Have to do a little braggin'

on my precious baby boy. Well, don't let him know I called him " baby" as he hates that. He is a full grown 8 year old boy... :)

I was at his school Christmas party and this lady brought him in a gift and not the other kids. I asked him what it was for and he told me the most precious story that brought joyous tears to my eyes. There is this little blind boy at his school. At recess time he went and played with the boy and was very nice to him. So, his teacher brought Justin a gift for being so sweet.

That has to be one of the most proudest mommy moments I could ever ask for.

Snow

Oh how beautiful the snow was.

It was nice driving in neighborhoods and seeing people out playing in the snow. I saw a ton of snowmen in yards and even on cars.

My kids got to enjoy the snow as did my husband. Kara and Justin were in the front yard playing while I was videoing them. Warren came from the back of the house and had a surprise attack on all of us. He had a jacket full of snowballs, lol.

We live on a culdesac and just about everybody on it was out playing - so exciting hearing and seeing all the laughter.

It saddens my heart to see the snow melting. I will forever remember the time when all I heard was laughter outside. I just wish we could all be like that year round towards each other. Funny how something like snow can bring all this cheer, but if it was just the cold weather you wouldn't see all the smiles....

Christmas Music online...

I know I am on a roll - but I am finally getting a little free time so I can post some things, lol.

I keep my computer set to ksbj.com and play Christmas music all day long. I just love this time of year!

Homemade laundry detergent...

Here is a recipe for a laundry detergent that will save you lots of money plus make your clothes cleaner and brighter. All items are found at the Kroger on Longmire.


Now you can either do this as a powder or a gel. If you want gel the directions are as below.

1/3 bar Fels Naptha, grated.
1/2 cup Arm & Hammer washing soda
1/2 cup borax powder
2 gallon size bucket

Put grated soap in large saucepan. Add 6 cups water and heat it until soap melts. Add washing soda and borax and stir until it is dissolved. Remove from heat. Pour 4 cups hot water into bucket. Add soap mixture and stir. Add 1 gallon plus 6 cups of water and stir. Let the soap sit for about 24 hours and it will gel. Use 1/2 cup per load. It will be a low sudsing soap.

Now if you want a powder detergent just grate the fels naptha in a food processor on the smallest disk until you get a powdery substance. Mix with the rest of the ingredients and you are done and ready to wash clothes. You would only add 2 tablespoons of the powder per load.

Exfoliating your face...

Who would have known you could exfoliate your face with ingredients you have in your home. I have such oily skin (yet dry in places) and back last January I asked some very good online friends what can I do for my face as when I put on makeup I see dry flaky skin so I just choose not to wear it since it looks stupid, lol.

Well, I finally pulled the recipe yesterday and I have to say that even this morning my face looks "clean" with no flakes at all.

The recipe - Grind up oatmeal in your blender. Mix with grapeseed oil to make a paste. Apply to face, but not around the eyes. Rinse with warm water. If you have sensitive skin you would use buttermilk in place of the oil. You can find grapeseed oil at the grocery store in a green can with all the other oils. Your face will feel so soft afterwards and you, I promise you, will not believe how soft it is.

Now, I do make my own body scrubs with plain white sugar and regular soy oil (100% vegetable oil). You can also use brown sugar or ground coffee for your scrub. I need to make some up as I haven't done this in a while. Oh, if you do make some up just make up enough to use and throw the rest away - you don't want to keep it as it can get "beasties" growing in it (bacteria). When I make mine I use a preservative, but I also don't put wet hands in it so I can reuse it.

Made in America...

Why are the grocery stores buying fish from China???

We have started buying Tilapia from Wal-Mart. I noticed at the fresh fish counter that it states "product from China". I thought...What? Why would they buy fish from China. I then saw Tilapia in the frozen section and the box also stated "product from China"...UGH! Well, I have to admit that I buy it anyway, because how else will I get it? I can't go out and catch it myself!

We decided to try a different fish. So, I go looking again and I see perch. I think, there is no way perch is from China, right? WRONG! Now tell me, with all the lakes AND fisherman in the states why are they buying perch of all things from so far away? I am just so baffled why the governnment doesn't regulate our foods a little better!

Another thing, what happened to all the "made in America/USA" signs we used to see years ago - they are long gone. I can't say when I saw it last. That used to be a major advertising slogan but you don't hear it anymore - or if you do it is very rare. They say our economy is bad - well no wonder. Everything we buy is from overseas - we are not supporting the American farmer, the fisherman or basically any manufacturer here in the states anymore.

Expired pancake mix warning...

Check out snopes about a warning on expired pancake mix. The yeast will mold and can be fatal if you prepare expired pancake mix. Who would have thought? I know I am bad about buying pancake mix and having it "forever" before it is all used up. I believe the article also mentions bisquits and brownie mixes as well - check those dates. However, I can honestly say that no brownie mix in my home will last past the expired date. Bisquits maybe, but definitely not brownies!

My MIL...

My MIL has never really liked me - though not sure why as I would always clean her house when I go there. There always seemed to be dusting needed of all her never ending knicknacks! And I always washed the dishes at family gatherings so you would think that she liked me, huh? Anyway, she is very ill with lung cancer, has emphazema and is on hospice. I had to go to her house with Justin so he could say" hi" to his mammaw and grandaddy about a month ago when we were in their town doing a craft show. My little man just wouldn't let me leave town without going to see his grandparents, lol. So, we arrive around 7:30 p.m. I fix her dinner (there was actually explicit directions from my MIL on how to do this, of course). I help her get up and wash her face and guess what I did? I spill her expensive face cleaner all over her and the counter - I didn't know it was powder cleaner so when I opened it it just flew out - I had never heard of powder cleaner before in my life! She didn't seem to be upset with me and believe me I was a shaking, lol. I then get her back in her bed and arrange her zillion pillows around her so she can be comfortable. Then I tell her I will rub lotion on her feet because she said her feet are bothering her. She asks me to use her face cream - now this stuff cost $280 for a tub of it and I am not joking. I tell her are you sure you want me to use that and she said yes and that if I had something to put it in I could take some home with me. I tell her I am fine - maybe I should have taken some home, ya think? Anyway, I proceed and rub her feet and then offer to clip her toenails as they were so out of shape. And lo and behold guess what? She calls Kara last week and actually asks about me and said to tell Paula I love her!!! I am not joking. So, I told my husband that I should have clipped his mother's toenails many years ago! Yep - not kidding - clipping toenails must be the gateway to MIL's and DIL's - who would have thought? I thought I was doing all the right things by coming to her home and helping out but apparently it was the more personal things that she was needing. Or, maybe she has had time to think as her life is nearing the end about how we never really got to know each other. Whatever, I am actually enjoying getting to spend time with my "new" MIL and really getting to know her. I am leaving soon to go spend the day with her as Warren is at a Sami Show working with the girls and we will all meet up later at his parents house. Maybe I should bring me a tub for some of that cream - I make body butter and I have the containers here so maybe....., lol. I wonder if the offer will still be good.....

Justin has been diagnosed..

with ADHD. He has really been a handful lately with struggling this past year with school work. The school tested him and he didn't have a learning disorder so they recommended he get testing for an attention disorder. Got the results in last weekand he was diagnosed with ADHD. He started taking meds this morning. His teacher actually e-mailed me with an improvement in his behavior and the best part is they didn't even know he was starting his meds because I hadn't told them yet. So, lets hope he continues to improve and get some good grades from now on. I am still not sure I am happy that he is taking meds on a daily basis though.

Family matters...

Warren has us started on a daily family bible study. One thing I want is for us and our home to glorify God and I am so excited. I felt like we were losing touch and so glad that we are getting back on track.

School

Things have been pretty busy for us. So glad the kids are back in school. Yesterday I got a call from Brittany at the high school that she forgot her literature book. Had to run that to her. Then, about an hour after getting back home I get a call from Shelbi that she needs something brought to her. What is going on with these girls? But, what is funny as I pick them up from school Brittany said she never even went t o pick up her book from the office! Then this morning as I am taking the kids to school Brittany says "wait, I forgot my literature book". I tell her no you didn't because you told me you never went to get it yesterday! She says, "oh yea". (lol). They are so funny.

I am so very thankful that Hurricane Gustav wasn't as bad as they had predicted and that everyone evacuated. My sister lives in New Orleans and she left on Saturday to go to Memphis. She wasn't waiting for another Hurricane to hit like Katrina! Now we have to pray that Hannah, Ike and Josephine are not catastrophic and that if they do head towards the gulf that people will evacuate again. I am so thankful that we don't live too close to the coast - I dont' know how I would be able to stand evacuating so many times in a hurricane season.

Well, I closed the store and garage cleaning...

I missed my jammies too much. Nah, just kidding. I didn't like "not knowing" what my kids were doing after school and we even had some grades slipping. So, I am back at home now that Summer is here and loving it. I can also volunteer at the 3 schools now and really get involved - which is what I was wanting to do anyway. Now I can monitor homework and help out when they need it. I am so excited, lol.

I still have my website which does pretty well on its on. I need to update a few things on there and get more fragrances listed. And we do the craft shows and festivals - which we really love because then we get to meet customers and hear their wonderful comments on our candles. We where at a festival last year and this one festival we do twice a year. I guess one lady bought a candle at one of the festivals and she came back at the next one 6 months later and we heard her telling her friend "now, there is my candle". That was so great to hear from a customer, lol. I am just glad to know I can still work and stay at home - Yay me! I didn't realize I had the best of both worlds when I had them and now that I have them again I want to cherish every moment.

We are getting the garage cleaned out so I can work and store my supplies in. We had a garage sale this weekend and one lady bought our china cabinet that has been an "eyesore" in my garage for 2 years. I really hated to get rid of that cabinet since Warren's mother bought it when Warren was about 5 years old and they really don' t make furniture that well anymore - but it just wasn't our "look". It was dark wood and I tend to like the lighter colors so it didn't fit in with the look of our home. Plus, I have Warren's grandmother's china hutch. Not as nice or fancy, more simple and it doesn't have the glass display or the light, but I cherish it much more. But sad thing is, even though we sold the chine cabinet it is still in our gargage, lol. She said she would come and get it Sunday afternoon and what is today? Tuesday, lol. Hopefully she didn't forget she bought it. We wrote down our address and phone number for her but didn't think to get her information in case she forgot she bought it, lol. Oh well, maybe "someday" she will remember she bought it and come and pick it up!

Now tell me - do people not know what a Bunn coffe pot is? I had one in our garage sale (the knew style at that and only put $40 on it - way much lower than the new price) and it is still sitting in my garage!!! I tell ya, if I was to go to a garage sale and saw a Bunn pot and didn't have one I would grab it up in a heartbeat, lol. We have managed to get two Bunn's and I don't like storing things so I thought I would get rid of it. Everybody that came to our garage sale was wanting penny priced items, lol. My neighbor is having a garage sale next week so I will just put it in her garage sale and see if it sales. If not, then maybe I am supposed to keep it, lol. But really why would you need two Bunns - they are warranted and you get replacement parts from Bunn free - or at least you used to. I threw out my first Bunn not knowing this...hehe. Warren's parents are always buying Bunn's so this is how we get every Bunn that we have ever had - with the exception of one that I bought years ago.

Anyway, I am loving my garage - Warren brought in my treadmill - boy that thing will work ya out. We put it in my living room as I don't think it will go in my bedroom - the treadmill is monster sized. He still needs to get my stair climber out of the garage. That thing will work you out also. I used to use it for one hour every day - not sure I will even be able to make it 5 minutes right now as I had to work up from like 3 minutes and add a little more every day just to get to one hour! Hopefully, I will one day get back up to an hour. I haven't used it in 2 years...hehe. I let my sister use it and it just sat there in her house so I asked her for it back so I could use it. I put it in my garage with my treadmill and they both just sat there for over a year. It is way too hot to work out in a garage so we are putting them in our living room. I know, not so pretty, but hey gotta get some use out of them, right? I can now flip on the tv and work away, lol.

Anyway, my garage is getting cleaned out. I still need to put up all the garage sale tables so I can park in there again - I just "hate" putting things away, lol. I love getting things out, but when it comes to putting them away that is a whole other story! I have a few things to put into the attic - Warren's humongous cooler for when he goes deer hunting - yep, been in our garage since November! Put Warren's old golf clubs back in the attic - or maybe sell them at my neighbors garage sale - I put $20 on them but nobody even looked. Maybe I will lower the price. Warren told me he paid a pretty penny for them brand new. Anyway, I just hate keeping things that aren't being used so I don't want them in my attic! I will be taking some things to the mission to give away. My garage is going to look "new" when I am finished, lol. I just wish we had a shed to put Warren's mower in - he bought this huge mower and it takes up half the garage - no I am not kidding! That thing is huge! I would love a shed to keep his mower, blower, weed eater, well anything yard related in. They have stipulations here what kind of shed you can put up - I believe if it is over the fence then it has to have a shingled roof and unfortunately for us I don't think Warren's mower will fit in a smaller shed - we would need the tall one that requires the shingles and they are a bit more pricey!

Another thing I would love to have in my garage are windows. Why don't we have them in our garage? Why doesn't every garage have windows? We were at Staci Stellges' last week and I think she had 3 windows - I know for a fact that she had 2 - lucky her!

Well, gotta get off here and clean up the house a bit!

Game Night...

We had a game night here last week with Don and Kelli, Sherman and Rachel, Jon and Kristen and Libby. What a great time we had. We played MadGab and that Rachel has got a very quick witted mind. She got the answers almost immediately. If we ever play again I want to be on her team! We started out playing the correct way - just 3 phrases at a time, but then it got too boring so we answered all the "phrases" on the 3 cards which made it 12 at a time. What is funny, we still had time from our 3 minutes even though we upped it to 12. Not really much of a challenge there, huh?

Next day Rachel and Kristen came over and we scrapbooked - I had so much fun since I haven't scrapbooked in over 2 years. Libby came by after her job interview (good luck, Libby - 3 days to go till ya hear something) and she even managed to put together a couple of pages. Rachel and Kristen had fun with my heat gun and embossed quite a few things - Rachel has such pretty "free handwriting" - she would just write out a phrase or word with the emboss pen and then shake the emboss powder on and heat gun away. Came out beautifully everytime. Wish I had perfect handwriting. Sometimes, I have to read and reread my writing to even come close to know what I wrote, lol.

Wildflower Pictures and Taxes...

I am posting this here so that it will remind me to get it done. I have found a spot for pictures that I want to take my kids to but just get too busy to do it. So, I am thinking that if I post that I am going to do it then I will get it done...Yeah! Lets see if it works, lol.

Well, I finally finished up my part of our taxes yesterday. Now it is time to give it to our accountant. My head felt like it was going to burst yesterday while working on them. I started at 8:30 a.m. and didn't finished until around 9:30 last night. Fed my family grilled cheeses last night as it was just about the easiest and quickest dinner I could think of so I could continue on with our taxes. I didn't even stop for lunch and I was starving by dinner time, lol. Lets hope the accountant can give us some "good" news on our taxes.

Well I did it...

I opened a store. I am scared at times and I really miss being able to wear my jammies all day long. Sometimes, I think "what was I thinking of opening a store"! I mean, I really miss my jammies! However, I have actually been blessed in some of the people that I have met at the shop so I don't think I would give this up at least not yet anyway. Now maybe when my lease expires, who knows!

After I opened the store I started volunteering at the school and I really enjoy that and wish I could do more than I am able. I will have two kids at the high school next year and one more the next year. They are growing up so fast and I don't want to miss out on all I could have done by working.

One good plus about having the store is that my house is pretty much cleared of all the candle "stuff". You couldn't get in my kitchen before the store - my counters were full of melting pots, oils (and ask my husband when you see him how a fragrant sandwhich tastes, lol). I still laugh when I think of him tasting the fragrance oil ...hehehe. He made the funniest face!

Another plus having it out of the house is I don't work as much. When it was here I couldn't stop working because it was here and I had to fill wholesale orders, get ready for a festival or fill a web order. It was so hard not to work when all my supplies was here 24/7. Now I am able to leave my shop at 5:30 and if it didn't get done then it waits till the next day. My family really came last when my "stuff" was here so that has been a blessing for our family to get it out of the house as our house is more of a home now.

Well, I got to get off the computer now and get busy on our taxes...UGH! Time is running out so I am in a rush to get it done and I haven't even started gathering everything yet...Yikes!

Oprah...

Have you heard about the "Oprah Church"?

If you haven't, here is the link.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=JW4LLwkgmqA