Foodie Fun with my Girlies!

It rained on Monday.  Is that not the best intro to a post? And I happen to be a fan of the rain.  I love listening to it while drinking a cup of coffee or reading a book.  I am so excited that my new house has three sets of french doors that open to a covered, screen porch because I can listen to it all I want.

But on Monday I was not prepared because when it rains, us girls usually do fun things like crafts.  But I packed all their stuff.  So I had to get creative.  I had heard you could make peanut butter play doh so I looked up some recipes online.  The first one I found sounded awesome because you can eat it.  And Ella eats anything. I mean anything!  She and Cati helped make cookies today and she was licking flour.  EWWWW!  But I give her props for trying it.

Here was the first recipe:

2 c. peanut butter

2 c. powdered milk

1 c. honey or corn syrup

Awesome!  But I do not have powdered milk just lying around.  What would I use it for? So I moved on but I think I will try this one someday. The next one was more my speed:

Equal parts peanut butter and corn starch!  BINGO! So I got started...

Here is what I learned as I embarked on a venture that should have seriously had me questioning if my mental faculties were turned to the ON position...Peanut butter is messy.  And sticky.  And OILY.  So the directions should read 1 part peanut butter and 27 parts corn starch. So before I figured that out,  I made this...

What do you mean you don't know what it is?  

It's a CAR! 

But it got a flat.  And it may have met the foot of Godzilla the way the roof is kind of drooping there.  

Hey, I live in Florida.  It's hot here.

Cati made this...

Very creative use of a fork.  Since it was the only tool I had to give her.  And caps from juice bottles.  We are simple, country folk over here.

 

I made a snowman! With toothpicks. I like him but he looks like an old man with no teeth.

You may wonder what Ella was up to...well here's a shocker...

 

She was eating it.

Cati made an airplane.  So sweet but I would have had no idea without the toothpick wings to guide me. OK. I admit it. She had to explain it to me. And I saw the look in her eye that said, "the wheel is spinnin' but the hamster's dead."  Let's just say Cati is the Picasso of peanut butter play doh art.

Then I made this.  It is supposed to be a cupcake.  I will not type out what my 3 year olds interpretation of this was.  But it rhymes with soupy.

And today we baked cookies together!  How fun!  But I really don't understand the power of white chocolate chips.  Do any of you?  Why do they flatten and stiffen cookies?  I am so baffled by this. Is it me?  My pantry was packed with different chips so I threw 3 kinds in there.  Was this wrong?  Do I need a lesson in baking even if I followed the recipe on a generic bag of chips?

Look at them...

They are all flat and stiff.  I just dunno. All of you savvy bakers out there need to gather me in the fold of "Baking Wisdom" and school me on the art of white chocolate chips.

But look at these cuties...

Ella sat on the counter while Cati stood on a stool and they helped me dump ingredients in the bowl.  I love that these are memories they can hold on to for along time. I love spending time with these, messy, giggly, imaginative, sweet little girls. 

Oh and one more thing.  You will be happy to know...

 I totally know who stole the cookie from the cookie jar.

Two Tips Tuesday: I peeked in on YOU!

Unfortunately, I got sidetracked this week.  As in busy. 
OK.  Lazy. 
A little forgetful.
But I have lined up some of you over the next few weeks as I go through the moving process.  I am excited to show off some of you and your bloggy prowess.  Basically, you all rock and I love seeing the creative and smart things  you all do.  Here are two that stick out in my mind this particular week... and one extra...

 Have a sweet, surprise Picnic in the Woods for the kids over at the The Middlest Sister

Is this picnic not the cutest?  I love that she surprised the kids with this fun little picnic and they did not know about it until they walked through the woods and found it!  I absolutely love Libbie's blog and I laugh out loud at so many of her posts about her family.  Please please give her a comment and a hello!

  

Make this adorable Heart Garland with cereal/cracker boxes at Home's Where My Heart Is

Erin is like me which endears her to my heart. We are not afraid to be random.  A little creative thing here, a heart felt post there.  It is so fabulous to have a bloggy friend who works her blog beautifully to have her say...and say it.  I love her candor and I fell in love with this little heart garland and had to share it. She recycled and used materials any of us could find.  Plus, this could be any shape and for any occasion. 

 

Over the weekend, I went to a friend's Thirty-One Party (never heard of these bags but they are so cute!  My favorites are the lunch totes for kids).  They also sell stationary and this is how it was set up!  In pots with clothes pins.  So cute!  There are so many things you could do with this. Birthdays, Christmas, photos, place cards, etc.   I just loved it.

I have more but I need to save up for the weeks to come.

Happy Tuesday Friends!

Walking in Innocence

 "Mommy? Guess what?  Andrew gave me a flower."  

Cati smiles her sweet smile.

" Yes, I know.  He was so sweet to give that to you."

"Mommy, why did he give me a flower?"

"Well, honey.  He likes you.  You are his friend.  It is something someone does to show they care.  Do you remember when Daddy gave me flowers last week?  He did that because he loves me."

"Yep.  Because you are mahweed."

"You got it, sweetie."  

I glance back at her to smile.

Suddenly, Cati sits up straight and loudly says,

"I am mahweed too!"

"You are?  To who?"

Cati suddenly smiles a shy, adorable smile.

 "To Daddy."

What a precious conversation to have with my daughter last week.  Incidentally, she popped the head off of the flower within minutes of receiving it.  And yet as this moment is fresh in my mind, I know full well that the man of her life will someday, no longer be Daddy.

She will see a boy ducking his head and smiling shyly as she catches him looking at her.  She will notice a boy and suddenly think he is special.  More special then a friend.  And even more then her Daddy.

And it will be during this time that I pray I have weaved a love of virtue and purity into the heart of my child.  For BOTH of my girls.  Because like a flower, purity is delicate, needs to be handled with care, and is short lived if we do not nurture and care for it.

The beginning of this is NOW.  My girls will be 2 and 4 this summer.  And I have been trying to teach Cati modesty in a way that will not rob her of innocence but will help her embrace a femininity that is godly and pure. 

She loves dresses.  But she plays, sits, and hangs out like she is not wearing one.  And there is something so precious about being oblivious to this.  This childlike innocence of not knowing she is beautiful, not knowing social skills and norms of society.  She actually mooned me last night and would have been fall out of my chair funny if I did not instantly thank God that I was her audience and not a little boy at preschool or a male volunteer at church.

So I have begun teaching her to sit like a lady.  I felt so stupid saying this phrase.  It felt old fashioned and something my grandmother would say.  But when I said it, it felt right. I try to teach her to cross her legs at the ankle while sitting in a chair, in her car seat, or on a couch.  She consistently shows me she is sitting like a lady and it warms my heart that she is embracing such a simple lesson in modesty.  She feels proud.  And I believe, to her, it feels RIGHT. Now we do need to work on her running to the front door like a streaker after her bath when she hears a fire truck go by.  But these are baby steps here.

This is such a heady responsibility for me as a mom.  My goal is to leave a heritage of Christ in the children God has given me. And I see the challenges ahead since I fell so far of the mark as a teen.  I really struggled as a young girl to be accepted, wanted, and loved.   It was a typical growing up time but I made poor choices and it was always at the expense of my self worth.  Sadly, my self worth originated from the opinion of others.  Even if it meant for me to be objectified or lusted after.

It pains me to remember how I exchanged purity for acceptance.  Which was not really acceptance at all.  It was traded for momentary lust of the flesh.  I must confess that my life before Christ was a series of bumbling, chaotic encounters with the world. Life was a pinball machine and I allowed circumstances to pull back like a lever and fling me into a series of events that had me going back and forth until I almost hit the bottom only to have another enticement fling me right back into the chaos again.

I will someday have to tell my daughters about what I gave up.  What I could not give my husband.  But most of all, for what I took away from other prospective husbands, prospective fathers, sons of other women.  Do you know what I am talking about?  Think about it. I am not talking about just sex. How about the words I offered freely?  The way I dressed.  They way I would look at someone.  All of it did not belong to whatever man I gave them to.  They belonged to my husband.  They are precious and I had become so saturated with this way of living, I became desensitized.

Now that I am a child of God, and an ambassador for Jesus Christ, I want to pass on a different heritage to my girls.  One where they honor God by honoring their bodies, the way they dress, the way they behave, the way they live for Christ.  And if I had a son, I would be passionate about teaching this too.

My Sunday school teacher in college had 10 kids.  I think they have more now and may have adopted.  But a memory that stands out for me is that this man COURTED HIS DAUGHTERS.  Is that not amazing?  He courted them.  He treated them the way he wanted a future husband to treat them.  And he started early so that they would settle for NOTHING less.   He took them on Father/Daughter Dates, opening doors, exemplifying chivalry. What a precious gift this father gave to his girls.

And my husband does the same thing.  He wants them to feel...Valued. Cherished. Loved. Special.

Which is why it warms my hear that Cati wants to marry her Daddy. 

And as much as my girls like to wear my clothes and dress like Mommy, I too want to be an example of holiness to them.  Seeking to live a life that pleases Christ and embraces purity in a world that has forgotten a love of virtue. 

Does this resonate with any of you?

I am linking this post up to:

Mom's Standing Together for Modesty over at Home's Where my Heart Is.

Today, Erin has launched this special Monday column as a way to get the word out on an issue near and dear to her heart. And mine. I want to support her by contributing to such a noble endeavor.  So peek in on her as she begins Modesty on Monday's over at her blog.

I May Need a Packing Intervention

It is no secret to any of you that I tend to be wordy.  

I see it as a gift. 

I believe only a divine God would form and make me to take 20 minutes to complain tell a story to the hubs about finding an empty cream cheese container in the fridge after toasting my bagel to complete perfection and then having to scrape the sides of the cream cheese container with the bagel, completely robbing me of the afterglow I achieve after eating something that quite possibly will OD me on carbs.

And I truly am nearing my point.

So in the midst of throwing every conceivable thing NOT NAILED DOWN into a box, I have found that a novel length explanation is necessary for each box as I label it.  Like the origin and history of the item, where it will go in the new house, where it was in the old house, how many molecules comprise the particular object.  And yet not one person or friend bats an eye to the fact that it takes longer for me to label the box than to pack it.

And it does not help that I feel guilt ridden that I am packing magazines. 

From 2005.  

This may require an intervention of some sort but I assure you that I still refer back to them.  Often.  For recipes. Crafty goodness. Various tips. If I use them for fashion sense 20 years from now, I will understand your alarm.  And I do know what I am supposed to do.  A good organizer keeps an idea notebook (and I do) and takes out what she needs.  But I always wonder what if there is something in here I need but I don't know that I need it? And I always discover there is something I do need.  So I keep them.  I promise there are not 6 foot towers of magazines with a pathway cut out to navigate through the house. Really.

Can I sidebar here?  This post was something I envisioned in 2 sentences.  I believe I am physically unable to to wrote a short post.  I marvel at these Wordless Wednesday posts.  I would have to sneak something in there.  An adjective. An explanation point!  Or a :o).  Something.  I would have to give my two cents.

So I shall digress to my point. I packed magazines. To move with. And I believe angels from heaven whose specific purpose is to hedge around the intentional pack rat bestowed upon me a gift catered for me.

A box to fit the magazine holders to organize my useless collection of them.  When I fit  them in there I actually basked in such a beautiful moment. I just rested on my heels in utter awe of the moment.  Here it is...

Do you see how worn some of those pages are?  See?  I use them?  Call me a Green Magazine Hoarder.  I am good with the title.  But I am not good with the ever present guilt for the servant hearted human being who will endeavor to lift this box and possibly incur a hernia due to my apparent need to collect what should be trash.

So I wrote yet another note on a box to this unsuspecting friend...

I am convinced this will be the balm that will neutralize their fury.  

Wait.  

I am going to go back and write:

P.S.  Remember to bend at the knees!

I'm Blue :(

Closing got postponed until next Thursday.  

A whole week.  

On the day my parents come into town who thought they would be visiting us in our new house.  

Which has postponed us 1 to 2 weeks from moving.

So I am blue. And a wee bit weary.

I know.  It could be worse.  But I just wanted all of you to know who are praying or wondering how it is going. Well, it is not going cuz it ain't happening. 

Hmmm...reread that last sentence with bad grammar and intentional misspellings...seems to reveal some bitterness.

I GOT IT!

Will one of you bake me something sweet and tasty?  I am not picky.  I like all baked goods.  Pastries. A berry tart.  No, scones!  Those are good. Ooh, ice cream!  I want ice cream! 

Oh, all right.  Let me go run on the treadmill and run this frustration off.

But I am still blue.

P.S.  In the midst of writing this post...they said the closing may change again.   I think, I think...I am losing my ever loving mind. 

Pretty Pillow Re-do

I have been so amazed at how many things I have been able to salvage just by adding some creativity mixed with a bit of upcycling.  Not only is it great that I can update some things, but I am saving a bunch of money, reusing, and giving things a touch of custom made flair.

 I have had these decorative pillows from an old bed set.  

  I always thought the ribbon flowers were so sweet. 

 But they do not match my current bedding that is blue, green, khaki, and brown. 

I needed to get rid of the pink.  I figured I would eventually yard sale them or throw them in a goodwill bag but they have sneakily stayed below my radar.

Today I was ready to throw them in a bag when I remembered the bulk of flowers I have made.  I decided a needle and thread and a short cut with a glue gun was in order.

I really do not have time (um, obviously) and I am always about fast, simple, and instant gratification.  Plus, I only like doing things on here that are more for the novice crafter.  Often I endeavor an "I can so do that" thought and then in the midst of a "CRAFTastrophe", I realize I sooooooo can NOT. 

So with this, I just removed the ribbon flowers by cutting them, made a chalk line showing where I wanted my stems to go and did a running stitch.  I could have sewn the flowers on but when I made them, I used hot glue (for another project that died before it had a chance to live) and putting a needle through that stuff is virtually impossible. I figure these pillows are just there to look pretty so why not? Let's glue!

I think they turned out pretty and I am even more happy to have saved two perfectly fine pillows that I can welcome back into my decor. So look around your stored stash and see if you can bring a pillow back to life like this!  It was super fun and took me only 15 minutes.  

And I welcome any opportunity to get a little crafting in. :)

Linking up to:

Two Tips Tuesday: My Favorite TTT Posts!

So guess what? 

We are closing on our house FRIDAY!!!! 

Supposedly.

But...Woo Hoo and AHHHHHHHHH!!!

It was kind of short notice so I am trying to tie up loose ends, get stuff done with the new house, and finish up all the last minute stuff in our current house. 

It is a stress fest of gigantuous proportions.

So there is no time for tips, or crafty fun or ANYTHING! But I have carved out a wee bit of time to dive into my two tips archives and highlight my favorite ones with a linky loo for you to peek in on some oldies but goodies. Or maybe they are new ones you have not seen.

Without further ado...

Oh, as a special treat...I will do several.  Not just two. I am sweet like that.

 Hair Roller Napkin Rings

 Grating Bar Soap

 (not exactly my favorite but it's my weirdest tip that still makes me laugh out loud)

 Fabric Covered Glass Votives

 Organize and Prep Your Snacks

 Turn Business Card Magnets Into Something Prettier

 Two Tier Plate Stand

 Pot Holder Eyeglass Case 

(same link as above and my all time favorite TTT post so I felt the double link was necessary.)

 FYI!!!
Because I will be consumed with house stuff, I decided that I am going to stalk some of your blogs and feature some of your tips, projects, or info that would be a great Two Tips post.  So if you are lurking around here and have a blog, follow me so I can peek in on you or leave me a comment with a link to a favorite post of yours. 
Don't worry.  If I am feeling some major blog love with some of your tips, I will check with you to make sure I can feature you.  Deal?

Happy Tuesday Friends!