With love, in memory of our Angel

My sister’s little one, William Henry W., was laid to rest on Tuesday.  He didn’t get to spend a single day on this earth but we love him dearly.  William, we will miss you and we love you forever!  <3

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A ribbon to remember

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Little Cauldron

I have something fun to share!  I added a new page today.  It’s called Doodley Do   I’m going to be sticking little drawings on that page from time to time.  You can use these for embroideries, scrapbooking, crafts, greeting cards, coloring pages, etc.  So hurry on over and grab a copy of the very first one – Little Cauldron!  Enjoy!

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I need hair-apy!

Yes, it’s true.  My hair needs help.  Definitely a hair cut is in order.  And some style.  I am in pony tail stage.  It always goes into a ponytail.  Today, I just piled it up into a bun and went to pick my boys up from school.  My little baby doll just patted the back of my head and said

“Bagel!“

‘scuse me while I go browse hairstyles…

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Mmmm for the month – October Edition

Fall is in full swing and that means apples, pumpkin treats and hot chocolate around here.  But let’s talk about apples.  I am going to share the recipe for one of my hubby’s favorite treats.  He gobbles this stuff right up.

Easy Peasy Apple Brown Betty

2 (21 oz) cans of apple pie filling

1/2 of a yellow cake mix (about 1 2/3 cups)

1 cup quick oats

1 tsp sugar

1 tsp cinnamon

1/2 cup butter

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Spread apple pie filling in the bottom of a large glass baking dish or a 9×13 inch cake pan.  In a medium sized bowl, combine the cake mix, dry oatmeal, cinnamon and sugar.  Cut in the butter with a fork, stirring until the mixture resembles cornmeal.  Sprinkle the crumb topping over the apple pie filling.  Bake for 30 minutes or until golden brown on top.  If desired, serve with whipped topping or vanilla ice cream.  Yum yum!

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Notes from the kitchen:  This recipe fills a 9×13 inch cake pan.  You can easily feed 12 people with this dessert.  I personally prefer a bit more cinnamon in this.  But I have a little guy who likes things a bit more bland.  Sugar cookies, vanilla ice cream and no chocolate please.  He didn’t get that from me ;D  Anyway, if you find that you want a bit more cinnamon, try adding it 1/4 teaspoon at a time until you find your preference.  Then add the same amount of sugar in to balance the flavor out.  Store any leftovers in the refrigerator.

Have a great day!

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Stark raving hornets!

Okay, so the hornets weren’t the only ones going berserk.  My kids were too.  And in the end, I probably looked a little touched in the head myself.  But I am getting ahead of myself.  Let’s backtrack a bit and spin a little tale…

I sat in the warm van feeling sluggish and worn.  My crochet hook lazily moved through the dishcloth cotton and I was entertaining thoughts of just setting the project aside.  Ring bell, ring…  I want to go home.  I sat willing time to speed up from it’s crawl and mentally imploring the boys to hurry out from class.  But of course they would stop at the playground.  They always do.  Sigh…  Would I look comical if I just shut my eyes for a minute?  Or just pathetic?

Oh, glory!  Children are streaming out of every door in sight.  Come boys, come on.  Mom’s sooooo tired.  Dozens of children and parents made their way past my window but still no sight of the two faces I really wanted to see.  The playground started to look really empty.  At last!  There they were.  On the playground.  Okay, look over here so I can motion you over.  Look… look… look…

And then a terrible screech.  My oldest son sprinted toward us, his mouth sprung wide around his urgent cries and a hand clapped to his ear.  “Oh the pain!” he wailed “Am I bleeding?”  Examining his injury was a challenge as he writhed around on the passenger seat.  It eventually became apparent that the source of his trauma was a hornet.  “I wanna go home right now!” sobbed the traumatized child.  He stumbled back to his seat and locked his seat belt in.  I tried to console him as I moved the van away from the curb.

Tears and sadness as we drove all the way around the school building, past a neighborhood and pulled up to a stop sign.  I was still trying to soothe my boy.  The van had just roared onto a busier street when a shriek erupted from the back of the van.  “Get it off of me!  It’s hurting me!  Ahhhhh!!!”  I whipped the van into a nearby field.  It seems the hornet had hitched a ride.  It had it’s way with two of my children.  It sure was not getting the other two!  Hands were pounding on the side passenger door as I flung the trunk open.  I hurried around to the passenger door and boys spilled out of it as soon as I dragged it open.  The first to be stung ran around the van screaming to be rescued.  The most recently wounded was wailing at the large puncture wound in his abdomen.  It took a lot to persuade them to sit in the passenger seat so I could chase the hornet away.

Even with four of the five doors wide open, evacuating the hornet was no easy feat.  I clapped the trunk door shut when it finally flew out.  I hustled the boys back into their seats and closed the side passenger door.  Disbelief flooded over me as the hornet flew back in through the front passenger door.  Four voices marked the rising stress level inside.  Doors were hurled back open.  The hornet was painstakingly ushered back out again and doors were clamped shut.  The blasted hornet flew back inside when I tried to get in to drive home.  Four times we repeated this nonsense.  Intention soon changed from chasing off to seek and destroy!

Suddenly, there were two hornets bombarding me!  Swirling around me and diving in too close for my comfort.  I was aware of vehicles passing by but still I lunged about the field, flailing my arms above my head.  I had to look like a crazy loon.  Still, my erratic moves paid off.  I was at last able to take a hasty retreat to the shelter of the van.  The tears were mostly waning as we approached our house.  Even so, my oldest (and most dramatic) vows not to go outside ever again!

Have a great (hornet free) day!

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Young Love, True Love – Here’s a tomato for you…

My oldest son was eyeing a bowl of tomatoes on the cupboard a few days ago.  He said “Did you know theres a girl in my class at church that doesn’t like candy?” (said a bit incredulously)  So I said “Really?” with a pretty good idea of who this young lady is   “Yes!  She said she would rather eat a tomato than candy!”  He could not get any more incredulous at this point.  “Is that so?”  “Yes.”  And then with a hopeful tone:  “Do you think I could take her one of your tomatoes?”  Aw, a crush…  Gotta love it   Have a great day!

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I have the best intentions… I just forget what they are…

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The Wonder Sock Loom

Love to loom knit socks?  Then you will definitely want to check out the Wonder Sock Loom at DA Looms!  It is a beautiful loom.  The loom is perfect because you can knit socks for everyone in the family all from one loom!  No need to collect a different sock loom for every size!!  That’s totally cool!!!  It is an Extra Fine Gauge loom that gives you a gauge of 18 stitches and 20 rows in 2 inches using stockinette stitch with the U-wrap method. You can read all about the Wonder Sock Loom on the DA Looms Blog.  While you are there, you can enter to win one of these amazing looms for yourself!!!  So what are you waiting for?  If you hurry, you can have your very own Socktober ;D  Have a great day!

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Happy Anniversary – Part 2 :)

Just for fun, here are a few more photos of our wedding

This is a close up of my bouquet and our rings.  I can still remember how pretty those carnations smelled.  And this picture shows the one and only time I have had my nails done ;D

This is one of my favorite photos from our wedding.  It is just sweet.  That is my Grandma (Dad’s Mom) and she is no longer with us so the picture is that much more special to me now.

Love this one.  Hubby hates it but he just looks kind of squirmy cute (in an embarrassed sort of way)

I really wanted to post the photo of my sister with her eyes half shut and a big funny smile on her face and the photo of my brother looking – well… plastered (he had terrible allergies and had taken a ton of Benadryl or something).  Somehow I just didn’t think they would appreciate that very much.  If they ever consent…  lol.  It’s been fun revisiting some memories from our wedding day.  Have a great night!

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