The Pioneer Woman Cooks

So, I have stumbled across the Pioneer Woman Blog a few times in my surfing history, but recently I camped out there a bit and thought, man, this gal knows how to cook! After browsing through her site, I thought I would check to see if her cookbook was available in our library...and it was...YEAH!! So it came...and I have to tell you, this is a cookbook to get you salivating....Now, if you have issues with BUTTER or MEAT or homestyle cooking, this will not be the cookbook for you, but if you love that, then I would LOVE to recommend this cookbook. There are recipes for Pot Roast, Fried Chicken, Cube Steak, Beans and Cornbread, Macaroni and Cheese, and so much more...and the thing that I think makes this cookbook THE BEST is the photographs of the food...first, there is a picture of EVERY RECIPE (as I remember it at least), then, there are pretty much step by step photographs as well...everything looks SO YUMMY!!! I can tell already that I am going to have to buy this cookbook...I would not want to make everything I want to try within three weeks...

Born in my Heart

My Friend Grace and her husband are raising money to bring a boy home from far, far away. I have been helping her...today, I have 30 of those plastic or rubber or what have you bracelets (you know the ones that were really popular a few years ago that said Hope or WWJD or Livestrong, etc) that say Born in my Heart (these are red) and I would love to have them ALL be sent out. If God has given you a Heart for orphans or for this family or even for me, would you consider sending a gift for Noah? I will send out your bracelet as soon as I get your request. Checks can be made out to Grace Silva and mailed to: Carrie Cannon at 1242 State Ave. Suite I-226, Marysville, WA 98270...Even though they need several thousand dollars, please do not think you cannot help. NO GIFT is too small...
Thank you SO much for your Consideration!
C~

My #1 Beauty Secret

I was reading some blogs and stumbled across one that shared some beauty secrets...and while we all have certain products we love and recommend from time to time, I have a revolutionary secret...I know this works, because I have seen it in the life of a VERY BEAUTIFUL woman...I found it in a Bible Study Booklet called Successful Living by John and Janice Walsh, Volume 1... but really, it is timeless from the Word...So, here is that secret....

For they shall be...chains about thy neck. Proverbs 1:9
These authors go on to share that there are two basic human desires...the desire to be honored and the desire to be beautiful. The authors say that most men want to be honored and most women want to be beautiful, and I would agree with that. They go on to share that in 1 Peter 3:4 a woman's true beauty is found in the inner person she is...They say, "If she is rebellious, her resentful and obnoxious spirit will eventually come to the surface and be displayed for all to see. If, on the other hand, she is as peace with those in authority, she is storing up a wealth of inner beauty. This too will come to the surface and in time make her an even more attractive person." They are saying that a woman becomes more beautiful as she submits to the various authorities we have in our lives.

So back to that beautiful woman...I am sure that most people would not even notice her, but she is THE MOST BEAUTIFUL WOMAN I KNOW...she loves God, her husband, her children, friends...and continually points others to God and His Word. The inner beauty of who she is are the outer ornaments that grace what she looks like. Her face is peaceful, loving, tender, kind, joyful, and more...She is gracious, careful with her words, understanding and compassionate, yet stands firmly on the truth. She trusts and submits and has a proper attitude towards authority...and she IS beautiful...
Just think, this could save us a FORTUNE in beauty creams!

Mmmmmm

This week DD got to look at the letter M for his letter of the week school work...there is a post down below about that...but he got to make a Mosiac M and write M & m...wish I would have thought ahead to give him m & m's...but no go there...Since we were studying the rectangle this week too, he did get to have a Hershey's bar...first we talked about ALL of the rectangles in a Hershey Bar, then we made an M out of it, then DD got to share it with everyone...so he did have a little bit of a treat. Probably the thing he had the best time with was marble painting...I am not sure if the colors will show up well,He chose those colors himselt...I am thinking about making Valentine's Day cards from them for him. It turned out very nice, I think.

Tracy's Album

Here are the pictures from the album for my friend Tracy who is moving away...we will miss her...dearly...

A couple are mixed up in order...but too much code to figure out how to move it. Tracy's favorite color is purple and I made this VERY girlie for her...I hope she loved it!

Preschool/Kindergarten Fun

As I was thinking about school, I decided to search around a bit at the place where I got our preschool lessons. We are using a Preparatory Letter of the Week Curriculum that I found online. I love this program 1. because it is free 2. because it uses books from the library 3. because it is all laid out and 4. because it is fun. I thought I would share some links...this is what we are using now...it says for ages 2-4...DD is 4 right now and we are using it...

http://www.letteroftheweek.com/Preparatory.html

Then step two says it is for age 3 and is this
Step three says for ages 3-6 and is this
and step four is for ages 4-7 is this

DD loves this program...he gets excited to read the books suggested for each week...carries them around, looks at them over and over before bedtime. We have all of his work from each week in a letter folder...each letter has its own folder. DD loves to look through those and see the work he has done. With this, we also have a great book called Art Across the Alphabet by Kelly Justus Campbell. I have really loved using this book as a supplement to add in art activities to go with each letter. These two resources have really helped me so that DD gets his school done too...and with five in homeschool...it would be VERY EASY to just let him go off and do his own thing...

(Steps three and four are under construction and are not all the way done yet. I have no idea when they will be done.)

The Creative Juices are Flowing...

I've been working on a new project...and those creative juices are getting all over the place in the form of ink and glitter and bits of paper. I will be posting pictures soon...but it is so much fun to be creating an album again...been awhile since I have made one...

On the school front, today is not a holiday for us...we will be working on stuff today...getting a little ahead so we can have most of tomorrow off...it is the "official" goodbye to some really good friends who are moving to Texas...bring the kleenex, because this gal is so precious and dear to us...cannot imagine not having her here...but I am so very thankful for having been able to call her friend for all these years now.

Having a prayer circle group tonight...really enjoying having a group of gals coming over while most of my family is at BSF...we pray...I love that it doesn't take me away from my family or interrupt normal life here. God so beautifully opened this up...and I find that it is so precious. I think even my husband loves that we do this too...he hasn't quite said it in those words, but he talks about it on and off throughout the week.

And, looking a little more ahead...in just under two weeks, the Principessa will be NINE...To have a party or not have a party...that is the question at hand.

Well, off to prepare for our school day...and then WAIT for the family to get up...getting up WAY TOO EARLY is not usually a problem for me...but I love having the quiet time to be able to get things done that I need to do...off to finish my BSF lesson...
Hope you all have a Mighty Monday!