Spring

Spring has sprung and I just wanted to share these pic's of our 'little' magnolia tree. We planted it 3 years ago after having some dead maples cut out of our front yard. This is the first year we have seen such a profusion of blossoms.

Please ignore the neighbors truck and my twin dd bike, just notice the mighty magnolia : )

Please ignore the fact that I didn't rote this pic when downloading. Just gaze at the up-close beauty of sunset on flower petals...

Here is a great progression shot of full bloom on down to bud waiting to unfurl, all on the same branch.

I call this "Twilight on the trees of Mason Street". LOL

Blessings, Beth Ann

Pears, pears and more pears

A little over a week ago I was gifted with a case of organic pears! Wow, that's alot of pears : ) Then I got sick and didn't get right to them. Oh the kids were eating them in their lunch's and such. Well they weren't 100% ripe, so this was a good thing. So now I am back in the saddle so to speak and looking at a mega lot of ripe pears. First on the list is my world famous crock pot applesauce ~ uh, I mean pear sauce. That's right, many of the same recipes you can use for apples you can also use for pears. I love my crock pot and this is the perfect use for it. It won't heat up the house, but it still smells devine!

Crock Pot Applesauce (or pears)

8 cooking apples, quartered, pared, cored and chopped

3/4 cup sugar

1 tsp. ground cinnamon

1/2 tsp. vanilla or almond extract

1/4 tsp. nutmeg

1 c. water

1. Combine all ingredients in cooker.

2. Cook on low 5-6 hours.

Yield: 6 servings

Note: You may want to chop the apples coarsely before cooking them, then mash them after they're cooked; it's easier that way.

Not sure what else I may do with these, may make several batches of pear sauce and freeze. Please share any pear ideas you may have.

Blessings, Beth Ann

Menu Plan Monday

I am still battling the crud, but am up a moving (somewhat). I haven't done a menu plan recently and felt the need as we are still buckling down on our food. We are still following the leptin diet and after reading just about every chronic illness dietary book out there, it seems to follow similar guidelines. We will make some small modifications for my big sons food allergies. It seems to be working well for us, even middle dd has lost about 30 pounds.

We watched this movie from Netflix, over this past week-end and had the older children watch it as well. It is based on the best selling and prize winning book 'Fast food Nation' by Eric Strussel. Basically it's a documentary about where our food comes from and the politics be hind it, a MUST see!

With that said, I am glad to see that Kroger's has Laura's Lean ground beef on sale this week! LOL Here is a look at this weeks menu:

Monday: Crock pot turkey Thia meat loaf w/ green beans

Tuesday: Spinach & beef noodle free lasagna

Wednesday: Mexican beef stew

Thursday: Chicken asparagus stir fry

Friday: Beef Chop Suey

Saturday: Crock pot rotisserie chicken w/Brussels sprouts

Sunday: Happy Easter! (and I don't have a clue, what do you think of stuffed cabbage?)

Whats for dinner at your home this week? For more menu plan Monday visit www.orgjunkie.com

Blessings, Beth Ann

Yarn madness

So OK, I have been sick as a dog (what does that mean any way?) but I did get out of bed a couple times to . . . you got it, knit : ) So here it is, my Metallic eyelash tea room scarf w/fringe ~ TA DA! LOL

Enough said, your lucky I stopped playing Bejeweled and got out of bed to blog this! Now what is the next project ? Hmm . . .

Blessings, Beth Ann

Ants

Yea! Just downloaded the softwear for my camera onto the new computer, and all seems well : ) So to celebrate I will share some pic's with you that were sitting on my camera.

Not a great shot, the butt of our orange cat sitting in my yarn basket

This is the backside of the ant hill we are doing for school with the twins, but we have all been enjoying it : )

Front side of the hill, see the ants at the top? The flowers were picked by the girls, spring is in the air!

Hubby said to use flash (you know how me and the flash get along), not sure this helped?

That's all for now and remember, I is for insect!

Blessings, Beth Ann

New MeMe

MeMe

It's been a while since I've done a MeMe, but I saw this one over at hand eye crafts and thought I'd grab it too.

What are your current obsessions?
Knitting, knitting and more knitting

Which item from your wardrobe do you wear the most often?
Brown leather clogs

What’s for dinner?
Tonight is meatballs in home made BBQ sauce with brussle sprouts in butter sauce

What is your greatest fear at the moment?
Medical bills

What are you listening to?
The wind howling outside

If you were a god/goddess what would you be?
Well I don't believe in any other God than our heavenly father, but if I had to make one up . . . man I can't even think of one right now. Is there a Greek god of domesticity? LOL

What are your guilty pleasures?
Bejeweled

Who or what makes you laugh?
Kids, husband, friends . . .

What is your favorite spring thing to do?
Plan my garden

Where are you planning to travel next?
Defeated Creek in Carthage, for Mother's day camping trip.

What is the best thing you ate or drank lately?
Coffee (1/2 caf with gingerbread creamer)

Who was your first ever crush?
Matt Dillion, I understand he is still singel . . .

What is you favorite ever film?
Steel Magnolias

What is the biggest life lesson you’ve learned from your kids?
To 'chill'

What song can’t you get out of your head?
I can only imagen

What book do you know you should read but refuse to?
Wow, hard. I have never met a book I haven't liked. However I don't share the same efinitay for Beth Moore, Tim LaHay or Joyce Meyers that my peers do.

What is your physical abnormality/abnormal physical ability?
My gift from God is discernment.

What is your favorite color?
I gravatate twords blue/green and gray.

Thats it, hope you all enjoy a little insight on Meme ; )

Blessings, Beth Ann

.

Checking in . . .

Sorry it has been so long and that there are no cute pic's to accompany this post. Been a couple of long busy weeks, mostly health wise. First, the stomach flu went through our house and hit everyone eventually in a two week span ~ yuck.

Then big son Z has been battling his chronic pain and made a couple trips to the ER and doc office. This time last year he almost died and when it was all over, the doc's said his chronic pain was probably CFS (chronic fatigue syndrome). In the past 14 months it has gotten steadily worse and now they are looking at FBS, or Fibromyalgia. Tonight he has an appointment with a neurologist, to see about his head pain. Z says it feels like millions of knives are being stuck in his brain, constantly :( We are again juggling his diet and all our energy seems to be focused on him. So exhausting. I hope we find some answers soon.

On a brighter note: We bought a new desk top and I am blogging from it right now! I am loving the 18" LCD screen, very easy on my bad eyes (swear the eye doc is going to give quad focals next). It is also refreshing to not have it shutting down on me every 7-8 minutes or so, makes checking email a tad faster when not constantly rebooting : ) Now I just have to move some files, pic's and ect. from one machine to the other.

Other news: hubby found a great deal on a rotary mower for our yard. Will be nice not to have to scramble around for gas money all summer for our lawnmower, not to mention safer for the kids to use!

Blessings, Beth Ann

I Believe . . .

Isn't this sign to cute? I couldn't resist snagging it from http://www.knitterella.com/ and sharing it with you : )
Finished a few projects to share with you and I refuse to apologize for my poor camera taking talent anymore. You know it stinks. I know it stinks. So, since I refuse to stop taking pics of my latest creations; we will just leave it to good faith from now on that all my pics are bad and my stuff looks wayyyyy better in person! Good? Good! LOL









This is a self felting eyelash yarn I used to make this cute purse


I was pleased to have enough to make two purses, love the almost hounds tooth pattern it made : )

Twins! I tell them apart by their belly buttons ~ LOL

This is a pink baby bib with gold metallic flecks in it, and a pearlized button to secure one of the three button holes I made. This bib grows with your baby!

Made a matching washcloth too. I think I have more of this some where, so most likely will also make a matching burp cloth as well. Will make an awesome gift, but I still have no clue what grand baby number two will be : P

In other news, most of the sick kids are back on the road to recovery. Big son Z is still a bit yucky, but he has been since about Feb. of 2009. I believe most of his complaints could be better controlled with diet, but he just isn't interested in that. His girlfriend is much the same way. She is a cancer survivor and she to has chronic illness. Her doc has also lectured her on a better diet as well. She is a little worse off than Z, as she has lost her gallbladder already and had limited kidney function as well as colon issues (she had colon cancer). Frankly I believe they are a perfect match! : ) Kids, what ya going to do with them? That's right, hold them tight, love them and smack them upside the head when they don't listen to their ma! LOL

Yesterday we tried a new church, always a interesting if not nerve wracking event! It was up by Nashville and our friend was preaching. They were pretty excited to have us (they have been asking for over a year) and everyone there was friendly and gracious. It is a family integrated church and made up predominantly of home school families. The service its self reminded me more of the Lutheran services of my youth, but just enough less formal to make it enjoyable. We all had a great time and hope to visit again soon.

Blessings, Beth Ann

What a difference a day makes ~

In more ways than one . . . Our weather has changed from sunny and 60's to rainy and 50's. Kids have changed from being mostly OK to being mostly sick : ( Last week twin dd had 'slippery poo's' (her words), but was for the most part well. This week one dd has PMS, twin son is vomiting and has stomach flu, and oldest dd has killer flu and missed some work. Took big son to doc yesterday and got a referral for a neurologist for his killer headaches, that he has had for the past year. He also saw the eye doc yesterday, no glasses needed. So with the 3 MRI's and the perfect eyesight, we are all perplexed and next step is the expensive big guns testing. There is a waiting list for this guy, who is perpetuated as being the best in the area, who knew? So we have a 3 month wait ahead of us for any more test and answers, sigh . . .

So, why the weather was still fine, back on Wed. - LOL - DH took twins to the park and snapped these cute pic's of them :


Here is E being 'swallowed' in the middle of the tri-slide : )

Here is Foo on top of the 'monkey' bars

E riding on the tire bouncy thing : )

Foo riding on a horse bouncy thing : P

And E just hanging out on the jungle gym! What a happy guy!

That's about it for me today, going back to my knitting .

Blessings, Beth Ann

Sunny Days

Well it was a sunny week-end in the upper 60's here in middle TN., and my hubby had it off!!! We had sooooo much fun. He kicked it off with a men's faith group breakfast at church. Oldest son only works half day on Sat., so picked him and his girlfriend up and headed for Nashville. We decided to skip the RV show, but ended up wandering around outside of Cullmen and Maxy RV sales, looking at the new models anyway : ) Then made a stop at camping world (mecca for RV'ers), and loaded up for the upcoming camping season. We also made a visit to Ernest Tubbs, Cooters and Willie Nelson's general store and museum. We skipped the museum part, it cost $5 to enter and there was a sing saying it would double on April 15th. Joke? I have no idea ~ LOL Cooters was cool though, it was free and I had no idea that there was that much Dukes of Hazzard crap, I mean merchandise out there! We capped off the day with dinner at Bod Evens. May not sound like a big deal to you all, but I think the next closest one is in OHIO! LOL We only do this once a year, thank goodness, and we were blessed with the best weather ever!


Sunday was equally as nice, and after a good-bye reception for our pastor, we commenced on the yard work! Hubby finished the fence between our second drive-way and the noisy neighbors. Oldest ds climbed on top the RV car port and trimmed tree branches, middle dd and her two friends finished raking and filling the compost bin. Me? Well I just kept running in and out of the house, trying to keep track of the twins who were bent on helping everyone! LOL Later as a reward, dh took the t-t0ps off his camero and we went to Sonic and brought home ice cream for the kids. Another wonderful day, that reminds me why we moved here and why we stay. There are good things in store this year, I can just feel it in my bones! They only sad disclaimer here is not being there for my oldest dd new baby : ( However I did modify my baby bib knitting pattern and whipped up a pile to send to her. I will also make matching burp towels and wash cloths. Does that make me sound annal? Didn't think so ~ LOL

Blessings, Beth Ann

Yarn it all!

So OK, I have been practicing with my camera. Not much improvement, but did notice that I don't need flash during the day : ) So, I have been knitting my fingers to the bone. I have a couple of venue's to consider: antique mall, craft shows and festivals, and flea market booth. Maybe all three? Hoping this will be a positive way to bring little extra income into our home. I an in desperate need to show off the fancy yarn I have invested in and am addicted to, but my photography skills won't co-operate - LOL Here is the best I could do on my latest projects:

This is a evening bag or little girl dress up purse

I used standard black yarn that has color flowered sequins interspersed

One more time, the cream mohair bag with dark red sequins

Again, great evening bag

My first practice baby bib

Reg, yarn with a button closure. Way easier to knit a button hole than I assumed : )

My current project, a snow white feather scarf. I feel like I am knitting Santa's beard! I am contemplating making a matching hat if I have enough yarn, but I have never knitted in the round before. A bit scary, but there is a first time for everything I guess : )



Last week-end my daughter had two friends over (like about every week-end). I taught them to crochet. L to R : Bre, Mika and Halie

Sorry this is so dark. I swear I used the flash! This camera just doesn't like the flash! Very proud of these girls.

So much yarn and so little time! For mothers day I really want these knitting needles that light up from the inside, that I saw at Michael's! How cool is that? Then I can knit in the car at night (when I'm not driving) and around the campfire at night when we are camping! No, I am not addicted! Am I ?

Blessings, Beth Ann

Happy Monday!

Another wonderful day here in middle TN, and the first day of March! What more could one ask for? Is it just me or is this year zipping by faster than the last? Scary : ( Thought I would share this pic of two of our dogs sharing a sun spot together, it makes me smile just to look at it : ) This Howard, our mini doxin, and Levi who is now 8 months old. They both have partial paralysis of their hindquarters. Even though Howie is small, he IS the Alpha dog (after me of course - lol) This picture exemplifies that fact and that he has finely taught Levi to understand it too!

Here is a look at this weeks Leptin (lo-carb/high protein) menu:

Monday: Crockpot crab soup w/salad

Tuesday: Noodless lasagna w/broccoli

Wednesday: Church bible study w/pot luck ~ crockpot fajitas

Thursday: Sweet n'sour chicken w/brown rice and mixed beans

Friday: Chili

Saturday: Metza! w/Brussels sprouts

Sunday: Hamburgers w/salad

Remember, if your making something that calls for crab to us the 'real'deal as the fake stuff is high in carbs! Also, metza is just a fake pizza : ) The crust is all meat with the sauce,cheese and veggies on top! One more thing, remember that with those burgers to skip the bun. Sometimes we just eat ours plain or wrap them in larger Romain leaves - yum! Whats for dinner at your house this week?

Blessings, Beth Ann