Mail Surpise

Why am I writing about a surprise I got in my mail?  Well going to give you a back story for you to understand.

We have all heard of pinterest at this point.  I, like countless others, find myself pinning.  I do it more to kill time while waiting for my husband to get on off his computer, but i digress.  I found this cute shirt.  For others it is nothing special, but for me I loved it.  I'm starting to study photography to become better.  Very rarely do I not have my camera with me.  At this point it is like another appendage.  So I have camera and taking pictures on the brain.  I still have a lot to learn, but photography has become a frustrating challenge that I LOVE.  What better way to express yourself, show where you have been, and keep your memories alive.

Back to the point.....I posted this shirt on pinterest wanting it, but most likely was not going to get it (I'm old school and not a fan of ordering online-mainly 'cause i don't read the small print).

My husband calls and says I have a package in the mail.  I see it is from NY and think it must be for him, but I open it anyway.  To my surprise it is the shirt I posted.  I can think of only one friend who would pay that much just cause she saw the "LOVE! WANT! NEED!" on the comments.

I don't expect gifts from my friends. This will sound corny, but for those special few I call a true friend their friendship to me is all I could ask for and want.  With that said it was very touching  when she has so many other things going on then to find and order a shirt I want.

For that I love my friend very much.  How she juggles all she does I have no clue, which I guess why this means more to me than a shirt I wanted.

So my dearest sweetest friend, thank you!

Don't let the dork in the picture take away from the shirt

Oh and to Marla at WrenWillow thank you for lovely paper and careful packaging with my shirt :)

Pumpkin Fudge

This year my Pumpkin and Egg Nog Fudge are a huge it.  The thing I love about making fudge is figuring out for myself how to make whichever flavor hits me at the moment.  For me it makes the process fun.  If someone asked me for the recipe I use I could not give them one since it is in my head, except for chocolate as that is a family recipe.

I suggest for you to look online and find one that you like and make it or find a base you like to use and experiment with flavors.

With Pumpkin Fudge I try to use real pumpkin.  Halloween is the best for me since I am carving them for my kids anyway.  You can also check with farms in your area.  There are some out there that make their own filling or jar/can the pumpkin for you.  The easiest way is to get it at the grocery store.  I feel that when people are buying it from me I owe them more than using store canned items to make their fudge, but even at times I have to go that route.

So anyway……have fun with making it.

If there is a fudge recipe you love then you can post it here for others to try it.

Fudge….it’s one of the simple things that make life great.  

Ladybug Fudge's Pumpkin Spice Fudge

Photo Challenge Day 13-20

Some do not have  pictures right now since I used my kids as the subjects (I don’t post pictures of them on my blog-recent ones anyway). So I when I retake them I will post them J

Day 13: Yourself with 13 things

Yes, super old pic, but it's not like I have pictures of myself laying around the house.

Day 14: Eyes

Day 15: Shilouette

My son, had fun with this. I chose this one 'cause when i look at I can still hear him laughing as he's making reindeer  antlers.

Day 16: Long exposure

Day 17: Technology

Yes, I used the dreaded flash, but when taking it right before bed you do what you gotta do.

I’ve had this phone since Mother’s Day 2007 and it has been dropped, kicked, thrown, taking apart various times by my daughter, and drowned.  It is on its last leg. How it managed to survive this long I have no clue.  Not sure the iphone is right for me when the time comes and I have to replace it.

Day 18: Your shoes

well not just my shoes, my families. Can you guess which ones are mine?

Day 19: Something Orange

Day 20: Bokeh

   

My daughter brought home this ornament she made at school.  I love it!

Photo Challenge Day 10-12

Day 10: Childhood Memory

 These are a few of the figures I played with as a child.  Luckily my mom saved them and now my daughter gets to play with them.

Day 11: Something Blue

A client gave this to me one year.  I just can't remember where it came from. 

Day 12: Sunset

The sun is setting early this time of year and I was able to get home in time to catch the last few rays of light.  15 minutes later......dark.

Photo ChallengeDay 8 and 9

Day 8: Bad Habit

I'm trying to get him to stop, but asked him pose for this (mixed signals?)

Day9: Someone you love

In my case two I adore!!

Day 6:

Photo Challenge Day 6: from a low angle

Photo Challenge Day 4 and 5

Okay, so I got one day behind in posting my picture.  I at least got it posted to my groups page on time ;)

Day 4: Something Green

I took a picture of this tire thinking it was cool and was going to use that until I went to my daughter's room and saw her bears.  The larger one with the bow I got in Ireland for my sister, but when Abigail was born she gave it back for her to have.  The TY bear is what Nathan have her when she was born (born 2 hours away from St. Patty's Day).  So I paired them together and decided to use that one instead.

Day 5: From a high angle 

Once again this is the second photo I took for the challenge.  I had this vision in my head of taking photos over the bridge looking down at the rushing water of the river (had TONS of rain this weekend).  I was in a rush to get to karate that I didn't pay attention to my settings and when I got home they all looked like crap.  I at least got my focus right, but there was nothing in the pics to hold your attention, just plain blah!
So, trying to think of something different I looked over and saw my tripod just sitting there looking lonely...ding!

Photo Challenge Day 3: Clouds

This was hard today 'cause at the house we had nothing but rain clouds (solid grey).  I ran an errand and luckily had my camera and was able to get this.  Then came back home to grey clouds.

Finally some clouds!

Photo Challenge Day 2: What I wore today

Jeans, oh how I LOVE jeans. Today I wore some with a little bling on them. Also the ring my husband got for me in Turkey.  The ring looks better on.  So What did you wear today??

Photo Challenge Day 1-Self-Portrait

I was trying to be creative with my self portrait.  Why go with the usual photo? get creative!!

30 day photo challenge

December 1st some friends and I are starting a 30 day photo challenge.  I think it is something fun and will challenge the little photography skills that I know.
Below is our guideline for the challenge.  Why don't you try it too!  Just put your blog link in the comments sections so we can follow along with you too!

30 day challenge from clickitupanotch.com

Let the fun begin!

Steps

Hard to believe how much bigger my kids are now. Once their foot fit easily in the palm of my hand and now they are the size of my hands.

I’ve enjoyed all their (and my) learning curves.  How they see everything with fresh, excited eyes.  I look at them with wonder (when their excitement has not worn me out) at how all the little “steps” they have taken since growing inside my belly has led them to where they are now. (I am not going to bring up my short comings as a parent to some of the “paths” they have gone-LOL)

I need to stop and have that wonder, excitement, joy, and energy they do. I can’t go back to the innocence of childhood, but while I am their mom I need to keep them there and live it with them for as long as they will let me.

My daughters foot on left and my son's on the right. My son's feet look like a big boys' now, but my daughter still has tiny little girl feet :)

a while

As you can tell it has been a long while since I have posted.  Several reasons...too much going on....nothing to write about, but the main thing it was as my motivation had been knocked out from under my feet.
Sometimes once you loose motivation it takes a while to get it back or for something to light that much needed spark.
I feel the motivation coming back on :)  So many things in my head I just need to figure out where to start and then go from there. So my goal is this weekend.
Let's see how well my motivation has kick in as to if I actually do post this weekend.

Sunflowers

“Bring me then the plant that points to those bright Lucidites swirling up from the earth, And life itself exhaling that central breath! Bring me thesunflower crazed with the love of light” -unknown?

Nature's gardners

the little things

don't judge the quality of her photo based on the bad quality of mine

I ordered some note cards from Laura Evans Photography a few weeks ago and used one for the first time last night.
It maybe just another note card to some, but as you look at the detail of the photo on the card and think of the work someone does to put it there it becomes something else.
Just writing on the card put a smile on my face.  I really need to order her artwork.  She is an amazing photographer that gives a dream quality to her art.  You can just close your eyes and imagine yourself there.  Her pictures give me inspiration and a new outlook on how to view the world.  Please check her out!!

When it rains it pours.......so go play in the puddles

Last week was not a very good week for me. First my car needed quite a few repairs and a new set of tires. While my car was in the shop I drove my husband’s jeep and what happens???? One of the tires blows out. All last week I had fun trying to find a tires Germany doesn’t carry.  I finally found a place that had my tires, but found out that NO place in this country carries tires with his specs. So I am still trying to figure things out with that.  Well let’s just say I passed that on for my husband to do.

Just when I thought the drama had passed for that week; I go in to get my new set of tires and while waiting I took the kids for a walk (to enjoy the wonderful wild flowers while there was no rain for a change) I tripped (not unusual for me) and broke the piece that attaches my camera body to the lens. Yes, I am pretty awesome! At least I didn’t let go of the stroller which would have given Abigail a very fast ride downhill that I am sure would not have ended as good as it began.

I fell at the very top of this hill, but at least I got this shot before I became friends with the asphalt :)

I am thankful to Laura Evans who looked up the piece I needed and I was able to call Nikon to order it.  My poor husband kept getting bad news everyday while he was gone.  I am SO glad he loves me or I would be screwed.

outside (obviously)

Yesterday I thought I ended the week unscathed until I was going around a traffic circle and saw a big white truck that felt the need to reverse and hit Nathan’s car door covering him in glass. I guess the driver thought I was trying to play music with my horn since he kept reversing and pushing my car. So you can imagine how fun that was. I mean why else would I be blowing the horn but to say thank you for hitting my son’s door!  After the brief bit of panic of seeing him crying, covered in glass, and not being to open his door he was totally fine with only a tiny scratch on his knee.  Abigail was just looking at us wondering what the big deal was.                 

Nathan's car seat

Inside of door

Just when you think your life is boring you get thrown some excitement that makes you wish your life was boring again.

all photos taken by me :)

So in my case when it rains it pours……..so I am going to play in the puddles.  Hope everyone has a safe and fun weekend!

Migraines

I love how people casually say they have a migraine.  Really?? You’re in the middle of shopping and you’re having a migraine?  I wish my migraines were that good.

For those of you who have not been so lucky as to have had one (or think you have) a migraine is when you have lock yourself in a room with no light or sound (preferably the bathroom) 'cause light and sound feel like they are bringing you one step closer to death.

I can usually tell when my headaches are going to turn into a migraine and I try my best not to get sick ‘cause if I do then the migraine fun begins!  With a migraine getting sick is like getting stabbed in the head (I can only imagine since I have never been stabbed in the head-and it’s not on my to do list). You scream and cry cause of the intense pain and you fight the next one coming since the whole knife in the head feeling isn’t fun.  So I do not think I could go shopping with a migraine.

That is why I LOVE Excedrin for migraines or tension headache ‘cause they seem to be the only thing that helps.  I started a migraine one morning this week and my poor kids were fortunate enough to see their momma get sick in the bathroom (while screaming, yes I have a talent for multi-tasking this) and then cry.  Abby was making sympathetic gagging noises while Nathan was trying to comfort her and me (sweet angel when I am sick..sometimes I think I should be sick more often)

Then my wonderful Excedrin kicks in I feel light. I know “light” is a funny word to describe it, but after the pain you suddenly feel lighter as if your body is saying AAHHHHH. 

Hey…So maybe that is my ticket to a Zen like state…hhhmmmm.  Nah, kids say no to drugs unless you feel like your brain is going to explode.

Luke I am your father…….

As Nathan’s reward this week for being good at school we have been watching a little bit Star Wars after dinner each day (starting with IV 'cause its just better that way).

  Today while they were waiting for me to get things put away I heard them playing (loud as usual). This is part of it....

Nathan: Abigail, you’re my daddy

Abigail: No, I’m Abigail

Nathan: Your Abigail, but you’re my daddy, so say I’m your daddy

Abigail: oh…I’m your daddy Nathan

Nathan:uugh, not Nathan, whatever….

Abigail: I’m your daddy

Nathan: no, noooooooooooooooooooooooooo

Nathan: now get your so sword so I have to get a robot hand

Abigial: cool (runs to get foam sword and chase Nathan)

They got their first taste of the Ewoks tonight and Abigail made the cutest little aww noise when she saw him and Nathan just said wow a tiger puppy.  I love how she still calls Chewbacca Chewcaca, but atleast Darth Varder is no longer “The Robot” he is now Darth Vader.   I LOVE how they are getting into this.  Going to finish V tomorrow before Daddy has to leaves.

Must train their brain to love sci-fi while they are young and so far it is working..muahahah!

Monsters keep creeping in your room??

If your kids wake up scared of monsters I may have an idea for you…

A while back Nathan was waking us up at night saying he was scared of the monsters in his room.  His twilight turtle didn’t seem to help unless we told the monsters to go away and turned his turtle back on.

After we had gone to a medieval fest here my husband was trying to figure out where to put this shield we had gotten Nathan.  He then had this FANTASTIC idea.  He brought Nathan in the room and told him his new wooden shield was a monster shield and that by hanging it on his bed it will keep the monsters away. (hubby has great ideas)

We were worried he would try to play with and break it or his bed trying to get it off, so once again hubby’s idea came to the rescue.  If Nathan touches the shield then it won’t keep the monsters away, but if he touched it by accident all he had to do was rub the celtic design in a circle one time and it would work again.  A year later he has not woke us up about monsters (he has found other things).  When my daughter was in his room this week and touched it Nathan said no, no can’t touch that or it won’t work and he rubbed it to fix it.

So if monsters keep creeping in your kid’s room give this a try or something like it and see if it works!!

Cherry picking results

Here is the result of my cherry picking.  Black Cherry and Vanilla Fudge.  First time making black cherry, but the fresh cherries make it so much better.

Cherry picking

Yesterday was the last day to get cherries off the cherry tree.  I picked all I could reach and even boosted the kids up to try and get more.  The rest are just going to have to go to the birds.

I wanted to pick them before they went bad. Right now they are dark red, sweet, and juicy.  Going to pit them, cute them up and put them in some black cherry fudge.  That is if I don’t eat them all while pitting them (could not keep from popping them in my mouth while picking them) yummy  :)~

Sunday Walks

Today I didn’t feel like running any errands, going to the park, or doing more housework than I had to. Well there is nothing new about the housework part.

So I took the kids out in their wagon on a ride in woods and around the pastures of our village.  Nice cool breeze with the sun shining brightly.

 Kids had fun looking at the flowers

Seeing the fruit that is growing,

and walking in the woods where we might see a deer or a monster.  One never really knows what you will come upon out there.

No monster today though which was a good thing since I forgot the monster repellent (bad mom).

A nice day with just the three of us and a awesome way to exercise their minds and try, note the word “try” to use up some of their energy.

Glad they were in a sharing mood and not fighting.  Also glad there were no monsters ‘cause that would have sucked!  Don’t think my crocs could have handled a monster kick ass session.

Hoping you have a wonderful Sunday
*photos taken by me so if they suck it is just my natural talent shining through :)

New to blogging

A friend suggested I should start a blog.  I really could not think why.  I mean my life is not all exciting. I'm a military wife, mom of 2 kids, and I just started selling my specialty fudge.  
After her persistence (still don't know why) I thought I would give it a try and see if I can find something to write about.  
Instead of this being just about my fudge, I thought I would write about life as i go through it. I'm sure it is not anything new to some, but maybe some you can laugh at me or feel my pain.
So let me see what I come up with.........