Monday, September 27, 2010

Fall Into Reading 2010



It's finally here!  Now what I'm wondering is if I can actually get the reading done that I would like to get done. I would love to read a big stack of books but I just don't see that happening this time around.  But I will do my best to trudge through them.  I have my list to share with you and in a few more days I'll have a list of books that Sam wants to read.  Remember there is still time to sign up!  Just click on the button above to read more about it.  You really don't have to have a blog to participate.  Just start reading between now and December 20th.

Books to Read:

A Deadly Yarn by Maggie Sefton ~ I'm over half way through.
The Nativity Collection by Robert J Morgan~ I have just started this one. ~ Book Review coming up!
I Am Nujood, Age 10 and Divorced by Nujood Ali
Uncommon Faith by Trudy Krisher
Brisingr by Christopher Paolini

There are many more books that I want to read but I'm keeping my list short for now.  I'm sure once we add Sam's list here I'll be reading a bunch of those with him so that will in turn make my list grow as well.  I may change this list up a bit but for now I'm happy with it.  What are you reading this fall?  What else should I add to my list?

Saturday, September 25, 2010

I Had A Coupon

Yes, I do clip coupons and I do use a lot of them.  I try to clip the ones that I know I'll use but this one just happened to jump off the coupon page and into my pile the other week.  I've taken him with me several times to the store but I never seemed to make myself use him.  You see I hate purchasing something if I don't need it.  But this one was to hard to resist.  So last week I finally broke down and used my lonely little coupon that had been making the trips to the grocery store.  What did I purchase you ask?  I purchased, with the help of my coupon (a $1.00 off), a bag of the new Pretzel M & Ms.  I also knew that I just didn't want us to eat them out of the bag.  So I put together a cookie recipe using them.

I made 3 dozen cookies earlier this week and Sam has declared them the best cookies I've ever made!  That is high praise around here.  Now it's Saturday afternoon and there are just 4 cookies left.  So...would you like to have the recipe?  I thought so. 

M & M Pretzel Cookies

1 cup butter, softened
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup firmly packed light brown sugar
1 large egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/8 teaspoon salt
1 9 oz package of Pretzel M & Ms
Sea Salt

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.  In a large bowl, cream butter and sugars until light and fluffy; beat in egg and vanilla.  In medium bowl combine flour, baking soda and salt; blend into butter/sugar mixture a little bit at a time.  Stir in Pretzel M & Ms.  Drop by heaping teaspoonfuls (I used a cookie scoop) 2 inches apart onto ungreased cookie sheet. Sprinkle a small pinch of sea salt on the top of each cookie (trust me...it really makes the cookies taste fantastic).  Bake 10 to 13 minutes or until edges are lightly browned and centers are soft.  Cool 2 minutes on the cookie sheet and then cook completely on wire racks.  Makes approx. 3 dozen.

Friday, September 24, 2010

Dairy and Cheese Farm Visit

I have been busier than busy!  Normally I can see myself coming and going but this past week I haven't even been able to do that.  I'm really looking forward to this evening though.  Sam will be spending the night up at the church with his Cub Scout Pack and Andy and I are going to have a quiet evening at home.  Probably won't do much but watch a movie but you know what?  That's fine with me!  I might even get some knitting or cross stitching done.  Or I might not do a thing.

This past Wednesday Sam and I, along with some other families that are enrolled in Connections Academy, traveled to a dairy and cheese farm.  It was so much fun!  I now have fresh cheese, eggs and milk!  The cheese is wonderful and I can't wait to taste the milk.  I still have just a bit left of the last gallon of milk in the fridge so I'm trying to finish that as quickly as I can so that I can dive into the yummy goodness of this fresh milk.  The farm was 2 hours away but it was well worth the trip.  They even had calves that were less than a week old.  As we held out our hands they would suckle on our fingers.  They are so sweet and gentle to be around.  Here are a couple of pictures of them.



They showed us how they made their cheese from separating the curds from the whey, to pressing the cheese, to placing the cheese wheels into their cave for aging and then to tasting!  YUM!  They are a wonderful family and it was nice to see a family farm and everyone working in it instead of a big industrial one. 

Monday, September 20, 2010

I Heart Faces ~ Smirk



This weeks theme over at I Heart Faces is...Smirk! According to Merriam-Webster's online dictionary smirk means, to smile in an affected or smug manner. As soon as I read this definition I knew which photo I would enter. It is a photo that I took of Sam before he went into surgery this summer. I had taken several photos and this last one he said it all with his face. You can hear him loud and clear saying, "Mom, I'm done with the photos!" How about you? Can you hear him too? To see more smirky photos just click on the button above.

Friday, September 17, 2010

You Capture ~ Your Choice

I am hanging my head in shame as I completely forgot to put up my "You Capture" shot for this week.  This week assignment was our own choice and I still forgot.  Gee!  It's been such a busy week this week that I honestly forgot to even use my camera.  It sits here on my desk just waiting for me to pick it up.  And by the looks of my desk right now it's even amazing that I know where it is on here.  I really do need to clean this desk up!  Guess you all know what I'll be doing tomorrow.  So knowing that I haven't even picked up my camera I'm going to use two pictures that I took last week.  I didn't "clean" the photos up any and that's okay.  I might one day but for now here they are.  They are of Sam working his Rubik's Cube.  Right after I took these pictures he got it to where one side is completely finished and the touching 4 sides have two rows completed.  He's so close to figuring it out and I enjoy watching him work on it.

Tuesday, September 14, 2010

Wordless and Wordfull Wednesday ~ Flag Football

This past Saturday was Sam's first Flag Football Game of the season.  His team this year is the Jaguars and with only 2 practices (one was cancelled due to the 9 1/2 inches of rain we got) THEY WON!  Not to mention that last Saturday the temperature here was in the low 90s with a fells like temperature of 103!  It was unbearable and they all were troopers and kept on playing.  Here are just a few pictures as I didn't take many.  It was just to hot and my hands were too sweaty to hold the camera.  You can see the misery in Sam's face when I took the last picture of him standing next to the van waiting to get in.


If you would like to see more Wordless photos head on over to Wordless Wednesday, 5 Minutes for Mom, Live and Love...Out Loud, and J. Leigh Designz. Now if you're like me and sometimes you can't stay wordless head on over to see some Wordful Wednesday photos at Seven Clown Circus.  Don't forget to sign the Linky below.

I Heart Faces ~ "Vroom, Vroom"


This week the challenge over at I Heart Faces is (per their website), "Adding a vehicle to a portrait session is a fun way to mix things up a bit! This week’s entry should have some kind of vehicle in it (any form of transportation or even a toy!) AND a face. Please make sure a face is clearly showing as well."

I had Sam play with some of his cars along the edge of one of our chairs and took quite a few photos as he really didn't want to play along with mom taking even more photos of him.  But once he started playing with his cars he actually started to get into it.  This is the one that I like the best because he actually was concentrating on the cars and not me.  Head on over to I Heart Faces by clicking the button above to see more!

Saturday, September 11, 2010

PhotoHunter ~ Anniversary


The theme over at PhotoHunter this week is Anniversary.  Since this weeks theme fell on the anniversary of September 11th, I thought it would be appropriate to share a bit of history that I have held onto.


The week following September 11th I made these red, white and blue bracelets for Sam and I to wear.  I have no idea where mine ended up but I have kept Sam's.  Here he is holding it.  Sam was just 18 months old when September 11th happened and now he's 10 1/2.  My has he grown!

Thursday, September 9, 2010

Looking at the Sky on Friday

Photobucket


For Looking at the Sky on Friday this week I thought I would just take a portion of a picture of a cloud to share with you.  I love the depth of this cloud and once I took just a snippet of it out of the full picture I realized how much more you could see.


Now here is the picture that I took the portion from.

You Capture ~ Signs

Photobucket


Awhile back I participated in "You Capture" which is hosted by a wonderful lady named Beth over at I Should Be Folding Laundry. I loved waiting for her themes and going out with my camera to capture the pictures to share with you here. She doesn't want you to use pictures that you have already taken. Instead she wants us to get our cameras and head on out and find something to capture! I love that and it was what started me going with my photography. I still take lots of pictures but I just don't seem to take these challenges anymore. I'm now going to jump back in there and do just that. Capture!

This weeks theme is "Signs". There are so many different ways we could go with this theme and I'm looking forward to seeing what others out there are going to do with it as well.  It's been pouring rain here all day so I didn't get to go out as I would have liked so I went with the sign that I hold in my hands every day, twice a day for work.  You see I'm a Crossing Guard and hold a stop sign every day.  If you'd like to see what others have come up with please click on the button above.

Wednesday, September 8, 2010

A Summer Secret ~ Book Review


A Summer Secret by Kathleen Fuller is the first book of the Mysteries of Middlefield series.

Mary Beth Mullet is an Amish teenage girl living with her parents and brothers, struggling with having a little privacy during her last summer of freedom, before she will have to get a job. With her food stash, her journal, and her privacy, Mary Beth finds great comfort in her hideout; a barn close to their property. There are only two problems. First of all, her father has forbidden her from going to the barn. Second, she's not as alone as she thought. Was it her twin brother or someone else using her secret place?

I don't want to give to much more away as this is a mystery but I have to say that at one point I misplaced the book and almost went crazy looking for it because I wanted to know how it ended. This is a quick and good read.

In A Summer Secret, Fuller does an excellent job of helping the reader to understand and appreciate the Amish lifestyle. She even has a glossary of Amish terms, which I found extremely helpful, as this vocabulary is used throughout the book. Though this book is intended for juvenile readers, I believe many adults would also enjoy reading this Christian mystery. I know I did!

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from Thomas Nelson Publishers as part of their BookSneeze program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission's 16 CFR, Part 255 : "Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising."

Tuesday, September 7, 2010

Wordless & Wordful Wednesday - Lego Semi-Truck

This is a Lego semi-truck that my son made up!  He just started building one day and this is what resulted.  He's amazing with those little plastic bricks.

If you would like to see more Wordless photos head on over to Wordless Wednesday, 5 Minutes for Mom, Live and Love...Out Loud, and J. Leigh Designz. Now if you're like me and sometimes you can't stay wordless head on over to see some Wordful Wednesday photos at Seven Clown Circus.  Don't forget to sign the Linky below.

Now for you to have a little bit of fun....make sure you watch until the very end.  You won't be disappointed.




Fall Into Reading 2010



It's almost that time again! Now I need to get a list of book together that I would like to read during the Fall Into Reading time span. It will take place between September 22nd through December 20th. If you'd like to participate you can learn all about it by clicking on the button above. It's always so much fun and she usually has giveaways during this time.

I'm thinking of having Sam participate in this challenge. I'd like to see him read at least a few books during this time but I'm not going to make it a requirement. He hasn't read "for fun" in awhile and I need to change that. I know that seeing us read will be good for him so maybe I need to set scheduled reading times again. It will be great for us all.

I'd love to hear if you're going to participate or if you're going to have your family participate as well. Heck...get your kids classmates to sign up too! I don't think you need a blog to do this either. I'm telling you...you need to head on over to check it all out. It's a lot of fun.

Now a couple of questions for you. What are your favorite books? What books would you recommend that I read? I'd love to know.

Monday, September 6, 2010

Catching Up

At the beginning of this year I thought I could post every day for 365 days.  I did great until last month.  Then school started and I'm busier than ever this year.  I have plenty of posts written in my head but I have yet to get them down here.  I think what I really need to do is pre-write them and schedule them to post.  That way maybe I can keep up with what I would really like to do with this blog.

Update on Sam and school...After the second week of school Sam now has all As and one B!  I couldn't be prouder of him!  After the first week I told him that he had all As and one C but I was wrong.  They considered a 73% a D!  So in just one week he moved his D up to a B!  He said that this week he would work the B up to an A!  I've never seen him so excited or concerned about his grades.  I'm just lovin' this!

I've had a great weekend not doing much except for watching some movies and knitting on some socks.  I'm also very thankful to Lizzie Kate for supplying me with a lost key to a cross stitch that I'm working on.  I've been wanting to finish a pattern for some time now but I couldn't find the key to the pattern and now due to the designer I can finish it!  WOO HOO!

For those of you that have asked what I won from the Rayovac Photo Contest I won a Digital Photo Frame Keychain and a Rayovac Platinum Charger!

I'll upload some photos of the sock and cross stitch that I'm working on hopefully later this week.

Wednesday, September 1, 2010

I Won!

This photo won third place in the photo contest hosted by Rayovac this past month.  I just want to take a moment to thank everyone that voted for me.  It was a long contest but a fun one. 

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