Bad Writing

So, recently on my friend Lacy's blog there was this wonderfully fun sounding game mentioned that I just couldn't resist trying out! On Life with a Little One and More, Jenners decided to create some fun games for us to join in on. Why not join the fun yourself?

Bad Writing is the title of this first game, and our objective is to come up with some really bad first sentences to an imaginary book. Any kind of book you want! It sounded like such fun, so I had to have a go at it!

So... here's what I came up with. Believe me when I say I didn't spend a whole lotta time on these.

So... YOU ate my chocolate cookie!! - from "The Endtimes" by Chocoholics Anonymous

Once upon a time... well, ok, it wasn't actually upon a time, it was more like a long time ago, except that it never actually REALLY happened because this is a fictional story, so it couldn't have been in a time or place or age that actually existed except maybe in our dreams or our minds, although that if that is the case than you would have already seen this story... - from "The Historically Correct Fairytale" by Fartoo Literally

I was born in a factory a long way from here. I'm not sure how I came to be in this box, or why I am to view all these people from behind the plastic prison I am contained in. I cannot move. I cannot speak. They have made me solid, frozen me. Many strange two legged beings pass by me, and I often see the smaller ones stop and point and make such strange noises. I have heard many horror stories of my people losing ears and heads because of these strange beings. I wonder... what is to be my fate? - "Autobiography" by Chocolate Bunny

Ok, so mine are more corny than funny, but oh well. I'm kinda tired and nursing a headache so they sure seem funny to me!

Tips with Food

I don't know about you, but there are various things that I often find we tend to throw out of our kitchens when they aren't necessarily bad and can still be salvaged in some way. So, here I have some tips that will hopefully save our food... and our money! (wink wink)

Homemade Shake n bake
So, I recently found something to do with those crumbs that always appear at the bottom of my cracker bags. I LOVE crackers, so they are a staple in our house. Now, they quite often have lots of crumbs at the bottom... not loving those so much, until now. I recently made some popcorn shrimp and wanted to make my own breading instead of using that shake n bake stuff. So... out come the bottom-of-the-bag crumbs. Just save them all (chips, crackers, you name it)! Put them in a ziplock and use the rolling pin on it. Then add spices as you like for your own homemade shake n bake!

Sour Cream
There are lots of recipes out there that use sour cream, and when you bake it into something it really doesn't matter if it's a bit past the expiry date. So, when getting a bit close to the expiration on the label, try baking it into something... like sour cream coffee cake!

Bananas
I find bananas quickly get overripe for me to eat... so I like to bake them into things. Well, you can freeze them easily for that purpose... I prefer to peel them first and put them into a bag so all I need to do is dump them right into the batter! And to keep the bananas from ripening too quickly, separate them. I don't know why, but it seems that when they aren't in as close contact to each other, they ripen a bit slower.

Bacon
Sometimes we have some bacon that isn't eaten after we've made it... so, turn it into bacon bits! Ready for the next salad... mmmm.

Bread Ends
How many of us really care for those bread crust end pieces (ok, besides me)? Dry them out and use them in recipes that ask for bread crumbs! You can also use them in making shake n bake. I like using them to make meatballs or hamburgers.

Old veggies/fruit
I haven't yet started doing this myself, but it IS in my 101 list. Compost it! Yup, all those veggies and fruits that don't look too edible in your fridge would make some great compost for your garden! Nothing like turning veggies into veggies... or flowers... haha.

Yogurt toppings
I love Shreddies, and they often have crumblies at the bottom that don't go so well with my milk (can you say soggy and gross?). Blech. So, I started saving these and putting them on my yogurt. Great to add a bit of crunch... and fiber.

So, I hope these little tidbits help!

Thankful Thursday

Well... today is Thursday yet again! Time to list the wonderous things I'm thankful for...

I'm thankful for my baby girl's adventerous side... no, she's not crawling yet, but she's getting around (roll over, roll over again, and again, now scoot this way, now roll again... so cute).

I'm thankful that we are finally getting a will in place. Not done yet, but we're getting there.

We have the supper over at our house today, and I'm thankful for the second table we got from grandma... she didn't need it anymore, and it's perfect for in my workshop as a workspace, so we got it (nobody else wanted it), and it's nice to have for when hosting a dinner at our house with 15 people... plus babies. I'm also thankful that my meatballs are made and in the slow cooker... less work for me now!

I'm thankful for the deacons bench in our entrance! It's nice to have a place to put my purse and all that stuff we take with us out the door now that we have a baby!

I'm so thankful for my new haircut, and my DH's too! It looks good, his hair being short again, and mine without all those split ends! Our hairdresser is wonderful!

I'm thankful for reorganizing. It feels so good knowing you got rid of a bunch of stuff you didn't use anyway.

I'm thankful for the Bible. I've been reading all sorts of things lately that I haven't read in ages, and it's practically new to me. Ecclesiastes for example... I find it eye opening. What is all this stuff we have really worth in the end anyway? What is this world really worth to us in comparison to our Saviour and our God and what He has done? What about the end of our life... what will any of this stuff be worth at that point? Really makes you think.

Well, that's all she wrote (for now anyway). Happy Thursday to you!

Time to Donate

So, I've been putting a lot of stuff aside to get rid of... things I just don't use or need anymore. I decided to weigh it all (since I wanted to post my pounds on Flylady's site) and found out we got rid of 35 lbs of stuff! 35lbs!! Wow! I want to get rid of more stuff (and that's just the stuff we sent to MCC and the old cell phones we brought to the local MTS store). All my paper recycling is still in a box, waiting for us to take away our recycling.

I just made a few new purchases and such lately! I'm so happy! We finally got a paper shredder... I had a LOT of fun with it on Monday... shredding all sorts of old reciepts and other forms that had personal info... and some that didn't, just for fun (smile). It works great! And now I don't have to rip things apart anymore. And going through all those files and reorganizing them a bit really made me feel good. I don't like going through old files... so I changed things to make them go according to year... which it should have been all along, but I didn't think of it before... I don't know why. So, next year we can get rid of a whole folder of stuff! Without having to sort through the folder! Yippee!

Another fun purchase, which I have yet to work with, is a dvd/cd storage binder. It was only $7! I'm going to go through all our cd's in the office and sort through them, putting the papers on the one side and the cd's on the other. It's awesome!

While looking at Staples, I suddenly got excited about getting all sorts of new stuff for organizing my office! However, instead of buying any of it, I decided I should look through what I have and decide what I would like to have, remembering of course some of the awesome things I saw today! I love reorganizing things... sometimes... except old files...

We also recently got an old deacon's bench for our entrance. I had absolutely nothing in our entrance until now. We got it from my parents. My dad built it for my grandpa, and got it back when he died (grandma has no room for it in the place she lives now). We don't own it, but we are able to use it as there is no room in my parent's entrance for it, so it was just sitting in their garage again. So, now it's being used! And there's something nice in my entrance! Now I want to make some hooks and some shelves and stuff to make our entrance... well... an entrance!

So, yeah, I got rid of a bunch of stuff and went and got more stuff! Go figure! Maybe I could say... we got new stuff so we got rid of old stuff... yeah... that sounds better!

Tidbits

I've got some tidbits for you that I found today. I get these "green bits" in my email inbox and one thing they mentioned was dryer balls vs. dryer sheets. I have a pair of dryer balls myself, got them from my mom-in-law, and I like them. They don't get rid of all the static cling, but I haven't been using dryer sheets now in awhile, and I refuse to use them in summer. Did you know the chemicals from dryer sheets can cause allergic skin reactions in some people? They also cling to your lint trap, preventing air from moving through it properly, and in some cases can cause fires because of trapped air. Yup. Have you cleaned your lint trap lately?

Note: I recieved this in my email a number of months ago:
"INFO ABOUT CLOTHES DRYERS
The heating unit went out on my dryer! The gentleman that fixes things around the house for us told us that he wanted to show us something and he went over to the dryer and pulled out the lint filter. It was clean. (I always clean the lint from the filter after every load clothes.) He told us that he wanted to show us something; he took the filter over to the sink and ran hot water over it. The lint filter is made of a mesh material... I'm sure you know what your dryer's lint filter looks like. Well ...the hot water just sat on top of the mesh! It didn't go through it at all! He told us that dryer sheets cause a film over that mesh that's what burns out the heating unit. You can't SEE the film, but it's there. It's what is in the dryer sheets to make your clothes soft and static free... that nice fragrance too. You know how they can feel waxy when you take them out of the box. Well this stuff builds up on your clothes and on your lint screen. This is also what causes dryer units to potentially burn your house down with it! He said the best way to keep your dryer working for a very longtime (and to keep your electric bill lower) is to take that filter out and wash it with hot soapy water and an old toothbrush (or other brush) at least every six months. He said that makes the life of the dryer at least twice as long!"

I actually tested my lint trap and found out that yup... my water wasn't flowing through it like it should, so I cleaned it with a toothbrush and soapy water till the water flowed through. My drying time has decreased significantly since then... I did this last year and since I've only used maybe 10 dryer sheets since then, havent bothered doing it again... although maybe I will when this load is done. Anyway, there was a link to buy wool yarn dryer balls, and another link to make them yourself! I haven't tried it yet, but maybe I will someday. I like the idea of being a little greener and saving money at the same time!

I've also been looking into getting rid of old cell phones. We don't use them, they sit around and collect dust... why not donate them to someone who can use them? I can't seem to find anything online for our area (I'll have to just go to the local charities and ask), but I did find something for computers (and their components) in our area. And they will even give you a tax reciept! Awesome!

Now to go through a few more areas of my house and declutter. I wanna post my pounds on Flylady's site! I also figured I should declutter facebook... so I went through the list of applications I had authorised and got rid of over 50! So, now I only have 20 apps! Whew! I challenge you to declutter something! It feels awesome!

Anyway, off to purge some magazines!

Confession Monday: Observing Lent

My confession... I've never known what Ash Wednesday, or Pancake day were besides strange things written on my calendar every year. And Lent? Didn't know about that either!

I looked at my calendar today and noticed that this week we have Pancake Day (or Shrove Tuesday) and Ash Wednesday. Curious, I decided to look them up. I had no idea these were actually Christian holidays!

According to Wikipedia, Lent is the 40 day period before Easter. It starts with Ash Wednesday. I had not known this before! And the day before that is called Shrove Tuesday, or more commonly known as Pancake day. I decided, why not actually make a pancake supper tomorrow to celebrate? Little tidbit of info on pancake day, apparently in Newfoundland (Canada) it is tradition to bake little things into the pancakes for people to find, each item having it's own little meaning if you were the one to find it in your food. Interesting! I don't think I'll be doing that though, I might choke on something (or my hubby might... we don't want that!).

For some people, it is common to not eat any meat on the Wednesdays and Fridays of lent... except fish. I thought, why not try to do that? I enjoy fish, we could make Wednesdays and Fridays our fish days (or meatless days... I like to do that sometimes too) for the next few weeks leading up to Easter!

Anyway, for the 40 days of Lent it is custom for people to do three things; pray, fast, and give 'alms'.

Prayer is something I like to do daily already, but to find more time for prayer I think I'll have to give up something that consumes a lot of my time as my 'fasting'. I'm strongly considering Facebook... I tend to spend a lot of time on there when I turn on my computer. I'm also thinking of taking and fasting from television the week leading up to Easter... or "Holy Week"... and might stretch that to include the computer as well.

As for the alms... I have a cousin who is going on missions overseas (as part of a worship team... he's a drummer and an awesome one at that) who is having fundraisers coming up... one during this season of lent. Then, I've also been wanting to go on a real good declutter of the house. I can give the things I declutter to non-profit organizations like MCC, or Salvation Army, or a variety of other places in the local area that take items to help those who need (there's another one... I can't remember the name, but they help single moms). I want to give away at least 40 things... one per day.

So, how about you? Have you ever celebrated Lent? Am I the only one out of the loop on this? Are you celebrating this year? If so, leave a comment telling me how you are going to be involved in Lent!

I'm excited! I want to try to do this sort of thing every year!

25 Random Things

Ok, I did this on Facebook as I was tagged by a load of people, and thought, why not put it on my blog? So, here goes...

I'm not following the rules on this, just tagging people (you're supposed to tag 25). Go for it yourself if you like!

1. I really want to do something for Lent this year... and didn't even really know what it was until recently
2. I get stuck on projects... once I start, I have to finish it completely within a week or else I won't finish it.
3. I recently found some of my old baby toys, washed them, and put them out for Marin
4. I hate needles
5. I don't usually like cooking or baking, but sometimes I get in the mood, and will want to bake up a storm
6. I enjoy trying new things, whether that is food, recipes, or crafts... and recently clothes.
7. I love celery and peanut butter... together... one of my fave 4 o' clock snacks.
8. I have strange ways of remembering numbers of importance. It's almost like a formula... don't ask.
9. I used to think Mario was my hero... back when Mario 3 was big... you know... for the NES?
10. I usually don't want any chocolate when it is in huge supply... like Valentines, or Christmas, or Easter, but I crave it 'almost' every other day.
11. I sew my own curtains.
12. I've bottle fed a calf... yeah... no suprise there... I'm running out of ideas here!
13. I have a daughter whom I adore!! She's just SO CUTE! And I LOVE my hubby so much!
14. I love digital cameras!!!!
15. My idea of a great night in is watching an old disney movie (or maybe a good comedy) with a bowl of popcorn NOT from the microwave! It's gotta be REAL butter and salt, all the way!
16. Chuck and I have not gone to bed angry at each other yet... or at least, I haven't gone to bed angry at him... lol
17. I started doing daily devotions back in grade 7.
18. I miss the bush we used to live in when I was a teen. Really. I am contemplating creating a bush in the back of the field that we currently don't plant anything in.
19. I've recently had a thing for picture frames and mounting things on my walls... I've had bare walls for 5 years. And they have to be black!!!
20. I have a hard time burning candles... yet I have soooo many!
21. I hate clutter on my counters. I'd rather hide everything in my cupboards... actually I'd rather just get rid of it all except I don't know if maybe I'll need it.
22. I love square dishes... actually, I sort of have a dish fetish... some love shoes, I love dishes.
23. I have a thing for bright pink accessories.
24. I don't like white rice. I'll eat it, but I don't like it. Give me brown rice or wild rice, or even a mix!
25. I love wood. I love the smell, I love the feel of it, I just love wood.

It's the WEEKEND

Ok, so not officially yet.. but soooo close. Baby girl has been learning all sorts of things lately... rolling onto her tummy at every opportunity. She's getting so strong!

I managed to bake some banana macadamia nut bread today using the bananas I threw into the freezer... less waste is great! Saves a bit of money. I also worked out our cash flow today... noticed on one of our receipts that if I did an online survey I could get a free appetiser from that restaurant next time we went and spent $25 or more! Woo hoo! I like free!

So our railing has been disassembled again. Sigh. The handrail coming down the stairs was twisted, and some of the spindles were put in wrong... you could see the difference in spacing (over an inch difference from each other), so that is getting fixed now. It's just annoying that it wasn't good enough the first time. The twist was so bad you could not only see it but feel it as you came down the stairs. It should NOT have twisted like that. Ah well. Once this is done it'll feel a lot better to me. I've already been depressed enough about the whole thing. We found out the company we went through to get the wood overcharged us by about $300-400 compared to another local company that gets their wood from the exact same place, and we were told it was the same price anyway. We're not happy. Our initial quote was about the price I thought it should be, and then once we ordered everything he came to us with a much higher quote, and I was already on my last nerve. I never want to do this again. Hubby is calling to see if we can get some compensation, especially since the handrail was twisted yet. We'll see. I just want this thing done so I don't have to think about it anymore. And having the rug back on the stairs would be nice...

I still have to sand and stain... I don't think I'll do the painting at all, just stain the whole thing. After all, if I ever want to paint it later I can. I can't change my mind once the paint is on it though. Anyway, I shouldn't complain. The whole thing should still be done in under $2000 (which is still a lot, oh well) and maybe less if we can get it that way.

On another note, I had some fun on Monday making more cards. I'm part of a group where we make cards monthly (it's fun, we pay $5 for materials, make 4 cards and learn new techniques, then buy $25 in stampin up products, and we each get one party in our name with a guaranteed sales of over $250, so we can get free product). I should post some pics of those cards we made later on. So much fun. And I'm actually buying things (cause I have to) which is awesome. I have such a hard time spending money for some reason. Just ask my hubby. We went shopping on Saturday and I saw a purse I absolutely loved, but I couldn't pick the color... so I didn't buy it ("What?" I can hear you saying, "why not buy both"... at least that's what my sis said! I wish I could). It wasn't even expensive either. Sigh. Meanwhile, I can buy a book for my hubby no problem... or a dress for my daughter... but anything for me... not happening.

Do you think they have any courses on Spending 101? Maybe watching Confessions of a Shopaholic would help? Or not?

Anyway, maybe I'll head back to Zellers later and just grab one and buy it... maybe... (smile).

Thankful Thursday

Psalm 105:1
Give thanks to the LORD, call on his name; make known among the nations what he has done.

So today's focus is on the little things. I seem to be doing this a bit late (oops), so that's fine with me!

I'm thankful for the cute little smile I get to see from my baby girl every morning when I go to feed her. She sure has a wide mouthed grin! Makes me happy every time.

I'm thankful that I managed to get some farmbooks done today. Silly, but I am really thankful! I finally don't need that AI book in my office anymore, it smells kinda funny, haha.

I'm thankful for the jolly jumper. It's great for not only building Marin's lower body strength, but also for keeping my sanity when she is awake and I HAVE to get something done. She just needs to see me and she's good to go.

I'm thankful for my wonderful husband who is able to work right across the yard. I love it. There's nothing like farming, that's for sure!

I'm thankful for bedtime. Wouldn't have said that as a kid, but now that I'm older and wiser (ok... maybe just older), I'm SO thankful.

For the wii... it's just so fun! It's nice to escape reality for a bit of electronically driven gaming.

For Chocolate.... need I say more?

For simple things in general! We have so much we are blessed with... things that make our lives easier! I was just thinking of how nice it is to flip a switch in our house and we have light (that is, if we changed those dead bulbs, haha), or turn a tap for water, or flush a toilet... yeah. It's incredible when you really think about it. We can click buttons to turn on entertainment, play games, type to friends around the world, even meet someone halfway across the globe without leaving our desk. It's really incredible.

Yeah... there is so much to be thankful for!

Valentine's

We had a good Valentine's day. On Friday we went to a dinner and dance, and we got our sister-in-law to babysit Lil Marin. She did ok... for the most part. Was super cranky for awhile though and wouldn't eat apparently. Then we came home and she was cooing and laughing and all happy... silly goose.

Here's a pic of us at the dinner and dance.

On sunday we were at my parents and I just had to post this adorable pic of my niece and my daughter together. Awww....

Saturday I made homemade chocolate truffles... sooo tasty. Made enough to give to various people. Hubby got the most though. Here are some various ways I displayed them to give. I wanted to post the pic of what I did for hubby but blogger seems to think the pic is supposed to be vertical even though it is horizontal and should stay that way. Very irritating. Ah well.

I think they look tasty... which makes me want to go eat one now. Later!!

Hope you all had a great Valentine's!

Running Water

I have a challenge for you today... one that FlyLady had for us (although I took it to the next level, as usual).

Have you checked your kitchen faucet lately?

I live out in the country (they'd kill me for having a barn full of cows in town, you know... haha), and one of the major issues we have is our water. I don't know about you, but after awhile, my faucet doesn't work quite like it should... the water dribbles, or sometimes it squirts out of the sides a bit... leaving a watery mess all over the counter. Anyway, FlyLady challenged us to take a toothbrush to our kitchen faucet (ok, it was actually Kelly's challenge, but it's all part of the Flylady site anyway). Scrub scrub, right? Nah... not good enough. So not only did I use the toothbrush, I disassembled the head of the faucet, took my trusty CLR and soaked the pieces (screen, cap, rubber washer) in it, then scrubbed them clean. They work like new!

I challenge you to make your faucets work for you again! It's amazing how easy it actually is... just... who really thinks to do it?

The Scoot

Marin has figured out her own way of getting around without mommy or daddy. I call it, the scoot. Why? She doesn't crawl, and she hasn't yet rolled onto her belly (although she is SOOO close), but she still manages to get around. The picture below? She was on the middle of the blanket with her head facing the opposite direcion...

I guess she wanted off, haha. Here are some more lil pics of my sweety. I'm sorry, i can't resist!

In the jolly jumper... she loves that thing.

We put her on the rocking chair... doesn't she look sweet?

End Times

A local church is doing a series on the End times right now, and while I initially wasn't too interested (after all, we've heard it all before, right?), I'm looking forward to going! We didn't get to go to the first two sermons, but they are kind enough to put them up on their website, as either audio or video! We popped the audio of the first one on my hubby's cell/mp3 player and listened to it in the car the other day. Wow. Now I want to know more!

Seriously, that first sermon brings about a lot of what I needed to hear. I've had many issues with learning about the end times, Revelation, etc. We've talked about it years ago in our church, and while I found it interesting, that was about it. I didn't think it was life changing or helpful to me in growing or anything of the sort. Pastor Chris brings about a whole new perspective in this... something I've never thought about before... something that makes me want to learn more and read it for myself. We are commanded to learn about the end times. To be honest, I can't quite explain it for myself, but I highly recommend giving it a listen when you have the extra hour! Really! Put it on while you have your morning coffee, or maybe stick it onto your own mp3 to listen to on the way to work... or watch the video!

Anyway, I have so much I want to say... but I have a hard time with it right now as my time feels so limited and when I do have time, I just want to rest (I really don't like colds). I hope to be able to talk about some of the things I've been feeling led to blog about soon. Even just to get them written out... I don't know why, but it's therapeutic.

Treat your Sweety

Ideas for a Frugal Valentine’s!

I can hardly believe the stuff I see advertised to sell as Valentine’s Day gift ideas. Crazy! Last year it is estimated that people spent an average of $122 per person, and this year they estimate over $100 per person average (click here for more info). That’s a lot of spending!

I figured, hmm, why not post a few frugal ideas for celebrating Valentine’s and treating that special someone without breaking the bank?

Our first Valentine’s Day, I thought it would be neat to go to Hawaii… in our living room. So, for only a few bucks I decorated our living room by purchasing blue and green crepe paper and hung it in strips. Using construction paper I made some fish, etc to put on the ‘crepe water’, and some leaves for on our TV. I grabbed any shells and put them in the room, and put a towel on the floor for us to eat on. And buy a pineapple! That’s the best part! Mmmmm.


On our second Valentine’s day together I decided to go a little crazy… made a “14 days of Valentine’s”. Don’t bother going that crazy! It was insane (although very memorable for Chuck. He still comments on it). Here are some of the things done… all very cheap.

Sweetheart Cookie Messages:
Make some white cookies, cut into heart shapes and decorate with pink icing. Then use white icing in a decorator’s tube (or a small plastic bag with a hole in the corner) to write sweet messages on them. You can have some fun and use a huge heart shape for the messages with some small tiny hearts to ‘add’ on top as decorations too.

Love Dice:
Take two 1inch wooden cubes, paint them red or pink or whatever you like, and turn them into dice. Things like numbers on one and hug, kiss, cuddle, movie, stuff like that could be on the dice. Be creative!

Sweets:
A great way to save is to buy candies when they go on sale. Hershey’s hugs and kisses are great, and they go on sale after Christmas, so it’s great to stock up on those. Use the red and silver ones for Valentine’s. The green ones can be saved for St. Patrick’s Day. You can make rosebuds from kisses. Stick two kisses bottom sides together, wrap some green wire around them for a stem. Wrap red tissue paper around the kisses to make the bud. Green tape can be used around the base by the stem to make the bottom of the bud. Add some silk leaves to the stem with green tape. Voila, chocolate roses (sorry, I don’t have any pics). Also, it is kind of fun to make little ‘containers’ for candies. Melt some chocolate into heart shaped silicon ice cube trays. You can buy them at dollar stores. Have them in the freezer first to make cold and the chocolate will chill down the sides or make a heart shape out of tinfoil for your melted chocolate.

Fortune Cookies:
You can find some recipe’s here.
Allrecipes.com
Chinesefood.about.com

Make your own messages and wrap them in your homemade cookies. Your sweety will love it!

Coupons:
Make love coupons of sorts. “Watch a movie with you of your choice”, or maybe different chores that your significant other (or even parent) does, maybe make them redeemable for “one hug” or “one kiss” or a night out with the girls/boys. Be creative.

Balloon Message:
Write your sweety’s name on balloons, one letter per balloon. Write messages on little pieces of paper and put them in the balloons before you blow them up. For each balloon, put things in there that start with that letter. Assemble them so they spell his/her name. Put a note with a pin next to it telling your sweetheart to pop the balloons and read the messages! If you want, you could make a puzzle out of it with numbers on the back sides of words that have to be assembled in order to read the message. Have fun!

Cookie Bouquet:
Make large heart shaped cookies on sticks and decorate them. Poke them in Styrofoam in a terra cotta pot decorated with heart shaped themed paper. Really cute and fun to eat!

Hidden Messages:
Cut some hearts out of construction paper and write, “I love you” in different languages. Have some fun with them... hide them around the house, decorate them, get creative. You can find different languages of 'love' below.

Columbia.edu
Buzzle.com

Another idea, one I haven’t yet done, is find some heart shaped sticky notes and write all sorts of sweet things on them, placing them in various places in the house, car, or in your sweetheart’s lunch bag or briefcase. My dad was a trucker, and I decided one year to write various Bible verses and things I loved about him on little papers and placed them in various places in his semi and duffel bag. He loved it as he was finding more of them weeks later.

Baked goods:
Besides the fun cookie ideas, make a tic-tac-toe brownie pan. Use white chocolate to make X’s and O’s on the brownies. Or, make a special heart shaped cake.

For Kids:
Kids valentines go on sale after Valentine's Day, so grab a bunch for next year! You can save yourself quite a bit that way (as long as you remember where you put them)! Or, have fun making homemade valentines from construction paper, sparkles, lace, ribbon, stamps, stickers, or whatever else you have in the house. You could even have your child give a sweet message cookie! Have them decorate the cookies for their friends, and wrap them in saran wrap. Tie with a ribbon for fun... even add a tag to them to put their name on it. What is better than a valentine you can eat?

Other ideas:
Make a restaurant out of your dining room. Use candles, make a special dinner and serve your special someone, or your family. If you have kids, you and your spouse could do that for them… kids love that sort of thing. Make one of their favorite meals and serve it to them in special dishes. Dress up if that’s your thing. Make food in heart shapes, or add red food coloring. Make pancakes for breakfast and add strawberries… they’ll turn the batter pink. Cut into heart shapes for fun. Or, just make something homemade for your sweety. It could be anything, as homemade gifts come from the heart! Homemade candles (melt wax from crayons or purchased at a craft store into different containers with a wick in the center... experiment with containers), paper crafts, fancy homemade valentines, bath salts (you can get the ingredients from a craft store) in a home decorated container, the possibilities are endless!

So, anybody have some of their own ideas? Tell me about them by leaving a comment!

#49: Finish Publishing First Book DONE

Hooray! It's finally final! I don't know why it took me so long to do this... I've had it done since 2006 and just had to revise a few things (due to the printed copy not quite being what I wanted... mostly cover work). Well, that took longer than anticipated because, being a perfectionist, I had to re-edit it... 3 times. Yup... crazy! But now it is done, and it can be accessed here.

Stone Enchantment

There is a preview of it up currently... only the first 15 pages, but that's what I'll leave it at for now. I might change it to include just the whole first chapter, but we'll see...

So, there you go. Done. Finished. SO happy! Now to type up my second book... and edit, edit, edit, format, edit, make a cover, edit.... you get the idea.

Ramblings

So, I've been wanting to do some posts on saving money, tithing, and debt, but haven't found the time. I found a bunch of scripture on tithing and debt, a lot which I found interesting and would love to post here yet, but I still have to organize my thoughts. I'm also hoping to type up a few cheap frugal Valentine's ideas, including some of the things I've done over the years. I don't know why, but I LOVE Valentine's day.

I took our lil girl to the clinic yesterday, and it turns out she has 3 different types of rashes on her skin. One is viral... don't know what it is exactly so they have to get a sample from her... not fun. One is like a bite or something. My doctor figures these little spiders are to blame. Nothing serious, just annoying. Neither DH or myself have any though, so I'm not sure what is going on there. Then the last one is like a reaction to... something. Again, not sure exactly, but I'm guessing the laundry soap could possibly be to blame. I just ran out of baby stuff and we used our normal stuff (I have sensitive skin and it doesn't bother me, so I thought it would be ok). It could also be the lotion I put on her to help with the dryness of the other rashes. Sigh. Oh, what to do? At least they seem to have toned down some. We put penaton cream on the bad ones... funny putting diaper rash cream on the chest!

I've been having trouble loading my book cover to get it published lately. They want pdf, I don't have it in pdf. Well, now I do, thanks to my dad! He had a program that could convert the file. Now to get back on there and try again.

I can still hardly believe it's February! The weather is gorgeous, and although the groundhog predicts a longer winter, I'll be happy as long as I keep in mind that spring WILL come... eventually. I can't wait to get out of the house. I'm so tired of being cooped up inside! Have a great weekend, and Happy Friday!

Thankful Thursday

To be honest, I'm thankful, but not so thankful this week. I caught myself a nasty cold and I'm SO tired. Anyway...

I'm thankful that I was able to get an appointment for my baby to see the doctor... hopefully this rash is nothing major and will go away very soon.

I'm thankful for food... lots and lots of food... mmmm...

I'm thankful that I don't have to make supper tonight.

I'm thankful for patient in-laws... as I still haven't finished the farm year end. Almost... so very close...

I'm thankful that our railing/bannister is all put in now! Now to stain, paint, and varnish, then put in the rug. Did I maybe mention that last week? It was done on the Thursday...

I'm thankful for lazy days at home. Sometimes it is good to take a break.

Anyway, I've gotta get myself and my girl ready for the appointment I made just minutes ago. It's nice when you don't have to wait 3 weeks for something that probably won't last that long anyway. :)

Have a happy Thursday.

Happy February

Happy Heart Month! I can't believe January is over. Tomorrow is groundhog day.... hmmm... let's see how things turn out?

So, it's "I love to read" month here in Canada, and I've been thinking... what better time to finalize the publication of my book? It's almost done, I just have to fix the cover and then... voila. I'll post it here of course. Ooh, then I can check that off my 101 list too! Oh, and our banister and railing is now up! Now to sand, stain, paint, and varnish. Then put in the rug and the final baseboard pieces! Wooo! I can't wait till this is done. I'm so tired of walking on plywood.

Anyway, Happy February!