Stephanie @ Stephanie's Saga is giving away these two lovely rings to two different winners! Be sure to go take a look, ok?
Friday, April 29, 2011
Giveaway
Stephanie @ Stephanie's Saga is giving away these two lovely rings to two different winners! Be sure to go take a look, ok?
Tuesday, April 26, 2011
Yep... I'm a girly girl
Last week I won the giveaway hosted by Renee' at GLOW Academy and I thought I'd show you some picture of the goodies shipped to me...
Well, ok, I didn't win this, bUt I absolutely love the box that my goodies came in... I stored it away in my 'treasure box' (or sewing box :D). I don't want any of my sisters getting their fingers on mY purty pink box.
I'd never actually had a necklace using leather so it was nice to try something new :).
This is my favorite :). So simple and the beads are awEsome.
Can you believe I found this necklace at Wal-Mart? I was pleasantly surprised when I discovered this a few weeks ago.
I'm beginning to think I've got something with butterflies :). Have a lovely day folks.
Monday, April 25, 2011
Meet Chance the Bunny Rabbit
What is your first though after seeing the above photo? How about, AWWWWWWWWW!!! Yep, I knew I was right.
And by now you are probably in tears from the cuteness. Doesn't this cutie remind you of Peter Rabbit in his blue jacket? Easter week our dog, Sammie, brought this bunny to our front yard. Thankfully, Ann found him before Sam had a chance to crush his bones. Ewww... let's not think about that. I thought it was pretty cool that we got this bunny on Easter week... yes, I know bunnies have nothing to do with Easter. But still.
Ann named him Chance since his life was a bit chanc-y till we found him.
We think his mom pushed him out of the nest because his left front foot is lame. Ann was hoping that since she had gotten him at approximately 12 days she'd be able to domesticate him to where she could keep him. However, Ann felt like he wasn't really happy in his cage and so let him go on Saturday of last week. I hope he's ok out there. Poor guy...
Sunday, April 24, 2011
Happy Easter!
This is a reminder of what Jesus Christ did for us. Enjoy and I hope you had a wonderful Easter :)!! God bless...
Tuesday, April 19, 2011
A Special Boy
What made him different from the usual six-year-old was his ability to quit whatever he was doing right away.
If the aunt who was raising his said, "It's time to go" or "Dinner!" he would stop immediately, even if he had reached a crucial point in a game or the best part of an anime.
All the other Japanese children that I know would grumble and try to keep playing the game. They would stay planted in front of the TV set, tearing themselves away--complaining all the while--only when Mother start to yell. I never realized that such ordinary moment of discord, such scenes that occur without fail in every hose, are symbols of happiness.
"Why do children have to be like this?" "Why is this one so stubborn?" "Why do parents have to get mad all the time?" "I'm having so much fun! Why do I have to stop?" I never knew that such feeling of resentment on both sides of the parent-child divide are themselves what constitute happiness.
What I mean is that the process of repeatedly finding the precise point where both sides can come together is itself a form of nurturing, a form of mutual love and interdependence that takes shape only because each side learns to accept the other in the course of acting out these far-from-rosy scenes, the tedious collisions that form such a large part of how parents and children interact throughout the world.
His aunt was by no means too strict with him, but the boy always followed her orders as if struck by lightning.
The boy's mother went off and left him. Only after a year had gone by did any word come of her whereabouts. By then she had had a child with, and married, another man.
Apparently the boy's father had often beaten his mother. When the split up, the boy and his elder brother were taken in by the father's parents. By then the brother was old enough to be less of a burden for his father and grandparents, but the little boy was too much for them, and one day all of a sudden, it seems, he was dropped in the laps of his mother's parents.
People who marry are supposed to be grown-ups, I thought. And when two grown-ups have a child, they're supposed to take care of it until the can present it to society in some kind of decent shape. Nowadays in Japan, thought, it seems that children often marry children, and when they have children, they find these new ones too much trouble, so they let them go. They're like the kind of idiots who buy dogs because they think they'll make cute pets, and kick them out when the barking annoys them.
The mother's parent--the boy's other grandparents--were not eager to have him, either. They were too old to be raising a child, they said.
The boy's aunt couldn't stand to see what was happening to him and decided to take him in herself. She told me, "I didn't want to tell him that we were going to start living together from now on, or that he'd be leaving Grandpa and Grandma's house. I figured that, at some point while I was playing with him, I would just say that we'd be going to another house, or maybe when we were all eating together I'd just say I wanted to take him home with me and not make a point that he would be leaving Grandpa and Grandma's place for good."
Finally, though, how painful could it have been for him to leave the home of grandparents who couldn't raise him? To me, that made him all the sadder, all the more pitiful. Of course the grandparents were probably not devoid of feeling for him, either, nor had they treated him badly, I suppose.
The boy had clothing, shoes and toys. He could watch TV, eat three meals a day and go to kindergarten. Some might conclude that he was a lot better off than many children around the world living in misery. But something important was missing from the boy's world--a secure sense that things would go on as usual and little things allowed to pass, an atmosphere that let him feel, "I can stay here."
Japan may well be full of such children these days.
I kept my thought to myself, but they went something like this:
If it had been me, I would have like her to let me know what was happening. As painful as it might be, I'd rather have her tell me the truth. You father and mother abandoned you, and though you grandpa and grandma do love you, they simply can't raise you. So now you're going to be leaving their house. From now on you're going to live with me, your aunt.
I would have wanted her to say it that clearly.
I wanted to tell her that it might be more painful for him to learn the truth, but that at least he wouldn't have to deny anything.
But each family has its own way of dealing with such things. He would at least be better off than he had been. He would be able to live in the same house with the same person. This was nothing for me to be giving opinions on.
One night shortly after he had started living with his aunt, the boy can to play at my house. He and my son enjoyed playing games, talking endlessly, and sharing the names of each other's friends. He was thoroughly delightful--a bright, lively, wide-eyed little fellow.
Like other children, this boy had so far grown up with someone to change his diapers and hive him his mild every day. What had happened to ruin thing? How could a person just walk away like that, decide one day to cast aside this smooth-skinned little creature who want nothing more than to enjoy life with wide-open eyes, a little creature who moreover, gives his protector such unconditional love? And all because of what? Not genuine poverty or hardship, but just some irresponsible thing.
The boy's aunt said to me with understated love, "I made his mother sign a document so that I would absolutely never have to give him up if all of a sudden on some whim she decided she wanted to take him back."
This was both terribly sad and terribly important as a final lifeline for him now.
Once he started living with her, she said, he had started smiling more often, and stopped having pointless fights with his friend or fits of temper. It seemed that he was finally starting to feel somewhat secure.
I couldn't help wishing that all children might have someone to appreciate them in this way. But there must be so many, many children in the world for whom that never happen--children who die unnoticed, unloved children who turn to violence because they don't know what else to do. Parents who toss their children aside are incapable of realizing that each and every such child is a treasure for all the world.
"Time to go home."
When his aunt said this, the boy stopped playing the game and jumped to his feet. Only my son stayed sprawled on the sofa. He still had no idea how fortunate he was to be able to do this. Sadly, he might never in his life realize that he was too fortunate to recognize his own good fortune.
"Gotta pee," the boy said. The three of us waited for him at the front door. He can out of the toiled with incredible speed, still zipping his fly. "Oh good," he whispered to himself the moment he caught sight of his aunt.
Clearly, this meant, "Oh good, she's still here."
Only a child who had been dumped in numerous places without warning could have said this.
They went off down the dark street hand in hand. They would probably go on living together as peacefully and happily as they appeared to be at this moment. The painful memories of abandonment would no doubt fade for him, and his life with his aunt would become indistinguishable from that of any ordinary mother and son. As in any family whose children had not experienced abandonment, they would have their fights and their moments of tenderness and would overcome the many obstacles encountered on the road from childhood to adulthood.
But still, that little whisper, "Oh good, " would probably never fade away completely. The right to utter those words was a thing of value that belonged to him alone.
It was like a tiny diamond, painful but precious, that he would keep inside. Even if he forgot about it, it would always be there, sparkling, long after the parents who had abandoned him forgot his very existence.
If the aunt who was raising his said, "It's time to go" or "Dinner!" he would stop immediately, even if he had reached a crucial point in a game or the best part of an anime.
All the other Japanese children that I know would grumble and try to keep playing the game. They would stay planted in front of the TV set, tearing themselves away--complaining all the while--only when Mother start to yell. I never realized that such ordinary moment of discord, such scenes that occur without fail in every hose, are symbols of happiness.
"Why do children have to be like this?" "Why is this one so stubborn?" "Why do parents have to get mad all the time?" "I'm having so much fun! Why do I have to stop?" I never knew that such feeling of resentment on both sides of the parent-child divide are themselves what constitute happiness.
What I mean is that the process of repeatedly finding the precise point where both sides can come together is itself a form of nurturing, a form of mutual love and interdependence that takes shape only because each side learns to accept the other in the course of acting out these far-from-rosy scenes, the tedious collisions that form such a large part of how parents and children interact throughout the world.
His aunt was by no means too strict with him, but the boy always followed her orders as if struck by lightning.
The boy's mother went off and left him. Only after a year had gone by did any word come of her whereabouts. By then she had had a child with, and married, another man.
Apparently the boy's father had often beaten his mother. When the split up, the boy and his elder brother were taken in by the father's parents. By then the brother was old enough to be less of a burden for his father and grandparents, but the little boy was too much for them, and one day all of a sudden, it seems, he was dropped in the laps of his mother's parents.
People who marry are supposed to be grown-ups, I thought. And when two grown-ups have a child, they're supposed to take care of it until the can present it to society in some kind of decent shape. Nowadays in Japan, thought, it seems that children often marry children, and when they have children, they find these new ones too much trouble, so they let them go. They're like the kind of idiots who buy dogs because they think they'll make cute pets, and kick them out when the barking annoys them.
The mother's parent--the boy's other grandparents--were not eager to have him, either. They were too old to be raising a child, they said.
The boy's aunt couldn't stand to see what was happening to him and decided to take him in herself. She told me, "I didn't want to tell him that we were going to start living together from now on, or that he'd be leaving Grandpa and Grandma's house. I figured that, at some point while I was playing with him, I would just say that we'd be going to another house, or maybe when we were all eating together I'd just say I wanted to take him home with me and not make a point that he would be leaving Grandpa and Grandma's place for good."
Finally, though, how painful could it have been for him to leave the home of grandparents who couldn't raise him? To me, that made him all the sadder, all the more pitiful. Of course the grandparents were probably not devoid of feeling for him, either, nor had they treated him badly, I suppose.
The boy had clothing, shoes and toys. He could watch TV, eat three meals a day and go to kindergarten. Some might conclude that he was a lot better off than many children around the world living in misery. But something important was missing from the boy's world--a secure sense that things would go on as usual and little things allowed to pass, an atmosphere that let him feel, "I can stay here."
Japan may well be full of such children these days.
I kept my thought to myself, but they went something like this:
If it had been me, I would have like her to let me know what was happening. As painful as it might be, I'd rather have her tell me the truth. You father and mother abandoned you, and though you grandpa and grandma do love you, they simply can't raise you. So now you're going to be leaving their house. From now on you're going to live with me, your aunt.
I would have wanted her to say it that clearly.
I wanted to tell her that it might be more painful for him to learn the truth, but that at least he wouldn't have to deny anything.
But each family has its own way of dealing with such things. He would at least be better off than he had been. He would be able to live in the same house with the same person. This was nothing for me to be giving opinions on.
One night shortly after he had started living with his aunt, the boy can to play at my house. He and my son enjoyed playing games, talking endlessly, and sharing the names of each other's friends. He was thoroughly delightful--a bright, lively, wide-eyed little fellow.
Like other children, this boy had so far grown up with someone to change his diapers and hive him his mild every day. What had happened to ruin thing? How could a person just walk away like that, decide one day to cast aside this smooth-skinned little creature who want nothing more than to enjoy life with wide-open eyes, a little creature who moreover, gives his protector such unconditional love? And all because of what? Not genuine poverty or hardship, but just some irresponsible thing.
The boy's aunt said to me with understated love, "I made his mother sign a document so that I would absolutely never have to give him up if all of a sudden on some whim she decided she wanted to take him back."
This was both terribly sad and terribly important as a final lifeline for him now.
Once he started living with her, she said, he had started smiling more often, and stopped having pointless fights with his friend or fits of temper. It seemed that he was finally starting to feel somewhat secure.
I couldn't help wishing that all children might have someone to appreciate them in this way. But there must be so many, many children in the world for whom that never happen--children who die unnoticed, unloved children who turn to violence because they don't know what else to do. Parents who toss their children aside are incapable of realizing that each and every such child is a treasure for all the world.
"Time to go home."
When his aunt said this, the boy stopped playing the game and jumped to his feet. Only my son stayed sprawled on the sofa. He still had no idea how fortunate he was to be able to do this. Sadly, he might never in his life realize that he was too fortunate to recognize his own good fortune.
"Gotta pee," the boy said. The three of us waited for him at the front door. He can out of the toiled with incredible speed, still zipping his fly. "Oh good," he whispered to himself the moment he caught sight of his aunt.
Clearly, this meant, "Oh good, she's still here."
Only a child who had been dumped in numerous places without warning could have said this.
They went off down the dark street hand in hand. They would probably go on living together as peacefully and happily as they appeared to be at this moment. The painful memories of abandonment would no doubt fade for him, and his life with his aunt would become indistinguishable from that of any ordinary mother and son. As in any family whose children had not experienced abandonment, they would have their fights and their moments of tenderness and would overcome the many obstacles encountered on the road from childhood to adulthood.
But still, that little whisper, "Oh good, " would probably never fade away completely. The right to utter those words was a thing of value that belonged to him alone.
It was like a tiny diamond, painful but precious, that he would keep inside. Even if he forgot about it, it would always be there, sparkling, long after the parents who had abandoned him forgot his very existence.
By: Banana Yoshimoto
Yoshimoto, Banana. Freedom. New York: Broadway Paperbacks, 2009. Print.
Friday, April 15, 2011
A tag!
This tag from Missouri's Lilac @ Missouri Daze (Thanks you sooooo much!! I haven't done a tag in such a long time :) requires you to list 10 things you love (who's ready to up it to 100?) Ready? LET'S DO THIS!!!
1) I love my Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ... I don't know what I 'd do with out His redeeming love and forgiveness.
2) I love Algebra 1... weird? Yup! 
3) I love turqouise and yellow put together. They just seem like really, really good friend if you know what I mean.
4) I love my sisters dog, Trevvor. Why? Because he is the mOst adorable thing EVER!
5) I am learning to love piano... even though I've been able to play for 5-6 years.
6) I love my family <3.
{No, this is not all of our shadows... we would need about 8 more ;)}
7) I love birds singing in the morning.
8) I love earrings!! Especially pretty ones like below :).
9) I love calisthentics even though I don't do them that much.
10) I love soccer :).
I am going to tag:
Rebecca @ Living for Christ
Johanna @ An Old Fashioned Girl
Bess @ Bess' Bag AND...
...if you want to do this tag, well, TAG! Now, grab it and go! Just be sure to give me the URL to your blog post in a comment so I can go read about the 10(0) things YOU love :).
Airshow!!
Now, in case you didn't know, my family is a huuuuuuge fan of AIRSHOWS!! Every year, ever since I can remember, we have gone to an airshow. That's the #1 thing we do every year. It's kind of like drinking wassail at Christmas. And then after the airshow we go eat BBQ. Why? Because, meat+BBQ sauce= AWESOME!!
Is this heart cool or what? 
This is a P-40. Or it could be a P-51, but I it isn't. Argh! I don't think the names should be so similar. My dad has all of the airplane names down. But then of course, he grew up on a military base because his dad was in the Navy. I think.
I have no worth the idea which planes these are. If you know be sure to tell me :D.The parachuters are so cool! One of those parachuters is a 70 year old lady! That gal's gotta have some spunk. Period.
There was also a 'missing man formation' (Picture from google) which represents all of the brave Americans who have given their lives for our country in WWII, Afganistan, Korea, and Iraq.
One other thing that I appreciated SO much was that before the airshow, a prayer was said for our soldiers and our country. I think this was the first time this had ever been done (at this particular airshow) and I hope that in the coming years it is repeated. There is nothing more that this country needs than prayer.
Tuesday, April 12, 2011
Friday, April 8, 2011
Butterfly Bananza!
A few days ago, my eldest sister got me some more fabric paint... oh yea! I'm lovin this :). And Mary (11yo) had a yellow spotted shirt that she wanted me to paint to cover up the spots.
It's kinda crazily nutty, but I had to make sure I got all those spots.
Have an awesome day everyone!
Taco Casserole...
Yup. I'm going to share a recipe with y'all entitled Taco Casserole. It is very simple and easy to make and yet awesome-ly tasty.
Taco Casserole:
-1 & 1/2 pounds lean ground beef or turkey
-1/4 cup McCormick Taco Seasoning Mix
-1 15-16 oz. can pinto beans, drained and rinsed
-1 15 oz. can of tomato sauce
-1 11- oz. can Mexican style corn or whole kernel corn, drained
-1 cup shredded Cheddar cheese
-1 cup coarsely crushed tortilla chips
-Assorted toppings: sour cream, sliced green onions, shredded lettuce and chopped tomatoes (optional)
+Preheat the oven to 400* F.
+Brown meat in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Drain off the fat.
+Stir in season mix, beans, tomato sauce and corn. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat to low; simmer for 5 minutes.
+Spoon the mixture into a 2-quart baking dish. Sprinkle with cheese and tortilla chips.
+Bake for 5-10 minutes, or until the cheese is melted
+Serve with assorted toppings, if desired
-->Makes 12 servings.
Before baked:
After baked:
I'm digging in folks!!
Credit:
{Costco Wholesale, Home Cooking The Costco Way, Seoul, David W. Fuller, 2009. Print.}
Thursday, April 7, 2011
Photo Contest...
Grace @ A tinge of blue, a speck of red, a patch of green is hosting a photography contest. The theme of this contest is 'simplicity'. Here is the simply-simple photograph I am entering...
Stylish Squares
Do you want to know how to turn an ordinary white t-shirt into something with pizazz? Well, today I'm going to show you how you can restyle any shirt within your reach, using an awesome technique using freezer paper, an exact-o knife and fabric paint (I get butterflies in my stomach every time I think about it!!). Here is what you need: 
Freezer paper, 
fabric paint, 
paint brushes, 
an iron and ironing board, and 
a cool design. 
Step #1: Trace your design onto the non-shiny side of your freezer paper. I added some embellishments of my own... make sure you get creative and add your own flair to it. 
Step #2: Cut your design out with an exact-o knife. While doing this, I found that it is easier to cut with a downward stroke. 
Make sure you save any bits of paper that you cut out your design because they will be used later. 
Step #3: Make sure you iron is on a 'no steam' setting and heat it up to the 'linen/cotton' temperature. 
Step#4: Slip a piece of regular paper into the shirt you will be working on... if you don't do this step you will end up with blotches of paint where you don't want it.Step #5: Lay your design, shiny side down, on your shirt. Make good and sure that every thing is straight and that the shiny side is laying directly on the shirt fabric!! If the shiny side is not facing down, then you will end up with a design stuck on you iron... not cool :D.
Step #6: Lay the heated iron directly on top of your design. Iron away and make sure that all the sides are sealed.
Step #7: Remember the cut out pieces of your design I told you to save? Now they come in handy! Arrange the cut out pieces where you want them and iron them on. 
Step #8: PAINT TIME!! What type of paint do you use? Well, I used Tulip fabric paint. However, I'm thinking that any machine washable, permanent, fabric paint will be fine. Anyhow, pick out you favorite,snazziest color and squirt them onto a paper plate. I had to mix my paint so if you are mixing make sure you do that now. 
Step #9: Now it's time to get happy! Paint away, girl. When painting, begin at the edges and pull the paint in toward the center... this will help the stencil stay down and make sure your paint doesn't go places you don't want it.
Keep painting!
And painting!
Step #10: Now begin to peel you stencil away. This was the first time I ever attempted freezer paper stenciling... so, at this point in the process, me and my sisters were squealing with delight because it was turning out so well. I was soooo delighted!
Step #11: Now that the outer stencil is off it's time to pull the inner stencils away. Get some tweezers out and begin to pick them things away! 
This project turned out soooo well! I was extremely happy with myself and my sister Ann (stylish squares is her shirt) is crazy over it. I now have three more requests: Patrick wants me to make him an American themed shirt, Alva (10 yo) wants a soccer themed shirt, and Grace (4yo) discreetly made me bend down so she could whisper into my ear, "I would really like it if you made me one for my birthday." Gotta love the honesty of kids, right? Haha! Much love to my followers...
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)