family

We didn’t go anywhere for Christmas this year so I figured I’d make a special Christmas dinner.

We had turkey breast, dressing, mashed potatoes, gravy, pecan pie (yuck but hubby loves it), chocolate cake (yum), green beans, black beans, rolls and I can’t forget cranberry sauce shaped like a can (double yuck). All were dishes I could easily whip up except for the dressing.

The only dressing I have ever liked is my mother-in-law’s dressing. When I decided to make something special for Christmas I was in the middle of Wal-Mart and called her up to see what ingredients she uses in her dressing.

Her list: celery, onions, 2 boxes Cornbread Stovetop Stuffing, box of cornbread (with two tablespoons flaxseed and wheat germ added), carton of chicken broth and 2 eggs.

Later when I was home I called her to see how to put it together.

• Saute celery and onions (whole pkg celery and 2 onions. both diced)
• make cornbread then use 3/4 of it. (crumble it)
• 2 pkgs cornbread Stovetop stuffing
• 2 eggs beaten first with chicken broth
• put together in pan
• bake at 375 for 30 min or so till it’s brown.

I’m not sure what I did but mine didn’t look or taste like hers. It was good but different. Plus, hubby liked it much better than his mother’s and begged me to blog the recipe and email the recipe to my friends. That way if I ever lose it then I have access to it some way or another.

What recipe can you not live without?

My first job was as a gift-wrap girl at a local retail store. I loved wrapping the presents and would put a lot of thought into which paper I chose. I would happily present the presents to the customers and most people liked what I chose but there were a few that were just plain rude.

After gift-wrapping for several years the last thing I wanted to do was wrap presents. I used whatever paper was available and basically threw it on the gift with tape to hold it on. Then eventually I had children and still used whatever paper was available.

It wasn’t until Best Friend came along and would get all excited over her Christmas paper. I couldn’t see what the big deal was and would laugh at her (don’t worry. she knows I was laughing at her). I’m not exactly sure when it happened but her enthusiasm for wrapping paper rubbed off on me.

Usually I choose a paper for the year and that’s what I wrap all the presents in. It looks so pretty when they are placed under the tree and it satisfies my OCD tendencies. This year however, when I got out the paper the kiddos dove in and started choosing their paper.

I wanted to explain that unless the presents were all wrapped the same it wouldn’t look as nice but I couldn’t bring myself to do it. So this year the presents are pretty much wrapped in paper that was given to me a decade ago and I haven’t used.

I did at one point see some Princess paper and Sponge Bob while I was out and about and used it to wrap what presents hadn’t been wrapped yet.

This post is part of Natalie’s That’s A Wrap! Gift Tour 2008!.

Because my daughter sees me knitting all the time she has wanted to knit. Usually I let her pick out some needles and yarn to play with but today she actually wanted to make something so I got out my knitting looms.

She wasn’t able to wrap the yarn herself so I did that but she did the rest. I showed her how to hook the yarn and move it over the peg. It was so cute listening to her say “Hook and over” over and over again.

Hope everyone is having a great Thanksgiving!

Today I am doing something I have always wanted to do. I am fixing pasta! I am not a fan of the traditional Thanksgiving meal and have always wanted to do pasta instead so this year I am doing it.

I will be fixing spaghetti for hubby and the kiddos and tortellini alfredo for myself. In addition to the pasta we will have garlic bread and salad. Simple, easy and yet delicious.

What are you doing? Have you ever wanted to fix something other than the traditional meal?

Photo Credit: Sh4rp_i

My 3 year old daughter to me after I told her to get her jacket on…

“Wait. Chill out girl.”

My 3 year old daughter to her 9 year old brother while they are playing catch…

“Take it you old boy!”

My husband saw this flyer in Papa John’s as he was picking up our pizza. It broke our hearts.

On November 7th, Jeremy Moore, a pizza delivery driver, was shot and killed in Oklahoma City. He is survived by his wife and two-week old daughter.

You can help by making a donation at the following sites!

• MidFirst Bank - ‘Jeremy Moore Memorial Trust’
• www.papajohnsokc.com
• Any Papa John’s location.

Your prayers and donations are greatly appreciated.

Crime Stoppers of Oklahoma City is offering a $1000 reward for any information leading to an arrest and conviction in this case. If you have any information in regards with this incident please call 405-235-7300.

I love our library. It was designed with kids in mind so it is very kid-friendly.

One of my favorite things are the activity backpacks. These things are too cool. They are filled with books, games, and activities that center around a certain subject. The backpack E picked out this week was Space.

It had:

• books on space
• spacemen to play with
• space puzzle
• space game

What: Raising enough money to purchase 50,000 pairs of shoes in 50 days.
When: November 10, 2008 - December 31, 2008
Cost: $5 buys two pairs of shoes
How: www.50000shoes.com. Also, blog, Facebook, Twitter, email, ANYTHING & EVERYTHING online about this campaign.

Anyone who donates will be entered to win a trip to Mexico to personally deliver their shoes to someone who has never had shoes before, tying together the virtual world with the real world.

Thank you to each one of you who has helped get a pair of shoes to someone who needs them. For what it’s worth, I don’t normally endorse a charity unless it’s something I believe in.

Press Release

Nashville, TN — November 7, 2008 — Soles4Souls, the international charity dedicated to providing free footwear to those in desperate need, has announced plans to launch a new fundraising website, www.50000shoes.com. The charity is challenging bloggers and social media users to raise funds for 50,000 pairs of new shoes in 50 days.

Through the new world of blogging, emailing, twittering, and through many other forms of online media, the non-profit hopes to achieve not only the fundraising goal, but also to spread their mission far and wide. The Soles4Souls www.50000shoes.com charity challenge will be live on Monday, November 10, 2008 and end on Wednesday, December 31, 2008.

“We have been utilizing the basic Web-based marketing tools such as e-mail blasts, social networking and YouTube videos. However, this website, www.50000shoes.com, is the natural evolution of our viral marketing plan,” said Soles4Souls Founder and CEO, Wayne Elsey.

“A strong grass-roots effort, combined with an effective web-based social marketing platform, will allow Soles4Souls to form online community in a creative manner while being effective with raising funds and helping those in need,” he said.

Both the tech savvy and the computer challenged can visit www.50000shoes.com to download their choice of four (4) Soles4Souls banners ad and blog widgets. Using the tools provided, users will be able to easily email, blog, or twitter the challenge to friends, family and co-workers as well as ask everyone to continue spreading the message.

“This is a huge challenge to meet a huge need. We want to virally attack the issues of poverty and make it simple for the end user to play a role in it,” Elsey stated.

Donating is easy and takes just a click and a couple of minutes. It requires no shipping, no wrapping and no trips to the post office. The monetary donation is small with $5.00 buying two pairs of new shoes. Anyone can click and give, and all donations are tax-deductible.

After 50,000 pairs have been donated, one person (with a guest of their choosing) will be selected at random to deliver the shoes they purchased to someone in need on one of Soles4Souls’ trips to Mexico!

“Can you imagine what it would be like to personally give someone their very first pair of shoes?! We look forward to connecting the tangibility of handing someone a pair of shoes with the virtual world of the Internet,” Elsey said.

Social networking has become a very powerful communications tool; however, no one knows when life will hit hard or where a disaster will strike. One day you have everything you need; the next you may only have your life. A pair of shoes can help people begin the rebuilding process. Shoes not only bring hope, but in millions of cases they can save lives. It is estimated that Americans have 1.5 billion pairs of unworn shoes lying in their closets while over 300 million children around the world have never owned a pair of shoes. This is an opportunity to “Step Up” and to help Soles4Souls with their mission of “Changing the World, One Pair at a Time” with “One Click at A Time.”
Contact Info
Email: flowerdust@gmail.com
Website:

http://www.50000shoes.org
Office:
GiveShoes.org
Location:
2900 Lebanon Road, Suite 210
Nashville, TN

We have two Nintendo DS’s. One of our DS’s went missing a few months ago and after months of searching for it we came to the conclusion it must have been stolen. We didn’t want to think that way but gosh we had looked everywhere and found nothing.

Today, my son was playing with the other DS and when some of his friends came over to play, he put it up to play with them. After the boys were gone, my son went to get his DS and it was gone. We looked and looked for it and all the while I’m trying to keep the feeling of dread (that it was stolen) away. We finally decided that it must have been stolen and I was going to talk to the parents.

Before I left my husband prayed for the situation. It wasn’t easy for me to go talk to the parents. I didn’t want the parents to think I was accusing their child of stealing. Instead, I wanted them to know what had happened and if they heard anything to let me know.

One set of parents was at church so I walked down to the other kid’s parents house. (The parent I had just met today. Remember that. I had just met her today.)

I explained to her what had happened and was pretty positive her son had nothing to do with it but was talking to all the parents anyway. She was nice and understanding and said she would talk to her son to see if he knew anything.

Cut to the part where we are getting the kids ready for bed. I’ve read the Bible, we’ve prayed, and I look up and see…one of the DS’s almost hidden in a pile of books on the bookcase. NO WAY! Yes way! It was the DS we thought had been stolen earlier.

Guess what I got to do? I got to call the mom I had just met today and tell her the DS was here all along. It was put up in the wrong place. That was very embarrassing and if it wouldn’t have been the right thing to do I don’t think I would have made the phone call. I would have left things the way they were.

Then guess what happened? Yep! We found the other DS, the one that had been missing for quite a few months. It was stuck behind the bookcase!

Thankfully we found both DS’s although I don’t like how we thought they were stolen. I can honestly say that we didn’t jump to conclusions. We did look for months for the first DS and when we couldn’t find it the only other reason we could come up with was someone must have taken it. We have kids coming in and out all the time and we don’t know the character of any of them. (We are still fairly new to the neighborhood.)

Have you had any moments where you as the parent was wrong and had to correct the situation because it was the right thing to do?

Photo Credit: Baston