Health Insurance

So health insurance...  I don't have any.

My husband is covered through work.  We have the kids covered under his insurance.  But mine would cost stupid amounts of money.  So when I quit my job, the idea was that we would shop around and get me some insurance privately.

6 months later and I am just starting this daunting task. 

Not to mention, that  although we can find private insurance cheaper than through Darin's work insurance, we still can't afford it.  So, a part-time job must be pro-curred in order to pay for health insurance. 

Today I began the insurance research.  Now, I have to redo my resume and start the task of finding a job. 

How hard do you think it will be to find a part-time job during school hours only, so that Vicki doesn't have to be in daycare? 

Ya, that's what I think, too.  Time to hit my knees and ask for guidance from the Big Guy.  He always knows what is best.

Tuesday Time Travel

I wanted to do a thoughtful post in honor of the pending Thanksgiving celebration.  But, my brain is mush this morning.  *yawn* 

So here is a nugget from my old blog, Legacy, originally posted 11-20-06, called, Counting My Blessings. 

With soooo much to be thankful for, I will just take a couple posts to list some of the things that come to mind, in no particular order.

Grace: sufficient to save a wretch like me.

Love: My husband. You rock baby!! You reminded me what it is like to feel, to love and to live again. You are still and always will be my favorite person to spend time with.
and my kids: J-man, Lex, Sam-sam and the V. Loving you all is a gift of immense blessing!

Friendship: Sharley, Kristi, Charity, Mandy, Liz, Jen-jen - you all are the glue that holds me together. Too many others to list. I wouldnt be who I am today if not for the friends who come in and out of my life, day to day, week to week, month to month, and year to year.

Family: In-laws, out-laws, near, far, young and old... wouldn't want to be stuck in this world without you all.

Church: To worship. To commune. To serve. To love. Not to be contrainst by walls or labels.

Laughter: a day without it, is a sad day indeed.

Creation: the reflection of God in it all inspires and calms me.

Life: each and every day is a gift. To see God's hand in my every day existence leaves me in awe.

Free Canvassed Photo

Canvas people are giving away free canvassed photos right now.  Well, more accurately, they have a $55.00 coupon on their site for first time customers right now.  Effectively, that can purchase you an 8x10 canvassed photo for the cost of shipping only. 

A couple things to think about; first, the photo wraps around the edges, so choose something where you won't lose important aspects of your photo, and second, canvassing photos tends to warm the colors. 

Personally, I think black and white look best on the wrapped canvas.

I've ordered mine.   Go get yours.

Officially Winter

Snow.  Its on the ground here.  About 1/2 inch.  The roads look not too bad. 

But then you go outside.  You feel the bitter cold wind and you step into the snow and ....

crunch.  That's right.  Crunch!

The wind has frozen everything.  So the roads look clear and wet, but actual reality, they are frozen and slippery.  So glad I don't have to go anywhere today. 

What to do.  What to do.  

OH!  I'll cook and bake.  Maybe crochet. 

Oh ya, and do laundry.  Plth!

Wordless Wednesday

Vicki fancies herself a mask maker. 

I have two comments:

1. I'm not 100% positive, but I think it is supposed to be a goat.

2.  I had brushed her hair out about 10 mins before this photo was taken.  How does she manage to do that to her hair?

Now hop on over to wordless wednesday with Belly Charms.

Chocolate-Cheese Cupcakes



Click photo for recipe



Today, I bake!

Because today is Friday, which, at our house, translates as pizza night, which means I don't have to prepare dinner, instead I have a long list of items to bake.  I have a request from each member of the family for what they want for me to make.  Plus, I have my own plan to make Pumpkin Spice Caramel Cheesecake, a recipe I got from over at Lauren's blog.  You should definitely check out her blog sometime.  Great recipes with a warm friendly approach to blogging. 

Speaking of Lauren's blog, did I tell you that I won a giveaway from her?  Well, I did!  Lauren had a giveaway featuring products made locally in her small Oregon town, and my name was selected. YAY!!!  I received these products on Wednesday.

There are Mini Lemon Shortbread Cookies (seriously yummy) and Pecan Mini Shortbread Cookies (melt in your mouth goodness) from McTavish Shortbread.  The mixed nuts are from the Fruit Company.  I have not broken them open yet, but they look really good!  And let me tell you about the Vanilla Pear Butter from Oregon Growers and Shippers....    soooooooooo yummy!!!  It really tastes like freshly picked pears with a wonderful vanilla note that kind of lingers on your tongue.  Oh yeah! 

Thank you Lauren!  These products are a hit with the entire family.

Again, please stop by Lauren's blog, "Lauren's Latest" and check out what she has to offer.

So, off I go to bake now.  Cheesecake. Cupcakes.  Pecan Pie.  Peppermint Cookies.  Oh My!

Oh My! How Do You Make That?

Delicous new recipe up over on my food blog.  Is it chili or is it stew?

Follow Me Back Tuesday

Follow Me Back Tuesday is another day of the week that you can gain more followers and find other great blogs to follow on a weekly basis. Follow Me Back Tuesday is hosted by Survey Junkie, Little Yaya's, and Boobies, Babies & A Blog

 





Each week we will choose a random number every week from the blogs linked and add the random blog to the #4 spot to link to the following week (must follow 3 hostesses to be chosen)

Guest Host Christine from Red Head Rants




How it Works

1.Follow the 4 hosts, #1 – 4, ( leave us a comment and; we will follow you back- only leave a comment if you follow please ).

2.Create a blog post about FMBT (you may copy this post if you wish).

3.Follow as many blogs as you would like ( Leave a comment so they can follow you back).

4.When you receive a comment from a new follower return the favor & follow them back.


***Please link directly to your Follow Me Back Tuesday Post. Links that lead directly to your personal blog hop will not be accepted and will be deleted.***

Jai Ho!

Zahara performed at the Days of Fire Hafla last night.  Unfortunately, we were sans Yvonne, who had taken a nasty bump to the head the night before and needed to rest.  We love you and missed you, Yvonne.

It was it was hosted at a Martial Arts Academy.  Hence the weapons in the background.  We weren't allowed to play with the weapons.

Annyse and I got both got a case of the nerves before hand.  My nerves caused me to completely forget one section of the choreography and jump ahead to the next.  Oops!

And for some reason my upper body felt like cement.

Woo!  Legs!

I love veil choreography.

I love the ending to this song!

A Slow Kiss

"Life is short. Break the rules, forgive quickly, kiss slowly, love truly, laugh uncontrollably and never regret anything that made U smile."

I saw this on twitter this morning.

It amuses me that the one thing that stuck out on that quote was "kiss slowly".   It really made me miss my husband. Can't wait until he gets home from work today.

Sorry if I grossed you out.  You know, with the kissing first thing in the morning.  =)

Wordless Wednesday

Here is how it works: No long wordy post.  Just a photo.  And a link to someone else's Wordless Wednesday post.

I bought this wine because the label made me laugh,
but surprise! It was quite good too!

links:
Web Savy Mom's Wordless Wednesday
Oh My Sugar High's Wordless Wednesday

Hermoine and WhatTheHeckWasIThinking?

Not a lot to be said here... I literally threw together an oufit to accompany Miss Granger on her adventures.

It was a fun weekend of Halloween-ing (new word).  We didn't put all our decorations up.

However the girls did make some very cool luminaries...

And our pumpkins this year were totally our own designs.  No store bought stencils here!

Vicki's cross eyed vampire.

Samm's creation... not sure if she was going for something specific, but it kind of looks like a scary hello kitty!



Darin created a vampire bat

My attempt at the Red Queen.

We had only 6 tick-or-treaters as our town decided to do trick-or-treating on Saturday instead, but not everyone knew about that, or agreed with it.  Like myself, many refused to participate on un-halloween night.  I won't go into a rant, but suffice to say that I think that is just dumb.

Today I plan to work on a project and do a little baking.  Hopefully I have something yummy to share later.