Three wise men

Here is a picture of my daughter, and 2 of her friends when they were little. We made wise men hats. As we decorated them we talked about the story of the birth of Christ, and how the wisemen came and brought gifts to baby Jesus. This was a fun activity that allowed me to share our faith with my little one and her friends. I think kids learn and have a better understanding of a story when you can include them in doing something fun. Then the fun part came when they got to play in them.

Having "touchable" nativity sets are great, as well as putting "angel" or "shephards" clothing in your dress up center for your kids to play with for the month of December.

Hope some of these ideas spark some imaginative play for you and your kids this December.

That reminds me if you need a visual reminder or love to decorate with subway art for the holiday you have to check out Jessica's blog Craftily Ever After She has a free printable Wisemen art!!

Is that not the cutest!!! You will have to check it out!!

What to do if you wash your Ipod Touch

First of all, this has been a trial and error post by no means am I a professional Ipod worker. However as a stay at home mom who does the laundry - I was appalled the other day when I reached into the washing machine to transfer the clothes to the dryer to find one of my daughter's ipod touch in the bottom of the washing machine. AAH!!! and here is the worst part - it had been in my husband's pocket so he had been the culprit that left it in his pocket not my daughter. (Ur!! Yes, it's true I do not check pockets, I am a mom of 3 girls - girls we do not carry anything in our pockets that why we have a purse for, and my hubby is an adult and he knows he better empty his pockets) and yes, did I mention that she had saved her allowance and birthday money up to purchase said Ipod touch -Ur! You can imagine my despair and frustration! So I quickly ran upstairs and goggled Ipod and water.

Well after much research I found that as long as the Ipod was off when it got wet there probably was not any damage "yet". So the first thing to know is:

DO NOT TURN ON THE IPOD!!! LET ME REPEAT AND SAY DO NOT TURN ON THE IPOD

secondly, I located many older video's that showed how to take apart (I know my heart starts beating very fast at just the thought!) but all the videos I could find were of older Ipod Touches. So I decided to do the next best thing I filled a bowl with rice, and then dropped a few pieces down the hold where the earphone jack is put into the ipod then placed the ipod into the bowl of rice making sure it is covered well. Then I left it for 3 days!! (I changed out the rice that was in the hold of for the earbuds once a day). At the end of the 3 days I hoped that it had been sufficiently dried out - whew! It was, so I placed the Ipod touch on the charger. I did have to restore the Ipod to the factory setting. However I was so relieved to have a working Ipod for my daughter that was nothing.

It is my understanding in layman's terms: that as long as it dries out before turning the ipod on it will not short it's circuit board out. However if the ipod is on, or has been left on, it most likely is to late. However one can always be a optimist and try turning it off quickly and drying it out in rice. Well good luck to you and your ipod I wish you the best of luck! If not I did see that Ipod does offer to repair the Ipod for a fee.

Rudolph the Red nosed reindeer

This is one of my favorite Christmas shirts that I made for my kids! I used their hands and footprint. The footprint made the face of the reindeer, and their hand prints made the reindeer's antlers. I then sewed on a red pom-pom for the nose (Rudolph of course). I used googly eyes for the reindeer's eye, but you could always paint them if you are more artistic than me. You could also make this print on tea towels to give to the grandma's at Christmas time. I hope you do not mind the picture - it was taken long before I started blogging. Thanks!

Sweet 16!

I just recently celebrated my 16th wedding anniversary. Wow! That number is starting to sound bigger, and look bigger to my eyes. In someways we have built our lives together, had children and are busy raising them and the years have passed by very fast. In other ways I am still just as giggly, crazy bride in love with her new husband. God has blessed me with a good marriage, one that I hope I will never take for granted. Thank you Lord for blessing me with Brent to share my life with! Thank you Lord that 16 years of marriage is even sweeter than the first year of marriage!

Santa Baby

Santa Baby, hurry down the chimney with care! Well Santa is such a big man during the holidays you really can not prepare your heart, and your family without pre-deciding how you are going to deal with the BIG man.

I can tell you for me and my husband we decided that we would have to “play” Santa a little bit, because we were going to be sending our kids to public school and we did not want to have 20 parents calling us mad because our little precious one went and told the class that Santa was not real. Not a real good way to win friends and influence people is it?

So we decided to do to Santa what the world has down with Christ during the Christmas Season- we decided to “Marginalize” him. What does that mean you ask? Well for our home that means Santa brings 1 gift, and fills the stockings (usually panties, socks, and some candy) – by no way does Santa bring the coolest most desired toy. Mom and Dad have worked very hard since our kids were little letting them know right off the bat what gifts might be to big, or too much for Santa to bring. And to safeguard ourselves we have always said, parents have veto power, and Santa always checks with mom and dad before he brings anything into our home – to be polite of course.

We also do not spend time emphasizing and assigning god like attributes to Santa (like he knows when you've’e been bad or good, or he sees you when your sleeping) nope! That also means we do not use Santa as a means of disciplining or keeping our children in line during this time of year. (I love the manger idea a few post down to help with that!).

What do you do? How does your family handle the whole Santa issue??

The Secret Stitch blog

I love this blog! It always has the cutest projects and one of my very favorite for this time of year is a cute photo and frame "how to" on the "keep calm and carry on" theme! Love it here is the site

it is: the secret stitch club

So head on over to this cute blog and check it out! They have great pictures and step by step instructions!

Well we have been busy making Merry - today is the youngest daughter's Christmas program at school. This time of year is so much fun, but it can be a very stressful time of year as well. Our family has started trying to fill a manger with little strips of yellow paper - our "hay" that is written on it the nice things that we do for other people. Everyone seems to be really enjoying this - I am telling you this is a great challenge for Adults!!! It gets you thinking who am I making an impact on today besides the people I live with. (which should be receiving your blessings every day) This has been so wonderful to do -it is a must at least for me each year!

I have had to work hard to come up with nice things to "do" for other people that does not just include "buying" them things. The kids are much better at it than me. You should ready their straw - a sample of them include some of the following (between all 3 of them)

* said please and thank-you all day long

* I helped a lady reach a movie off of a shelf in the store

*carried fire wood inside

*cleaned out the van for mom

*used nice words to everyone

*gave someone a bible

*helped my sister

wow! I am loving the kindness, and the selflessness this activity is producing in our household, and in my kids and my heart! Well this is my update - I will post more later on today. Hope everyone is having a blessed Christmas season!

Away in a manger

Do you like my zebra printed "manger"? Well my girls were very excited last night to receive them! We also gave each girl an envelope filled with yellow strips of paper a.k.a. hay - that they can use to fill their manger when they have done something nice for someone they can write it down on the paper strips/hay and add it to the manger bed to help prepare their hearts for Christmas, and to help combat the case of the "gimmes me!"

Mom and Dad got one to, even though ours are not zebra stripe. I have been thinking all day what I can do for others during this holiday season as a stay at home mom I will most definitely have to be creative and go out of my ways some days in order to do some of the nice things I have been thinking about.

I am looking forward to tucking my girls in bed at night and seeing what kind things they did for others that day. The only rule is that you have to spread your kind deeds around - it can't be just for your best friend or your mom and dad (same with me and Brent, it can't be just for each other or our kids only). This is going to be a fun activity - one that gets us thinking about doing for others. It is amazing how when you purpose your heart and mind to do something for others, that the time to do so just opens up!

What are you doing for others this holiday season? Do you have a favorite thing to do for others? Do you like to do your acts of kindness where the receiver knows it is from you or do you prefer to do it secretly? I think I am going to try it both ways this month, and I will report back which way was the most fun. I am also brainstorming what sweet out of the ordinary thing I can do for each of my children and husband. I hope you are looking at your calendars today on the last day of November and are making your plans for your December! Remember there is no such woman as "Wonder Woman" you can not do it all (yes, it is true) so remember to fill your time with doing the "BEST" things, not just good things!

Kate Middleton and Beth Moore - say what?

"It's tough being a woman in another woman's shadow" that is the theme for week one of the Beth Moore Bible study of Esther. I had just started this study of the book of Esther when Kate Middleton and Prince William announced their engagement. The news media covering their engagement keeps "highlighting" the similarities and the differences between Prince Charles and Princess Dianna's engagement and theirs. All I could think of was Yes, Beth it is hard to be in another woman's shadow just as Esther was in the Shadow of the Queen who went before her so is Kate in Princess Dianna's shadow. I can only imagine how hard it must be for Kate to be in the shadow so publicly and to have everyone going over "Everything" bit by bit.

Whew! Just thinking about it makes me exhausted! I am just a normal housewife who lives in a small town (though I have been laughing and thinking I might start saying I am from a sleepy little American town after watching all the news coverage of Miss.Kate Middleton.) who lives under the shadow that is cast from society of what a woman is supposed to look like, be like, act like and do. I believe every woman lives with some shadow over them. Sometimes woman live in the shadow of a real woman be it a mother, a mother in-law, a sister, a best friend, an ex-wife. Sometimes the shadow is even imposed on you from strangers. I am a stay at home mom and I love being it! However when I run into acquaintances that I haven't seen in a while, who "work" outside the home, and they ask me "What are you doing now?" and I explain that I am still at home, even though my kids are now in school. I sometimes feel "judged" and deemed less worthy. I know this is how I "feel", and I have been taking it to God and praying about it. (and trying to come up with a better answer -ha!)

I have been working hard to step into the love of God and trust what God says about me. I know that Isaiah 43:4 tells me I am precious to God, I peter 1:18-19 tells I am valuable to God so I choose to believe him, day by day. I know that I am working for his glory even when I am doing the mundane chores around the house since these duties bless my family and those that enter my home.

Do you live in a shadow? How does it make you feel? How do you deal with it?

I am in Heaven!!!

OK Girls, we are now in the count down time until Thanksgiving! 9 days until Thanksgiving! So here are some tips, and some very cool websites to check out for some freebie decoration to help get you ready for Thanksgiving.

First thing first - remember the sweet ladies in your life who are trying to do it all or think they should be trying to do it all - take some time out this afternoon go buy a yummy box of tea. (I used Yogi's Mayan Cocoa Spice) and send each of the wonderful ladies in your life (your mom, your grandma, your aunt, your best friend, even you mother in-law) a little note (yes, through snail mail!) along with a tea bag reminding them to take a break and enjoy this time of year!

I will even send you one, leave me your address in the comment section and I will send you a little note, and tea bag as well!!- (Yes, even us ladies need a little pampering now and then!)

Secondly, my girls have 7 more days left of school and the blog CraftsandSutch has the CUTEST Printable Lunch notes for your kids for FREE!! See there print a few off and your kids will have the cutest little seasonal love note from mom in their lunch box. (well now that your feeling like your a wonderful capable person again lets attack the house!)

Thirdly, decorate your entrance - be that your front porch, your entry way, even your laundry room if that is how you enter your home - put a smile on your house!

Fourth, you must check out the blog Today's Fabulous Finds {Tomorrow's Treasures}

This blog has cute FREE (yes, I did say FREE) printable subway art to print out and frame for your house!!! Isn't that the cutest (they would also make cute teacher gifts/or friend gifts!)

For more cute, very cute festive Free art work check out: Flamingo Toes, and check out Anna's blog Take the Side Street - she has a cute Free printable artwork about "gratitude" if you printed it out in red/green you could keep it up through Christmas!!

I do not know about you, but I am so very grateful to all the wonderful bloggers out there that share all their cute ideas with us!!!

Also a quick idea for all of you who have children who can read - and you are working on bible verse memorization. The church we attend (Lifechurch.tv) places information for upcoming events on the back of the bathroom stalls - they joke about having a captive audience. Well I thought they had a good point! So I now take home the bible verse memorization cards that are given to my kids, and place them for the week in the above frame next to the sink in their bathroom. My kids see it when they are washing their hands (yes, as a mom I know you are all giggling) and when they are brushing their teeth, and even when the older one is doing her make-up I know she is seeing this!!

Well I off to attack my kids bedrooms and "declutter" when they are not around to help me! but remember if you would like a note and a free tea bag, leave me a message and an address and I would be glad to send you a little lift me up! (now please remember that I am only an individual and I am not selling anything I have 2 boxes of tea bags to share - so I have 40 bags to send out for those who would like to reply!)

Oh and a Big Thank you to Beverly@theBuzz for a shout out for my post

The Cleaning Prayer

Happy Monday to all you Girls!

Perfect pairing - Revelation 21:23

"The city does not need the sun or moon to shine on it. God's glory is it's light, and the Lamb is it's light."

Revelation 21:23

*The above drawing is my youngest daughter Grace's picture of what she thinks God must look like and a drawing of his glory shining from him.

Feeling grattitude

I will be honest there are times that I am soooo buffered by my own reality (a warm home in the winter, a cool home in the summer, even if it is dirty it is mine, tv, computer, ipod, friends, family etc....) at times it is so easy to whine over something that in the Big Scheme of life is nothing. I have been trying to have a thankful heart and help my family not have such a case of the gimme' me's that I have been looking outward and praying "God show me where I can help others, remind my pampered self what I have to be soo very thankful for". Boy, has God thrown open the curtains of my house and showed me some stuff that breaks my heart, it stirs me to want to help! Thank you Lord Jesus for being so patient with my foolish, selfish heart!

Thank you Thank you Thank you!!! Has God every broken your heart over a situation, that did not involve you -not one ounce, and your prayer became all about that situation? Did God show you how he could use you to help in that situation?

Perfect pairing - Isaiah 44:8

Don’t be afraid! Don’t worry!

I have always told you what will happen.

You are my witnesses.

There is no other God but me.

I know of no other Rock; I am the only One.”

Isaiah 44:8

**Thank you Lord for being my Rock!

The Invisible Woman -

This is just to remind every lady out there - that God sees you!! You count!! Is this not a great reminder I hope you enjoy it where ever you are as you are sipping your coffee, or tea this morning! Remember that you matter. Rejoice and give God praise- That is a reason to be thankful!

Keep on keeping on! Do not be discouraged, do not get overwhelmed by the upcoming holiday, or the never ending laundry, or the constant hollering of "mom!, or that nobody notices when you clean the toilet -God loves you!!! Amen!

The Cleaning Prayer- how cleaning can help your prayer life

As a mom we are often called upon to put on our housecleaning hat and pick up the trash bags, and bucket of cleaning supplies and go where no man would ever go…………………………..into our kids rooms to clean!!!!

Well you know by now that there are not laundry fairies, or that even our children can not clean, organize and go through their rooms like we can! One way to help prepare our hearts and our families heart for the upcoming Christmas season (while we are preparing our homes for the Christmas season-Of course we are multi-tasking we are moms!) is praying for our family as we clean our house. Praying is such a powerful thing that any mom or wife can do as we go about our housecleaning duties!

As you clean out each child’s room, pray for that child. Pray for God’s protection in their life physically, mentally, spiritually, and emotionally! Pray that your child will have wisdom in selecting friends. Pray that your child will grow closer to God over the Christmas season. Pray that God will allow your child to experience the awe and wonder of the greatest love story every played out with Christmas being just the beginning of the upcoming Holiday seasons for us to share with our children. Thank God that you have the children he has blessed you with so that you have rooms to clean.

Pray for your spouse and your marriage as you clean your bedroom. Pray for love to continue to grow in your hearts for one another and for God. Pray that God will wake your spouse up in any area in their life that they need awakening in. Pray that God will help your spouse grow closer to God over the Christmas season. Pray that God would help your husband be the spiritual leader of your household, and be present and participating with you and your child. Thank God for your husband! Thank God for the job that your husband has, and that he is our true provider. Pray that your husband would have godly men for friends, and that God would continue to place or would bring into your husband’s life godly men to mentor him.

While cleaning the bathroom, pray for modesty and sexual purity for your children, your husband and yourself. Pray also for your children’s future spouse and their family as you pray about this topic.

While cleaning your dining area, pray for the guest that you will have in your home over the holiday season. Pray that your family would be able to share the love of God with them. Pray that God would bring to mind anyone that needs a place to go over the holidays to your mind.

When cleaning the kitchen thank God for the food he has provided you and your family. Thank him that you have the opportunity to cook and share how well he has blessed your family. Pray that God would be with your neighbors and that they would learn the true meaning of Christmas.

While cleaning the living room, pray that God would be with your parents, and in-laws. Thank him for your spouse and the providing your children with grandparents. Thank him for the legacy your parents have left you in your life.

While cleaning the laundry room, pray for your siblings. Just like a sock needs a pair, our family would not have been complete with out our siblings. While doing laundry pray that God would help you in your walk to grow closer to him.

***I love having quiet time, but I confess it is hard to carve out the time with a full house! However I am always amazed how I have the time to pray when I am cleaning - I think my kids and husband are afraid to approach me, in fear that I might just put them to work cleaning. Hope you like the suggestion!

Where has November gone to?

I look into the stores and all I see is Green and Red. I wonder down the candy aisle (yes, I know my hips wish I would not!) and I see the candy Christmas kisses and candy canes stocked on the the shelves. I watch the evening news and they tell me because of the economy is down, retailers are now stretching the Christmas season to begin the day after Halloween. Well let me tell you (yes, I feel a lot like Jimmy Stewart in "It's a Wonderful Life" when he is telling people that they needed to save the old building and loan.) Well girls we need November and Thanksgiving if for no other reason it allows us to prepare our hearts, our minds, and our homes for the Christmas season!!

The Christmas season is filled with the gimme Me's. Just look at how marketers encourage you to make a "Wish List". Don't believe me take a minute and think about the The Great Big Christmas Book, or Toy land Catalog marketed for our kids to make their "wish list" up or the Lexus commercials geared to us older kids. Marketers have made the Christmas season about "what do I want" to every individual out there. Well Let's start in November remembering what we have been blessed with.

Let's take the next 21 days and prepare our hearts,with an attitude of Thankfulness that helps prepare us for the Christmas season ."In everything give thanks for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you. "Thessalonians 5:18 Take a look at what you fill your mind, and your time with. Are you starting to be frazzled, looking at the calendar thinking about how the marketers are wanting you to feel about the holidays. Well just stop! This is the beauty of November take a deep breath make a game plan and prepare. Do not let anyone cheat you out of November!!

I always prepare my house for the holidays by first - CLEANING IT OUT!! How do you plan to put anything new into your homes, (AKA your kids bedrooms) without first cleaning out the junk, the things that are broken, things that are no longer used, things that have been out grown. Just making a pile of things to donate or have a garage sale helps make it abundantly clear how really blessed we are!!! I also do not want to struggle with dealing with C.H.A.O.S. (can't have anyone over syndrome -this is from the fly lady) during the holiday season. I want my house to be a warm inviting home, to my friends and family as well as my children's friends. The only way that will be possible is if I take the time to get things cleaned and organized now!!

So don't overlook November - we need November to help us enjoy the Christmas season and share the joy of Christ with others through out December. Remember you can not share what you do not have - so make sure that you will have joy in your heart during December by taking the steps necessary to enjoy December right now!! Prepare your heart and your families heart to make the trip to the manger this Christmas!

"Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart, be acceptable in your sight, O Lord, my strength and my redeemer." Psalm 19:14

(p.s. for those following my blog I am thankful that I have a husband that works on project for me and I will post pictures of the completed projects when he has completed the kitchen, and yes, I will be thankful for that! and no I have not been holding out on you it is just taking longer than we anticipated!)

CHAOS - or what they don't tell you on DIY shows and a sneak peek!

Well our Kitchen cabinet makeover is drawing near to an end! (yeah!!!) I am thinking maybe 2-3 more nights -whew!! But this project is not our first time down this road but, in between projects you forget the following:

1. It probably will take longer than you originally estimate

2. It is wonderful if you have a date where you are having company over in the near future -wonderful motivator when you get to the half way point in a project.

3. All the stuff that is where you want to work has to go SOMEWHERE!!! (Most likely in your dining room, under chairs in the living room etc..) So the moral of this story is while you or your sweet wonderful hubby are working on a project your home might be best described (borrowing the terminology here from the FLY lady) as C.H.A.O.S. - can't have anyone over syndrome!!!

So it is really best to start a project with all these things in mind!! and if you forget just slap your forehead (like on a V-8 commercial and go "Oh yeah!" and take a deep breath it will all be ok).

Well here is a little "Sneak Peek" :

I am so excited!! I love this new color! It really is a little darker than it appears close up with the flash! I can not wait until the doors are done! We have done the cabinets themselves, as well as all the shelves. It took approx 4 days thus far!

I will hopefully be posting pictures of the completed project this Thurs or Friday!! Fun! Fun! Fun!

Kitchen Cabinets Redo-Part 1

Ok I want to be honest with you - You will have to settle on these close up of my cabinets as my "before" pictures because... I thought me and my honey were talking, debating on whether or not to take off the cabinet doors for this refinishing project, and did not know that we had made a decision on it before I went to take a long hot bubble bath the night before we were supposed to start on the kitchen cabinet redo project.
Well imagine my surprise when I dried off from my long comforting bath and walked out to go get a refreshing drink from my kitchen and every door was off!!! So girls I tell you I did what every good blogger would do - I ran and got my camera as I was giving my hubby the evil eye.
So as you can tell we had a "honey colored" oak cabinets in my kitchen. Brent took the cabinets doors off, and took out all the shelves. We wiped down the cabinets with a damp towel, and then roughed them up with some sand paper (notice the dust in the second picture). Once the cabinets had been sanded lightly we wiped them down with a wet towel to remove all the dust.

All I can say "is stay tuned you will not believe your eyes!! This project has turned out amazing!!! and it was amazingly cheap!!! My favorite words!!!" (and yes, we are still on talking terms!)

Project Runway Birthday Party!

Well Paige my Fashionista wanted to have a birthday party for her 10th birthday and when asked what theme she wanted to do of course she picked her favorite show "Project Runway".

So we made our guest list, and used the color theme of pink and green (maybe not traditional the colors that come to mind when you hear "Project Runway" but it was for a 10 year old girls birthday so in the words of Tim Gunn I had to "make it work"

We divided the girls into 2 teams! I gave each team a Paper bag. In each bag was: a trash bag, decorative tape, stapler, safety pins, different colored felt u, and ribbon. Each team had 20 Min's to make a dress from the materials provided to them. We sent each team to a different room so they would not be influenced by the other team. Above our the pictures of the results of the two teams hard work- Fabulous!!!

Next each team had to select another model to send to the "Loreal studio" so their models could get their hair done. However for this game we made each "model" wear a party hat that had been covered with shaving cream and the girls from their teams had to toss bugles and see if they could get them to stick. The team with the most bugles on their hat won this game! This game was fun, but had to be immediately picked up since we played it inside.

We played one other game but it really did not have anything to do with project runway I just knew that these girls would have lots of energy this night! (you see my daughters birthday fell on Homecoming weekend, and we live in a small town- so...what's a mom to do, we MADE IT WORKED!! So prior to the games of the evening we went to the Big game in town that night, and stayed until half time then came home to Party!) The last game we played was move that M&M. I gave each girl one straw and a paper cup. Then divided the girls up into 3's. In front of each group of 3 I placed a large bowl of M&M's. Each girl then was to try to move as many M&M's from the big bowl to her cup using just her straw (and her mouth by sucking up the M&M to the straw and keeping the suction going until she had lined up her straw over her cup to release the M&M there) The girl at the end of a minute who had the most M&M's won the game.

Here is a picture of the girls at the football game at the beginning of the night! Paige had a lot of fun! and so did I!

We love Chickenhead man!!! and other great things about small towns!

Above are pictures of the teenage boy that my family has dubed the "Chickenhead man" ! Let me tell you he and his buddy's add such enthusiasm to our Friday night light experience! The younger kids look at them with awe and are thrilled when they get a wave from one of these gentleman. They come with their bodies painted and run the flag the length of the football field right in front of the stands - Everyone goes crazy yelling and cheering!!

Before the game they invite all the kids and youth in the stands to come down on the football field and line up to cheer on the football team as they run onto the field!

T

Our town has a "homecoming parade" earlier in the week where all the homecoming attendants ride in cars, and every cheer leading and football team from Glenpool 1st grade through high school get to ride in floats and throw candy and beads to the crowd. It is a fun night! My kids usually leave with way, way to much candy!!

The school provides fun "themes" for the week to encourage participation for all kids. Above is a picture of my oldest daughter and her friend when they dressed for "twin" day.

I love being part of a small town that provides such a feeling of knowing not only your kids, and your kids friends, but the other people that live in the town as well! I am not a huge football fan, but I love to people watch- and there is no better seat in town then at a Friday night football game in a small town!

Does your town have fun traditions? Is there an event you enjoy people watching at? or do you like to feel like your the one everyone else is watching? Hope you all have a good day!

We've got spirit how about you? T-shirt dress how to

It's homecoming week in our town! That means everyone is wanting to show some spirit!! My daughter spied a cute t-shirt dress in a boutique for another school (did I mention said dress was for sale for $50.00 - no thank you!) so I made a deal with my daughter, we would go to the local t-shirt store and buy a t-shirt, that we had a decal ironed on the bottom left hand side of the t-shirt (yes the store thought we were odd) and I came home and chopped up the t-shirt to make it into the above spirit dress! (all for about $18.00)

Let me apologize!!! I forgot to take some pictures of my sewing so I drew this horrible, Yes - horrible drawing so that you could visualize how I cut up the tshirt (I cut off the sleeves, and cut a straight line from across the top taking off the neckline on the front and back of the t-shirt. SAVE THE SLEEVES!!!!! You are going to cut the sleeve open along the seam at the bottom of the sleeve - each sleeve will make part of the tube top!! One sleeve will be the front of the tube dress and the other sleeve will be the back of the tube dress)

Ok, now for some more information:

1. Cut up tshirt

2. sew up the sides where the sleeves used to be

3. add a casing at the top for elastic -we used the measurement right below the breast for my daughters dress

4. Insert elastic into casing

5. open up sleeves and putting wrong sides together sew up sides to make the top of the tube dress (fit here might sew alot or a little depending how busty your model is)

6. attach tube to skirt. (I sewed the tube to the dress at the bottom of the casing to hide any stitching) then took the excess remaining fabric that was left over from cutting off the neckline, and used it to make 2 straps to make a spaghetti straps to the dress. Easy peasy! Took me approx 3 hours from cutting, sewing and fitting to finish dress (we added the belt for edge)

Best Coconut Pie Ever!

I have been on a quest for the perfect coconut pie recipe! You see I started this quest when I married my hubby and found out that his favorite pie was coconut, and yes - I tried my mother in laws recipe - and no it did not turn out for me. (No I do not think she was mean and gave me an incorrect recipe, or left something out on purpose but my mother in law is one of "those" wonderful cooks who cooks without recipes!! Ahhh - it's like dr.s without borders but this one give all us ladies a bad reputation who have to have a recipe box!!!)

So here at last after several failed attempt is the very best, successful coconut pie recipe:

(you really should imagine you are hearing a drum roll here)

3 cups milk
3 egg yolks (save whites for meringue)
Sprinkle of salt
3/4 cup sugar
4 Tbsp. cornstarch
1 tsp vanilla
Approximately ¼ cup coconut flakes (I don't measure the coconut, Norma says)
Prepared pie crust

Save out a little milk. Put the rest of the milk in a double boiler and heat. In a separate bowl, beat egg yolks. Mix in the milk you saved and salt. Add sugar and stir. Add cornstarch and beat. Stir mixture into hot milk.

Pour the above mixture into a prepared and lightly browned pie shell. My husband prefers that I top this pie with meringue but you could also top with cool whip for a coconut cream pie. I sprinkle shredded coconut on top of my meringue that toast as the meringue browns.