The big reveal...

I recently participated in the Sister's Shoebox Swap hosted by Monica and Carrie . The theme for the swap was "Refresh". Dictionary.com defines refresh as:

1. to provide new vigor and energy by rest, food, etc. (often used reflexively).
2.to stimulate (the memory).
3.to make fresh again; reinvigorate or cheer (a person, the mind, spirits, etc.).
4.to freshen in appearance, color, etc., as by a restorative.
5.Computers.
a.to display (an image) repeatedly, as on a CRT, in order to prevent fading.
b.to read and write (the contents of dynamic storage) at intervals in order to avoid loss of data. –verb (used without object)
6.to take refreshment, esp. food or drink.
7.to become fresh or vigorous again; revive.

What a wonderful time I had picking out items to put into Barbara's box. Here are the photos of what I put in her box.

Candles from Partylite. This was a sample box of their relaxation candles. I was formerly a consultant and had candles leftover and thought they would make a nice addition. For our refresh theme.
Barbara likes the colors chocolate and pink. I crocheted her a dishcloth in pink and gave her a bar of Chocolate Fantasy Soap. I visit our farmer's market regularly and Moon and Stars Soaps has a wonderful display of handmade soaps. I have spoke with her on several occasions regarding different types of soaps to use for different things. She helped me to choose the soap for Barbara's.
A stress relief kit. Need I say more. I think that all of us endure some type of stress everyday in our busy lives and we can all use a bit of stress relief. There is soap, lotion, a spray and a gel mask in the bag.
And finally, I must say this was my favorite part of the box. I vacationed with friends in Palm Beach Shores, FL in August. We gathered shells on a daily basis, I came home with all sorts of shells. My luggage was too heavy, and I even had some in a carry on bag. But they are beautiful and my boys just love them. Back to the picture frame...I picked up the frame at Michael's and then rubbed some craft glue all over the frame and then sprinkled sand on the glue. The sand came from the beach we walked on every day. Then I glued an assortment of shells onto the frame. And to make sure that the shells and sand stayed in place, I sprayed the picture from with clear glaze. I added a picture I took of a sailboat sailing into the sunset. I also enclosed in the box a pair of pink daisy slippers and a bottle of Cherry Blossom Anti-Bacterial spray.

Now for what I received...

I just love all that was enclosed in my box. There is a star shaped pincushion, slippers in purple shades, a heating/cooling pad, a cross stitch picture and all the necessary supplies to make it, some tea bags with I believe a tube of honey and the book "The Purpose Driven Life" which is on my to read list. The cross stitch picture is of a chair and it reads "Oh! For a book and a cozy nook! And oh! For a quiet hour." - Anonymous.

Thank you to Monica and Carrie for hosting the swap and thank you to Barbara for all of my goodies. If you would like to see what others received, check out Carries blog for Mr. Linky.

That's all I have for now, but I am working on a halloween treat cover that I will be posting about later or perhaps tomorrow. Have a great day!!

The Name Game

A bit of fun for today! I saw this over at the sew create it and went to see Happy Zombie's list. There lists were so much fun that I just had to play along. If you'd like to play along as well, leave me a comment so I can see your list.

The Name Game
1. YOUR ROCK STAR NAME: (first pet & current car),Rocky Ford
2.YOUR GANGSTA NAME: (fave ice cream flavor, favorite cookie), Chocolate Peanut Butter Snowballs
3. YOUR “FLY Guy/Girl” NAME: (first initial of first name, first three letters of your last name),W-Sno
4. YOUR DETECTIVE NAME: (favorite color, favorite animal),Green Dog
5. YOUR SOAP OPERA NAME: (middle name, city where you were born),Lee Springfield
6. YOUR STAR WARS NAME: (the first 3 letters of your last name, first 2 letters of your first),Sno-We
7. SUPERHERO NAME: (”The” + 2nd favorite color, favorite drink),The Chocolate Strawberry Lemonade
8. NASCAR NAME: (the first names of your grandfathers),James Edward
9. STRIPPER NAME: ( the name of your favorite perfume/cologne/scent, favorite candy),Pink Peanut Butter Cup
10.WITNESS PROTECTION NAME: (mother’s & father’s middle names ),Ann Lee
11. TV WEATHER ANCHOR NAME: (Your 5th grade teacher’s last name, a major city that starts with the same letter),Merriman Metropolis
12. SPY NAME/BOND GIRL: (your favorite season/holiday, flower).Autumn Lily
13. CARTOON NAME: (favorite fruit, article of clothing you’re wearing right now + “ie” or “y”)Strawberry Tankie
14. HIPPY NAME: (What you ate for breakfast, your favorite tree),Peach Cinnamon Toast Maple
15. YOUR ROCKSTAR TOUR NAME: (”The” + Your fave hobby/craft, fave weather element + “Tour”),The Sewing Snow Tour

Have fun! I just love some of the names.

September 10, 2007

Today was spent preserving tomatoes. My grandpa planted 12 tomato plants and I have 2 tomato plants. His tomato plants have exploded and they were throwing tomatoes away. My mom and I went to his house and I came home with 6 box bottoms full (I have been calling them flats). I had red ones and yellow ones. I have not done any canning so I was afraid to attempt it, but I did freeze them. The tomatoes that I brought home made me 8 bags of crushed yellow tomatoes and 13 bags of crushed red tomatoes. Each bag has 28oz in it, which is normally the size can that I purchase. My mom is planning a visit in 2 weeks and is going to bring me some more, whatever he has left, and then he's going to cut the plants down. The official end of summer. I am in hopes that I will be able to make some Tomato Jam that sounded interesting in a post that I read here. I found an actual recipe for Tomato Jam here. I'll post in a few weeks on how my jam turns out.

On a side note, I did make for the first time Strawberry Rhubarb Jam. My recipe came from an Amish cookbook that a dear friend gave to me. The jam tastes wonderful and made 4-1/2 pints. The boys had some on their toast this morning and said it was good.

A new bag

I decided that I needed to come up with a new bag. My big bags have been so popular that I thought it was time to create a small bag. This is what I came up with...

It measures 12"x10" (including handles) and has a cute button to hold it closed. This particular one does not have amy pockets, but I am going to make one with pockets and see how it turns out. Please let me know what you think.

This 'n that

Let's start with a quick recipe. I needed something quick to make for dinner. so I took 2 cans of vegetable soup (that had been in the pantry) and added 4 cans of water along with 2 beef bouillion cubes and brought to a boil. I then added a bag of frozen turkey meatballs and brought to a boil again, before finally adding a pound of capellini noodles. And cooked until the noodles were al dente (7-8 minutes). The kids liked it and I needed to use the cans of soup up.


My family has lived in our home for the last 17 months, we moved into our home after my husband was relocated with his job. At the time, we loved the house, the colors on the walls seemed to match our color scheme in all of our rooms. The perfect house, well, now that we have lived here, we've decided that some of the colors must go. It's also time to make the house our home. My husband did not like the handpainted picket fence that was on the foyer walls. I, however, did but did not feel like tackling trying to repair the knicks and dings in the paint on the fence. So, we decided to paint. We knew that we would have to use a primer to cover the dark colors, we did not expect to spend as much time as we have spent in the foyer. In order to make the wall look like an old weathered fence, they used a crackling paint, when my husband painted over it and the paint dried, you guessed it, it re-crackled the paint. I ended up using a wallpaper remover to remove the paint and scraped the walls, only to find at least 4 other paint colors (the house is only 8 years old). The following picture is of daddy and Trevor painting in the foyer.
We had a visit from my cousin and her 3 kids. What a great time the kids had playing and we had visiting. We were going to go to IKEA, however, due to uncooperating kids (mine), she decided that it may be better for her to get lunch and head back to her families home. This is a photo of Ethan and Zettie. He was being ever so gentle with her.
That's all I have for now. I do have another picture I'm going to post in a bit.

Project list..

Have you ever felt as though you never get anything accomplished. Today, for example, I have what feels like a million things to get done and have not done anything. My foyer looks like a war zone, my living room has a ladder and a door in it, my family room is trashed with the kids blankets, my kitchen needs to be cleaned up as the baby decided to empty the drawers, my bathrooms need to be cleaned and that because I live in a house full of boys and I only use one bathroom, my basement needs to be swept and freshened and well my list could go on and on.

So for today, I am going to try and tackle a few things, that I will take in babysteps, 15 minutes at a time:

• Clean up kitchen
• Patch holes in foyer walls (lots of small holes and dents that we found when we decided to paint)
• Vacuum the basement
• Clean the bathrooms (all 3)
• Fix dinner, what I'm not sure, so figure out what is for dinner
• Sew...just for some relaxation
• Read...need to read my chapter
• Crochet...working on christmas projects

Have a wonderful day!

The next 40 days...

I have decided to read "The Purpose Driven Life" . I have had this book on my to read list for about 6 months. My 2 older boys are beginning preschool tomorrow and although I have some plans for myself during that time, I would also like to take time to read this book. You are to read a chapter a day and my understanding is that it takes 40 days. I have read the reviews and am a bit concerned that I may not like the book or it's overtones. That being said, I am going to read it because I am in hopes that it will help me in my spirtual journey.