Blessing #83 - Remembering

Like most Americans, today I will be remembering 9/11. Here's how I will be remembering...

I will pray for comfort for the families of those that were lost on September 11 and the families of the soldiers that have been lost since then.

I will attend the church of my choosing and cherish the freedom that we all have to worship.

I will remember the destructive power of hate and close-mindedness and guard my heart against both.

I will teach my boys that despite the recession, the national debt, and our growing differences, we truly are blessed to be Americans.

I will hug my boys and kiss my husband, knowing that joy was robbed from so many families ten years ago today.

Curse #28 - Walmart Proactiv

I was having a problem with...blemishes. I would call them pimples, but the word pimple really makes me gag. See, I'm gagging right now as I type this, so for my sake let's call them blemishes.

The blemishes began when I ran out of my normal face wash and I started using Shad's face wash. Well, his face wash and its salicylic acid just doesn't cut it. My face needs the benzoyl peroxide that only my Clean and Clear can give me. Saturday, while visiting Walmart, I looked for my Clean and Clear with 5% benzoyl peroxide, but it was gone. It was probably sold out from all the thirteen year olds going back to school that needed it leaving this late 20 something with blemish issues stranded on the beauty aisle. In the absence of my C&C, I decided to try something new, the Walmart version of Proactiv. What could it hurt?

I started using the arsenal of Walmart Proactiv products on Saturday night, and like the bottles instructed, I used the wash, toner, and lotion day and night. On Monday I told Shad, "My face is looking great!" (Yes, I just announced to him, "My face looks great.") However, as happy as I was with my Walmart Proactiv, I noticed my face was started to feel a little sensitive, and I soon realized that I had spoken too soon.

Tuesday morning, I woke up and my face was even more sensitive. I sat on the couch and watched the news, and my face itched me more and more. My left eye started to swell almost closed and I finally caught on to what was happening. I knew I needed benadryl, but benadryl and two young boys don't go together. I called Shad and told him what was going on, and ended our conversation with, "Just so you know I have to take benadryl so I will get absolutely nothing done today," and honestly that's just what happened, nothing. It took every ounce of energy I had to stay awake through the benadryl and make sure the boys didn't hurt each other or my house.

After a few rounds of benadryl, my face calmed down and looked much more normal, but I had the whole Walmart Proactiv system that I knew I couldn't use. I decided to try and return it to Walmart. As I placed the bottles on the customer service counter, I told the cashier, "I don't have a box, and I don't have a receipt, but this stuff made my face blow up." The cashier didn't say a word to me. I think she may have been afraid. I didn't have on any makeup because my face was still sensitive, and I think she sensed I was on my last straw. She just kept looking at me and then looking at the bottles. She asked me to go get the box off the shelf and then she gave me my $11.97 back with no questions. I guess my face said it all.

I still have my blemishes, but they don't seem quite so bad anymore. At least now both of my eyes are fully open!

Blessing #82- The Choo Choo Barn

Last Monday was B's birthday (I've mentioned that a FEW times). For his birthday week, I tried to plan a different surprise everyday. One day he painted, another day he had friends over, and he had his birthday adventure to Dutch Wonderland. Hurricane Irene ruined my surprises for the weekend, but I tried to make it up to him by letting him go puddle jumping.



Monday morning, on his actual birthday, B seemed to be moping around our house. I tried to cheer him up by singing "Happy Birthday," but he still seemed down. Then he looked at me with the saddest face and said, "I thought we were going to the Choo Choo Barn." For the past two years, we have gone to the Choo Choo Bran around his birthday, and he assumed we were going this year to keep the tradition.

Feeling terrible, I called Shad and told him what B had said. Shad laughed and told me I should take him. I called to find out about some cleaning I had to do at the guest house, but it was already done. My day had been cleared, and I could not find a reason not to go to the Choo Choo Barn. We got ready and made the hour and a half trip with a very excited Brandon.



The Choo Choo Barn is a giant train model that visitors can walk around to see. You can find out about it by clicking here. It cost $11 total for B, Collin, and I to see it. Most kids make it around the model pretty fast, so I would suggest going around the model twice. B spent an hour and a half looking at the model. We spent about 20 minutes waiting for a little light to turn from green to red. After seeing the model so many times, B was giving the other visitors tips, "Make sure you see the house on fire right over there."


The house on fire is one of my favorites too.



Here come the firemen.


The fireman save one of the people and work on the roof.



That day I was very reflective and I spent most of the hour and a half we were there just watching Brandon. Very aware of how fast time is moving and how quickly he growing, I spent the day just watching and enjoying him. Some birthday he won't ask to go to the Choo Choo Barn, but I'm glad this birthday he did.

Random Acts of Craftiness #4 - A Wreath

When I heard a few weeks ago that the Nester was having a wreath party (make a wreath and blog about it) I knew I had to join in. For days I thought about what to do. I think I tried making a wreath out of almost everything in our house, toys, straws, and toilet paper rolls.

I found an old picture frame, and decided to spray paint it orange...ORANGE. I lOoOoOve the bright orange.



Random Side Story: When I bought the spray paint at Home Depot through the self checkout, the screen said I needed to show my i.d. to the attendant. Then the attendant looked at me and said, "Oh, you don't need to do that." For some reason this bothered me. I looked at her and said, "Are you sure?" What I really wanted to say was, "Please make my day and tell me due to my deceivingly youthful glow you need to verify my age." However, she burst my happy bubble and said, "Oh you're fine."



Back to the wreath (and not my growing "I'm getting older" complex)

I had the "L" from another project, but it was damaged so I decoupaged it with map from our old Rand McNally road atlas. I attached it with ribbon to my orange frame with glue, but that didn't hold so I used a staple gun. I added some pinwheels, with ribbon, but I didn't know if I liked it.


I ended up attaching the pinwheels to the picture frame. I think this would be even better if there was a quote on it, but I could not figure out how I wanted that right now.


This project cost me $3.77 for the paint and $1.00 for the ribbon, and I had all the other materials already. My favorite part of this is definitely the orange color. It makes me smile everytime I see it.

Saturdate with Southern Plate: fried green tomatoes and milk gravy

I'm trying to catch up on Southern Plate recipes that I made but never blogged. Today I'm sharing fried green tomatoes that I made a month ago, and milk gravy that I made this week.



About a month ago, I made fried green tomatoes with tomatoes from my very own garden! When I told my mom what I was making she said, "Make sure you cut your tomatoes thin." I followed Mom's advice, and they turned out great. I really like fried green tomatoes because they reminded me of fried pickles. I also fried up some strips of jalapeno with the tomatoes. They were great too. You can find the recipe for fried green tomatoes by clicking here.


After our harrowing (yes, I said harrowing) experience with no power for 12 full hours, I felt the need to celebrate when our power finally returned. For some reason, gravy and biscuits popped in my head.

The Southern Plate cookbook includes 5 gravy recipes, milk gravy, red eye gravy, chocolate gravy, sausage gravy, and tomato gravy. I have always been nervous about making gravy. It just seemed tricky so I stayed away from it, but after I make all five of the gravy recipes in Southern Plate, I will be a gravy expert. Milk gravy was not too hard; I just had to make sure I whisked it and kept a close eye on it. Gravy and biscuits was a great way to celebrate having power.

You can find the recipe by clicking here.

Random Acts of Craftiness #3 - Charlie Brown and Linus Costume

Recently, I had to make a Peanuts themed costume for the boys. I'll explain why I had to make this at the end of the post, but this was a quick and cheap costume.

First, I had to make a Charlie Brown shirt. I dug through B's old clothes and found this yellow collared shirt. It's just a play shirt so I did not mind painting it.


Then I used old reliable shelf paper (I use it for everything) and drew a zig zag (a.k.a. chevron) on the back of it. The gridlines on the shelf paper make this much easier.

I looked at a picture of Charlie Brown and counted the number of points on the zig zag and there were 3 to 4 at the top. I made my zig zag have the same amount to give it that true Charlie Brown look.

For the Linus shirt, I found a 0-3 months long sleeve shirt that he already had. It was a little small, but that just added to the cuteness. I used painters tape to make the lines. I don't have black fabric paint so I just used acrylic paint.I searched through some receiving blankets, and found one that was just the right shade of blue as a Linus blanket.


Both costumes were made completely from things that were already in my house so the cost to me was $0! It took 2 hours to find the shirts, make the stencils, and paint them. However, that's "Mom time" which includes lots of interruptions.

I got a drop of black paint on the Charlie Brown shirt, but I used a football to cover that up when I needed to use the costumes.

I made these costumes for a contest Dayspring, the Christian branch of Hallmark is having to celebrate the launch of there new Peanuts card line. I took a picture with their Peanuts cards, and uploaded it to their facebook site. Voting starts today, and the winner get an ipad! There were about 70 entries a few days ago, so those were good enough chances for me to enter.

I'm trying to win the ipad for Shad's birthday present. I entered the Goodwill contest for his Valentines gift, and that ended great! I would greatly appreciate any votes. To vote click on this link. If that link doesn't work for you click here and look for the picture of Charlie Brown and Linus! I think we are on last page.

I'll be linking this project up to these sites.

Blessing #81- Dutch Wonderland

For Brandon's birthday adventure, we took him to Dutch Wonderland. Dutch Wonderland is basically Six Flags for toddlers.

This may make me a bad parent, but I haAaAate Dutch Wonderland. I was constantly surrounded by hundreds of kids, and at any given point 20% of those kids were having meltdowns, and those "meltdowning" kids were always standing right beside me.

The kids were bad, but the parents were even worse. Every conversation I overheard was about little league, potty training, or how much stronger, taller, and smarter their kid was than someone else's kid.

Half way through the day, I was already mentally writing a "Curse #28" post about Dutch Wonderland in my head. I even took a picture of the animatronic bears as one of the reasons I hated it. (Seriously, are those not the creepiest?)


However I also saw this all day...


and this....
***Warning***Do not try to take a picture on the dizzy turtle. You will get really sick looking through the view finder.

and this...

My experience completely changed when I tuned out all the annoying background noise (and animatronic bears) and focused on what was really important. When my focus changed, Dutch Wonderland moved from Curse #28 to Blessing #81.