A Penny For Your Thoughts

    Today I am joining up with  The Simple Woman  to give you a peek into my daybook for this week...   Outside my window.... Sunshine!  It is still a little chilly but I love seeing the sun.   I am thinking... About my New Year's goals and resolutions....yes, I do that.   I am thankful... That I have been able to really relax over of my break.  I was really needing it mentally, physically, and spiritually.   I am wearing.... My sweats...hey, it isn't pajamas :)   I am creating... A calm mind.   I am going... Grocery shopping later and to my niece's 10th party this evening.   I am wondering....How to have a better schedule for 2015 and reduce the chaos in my life.  Seriously.   I am reading.... I am finishing up some books on my Kindle.  I need to be better focused and read one book at a time I think.   I am hoping...that this week drags by..... I am off all we...

  1. Finish all of our Christmas Shopping by November 30th. I used to live by this rule and enjoyed the Holiday Season a lot more. A few presents were bought after but for the most part this was attained.  Everything was even wrapped a week before Christmas.  Yes!       2. Have Christmas Cards ready to order by November 15th. Not by the 15th :(  They are currently done but not sent out.  We have been battling strep and the flu at our house.  Some peoples will be mailed late and others will be hand delivered.  Such is life.       3. Make a new pumpkin recipe . We bought pumpkin noodles at at the pumpkin patch this year.  We cooked them in chicken broth just like normal homemade noodles.  They were AMAZING....this will definitely be on the fall purchase list.  I am getting tired of pumpkin spice this and that, so after a container of pumpkin spice creamer and a couple of pumpkin pi...

Joining Jill Savage  for the Third Thursday Blog Hop. I know I am a day late, but that is life right?  Sick kids and Christmas have my schedule a mess!  Well anyway.... today's topic is What is Your Identity...    I found it much easier to write about my personality than my identity.  Maybe I just don't like being "defined" by things.    I can be identified as a daughter, sister, wife, mother, ex wife, aunt, granddaughter, daughter in law, friend, coworker, sister in Christ, as well as many other "titles".    We are identified by where we are from, who our "people" are, what we do, our race, our culture, and a host of other indicators. But all of these things are just pieces of the person we are as a whole.    How do I identify myself? That depends on what I am doing and who I am interacting with.  I would never use my "Mom" hat with my supervisor or my "Coworker" hat with my family....

I know, I know, this is supposed to be a Monday post, but mine will have to remain Saturday posts for now.  I am a full time wife and mom with a full time career outside of my house as well as the full time job within my walls.   My heart is always with my family whether I am home full time or part time.  I have been blessed with seasons of being home full time (my preference) and am now in a season of working full time outside of the home.  Both have their ups and downs and pros and cons.  We live a busy life and I love to make the weekends peaceful and family centered as much as possible.  The reality is that there is a lot of catch up going on.... Welcome to my crazy life!   The weather outside is..... Pretty warm for December.  It is in the 50's.  When I left to take Madison to her Christmas Cheer Party this morning I didn't even need a coat or to warm up the van.  This is my kind of winter wea...

  I live in Illinois so Mother Nature likes to throw all kinds of weather at us all year long, just to keep us guessing.  In the past month, we have had 60 degree days, rain, snow, freezing rain, almost 0 degree temps (with wind chill), and even some sunshine.  We had snow on Thanksgiving, so let's hope for snow on Christmas.  We had a beautiful weekend of 50 degree weather, but this is what our roads looked like a week and 1/2 ago.....     My children have always had a chocolate advent calendar to count down to Christmas.  This was something I always had as a child as well.  I have noticed that the younger ones are better about eating them everyday, but the older ones play catch up....at least they don't skip ahead :)  We did have the year when Madison was about 3 that she ate all of Katie's chocolates when we weren't looking.  We had to keep them in a high place for the rest of the season and it was crazy hard to find...

        If we don't change, we don't grow.  If we don't grow, we aren't really living.   ~Gail Sheehy I love Poinsettias, they are just such a gorgeous flower... I took this picture in Walmart, I just don't have the time to maintain one this year.  I decided to give it a chance at a longer life with another family... and I needed something red for my photo challenge that day!   

  I think we have finalized our Christmas Menu.... I am almost salivating...     Prime Rib Roast on the smoker with an Au Jus for dipping   Instead of potatoes I am making Homemade Baked Macaroni and Cheese (craziness, but making some changes)     Green Beans Wrapped in Bacon with a Maple Glaze on the smoker (Doug made these a few weeks ago and they were amazing)   Green Bean Casserole (Just because, tradition you know)   Brown and Serve Rolls     Baked Pineapple and Chocolate Pie for dessert     I am hoping for plenty of left overs....     Link up with Diary of a Stay At Home Mom  to share your menu!

  This post title for Blogmas made me giggle.... I do know how to cook and I do make many things homemade and very well. However, I am not one of "those"   Christmas Cookie Bakers .  I love that there are many of you out there and I am your Christmas Cookie Eater when I am given the opportunity.    At our house we use the pull apart and bake cookies in the refrigerator section of the grocery.  All kinds, all brands.  I am pretty sure I could say that the chocolate chip ones are the favorite in my family, but when it comes to Christmas, we always make the sugar ones from Pillsbury with a Christmas stamp of some kind on them.        I know, this is probably a mom fail but it works for us.      However, I do like to make the rolo/pretzel candies and I make a really good graham cracker toffee.    But my favorite thing to make for Christmas and New Years is...... ...

  If you have read my blog, like ever, you know winter and I have kind of a tolerate, bordering on really dislike, each other kind of relationship.  If I could have snow without ice and in 50 degree weather, life would be fine for those 4-5 months.  I don't really dislike snow.  But I can't handle being cold.  At All!!   Ok, Rant over, for today, maybe, until it is brought up again....   What can I not live without?   A Warm Coat...my favorite coat is my black puffer coat.  It was super cheap from Sam's eleven (yes, eleven) years ago.  It is the warmest coat ever and luckily has never went out of style.  The zipper is being a little iffy this year and I just might cry if I talk about it too long.  This coat washes and drys so well and does not look like it has been a winter staple for eleven years.  I also have a North Face that I love but if it is below 20, the black coat wins hands down, every time. ...

  I am playing some catch up on my Blogmas list today...   When Do You Open Presents?   We open one gift on Christmas Eve.  Usually I get the girls something similar so I pick that gift so that every one gets it at the same time.  I am excited about this years sister's gifts.  I will fill you in after the holidays :)  All other presents are opened on Christmas morning.     Handmade Christmas Gifts to Give or Get?   I love to get those coco mixes, etc.  in the jar.  Really anything homemade, I just love the sentiment of it.  To give?  I haven't been as good at this as of late.  I sometimes buy homemade Apple Butter from the Amish store and give it with a bag of bisquit mix.  I haven't made it homemade, but it is the next best thing.    What is on Your Wish List This Year?   Nothing really specific this year.  I would like a carpet cleaner I think....

  last year at Christmas   I am traditional when it comes to Christmas food....   We often have ham, mashed potatoes or au gratin potatoes, green bean casserole, and brown and serve rolls (I have an insane love for brown and serve rolls) .   Another traditional food for my family for Christmas is Prime Rib .  My mom always made it, my brother made it for several years after she passed, and this year I think Doug is going to make prime rib on our smoker.  Yummmm.  It is perhaps the only steak I really like.    I am always up for pumpkin or chocolate pie as my dessert. With lots of Rediwhip !!!   Now that I am hungry........  I am really enjoying everyone's Christmas posts.  I ordered Love Actually to watch this weekend.  It seems to be a big hit and I am not sure if I ever even heard of it.  Merry Christmas !   

  Quick and Easy Vegetable Soup/Stew   Ingredients: Large can of Tomato Juice 1 Box Chicken Broth Canned Vegetables (drained) My picks are: Diced Potatoes Green Beans Corn Sweet Peas 2 lbs browned hamburger with diced onion 1 box of any kind of pasta noodles Chili seasoning to taste   I brown and drain the hamburger with onion together, and then add everything but the pasta together in a big soup pot.  When it begins boiling, I add the noodles and cook about 20-30 minutes.    Serve with corn bread or crackers :)    

  My all time favorite Christmas movie is Holiday Inn with Bing Crosby and Fred Astaire.  I even remember seeing it for the first time when I was about 10 years old and staying up to watch it on CBS's late movie with my mom.  I fell in love! I will watch it whenever it is on and have been known to watch it at other times of the year as well.  I used to have a copy on VHS.  I really need to get a DVD copy.  I love all the songs and the absolute innocence of it.  Old movies are called classic for a reason.    I also enjoy me some Christmas Story.  I will turn on the 24 hours of a Christmas Story on TBS and leave it on the whole time if no one else changes the channel.  Funny, funny, funny!!     Tim Allen in the Santa Clause movies also draws me in every time.  He made one of the best Santa's ever.  It made me want an Oscar Meyer Wiener Mobile whistle for myself and an elf for a best friend :) ...

  I was honestly going to skip this topic on the Blogmas because it is going to end up sounding depressing.  However, in the spirit of keeping it real on my blog, I decided to tell a little of my story.    I loved Christmas growing up. My mom always decorated and baked and shopped.  She hated wrapping but lucky for her I LOVED IT.  I would wrap all the presents, even some of my own that were in plain boxes.  I would pretend to work at one of those wrapping places in the mall and add beautiful bows, etc.    My mom always cooked a fancy meal for both Christmas Eve and Christmas Day.  Usually a big breakfast as well.  We would have appetizers and prime rib and sometimes even broiled lobster.  She was such an amazing cook.    My brother, who was already grown and out of the house, would come home and spend Christmas Eve at our house even though he only lived 16 miles away.  After he was married that of...

  We have developed many traditions for our family over the years.  We always open one present on Christmas Eve, we have Grinch Punch on Christmas Eve, we lay out cookies and a beer for Santa (this has been since my childhood), sprinkle oatmeal in the yard for the reindeer, have sparkling grape juice and chocolate eclairs on Christmas morning, and we go see a movie as a family on Christmas afternoon at the movie theater.   Leading up to Christmas we have chocolate advent calendars, have fun with R.J. our Elf on the Shelf, go to the surrounding towns that have light displays on a  snowy evening, attend  the Santa breakfast in town, and enjoy the school's Christmas program.   We have many family dinners and get togethers to attend to wish everyone a wonderful holiday and spend quality time with the ones we love.    My favorite tradition?  Probably leaving cookies and beer for Santa.  I don't know how it started but...

I have decided to link up with Diary of a Stay At Home Mom  and particpate in her Blogmas 2014.  As we know, I can't commit to each and every day...   So starting December 1st I will be using the writing prompts below.  I would love to see all of yours as well, so if you participate please put your blog link in the comments.     Merry Christmas :)

      Whether you think that you can or you can't,  you're usually right.   ~ Henry Ford I have been having fun with photography this past year.  I feel like I have come far from where I used to be.  I loved this one of a rose from Uncle Lloyd's funeral.  

Ok, so this link up is actually Home Maker Monday, but I don't get to be a stay at homer on Mondays, so I am making my post about Saturday. I would love to be a Stay at Home Homemaker but at this season of my life, it is not possible. So even though I am a working wife and mother, I am still a homemaker at heart and this is what my Saturday (if I don't have to run, run, run around) entails...   The weather outside is..... Rainy but in the 50's.  It still surprises me that after a few cold days how 50 degree weather feels so warm.  I am wearing a tee shirt and cardigan with my jeans and sandals...I Love It!!   On the breakfast plate this morning...Bacon and eggs made by the hubby.  I made mine a sandwhich on a hamburger bun.  There is a deli near us that always makes their breakfast sandwhichs on hamburger buns.  For some reason, I have latched on to this and prefer mine on a bun at home instead of regular bread.  I am also having ...

    Something deep within the human psyche cries out for appreciation.   ~Gary Chapman I often forget to celebrate me in the day to day.  This week I topped my morning coffee with Rediwhip.....and you know what? I enjoyed it even more. It's ok to be a little fancy sometimes :) 

  I am joining  Jill Savage from Hearts At Home for the 3rd Thursday blog hop today.  The topic is Do You Love Your Personality?     I do love my personality.  I feel I am kind, intuitive, honest, empathetic, sympathetic, funny, sarcastic, open minded, tactful, forgiving, nonjudgemental, spiritual, and trusting.   However, I can also be quick to the tongue when angered, paranoid, reactional, emotional, and bitter.   I realize that the second set of traits is not as positive but are interwoven with the good ones to make me who I am and remind me that I am a work in progress.   Emotional- the double edged sword for me.  I can be happy and carefree or I can worried and sad.  I feel every emotion strongly and personally.  I read too much into other's emotions sometimes or assume that I can fix it or change it.  I am good at identifying when others are bothered by something, ...

I wouldn't be a true blogger if I didn't post my Starbucks and Boots in the Snow pictures.... I admit this time of year does have that going for it.         I love a nice Holiday Starbucks blend and the Chestnut Praline Latte is pretty amazing.  My next favorite is the Eggnog Latte...yummm.           I also love to wear my boots and my scarfs.  I personally would prefer to wear these in 50-60 degree weather instead of 25 degrees and below....just sayin'   I do like snow.  I don't like to be out in it, like At All, but I love to admire it from the inside of my house through a window while covered in a warm blanket or throw.  Snow on Christmas is a bonus :)   I love the ice covered tree branches and I do agree they sparkle like diamonds.   I love hot drinks (coffee, hot chocolate), soups, and warm cookies.   See, I am not a complete and total Scrooge.  B...

I was actually home on Monday but not to be a homemaker...Doug and I met with his surgeon about his fractured wrist.  Praise God, they decided surgery was not necessary.  Just wearing a brace and letting God heal it on it's own.   The weather outside is.....Snowing and cold.....booooooo!   On the breakfast plate this morning...3 cups of coffee.  I don't know why, but I forgot all about eating.   As I look outside my window...Those Titan T's are still there. Whoops.   Right now I am....Sitting down before we have to leave for Madison's basketball game   As I look around the house...I see that I need to vacuum and fold laundry as usual.   On today's to do list...we had Doug's appointment, ran some errands in the big city (yummy lunch at Panera), and Madison's game tonight.   Currently reading...nothing at the moment.  That is just unheard of :)   On the TV today...We watched ...

  Ok, so this link up is actually Happy Home Maker Monday, but in this season of life I am not able  to be a stay at homer on Mondays, so I am making my post about Saturday.  I am still a stay at home homemaker at heart and this is what my Saturday (if I don't have to run, run, run around) entails...     The weather outside is..... cloudy and chilly in the 40's.   On the breakfast plate this morning...a Schwan's Ham and Cheese omelette.  Yes, it is frozen food, but these are so yummy and on the lite menu.   As I look outside my window...I see a bunch of Titan T's that need to come down from decorating for the playoff game. lol   Right now I am....preparing for my day and reading on my kindle.   As I look around the house...I see a lot of undone stuff.   On today's to do list...Madi needs to be taken to basketball practice, Cassie to cheer practice, Lucy and I are going to an antique show with my mot...

    This week flew by for me...Halloween, teaching Sunday School, one kiddo spraining her ankle, and the day to day and work made this week feel fast and chaotic.   Here are some of my favorites for the week:   Katie and her man dressed up as Superman and Lois Lane...so cute :)     Lucy was Frankie Stein from Monster High, this is about as scary as we get with costumes     One of the best children's books.  Especially if you love to color like me :)      One of my favorite bible verses.  I found this  via pintrest ....I even use it as my phone lock screen now.  Thank you God for fighting for me :)   Schwan's Baguette bread.  We devour it with butter as soon as it comes out of the oven.  It is pretty much an appetizer rather than an accompaniment for us since we can't wait...   Have a wonderful weekend!! 

  I had as a fall goal to try a new pumpkin recipe.  This is a variation of one I tried last year that my family requested again this fall.      Pumpkin Fluff   1 can pumpkin   All Spice (sorry, I just shake some in until it smells like I want it to)   Butterscotch Instant Pudding Mix (last year I used vanilla)   1 container Cool Whip   Vanilla Wafers for dipping   Mix the first 3 ingredients together until well mixed and then fold in the cool whip until blended.    Serve with vanilla wafers......so easy and so good!!   Enjoy :)             

  Wow, could that month have gone any faster?  No, don't answer that.    We were busy with Homecoming (Cassie was a freshman homecoming attendant), fall parties, church activities, basketball games, Cassie had an ER visit, harvest, and Halloween.  Oh, and yes I worked and did what I could on the day to day stuff (not well on the second part of that...).    Wheww, I wish I could say November would be slower, but that would be ridiculous to say with my family.   In October I learned....    The library is one of Lucy's favorite outings with me.   That pull apart and bake cookies make my family just as happy as the ones from scratch.   That pumpkin noodles are amazing.   Purex laundry detergent is cheap and good!   Burning candles put me in the mood to clean the house and make things more homey for my family.   Meeting Katie for lunch and talking to her during the day is one of ...

  My Friday Favorites....     My new camera!  I am so loving it.  Photography is something I have always wanted to explore and I now have a camera that is not annoying and not my phone :)  I am having so much fun with it. I can't wait to have some extra time to go on the hunt for some beautiful country churches and barns.  Oh,  and of course I also wanted a pretty and unique camera strap, as well as a "retro" camera case to accompany it.  I like to name the inanimate objects in my life so the camera will fondly be known as "Stella".   The perfect pairing for fall.  Creamer is probably my favorite pumpkin flavored anything... and as we all know, everything comes in pumpkin flavor in the fall now a days.      Farming.  Well, watching The Man farm I should say.  I am so proud of his profession :)     Our little hometown grocery and their fruit dip is to die fo...

So this is what I do for the majority of the day...   Work at my desk.  A necessary evil to almost every job.   Drive around in this cool ride.  I know, you're jealous.   Read books to children...and get paid for it.   Some of my props for Stellaluna (one of the best children's books ever)....that is a bat puppet, not a beaver as my oldest thought. I also do a lot of boring day to day tasks, but hanging out with the preschoolers is pretty awesome :)

  Everyone needs a quick and easy go to for busy nights.  I am sure I did not make this up completely on my own, but it was the result of what was in the pantry one night, and I must say it is YUMMY :)     Hamburger Casserole   2 pounds browned ground beef, I brown mine with 1/2 a chopped onion   1 package cooked egg noodles, I use No Yolks noodles   1 can cream of mushroom soup   1/2 a soup can of milk   1 cup shredded mild cheddar cheese     I mix the ingredients together except for the cheese and put in a casserole dish.  Top with the shredded cheddar. Then pop it in a 350 degree oven for 30 minutes.      See, Yummy and Easy !!! I hope you enjoy :)         

        Those who bring sunshine to the lives of others cannot keep it from themselves.  ~ Sir James M. Barrie, British writer