It's almost frightening how close to reality this is...

only take it x4...

If you give a Mom a muffin,

She’ll want a cup of coffee to go with it.

She’ll pour herself some.

Her three-year-old will spill thecoffee.

She’ll wipe it up.

Wiping the floor, she will finddirty socks.

She’ll remember she has to do laundry.

When she puts the laundry in the washer,

She’ll trip over shoes and bumpinto the freezer.

Bumping into the freezer will remind her that she has to plan supper.

She will get out a pound of hamburger.

She’ll look for her cookbook. (101 Things To Make With A Pound Of Hamburger)

The cookbook is sitting under a pile of mail.

She will see the phone bill, which is due tomorrow.

She will look for her checkbook.

The checkbook is in her purse that is being dumped out by her two-year-old.

She’ll smell something funny.

She’ll change the two-year-old.

While she’s changing the two-year-old, the phone will ring.

Her five-year-old will answer and hang up.

She’ll remember that she wants to phone a friend to come for coffee.

Thinking of coffee will remind her that she was going to have a cup.

She will pour herself some.

And chances are,

If she has a cup of coffee,

Her kids will have eaten the muffin that went with it.

Thanks dear CLM!

chEEEEEEEsy

Old fashioned corkscrew curls (Olivia curls)

THE SUN IS SHINING TODAY ~PRAISE THE LORD!

This hairstyle is super fun and just what a girl with boring straight hair wants in her hair when she is in the mood for something different. First you need an old sheet or pillow case. I used a flannel body pillowcase I picked up at a thrift store. Cut strips of fabric at least double the length of her hair. My strips were about one inch wide.

Separate the really wet hair (we usually do this after a bath and I keep a spray bottle handy for dry ends) into sections, follow your usual parts so that the curls will lay nicely when they are dry.

I use a clip or a pony to attach the fabric to the top of the hair where it meets the scalp. Wrap the HAIR around the cloth so that none of the cloth is visible. When you get to the end of the cloth carefully wrap the ends in the fabric and then continue all the way back up with the fabric so that you cannot see any hair. This protects the hair so when she sleeps or plays it doesn't get messy. I just simply tie the cloth at the top.

Let it dry completely, preferably overnight. Take the cloths out and viola! Cute, corkscrew curls that last a few days. She loves this one. We do it once a month or so. It takes almost a whole G rated movie for me to do her head :) We call these Olivia curls because Maleah thinks her curls looks like her cousin Olivia's hair.

Monday Multitudes, #108-119

Thank you Lord for all the many wonderful blessings you have bestowed upon my family. I pray that others will see your gifts and become a part of a gratitude community.

This week I so very thankful for;

electricity and a home that is warm and cozy

safe travel for everyone who didn't get a snow day

piano teachers who are forgiving when someone sends her daughter to lessons on the teachers' day off

banana bread with chocolate chips

a college roomie who got a clean bill of health and her washer fixed in the same week

friends and family who are struggling but are strong, very strong, and they have the LORD on their side and can do all things...praying, praying, praying, and praying

sanity, even if it is not my own

a family dinner date, finally, and a storm free day to boot with excellent food (oh the guacamole!) and great fun

Captain 11 and the memories

a very nice bargain on a flower girl dress

one boy haircut and two baby trims with only one tiny ear mishap that didn't bleed...much, sorry buddy

a quiet Sunday for rest, just what the Lord commanded



God is so good!

Luke 12:22-34

Do Not Worry
22Then Jesus said to his disciples: "Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat; or about your body, what you will wear. 23Life is more than food, and the body more than clothes. 24Consider the ravens: They do not sow or reap, they have no storeroom or barn; yet God feeds them. And how much more valuable you are than birds! 25Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life[a]? 26Since you cannot do this very little thing, why do you worry about the rest?
27"Consider how the lilies grow. They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you, not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. 28If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today, and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, how much more will he clothe you, O you of little faith! 29And do not set your heart on what you will eat or drink; do not worry about it. 30For the pagan world runs after all such things, and your Father knows that you need them. 31But seek his kingdom, and these things will be given to you as well. 32"Do not be afraid, little flock, for your Father has been pleased to give you the kingdom. 33Sell your possessions and give to the poor. Provide purses for yourselves that will not wear out, a treasure in heaven that will not be exhausted, where no thief comes near and no moth destroys. 34For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

Best Banana Bread Plus

I do not really consider myself a baker. I don't think people would say, "oh, I love her baked goods" Yet,I like to cook and I love to experience with recipes mostly because I never really have all the ingredients listed. I have tried a ton of banana bread recipes. I enjoy reading cookbooks and I usually just keep trying new recipes until I fall in love with one and then I put a little star with the date next to the recipe and write any substitions that I make so I can make it again. I am sure you are all enlightened now with that necessary information. "Get on with the recipe" I am sure you are thinking in your heads...

So, without further ado.

Best Banana Bread (Plus)

Gotta give credit to the lovely Mrs. Cleveland for the start of this recipe. Whenever she baked at church I always made sure to get one of her bars, cookies or goodies on my plate. I think her strong recipe foundation was a major reason why my fiddling with this recipe actually worked. So credit where credit is due....thank you Linda!

For real this time.

Best Banana Bread (Plus)

4 eggs (I doubled this recipe and instead of the doubled eggs I used flax seed.
1 egg = 1T flax and 3T water)
4 ripe bananas
1 cup oil (again I used flax for the doubled part(1T butter/marg/oil = 3T flax)
1/2 cup buttermilk (I never keep this on hand. I added 1T vinegar to 1 cup milk and waited a few minutes for it to curdle.)
2 tsp. vanilla
3 1/2 cups flour (when I doubled I added 2 cups wheat and 1 1/2 cups white)
3 cups sugar (I am watching calories, so I used mostly splenda for cooking and I used one cup brown sugar when I doubled only because I am out of white sugar)
2 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. salt
1 cup walnuts or chocolate chips, optional (which do you think I used?)

Mix the wet ingredients, eggs, bananas, oil (yep, go ahead and put that flax seed in), milk and vanilla - if you want to add some brown sugar for flavor and color like I did put it in with the wet ingredients - it doesn't mix well with the dry:)

Stir or sift together the flour, sugar, soda and salt. HERE IS THE PART THAT MAKES IT LIGHT AND FLUFFY! Fold the dry ingredients into the wet mixture until the dry disappears. Pour into loaf pans, I use a measuring cup and pour a little batter then I sprinkle the nuts or the chocolate chips then a little more batter. You can add the extras (chips, nuts) to the whole mixture if you like, just don't over stir it. I make some plain bread and some with chocolate chips so I do it when I am panning.

Bake at 325 for about an hour. My mini loaf pans were done at 30 minutes and my large loaves took longer than an hour. Just have a toothpick or butter knife handy and poke the loaves when they are starting to look done. If the pick/knife comes out clean, they are done!

This recipe makes about 12 mini loaves or 3 large loaves. Or a mixture of both:)

I doubled it and made 8 mini loaves, 2 medium sized loaves and 1 large loaf.

It's sweet and light and airy, not too dense. I like it this way:) This recipe has a star and some notes in my cookbook.

freecycled Mediterranean credenza

I really want to write a post about freecycling. In the past month we have received an upright freezer and this credenza. This beauty was sitting in a closet at the Horsebarn art gallery in Falls Park. We spent all morning digging out the trailer so we could haul her home. She is big and heavy, but I like her.
Someday I will write a great post about freecycle, but not today.

Singlet news

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia A wrestling singlet (or simply singlet) is a one-piece, tight-fitting, colored uniform, usually made of spandex, lycra, or nylon, used in amateur wrestling. The uniform is tight fitting so as not to get grasped accidentally by one's opponent, and allows the referee to see each wrestler's body clearly when awarding points or a pin. Unlike judo, it is illegal to grasp an opponent's clothing in all styles of amateur wrestling.

The Gavinator pulled out a 2nd place trophy at the invitational on Saturday. He was so proud, right before he went into his second match his cousin got a fat lip while wrestling. I thought for a fleeting moment that that moment might mean the end of Gavin's career, but instead he surprised me by pulling my arm and whispering into my ear, "I am gonna win this one for my cousin." And he did. Here is a sneak peek of part of that match.

Monday Multitudes, #91-107

My cup overfloweth. I am blessed WAY beyond my own feeble comprehension.

Here are the ones that I can think of of the top of my head.

Thank you Lord for all your blessings, especially;

my health

my home, safe and sound

a freecycle credenza, large, which encouraged a little rearranging

a heat wave :)

a trophy for a little wrestler, it means the world to him

4-H crafts as big as the crafter herself

clearance totes to organize the storage room

workout DVDs downloaded immediately from Netflix

grandma's who are recovering well and can watch grandkids

homemade sausage egg biscuits on a Sunday morning

piles of laundry large enough for two toddlers to play King of the mountain

an eight year old who loves music theory

a helicopter and an airplane that carried my hubby and others safely all weekend

milk on sale

coats hung up and boots lined up

bedtimes

Fun Photo Freebie

Walgreens is offering up a FREE 8x10 photo collage today with code FANFREE. You can order one per email account and if you pick up in store it is FREE! Wahoo. Go to walgreens.com and click on the little orange camera that says photo at the top of the page. Then click on the little green gifts icon at the top of the page, scroll down a bit and click on the collages (starting at $0.29) then click on collage prints ($0.29-$3.99). Click create now and upload your photos to create a FREE 8x10 collage. You can title it or leave it blank. Enter the code FANFREE at checkout and be sure to click pick up in store as your shipping choice to make this free. Have fun!

Monday Multitudes, #81-90

What a wonderful weekend!

Lord, I thank you for everything you have given to me especially;

time for dancing in the kitchen with the whole family

snow and snow stopping

birthdays for friends and for family

little girls who make me laugh a lot

sister in law visits

movies dates with the hubby in the comfort of the living room

family field trips to get out of the house (cabin fever sets in)

a sister who is so generous

a day of subbing to get out of the house and be a professional for a day

ideas and obsessions about amazing and unusual friendships and blogging

I can't complain about having a few extra hours to spend with my whole family...

God's peace...is far more wonderful than the human mind can understand. His peace will keep your thoughts and your hearts quiet and at rest as you trust in Christ Jesus. Philippians 4:7

I received the following in an email this morning. I guess I appreciate the timing because I was just looking around my house at all the stuff that is lying around with all of us home. I thought it was a nice message to share with others and I rarely do the forwarding thing anymore,apologies if you have heard this one before...

'3900 Saturdays'

The older I get, the more I enjoy Saturday mornings. Perhaps it's the quiet solitude that comes with being the first to rise, or maybe it's the unbounded joy of not having to be at work. Either way, the first few hours of a Saturday morning are most enjoyable.

A few weeks ago, I was shuffling toward the garage with a steaming cup of coffee in one hand and the morning paper in the other. What began as a typical Saturday morning turned into one of those lessons that life seems to hand you from time to time. Let me tell you about it:

I turned the dial up into the phone portion of the band on my ham radio in order to listen to a Saturday morning swap net. Along the way, I came across an older sounding chap, with a tremendous signal and a golden voice. You know the kind, he sounded like he should be in the broadcasting business. He was telling whom-ever he was talking with something about 'a thousand marbles..' I was intrigued and stopped to listen to what he had to say....

' Well, Tom, it sure sounds like you're busy with your job. I'm sure they pay you well but it's a shame you have to be away from home and your family so much. Hard to believe a young fellow should have to work sixty or seventy hours a week to make ends meet. It's too bad you missed your daughter's 'dance recital' he continued. 'Let me tell you something that has helped me keep my own priorities.' And that's when he began to explain his theory of a 'thousand marbles.'

'You see, I sat down one day and did a little arithmetic. The average person lives about seventy-five years. I know, some live more and some live less, but on average, folks live about seventy-five years.

'Now then, I multiplied 75 times 52 and I came up with 3900, which is the number of Saturdays that the average person has in their entire lifetime. Now, stick with me, Tom, I'm getting to the important part.

It took me until I was fifty-five years old to think about all this in any detail', he went on, 'and by that time I had lived through over twenty-eight hundred Saturdays.' 'I got to thinking that if I lived to be seventy-five, I only had about a thousand of them left to enjoy. So I went to a toy store and bought every single marble they had. I ended up having to visit three toy stores to round up 1000 marbles I took them home and put them inside a large, clear plastic container right here in the shack next to my gear.'

'Every Saturday since then, I have taken one marble out and thrown it away. I found that by watching the marbles diminish, I focused more on the really important things in life.

There's nothing like watching your time here on this earth run out to help get your priorities straight .'

'Now let me tell you one last thing before I sign-off with you and take my lovely wife out for breakfast. This morning, I took the very last marble out of the container. I figure that if I make it until next Saturday then I have been given a little extra time.. And the one thing we can all use is a little more time.'

'It was nice to meet you Tom, I hope you spend more time with your family, and I hope to meet you again here on the band. This is a 75 Year old Man, K9NZQ, clear and going QRT, good morning!'

You could have heard a pin drop on the band when this fellow signed off. I guess he gave us all a lot to think about. I had planned to work on the antenna that morning, and then I was going to meet up with a few hams to work on the next club newsletter.

Instead, I went upstairs and woke my wife up with a kiss. 'C'mon honey, I'm taking you and the kids to breakfast.' 'What brought this on?' she asked with a smile. 'Oh, nothing special, it's just been a long time since we spent a Saturday together with the kids. And hey, can we stop at a toy store while we're out? I need to buy some marbles.

Snow day

I am fairly confident that chex muddy buddies made with wheat chex is pretty much health food. Nora agrees.

Totally unrelated; I tried to get a picture of the falling snow yesterday. This is the huge evergreen I would not let my husband take out when we made the basement walkout. It is BIG. Then there is the little tiny one in the front yard. See, snow can be pretty...sometimes.

Snow, skating, and soup... I'll call it alliteration Wednesday.

It's snowing. We are supposed to get another 5 inches or so. It's falling straight down right now, it looks pretty cool, but the weather man is predicting icky stuff. Most of the schools to the West of us are closed today. The kids were disappointed...but we still have a chance of something happening tomorrow so they are holding on to the hope that there is a late start or a snow day and they get a few extra minutes of Webkinz in.

Last night we had fun skating...indoors. Here is a fun activity if you are home from school today with a house full of energy and no caffeine for yourself. Sorry about the low light photos...my sports setting has no flash. Gotta give credit for this fun idea to Frugal Family Fun Blog.

Get out your wax paper, I only had the press and seal, and wrap the kids feet. Use a rubber band to keep the regular version on their feet. Then, slide... The kids went through about three wraps worth. It was fun and it got them moving. Let's just say they slept well last night.

I had a honey baked ham bone in the freezer and decided to use it up today. Soaked the beans last night and put it together in the crock this am. I wanted a recipe with veggies and this particular one adds carrots and spinach at the end. If it's worth anything I will let you know. I almost did this yesterday but I forgot to soak the beans. It never fails that I am so in tune with food that I serve the exact meal that the kids eat at school, yesterday was ham patties...

Happy alliteration Wednesday all...

Meet noisy and her friend copycat.

Fine print disclaimer: Yes, she really calls her sister Noraboo.If you think this is loud you should hear them when I play it for them.
No child fell off a chair during the filming of this video. That happened immediately after I turned the camera off.
No child was deprived of nutrition despite the cold pizza snack. I promise I cook...sometimes.
This video was taken after naptime hence the bed heads. I didn't even notice how frumpled they looked until I uploaded this here :)
This is what you will hear if you call me or stop by so if you really want to talk to me send me an email.

Monday Multitudes, #71-80

Gratitude, Thanksgiving, Praise...
Thank you Lord for;

dishes with daddy

wake up hugs

belated Christmas celebrations including fun "pass" the gift games

applesauce made from Grandma's apples in the middle ofwinter

babies rockabying babydolls and singing to each other

daddy's days off

calphalon pans found at Goodwill

library books

plans for Bible studies

phone conversations with friends about lost emails and missed play dates, next time no emails

The joy of the Lord is your strength. Nehemiah 8:10