Hospitality to kids friends

As much as I love having people over into my house - when it comes to the area of hospitality to my children's friends I have struggled!!

Why? You ask, well it seems to me 1) my children always ask on a day when it is truly inconvenient to me. 2) some children have broken things, be it accidental, the item still ended up broken. Not that my angels have not ever broken anything before, but it adds to the "work" of having someone over - and yes, you can see I am selfish -they are not my guest.

Well, God did not like this attitude of my heart and mind! God set out to change my opinion he first reminded me that my home is to be a blessing to others (not just my family). God also reminded me that our house could point to him by providing a safe place for kids to hang out, as well as for parents to step inside and pick their kids up. (God did not need to send me to a mission field he was sending the mission field to my house) God also reminded me loving others is messy! Loving me is messy work, and look where he started from and anyone in my home is my guest. Lastly God reminded me thru his word "Be hospitable to one another without complaint" 1 Peter 4:9

So after confessing all my shortcomings and yes, realizing that God loves me and how messy that has been I have been opening the doors to our home and welcoming all that my children invite in. (Now that does not mean I don't occasionally say "no, not today, but Hannah can come over tomorrow" because I do). This is the guidelines I have organized my life around to be able to be in the position to say "yes" when my kids ask if so & so can come over.

1. Keep your house picked up. Be realistic it does not have to be perfect, but children should not have to step over the pile of clothes to get in the front door.

2. Keep it simple. Kids and teens I am learning love to eat, drink and visit. Nothing gourmet required.

3. Plan ahead!!!! Plan on your kids asking, plan on neighborhood kids stopping by, expect the unexpected!! Have on hand extra cookies, snacks in the pantry or freezer. I almost always have a box of brownies in the pantry. Sometimes I have lemonade and sometimes I have pop. (The oldest princess has a friend who was very sensitive to caffeine so I started stocking up on caffeine free pop- just to be able to pull it out of the pantry when every she came over)

4. Have an open door. Say "yes"

I included a recipe below that is always a hit (how can you go wrong with chocolate and it can be served with any fruit I have on hand and a bag of marshmallows - cheap!) I hope you enjoy it as much as my family does.

Incredible Chocolate Fondue

2 cups of semisweet chocolate chips

(*experiment with different flavors of chocolate chips)

1/3 cup heavy cream

1 t sugar

1/4 tsp salt

1/4 cup butter

2 T amaretto or vanilla extract

(If I decide to make this recipe for adults I like 2 T of Chambord)

Cooking day instruction: In large saucepan, melt together the first 4 ingredients. Remove from heat and stir in the remaininig ingredients. Cool, Freeze using freezer bag.

Serving day: Allow sauce to thaw slightly -place in dish to heat for approx 1 min in microwave (Watch carefully every ones microwave is different)

Serve with bananas, pineapple, vanilla wafers, marshmallows or whatever you have on hand etc...

**I got this recipe from the book titled "Don't Panic-Dinner's in the Freezer" by Susie Martinez, Vanda Howell, & Bonnie Garcia - if you have not read this cookbook I suggest you check your local library it is a great cookbook full of wonderful recipes.

Snow Days in Spring??

Well I live in crazy Oklahoma where the weather changes quicker than you can blink! I'm sure you remember my spring pictures I posted of my bulbs flowering in the flower beds, a spring arrangement on the front door, I had switched my candles to a spring fragrance, took the pine cones out of bell jars, and had added sand and sea shells all ready for spring and summer. With all that in mind look at what happened here on Saturday:

I had to laugh, my husband went out to play with "his girls" and came back in all upset saying there were 3 stinky boys in the yard that had come down to play with our girls, and one had even introduced himself to Brent. I laughed so hard!

Well now it is Monday and no snow is on the ground. It is so amazing to live somewhere where the weather can change so drastically in just a few days. (You never really pack any one season's worth of clothes completely away)

Hope spring is a blooming in your area!

love dare update

Well I am over 1/2 way done with the love dare book or challenge is how I like to think of it. I have been doing ok, I have struggled a little with doing the dares every day (I have done the dares about every other day this last week) I wanted to do better than this, but real life has a way of interrupting the best laid plans.


I really enjoyed day 27 that challenged us: "to eliminate the poison of unrealistic expectations in your home." We had to think of one area where our spouse had told us that we had been expecting to much from them and apologized and try to understand where they are coming from. I believe as a stay at home mom I sometimes make too many plans in the evening for us, when my husband is tired from a long day at work and would just like to come home, eat dinner and enjoy being here because he has not been all day. I need to be more mindful of that as I organize my day. I am sure that there are some outing I could take care of during the day or right after school so that he does not have to feel pressured to go with me.

I was thinking as I type my post today "wow, I really lay it out there for everyone to see. Maybe I should be a little embarrased?" then I went to the Love Dare book to pick it up to find a bible verse to go with todays post and the one my eyes landed on first made me laugh so here it is:

"Guard my soul and deliver me; do no let me be ashamed for I take refuge in you." Psalm 25:20

#15 tech class web.20

Well the tech class I am working on is for my part time job at the local library. I have always loved the library system being an avid reader since childhood. The wonder one felt when the arrived in the large building with rows and rows of books that were just possibilities waiting to be read. As an adult I still feel that same excitement and energy regarding the library.
I love the "store front" of entering the library and getting the books I love. However I can see where library services can be enhanced by Web 2.0 and how the library should grab hold of the possibilities to better enhance the library experience for their patron.

As a mom of 3 girls ( who were once little babies) I would often get on line at home to search the library catalog and order books into my local library for pickup. (It was much easier to keep a baby happy long enough to run in and pick up the desired books, than go in & try to look at the shelves to "find" a book I wanted to read). The library should take advantage of some of the features that Amazon has to add service in their catalog for their patrons. One of my favorite features of using Amazon for looking at books is seeing below the book; what other customers who bought the book I am currently looking, at what they also bought (take it a step farther checked out)??? I am not a technical whiz but that would be a great feature to add to the system. I find a lot of books and new authors I would not have found or maybe tried otherwise. I often flip back and forth between Amazon and the Library catalog in Windows using this feature that Amazon provides.

I accidentally kept reading and read the article "ripple effect" about a small community school library that was able to increase their budget and grow due to the fact that they were servicing their patrons in where they were at and what they needed thus making their patrons become more dependent on them by increasing their visibility and relevance in their life. I believe by adding more features as above to our catalog system and allowing for feedback from our patrons -which make up our library community we would be making our library more visible and relevant in their life where our patrons spend their time on line.

recovery!

ok, I have recovered from near hysterics! Several coke zero's later, and freak out cleaning. I am doing better. Will blog a new post in the morning.

confession

okay, I have a confession - I had the worst day today!! and I am the grossest person in all the world (or at least I feel like it). Today at 11am I received a call that princess #3 had head lice-ugh!!! sob!!!! Princess #3's kind. class has really struggled with this. If you are so lucky not to know what this means to a moms work load let me whine a little: It means washing all the bedding, blankets, pillows in the house, jackets etc.. A long with treating the mattresses, and the van seats. Every princess must have her head treated along with the king and queen. The lovely cost for all the tools required is approx $40.

Princess #3 and I arrived home after a quick run to Walmart to pick up the necessary tools to begin working. When hubby came home for lunch and informed me that he thought he may have seen evidence of a mouse in my house this morning. UGH!!!!!! Yuck!!! Freak out!!

So let's see where to begin: heads, or freak out deep cleaning the already in pretty good shape house. Well I was tempted to cry. However being the sensible mature lady that I am, I poured myself a large Coke Zero ate some chocolate, called my mom to whine, and then got started!! Thus it is about 2am and I am still up trying to get it all done. I live in Oklahoma and there is a chance of severe storms and tornado's. So it is just me and the Weather man up in my house. Thanks for listening to me whine! This has been a confession from the person who feels like the grossest person in all the world!!

homemaker

why is the term homemaker almost unheard of in the modern magazine?? We all live somewhere, we all have to take care of our property, we all need to wash our clothes sometime. I am just confused when this became a negative term.

I have been reading some homeschool magazines (no I do not homeschool right now, but I am considering it if the school day was to change to a full day) However I have found the most interesting monthly articles on being a homemaker full of good information. Some I knew, some I did not - however I always end reading the article feeling encouraged,proud of the work I do and that someone else gets me. They know the hard work it takes to care and maintain my house and make it into a home that blesses my family, guest as well as provide a place of peace for me and all my loved ones.

what do you think about the term homemaker? Is there a better term? Do you think it is an old fashion concept?? What do you like to read or what website/blog do you like to go to for your best homemaker advice or information?

Technorati Profile

Technorati Profile

#14 claiming my blog on technorati website. Technorati is a website that gathers information on blogs and keeps track how many viewers are checking out different blogs. I claimed my blog on their website so that my blog will be counted on their website and if someone wanted to search for a blog that contained specific information and if my blog had that information my blog will come up on their search.

#13 exploring social bookmarking

The next requirement of my tech class was to explore the social bookmarking site called www.delicious.com This was an interesting site to explore. This site allowed you to save your favorites like you do on your home computer on their website so no matter what computer you are using you would have access to your list of "favorite" website.

The second feature of this site is that the list are public thus the term social bookmarking- describing the site. This would be great if you were a teacher or assistant and you wanted to funnel your students to certain website and encourage exploring on their own. However as a private person I did not like this option of my favorite list being made public. I have discovered that I am more of a private person than I thought. I wish I could find a site offered saving my favorites without having to make them public

Searching for coupons (#12 tech class update)

On the weekend I am trying to complete my tech course that I am taking thru my part time job. The course encourages us to learn more about Web 2.0 technologies but working thru a list of requirements of new sites we should try. #12 was learning how to make my own search engine. I used the search engine to combine my favorite web sites for coupons: www.918moms.com. www.afullcup.com, the target website for their coupons, and valpak. I listed all these sites I usually take time going to individually and now I can enter my product that I am looking for and the search engine will go to these sites and look for me. This is a huge time saver and you can make a search engine on any subject by going to www.rollyo.com. I can see this helping anyone who looks at more than one website regarding the same information.

Spring is here!

Spring is finally here where I live! Yeah! The Bradford Pear treas are flowering, the bulbs we planted last fall are starting to bloom.

"It isn't the big pleasures that count most; it's making a great deal out of the little ones."
Jean Webster

"Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest."

Matthew 11:28

I hope you all have a great day!!! I am going outside. See ya, all tommorow!

WFMW-The Happy Hostess

Would you like to be a Happy Hostess, no matter what happens at your party. A drink get spilled on your carpet, a guest request personal items, a pen or paper etc... I have learned it always helps if I take a few minutes the day before a party to gather a stash. (Be prepared- I know to some people this comes natural, others I venture or a little like me - I have to add it to my "to do" list)
I put a pen & paper in the kitchen in a handy drawer in case someone ask for one. I place some personal items for females in a little basket in the guest bathroom. I also get an extra rag, and large towel for blotting, and the carpet cleaner and put them together in a little basket under the sink. (usually I have carpet cleaner, extra paper & pencils back in my laundry room in a variety of places)
Now if a request is made, or a glass gets knocked over - "no problem!" I just waltz into my kitchen grab my cute little bucket assure my guest no harm has been done, and we proceed with the get together.
However I will tell you it is the strangest thing (Murphy's Luck) once I started preparing these things the day before a get together, we have had less spills in our house than we have ever had!

Okay, I don't look like the picture above, but the prep work does make me feel like that. (Instead of my previous reaction of panic and trying to quickly get to the laundry room to try to find the carpet cleaner and pray that there will still be a clean rag left -from cleaning the house- that would work to clean up the mess) I am now the easy, happy go lucky Hostess.
**I also try to have a copy of my main recipe, and signature drink for the evening pre printed out - incase some one request a copy of them. (I am forgetful if I try to do this later)

for more Works For Me Wed. tips click here: WFMW

Mocktail/Cocktail Party

One of my favorite parties to host is a Huge Mocktail/Cocktail party. My mom's group usually throws this the week after school starts. (It's like a back to school party for us moms)

First off, our moms groups is made up of women who are very, very different! The requirement for joining our group is 1)someone from our group recommends you, and 2) you must have kids in our school district. (it is the commonality that links us) However after that we are very different: Methodist, Baptist, unchurched, teetotalers, have no problem with a drink in moderation etc... Our group thrives on accepting everyone where they are at. So to make this party successful. The hostesses (which we usually double hostess- provides 4 mocktails/cocktails, and 5 appetizers)

All other members of our moms group are encouraged to bring a drink (they really have to bring 2: one in mocktail form and one in cocktail form) (we have 13 moms in our group) But before you get worried that we all get tipsy at this party. This is the party of the year that we open up to anyone we would like to invite not just members. We ended up with 24/25 women there that night.

All pitchers are clearly labeled!!! But no one knows who is drinking the mocktail and no one knows who is drinking the cocktail - no one feels odd. That is what we wanted to provide an inclusive feeling!!

I would love to show a pic of the invitation - but when looking back at my pictures the invitations have my address & phone # on it so I will just have to describe the invitations we handed out. We took cheap plastic wine/champagne glasses from the $ store. I believe 6/8 came in a package. I took white & black paint pens and made polka dots on them. Printed out a message on plain white paper and tied them to the glass with gingham ribbon. I had the paper, the glasses cost me $4, the ribbon $2.00 at Walmart. I had 24 invitations for $6.00. They were really fun to hand out to! We did personally hand them out, or leave them in the different moms mailboxes. (we all live pretty close together)

One of my favorite drink was the Key lime Pie Martini

First thing first, you need to take Carmel syrup (like for ice cream) and twirl the top of the drinking glasses in it, then twirl the glass into crushed graham cracker crumbs. - This glass will be used for both the mocktail & cocktail Key lime pie Martini.

Key lime pie Martini Recipe:

(we made all drinks in pitchers so everyone could help themselves through out the evening)

9 ounces of vanilla vodka

6 ounces of Roses lime juice

4 ounces of pineapple juice

2 large squirts of Coco Lopez squeeze bottle

*stir and fill to the top of pitcher line with Club soda

(don't you just love the bubbles!)

The mocktail Key lime pie Martini

is made very similar:

5 ounces of flavored water from Walmart in the Key lime flavor

6 ounces of Roses lime juice

4 ounces of pineapple juice

2 large squirts of Coco Lopez squeeze bottle

****2 cupfuls of Vanilla Extract

**stir and fill to the top of pitcher line with Club soda

The above pictures are some of the lovely ladies who make up my mom's group. The get together was pretty informal - The drinks & appetizers were set up in 3 stations around the house to encourage mixing and socializing. The only structured activity for the evening was a game we played called "are you a hot tamale." I will post that game later it was a lot of fun, and caused lots of laughing, we gave 2 jewelry set away for prizes: one for the winner, and one for the loser of the game.
The take away gift for the evening were little notebooks that were decorated in toile, and leopard print, tied with ribbon and little fake diamond stickers. Each guest was able to select a notebook that matched her personality as she left the party.

Love Dare update

Well to be honest I only half way did the dares this past week. To be fair one of the Dares challenged me to make a special dinner for me & my spouse. Well, I have 3 daughters who have been sick off & on for about 3 weeks. I just get one well back & school and the other one is sick (so I have had very very little time alone, and secondly the day that challenged fell on was my birthday. (my birthday) I am trying to be less "me" focuses and more on my mate. However due to the fact it was my birthday - I reserve the right to hold that dinner over until this next week.
I have been praying for my spouse (which I already do), the other dares for this week was pretty easy -if they pertained to my attitude, but this week if it had to do with my time - sick kiddos trumped hubby time (before anyone gets mad at me, try to tell me which one you would of chosen to do if your little girl was running 102 temperature and was asking for you just to sit with her) I know my priorities, how ever sometimes due to circumstances they must be shifted around for just a little while. I hope to report back next Monday with a little extras dares done.

AIG......ugh!

I am not sure, what many of you are feeling regarding AIG right now. I am not feeling kind, like, or anything remotely good towards AIG. I just got done drinking my morning coffee and was watching the news headline and learned 2 things about AIG:
1) they are giving - yes giving 160 billion dollars in bonuses...What, What???

My husband works for a company that does salary & extra bonuses - and let me tell the company is being responsible and have almost cut out all bonuses. Am I thrilled about no bonuses -NO! However I am glad that this is making the company more solvent and that we will keep receiving a regular paycheck. That does make me happy.

2) AIG took 2 out of every 3 dollars that the US Govt gave them and sent the $2 to banks located in other countries. Forgein banks are benefiting from our bailout $ instead of our countries banking system that is needing every shot in the arm it can get.

and 3) yes, I have decided to blog a 3rd - this is not the first story we have heard about the leadership of the company blowing federal bail out $ on their excessive spending. Enough! Enough! Enough! I tell you

Well I do not want to offend - but I am so frustrated. I am cutting coupons, checking my expenses, watching my budget, building up my savings account, and pantry with reserves and a large company is spending $ (my money- be it I am a citizen of the US and I pay taxes) on extras - when ever one else is having to cut back! Ugh!!!
Maybe, this will look differently to me later in the day when I have woke up all the way - but I decided I had to come up and blog about this -I was too disgusted not to.

The kiddo's, & hubby are home this week for spring break so we are running around. I will be back to blog after the movies to write about my "love dare" update.

Posted by the mom living in the "land of fluff" trying to keep her fluff together!
(sorry this is not a political blog but this is cheaper than therapy)

How do you feel about AIG and their behavior?? How are you handling the change in the economy?? What changes have you had to make personally or as a family, (or church, or business owner, etc....)

still posting tech stuff #11

The library thing - well what can I say about this site. I believe I may really like this once I have more time to not just play around with this site but really use it over the next few weeks. We shall see - sometimes it is hard to have an opinion of something until you really explore using the site in question. My librarythingcatalog is here. (I had to load 5 books from my library to it, really not very interesting to you but a requirement to my class.

#10- tech class requirement

Here is a custom tag that I made from the generator blog site. I also made a seal for my first Monday Love Dare update. I find this site very easy to use, the other site custom sign generator as easy to use ( I also was a little confused if they were trying to sale the custom sign to use on my blog) For that reason alone I enjoyed the generator blog site the best.

If you follow me - please be patient I am trying to blog all my requirements so that I am up and ready on Monday to continue my Love Dare update

Still blogging for my tech class #9

Well my course encouraged me to try to find some different RSS feeds thru looking at the following Blog search tools: Syndic8.com, topix.net, technorati, and use of the search button on bloglines.
I found that I did not enjoy using any of these search tools. The best one if I had to say one would be topix8 and that would be only if you were wanting to research a latest topic or something that was in the headlines right now.

I think I like to find my RSS feeds the old fashion way by searching thru blogs I like, seeing what blogs they follow, and stumbling across a blog that offers the RSS feed button then I will sign up for those feeds because it is on a topic that interest me.

bloglines- rss feeder

Well my technology course has been keeping us up to date, requiring that I subscribe to bloglines as my RSS feeder. I sorta like the RSS feeder. It is a convenient way to check for news update, the top itunes downloads, and some of the blogs that offer this as an option.
However the course required me to sign up for 10, yes, 10 news feed - that seemed a little excessive to me. I just went ahead and signed up for them ,but I am unsure that I will really use that many feeds that are news related. I might enjoy this service more as I add to my feeds some fun feeds I enjoy following.

my tech class

I am currently enrolled in a technology course that is being offered at the library - this has been a fun class. The class has several requirements that allows us to learn & be updated with the latest technology. One of the requirements of the class was we had to start a blog. I have fallen in love with blogging!!!
Long after the class is over I will still be blogging. I have discovered that 1) blogging is cheaper than therapy, as well as 2) there are so many neat crafters and decorators out there! Seriously these women could be Martha Stewart out of business! I describe some of the amazing blogs that I follow like running into your best friend who has made this amazing craft, or decorated an incredible room - and they are not only willing to tell you how but they have pictures! Even better!!!!
I am having to blog about my experience and some technology for the next 2 blogs in order to get credit for the course I am taking - so I will try to blog all the required post today, so I can be up to date on Monday ready to continue with my Love Dare update.

Today is my birthday!

Today is my birthday - so this post is later in the day. I know Birthdays are not supposed to be as big of a deal to an adult as a child. However, I love birthdays! (Now mind you not necessarily seeing my age get 1 year older), but I love that on your birthday your friends, and family take the time to call, send cards and just tell you "Happy Birthday" or that they "love ya" . How special does that make you feel!!!
Now words of affirmation is one of my "Love Languages" I confess. It is amazing how special we feel when someone takes the time to tell you how important you are to them, or that they just enjoy talking to you or spending time with you. The gift of appreciation is such a gift it kinda of lifted me off the ground & I swear I just floated everywhere I went today!

I am always overwhelmed at how special I feel by the end of my birthday I promise I want to pass that feeling forward to my friends & family. Gifts are nice - however appreciation or validation is a sweeter gift that touches our hearts long after our birthday has passed.

Has anyone touched your heart on your birthday with affirmation or validation? How did they express themselves (call, card, email, a face book shout out, flowers with a note, I know there are some I haven't thought of)

Chocolate Party

I love having people over and into my home. It's one of the best ways I have found to really get to know another person. You get to visit without the interruption of waiters, there is no one waiting on your table. A great time can be had by all.
Sometimes its great to host a get together with a theme. The theme I am talking about is Chocolate! What a great girl get together! This is a fun theme that you can go crazy with!
For my chocolate theme party I had a chocolate fountain with cookies, marshmallows, pineapple & strawberries for dipping. My speciality drinks for the evening: mock mudslides, and mudslides. (yummy!) add a special look to these drinks when serving in martini glasses that have been drizzled with chocolate syrup (on the inside) before pouring drink into glass.
I made special seat markers by using scrap book paper which I had printed each girls name on and cutting paper to fit a chocolate candy bar.
Activity: I made a candy quiz (from fun trivia found on the Internet)
prize: chocolate scented candles
party favors: look at my pics! You see the chocolate candies, they are not real chocolate - I found these cute LIP GLOSS that were shaped like chocolate candies. (Four came in a packet for $1.00 from the Dollar General) I placed these on a cake plate by the food everyone was so surprised to find out that they were not real and they were their take home treat (along with their place markers- the candy bars) .
**I try to be on the look out all the times for cute inexpensive items such as the chocolate lip glosses that I can build a party around. (and when they are inexpensive you can afford to give everybody one). Any unique item like that can help you take a generic theme and make it into a special fun evening that others will enjoy and will be talking about the next day.

Love Dare

Well I have finished my second week of doing "The Love Dare". This week was easier for me than the previous week. This week was on how we greet our spouse. Do they feel important and valued, or just in your way? Another main theme that runs through out this book is love is a choice, not a feeling. So it explores our unconditional love for our spouse. The book had us focus on the words we use to describe our mate am I being unconditional or condemning with my words.

The book discussed fighting fair, cherishing your mate, but my favorite chapter was day 14 on "love takes delight" . I love this quote "You get to choose what you treasure. It's not like you're born with certain pre-sets & preferences you're destined to operate from. If you're irritable it's because you choose to be. If you can't function without a clean house, it's because you've decided no other way will do. If you pick at your mate more than you praise them, it's because you've allowed your heart to be selfish. You've led yourself into criticism." This quote from "The Love Dare" by Stephen & Alex Kendrick- really spoke to me, not because I am guilty of criticizing with my words, but does my husband (as well as my children) do they feel important based on what I choose to spend my time on. For example, if I am always busy cleaning, picking up, cooking, etc... what has my husband & my children learned of what is important & cherished in my heart.

Day 14 really spoke to my heart as a wife and SAHM. As you know our job is one often not every completed. If you finish the laundry it is only done, until people change into their p.j.'s, if you washed the dishes they are only clean until the next meal. The list just rotates more than gets completely done. So This day really made me pause and think about this in regards how do I choose do live the moments of my life.

The challenge or dare for Day 14 was to neglect an activity I would normally do so I can spend time with my spouse instead. To be just together. This day has challenged me to try to not work in the evenings around the house after dinner. To be just available to my husband and children to spend time with.
*****How do you ladies balance your time completing your work and spending time with your hubby and family????

Spring decorating

Well here are some picture from my attempt to start decorating for Spring! YEAH!! I love sunshine, & here Spring is the season where it is 70-80 degrees (What I consider to be the perfect temperature)

I brought out my spring bouquet from last year, rearranged the flowers and ***ironed my ribbon from last year with my flat iron - it went straight & perky again just like new! I got that tip from another wonderful blogger full of great tips at www.granvillehouse.blogspot.com You should check out her site if you have not found her blog yet. (it was so convenient I didn't have to get my ironing board out!)

The next picture is a pic of my front porch (I am trying to use the color scheme yellow, black, & white) The seat covers on the bistro table came from the $1 fabric at Walmart last year, it's yellow with bees on it, The black & white fabric for the seat cushions in the rocking chair also came from Walmart $1 section last year. (oh, how I wish my Walmart still sold fabric!)

The two rockers are not identical but by painting them both the same color I think they blend nice.

& the rug I just took a picture of because I got it yesterday on clearance at Walmart (humm..where is one of my favorite haunts) for $9.00 - I thought that was a steal! Looks more posh than $9.00 and was a good medium size rug for my entry way which is not very big.

(I also changed all my cleaning products to orange scent & bought candles in orange blossom and coconut & lime scent. I love Scents!! They help my attitude and boost the enjoyment factor I find in my own house)

What is your favorite color schemes to decorate for spring? Or what is your favorite scent to use around your house for spring??

(on a personal note: thanks for putting up with all my pics at the beginning - I have not learned how to disperse the pics thru out my blog - some things I am still learning about. )

Bag Tag - I'm it

Well I just got tagged from http://www.beeandrose.blogspot.com/ for a bag tag! So I went over to her site and here is the scoop: 1. Show the current handbag I am using (peak inside maybe) and 2. Share the price of the bag, & 3. Tag some other cool chicks to join in the fun.

My purse is above ("I love big bags & I will not lie!) . I purchased the bag for $10.00 on clearance at Cato. ( I love a clearance sale!)

The inside of my purse is unexciting: cell phone, hand sanitizer, few remenant cough drops left over from last cold, makeup bag, a bottle of "Rescue Remedy" that I had to have after reading Hester Browne "Little lady agency" (I am not sure if I can tell if it works though), a 100 calorie snack pack for emergencies, 2 blue ink pens (I love to write in blue not black ink), a coupon to the melting pot, and 2 left over gift cards from christmas (I believe they have about $1.00 left on them - but I will use that up yet!)

Last but not least I had to add a picture of the heels I bought to go with my purse when I get a chance to dress up & go out with hubby, or the girls from my mom's group. Aren't the obnoxious! I love them!!!

Thanks for letting me play, I am going to tag the wonderful following ladies:

http://lagirlsweetea.blogspot.com/
If you have not check her out she is such a sweet, funny southern girl full of charm & grace - she is just precious!

http://countrycitymouse-pam.blogspot.com/
She is funny, sweet, and very insightful! Her blogs make me stop & smell the roses. She is just darling.

Works for me Wednesday - candles

It's Works for me Wednesday & the topic is our Greatest tips.

Well my top greatest tip would be regarding candles. I love candles! I burn them through out the year, regardless of the season. However I do not like trying to get candles out of glass votive holders etc.. once the candle has burned down to a nub. I was once told (& this works great!!!) That before I put a new candle into a candle holder, if I would spray some cooking Pam into the bottom of glass holder (just a squirt) that when the candle had burned down to a nub the said candle would pop right out. It does!!!

My sanity is saved, and I can switch out the color of my candles based on the season not on the color of the previous candle burned in the candle holder.

** if you would like to see more tips on "works for me Wed." go to http://www.wearethatfamily.com/

Hospitality Tues. - Lemon Luscious Party

Well I am new here in blog land- I am starting to find my rhythm (just a little). So Tues. I am going to blog about: hospitality, & throwing get togethers. I love having people over, and I especially love "theme" get togethers. So I thought I would share about these topics on Tues. (as we dig out after the weekend & our mind is starting to drift onto next weekend activities maybe you will enjoy this blog)

The above pictures are from a "Lemom" theme party I threw. It was so much fun. Once I picked a topics things just fell together in my lap. For the centerpieces: I used sliced lemons in the glasses vases & just picked up inexpensive yellow flower bouquet to place in vases on the table.

I served Lemoncello's as my speciality drink:

mock lemoncello:

1 can of frozen yellow lemonade

1 bottle of club soda

stir and mix in sliced lemons in pitcher.

Lemoncello:

1 can of frozen yellow lemonade

1 cup of lemoncello

1/2 cup vodka

3/4 cup of sugar

pour in club soda until top of pitcher

stir. garnish each glass with a wedge of lemon.

******************************

As an icebreaker we played a quiz I had made up and titled "Are you Lemon Luscious?" (just a trivia game with reference to anything using the name Lemon, from the lemon laws, to actor s, to a drink recipe question)

The prize was little spiral pads covered with black & white gingham printed paper, and black and gingham checked and yellow ribbon tied to the spiral part of the pad, with a yellow pencil.

The dessert for that evenings meal was Lemon bars

The take home gifts for the evening were little bottles of lemon scented lotion that I had picked up from Target for $1 each. As well as I had mixed up lemon flavored sugar (recipe to follow) I place the sugar in a cellaphane bag, then into cute gingham printed bags ties with a yellow ribbon - very inexpensive! The Flavored sugar as a gift bag idea came from a wonderful book by : Adele Ellis called "Sentimental Living from the porch-4 seasons of hospitality" This is a great book if you do not have it in your collection - may I suggest you consider this title - wonderful decorating tips as well as take home gift suggestions. I have tampered with the recipe I thought it was too strong so the recipe below is my altered recipe.

Lemon Flavored Sugar

1 packet of Koolaide Lemonade

1 & 1/2 cup of sugar

*mix together, and can be used to flavor ice tea.


*This was a fun spring & summer get together that I hosted for my bunko girls back in the spring of 2007, & used the same theme and threw a similiar party for my mom's group in the summer of 2007.

(don't be afraid to limit hosting a party with a theme for only one group of people -as long as the party guest change nobody will know (why reinvent the wheel!) And it will be twice as easy to prepare for the party 2nd time around.

** I keep a hostessing book that list my themes, pretty much the details above, as well as the guest list. So I don't have an accidental repeat of a theme)

I had a fun time with this party

and remember "GRITS PEARL OF WISDOM #13

If anyone tries to tell you a Southern girl shouldn't drink, just tell them the truth: we don't drink, we sip...a lot." From the GRITS Guide to life book.

What are your favorite party themes?