A Walk Down Memory Lane

Come for a walk with me down Memory Lane!
And if you have a "Memory Lane" post, head on over to Scottsville to join in on the fun!

My walk today (yes, I know I'm a day late, but hey...it's a wonder I even got on at all! lol ) takes us back only a few months to this past summer. Kiddo and I had taken a trip to PA to visit a close friend of mine and while we were there, I had the AWESOME, privilege of FINALLY meeting my friend and fellow stay-at-homeschool-mom, Kimberly. We met on a WONDERFUL site called The Homeschool Lounge a good while back, and we have been friends ever since. It was one of those immediate friendships from the very first word we typed each other. Sometimes I can't decide if that was a good thing or a bad thing! ROFLOL! Trust me....IT'S ALL GOOD! :> )

Kiddo and I were blessed not only to meet Kim, but to meet her daughter and son as well. We didn't get a chance to meet her husband. That was probably a good thing for him! lol They are such a wonderful Christian family with such a zest for life, and who love each other dearly!

I pray you have had a wonderful and safe holiday season and will have a blessed New Year!

Look out 2010......HERE WE COME!

Homemade Brown Sugar

I don't know about you but this time of year I go through a TON of brown sugar. It seems like everything I make in the month of December calls for brown sugar in the recipe. As I was visiting Mia over at Aspiring Homemaker, I came across this recipe for brown sugar and just had to give it a try. It is so simple and easy to make.

Brown Sugar:

For every 1 cup sugar,

add 1 1/2 TBSP molasses

Put both ingredients in a bowl, blend together.

I was very pleased with the way it came out. The texture and the way it packs is exactly like store bought brown sugar. The only difference is that there is a bit of molasses smell to it. My sister suggested adding a little vanilla flavoring to it, but I have not tried that yet.

Have any of you ever made and used your own brown sugar before? I never have before, but you knew that this frugal female just COULDN'T pass it up!

Can You Name All Of Santa's Reindeer In 30 Seconds?

Need to take a break from the hustle and bustle? I was just over visiting at Renee's and she had this cute little quiz posted.

Think you know all the names of Santa's reindeer? I know you will find yourself singing Rudolph The Red Nosed Reindeer to try and remember them all.

Thank you, Renee, for sharing this with us!

I DID!
:> )

Goings On

WHEW! What a time this last month has been. It feels like it's been FOREVER since I have blogged or have been able to visit my bloggy friends. We have had sickness after sickness, and on top of that, I don't think I have ever been so busy in my life. And that says a lot since I have three children! lol

I had one of the worst sinus infections I think I have EVER had. It has lasted weeks. Nothing I tried helped. I know, I know, I should have gone to the doctors, but I couldn't. Skippy's new medical insurance doesn't start until the end of February. :> 0 So between the office visit and the prescription, it would have been a HUGE chunk out of our wallet. So, I continued to suffer through it. Well, on Wednesday before choir rehearsal, I was having a chat with God. Actually, it was not a chat, I was talking in a raised voice. "Why do I still have this nasty thing? You know the Christmas program is this weekend and I STILL sound like a frog! Why have you not taken this away from me?"

"You never asked Me to, my child!"

WOW! That really hit me. How many times have I tried to fix things on my own? How many times have I complained to Him that things don't go the way I planned them, or that something doesn't work, or that my cold hasn't gotten any better, etc., only then to realize that I never asked Him for His help. I tried to do it all on my own. I know I can't, yet I continue to do it.

So, after I took my foot out of my mouth, I prayed that God would help me and take this nasty thing away from me by last weekend for the program. PTL, He did. My voice was back and my infection was gone. But then, you'll never guess what happened.....we had a snow storm on Friday and Saturday that dumped over 2 feet of snow on us, cancelling the program for last weekend. lol It has been rescheduled now for this weekend and wouldn't you know it, I now have what Skippy had, stuffy head and body aches. I guess I should have been more specific when I prayed and asked God to take that nasty thing away and said until AFTER we did the program! lol



In all our spare time (lol), we have been at the church. I have been helping the Woman's Ministry decorate the sanctuary.........








participated in our annual cookie exchange.........








attended our Thursday morning Bible Study Christmas brunch and Secret Santa. I really was having a wonderful time. I was trying to listen to what was going on when J. took this picture.











and helped with the scenery and decorating for the Christmas program.....










"A Baby Changes Everything!"















We also have been TRYING to decorate our Christmas tree. As you can see, it is pretty bare, except for Rascal underneath it! lol











We have also had our annual family Christmas party....








with TONS of delicious food! YUMMM!









And we can't forget going out shopping with the kids....
Boog, I felt the same way that day! lol



This week is finalizing gifts and wrapping, making sure everything is ready for the program this weekend, baking, cleaning, and rearranging.

We are also enjoying our visit with my sweet baby girl, Bean, Tex, and Mugsy while they are here for the holidays. We are extremely blessed that they were able to come and are treasuring our time together with them greatly, as Tex will be deploying to Iraq within the next three months. :> (

I pray that you all will have a very MERRY CHRISTMAS! I know ours will be because we will all be together!

Throughout this very joyous time of the year, I hope that we will all remember that............................

The Golden Box

The story goes that some time ago a mother punished her five year old daughter for wasting a roll of expensive gold wrapping paper. Money was tight and she became even more upset when the child used the gold paper to decorate a box to put under the Christmas tree.

Nevertheless, the little girl brought the gift box to her mother the next morning and then said, 'This is for you, Momma.'

The mother was embarrassed by her earlier over reaction, but her anger flared again when she opened the box and found it was empty. She spoke to her daughter in a harsh manner.... See More

'Don't you know, young lady, when you give someone a present there's supposed to be something inside the package?'

She had tears in her eyes and said, 'Oh, Momma, it's not empty! I blew kisses into it until it was full.'

The mother was crushed. She fell on her knees and put her arms around her little girl, and she begged her forgiveness for her thoughtless anger.

An accident took the life of the child only a short time later, and it is told that the mother kept that gold
box by her bed for all the years of her life.

Whenever she was discouraged or
faced difficult problems she would open the box and take out an imaginary kiss and remember the love of the child who had put it there.

Eeach of us, as human beings, have been given a Golden box filled with unconditional love and kisses from our children, family, friends and GOD! There is no more precious possession anyone could hold!

Still Sick

Actually, it's been more like "I can has sick weeks?" This is going into my second week of a nasty sinus infection and I can't seem to get rid of it....BLECH! A lot of my friends have had this same gunky thing over the past few weeks. "THANKS FOR SHARING!" lol As you can tell, I have not been on very much due to this nastiness. I'm sorry that I have not been by to visit you, but I will definitely make my rounds on Monday, French Vanilla coffee in hand! :> )

Tonight is our annual Christmas Party and there is so much to do and I am soooo tired! EEEEEK! Thank goodness for my crock pots though. They will be working the hardest today!

Tomorrow we have a full day at church. We have regular Sunday School and church service, then the afternoon and evening is rehearsal for our Christmas program so I'm not sure if I will have a chance to get back on-line.

I pray that you all have a wonderful weekend filled with lots of love and fun!

Easy Fixin' Cake

I made this cake the night before last and it is so DELICIOUS! I got it out of our church cookbook. It only has 5 ingredients and you mix and bake everything in the same pan.
EASY, EASY, EASY!

INGREDIENTS:

1 box cake mix - your choice (I used a butter mix)
1 can prepared pie filling of your choice (I used apple pie filling)
1/4 cup cooking oil
2 eggs
1/2 cup water

Pour oil in a 13 x 9 inch pan, coating bottom. Put cake mix, 2 eggs, and water in pan

Beat for 2 minutes

Spread evenly

Place large spoonfuls of filling over batter

The original recipe does not call for a cinnamon and sugar mixture sprinkled on top, but I wanted the extra cinnamon flavor so I added it

Bake at 350* for 35-45 minutes. Serve with vanilla ice cream or whipped topping

ENJOY!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, JACOB!

Since I was not able to be on-line these few days, I missed sweet Jacob's birthday. I was saddened that I was not able to send him birthday wishes, sooooooooo, I would like to take a moment to say...................................

"HAPPY 13th BIRTHDAY, JACOB!"

You are now "officially" a TEENAGER!
WAHOOO!

We have just starting a new unit on The Holocaust. For a change, we are combining our History, Language Arts, and Reading together. For this, we will be researching and using on-line resources, taking out library books, and reading "The Boy In The Striped Pajamas" by John Boyne.

"Eight year-old Bruno is the sheltered son of a Nazi officer whose promotion takes the family from their comfortable home in Berlin to a desolate area where the lonely boy finds nothing to do and no-one to play with. Crushed by boredom and compelled by curiosity, Bruno ignores his mother’s repeated instructions not to explore the back garden and heads for the ‘farm’ he has seen in the near distance. There he meets Shmuel, a boy his own age who lives a parallel, alien existence on the other side of a barbed wire fence. Bruno's encounter with the boy in the striped pajamas leads him from innocence to a dawning awareness of the adult world around them as his meetings with Shmuel develop into a friendship with devastating consequences!"

When the book is finished, we will then watch the movie version which I found on Netflix. They have a lot of very well made documentaries on the Holocaust. I want Kiddo to realize and understand that this is NOT some kind of story that was made up....a tall tale passed on down through generations, but a true, horrific event that should never have happened.

To download the curriculum for The Boy in the Striped Pajamas, please click HERE!

After this unit is finished, we are planning a field trip to the Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, DC.

LET IT SNOW................

This was 7:30 a.m.

This was about 4:00 p.m.

BTW.....the noise you hear towards the end of the video, is my cat running into the screen door, trying to get outside to me! ROFLOL!

ATTENTION: NO ANIMALS WERE HURT IN THE MAKING OF THIS FILM! :> )