Etsy Treasury:Rain Rain Rain Rain

 I have been honored with another Etsy Treasury featuring one of my earring designs - Drops of Rain!

Check out the treasury here.

Its perfect for a day like today....more rain.

I'm loving the prints the curator featured in this Treasury.  Shows the true beauty of rain.

I feel like this little guy a lot of days

I think this one is my favorite, there's just something about a raindrop.....

Hope its sunny wherever you are :)

Miscellany Monday

My life right now = crazy busy

1.  Home showing full steam ahead!

With my first Behind the Moon BEADWORKS home showing less than 2 weeks away, I am working like crazy to pull this all together.  The date is set, the invitations are out, and RSVP's are coming in.....eeek!  I am a strange combination of nervous and excited.  I really hope it all comes together like I envision!  I was really hoping to post some sneak peaks but just not sure I'm going to get the time!

2.  Stylish Blogger Award

Megan over at Our House of Pink has graciously listed me as one the bloggers who she feels deserves this award so I wanted to give an official THANK YOU to her!  I will post more details later...

3. Spring is finally...springing

We're still having crazy weather in my neck of the woods.  Over 70 degrees today and possible snow showers tomorrow morning!  But despite this insanity, my tulips and daffodils are valiantly reaching for the sky :)  We have decided to plant a garden, the boys are very excited about it.  We got all the seeds over the weekend and planted them in starter pots.  Once we get some greenery, we'll transplant them into our new raised garden bed.

4.  Family Fun is back

My oldest son said "Ya know what we haven't had in a while...Family Fun Night.  Can we have one tonight Mama?".  Bless his heart, turns out my husband and I needed one just as much as he did.  So we blocked out some time Saturday night for Family Fun.  We played several rounds of Simon Says and I made No Bake Coco Cookies (to which I got 3 Cheers for Mama!)  It was definitely fun to just relax and play.  It's been a little stressful and hectic around home lately so this was just what the doctor ordered.

Keeping it short and sweet today...have a great week!

Follow your heart

I am not a risk taker by nature.  I like to know exactly how things are going to go.  Nice and orderly and familiar....that's me.  However over the past year or so I've been trying to change. Not much change so far but baby steps right?  My personal goal is to try and

love without fear.  

Fear of rejection...fear of financial loss...fear of sounding stupid...fear of not knowing the answer.  

I randomly came across this quote today and it really
struck a cord with me.

"It's Impossible" said Pride

"It's Risky" said Experience

"It's pointless" said Reason

"Give it a try" whispered Heart

So I'm going to listen to my heart more and not worry so much about the rest.  Go ahead and be generous with my money and trust that God will work it out.  Tell someone I'm not very close to how sorry I am that their loved one died without being afraid I might upset them more.  Let people know how much I appreciate them without fearing that they won't think I am sincere. 

Easy to say, much harder to do.  

But I am a work in progress....

Miscellany Monday

Today I'm posting Carissa style from Lower Case Letters for the Miscellany Monday Blog Link up.

1.  No bad news on Fridays!

The weekend started with some bad news this past Friday, what's up with that?  It's supposed to be TGIF.  Oh well, we're hoping God will spin some good out of it.
Time will tell, we have faith.

2.  Sweet Nothings

My 5 year old says "Mom, I love you more than
an 8-legged octopus".  

Well, I guess I'll take that as a compliment.

3.  No gourmet here

Grandpa and Nona (Sprigs of Rosemary) came for a visit on Sunday since they couldn't make it to the boys' birthday party.  We were planning on having Bacon Ranch Burgers and potato skins, respectable right?
Well we discovered our potatoes weren't in the best shape just as we began to prepare them so we moved to plan B - lounge fries (a local hit at the Lounge or Clubhouse of fries smothered in bacon, cheese, and ranch dressing).  So I took out the frozen bag of french fries and realized that instead of getting french fries the last time I was at the store, I got tater tots.
So we had burgers and tots...you can't feed a foodie tater tots!...how embarrassing.  

4. Beadworks Buzz

Now that the boys' birthday party is over, I can refocus back on my home showing.  The invites go out this week.  I've come to realize I will have to have more than one. Not that that's a bad thing :)  There too many people to invite and my home is only so big.  I don't want people tripping over each other so I think I'll go for a few smaller gatherings.  New business cards should arrive next week.  And I'm finishing up some last new designs and my raffle piece.  I promise to post some sneak peeks soon.

5. Anytime soup

I made one of my favorite soups this weekend called Mediterranean Soup.  I haven't made it in years.  My husband calls it stinky soup, I think he just can't comprehend having cinnamon in soup.
Cinnamon does NOT stink.  
Anyway here's the recipe....it's delicious!

Saute these items

3-4 diced garlic cloves

1 cup diced onion

2 tsp Olive Oil

Add: 1-1/2" cups water

1 (16oz) can of chicken broth

1 (14-1/2oz) can of diced tomatoes

1/2 tsp of ground cumin

1/4 tsp of cinnamon

1/4 tsp black pepper

2 TBSP chopped parsley

Bring to a boil and simmer for 5 min.

Add: 1 (15oz) can chick peas

1/4 cup Ditalina Pasta (or other small pasta)

Simmer 9 minutes and then serve!

Old West Party

My little bandit

Here are the details of our Old West birthday party for our boys from this past weekend!

Banner - Wish I had a better pic of the banner in it's entirety.  It was super easy to make, printed out the design and colored it in with colored pencil.  Then I took a wet tea bag and "sponged" it on each piece to antique them.  Hung them on a string with mini clothes pins.   I got this string and clothespins as part of a baby gift from my baby shower and have used several times for a bunch of different things.  It was super cute as a shower gift too...it had little onesies hung on it...sweet right :)

Bean Bag Toss Game - Got these great silver buckets in Target's $1 section.  Kept the theme with the same star graphic.  My mother sewed the bean bags for me from an old pair of jeans that were too small for my son.  They're actually "rice" bags, not bean bags :)  I filled them with rice and closed off the holes with a few stitches.

Party Munchies

Cheese and Crackers
Basic?  Yes, but a staple at our get togethers cause they're kid friendly.

Various "spuds"
I tried to use serving dishes one may find in an old west town.  Wood, baskets and cast iron.

My Trail Mix 
My own mix of Dry Roasted Peanuts, Chocolate Chips, Butterscotch Chips, Pretzels, Raisins, and mini marshmallows.  Served in a Cast Iron pot.

The Cupcakes
From Aldi's mix and icing of course.  It's the best!  Note the gold wrappers :)

Little Mugs
Bought at the party store for the kiddies to drink their juice at the Saloon

The Saloon
Drink station - Featuring Juice, Root Beer, & Whiskey!


The Mining

My outdoor Trading Post and Weigh Station

The Gold!
I painted rocks from my landscaping to make the "nuggets".  Then buried them with regular rocks in two big buckets of sand.  The kids had a good time rootin' for the gold.

The Weigh Station

Once the kids found enough gold to out weigh my big gold nugget, they could trade it in for the Trading Post goodies (aka their treat bags).

I used the same Tea Bag Treatment in the letters for the sign.

The Goodies
Dynamite sticks (Twizzlers), Chocolate Gold Coins, Punching Bag Balloons, Mining Glow Sticks, Candy Filled Gold Bars, and more!  The Gold Bars were my favorite, found these great little gold bar boxes at the party store and they were just perfect.  Used some tins, aluminum cans, baskets, and glass jars as holders.

The Trading Post

Made from two cardboard boxes with hand drawn wood grain.  Gotta love Sharpies!  Turned out pretty good, my kids are still playing with it.  Each kid filled their brown paper treat bag with their name and star graphic on it with lots of goodies.  Can' believe I forgot to take a pic of the treat bag....oh well.

Party planner I am not but I think the kids had a really good time.  It was a bit chaotic, my husband has a large family but they're used to it.  Our friends however are not, hope they still has some fun.  I've come to realize my boys would have probably been just as happy with just some balloons and cake but I had a good time doing this theme.  We'll see what next year holds.

Linking up with the Busy Budgeting Mama today.  Check her out for some REAL party ideas!

Transitions

So my boys are both a year older now.
For some reason this year seems to mark some big transitions for them. 

My youngest son is now two (he'll tell you he's two and a half, cracks me up!).
He can have peanut products now....hooray for PBJ's!  He has transitioned to sleeping in a big boy bed and has successfully given up the pacifier.   He has come a long way in the past few months!
Pretty soon it will be on to potty training....uggh.

My Baby Boy

Has no fear

Watches and learns by leaps and bounds

Has my big brown eyes, puffy eyelids and all 

Loves for me to sing "Love you forever" before bed

Gives smiles easily

Adores his big brother and likes to repeat everything he says

Pretends to have boo boos to get kisses

Loves the baby pillow I made years ago even though it is all lumpy now

My oldest is now five.
He's outgrowing all his clothes.  I'm pulling as much mileage out of the few pairs of pants he has left as possible but he often looks like a flood is a comin'.  He's now dressing and washing himself, putting on his own shoes and coat, and brushing his own teeth (decently now).  Not that these things come with being 5, I know many kids do this much earlier, but now he does it without us having to tell him to do it.

My Big Boy

Tells you he loves you all the time

LOVES his family and is so excited when he gets to see his cousins

Has an adorable dimple in his chin

Prays for people when they're sick
Has his Daddy's eyes

Loves everything outdoors

Likes science and discovering

Wants to marry mommy when he grows up

Two and Five....no longer a baby....no longer a preschooler

Nothing makes me more aware of time passing than seeing the changes in my kids...
but what a joy it is to see them grow and develop!
I can't imagine life without them.  The days of snuggling on the couch in our jammies are so precious to me.  Even though I dread those times coming to an end someday, I will always treasure them and be proud of who my boys are.  They are truly little gifts from God..

You know it's love when...

You haven't pumped your own gas in 10+ years.

OK girls, you know I like to do these little posts.  We all know the BIG love signs, and thank God for them, but I like to recognize and celebrate the wee little daily things we do to show we love each other.

My husband, bless him, has been filling my car with gas for seriously probably the last 13 years.  I don't even think I would know what to do at the pump anymore.  The way technology changes, you may need a retina scan or something to get it to come on for all I know :) Just kidding, I'm not that clueless (at least I like to think not).  I think it started in the winter time when we were dating and he nobly offered to get out in the frigid weather to fill it up for me.  What a man I tell you!  Well, he's pretty much been doing it since...saving me from all that cold, rain, snow, sleet, heat, and humidity!

I'm spoiled....I know.

Have any little lovey moments to share?