Simple Beauty

My girls brought home two things today. A rainbow bouqet of carnations and a coke. Sometimes simple is best.

All Outta Ideas -- Update

Sometimes God doesn't give you what you ask for, He gives you what you need. I truly believe that.

A few days ago I was begging for help on how to cover my ugly couch. Friday I was given the most beautiful gift.

My dear friend bought a new living room suite on Friday. I asked her if she would like to sell her gently used (and very pretty) current couch. She said, "I dunno, I'll get back to ya."

An hour later she left me a voice mail. "If you want this couch, call me back." So I did. And she gave me the couch if I would pick it up that afternoon. She just didn't want to move it. As soon as we got off work, DH and I went and picked up the couch.

God works in wonderful ways.

For all of you who gave me advice, THANK YOU!!!! I intended on buying fabric this weekend to give it a try, but...oh, well.

Christmas Clearance Challenge

The more I think about it, the more I realize that you can get amazingly great gifts on clearance all year long. I always shop clearance, but never really thought about totally doing Christmas from there. So, my challenge, for myself and anyone who wants to participate, is Christmas from Clearance. Other than my DH and children I need 25 gifts. I have already purchased 6 of these from clearance bins in the few days since Christmas. I don't think I can get them all between now and the time that Christmas buys are all gone, but I think I can finish up long before new trees hit the shelves next fall.

6 down, 19 to go.

Wanna join me?

Groovy Granola

I always try to come up with some easy, cheap recipes to fill baskets for friends for holiday gifts. These are people who I just want to stop by and say hello and give them all of my love. This year, with dozens of boxes of free oatmeal in my pantry, I decided granola would be one of the things I would include.

However, I have never made granola before, so I searched on several of my fave sites for a good, easy recipe. Not a single one had the ingredients I did, so I looked around and decided to learn the method and make my own recipe.

Groovy Granola

1/2 cup honey
1/3 cup margarine
1 small (18 oz) box oatmeal
1-2 cups raisins
1-2 cups coconut
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. First warm the honey in a small sauce pan and wisk the margarine into it. Once you have it all mixed together, add in the coconut and let it cook for about 1 minute. While this is cooking, pour the box of oatmeal onto a cookie sheet. Pour all of the honey mixture over the oatmeal and stir it around (after a minute or so it will cool off and you can work it together with your hands.) Put the raisins in and mix in well. Cook in the oven for 45 mins to an hour, stirring every 10-15 minutes. Put in jars and give in gifts, or put into a airtight container and keep it for yourself. Eat like cereal or by the handful.


Most of the recipes I saw added raisins in after cooking, but I wanted mine to have the honey flavor, too. It turned out so good that I am going to make a batch to keep! YUMMY!

Christmas is Coming!

Shhh......Don't tell anyone.......It's only three months away! Ok, give or take a few days, but still! It's almost here!!! Have you started shopping yet? Every year I try to start in January, because I know it's coming whether I want to shop or not. So, this year, I actually did it! I have a few things left to buy, but nothing I could not wrap up in one trip, if need be.
Having such a huge head start is really comforting. I know that I do not have to pay the exagerrated retail prices during the "shopping season". Sure, they say they are "sale prices". And sometimes, they actually do have a great deal or two out there, but nothing like the clearnace prices you can get on the merchandise that is on the shelves now, because they are getting rid of it to make room for the holiday season. Sure, there are items that will only come out a few weeks before THE BIG DAY, but I tend to choose classic sorts of gifts that will stand the test of time.
Blocks, baby dolls, Hot Wheels cars, those are things to inspire a child's imagination, not one that stiffles it by telling you "exactly" how to play with something. Board games are another of my favorite gifts, my children each receive one every year (we have quite the collection by this point!). I am a huge fan of things that are useful, too. New clothes and shoes are also always under my tree.
Last year was the Christmas of all Christmases here at our home. Each child had 50+ presents each. It was amazing for them to open up each new gift with such enthusiasm. This year will be back to the normal 10 that they receive, however they will always remember that "One Christmas where we got EVERYTHING". Creating these sorts of memories is what childhood is all about. Yes, we normally have limits on everything we do, but once in a while, it is amazing to make your children soooo very happy. Not only did they have a ball the day of Christmas, but in counting the growing number of packages under the tree.
So, with a few last presents to shop for, I am about to wrap up my holiday shopping. I will probably still shop on Black Friday, because I LOVE IT!, so I will leave a few of them until then. Hopefully in the mean time, I can just sit back, and enjoy the view, while others still scramble to fill their stockings. Join me? You still have time, ya know!