17 years!

Can it be 17 years have gone by?
17 years with my best friend!
17 years of love and joy!
17 years of wedded bliss to my wonderful husband!

Happy Anniversary Justin! I love you, more each day!

Wow, it has been a slow few months on the blog front!

So much to do and so little time to do it.... that has been my motto lately. Our homeschool year has me busy! I don't seem to be able to keep up with the laundry much less the blog. I am going to make a concentrated effort to do the pictures of the month starting in January. I have missed doing that series this year!

Tomorrow I am going to share a project that I created for my mother in law for her birthday. I got the idea from Pinterest. However I did not know how easy it would be. I am thrilled with it and can't wait to share it.

I also want to share a few recipes, the ones that are easy for this time of year.  But that will have to be in the next few days. Tonight I am exhausted!

Zac Thomas Images

Everyone has that person in their lives, the one with an amazing talent, the talent you wish you had. Well Zac Thomas is that person for me. His images are amazing!!!!  He has a giant camera and takes awesome photos with it. But the images I am talking about today are from his iPhone. You can check out his website here.
Check it out just in time for Christmas.  I know you are going to find an image for that person who just has everything, or that person who is so hard to buy for.   Or maybe you will find one for yourself. So go on and check out his site, and tell him I sent ya!

Plus he is hosting a contest here.  You really do want to check this one out I Promise!!!

let's be honest here....

Lately I have been trying to be more conscious of  not being so judgmental. It is something that

I struggle with.  I have tried to ask myself, How can you help instead of judging, and if you can't then just don't think about it at all, Or pray for this situation or individual.  Sometimes it is so difficult to do that. 

Well  for the last 3 days, I have been judging the gentleman in the photo below. I don't know how he can just sit there in his hoodie all day. Every time I look out side, he is sitting there just doing nothing. Probably smoking, wasting his time and money instead of supporting his baby.  

Ugh!!! It has me frustrated!!! 

Today I walked outside and just watched for a minute. And what I saw was ugly. He was not there anymore, or rather he was. But he wasn't what he seemed.  

Yep, just take a closer look and you will see it too.

I realized that the "Man" I had been judging so harshly the last 3 days was in fact not even a man but a seat out of a car.  The Ugly part comes when I realize how "quick to judge",  I can be sometimes. I wasted precious energy and resources on my judgmental attitude of this neighbor.  How do I feel about the whole situation? Ridiculous! to be sure.  Confused... I could have prayed for this individual but in the end I would have been praying for an empty chair.  I need to pray for my own eyes, to see things the way Christ would.

P.S. I am also making an appointment with the optometrist  ASAP!

have you seen fish face?

Recently I discovered Pintrest, and I am addicted!

I don't know why it took so long to discover, but I am happy that it finally happened. 

If you don't know what Pinterest is you MUST go check it out. 

While browsing the boards on Pinterest, I came across a photo I just could not stop staring at. 

Check it out. 

(I tried really hard to find a credit for this photo, I found it on pinterest and followed it to a few other websites but could never find the owner, my leads stopped at Tumblr.)

Isn't that photo fun?

It just so happened that while pulling all of the harvest/ halloween type decorations out. My daughter also found the makeup. 

So 

We decided to try it out.  Please keep in mind that I am in no way, shape, or form, an artist.  We did what we could for fun, and we liked the out come. 

 Here is our version.

  We had a lot of fun making goofy fish faces! 

Next time I will try harder to make it look like a fish.

spoiled dogs

Don't judge me.... I feed my dogs table food every once in a blue moon. They are never fed from the table, but every once in a while there is a little bit of steak left over that I just can't bring myself to throw out or re-heat in the microwave for lunch tomorrow. So I feed it to the dogs, and they are so patient as you can see below.

They have never eaten from a fork before.

 So I was extremely surprised by how well they did. 

They had better manners than some adults I know. 

First it was Dixie's turn. She is our pound puppy. 

Then it was Bruiser's turn.

  Bruiser is my mom's dog and he gets table food all the time, even ice cream.

He is a special dog, he was attacked by a pit bull and lost his left eye. 

Then Skye puppy got her turn.  

She is old and missing front teeth but that did not stop her from enjoying her steak dinner. 

The dogs even ate the little bit of zucchini and carrots I had on the plate.  

It was a sweet read

Recently on one of my trips to the library, I picked up a different kind of book. 

I was kinda desperate for an easy read. Something with a bit of humor and something I could put down and not worry about not getting back to right away.  Well, as it turned out I grabbed this book by Gesine Bullock-Prado. Yes, the sister of Sandra Bullock. I did not realize that at the time however. It wasn't until I was about a quarter of the way through it that I re read the author's name and put it together.   

This book was a great summer read. The only real problem that I had with it, was that it really made me want to bake, and in a bad way. I was desperate to get my hands in the dough of some sweet confection.  One of the recipes she shares is for Zwetschgendatschi or German (Bavarian) plum tart. 

I had purchased some plums a few days before I came upon the recipe. But the kids had eaten one and turned up their noses because they were not very sweet. I ended up letting those little plums sit on the counter for a week and a half before I decided I had time to make a plum tart.  I was very afraid that I had waited too long and my plums were better off as chicken feed. But they seemed to be in good shape if a little soft and juicy. 

I was going to make the recipe from the book but realized at the last minute that I did not have quite enough butter on hand. So I reached for my trusty little Taste Of Home Cookbook. I looked up tarts and right there was another recipe for German Plum Tart, and it used a lot less butter.  I now had enough.  This recipe was super quick and easy. The hardest part was waiting until I could cut into it. 

After all was said and done I had a gorgeous plum tart to take to my meeting that night. And let me tell you it was so YUMMY! 

I think I am addicted to Zwetschgendatschi!

 I thought the short crust would be soggy but it was not,

 and the flavors were so so good together.  

Here is the recipe that I used.

 You can use any kind of stone fruit, peaches, apricots, plums.

6-8 ServingsPrep: 10 min. Bake: 35 min.

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup butter, softened
• 4 tablespoons sugar, divided
• 1 egg yolk
• 3/4 to 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 2 pounds plums, quartered (about 4 cups)

Directions

• In a small bowl, cream butter and 3 tablespoons sugar until light and
• fluffy. Beat in egg yolk. Gradually add flour, 1/4 cup at a time,
• until mixture forms a soft dough. Press onto the bottom and up the
• sides of a 10-in. pie plate.
• Arrange plums, skin side up with edges overlapping, in crust;
• sprinkle with remaining sugar. Bake at 350° for 35-45 minutes or
• until crust is golden brown and fruit is tender. Yield: 6-8
• servings.

Nutrition Facts: 1 serving equals 237 calories, 13 g fat (7 g saturated fat), 57 mg cholesterol, 117 mg sodium, 30 g carbohydrate, 2 g fiber, 3 g protein