Gift of Love

This year has been a year of blessings, a year of trial, and a year of learning. We have laughed and cried, battled and made peace, and spent and saved. This Christmas we made the decision not to purchase anything on credit cards. Those darn things anyway are a bunch of trouble and no good! We had it in our plans what we were going to do for our kids' presents........we do have 3 kids. So, on November 30th my husband got paid and paid all the bills. It felt WONDERFUL to pay everything on time for the month of December. It felt so wonderful that my husband felt like he could pay one of the bills ahead........well, come to find out later that it wasn't such a great idea. The VERY NEXT DAY some lady hit us on the way to watch my oldest daughter cheer for her elementary school basketball team! This lady evidently had no auto insurance and begged us to not report it. So my compassionate husband let it go and we had to purchase a new tire. So between paying the bill ahead and purchasing a rather large tire for a Hemi Truck, there was $600 not in our wallets right before Christmas. Ok, now fast forward to a few days ago..........we barely scrimped by to get the kiddos' presents and their shopping is done. But now my husband and I feel really bad that we cannot do anything for each other or the neighbors as we had originally planned. I did make the aftershave, which he will get some, along with all the other men in the family. But I had plans to get him a Shoulder Holster for his pistol and some stocking stuffers. Well.....looks like that will have to wait for his birthday. Love.......All we need is love.....right? When our kids open their presents on Christmas morning, we will know that we provided for them and that we have each other. It will feel great watching their faces as they open each gift. After all, if my husband and I love each other through the hard times, then we are giving our children the best gift of all.....the "Gift of Love".

Yay! 2 projects finally finished.

Twine Wrapped Box

This project took me quite a while to finish. I believe I had started it sometime in September, but due to my 1 yr old becoming mobile, I procrastinated finishing. For some reason hot glue guns and toddlers don't mix. So if you work on this project, be sure to have alone time set aside, because you will wrap and wrap and wrap twine. I guess I could have chosen a smaller container for my first dealing with this, but as usually I go big with my ideas. I had a diaper box and the perfect spot to put it after completion. The Jute Twine is not expensive at all. 1 roll of twine was less than $2 at Walmart. So really this project cost me mostly time.

I'm wrapping......I'm wrapping......I'm wrapping...... Woo!

Yay! I made it to the top! Any spots that are gaped, I went back and filled them in with the twine.. It took 1 whole roll of twine, plus just a little bit of another.

Here it is temporarily completed. And what I mean by "temporarily" is I put some ribbon on the edges. I'm going to make another box just like this one and make a fabric insert. But I don't have the fabric yet. We are going to repaint the living room and want to find something that coordinates.

So for now, I have books in my box and have it under the end table. It looks so darn cute. It beats paying for the expensive boxes that look similar. But just remember, it does take time.


Re-purposed Baby Food Jar Magnetic Spice Containers

This is a project that had been kicking around for a while too. I just couldn't find magnets that I considered strong enough, therefore the procrastination. So, we have a surplus of baby food jars, because we had reused them last year to make our own baby food. I had seen some other uses for baby food jars and spices, but had not seen them on the side of the fridge. I had one of the old wooden counter top spice racks from the 90's and decided it was best to retire it. I wanted the counter space.

As you see here the picture shows 2 magnets on each jar. I had to go back and add a 3rd magnet, to hold it to the fridge with the spices in them. I painted each lid with 2 coats of chalk board paint and let cure for 24 hours.

Here they are curing on the side of my fridge.

Spices are in the jars and lids are labeled with chalk. It helps if you sharpen the end of the chalk to get a finer tip for writing. I LOVE them! And I'm going to make more, because I have so many more jars and spices. So practical and they're not on my counter top.

Homemade Bay Rum Aftershave

In a previous post I mentioned that I had purchased some Bay Essential Oil from our Local drugstore. Today I put it to good use. Homemade Bay Rum Aftershave. It smells divine. And I cannot wait to go shopping tomorrow to find some cute little bottles to put it in. I found a recipe online for this aftershave and immediately thought of my husband. He loves that Old Barber Shop look and smell. (We both love the 40's and 50's vintage look. I'll have to write about that another day).

 

All my ingredients, except the cinnamon. I added it last minute.

I felt really strange walking into the liquor store, almost 7 months pregnant with a 13 month old propped up on my hip. I walked in the door and said, "I'm looking for some cheap Vodka and Rum. Can you tell me where they are?" The man behind the counter looked at me kinda puzzled. I said, "I'm making aftershave for Christmas presents and it doesn't need to be expensive stuff, because no body's gonna drink it.". He looked relieved and showed me where they were.

 

Be sure to use the real stuff and not the stuff you cook with.

 

Looks a little bit like muddy apple juice.

 

*Do not drink this stuff! It's not a cocktail!



I didn't follow the recipe exactly, although I did use it as a guideline. I'll post my recipe and then post a link to the other.

My recipe is as follows:
1/2 of a 375ml bottle of Dark or Spiced Rum
1/2 Liter of Vodka
1/2 Tbsp. Whole cloves
1/4 bottle of a 1/3 oz bottle of Bay Essential Oil (Pimenta Racemosa West Indies)
Zest from 1 orange
A few dashes of Cinnamon

Pour all of these into a mason jar and give a nice shake. I plan on leaving these in a dark/cool place until I need to fill my bottles, Which should be at least 2 weeks. And then strain out all of the solid material several times through a cheesecloth or coffee filters until no residue.

Here is a link to the other recipes: DIY Bay Rum Aftershave

So enjoy! This fragrance isn't for everyone. Although all the men in the family are getting this for Christmas. HaHa! Like it or not. It's not cheap to make. The Liquor was $18, oranges $0.58 each, Bay Oil $7, not counting the spices and what I'll have to spend on bottles. But a little of this stuff goes a long way.

 

 

Merry Christmas!!!

Ho Hum Day

I don't have anything specific to post about today. I have several projects that I'm currently working on. I heard it's a family gene that makes us have about 50 projects going at one time, but none of them finished. HeeHee!

Let's see..... First I have baby food spice jars- It is taking me quite a while to find magnets strong enough to hold the glass side of a baby food jar to the side of my refrigerator. I may have to go to a hardware store. The craft stores around here just have the same stuff. I tried out 4 of them, but had to put 2 magnets side by side. And that is just not good enough for me. I want something stronger. Next I plan to paint the lids with chalkboard paint and write the name of the spice or herb in chalk. This is going to replace my counter top spice rack and go on the side of my refrigerator, which is close to my stove. Definitely need more counter top space in this house.

Second, I have made a few sweater purses from wool sweater, bought at Goodwill. I felted the sweaters in my washer and dryer, then cut off the sleeves and deepened the neckline. Now they look like fun totes. I used some of the extra fabric and made cute little roses and flowers. The last one was multicolored and striped. So, I didn't think it would look right with flowers. So, I made a pocket for the front and then will sew on a large button to match.

 

 

 

 

 

There you have it. Cute little purse totes. I have to say my favorite is the cream colored one. It was a really pretty sweater to start off with. Next time I think I will hit up Goodwill on Half Price Day. These sweaters were $6 each. Not counting all the time, sewing, washing, and drying I put into them. Fun project tho.

 

 

My next project that I need to put together really soon is Bay Rum Men's Aftershave. My husband loves that old barber shop look and smell. I found a great recipe, but have yet to purchase the vodka and rum. We usually don't keep those things around at the house. Oh, also I have to get an orange, for the zest. But I do have the bay oil and cloves. This stuff is going to smell fantastic. Hopefully this Friday I can go to Old Time Pottery and find some small glass bottles to put this in and give away for Christmas presents to the men in my life. I will post more on this when I get everything together.

 

And next on my list after that, is Painted Letters for the 4 kiddos. I also want to yank some of the wild grapevine out of my tree from the backyard and make a Christmas wreath, before Christmas is gone. I should have enough vine, if I can just reach it.

 

Looks like I've got a lot to keep me busy...........

 

 



Lavender Body Scrub

Today I picked up some Lavender Essential Oil and Bay Oil (I'll tell you about this one later) from our local Drug Store. This drug store is not just a drug store. They have all types of gifts, food oils, flavorings, and novelty items. It's been around FOREVER.

I wanted to make a cheap homemade gift for some family members. I had some cute little glass canisters and some empty baby food jars kicking around, and wanted to put them to good use. This is what I used to make Lavender Body Scrub:

I started by pouring about half of the bag of sugar in a large bowl.....so about 5lbs of sugar. Then I added a few drops of purple food coloring. Not too much! You don't want to turn your skin purple. I added just enough color to give the sugar a nice lavender hue. Then I stirred in about half of the Olive oil....which was about 1 cup. You can use more or less to get the consistency that you want. And it took about half of the lavender oil. I kept adding more drops until the scent was strong enough for me. Not sure, but sometimes scents will intensify when added to other things. So we'll see how it smells later.

 

 

Here it is all mixed up. As you see it's lightly colored.

 

 

 

And now they're in my cute little glass canisters. I'm going to paint the lids on the baby food jars and tie some twine and a tag on them. CUTE! Not to mention my house smells wonderful!

 

 

I hope everyone enjoys their Body Scrub. Merry Christmas!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Update!!!

 

 

I now have a picture of the finished product. And I love it! Hope my family loves it too.

 









Overnight, Slow Cooker, Pumpkin Pie Steel-cut Oatmeal

My 1 year old absolutely LOVES oatmeal. So, when I make it for her, I usually make my self some too. But unlike her, I get bored of it real fast. I wanted to try something new....something fall-ish.....something warm and festive....now that the holidays are getting closer. I opened up Pinterest and started going through all those recipes that I have pinned and came across "Overnight, Slow Cooker, Pumpkin Pie Steel-cut Oatmeal". It sounded yummy. I had made a different version of the oatmeal before, but this cought my eye. We all love Pumpkin Pie, so we would probably all like this.

 

Here is the link to the recipe.

 

 

 

I will say I liked it, and so did my 1 year old. Big Brother and Big Sister didn't take to it as much. And they choked it down. We all had it with maple syrup drizzled over the top. It would also be great topped with nuts.

 

 

Try it out! To each his own. You are usually either an oatmeal eater or not. My husband will not touch the stuff. But the rest of us love it.

Pizza Night

Last night I opened up the refrigerator and looked around for something to make for dinner. In the back of my mind, I was thinking "I cannot wait to go grocery shopping tomorrow. There's nothing in here.". Ok, then I spotted a block of mozzarella cheese. Then it hit me! I've got a jar of spaghetti sauce, whole wheat flour, yeast, veggies, and some ham (that needed to be eaten). Plus the kids absolutely LOVE to make homemade pizzas. So....PIZZA IT WAS!

 

 

The first one was the "Grown-up" pizza. We started with the recipe off of the back of the Rapid Rise Pizza Dough Yeast packet. It's never failed me. So easy and it always turns out. We added sauce, sprinkled some oregano and freshly shredded mozzarella. To make this a "grown-up" version we sliced tomatoes, bell pepper, and onion. Used half of the left over ham, found some bacon bits....and Voila! It's ready to go into the oven.

 

 

 

 

Delish!!! It turned out great.

 

 

The kiddos version was the same.....minus the veggies. Ham and Bacon. Here's the before.....

 

 

 

And here's the after..... Doesn't it look yummy!

 

 

 

It may be easier to buy a frozen pizza or order out, which we do occasionally. But the real reason I love making homemade pizza, is to get my kids into the kitchen with me and have fun while enjoying each other's company and conversation. And no Delivery or Frozen pizza can spark those kind of family memories.

 

We didn't make pizza; we made memories.......









Monday, Monday

Ok, well as you know, today is Monday. The most dreaded day of the week. Why must we dread this day? It's a day like any other..... I guess for all of us procrastinators out there, this is the day that we would procrastinate. Work....School....kids.....schedules.....all that comes back into play, today. Some people live for a regimented lifestyle. Not me. I hate mornings. I love having my older kids home. I actually love when my kids are on break from school. They are such a joy to have here. I hate sending them away.

My husband is currently employed by the government and goes to school at night. He works so hard to give us what we need, and I'm so thankful that he does that for us. 4:30 am comes awfully early to get up for work and 9:30 pm is really late to be getting home from school, but he does it every weekday. I won't say without some complaining, but his heart is in it for us.

Oh dreaded Monday, being a SAHM has its ups and downs too. We have 2 older children, ages 10 and 12, and a 1 year old. Oh, and I'm expecting again, due in a couple months. So Mondays to me mean:

1. 4:30 am-Wake husband up
2. 4:35 am-Wake husband up again
3. 4:38 am-Finally kick husband out of bed
4. 4:40 am-Iron husband's work clothes
5. 4:55 am-Crawl back to bed and lay awake until 5:45 am
6. 6:15 am- Get big kids up, fed, packed, little one up, and dressed to get out the door
7. 7:20 am-And we are out the door......hoping that they remembered their folders and lunch boxes.
(I cannot tell you how many times we have been down the road and someone has forgot something)
8. 7:45 am-The little on and I arrive back home and make our breakfast
9. 8:45 am-Little one lays down for a morning nap, and I do stuff like type on here, chores, TV..etc....
10. 10 am- Little on wakes up
11. 11 am- Lunch
12. 12:30 pm-Yippee! Another nap! More laundry, dishes, mopping, etc....for me
13. 2:30 pm-Little one wakes up and we head out to pick up big kids from school
14. 3:15 pm- We arrive home. Snack provided, chores done, and homework done, and I work on dinner
15. 5-5:30 pm-Dinner is served
16. 6:30 pm-Clean up from dinner, TV time with the kids, and mom puts her feet up for a few minutes
17. 7 pm- Little one is in bed, and I pick up the living room
18. 8:30- Big kids head to bed and I relax until my husband gets home
19. 8:30-9:45 pm- Somewhere in this time slot my husband gets home from school. I heat up his dinner, sit and talk to him and watch TV for a bit and by 10pm we are both in bed.

AND TOMORROW IT STARTS ALL OVER.

Nobody can tell me that a stay at home mom has it easy. I bust my butt for everyone else, making sure they are fed, clean, clothes, and healthy. My wants and needs usually come after theirs . Although, my husband is pretty good about making sure I'm remembered too. I love being a wife and mother, and I couldn't imagine doing it any other way. I've been to single, working mom.....NOT where my heart is. My heart is for my family. And I love them.

Yes, I can take a day off!

Today is Wednesday. I haven't had much to do, but just the normal pick-up around the house. I don't mind doing those kind of chores. I'm still in my PJ's and it's now a few minutes after 1pm. It's just one of those days that I wanted to be lazy. No baking, no crafts, no party planning......you get the picture. I know you have days like that too.

Braely's party was a hit last Saturday. Everything went perfect as planned, under a little pressure, and lots of help from my Mom and my Husband. I can't thank them enough. The table was beautiful, adorned with pink and white striped fabric, pops of hot pink, and a yummy Neopolitan Cake. I can't wait for our photographer to post our pictures. As busy as we were, none of us remembered to bring our own cameras. Otherwise I would be posting the heck out of some pictures. This was my first venture on party planning. I can't wait to do more. It was amazing to see everything that I had imagined just fall right into place. Most of our expenses were for food and not for decorations. I spent very little on decor. Goodwill and The Attic Outlet were my best friends. And some things I was able to use from home. Braelynn had a blast and was on a sugar high all evening. But that's what it was all about. Our little sweetie turned 1 and it was her day. There were quite a few family members that were not able to come, so a photographer was a must in order to preserve the memories of this occasion.

So now that I had some spare time, I thought I'd write. These next few days are filled with 1 year check-ups, OB visits, a Hello Kitty Cake, and a 3D dinosaur cake. I'm really excited about that dinosaur one. It will be a challenge, but I think it will be great. I'll try to post some pics of it next week.

And If I don't post before next week, Have a Happy Thanksgiving! And God Bless!

Braelynn's First Birthday Party

We are so excited to be having Braelynn's first birthday party at my parents' house in 2 days! It is a Vintage Ice Cream Parlour Theme. I have made nearly all of the decorations, some are Pinterest inspirations, and others are my own ideas. I love crafts and making things, always have.

 

Here is just one of the things I have made for her party. It's a Party Hat made out of Crape Paper and a Sugar Cone. Something I saw on Pinterest, but I think I did a much better job than the one I saw online.

 

You can see some of the backboard that I made for her table, along with the flag pendant with her name on it. All of the material I got half off at Goodwill. It's just old curtains and sheets that I washed and used. This will be a very elegant, but yet budget friendly party.

 

 

Of course I will be making her cake and all the food. My oldest daughter and I even made mini ice cream cone cake pops to match her cake. We will be having a professional photographer at her party, so I will do my best to put up pics as soon as I get them. Magic in the making.

 

A Follow-up to the Last Pictures

Well here they are. The pics we have all been waiting on. Ariel and the superhero cakes.

Also some cookies in the mix. I always have alot of fun.
TTFN....until next time.

The Start of Something New

I'm am so excited to now have a home desktop computer and internet. Trying to achieve everything I needed to do on the internet from an Android phone was kinda complicated. I'm really hoping to add pictures and keep this Blog updated more often. All of my creative juices, baking, gardening, sewing, canning, and all of my homemade goodies need somewhere to go other than Facebook. FB is quite boring now and no one wants to listen about all of my homestead experiments anyway.

This weekend I am making a 3-tier Superhero cake. Yes, the customer had a pic of a cake she wants me to reproduce. I do like it when the customer knows what they want, but I also like it when I have free rein to be creative. Some of my best pieces are born out of pure creative inspiration. Along with this cake I am decorating 24 sugar cookies in the same theme. Also I received a call from a lady wondering if I would donate a baked good to a benefit auction for her grandfather who has cancer. Of course I would. I usually donate at least a dozen cupcakes for causes such as this. Cupcakes are always a hit and can be easily shared. The next day I am making a 2-tier Little Mermaid Cake. The customer brought over today a topper she had ordered. Her little girl is so cute and such a little talker. The best part of making cakes for people is seeing them enjoy them. And I absolutely love to see smiles on the little ones faces. Memories are made.

Here is a pic that the customer sent me pf the Little mermaid cake.

And the Superhero Cake.

I'm really hoping that these turn out better than the pics they sent me.

Have a great day and hope to be posting more pics soon.