Coaster of Life

It's been a long, crazy, absolutely lovely, sad week!
My brother and his family came for Thanksgiving - Start Climbing!
My good friend miscarried at 15 weeks - the first descent (hold your breath!)
Friends from church celebrated Thanksgiving dinner with us - On the way back up!! (Here we go again!)
My friend ended up in the OR and it was too dern scary for a minute - All the way down we go now!(The Screaming starts now!)

Our guest, Michael John Poirier, arrived! - On the climb again!(No time to catch your breath!)
My brother and his family had to head back home!- The final descent(Holy Moly!)
Lovely mini retreat "concert" with Michael and our parish - take that last sharp turn! ( Blood is pumpin')
The retreat is over, the family and friends are back to work..- pulling into the brake house, the ride is over. **sigh**

I thank God for this last weekend. It has been life changing in a way. Oh and did I mention it's Advent! As I wait for the arrival of my Lord, I also await the arrival of our little gift from God. I cannot ever give Him near the joy that He has blessed me with in my children. Because I delight so much in the reaction of the receiver it is a humbling experience for me. He is so patient.

The words from one of Michael's songs have been with me all weekend..

May you be magnified, O Lord.
May you be magnified, O Lord.


Pecan Trees

Charity

Last year I participated in this great little volunteer thingy. It's called the Angel Project. I know, I know..volunteer again? Aren't you already doing that at your church, your kids school etc. Well maybe, but this is soooo easy! You don't even have to leave your own home to make a difference in someones life and it costs pennies! Literally! You can probably pay for this with the pennies in your couch!

From The Angel Project website:

Here is how this works for Volunteers:

1. Email me to sign up to be a Card Angel

2. On or around the Week of December 8th, 2010, I will send an email to all of the volunteers who sign up to be Card Angels. The complete list will not be sent before then.

3. In that email, there will be a link for you to access that will have the names, addresses and stories of all of the people that we will be sending cards to this year.

4. You can print that list if you would like. Once you have the list, then you get your Christmas Cards from a store or make them yourselves (which can be fun!).

5. You fill them out however you would like, address them, put them in the mail, and YAY!!! You've just touched someone's life in a very positive way! :o)

**REMEMBER to get your cards in the mail no later than about December 18th or they might not make it there by Christmas!**

Ya know, this is just too easy. I hope you will join me in this project. To make it even easier, you don't have to leave a comment telling me you will :).

Here's a song line you can hum (if you know the tune...) "It's the most wonderful time of the year!"

I'm Going Nuts!

otherwise knows as Pecans Pecans! I wanted to post a pictorial of the whole process for Sarah..but my camera battery died. I am charging it now and should have some photos for ya tomorra!

Needless to say I've managed to pick about 5 lbs of pecans. I'm not sure what the yield will be shelled (my kitchen scale decided to die this week as well) but I'm guessing I've got at least 3 lbs. We'll be eating them up pretty quick with Thanksgiving right around the corner and pecan pie on the menu. As well as pecan crusted sweet potatoes and Amish friendship bread as well.

With pecans going for $5.79 a lb, I'm quite happy with the savings. I'll be out this week to pick some more before the season is all done. I'd like to give some to my family that visits this week. Hey, this state may be known for it's fruit, but it's really the nuts that take the cake(and make the money) around here.

I'm lovin' being pregnant! The baby is moving all over and let me tell ya, there is nothing, I mean NOTHING, like that feeling. It is truly amazing! What's even more amazing is that I can share the entire process with my older children. That makes it truly special to me.

I wish I could have all of you over to the house for dinner on Thursday. I have a big house, though not as big as ol' Pioneer Woman's ranch and definitely not as decked out, but it sure would be fun! Blessings to all of you!

Who's Really Winning?

So the headline read something about the terrorists have won! This was a day or two ago when the story on the body scanner/extremely unfriendly pat downs broke.

But I have to ask...who are the "terrorists"? Could it be that these so called terrorists that are taking away our American freedoms are the very same ones sworn to uphold them.

Maybe I'm wrong, but I think that this is just one more way the (good ol'wanna be socialist) gov't we have leading us right now, can humiliate (what they want to be) the proletariat.

Bake Off Photos

The Contestants

We had to keep the judges secluded. :)

3rd place cake winner. Carrot Cake. Yum!

The Grandprize Winner. Irish Creme Cake with Almonds!


1st place in Cookies - Mine!!! Recipe below.

Chocolate and Peanut Butter sandwich cookies:

* FOR THE COOKIE:
* 2 Eggs
* ½ cups Vegetable Oil
* ¼ cups All-purpose Flour
* 1 box Devil's Food Cake Mix

* FOR THE FROSTING:
* 4 ounces Cream Cheese, softened
* ¾ cups creamy Peanut Butter
* 1 teaspoon Vanilla Extract
* 2-½ cups Powdered Sugar
* 3 Tablespoons Milk


to make the cookies:

Preheat oven to 350ºF. Whisk eggs and oil in a medium bowl. Mix in flour and cake mix until well blended. Roll into 1 inch balls (I used the pampered chef small scoop) and bake for 8-10 minutes on an ungreased cookie sheet. Cool completely on a wire rack.

to make the frosting:

In a medium bowl cream together cream cheese, peanut butter and vanilla. Add in powdered sugar and mix until smooth. Add in milk a little at a time until you get the desired consistency.

Put frosting into a ziplock bag and squeeze out air. Snip one corner off and squeeze frosting onto the bottom of one cookie. Place the second cookie on top, bottom sides facing in. Repeat with remaining cookies and frosting.

(original recipe by mynameissnickerdoodle)

Enjoy!

Baking Competition

Just got home from our MCCW 1st Annual Baking Competition. MCCW is our ladies group at Church. Military Council of Catholic Women.

Let me tell ya..the sweets runneth over today. I barely had a taste of the winning entries and had to stop. Too much!

We had 3 categories, cakes, cookies and pies. Contestants made tasty treats like blueberry pie (to die for), red velvet cake and thumbprint cookies to key lime pie. Over all there were 15 entrants and 21 different treats to taste.

Our men's group, The Knights of Columbus, judged for us. The overall winner was an Irish Creme Cake with Almonds.

I won 1st place in the cookie category with my chocolate peanut butter sandwich cookies.

But the best thing was that it was just so much fun! I love a good competition so this was just a great day for me. Even if I hadn't won, I would still be stoked. It was great to share these awesome treats and our time with our friends from church. Just a wonderful day dernit!

I can't wait for next year!

Pictures will be in the next post. I'm exhausted and just need a nap :)

*Burp*

Excuse me! Last night my wonderful husband treated me to a fabulous dinner at Carraba's. Fresh baked italian bread, that sweet little dipping sauce, fried calamari and bruschetta(!), Tagliarini with crushed tomato, garlic, olive oil and basil..and now..**burp** it's 3am and I'm still enjoying it. I think.

Heartburn is freakin' ridiculous! I absolutely cannot lie down. The fibroids have the baby up high which doesn't help either. So..**burp** excuse me..

I took 2 maalox, in the assorted citrus flavor (yum), and am hoping they kick in fast! Off to sit on the couch and wait it out..I've never suffered from heartburn before..ugh.

Look What I Did Today!

We made these at our MCCW meeting this morning. It was a lot of fun and we had a good group! I can't wait until the First Sunday of Advent!

I also started a new website for the crafts I am working on..it's a work in progress, but feel free to stop by and bookmark/follow me there. A Helping Hand Crafts.

Something New at A Helping Hand

This post I am offering something new to you all and if you like it please pass the word..

With the rising cost of living, teenagers, college funds and a new baby on the way, I have felt called to help out my husband when it comes to bringing home the bacon.

I homeschool, so I have a dayjob. However, it doesn't put food on the table. Good ideas, but no actual food. :) One of those ideas was to offer to the public the things I have been handmaking lately.

I make hand dyed knotted twine rosaries. Each rosary is carefully hand dyed and knotted so each one is unique. They are approximately 29 inches long. I use #36 twine, hand dyed in various colors and finish each with a nickle plated crucifix held on by a jumpring. I also make desert colored rosaries for those service members and loved ones you may have stationed in Iraq and Afghanistan. The desert rosaries are finished with a black plastic rosary. I will show pictures here of the ones I currently have in stock. Each rosary is $7.00 + $3.00 shipping. Your rosary will be shipped in a bubble wrap package to guard against damage. You can email me (email in the right hand sidebar) if you are interested in any of the rosaries below.

D1:

D2:

#7

#6

#5

#4

#3

#2


I am also making newborn santa hats. Each hat is made with Lion Brand 100% Polyester Fun Fur & Red Heart Worsted-Medium 4 ply White yarn brim, the top is made from Red Heart Acrylic Worsted-Medium 4 ply yarn in Hunter Green, Lt Blue or Red. These hats are $10.00 +3.00 shipping. If you are interested in more than one hat please email me for shipping. I make these to order.



Thanks for taking a look and if you like what you see, please pass this info on.
Blessings to ya'll.

Trick or Treat!

The kids finally got their costumes together for the candy spectacular that was our neighborhood Halloween trick or treating.

Candy distro didn't start in earnest at 6 but rather closer to 7 when the skies were darkened and it's just way more fun!

A few neighbors were decked out to scare, but nothing over the top. Most just had a few decorations at best. I spent most of the afternoon making popcorn balls with the kids. We handed them out and, to my surprise, the neighborhood kids loved it! I only had one little girl, maybe 4 or 5 say "That's not candy! That's popcorn! You can't put candy in popcorn?!?!" It was comical at first. But she was still at it as she walked down the street with mom.

I saw only a handful of teenage trick or treaters. Not including my 2. I was surprised. I thought I'd see many more. Had one infant trick or treater. Poor thing. She was all dolled up in some sort of pink tutu and fast asleep. Dad was pushing the stroller and tryin' to score some candy.

Here are some pics of the kids Halloween 2010. We had Nerd boy, Darth Hanes, Jailbreak Julie & Just A Bum. See if you can pick 'em out.