Keeping my home singing with some romance!

I'm going to join in with my good friend Nan today in making my home sing.

(Honey, I know you always read my posts but I need you to stop, X out and step away from the computer! You can't read this post! Love you!)

Romance.
Does it seem to flee as soon as you say I do? How about after you've had kids?
I admit that it's hard keeping it going sometimes, but in a marriage, it is a necessity.

With Valentine's Day fast approaching, you will have the perfect background for a romantic night with your spouse.

Here are some of my tips to making V-Day special and inexpensive.

If you're staying home, make your bedroom a haven. Do this while he's preoccupied with work or the kids or something. Tell him he's not allowed in there until later that night.

Plan ahead: Make up a CD of your favorite slow songs. You know the ones that make you feel all gushy inside and take you back to when you would almost bust out of your skin waiting to see him again. (You're smiling right now because you know the ones!)

Set the mood: Candles do this in a big way. Set them all around your room. Scented ones would be fabulous.

The Food: If you're like me you've probably already eaten dinner with the whole family, so use this time alone for dessert. Chocolate covered strawberries are great for a time such as this!

AND they are very easy to make. Feed them to him.

Fall in love all over again!
Slow dance with him to your favorite song. Look into his eyes and remember all the reasons you fell in love with him and tell him!

Did I mention to put the kids to bed and then lock the door first?
Most of all have fun. Don't get to caught up in the details that you forget to have a good time.
Also be flexible. Who knows, he just may have something up his sleeve!

I'll leave the "details" up to you because this blog is rated G, but my point is, to do something. Nothing I mentioned here is either hard or expensive, but I guarantee you that it will make a difference!

Love you my friends!

Someone is needing this today!

This song spoke volumes to me today and I'm just feeling led to put it on here for someone or someones!
I hope that someone finds their way here to listen and be encouraged!
Blessings!

Individual Baked Macaroni and Cheese

This isn't so much a "recipe" as it is an idea of what to do with leftover cheese fondue! LOL!
I had a fondue party not to long ago and had a lot of leftover cheese fondue and bread that we were dipping in it.
So the next day I cooked some macaroni, added the leftover cheese fondue (approx. 1 1/2 cups), one egg, and a 1/2 cup of bread crumbs that I had made from the leftover bread cubes. I simply put the bread cubes under the broiler for about 2 mins or until browned then stuck them in the food processor.
With the leftover bread crumbs (approx. 1 cup) I added some basil, garlic powder, and chipotle seasoning to taste.
I then put my macaroni mixture in my individual mini loaf pan. Sprinkled with the rest of the bread crumbs and baked at 400 degrees for about 15- 20 mins.

Let the baked macaroni set for about 5 minutes if you want it to come out in one piece.

Now this can be a meatless main dish served with a nice salad or you could use it as a side.

Enjoy!

I found this basic recipe if you want to make it from scratch and just incorporate what I did with it!

Friday Funnies!

Happy Friday my friends!
Are we in the mood for some silliness today? Some laughs maybe?
Well you've come to the right place. Now if you have a family friendly funny, go post it and come back and link it up to share.

Yesterday, I discovered Maurice. Maurice and I have become fast friends.
Maurice makes me laugh and feel good all at the same time.
Maurice understands my need for an afternoon cup of coffee!
And so without further ado,
Maurice!

Happy Friday my friends!

Talkin' About Thursdays ~ 5 Things About Yourself

Well I was over at my very good friend Lisa's blog and she was doing this fun Meme so I thought I'd play along. Especially since today's topic is 5 things about yourself. Yourself meaning me!
So I thought it would be fun to try to name a few things (that I didn't put in my 100 things about me post) that you may not know about me. Unless you are my husband, or my best friend.

So here it goes:
1. I used to be a really fast runner when I was in school. In 5th grade I got 2nd place in the 50 yard dash and I was so proud of my ribbon.

2. In 7th grade I got on the honor roll and had to go up in front of everyone and receive a certificate and I almost passed out. I was a bit shy back then.

3. My first on stage performance was for VBS at our church in 2001. I played a Jester! Go figure. From there I went on to play a hippy, a valley girl jock, and a spy!

4. My first job ever was McDonald's. And one day while my best friend and I were working the drive through, it was extremely busy and we were trying to save a little time. So we started getting a little creative. We were actually throwing the food to each other to speed up the process. Well let's just say that when she tossed the milk shake it ended up all over our boss who came around the corner at the wrong time! LOL!

5. I accidentally went to the wrong bank drive through and tried to cash my check. In my defense, I was a teenager and new at the whole "banking" thing. First Florida, First Federal, it was all the same to me. LOL!

You want to join in this fun Meme? Then hop on over to My Cup 2 Yours!

Love you my friends.

Is it just me.....

.....or does my son vaguely remind you of someone?

I'm just sayin'!
He even acts like him too! It's a bit unsettling! LOL! But I love that boy!

Did you enjoy this short post?
Well you deserved it after the last few days!

Love you my friends!

Really, How hard could it be?

Obviously harder then I remembered.

But this is my new motto!
And with that, I set forth with a new outlook!

See, I wanted to do a couple more Valentinesy crafts before I called it done and I had fond memories of making tissue paper carnations in grade school.
Something about folding tissue paper up accordion style and then it resembling a carnation.
Guess what? I tried it! It looked nothing like a carnation. Guess what? I tried it again. It still looked nothing like a carnation. Guess what? I went to the internet for help. Guess what? I was doing it wrong. Guess what? I found a better way of doing it and it came out really nice.
Wanna see? Say yes!
Okay, here is my bouquet of tissue paper Valentine never die carnations.Pretty tacky huh? Yup, I'm all about being tacky!
But I'm going to show you how to make them anyway at the end of this post if you want to stick around.

So after conquering the carnations I felt the need to do something just a tad more challenging. And wouldn't you know that my trip to Wal-Mart gave me just the inspiration I needed.
While I was perusing the hand bags I came across these beauties.
Are those cute or what? Valentine bandannas!
Since they were only a $1.00 a piece I bought 4 and decided to make Valentine pillows out of them.

Here's how it ended up looking.I have to admit, it came out pretty cute! Didn't it? And trust me, I am not a great seamstress so if I can do it, so can you.

Once again for those of you who are just doing a skim and don't have time to partake in anything that resembles a craft, you're free to move on to the next blog and thanks for stopping by!


But for those of you who appreciate ALL the TIME and EFFORT it takes to show you how I did this. (Because I know you care and want to know.) By all means stay and check it out and know that you are still my favorite people!

First we'll do the tissue paper carnations.
Grab your supplies:

Colored Tissue Paper of your choosing
Green Pipe Cleaners

Yeah, can you handle it?
First fold your tissue paper so it makes at least 6 layers, then cut about a 7 inch. square.

Then cut about a 6 inch circle from your square.

Now take your pipe cleaner and push it down and then back up.
So it ends up looking like this.

Then twist the small end of the pipe cleaner to the bigger end to make your flower stem.
Now turn it over and start making your carnation layers.
Simply scrunch layer after layer until all layers have been scrunched.
And when you're done it should look something like a carnation!
You're impressed I know, but try to hold you enthusiasm until you're done reading or you might miss something fascinating, because I'm all about being fascinating.... and tacky!

Next up is the Valentine's Bandanna Pillow!

First get your bandanna.
Now if you don't want to take the trouble to put the white heart on there as an accent, then skip the next couple of steps. But if you do, then let's move on.

Cut your heart out of whatever coordinating fabric you have. I choose some soft white fabric I had. Then cut the same shape, only slightly smaller, out of your fusible bond.
This is fusible bond. In case you've never seen it. You'll love this stuff.
Follow the instructions on the package and apply your heart to the front of your bandanna.
Now take your favorite stitch and stitch around it.
I chose a blanket stitch.

Then you are going to sew the front to the back (your other matching bandanna).
So match wrong sides together and what I did is I used the white border line going around the hearts in the middle and stitched along it. I didn't pin anything because this isn't supposed to be time consuming and hard. Just line up your pieces and let her rip. Just leave about a 7 inch opening so you can stuff it.
Once you have it stuffed to your liking, sew up the 7 inch gap you had.
And you should have something that looks like a won ton.
Now grab your scissors and start cutting about 3/4 inch wide strips around the whole pillow. Make sure you don't cut through your stitching. Come just short of that. Make sure you cut through both sides at the same time though.

When you're done cutting it should look like this.
Simply separate your layers and double tie each strip, all the way around the pillow.
And when you are completely done, it should look like this!
Now with anything, I would really like to know if you tried these and I would of course love to see your finished project!

BIG HUGS!

Linking this up to:

and

In Case You Ever Doubted!

Just go to any zoo and you will leave with no doubt that a Creator had to have designed and created each and every animal. It happens every time I go. So I just had to share some with you.

Just take a look at the diversity and beauty of these animals that we saw on our trip last week.
Enjoy my one word descriptions based on how I felt at the time I saw them.

Colorful!

Fluffy!
Bambi?
Lovely!
Scary!
Lazy!
Mean!
Kissy!
Intimidating!
Stunning!
Unique!
Pretty!
Majestic!
Graceful!
Smart!
Cute!
Fabulous!
Peaceful!
Roadkill!I had many many more but I'll stop there. You get the picture? Just take a moment to think about what you just saw.

Love you my friends!

Romans 1:20

For since the creation of the world God's invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse.