Money Well Spent?

I guess this is what they do with the money when you don't ever make a claim. LOL!!

I admit it was pretty cool watching them do it but I'll tell you what. If I ever have a claim and my insurance goes up, I'm showing them this picture and asking them how much it cost to do it! Hee! Hee!
Have a great weekend my friends!

Friday Funnies!

Hello everyone. How'd your week go? Do you need a laugh? Good. Then you've come to the right place. Do you have a funny to share? Then post it and come back and link it up below!
The only rule is that it's family friendly. It can be a joke, video, personal story, picture, whatever you got! Now let's spread some funny.

I love this. Some of you have probably seen it before but it's worth reading again and getting a giggle out of it. I can so relate!


I JUST NEED A NAP
An older, tired-looking dog wandered into my yard.
I could tell from his collar and well-fed belly that he had a home, and was well taken care of.

He calmly came over to me, I gave him a few pats on his head;
he then followed me into my house, slowly walked down the
hall, curled up in the corner and fell asleep.

An hour later, he went to the door, and I let him out.
The next day he was back, greeted me in my yard, walked inside and resumed his spot in the hall, and again slept for about an hour.
This continued off and on for several weeks.
Curious, I pinned a note to his collar: 'I would like to find out who the owner of this wonderful sweet dog is,
and ask if you are aware that almost every afternoon, your dog comes to my house for a nap..'
The next day, he arrived for his nap with a different note pinned to his collar:
'He lives in a home with 6 children, 2 under the age of 3 - he's trying to catch up on his sleep.
Can I come with him tomorrow?'

Happy Friday My Friends!!!

The Yankees are Coming!

Okay, it's just my Mom and Dad but they will be here today. We are so excited. At ages 77 and 73 they still make the drive from Maine to Florida and well, back to Maine FROM Florida each year. They stay with us for 5 months and we cherish every moment with them. See I have 3 out of their 4 grandkids so I got some serious bargaining tools. Our kids love my parents. My husband loves my parents. It's a God thing for sure. We really look forward to this time each year.
Listening to my 7 year old and my Dad's intense conversations can be interesting to say the least. I have to tell my Dad to quit pulling his leg half the time because my son thinks Papa knows everything and believes him! LOL. My Mom is the snack queen. My kids will not lack for snacks for the next 5 months! LOL.
So my note today is to ask for special prayers as they finish their trip today, that they are safe.

See you tomorrow for Friday Funnies!!!
HUGS!
P.S. Where were you all yesterday, I only had 9 comments about my Thanksgiving Recipe week. That's not like you gals! LOL If you missed it, check it out!

Are You Ready For Some Upcoming Fun?

Some of you remember, back in a recent post, about a couple ideas I had. Well I worked out the details for the first one and even made a button for it.
Here it is.
As you can see the date is November 9-13. I figured that would give you all enough time before Thanksgiving to check out the submitted recipes and plan your menu. I don't know about you but I'm always up for a new dish! Yes, I too have my stuck in a rut, not gonna change it, type dishes, but there's always room for more!!
What you'll do is post your recipe on your blog (if you don't have a blog you can put it in the comments section), then go to my cooking blog to link up each day.
Here's a heads up on what each day is going to look like so you can get your recipes ready now.

Monday- Appetizers. Do you have a little something something while you're waiting for the bird to cook?
Tuesday- Sides. Hot or Cold. I'm looking forward to this one as I'm always on the look out for a new side to try.
Wednesday- Main dish. Yes I know that most of us cook a turkey and call it done. But do you fry it, roast it, season it, smoke it? I wanna know. I'm always up for change there too. Oh and some of you may even cook a ham or beef. Let us know.
Thursday- Dessert. In my family everyone has a favorite pie so we usually end up with 5-6 pies.
Friday- Thanksgiving Traditions! Yes on this day I want to know what it is you always do on Thanksgiving.The memories you've made. This is the day to get nostalgic! There is always memories associated with food. Share them!

But wait, there's more. If we get enough recipes submitted I will turn them all into an ebook and put it on my cooking blog to download for free!
Where is my cooking blog you ask? Right here at What's Cooking At My House.

I think this will be great fun! I hope you join in!
I'll give a little reminder as the time draws closer.

HUGS!!

Do You Even Know Who They Are?

You know I don't know if I've actually introduced you to one of my favorite websites and now blog!
Most of you know that I am addicted to Gooseberry Patch books. But have you ever visited them? (their website, not my books! LOL)
They have wonderful things on their site, but I'm hooked on the books!
They recently started a blog. You get all the latest news and giveaways and contests before anyone else. They also have a FB page.
In fact, I entered this....(go ahead and laugh at me, my whole family did! LOL)

and got this.....
for FREE!

All I had to do is post a video on their FB page telling them what my favorite Gooseberry Patch item was and they sent me their New Farmhouse Kitchen Cookbook! I love it. And who doesn't like free.
As you can see in the video, their Christmas Books are my favorite. Once you have one you want them all. They are full of great decorating ideas, homemade gift ideas and tons of yummy recipes. Plus they have the cutest graphics and illustrations that just make you smile from page to page.
No I'm not getting paid to tell you about this. I'm all for supporting those that are truly a blessing and have a great business that I enjoy.
Thank you Gooseberry Patch for such wonderful fun products and for my Free Cookbook that I am sooo loving!

HUGS TO YOU MY FRIENDS!

It's Confirmed! I fully admit it!

As some of you know (those that read my blog on Saturday) we went to our neighborhood garage sale this past Saturday. I believe that you can find just about everything you don't need at a garage sale, a thrift store and Goodwill. The good thing is is that these things that I don't need but kind of "have" to have, doesn't cost me a whole lot of money.

Here's a picture of my garage sale treasures.
Let's see if you can find a theme here!
Let's see there's a
Christmas Clock
Christmas CD
Christmas Snowman
Christmas Pooh Video
Christmas Ribbon
and
Pipe cleaners for the Christmas Craft I'm going to do.

Seriously, I was a magnet to this stuff! It called to me from every garage sale we stopped at. At one point we were pretty much done and we were driving by one last garage sale and my son said, "Mom, I see a snowman!" and without blinking an eye I said to my husband "Pull over!"Yeah it's that bad.
So I fully admit that I, Kim am a Christmas addict! I love all things Christmas! Yes, I realize this stuff is meaningless to the real meaning of Christmas, but I do love to decorate and get caught up in the "feeling" of it all. It's just the way I roll!

But wait! Here's proof that I did purchase something besides Christmas stuff.
I got this 18 volume American Heritage set for $10.00. Being that we homeschool, I couldn't pass this great resource up.
So total spent on garage sale finds?

$15.25
Not so shabby!
What treasures did you find this weekend?
HUGS!

I'm going to try to turn over a new leaf!

I'm going garage saleing, saling, salein'. Is that even a word? Spell check isn't buying it. Anyway, I'm going to hit some garage sales today. The neighborhood, in walking distance, is having their annual "neighborhood" garage sale today. Oh the treasures one might find.
Yesterday I was in Dollar General, just because, and like a bug to a light, I headed right toward the Christmas stuff. Did I mention before that I don't need any more Christmas stuff? Because I really don't. But you'd be proud of me. I only left with a sheet of Christmas stickers to put on envelopes ($1.00) and 3 cans of pumpkin (because they were actually cheaper than Wally World).


But that's not the leaf I'm turning over. No, I received an award today and instead of saving it and totally forgetting about it until it's way to late (like I've done it the past and I'm sorry!), I'm going to accept it today. Right now. This VERY minute. So here it goes!

Mel From Heart Prints honored me with this award. She herself has a nice mish mash of things going on over at her blog. It's always a good read.


This award is called "A Strong Cup of Coffee" and is given to your favorite blogs that help to get you going in the morning and keep you going all day.:) You know the ones.....you just keep going back to them over and over because of how wonderful they are. Now it's my turn to pass it on to 7 blogs that I enjoy reading, blogs that "keep me going."

Now here's the tricky part. Don't get upset if I give this award to you because you're sick of getting them and don't get mad if I don't. LOL See I already feel like it's a lose lose situation for me. But I'm doing it anyway. The rebel in me tells me too! So here's my list of blogs that I daily fit in no matter how busy I am!
In no particular order except for the way they pop into my brain, we have

Stop and Smell The Chocolates
Blessed Beyond Imagination
Mom's the Word
Muthering Heights
He & Me + 3
Clothed with Scarlet
Faithful Bloggers

Now I have to be honest I'm still not sure why you read my blog or why you keep coming back, but THANK YOU!! It would be pretty boring without you all.

Friday Funnies

Hello everyone and Happy Friday to all! Anyone need to laugh today? We'll you've come by the right place. This is also your chance to link up YOUR funny and spread some sunshine and laughs today. Go post it on your blog, come back and link to that post using the Mclinky down below.
Keep checking back for more links as people link up all day!


I have a video today for my funny. I just stumbled across it and it cracked me up!
Remember, DON'T DRINK AND DRIVE!

I'm being featured tomorrow!

Let me tell you about a new site that just launched recently. It's called Faithful Bloggers.
These two gals who started it really have a heart for the women who use their blog to glorify the Lord. And tomorrow they are featuring my blog. I'm not very good at interviews and stuff but if you want to check it out tomorrow you can. I'm not really all that great at talking about myself either. Well unless of course it involves ME eating chocolate or ME drinking coffee, or ME doing something silly. But other than that I'm a shut book! LOL!
So I hope you hop on over there tomorrow and show a little support for this new site. I'm not sure you'll learn anything new about me if you've been a reader of my blog for any length of time, but you never know!

HUGS!

And the Winner IS......

.......Kathy from Blessed Beyond Imagination!
Okay before some of you go "Oh yeah, uh huh. That's so rigged!" (Because she is my best friend for those of you who don't know!) And the only reason I thought you might think that is because that's the first thing that went through my mind when I saw that she was #48. But to prove that everything is on the up and up I took a picture of the number generator and you can feel free to count down to the 48th comment. Trust me when I saw it was her I thought, "Oh no this is going to look so planned! LOL" But I think you all know me well enough to know that I wouldn't cheat! I wish you all could have won.
And I know I probably didn't need to explain this all to you but I really did think it was funny!

Now it will look REALLY suspicious if I win HER giveaway! LOL

Congrats my friend. Now come get your prize! LOL!!Don't forget about Friday Funnies tomorrow!!!
Love you my friends!

Let me throw something at ya!

I had a couple of ideas that I thought might be fun.
First I thought that it would be fun to have a Tried and True Thanksgiving Recipe Week, where we would link up our favorite appetizers on one day, sides on another, main dish etc. All related to what we usually serve on Thanksgiving. I am always open to try new recipes and I know that a lot of times the ones we make on Thanksgiving are ones that we love. So why not share them? Who would be interested in that one? I would probably do this one on my cooking blog!

Then my other idea has to do with Christmas. Now if you just got all excited with the anticipation of that glorious day, then you are who I'm targeting here. If you just cringed then you probably aren't interested. But I thought that having a fun week of quick and simple crafts and recipes would be fun. I'd give step by step instructions on a few fun and easy crafts and share a favorite holiday recipe each day. And then maybe have a fun giveaway at the end of that week. See I'm a homeschooling SAHM of 3 so I don't have all the time in the world to do things that take a lot of effort and time, so everything that I'd be posting would be quite simple and easy. Because I know a lot of you like to do a little something but don't have a lot of time either.
Who would be interested in me doing that?

I'm just throwing them out there to see what kind of response I get. Be honest. If you wouldn't be interested then let me know but if you would let me know that too! I mean once and awhile I like to appease my readers! LOL

HUGS!!

If you give a squirrel a peanut......

.....they will come back looking for more. It's no secret that we love to hand feed our squirrels. And the other day the weather here in Florida was simply perfect. So out on the deck I spent a large amount of my time. My daughter and I were sitting there talking when I commented on how I could fall asleep out there. Before I knew it my head was back and my mouth was starting to open involuntarily. LOL My daughter figured I was probably no longer very good company and left me there. Well I took that opportunity to stretch out on the wicker love seat we were sitting on and take a little nappy.
I was simply soaking in the wonderful weather when I was awakened by the noise of two squirrels walking around the deck about 6 feet away. I payed no attention to them and closed my eyes. I then got an eerie feeling that I was being watched and when I opened my eyes again there they were, sitting right beside the love seat, starring at me, waiting for their peanut! I admit that it was quite a creepy feeling. LOL! Once they finally realized I was peanutless they moved on. But I have to tell you what a funny sight that would have been if you could have been an outsider watching it all! I started to crack up at it myself. No more napping outside for me.
Yup! That's my post for today. It was either that or I was going to show you the before picture of my linen closet. LOL
I actually have a lot of things I want to post but they take effort and I haven't had time nor effort lately!!
Don't forget the deadline to my giveaway is tomorrow!!
LOVE YOU MY FRIENDS!

Oh and I'm going to need your input on a couple of ideas I'm throwing around. I'm posting about it tomorrow and will want to know whether or not you think it would be fun.

Making My Home Sing! Gittin' er done!

I'm joining Nan from Mom's the Word in making our homes sing.
For those of you who read my senseless blog post on Saturday, you know that I was cleaning out my linen closet. I also said that I have more little irritating jobs that need to be done, that I've been putting off. Why? Well probably because they aren't any fun, and I like to have fun. If housework were fun, my house would be the cleanest house on the planet!!

So in order to make my home sing, I'm going to get them done this week. This will clear my mind and probably improve my mood. I can't stand having them on the back of my mind. So I am now moving them to the front in hopes that I can get them done.

Here's what I'll be doing.
Cleaning Blinds (YUCK!)
Cleaning Ceiling Fans! (So not fun!)
Wiping Window Sills ( Can you hear the enthusiasm?)
Clean the Fridge (I can hear the words "how long has that been in there?" coming out of my mouth already!)
I did manage to clean the linen closet Saturday and realize that I don't need 3 "extra" sets of king size sheets. In fact once I got the 500 count sheets for $20.00 at Wal-mart the day after Thanksgiving last year, I haven't had the old 200 count sheets back on my bed. You just can't go back once you've had a taste of the good life! I'm slowly working my way up to the 700 count!
I also have approximately 8 extra blankets that hog up a whole bunch of space. Hi, I live in Florida!! We rarely use blankets and do I need 8? Apparently I do because I can't seem to get rid of them.

So anyone want to join me? Anyone want to do it for me while I watch?
Okay fine! I guess I'll do it. My home will be singing by Friday! In the meantime I'll just make it sing by making cookies!

HUGS!
Don't forget only 2 more days to enter my giveaway!! Just click the button in the upper right hand corner of my blog if you haven't entered already!

You really don't have to read this! LOL

For the first time in weeks we don't have a whole lot going on this weekend. Trust me I'm not complaining.
With that said I'll probably be doing those little irritating things that you put off doing that really should at some point get done. Yeah, I know. You're so jealous!
If I end up doing anything "exciting" you know you'll hear about it. I mean who doesn't want to see a before picture of a mess I've created just so I can go back later, tidy it up, then expose it on the world wide web? It's all about inspiring each other right? So if I decide to post a picture of my linen closet that is in such disarray I don't know which end is up, you'll want to see and hear about it won't you? Won't you? Yeah, I knew you would. Showing you my not so perfect life makes you feel better and I'm all about making you, my friends, feel better.
So I'm going to end this pretty senseless post right here so you can move onto bigger and better things.
Hey I know! Why don't you clean out YOUR linen closet today and then we can just "know" that someone, somewhere, is doing the same boring, tedious, mundane, thankless job too!
Have a wonderful weekend my friends.
Don't forget to enter my giveaway!!!!

Friday Funnies!

I'm so glad that this week has come to an end! It's just been one of those weeks for me. How about you? Are you ready to laugh a little? I am! If you have a funny to share just post it and come back and link it up below.


For my funny today I figured I would show you this picture that I think is completely hilarious. I sure hope you all do to. I figured since it was Fall and Pumpkins are in abundance everywhere, this would be appropriate! Enjoy!

Disclaimer: I do not encourage pumpkins to exhibit such behavior whatsoever!

Happy Friday Everyone!!!

Here it is! My mini kitchen makeover and giveaway!

You all have waited long enough. I am finally done enough to do my post.
So let's get started on the tour.

First off let me just tell you that my kitchen is by no means large in size. But the little changes that we have made really look good and bring a cozy feeling to the whole space.
I used my love for chocolate and coffee to be my inspiration. The warm colors that they offer really made the kind of change that I was looking for.

Here is the wall that leads through to the pantry/laundry room. As you can see ivy was my inspiration back in the day and it remained like that for about 8 years.
Then Voila'! New paint, clock and a quaint bistro pictures and here we are!

Then over here on this wall we have the window over looking the back yard.
You all remember my teaser picture well here it is again. I managed to make new curtains out
of the fabric that I redid the bar stools with.

Here is a close up on the clock and the wonderful shelf my husband built me to put these adorable measuring cups on. Does anyone remember seeing these somewhere? Let's just say Kim got an early Christmas present from her best friend Kathy! Oh and that same best friend got me those cute measuring spoons hanging below as well. Doesn't it just make you smile! Fun and functional is what I love!

You can't see it but before my little kitchen face lift there was an ugly fluorescent light right in the middle of the kitchen.
Here is my wonderful, handy (hot) husband putting in recessed lighting! It just finishes off the "cafe" look I was going for.
(Debra M. you and only you know what I'm thinking right now! LOL)

Since I've got you here I might as well show you my little "coffee station" LOL. This is where it all goes down in the morning! In fact I might have some right now because it looks so inviting! Hee! Hee!
Now if you've hung with me thus far you deserve a chance at my giveaway!
In honor of my little kitchen redo. I am having a "themed" giveaway.
Here's what you can win.
There are 3 Gooseberry patch booklets, (if you know me you know I love Gooseberry Patch ANYTHING! These booklets are too cute! Chock full of neat ideas and recipes!), a cute coffee mug with spoon, a little bag of pumpkin spice potpourri, some Starbucks coffee and last but not least my favorite candy bar, SNICKERS!

To enter I'll make your first entry easy smeasy. All you have to do is comment.
If you are a follower of mine just let me know with a separate comment and you gain another entry.
Spread the word by blog post or facebook and you gain 2 more entries. Just leave the link in a comment letting me know.
So you can gain a total of 4 entries!
This giveaway will be closed October 21, 2009! That's a Wednesday. Winner will be announced on Thursday!
Good Luck and thanks for sticking it out with me. I hope you enjoyed it.

BIG HUGS TO YOU MY FRIENDS!

Thankful Thursday!

I'm thankful that my friends are very patient and won't expect my makeover reveal/giveaway post until later on today due to the need for my husband to help with the finishing touches!
LOVE YOU, YOU PATIENT PEOPLE YOU!!

Tomorrow, Tomorrow,......I'll Love Ya Tomorrow...

....it's only a day away!!!
That's right, tomorrow is my mini kitchen makeover reveal AND my giveaway to go along with it. I've really made this up to be something and I hope you aren't too disappointed. LOL! But it will be worth it for the giveaway at least right? RIGHT? I mean who doesn't like the opportunity to win free stuff right? RIGHT? Admit it, you all love giveaways as much as I do!
In fact to keep you busy until tomorrow I have a couple links from friends who are having theirs right now.
Lisa from Stop and Smell the Chocolates is having a week long festival with giveaways EVERYDAY! You gotta love that. She's so ambitious and her follower count is growing rapidly and will soon be passing mine I'm sure! (Inside joke between her and I).

Then Diana from To Everything A Season is having a giveaway as well. Tell her I (KIM A.K.A. The Real Me!) sent you if you do enter, because then I get extra entries! Hee! Hee! See I had a motive!

So go entry those giveaways and be sure to head back here tomorrow to enter mine and see the makeover!

HUGS!

Do You Feel It? The Gravitational Pull?

I seriously have a problem. It happens every single year. I can't seem to help myself.
It's the Christmas Bug! I am sucked into anything Christmas.

Just the other day Kathy and I were at the only Wal-Mart in our area that has fabric left and we went nuts when we saw the Christmas fabric. We ooo'd and we ahhhh'd we touched it all and planned to come back and get some when we had time to really look it over. Let me let you in on something. I DON'T NEED ANY MORE CHRISTMAS FABRIC! I have plenty from last year when I did the same thing.

THEN it happened to me tonight while out on a little errand run with my husband. I walked past the rows and rows of Christmas magazines. I wanted to buy them all and flip through their happy little pages full of colorful Christmasy ideas and recipes and decorations. But you know what? I HAVE CHRISTMAS MAGAZINES FROM 1998 STILL! I don't need any more.

THEN I'm in a store today and lo' and behold, there they were, Christmas decorations. All shapes and sizes and colors. Trees, tinsel, little fiber optic villages, snowmen. Oh the joy!!! But you know what? I DON'T NEED ANY MORE DECORATIONS!

Someone please pull the plug! LOL.
Does anyone else have this problem? Is it curable? Is there a hotline?
I will tell you one thing. It's supposed to be 80 here on Saturday and I think I'm going to pretend it's really fall and do some Christmas shopping early. Anyone already done yet?
Can ANYONE relate?

HUGS!!

Making My Home Sing! Happy Smells!

Here I am again. Letting you in on what I do to make my home sing. Nan from Mom's the Word heads up this Meme and it's so nice to reflect on what we can do to make our home a fun and pleasant place to be!

Do certain scents trigger memories for you? They do me. The smell of my Grandparent's oil heater, the smell of turkey on Thanksgiving, the smell of playdough. Once and awhile a certain scent will pass under my nose and it will instantly trigger a thought or memory. I love that! Unless of course the memory is horrible and painful. But we aren't going to dwell on those today now are we? LOL. No, we are making our home sing by making it smell good.

I LOVE scented candles. I will get them for every season because they just make me happy. I just love it when my house smells good. My husband will even comment when he walks in the house from work how nice the house smells when I'm burning a candle. He likes it too.
Now if I happen to be baking cookies or making bread or anything else that fills the house with yummy aromas, I won't light them because those smells alone are enough to send one over the edge of happiness and you don't want to mix them together. That is a scent mixing no no!
I have two scents that I'm going back and forth from right now.
The Yankee Candle Spiced Pumpkin.

And Mulled Cider.BONUS!
You get a sneak peek at my little "Coffee" themed candle arrangement for my "Cafe" themed kitchen.
I had this glass bowl thingy sitting around not doing anything and all I did was go buy some inexpensive coffee beans (Eight O'clock Blend $3.88 at Walmart. Recommend the Hazelnut flavor for extra scent! LOL) and a pillar candle. I put the coffee beans in the glass bowl, set the candle down in there and voila' a cute little candle arrangement. You likey?
It looks great in my new little kitchen makeover, which I will be showing you all Thursday. Because that's the deadline I gave myself and I'm going to stick to it whether I like it or not.
And also don't forget that's my giveaway day too! Fun stuff, so be ready.

So what do you do to make your home sing?
HUGS TO YOU ALL!

You're Gonna Miss This!

I have always read these from Mimi's blog and thought how wonderful it is that she logs these thoughts down and then it hit me today as I was reading hers once again. Why don't I jot down the little memories that touch my heart? So I'm going to start doing that each weekend as they come. You can play along too with your own memories. The home for this Meme is at Pam's blog.

It came to me the other night when I was putting the boys to bed. My husband usually does that but with his new job schedule, I've been doing it. The routine is, I read a couple of books and then I tuck them in and shut out the lights. I then lay down with my 7 year old and we all say prayers, starting with the 4 year old. If Dr. Suess had written the bible, that is how my 4 year olds prayers are, but I love them. My 7 year olds prayers would touch your heart. He is a prayer warrior. But when the prayers are done my son asks me to stay and listen to crickets and sing a song (usually Jesus Loves Me). By now my 4 year old is usually sound asleep. After a bit when it's time for me to get up we hug and then he breaks out into his little good night dance. If you missed that, I actually posted it as my Friday Funnies here. I am SO going to miss that. I'm wondering how long he will do it. Lord knows I'm not ever going to tell him to stop. In fact we got a chuckle thinking about him doing this when he's a teenager!
What are you going to miss?
BIG HUGS!!

Friday Funnies

The weeks are just flying by here at the homestead. I hope everyone had a good week. I know some of you are going through some trials right now and I hope you are able to stop by and gets some giggles in today.
If this is your first time to Friday Funnies, Welcome! Sit back and enjoy yourself. If you have a family friendly funny to share just link up to your post by using the Mclinky provided below.
Now let's spread some funny today.


For my funny today, I'm going to once again let you laugh at me and my little quirky personality.
So here we go.

You know you have a problem when......

1......you find yourself explaining to your husband why he is incapable of pouring your coffee the right way.

2. .........half way through the game of Sorry you quit apologizing for sending your kids back to start and start moving your 4 year olds game pieces for him.

3. .......all your children want to do is color with their Mommy and you whip out your hard covered case of colored pencils and tell them to step away.

4. .....all you can think about is winning your own giveaway. (Coming Soon!)

5. ....your 7 year old wants to explore the PBS kids website and you say he can play for 15 mins. and you spend 10 of those 15 mins. "showing" him how to play and navigate the website and the other 5 looking over his shoulder wanting to snag the mouse out of his hand! LOL! (That sentence was worth rereading. Go ahead, I'll wait!)

6. .....you start dissecting the ingredients in ice cream trying to convince yourself that it would make a good supper.

Yes folks, I have a problem but my family loves me anyway.

And with that I will leave you a precious picture of my 4 year old.
Yes, that's chocolate around the mouth and the sticker says it all!

Happy Friday Everyone!

I'm giving myself a deadline!

I don't like deadlines! It may be the fact that it involves the word "dead" in it. I don't know. At any rate, I don't like them. BUT if I don't give myself a deadline it will never get done. What you ask? My kitchen mini makeover! I need to finish. Only I can finish it. No one else can finish it for me. I have curtains to finish making, a clock to buy to replace the frog clock I have that just doesn't fit the theme any more and the last thing I need to finish I need your help on.
Remember my teaser picture?
Well I have some wall space on the other side that now looks empty. So I'm wondering if you all have any suggestions on what I should put on the other side. If I pick your idea I will give you an extra 2 entries in my giveaway coming up. It can pertain to coffee, chocolate, tea, scripture, etc. Whatever you think might fit. Be creative for me because my mind is kind of mushy right now!

With that said, I'm giving myself till next Thursday to finish my little kitchen makeover. And on that day I will also be having my giveaway.
So be on the lookout my friends and wish me luck! Better yet, say a prayer that I finish everything and find the perfect clock!
LOVE YOU ALL!

I'm Having a Real Life Sister Party!

That's right! I'm joining Amber over at The Run-A- Muck in having a real life get together with my girlfriends. I chat off and on during the day with these gals on FB but we hardly ever get to see each other. So this is a great opportunity to throw a girlfriend party and celebrate real life friendships.
You wanna join in? Head on over to The Run-A-Muck and check out the details and how to join in!
If you live within driving distance of me, you're invited! LOL
Now go on and have yourself a Sister Friend Party!!!

HUGS!

A Tale From My Tea Cup

This week my good friend Lisa at Stop and Smell the Chocolates is having a special theme for her Tea for Two-sday. We are supposed to tell a little story about one of our tea cups. If you have a story by all means join in the fun.

My story is about these two tea cups. Both very different, but part of the same story. I'll try to make it short.
The one on the left was bought by my very best friend in the world, Kathy. Kathy and I have been friends for 13 years and have talked to each other at least 4-6 times a week since we met, unless on vacation.

This past year my best friend was gone for 4 months, not knowing when she was coming back was very very hard for me. All I knew was that I missed her terribly and wasn't sure what I was going to do without her. She bought the tea cup on the left and was going to send it to me in the mail. They are forget-me-nots. But shortly after she bought it her circumstances changed and she was back home. She wasn't going to give it to me at first but I asked her if I could still have it as a reminder of how strong our friendship is through good and bad.

Then this past birthday, knowing that I was still trying to grow my tea cup collection she let me choose one cup from her personal collection to keep for my very own. That of course made me cry because I have ALWAYS admired her beautiful teacups.
So I chose the one on the right.
I hope you enjoyed my little tea cup tale today!

All my teacups hold a little story but this one is one that will touch my heart forever.
I love you Kathy!

Big Hugs to you my friends!!

Making My Home Sing! Game Night!

I'm joining Nan Meme today at Moms The Word. If you have something that's making your home sing, feel free to join in!

I recently started game night with the kids. It's so recent that it only started two days ago.
Mental note though. Don't start to late in the day, after a busy day, or when you are tired.
I really want this to be a time of fun and fellowship with my kids. I know kids LOVE it when their parents play games with them. But we seldom do. So to Make My Home Sing, I am designating Mondays as "Family Fun Day". The kids will get our undivided attention at playing a game of their choice. Except Monopoly (This game brings out the worst in me! LOL),
Scrabble (Because I am Scrabble Queen!), Boggle ( You can't beat me so let's not try!)
But I will play the games pictured throughout this post with them.

Most of you know that I am very competitive and I admit that I have no mercy when it comes to playing games with my kids. I never "let" them win. I've just never been able to do it.
So when they do win it's quite a victory for them. But seriously, Candy Land is PURE luck anyway. Where's the skill? Huh? Yeah, I didn't think so!
So think about me when I'm sitting here playing a game with the kids and moving their pieces for them or rolling the dice for them or telling them where to move.
We're having fun right? My home is singing right? I'm completely OCD right?
I'm okay, right?
You love me right?
Have a great day my friends!!!
Now go make your home sing!!


Oh and if you have any game suggestions for this OCD lovin' Mom, let me know!! Remember my 4 year old has to be able to "kind of" play.

I'm so bad about this and I hope you forgive me!

You all take the time to honor me with awards and I am just not good at posting them. I do indeed receive them in my heart from all of you, but it just seems like I never have the time to sit and dedicate a post to the wonderful awards that you give me. I used to. I'm not sure what changed.
But I sure hope you forgive me for not passing them on and posting them.
I really am not worthy of receiving them for that reason! LOL.
I know you love me and to show I love you all, I'm actually going to publicly receive an award and pass it on. I know, shocker right?

I received this from Debbie from Heart Choices just the other day which gave me the excuse to post my apology to all of you who have been so sweet to me.
It was perfect because I believe that you, my precious faithful friends who come visit me day after day and leave such heartfelt comments, are indeed Over The Top!

Here are the rules :

1. You can use only one word!
2. Pass this along to 6 of your favorite bloggers!
3. Alert them that you have given them this award!
4. Have fun!

So, here goes:

1. Where is your cell phone? Counter
   
2. Your hair? Brown
3. Your mother? Maine
4. Your father? Maine
5. Your favorite food? Chocolate!
6. Your dream last night? Weird
7. Your favorite drink? Water
8. Your dream/goal? Comedian
9. What room are you in? Here
   
10. Your hobby? Blogging
11. Your fear? Spiders
12. Where do you want to be in 6 years? Husband
13. Where were you last night? Here
    
14. Something that you aren't? Kleptomaniac
15. Muffins? Banana
16. Wish list item? Camera
17. Where did you grow up? Maine
18. Last thing you did? Tuck
    
19. What are you wearing? Clothes
20. Your TV? Polaroid
21. Your pets? Dog
22. Friends? Many
    
23. Your life? Wonderful
24. Your mood? Tired
25. Missing someone? Parents
    
26. Vehicle? Ford
27. Something you're not wearing? Perfume
    
28. Your favorite store? Ross
29. Your favorite color? Red
30. When was the last time you laughed? Today
31. Last time you cried? Dunno!
    
32. Your best friend? Kathy
    
33. One place that I go to over and over? Kitchen
34. One person who emails me regularly? Kathy
35. Favorite place to eat? Carrabba's
    

Now I know that we are supposed to only pass this on to 6 people but because I've been so slack lately, I want to pass this on to you if you comment on my blog more than 3 times in a week. It's yours. Snag it! You deserve it. You gals are wonderful and so are you're blogs!!!!

Big Giant Hugs to You All!!!!

I've Been Compared To The Pioneer Woman!

Yup, those words actually came out of someones mouth. So I'm here to set the record straight, in case you even wondered! If you don't know who the Pioneer Woman is then I don't recommend you going to find out because I may never see you again once you discover her.
But here we go any way.

Differences!
1.She lives on some serious acreage in the country. I live on a half acre on a barrier island.
2. She has horses. I don't have any horses.
3. She cans stuff. I've never canned anything in my life.
4. Her kitchen is HUGE! My kitchen is the size of her pantry.
5.Her cooking blog has thousands of readers. Mine has 33. *sigh*
6.She has a really nice camera and a cool photography program to show off her mad skills. I don't.
7. She can make going to the bathroom sound fun. I'm not sure I could.
8.Her husband is nicknamed after a pack of cigarettes. Mine isn't.
9.She's written a cookbook. I only have a free e-book about Apples on my sidebar.
10.She is an excellent writer. I drive writers nuts!
11. Speaking of nuts, she's fried calf nuts. I don't even know what a calf nut is!
12. Go ahead, you fill it in! LOL!

Similarities...............
uh.......mmm hmm.......I got nothin'!



WAIT!!!
She's funny! I'm funny????
Is that it? Well I guess that's something. Though I probably shall never rise to Pioneer Woman status I do appreciate those of you who have stumbled across my little blog and decided to stick around for awhile! You make it all worth while!!

Friday Funnies

Hello again my friends. It is yet another Friday. Does anyone else feel like this year is flying by?
Well at least we get to laugh each Friday.
If you have a family friendly funny to share today go post it and come back and link up directly to your funny post using the linky below.
Let's spread some sunshine today. I know a few people who could really use a good laugh. Let's not disappoint.

I have a comedic clip for you today. I just thought this was so funny.
I didn't grow up with airbags so this was just to funny to me. I'm sure most of you can relate.

Happy Friday Everyone!