And the winners are......

Michelle at Heart of the Prairie won the Meditations for New Mothers book and Teddy bear.

Laura at Laura Williams' Musings won the Preschoolers busy book and Mr. Teddy.

Erin at Just Some of My Scrap won the Great Craft book.

Eden at Once Upon A Dream won the knitting book.

Congrats to all. This was the first giveaway I have ever done. It was fun, once I figured out the most efficient way to draw names.

Halloween '07

My Boys- A hobo and a Nascar Driver
Baby Bunny Boo
My Crazy Nephews- An exectioner and an Evil Wizard
Baby Ladybug Sophie

Handmade Inspiration

Here's a nifty site. Lots of inspiration for holiday gifts here.

I wan it I wan it I wan it

K, this is my second go round of trying to win one of these babies. Go check it out there's only two days left.

Fall Y'all

It's finally fall here in the Midwest and I thought I would join in a giveaway that's goin' on. So, here's how it works: If you live in the lower 48 and would like to win something please leave me a comment before 10pm CST on November 2nd. Please state in your comment if you want entered in all 4 drawings or which ones you are interested in. All items are new. Good Luck!

Here's what I'm giving away:

1-a new Meditations for New Mothers book with a nice cozy bear for baby

2- The Preschoolers Busy Book with a great Mr. Teddy

3-Great Stuff craft book

4- Knit Ponchos Wraps & Scarves book

Almost 3 months!

Me and Sophie, she's almost three months now. She's lovely.

BOO!

He's here, Benjamin Oliver born October 18th. He's a sweetie. Congrats to my sis and her hubby.

Bring on the fall!

I'm lovin' the cool mornings. I am ready for the days to be a little cooler too. Maybe next week.

With the trees changing their colors and losing some of their leaves it's got me yearnin' for a change on my top as well. So, tomorrow I'm going to get a cut and color (and a wax of the ol brows and facial hair) Here's what I'm taking in for her to do:

Not quite this short. I've been letting it grow ya know. So a little longer version of this. Lots of choppy layers and great color to accentuate those layers. I think it will be a great autumn change. If it goes well I'll post a pic of myself with the new do.

I don't know if I'm brave enough to do a before and after.

Now if there was just some way to make my face and body look that young and tone with out breaking the bank. Oh and with out scary surgery. Yuck!

Laugh Out Loud

Answers given by 2nd grade school children to the following questions:



Why did God make Mothers?

1. She's the only one who knows where the scotch tape is.

2. Mostly to clean the house.

3. To help us out of there when we were getting born.



How did God make Mothers?

1. He used dirt, just like for the rest of us.

2. Magic plus super powers and a lot of stirring.

3. God made my Mom just the same like he made me. He just used bigger parts.



What ingredients are Mothers made of ?

1. God makes mothers out of clouds and angel hair and everything nicein the world and one dab of mean.

2. They had to get their start from men's bones. Then they mostly use string, I think.



Why did God give you your Mother & not some other Mom?

1. We're related.

2. God knew she likes me a lot more than other people's moms like me.



What kind of little girl was your Mom?

1. My Mom has always been my Mom and none of that other stuff.

2. I don't know because I wasn't there, but my guess would be pretty bossy.

3. They say she used to be nice.



What did Mom need to know about Dad before she married him?

1. His last name.

2. She had to know his background. Like is he a crook? Does he get drunk on beer?

3. Does he make at least $800 a year? Did he say NO to drugs and YES to chores?



Why did your Mom marry your Dad?

1. My Dad makes the best spaghetti in the world. And my Mom eats a lot.

2. She got too old to do anything else with him.

3. My Grandma says that Mom didn't have her thinking cap on.



Who's the boss at your house?

1. Mom doesn't want to be boss, but she has to because Dad's such a goof ball.

2. Mom. You can tell by room inspection. She sees the stuff under the bed.

3. I guess Mom is, but only because she has a lot more to do than Dad.



What's the difference between Moms & Dads?

1 . Moms work at work and work at home & Dads just go to work at work.

2. Moms know how to talk to teachers without scaring them.

3. Dads are taller & stronger, but Moms have all the real power, cause that's who you got to ask if you want to sleep over at your friend's house.

4. Moms have magic, they make you feel better without medicine.



What does your Mom do in her spare time?

1. Mothers don't do spare time.

2. To hear her tell it, she pays bills all day long.



What would it take to make your Mom perfect?

1. On the inside she's already perfect. Outside, I think some kind of plastic surgery.

2. Diet. You know, her hair. I'd diet, maybe blue.



If you could change one thing about your Mom, what would it be?

1. She has this weird thing about me keeping my room clean. I'd get rid of that.

2. I'd make my Mom smarter. Then she would know it was my sister who did it and not me.

3. I would like for her to get rid of those invisible eyes on the back of her head.

She's so precious

We got to babysit for the first time the other night. She is such a sweetie. She's still having a hard time taking a bottle. She would much rather snuggle up to her mom and eat.

My boys could eat her up. I have to tell 'em to back off and let her breath.

Check it out

My oldest has decided he wants his own blog. So, we've been working on it. Go check it out!

House Guests?

My boys have spent the last several weeks catching, playing with and then releasing lizards. They have now somehow convinced us to allow them to keep some in an aquarium in the house. I'm still not sure why I caved on this one. I just made it very clear that if they got out that would be it. No more lizards in the house. The scary part is they are pretty sure they have a male and a female. I'm hoping there's no lizard lovin' goin' on after midnight. They have named them Elvis and Priscilla.

Brown and Blue Swap Swag

There was chai, one of my favs, chapstick, a spatula, a couple of towels, a great chicken magnet and see that little brown box? It had(notice it's past tense) some wonderful chocolate covered toffee confection in it. Super yummy! Thanks goes out to my swap buddy Stephanie.

Do you think he's smitten?

More, More, More

Finally, a name!

Miss Sophia Danielle Pearcy is officially on her way home.

Sorry, no new pics. I forgot my camera today. I'm a bad aunt. ;0(

Another Picture

Still no name!

Taaa- Daaa

Still no name. But she's just precious and I love her no matter what her name ends up being.

Happy Birthday

We have a new niece. My baby brother and his girlfriend had their baby girl this morning. I will take pictures after much holding. And post them as soon as I get back.

Recent thrift finds

I found these about a week ago. I love them. $4.



I found this today while thrifting with frugalmom. I love it. Even if it is huge! $6.

Blackberry Results

So, I went with the cobbler. It's yummy! I also made jam, mostly seedless.

Here's my favorite way to eat it though.

MMMM Berries

The boys and I spent about an hour outside picking blackberries. We have wild blackberries all along our tree line. Now I just have to figure out what to do with them. Hmm, blackberry cobbler, blackberry jam, hmmm, I just don't know. Any suggestions?

Drinking Water

Have you ever thought about your drinking water? Well, if not take a look at these pictures. These are the filters for our reverse osmosis water filtration system. Can you tell which ones are the new filters?

Filter 1


Filter 2


Filter 3

Our system is a five step filter system. As you can see filter 1 and 2 our just plain gross. The filters are somewhere between a year and a half and two years.

All that brown stuff is what's pulled out of our water on a daily basis. Think about that the next time you turn on your faucet for a little tap water.

Check This Out!

My friend gnightgirl is putting a call out to everyone she knows and everyone they know to help her soldier son in Irag. She's not asking for much. It's an easy way to help.

Please go take a look Toys for Troops.

One of my favorite summer things

Cucumbers in Sour Cream

Thinly slice 1 large cucumber; sprinkle with 1 teaspoon of salt. Let stand 30 minutes. Then drain off the accumulated water.

Combine:

1/2 c. sour cream

1 Tbls. vinegar

1 to 2 drops of hot sauce

2 Tbls. chives, chopped

1 Tbls. grated onion or dried chopped onion

Dash of pepper

Pour over cucumbers and refrigerate 30 minutes.

The only thing wrong with this recipe is it takes too long. I want them now!

For a friend

This is my June post. So, there Frugalmom!

I love May

Burns my butt!

Hi, My name is Mim and I'm a resaler. I've been resaling for about 10 years. I am fortunate enough to live in an area that is saturated with resale shops. Pretty amazing considering that these many resale shops reside in a town under 15,000 in population. But here's the problem with resale shops, if you put stuff in them to sell you can really get screwed. Now this isn't true of all shops. But some shops are not so tidy in there book keeping and so stuff maybe doesn't get recorded like it should and people don't receive there money like they should.

Now one of the shops in my area actually has everything computerized. So, when I first starting taking my stuff there I was making a nice little spending income from selling my stuff. I'll admit that I usually ended up buying stuff at the shop. So, most of the time I would just get a credit towards my purchase. Pretty cool not to have to dig out the checkbook for a purchase. But recently this shop sold and the new owners aren't so great about the book keeping. I'm wondering how tough can it be? It's all computerized!

Anyway, I went in the other day because I had taken an item in a few months back and I knew it had sold within the first couple of weeks of being there but I hadn't received a check for it. So, I asked about my account balance and was told I had a negative balance because I hadn't had anything sell and my yearly fee had come due. So, I was told, Oh it must have sold after it's cut off time. Hmm, really? So, I went on to say that I knew it had sold early on and maybe they should check again. Then after much searching on the computer and hem hawing I was told that "oh, I remember now, it sold but then was returned because it didn't work." Reeeaaallly, because we checked and made sure it was functioning properly before we brought it in. Hmmm, well, I really don't know what to tell you. So, I said " How about I want to close my account thank you very much". I then got the run around that they didn't know how to make the computer delete my account so they couldn't close it out. But I wouldn't be charged the yearly fees that are going to continue to pile up in there.

So, That really burns my butt! It won't keep me from resaling but I will be more careful about where I take my stuff to sell it.

Life changes

So, I feel like I'm on some sort of journey. Trying to figure out where I'm headed. Some of you know that I like to know where I'm going, how I'm getting there and how I'm getting back home. I don't like the unknown. But that's exactly where I am at right now. My boys are both in school and I've been struggling with what's next. The good news is that I feel like I have a lot of choices(I like to have lots of choices). The bad news is... I have lots of choices, I'm not sure which direction I should be headed. I am trying to find my bliss. I like doing a lot of things. I'm just not sure which one of those things is "the thing". So, I'm searching and gathering information. I don't have any sort of time line so I can take my time. But I feel like I don't have time. That if I wait to long I will run out of time and choices. So, that's me right now, on a journey with an unknown destination. Scary!

What Character Are You?

I couldn't resist this one when I saw it. This is one of my all time favorite movies.



Which Princess Bride Character are You?
this quiz was made by mysti

I'm a snapdragon?

I am a Snapdragon What Flower Are You?

Chickens?

So, ever since we purchased our "little piece of Heaven" I've been thinking about chickens. But I don't know much about them. Besides they taste really good when you bread and fry them! Ha, Ha, Ha! Seriously though, I've been doing my research and checking out sites like these:
Oh My Stinkin Heck, Memoirs of a Farm Wife, Roosterhen Diaries, Rurality to name just a few. I've been looking at chicken coops trying to figure out what will work for us and what everyone else thinks is the "perfect" coop. I've been researching types of chickens trying to find the ones that are good egg layers, as well as, looking for the niceness factor. I don't want to hate them once I get them. So, as usual, it's taking me forever. I take a while to make major decisions. So, if you know anything about chickens leave me a comment. I like choices, so I need lots of information!

Oh, how they've grown

They are four weeks now. One male is spoken for. All the rest still need good loving homes. Any takers?

Handmade items, we are a crafty bunch!

See what my husband finally finished for me! The holes are so my under cabinet lighting will show through when it's up.

And this is my craftyness. The first pic is of the bag before felting. It's hard to tell in the pictures but it was much bigger and less fuzzy pre-felting.