Merry Christmas from our house to yours!

I know that today is the 26th, but I still want to wish you all a Merry Christmas. I hope everyone had a great day. In our case it was more like 2 days (we get together and gift exchange with my dad's side of the family on Christmas Eve).
I hope that the new year finds you in good health, wealth, and wisdom (yes I just used the early to bed idea).
Our kids had a blast at each gathering that we had. They have slept well when they get sleep. BG didn't even want to open her santa gift because she loved her gift from mommy and daddy too much. It was very cute.

This was the scene at the in-law's house Christmas morning. It was crazy. Luckily many of those were not for our house. :) I leave you with a shot of the kids as we were out and about today...

Until next time... Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

I feel so accomplished!

As the years have gone by, I have gotten more into the idea of canning my own sauces, and other things. I have wanted to make more foods from scratch and can what I can for times when items are just not available, but also to save a little money. I guess some could say canning was on a bucket list of sorts for me.
Now I can cross it off that list too! Monday was the day I finally made applesauce and then I canned it. It felt great to make and can something.
I did learn some things from all of this.
The size of my first batch was just right for me. I only got a small basket of apples and I am glad I didn't get more. The jars are actually half pints. I thought we had gotten pints, but was wrong. The batch I made filled ten half pints with a little to spare for our fridge.
I should have flipped my pots around. I used the larger pot for making the sauce when I should have used the smaller pot for the sauce and larger then for canning. As it stands, I quickly cleaned the large pot and got it going for canning the second batch of jars after learning my lesson.
I am very glad that a wonderful lady from church lent her food mill to me for making the sauce. It went so quickly and you better believe that a food mill is now on my Christmas list. :)
I also learned that I need to put an actually canning pot with rack on my Christmas list. I am too cheap (especially with our big trip coming before Christmas) to spend the money on the mill and pot, so on to my Christmas list they go.
I am now hooked! I loved making the applesauce, filling the house with nice apple smells, and I loved canning it. Now I am just thinking of things we eat that I could can. I felt so good at the end of the day about what I had gotten done. Two things I have wanted to do for ages, but thought is was harder than it really was.

Until next time.... Happy Canning!

October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month

Image Courtesy of scottchan/ FreeDigitalPhotos.net. 

Cancer is a nasty, nasty thing. It affects too many families. This month is all about Breast Cancer Awareness.  I now have breast cancer on both sides of my family. As some of you may know from one of my last posts, currently my mom is fighting this terrible beast. I also have at least two women on my father's side who battled with breast cancer, many years ago. I learned about cancer at an early age, but the women I knew fought it and survived, so until I was six, cancer didn't have bad connotations really.
According to Breastcancer.org, an average woman has a 12-13% chance of getting breast cancer in her lifetime. While there are factors that can increase this number, there are also ways to reduce it.

What are some risk factors? (As found at BreastCancer.org)

• Being a woman
• Age 
• Family/Personal History
• Certain Breast Changes
• Race/Ethnicity
• Being Overweight
• Pregnancy history
• Breastfeeding and Menstrual Histories
• There are even more factors that can increase your risk, but I don't want to focus on the negative too much. 

How to reduce your risk:

• Maintain a Healthy weight
• Limit alcohol
• Exercise regularly
• Don't smoke (or quit if you do)
• Reducing your exposure to certain chemicals

If you are 35 or over, there is a Breast Cancer Risk Assessment tool you can use.

What are some things you can do this month?

• Be aware of your risks
• Perform a self-exam
• Go and get a Mammogram done - If you have never had one, or it has been over a year, get checked.
• Help support research/awareness - you can make a donation to an organization or purchase Pink Ribbon products. One thing, when purchasing pink ribbon items, I always like to make sure that part of my purchase is going towards research or awareness. 
• Wear Pink! If you have pink in your wardrobe or pink ribbon items, wear it. 

Until next time... Know your risks, and love on those in your life...

Can I have your Autograph?

Our trip to Disney World is getting ever closer. I can't believe it really. There have been a few things that I have wanted to make for the kids for this trip. One was a quietbook. We are driving down with the in-laws and that is a long trip. We are taking two days to drive down. Things to keep little ones occupied are a very good thing.
From the get go, I knew both kids would need an autograph book. Of course if I were to go to like a disney store or something, I am sure I could find some really cute books for the kids, but how much would they cost? Too much, in my opinion.
I decided I was going to make customized books for each child. I would find some form of a book with blank pages, and some cute fabric to cover the book. After searching long enough (like, every time I went to a store that had any form of fabric) I found two cute patterns for Disney. A quick trip to Michael's gave us our books. Hubby and I decided to use small sketch books. I had found some colored scratch pads at Big lots for a buck, but decided I didn't like them as much. The sketch books are spiral bound, whereas the other was just glue. Glue can easily fall apart and lose pages. Not Good!
Today I finally got around to making the books, and I am so happy with how they turned out. What took the longest time (once we had the materials) was figuring out exactly how I was going to put everything together to create the finished product I saw in my mind.
I love them! The kids seems to like them too. ;-)  Next I will have to share about their matching wallets...

Until next time... Happy Crafting!

Prayer, Praise and Updates.... OH MY!

My oh my, where has the time gone?! It has been so long since I last posted on here. Well, life has been one interesting journey lately. One thing that Hubby and I splurged on was a tablet. The Google Nexus 7. That has made it that, truly, I do not go to my laptop hardly at all anymore. And to be honest, a tablet isn't the best for blogging mostly because I tend to want to type so fast, and on a fully virtual keyboard, strokes are missed and it makes typing long things, cumbersome at best. But, it is great for all the other things.

Okay, so let's see here. Why have I not been blogging so much. Well, the tablet is one reason. But then there are all the other things that are going on right now, that have kept me from my computer. I can't believe I am saying this, but my lil sis is now 16. She is actually getting two parties. She had one for her friends a few weeks ago and the one for family is this Saturday. I have been a big part of planning both parties. Planning... and setup... and making, baking, etc. Sis wanted to make a lot of the things for her friend party. It was really fun, we made cookies, and the cake, and some of the favors as well. What made it more fun was the theme, superheroes! We made capes for each person. Sis had asked each guest which superhero they would love to be and we made a cape for the hero (even if truly they don't have one). It was a lot of fun, and the kids (my kids) loved the trial capes that we made. 

We have also been working more and more to get ourselves ready for our big trip to Disney. There is a lot to be planned and then to be packed and the like. Tons of fun, really. 

Now, for one big thing that has kept me from here. This is where the prayers come in. A couple months ago my mom went to see her doctor for a few different symptoms she had been having. The doc wanted her to see some specialists. After a couple weeks and a handful of tests, she was hit with the "C" word... Cancer. Breast Cancer. That began a whirlwind of information, questions, treatments, everything. Truly the whirlwind began with all of the tests, but the diagnosis kicked it into high gear. Within no time they were scheduling her first round of Chemotherapy. There were classes she could go to in order to prepare and learn more, and countless pamphlets and books to help her through things. 

Of course this hit us all very hard. The form of cancer that she has, is not typically staged, but after she did some research she believe, if it were, that the stage would either be a high 2 or early 3. She is determined to be part of the 50% survivors after 5 years. She is ready to fight as much as she needs to. She has been so strong, and she continues to be. 

Philip Leara

Now, time for that praise I was talking about. Already her oncologist has seen remarkable improvement! He was very pleased to see how far she has come already in her treatment. After I heard this from her, I was so happy. I know she is happy about it as well. Things are happening. The chemo is doing its job. Praise God! The prayers are working! 

So, as you can maybe see, life has been pretty hectic lately, and things probably aren't going to slow any time soon. I am going to try to blog a little more often and all, but if more big gaps happen, just know I have not forgotten about you or my blog; I am just caught up in life and trying to enjoy what I can and uplift those who need it as much as I can. 

Until next time....Pray and Praise!