Closed Down

It just takes the 'sight' of ice to close Texas down! I thought we were in for a much bigger ice storm last night (like the rest of the country is dealing with), but nonetheless, we still got a bit of ice! And enough of it to close the schools for the day, cause several car accidents (which consume the news), and to keep me inside all day.



Check out the ice covered streets...Just a solid layer covering it and enough to make me hide the car keys for the day...

Bismark seems to be having fun, but don't let him fool you. He is not a cold weather dog. He would rather risk pee-ing on the carpet inside and getting disciplined for it, then take a quick second to run outside in the cold to do his job!
*Please ignore the child in the picture. She was too excited to put on pants!*

The view from our balcony.

And of course, we come back inside to a warm fire...

And our amazing hot cocoa machine! This baby will be running all day!


Hope you are staying warm today!

Apple Cider Beef Stew

What's better on a cold, rainy day than a good, hearty chili or stew?

I've made plenty of chili's in the past, so I opted for a stew this time... I came across a recipe for Apple Cider Beef Stew. Seeing the words Apple Cider caught my attention! I'm not a fan of Apple JUICE, but I do love a hot cup of Apple CIDER! So, without hesitation, I pulled out my ingredients for this yummy sounding stew!
And even better, it involved the slow cooker! YES!


And it certainly lived up to its expectations...it was so yummy, I can't help but share it with you!

APPLE CIDER BEEF STEW

4 cups frozen vegetables for stew (about 24 oz), thawed
1 can (8 oz) sliced water chestnuts, drained *I"m not a fan, so I omitted these*
1 jar (4.5 oz) sliced mushrooms, drained *feel free to omit if you aren't a mushroom fan*
1 tablespoon dried minced onion
2 envelopes brown gravy mix
2 tablespoons onion soup mix
2 teaspoons steak seasoning
1/8 teaspoon ground cinnamon
2 pounds beef stew meat, cut into 1 in. cubes
1 can (14.5 oz) beef broth
1 1/4 cups apple cider OR unsweetened apple juice
1 can (8 oz) tomato sauce
1 bay leaf
3 tablespoons cornstarch
1/3 cup cold water

-Place vegetables, water chestnuts, mushrooms, and minced onion in a 5 qt slow cooker
-In large resealable plastic bag, combine the gravy mix, soup mix, steak seasoning, and cinnamon; Add beef, and shake to coat
-Add beef to slow cooker
-Combine the broth, cider, and tomato sauce; pour over beef.
-Add bay leaf
-Cover and cook on low for 6-7 hours (*I actually cooked on high for 4 hours)
-Combine cornstarch and water in bowl until smooth; stir into stew
-Cover and cook for another 15 minutes or until thickened.
-Discard bay leaf

I forgot to grab bread rolls at the store to serve with this, so I just served toast! YUM!

Getting Creative on a Rainy Day

What did I do while stuck indoors on this rainy day? Well, I pulled out the craft supplies and hot glue gun and went to town...

Months ago, I remember seeing the cutest homemade picture frames. What made them so unique was that 1) they weren't your typical picture frame with the glass encasement 2) they could easily be made, and 3) I loved how the picture was attached to the frame.

So, after collecting lots of supplies months ago, I finally pulled it all out this afternoon and went to town on some new homemade picture frames. Now, mine don't do justice to what I saw in the stores/booths that the real creative people made, and I was a bit disappointed in my final products...
But truth be told, I had a craft I was interested in trying and I did just that today.....on this rainy day.

Here is what I did to create my homemade picture frames...

You can use either art canvases (which come in every size imaginable) or you can use blocks of wood, wood plaques, etc...
Here is a picture of both


Now for the background you can 1) cover the surface with a fabric of your choice, 2) scrapbook paper of your choice, 3) or paint color of your choice
I opted to use a wintery fabric on canvas for my first attempt.


You can either cut the fabric and glue it evenly around the edges or just leave yourself some extra fabric around the sides and staple it to the back of the canvas. That is what I did here. You can't really see the staples in the picture but they are there..


Now what I liked MOST about these frames is how the picture is attached. It's attached by a clothes pin or clip. So there really is no protection over the picture...but I love the way it just hangs on the frame...


For this frame, I used a miniature clothes pin and painted it white to match the fabric on the frame. I hot glued the clothes pin where I wanted it on the frame..

You can decorate these frames any way you want. Let your imagination run! I found these white wooden snowflakes at Michael's and knew they matched the fabric and would give a great touch to the frame. I even glued one onto the clothes pin.

Then I added a touch of white ribbon on the bottom..

And finally, you just clip your picture right on.
You can place these frames on easels or hang them on the wall...

A nice punch of red on the side table for the holidays (when the holidays come back around, that is)

Here I used the wood plague and didn't paint or cover the surface. I wanted it to look masculine, so I kept the wood as is..
I used a large metal clip, again adding a masculine touch...
Then added some ribbon around the edges...
And glued on a wooden soccer ball and some soccer stickers...
Emily - this is for John Thomas!
*Forgive me for the family picture on the frame...But I didn't have any sports pictures printed out to use as an example*

And of course, I had a little art canvas that was the perfect size to display a wallet size picture. Ashlan's first dance recital costume was purple, so I knew I wanted purple touches on the frame. So, I covered the canvas with purple scrapbook paper. Then I used some fancy ribbon with jewels and added the word DANCE on the frame. Hey - Ashlan liked it.


Granted, they don't look professional by any means. They definitely fall in the category of 'first attempts', but I'll keep experimenting and one day my frames with look like the ones those 'real creative people' make!

New Sport

Yep, Nick has decided to play Lacrosse!

So, look out Lacrosse, here Nick comes!!!!

Breakfast in Bed

I bet you are thinking I'm posting about my experience with being served breakfast in bed.

NOPE! I'm posting about Ashlan's breakfast in bed!


Ashlan woke up with a cough and runny nose, therefore requesting to stay in bed and have breakfast. For breakfast, she wanted to be served waffles with syrup, strawberry shortcake yogurt, a boiled egg, and cranberry juice. She was served all of it except for the egg. They were expired.

Here she is eating (in the guest bedroom) while Brent is giving her medication for her cold.
Notice, Bismark is never far from food!



Breakfast was quickly interupted when Bismark noticed an unexpected visitor at our back door....


I'm not sure who the cat belongs to. She sure is a sweetie, though!

Easy No-Sew Pillow Cover

Remember those fleece no-sew blankets? They were so popular and lots of people were making them. Emily and I spent our pregnancy days sitting around and making several of those blankets and that was over 4 years ago. It was an easy, fun project with NO sewing machine needed! Even better, right!

Well, when I saw a fellow blogger share her Easy No Sew Pillow Cover idea, I knew this was something I HAD to do! I remembered it being so easy and this idea even took it to another level. This idea included a pillow and a different fabric! In fact, it included any fabric you want!

So I drove to the fabric store, grabbed the fabric I wanted, the pillow in the size I wanted, and drove back home all excited to see how this was going to turn out! And the outcome once I completed it - Super pleased! I love it! And it'll be a gift to my mom! Here is how you do it!

You take two pieces of fabric that are each about 6 inches (on all sides) bigger than the pillow you want to cover. So if your pillow is an 18" square, you want your fabric to be about 30" square. The excess fabric around the pillow is going to be your fringe, so if you want longer fringe, use a larger piece of fabric.




Lay the two pieces of fabric on top of each other. Then cut out the corners of your fabric. The size of the square you cut out of the corners should be the same length (on each side) as the length that your fringe will be. I'm not explaining this very well. Just look at that picture below. It makes more sense than I do.


Now you cut the fringe. Again, look at the picture. I cut in about 6" all the way around. Each strip was about 1/2" wide.



Keep the two pieces of fabric on top of each other and start tying each top strip to it's corresponding bottom strip on the other piece of fabric. Clearly, I should not be writing instruction manuals.


I used double knots but some people just use single knots. So do whatever makes you feel better. Once you've gone around 3 sides of the cover, stuff your pillow inside and tie up the last side.


Done! Pillow covered.


I even came across a red fabric rose pin that I attached, just for kicks. Leave it on or take it off. Whatever the preference


I can't wait to see how the pillow looks in my mom's sunroom. Not to mention, the fabric being red and roses, makes a great Valentine touch!

So if you can't find that perfect throw pillow for your chair or bed or patio furniture, this is an easy solution. Just go pick the fabric you want, in the print you want, grab the size pillow you want, and go for it. I can't wait to make more!!!!!

Skipping School

Ashlan is crazy about her preschool class. She looks forward to going and even asks to go on her days off....So, if Ashlan wants to miss a day of preschool, that must mean there is something very important that she wants to do. This morning, as we were getting ready for school, she said, "Mommy, I don't want to go to school today. I just want to stay home and make cupcakes with you."

See, this was one of her Christmas gifts and also, her favorite gift...
Girl Gourmet Cupcake Maker


It's the Gourmet Cupcake Maker. Can you believe that she got it for Christmas and until today, we hadn't opened and used it. So, when she mentioned that she wanted to stay home and make cupcakes today, I didn't even give it a second thought. Today was the perfect day for us to stay home and bake!





I wasn't sure how complicated this cupcake maker would be, but it's actually easy and FUN! I can't wait to make more cupcakes with her! Although, as soon as we finished making cupcakes and cleaned up, Ashlan said, "Mommy, I'm ready to go to school now." But by then, it was too late to drop her off. But boy, it was fun!

A New Year - A New Plan

I make New Year's Resolutions only because it gets me thinking about what I want out of this New Year for myself and my family. I am a conservative person when it comes to making Resolutions. Conservative meaning I want to make small changes. I don't set huge goals for the New Year, because that's just no fun. Sure I'd love to increase my distance in running, which in turn would probably help me lose those 5 extra pounds from the holidays, but those type resolutions are no fun. Sure I'd love to be able to cut more sugar out of my diet and go a bit organic, but that's certainly not fun. So why would I want to start a New Year off making such big changes that really won't keep me in the best mood. Now everyone knows if you cut down on sugar in your diet, that's not going to be too much fun! Especially since Valentine's Day is the holiday right after New Year's....that holiday gives us some of the BEST sugar and I'm not missing out on that.
But if you are one of those people that makes big resolutions for New Year's, let me share some advice with you. Don't start the Resolution on January 1st. That is the FIRST day of the New Year! Why ruin it with trying to starve yourself or work out for hours, or spend the entire day organizing your home... Start your resolution on January 2nd. Do yourself and your family a favor by spending the first day of any New Year doing what makes you and them happy. Whether it be football and food, or being lazy and messy all day. Make that first day of the New Year FUN and not hindered by new resolutions...then you can start your resolutions/plans the next day or soon thereafter.

For me, I don't set a date or deadline for a resolution. Like I mentioned above, I'm conservative about it all. It's basically an idea that I want to pursue or a change that I want to make. If it happens tomorrow, great. If it happens in June, great. The last thing I am going to do is stress over a resolution. How is THAT fun?

Here are some of my ideas and/or changes I want to make in 2009:

-I have never had a problem keeping my house clean. I've always enjoyed cleaning. But my car is another story (most of you know this). I can't keep a car clean to save my life, inside or outside for that matter. Yes, I do have a small excuse for a messy car. I have a 4 year old, so every time we get ready to get in the car, she brings about 4-5 toys/animals in the car with her. And of course, when we get home, those toys get left in the car. And it's an on-going cycle. We always joke that if I were to need a tow truck to take my car somewhere, it would take me 2 hours just to empty the stuff out of my car.
Now I know it's Jan 5, and I still haven't cleaned out the car. Like I said above, I'm not going to stress about it. I'll get around to it. It's just something I want to bring more of my attention to. My husband buys our family a nice house and I take pride in that. He does the same for us with cars, and I just need to find where my pride is with the car. That's all it amounts to.

-I have a brain overflowing with creative juices and ideas that I almost never let out. I want to make more time for myself this year to let those ideas out, and to pursue those projects. That's a fun resolution right!

-I do a lot of volunteering in various places, but I want to find that 'right' place for me to be. Instead of jumping around to different positions of volunteering, I want to find that one place or activity that I can put in 110% of my heart. Whether it be nurturing the abandoned AIDS babies in Dallas, or serving Abused and Battered Women, or becoming a foster parent..... I want God to show me where he wants me. Now is this a resolution with a deadline? Absolutely not. Will God show me where he wants me to serve him THIS year? Only He knows. But in 2009, my resolution is to continue praying about it and actually praying MORE about it. Who knows...maybe He WILL show me in 2009!

-And last, but certainly NOT least, I am up and serving my husband coffee in the mornings before he goes off to work. He's always up before me, showers, dresses, makes his coffee, comes back into the bedroom where I am still asleep, kisses me goodbye, and walks out the door. This has been his routine on weekday mornings for over the last 6 years. But that routine has changed. While he's showering and dressing, I'm up making his coffee. It's a very simple task, yet it speaks volumes to him about how much I love him and appreciate him and what he does for our family. Just try it, if you haven't already. While your man is dressing for the day, go make his coffee, or get his cereal ready, or go turn his car on so it's warming up, or whatever his routine consists of.....pick something and do it FOR HIM! And you can always go back to bed afterward! It will make him feel good and it will make YOU feel good!

And again, HAPPY NEW YEAR!

THE BEST BOOK EVER

If you haven't read this book, it's a must!



My friend, Sara, recommended this book to me one day at church. I went home, bought the book on Amazon, and was done reading it 48 hours after it was delivered in the mail.

It's a true story about:
-a black, homeless man named Denver
-a white, wealthy art dealer named Ron
-and Ron's wife, Deborah

It was a very convicting book for me on so many levels. But if you are someone who enjoys serving/volunteering to those less fortunate, or have simply just 'thought' about doing it, this is a must-read! This book does take it a step further bringing in spiritual references and relationships, and that is what brought this whole book full circle for me!

And even if you have never served or volunteered before, that's fine. This isn't a book asking you or persuading you to do that at all. It's simply a book about how one amazing woman brings together two very different men and how the relationship between those two men grows.

If I can persuade you to read this book, I guarantee you will smile, laugh, get angry, cry, even sob...but most importantly, this book will open your heart in more ways than one. Believe me.

So, bless yourself and go purchase the book! You'll thank me for it!

Same Kind of Different As Me
By Ron Hall and Denver Moore

Kathryn Charon

Nine years ago on January 3, 2000 Kate entered this world! She was sooo close to being a Millenium baby. Her mother has said that she begged and pleaded for the doctors to induce her on the 1st....but they preferred for Kate to come naturally, and she did on the 3rd.

What a blessing Kate has been for me! Kate was two when I first laid eyes on her. She was a beautiful, SMART, happy, chubby-faced, loving little girl with blonde hair that she often cut on her own!!
(notice how short the bangs are in the picture....she always found scissors!)


She was the flower girl in our wedding. Not only was she the flower girl, but she was the actual 'star' of the wedding. For those of you reading this right now that attended our wedding, you will remember that Kate danced the entire reception, hour after hour, non-stop, until the party was over.
Below is a picture of her before we even left for the reception. She was practicing her dancing and spinning. She was the most beautiful flower girl I've ever seen!


To this day, she loves to 'sell'. Here is one of the many lemonade stands she ran!










She has always been such a wonderful big sister to Ashlan.


Missing those two front teeth


Her two goals in life: to be a dermatologist and to own a bakery!




She is quite the equestrian!


My beautiful Kate.


Happy 9th Birthday, Kate! We love you so much!