and my husband is hoping for an Indian Summer, we'll see!!

I made this hat for Grace using this pattern from Vallieskids, I loved it, super easy and fast. The only thing I would change for Grace would be to add some earflaps and ties so it stays over her ears, which I will add as soon as I get her to take it off, lol. This was the best face I could get her to make, I don't know what her deal was.

These are my boys Asa and Zach, they were pretty much frozen by this point, but couldn't bring themselves to come in.

Holy Cow.. Am I Behind

I was showing my MIL how to send a picture with am email the other day and in the process ended up going through all the pictures on the computer. I can't believe how many projects that I have done and not posted. So here we go, we will see how many we can get done before my little cling - on realizes that I am gone. I started this post at 2:30, it is not 4:41, just an FYI, when your 2 1/2 year old is quiet for too long, investigating sooner rather than later is a good idea


I made these fun polka dot fleece pants for Grace with some fleece that my sister gave me. They fit perfect, a little to perfect, the next growth spurt she has will make them to small. But, alas, not all is lost, my niece Clair can wear them next. I use Katrina's Sew Quick pattern. I now figured out why they fit so perfect, I didn't add the seam allowance like I was suppose to, it pays to read the directions (I apparently haven't figured that out yet)

I made this fleece cover for the little girl that comes and plays during the day. It is mermaid fleece with an extra soaker layer sewn in the crotch. I used a thinner fleece for binding on the edge. I sewed the extra in the middle first, then my elastic as close to the edge as I could, then the binding. I put right sides together and sew binding around the entire edge of cover, then I fold over the binding twice so you have a nice edge on the other side. It is easier for me this way because you don't have to make sure you catch both sides at the same time like with FOE. I have to take the velcro off the cover and make tabs instead, it was a touch to small around the middle. This is the Rita's Rump pattern, and while gathering the link I again discovered that reading the directions is a plus, there were supposed to be tabs on this cover in the first place.

I also made this cover for the little girl next door, it is a Katrina's Sew Quick Pull-up Cover, I love these because they work with fitteds or prefolds. I love them at night, fleece just seems so cozy and there is no elastic to rub or get too tight. I should have made it one size bigger, but because it is left over Christmas trees, Jairden can use it. Yes, I did sew the extra soaker layer in crooked, but I didn't notice it till the whole thing was done and I wasn't going to take it apart.

One down, I don't even know how many to go, but hey, at least I got the projects done in the first place.

This Weeks Diaper Giveaway

This week at the clothdiaperblog you have a chance to win 2 Rumparooz one size diapers.

Diapers...

I found another great site that is doing a free diaper giveaway, go check it out to get a chance to win some Bum Genius all in ones, here's you link!!

A Very Productive Weekend...

We:

finished staining the bunk bed

painted half of a very large bedroom

several loads of laundry

started the curtains for said half painted bedroom

baked cookies, made granola, roasted a chicken, made beans and rice and better butter

washed a weekends worth of baking dishes in a single session

finished two pairs of jammy pants and a pair of short-alls (now that it is autumn)

untangled a mass of yarn (started dress for Grace, decided I didn't have the right yarn after working on the bottom hem all week, ripped it all out, didn't get to winding it back up before the kids got to it. A very patient and loving hubby helped me untangle it at 10:30 at night when he would have rather been doing something else.)

toilet paper holder and towel bar affixed to a stud, so hopefully that is the last time it had to be put up

tried to participated in a recipe swap, but so far not very many people seem interested in doing

Researched more about hypothyroidism since I can't find a doctor to prescribe Amour(a natural hormone versus the synthetic I was taking), I stopped taking the synthetic because I couldn't stand the side effects anymore. I decided that taking a pill everyday for the rest of my life is not the answer, I needed to figure out how to heal my body. I am going back to biblical basic, Genesis 1:29, a primarily raw foods diet, the one that God gave to Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden. My husband says that I am so far into the deep end that I am out of the pool!!

I hope all of you had a great weekend!!

This Weeks Giveaway at Cloth Diaper Blog

This week you could win 12 Diaper Rite Prefolds and 2 Bummis Super Whisper Wraps, go check it out, here's your link!

Lame Blogging...

...all of my post lately have been links for contest, but school is back in swing and things are rather busy. The boys are doing great, zipping right through their work and having the rest of the day for free time.
I have been working on several projects and will have pics soon. A vintage scarf from Renee from Goosie Girls, a crochet diaper wrap, finally kool-aid dyed the wool Jersey diaper covers I made eons ago and making jammies for the kids. Of course all the pics are in the camera still so you will have to wait for them, plus the diaper covers are in the wash.
The weather here in MN is sticky and hot and I an looking forward to Autumn. I have a cling-on baby and doing things with one hand really takes a lot out of me, thus the reason for lame blogging.

Indian Summer Shirt and Skirt GIVEAWAY!!!!

Indian Summer Shirt and Skirt GIVEAWAY!!!!

Sew Cute Shop Amy Butler Birdie Sling GUEST GIVEAWAY!!!!

Sew Cute Shop Amy Butler Birdie Sling GUEST GIVEAWAY!!!!

Kookles Nursing Cover GUEST GIVEAWAY!!!!

Kookles Nursing Cover GUEST GIVEAWAY!!!!

Love September Favorite Skirt Pattern GUEST GIVEAWAY!!!!

Love September Favorite Skirt Pattern GUEST GIVEAWAY!!!!

Gaga Bum Reversible Pinafore GUEST GIVEAWAY!!!!

Gaga Bum Reversible Pinafore GUEST GIVEAWAY!!!!

Made by Rae Jackpack Backpack GUEST GIVEAWAY!!!!

Made by Rae Jackpack Backpack GUEST GIVEAWAY!!!!

Baby Sign Language

I have taught all of four of my kids baby sign language, it started when the oldest would throw his plate on the floor to tell us he was all done. About the 15th time I thought there has to be a better way. I got out my mom's book of ASL and taught him the sign for "all done", that did the trick. I personally love this product from Critical Thinking, we are using it for the little ones while the big ones are homeschooling this year. Studies have shown that kids who sign scored 12 points higher on IQ test and we love all of the other homeschooling product that CT has to offer.

Scrapbooking Furniture

This is something that I would totally buy if I was just a little bit more into scrapbooking, a piece of scrapbooking furniture just like this one. It fits right in with the room, when it is closed you would never know it was full of scrapbooking supplies.

Obaji Skin Care

Again I am trying to earn extra points to win a really cool stroller, if your in need of some skin care then check out obaji skin care. I honestly have never heard of them and my favorite skin care product right now is Burt's Bees Soapbark and Chamomile Deep Cleansing Cream. I personally won't use a product that has chemicals(SLS, parabens, ect) in it, these things are not good for your body or the environment.

Creative Date Ideas

Need some creative date ideas that won't break the bank, here are three hunndre of them as seen on Oprah in an ebook by Michael Webb.

Craft Room Organization

I am earning extra entries for a contest, so all you scrapbookers out there that need a craft room organization system, go check this out.

This Weeks Feed Your Diaper Stash Giveaway

This week you can win 12 DiaperRite Prefold in your choice of fabric and 2 Thirsty Covers in your choice of color/print. Here's a link

A New Read

Vaccinations, Deception and Tragedy, The Truth About Vaccines and the Danger They Pose, by Michael Dye

This is a book full of facts found in medical studies done by MD's. It has info that should be presented at well baby checks, like the warnings from the manufactures about the dangers of the vaccine. It also talks about how vaccine have not rid us of disease but kept them around longer than they need be. It is written from a christian point of view and about how God created our immune system. I vaccinated my older children but my last will remain vaccine free because of the info I have discovered since then. My second son is still dealing with problems that developed after he was vaccinated with the MMR. Even if you are pro-vaccination, read it so that you are fully informed, what will it hurt, you may even save your child's life with the info that you discover.

Info that made my stomach turn

"The germ is weakened by a process known as "serial passage," which involves passing the germ or virus through animal tissue, or the tissue of an aborted human fetus, several times to reduce its potency" page 43

"The University of Nevada School of Medicine conducted a survey of 103 American children whose deaths had been labeled as SIDS. The survey found that two-thirds of the children had been given a DPT vaccination within three weeks of their deaths, and that many died within 24 hours if the vaccine."

90% of doctors don't report vaccine related injury or deaths, they don't even know were to find the forms

Really scary, but it makes me even more thankful that God has created us in such a marvelous way, our older kids are going to the naturopathic doctor in October to have their systems stripped of the vaccinations that are damaging their systems.

Feed Your Diaper Stash Weekly Giveaway

This weeks give away is 12 Indian Cotton Prefolds by Sensi and 2 Bummis Super Whisper Wraps. It is really easy to enter and who wouldn't want to add to their stash. Here's a link!

Correction on the Muffin Recipe

Harvest Crunch Muffins

*I forgot to put in the amount of milk that is need, 3/4 cup *

Feed your Diaper Stash Giveaway

My night perusing has turned up another great site with diaper freebies and lots of other interesting stuff. Go check them out!!

Harvest Crunch Muffins

This is a recipe from my sister,who got it from her friend Krisanne, they are chalked full of good stuff and taste great, I have listed the ingredients by the amount of ingredient needed so read the whole recipe before you start to make sure you have everything. Bon Appite

*oven at 350 degrees*

1 cup white flour (I use golden wheat n' white flour, cooks just like white with the goodness of wheat)

1 1/2 cups shredded carrots

2 apples, peeled and shredded (I'm lazy and usually don't peel apples, you get more nutrients anyway)

1 cup chopped nuts

1 cup honey

3/4 cup flax seed meal

3/4 oat bran

1/2 cup raisins

1/4 cup whole wheat flour

1/4 cup wheat germ

2 eggs, beaten

2 tsp baking soda

2 tsp cinnamon

1 tsp baking powder (aluminum free preferably)

1 tsp vanilla

1/2 tsp salt

mix dry ingredients, stir in carrots, apples, raisins, and nuts. combine milk, eggs, honey, and vanilla. pour liquids into dry ingredients and stir only till moistened. fill muffin cups 3/4 full and make for 15 to 20 minutes. makes about 18 to 24 muffins

Today's Give Away

Another great give away from Today's Give Away. Some gorgeous jewelry from Rose Maries Bijouterie Jewelry, she has really, really fun stuff, go check it out!!

http://www.todaysgiveaway.net/2009/08/rose-maries-bijouterie-jewelry-free.html

Bean Bags for Micah

My nephew Micah turned three today and we are going to his party tonight and I needed to whip up a last minute present. As I was talking to his dad he was throwing Lincoln logs and that's when the idea hit me, bean bags, something constructive to throw. Four bean bags, sidewalk chalk(to draw a target) and a bag to hold it all. If I would have had more time I would have made a better bag and done some applique on the bean bags. I free handed an embroider "M" on one of them, it turned out pretty good

Raw Granola Bars

I wanted to post this recipe and them realized that I gave the magazine that the recipe was in to my mom I will get it back from her and post it late tonight, we have a birthday party to go to.

Honey Peanut Butter Balls

6 Tbsp cocoa powder
6 Tbsp powdered milk
6 Tbsp wheat germ
6 Tbsp real peanut butter (peanuts and salt, that's it)
6 Tbsp honey (raw is the most nutritious)

mix the dough with your hands until well mixed. Form small balls, and roll each ball in some coconut flakes or raw sunflower seeds if desired, they are great all by them self. Put in the fridge to let harden a bit.

You can use dark cocoa and after they have hardened, dip them in some melted dark chocolate, they make a great truffle (that is good for you), proceed to hide in the fridge in a brown paper bag labeled tofu because if your kids find these they will be gone!!

Will post a picture when they are done hardening in the fridge.

Marshmallows From Hell

If you know me, you know that I don't cuss, so for me to describe something as hell, let me tell you people it wasn't pretty. My kids are allergic to corn, that includes corn syrup, which is in everything including marshmallows. We are going camping this weekend and what is a cookout with s'mores.

Step 1: find a recipe without corn syrup. Found one, looks good, all systems go
Step 2: make marshmallows ha!!

I used agar-agar flakes instead of gelatin, recipes says "place flakes in cold water in cold mixing bowl, the hot sugar mix will dissolve the gelatin. NOT!! But I didn't know that till about an hour of mix the stuff and finally concluding that it wasn't going to thicken. I used really good organic ingredients ($$$) so I wasn't going to throw it away, oh no. I strained my sugar mixture and got about a half of cup of undissolved agar-agar flakes(next time I will try the powder). Put the sugar mixture back in the pan and reheated it to soft ball stage. Got the mixing bowl out of the freezer and used regular gelatin, add reheated sugar mix and mix on high for about 15 minutes and got nice fluffy marshmallow, I wish I would have taken a picture of the marshmallow cream, it was so yummy looking I could have taken a swim in it. Here is the finished product, we will cut them in squares and roast them to perfection(those of us who have the patients for that kind of
thing) I will post the recipe later for out Smarshmallows.

Instead of Graham crackers (which I haven't been able to find without corn syrup or hydrogenated oils) I made monster oatmeal chocolate chip cookies. I have tweaked my recipe so that it is relatively low in sugar compared to other recipes. I do have a recipe for the crackers but they are really hard to get really thin and I thought the change of pace would be fun. I will put both recipes in another post, lcause lunch time is here and the natives are restless.

A Giant Magnetic Board!

okay, so its just the upright freezer shoved into my studio space in the basement but it doubles as a giant magnetic board. Most of my projects that I would like to do or my own variation of are stored on my computer and there are now to many of them to keep track of . Problem solved, I am going to print out the pictures and put them on the freezer, I mean magnet board so that they are visible.



I also have the perfect magnets to go on my new super size board, are these babies cute or what. Handmade by DiEtte, a friend of a friend. She has tons of neat photos that brings nature to life and really fun whimsy acrylic paintings for a childs room. She has really neat stuff and will make you a custom order if you wish, go check it out.

Another Great Contest

The Dress-Up Drawer is having a great give away with tons and tons of stuff, there is still time to get in on the action, check out the button on the side of my blog.

Let's Crochet

In the past when I have thought about crochet it has seemed douty, the hours sitting on the couch making granny squares and then assembling the granny squares into the whatever it was that your are making. But this lovely lady has given me a whole new outlook. She makes some of the neatest jewelry out of yarn, yes yarn, that I have ever seen. Check out her headbands, I am making one for Grace, I just have to do some math(yuk!!) to make it smaller for her little head. Have fun and try something new today

Oh, the things I would like to do...

...it has been gray here for the last two days so taking pictures of my recent projects has been a no go. I wanted to upload some photos but that also proved daunting to this sleep deprived mama. Grace had a temp of 102 most of the night, she slept well and by morning her fever was gone. God designed are bodies so wonderfully, her fever burned up all the virus in her system that was trying to make her sick. She was right as rain this morning, happy little camper, makes the day go so much better. We have a Thomas the Tank Engine DVD were all the lilies on the Island of Sodor are telephones, so Grace is talking on a "Lily Phone" and having quite the conversation it seems.

I fooled around with my blog and changed the backround. It is kind of whimsical fall, back to school sort of feel. We have been trying to get everyone back on our homeschool schedule and doing pretty good I might add. My hubby most likely will be working second shift by Sep. 1, as the lead man, way to go honey, which means we get the best hours of the day with him. We will be able to get school done on two hours flat if I have help with the other kids and we will get to do way more cool things this year which will be awesome since the boys are getting bigger. This is Zach on his first day of kindergarden last year, he has known the alphabet since he was two and a half but he thought this puzzle was so cool. He read a whole reader to his dad the other night, they grow up so fast.



Hopefully tomorrow will be sunshiny and bright so I can take some good pics. I have been looking at past post and I don't know how many times I have promised you all pictures of a current project and then didn't get them up, sorry. Will work on that, sometimes it is more fun to work on the projects and I get going and don't stop to take a breath and share. Now I can upload pictures just fine, don't know what my problem was before, oh well, there is always tomorrow.

Flowers from Mums' Garden

Fabric Giveaway!!!!!!!!!!!!

Run on over to http://todaysgiveaway.blogspot.com/ for an awesome giveaway, you can win a kit for a ruffled apron or a kit for a quilt top, all in really cool, bright fabrics from Two Birds Fabric Shop, link below.

http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=7374013

(i haven't figured out how to do a "cool" link yet, ya know, where the word is highlighted and you click on it and it brings you somewhere else, still working on that)

I Love Give Aways

I found another site with free giveaways, great stuff. Check out their button on the side of my blog.

Oh Sweet Sleep

It is 11:51 and I want to go to bed. Why, you ask, don't you just go? My answer, the two year old who took a nap at 4:30 and didn't wake up until 7:30 is not quite ready. She is watching Cliffard and then we are going to bed, hopefully she will just lay still and not figit. I can't stand it when they figit, I would rather stay up than lay down with a figity kid. I can't wait till I have a few moments to blog, I have all kinds of fun things to show and tell.

Girls Night Out

I went out with girls from church tonight, we celebrated July birthdays. We went for a boat ride and out to dinner, it was lots of fun. I made this little bag for my friend Sara, I even took the time to do french seams, I love french seams. Next time I will fuse to pieces of fabric together so that it is a little more sturdy, it was a little flimsy for my taste. I stuffed a plastic bag in it to get the pictures.

This is a french seam. You sew wrong sides together, then right sides together, so your first seam is sandwiched in between the second seam.

Not the best picture, but as you can see it is shaped like a box.
I made a little charm for the zipper pull. It was lots of fun. I found the tutorial here.
http://threebears.wordpress.com/2007/10/15/little-boxy-pouch-tutorial/