And The Winner Is . . .

One of my new blog land buddies, Stacie has graciously presented me with this Honest Scrap award. I just started following Stacie's blog after we met at the Nester's swap meet a few weeks ago. She is a really sweet lady and we had a blast spending time together.


In accepting this award, I need to do the following:


1. Say thanks and give a link to the presenter of the award.
2. Share "ten honest things" about myself.
3. Present this award to 7 others whose blogs I find brilliant in content and/or design, or those who have encouraged me.
4. Tell those 7 people that they've been awarded HONEST SCRAP and inform them of these guidelines in receiving.


10 Random/Honest Things about Me:

1. I am the oldest, youngest, middle and only child of 5 kids. (That's a post for another day!)
2. I dropped out of college get married and have a child when I was 19 years old. I finished my degree after my 2nd child was born in 2002. I use my teaching degree to teach my own children at home.
3. I love soup! I love making soups from scratch and in large batches. I can eat soup even on the hottest, stickiest North Carolina day. My husband looks as though he might pass out when I order soup in the summer.
4. I love to bake and cook. Every year starting in September, I start making Amish Friendship Bread. I keep 2 batches of starter going 5 days apart from each other and I bake, wrap and freeze the breads as gifts for Christmas. Last year, I baked my last batch on December 23rd and had over 80 loaves of bread to give out.
5. I could spend hours at the mall or any store for that matter and never spend a dime . . . especially if they sell furniture, fabric, home decor items, flooring, paint or shoes. I LOVE SHOES!!!
6. The first time I met my husband, I was a little afraid of the dorky guy in the Tazmanian Devil t-shirt and duck slippers. My fears were validated when he introduced himself to me as "Tater". I didn't find out his real name until we started dating a year and a half later and I met his sister and she called him "Mike". He is still just as strange as ever.
7. I am quote sure that I probably require medication for OCD. I have this thing where the inside of everything has to be exactly right and it looks like an advertisement for California Closets or something like that. The funny thing is that I have 3 boys (ages 12, 8 and 4) and a husband which means no one cares about what anything looks like and they are all slobs. I am slowly converting my 12 year old.
8. I have a photographic memory and I live in a house with 4 other people who are also blessed with this gift. I have found that it makes for really long drawn out explanations of everything because they feel like they have to describe everything from every angle using every sense. It also causes arguments like, "No it wasn't a white shirt, it was off-white."
9. I hate the feeling of newspaper. I cannot touch it with my bare hands. It makes my teeth hurt. Even typing this and thinking about newspaper is making my teeth hurt. When we moved and I had to pack up breakables, I wrapped everything in rags and clothing. I can read a newspaper if I don't have to touch it or if I am wearing gloves but even the smell of it makes me nauseous. I am going to stop talking about it before you send someone to my house to take me away to the psychiatric hospital.
10. I love fast, high, spinning rides. There is not a ride on earth that I will not try.


I tag... Rona, Amy, Terri, Nester, Jen, Emily, and Tracey because as different as they all are, they have all brought creative ideas, insight, encouragement, a great recipe, new friendships, spiritual advice, or laughs to me through their blogs. Thanks for being real, girls!

Prayers Answered

Just a quick post to let everyone know that Michael's job will be changing for the better. We are SOOOOO excited about this. I will let everyone know more when I find out more details. This is going to be a great year!

My Late Post About The Swap Meet

Pardon my tardiness. Yesterday was a crazy day. I was all set to take the boys to the movies with friends but all 3 decided to show me their "Mr. Hyde" so I said, "That's it! We are NOT going to the movies with our friends." As they sat there crying and begging for forgiveness, mercy and second chances, I said, "And there will be no Wii or TV either." To which Judah asked, " Well, can we go to the pool?" You gotta love 4 year olds!




We did not go to the pool. We did chores! Caleb, my peace maker, did everything I asked and tried to motivate the others.

Jeremy snuck off to his room to play with Legos but I did make hime help with the laundry when I found him.

Judah . . . well, I am just grateful that he did not try to make a bigger mess while we were cleaning.
He picked up fruit snack and granola bar wrappers and picked up the crayons.

We ended the day with more pizza creations (which I did not photograph). We had Black bean and shrimp with Mexican cheese blend and spinach alfredo pizzas. The boys actually preferred the bean pizza. We watched The Sandlot while we picniced on the family room floor.


This morning . . . Let's just say everyone is being super obedient today!


So one week ago, I attended a Swap Meet at the Nester's house. I met so many lovely ladies. Some that I knew from following their blogs and others that I am following now. It was a wonderful time of food, fun, fellowship and . . . getting new stuff (I couldn't think of another word that started with "f" that fit here). I got some lovely mossy green fabric and trim to match, tan curtain panels and a tall skinny lamp that I'll be using on my buffet in the dining room. I will post more on these items as I figure out how I will be using them.

There was so much food and while I tried to be healthy and brough a fruit tray (I know . . . boring), Stacie brought these yummy simple little treats made with bugles, peanut butter, chocolate and sprinkles. For a sweet/salty junky like myself, this was like CRACK and they were wonderful. I will be making them in the near future. Oh and Stacie was very sweet and great to talk to. Jen, Kimba, Richella, Emily (the Nester's sister), Bonita and Terri were just some of the ladies that I met that day. They are all just as fun and genuine as they are on their blogs. Here are some photos of my fun Saturday.







Here is one of me and the Nester. She is just as real and sweet as she can be!



All of these ladies have posts about the swap and we all hope to do another one.

Pizza That Cleans Out The Fridge

The other day my fridge was full of bits and ends of meals that were not enough to just reheat and eat alone so I had to get creative. I knew that pizza would be something that would be eaten with no complaints so . . . I pulled 2 partially baked pizza crusts out of the freezer and all my ends of food out onto the counter to brainstorm. I had made shrimp with spaghetti the night before and since shrimp was $4.99/lb at Harris Teeter, I made 2 pounds instead of one (which is never enough for my boys anyway). All of the spaghetti was eaten but there were 21 shrimp leftover. They had been cooked in a yummy lemon, garlic and herb mixture so I knew they would be fine on a pizza. I had also made some pesto using baby spinach earlier in the week and had a small container of it ready to be spread all over a pizza crust. I wasn't sure the kids would eat the pizza with only the pesto as the sauce so I mixed a little bit of jar Alfredo sauce that I had in the pantry into the pesto. And so I began to build.

Here is my thawed partially baked pizza crust with the pesto/Alfredo mixture and my leftover shrimp.

Then I realized that our oldest was not going to eat the pizza because he just recently decided that he does not like shrimp. I planned on making the second pizza a cheese pizza but I thought he might be weirded out by the sauce. I chopped up 2 Roma tomatoes that I had in the fridge and sauteed them in EVOO and a little kosher salt until they started to break down.

I ran them through the blender and mixed them into the rest of the Alfredo/pesto mixture. It made a lovely creamy tomato sauce.

I spread the sauce on the crust that was to be the cheese pizza.

There was a little leftover so I spooned it over the shrimp on the other pizza.

I topped both pizzas with a bag of pre-shredded Italian blend cheese. Here is the cheese pizza.

Here is the shrimp pizza going into a 450 degree oven for about 10 minutes. I just put the pizza right on the oven rack.

Here is the cheese pizza baked for about 10 minutes or until the cheese is as golden as you like it.

Here is the shrimp pizza. I didn't want the shrimp to get over cooked so I took it out at the early stages of doneness.

Both pizzas were devoured and it took less than 30 minutes total to make them because I used leftovers to make some very gourmet style pizzas. My friend's son was over for dinner and he said I should give his mom the recipe. The bonus was that all 4 boys (my 3 and our guest) ate spinach without even knowing it.

What are your favorite leftover recipes?

What is up with me?

I vowed in April to start blogging more regularly. You see how well I've done. Later on tonight I am going to do a post complete with pictures. BUT, for now, I will just ask your forgiveness for breaking my vow and let you know that I have much to share. Come back later.

Hello . . . Do You Remember Me?

Yes, I am still alive. And NO . . . the computer is not fixed yet. However, I have found a way to upload pictures to the laptop and will try to be more consistent with the blogging.

The week before Easter, everyone here had the flu and once I had everyone back to health, I caught the bug and it turned into a sinus and ear infection. I am finally feeling like a real person again but I've had so much to do to catch back up on all my work. I even missed church on Easter Sunday which I was not happy about since I went to all the choir practices and missed actually singing the songs on Easter. I did get dressed and met everyone over at my Mom's for lunch. See our cute family picture.

Anyway, things are back to normal . . . whatever that means. I sat down to write this post on April 15th. I typed the first 2 paragraphs and saved it as a draft. I finally have the time to sit down and my mind can't even organize the thoughts in my head of all the things I haven't been able to post. So here is my apology in advance: If this post is hard to follow, I am so sorry but, I am about to go into a Dennis Miller style rant about laundry. Here goes:


I have had so many tasks and projects going on at once I can't even think straight. I have been sorting and purging for a church yard sale that is happening this Saturday. I have to drop everything off today so it can be sorted and priced. I am trying to refinish and recover my old glider and ottoman for a dear friend who is having her first baby. I have been doing laundry perpetually for the last 13 years of my life and I am beginning to wonder whether there is a secret that everyone else knows about laundry that I don't. It's not funny. If there is a secret . . . I need to know what it is. Does everyone else out there feel like there is always either mountains of dirty clothes or mountains of clean clothes? I'll get all the clothes washed and dried but then there are mountains to fold and put away. Once I get those put away, I take a deep breath and feel that sense of accomplishment only to walk into the laundry room and there is a mountain of dirty clothes again. The nerve of these people I gave birth to perpetuating the cycle of insanity which is the laundry. And one more thing . . . Why is it that when I fold all the laundry my stack of clothes to be put away is the smallest by half. Even the 4 year old's stack is bigger than mine and his clothes are tiny. There is only one thing that I can conclude from this observation. I am not wearing as many clothes as they are. If that is true then eiter they are changing clothes 3 times a day or I am having "Pajama Day" mor often then I care to admit.

Here is another question for all 2 of my loyal readers: Do you wash everything after it has been worn once or do you do a "stain and sniff test"? I am not talking underwear or socks or even shirts. Obviously, if they were outside working or playing and were very sweaty or had worn a shirt for an enitre day, then by all means, pitch it in the hamper and I will wash it. I am talking about jeans, towels, sweaters/sweatshirts worn over another shirt, church clothes worn for 3 hours and then changed out of before lunch. Here is my attitude toward this issue. If you take a bath and put on clean underwear and pajamas and get into bed, are your underwear or pajamas really dirty in the morning? Can't you wear those underwear that day? Can't you wear the same PJ's for at least 3 nights? If you get out the bath or shower, where you have presumably washed your entire body from head to toe with soap, and then dry your clean body with a towel, why can't you hang the towel to dry and use it at least 3 days? My view on jeans is this, I check them front and back for any marks or stains. If they are clear of marks or stains then I sniff. If I don't smell anything but denim, then they get a spritz of Febreeze and go right back to the boy who thought they were dirty. I would need to own a laundromat and stock in Tide to wash everything daily. I am NOT saying wear filthy clothes or sleep on crusty sheets or use a stinky towel. What am saying is this: I am NOT the laundry fairy. Laundry takes work and it takes all day (we don't have a super capacity washer). And for the love of all things holy, use a napkin. Your shirt and pants are not there for you to wipe your hands on and long sleeves are not a built-in snot rag . . . neither is the side of the seat in the car. Why do you think there is a box of tissues in every bathroom and the car and napkins on the table? They are not for decoration. I am going to go on laundry strike one day just for laughs. I don't think anyone else in this house knows how to use the machine. I am sure Michael could figure it out but I have been doing his laundry since February of 1995 and before that, his mom did his wash. I think that everytime they put on a pair of clean, fresh smelling underwear they ought to come hug me and tell me they love and appreciate me. That's just my opinion, I could be wrong . . . but I don't think so.

(BIG BREATH)

I say all that to say this: My new dream washer and dryer are being delivered today. I asked the guy in Lowe's to sell me the floor model and got him to give me a discount because it has a small dent. It is barely noticable. Dave Ramsey would have been proud of my negotiation skills. Anyway, this new set is twice the size of and 23 years younger than my old set so I am hoping that will help me in my laundry endeavors. I am really excited about it. It scares me a little how excited I am over a washer and dryer. I think maybe I need to get out more. I think I might have already said that in this post. I know you are thinking it.

Yesterday, we took a little field trip. We went out for pizza and then bowling and then to the park with 3 other homeschool families. We had so much fun and did alot of laughing. Here are some pictures of the kids bowling.











I just want to thank my good friend Rona for taking a "Rear View" picture of me and my sloppy form. I have great friends . . . friends I can count on to lift me up and encourage me . . . people who will help me feel better about myself. I have come to the conclusion that Rona hates me because she took this picture. I am going to go drown my sorrows over my spreading backside in a tub of ice cream now. (Just Kidding, but not about the ice cream! Love Ya, Rona!)


Here are some group photos of the kids. It is impossible to get a good picture of 9 children. Take a look:























Hopefully, I will be blogging more regularly from now on. Two of the boys had birthdays since my last post and we went to Disney World and Myrtle Beach. I have pictures and stories to tell. Maybe I will post some pictures of my new washer and dryer and you can help me think up names for them like Bert and Ernie or Thelma an Louise.

Down But NOT Out And A Plea For Prayer

You know the old saying, "The shoemaker's family never has new shoes"? Well, the same goes for the computer nerd's family. The power supply on our computer died and we have to replace it. It is not a big deal or expensive repair but, it just hasn't gotten done. We have laptops that I have been using to check stuff and pay bills but, all my pictures are on the other computer. I also cannot upload pictures from my camera card to the laptop so I can't post photos. I hope to have him (my computer nerd husband) look at the computer soon so I can rejoin the cyber world. Anyway, I thought that I would give everyone an update (sans photos) of what's been going on around here.

Saturday night, Jeremy started running a fever with no other symptoms. I missed church Sunday because he was still running a fever. By Monday night, I knew it was a sinus infection from the rancid smell of his breath. Tuesday, after our sad snowfall melted, we went to the doctor and got some antibiotics. Wednesday morning, he woke up after sleeping until 9 AM (which never happens) and it was like he was never sick. I kept him home to have him rest anyway and sent him to school on Thursday. Today there was no school due to parent-teacher conferences. He is doing well considering this is only his 3rd week of conventional school ever. So, he only went to school one day this week. Oh, well, it's only 1st grade.

On Wednesday morning, I was minding my own business, taking a shower when the door bursts open and a high, squeaky voice is screaming about how he just achieved "Pro Status". Apparently, I live in a house with expert Wii bowlers. After telling said child how happy I was for him, I told him to get out and close the door so I could finish my shower in peace. Even the bathroom is not sacred here.

I am proud to announce that I have caught up on all the laundry. I just have to put all the boys clothes away. By the time I get around to folding it and putting things away, they are all in bed and I can't go in their rooms to start putting clothes away. Well, I could but that sort of defeats the purpose of putting them to bed.

Great things are happening for this family. We are so blessed. I was reminded today how fragile life is and how we should always appreciate our blessings. I have a friend in Canada who is in kidney failure. Her name is Jillian, she is 30 years old and has 3 children (2 boys and a baby girl). Her mother sent this to me today and I wanted to pass this information along to everyone I could. Please read it and pray for Jillian and her family. If you feel led to do anything else to help, please call the number in the message. Someone out there can help save her life and allow her young children the blessing of growing up with a mother who loves them and doesn't want to leave this earth yet.

Hi everyone~~This is to update you on Jillian and her health re: her kidneys. Unfortunately none of Jillian's potential donor's were a match. We are spreading the net out farther now, as she's getting worse. I'll try to keep it brief but give you the relevant points:

*Her kidney function continues to drop and she is now at 17% overall kidney function

*Her need for a transplant is NOW

*We've run out of options--no one in the immediate family is a match. Her options are few--there are currently 1000 people ahead of her awaiting transplants from a cadaver.

*She can receive a kidney from a compatible living donor

*Anyone with blood type "O" (negative or positive) has a 90% chance of being a match.

We all understand this is a personal choice and trust me, there are no hard feelings for those who may not respond. But there is always a chance someone might be willing to donate a kidney and at this point we must leave no stone unturned until we find a match for Jillian.If anyone is interested then please let us know. Call 604-806-9078. Ask for a woman named Ruth. Tell her why you are calling and who you are calling about (Jillian Eccles) and she will take it from there. There are never too many people as some will definitely not be compatible. Thanks in advance for ANYONE who tries.

Bonnie

Thanks for taking the time to read this message and for praying fervently for Jillian and her family. Thanks to anyone who goes above and beyond to save a life.

Kristi