Crafting Day!!

Saturday was crafting day! My friend Jaye (who went with me to the Newsboys concert) booked a weekend at the Craft Hideaway and asked if I wanted to come for any or all of the weekend. Um, yes please!!

I just went for Saturday. Twelve GLORIOUS hours of crafting! My friends Sarah and Anna were also there but they're not big picture people, so I'm keeping my pictures of them just for the scrapbook.

Sarah's daughter, though...my word is she ever cute! How can you not smile looking at this sweetness??

Anna was busy sewing tiny 0-3 month baby skirts to sell...so Jaye tried one on. That's a good little day when you can still wear newborn clothing!

Speaking of a good little day...one of the best things about the Craft Hideaway - IS THE FOOD!! This was our lunch. Macaroni salad, broccoli cheese soup, a roll, and strawberry ice cream for dessert. YES PLEASE.

Jaye sat across from me and worked on her scrapping while I worked on mine.

See? Working hard. With coffee. Actually that was chai. And it. was. good. (And as a note of clarification...when I put this picture on Facebook, one of my friends thought my shirt said temporary Christian. It really says CONTEMPORARY Christian. As in the music at my job. :)

First story of the day. The hideaway is in the heart of the country; it's in a big old farmhouse. So much character! About mid-afternoon, I got a phone call, and the sun had finally showed up, so I went out to sit on the porch and not bother others with the call. I decided to walk up and down the sidewalk for a bit while I talked - just to enjoy the sun. I looked at the edge of the sidewalk and saw what looked like a fat worm. I thought that was odd since it hadn't rained...and as I leaned closer to peek at it, a bright red tongue darted out of its mouth.

Y'all, IT WAS A SNAKE.

I screamed (as muffledly as I could) and ran up the steps (because I was in shorts and flip flops). When I got inside and told the other girls there was a snake, Sarah wanted to see it. So we went back out (with camera) and brave, BRAVE Sarah took this picture. (You might have to click on it to get it big enough to really appreciate the shiver.)

Jaye missed the excitement because she was getting her nails done. Oh yes. How fun is that??

Second story of the day. Remember my Pinterest inspired project from Sunday's post? I made it at the Hideaway. I'd bought a new glue gun for the adventure, and bought a low temp one because I severely burned a finger on mine one time. It worked out perfectly to use the low temp gun with the coffee filters because I could press the filter down without getting burned.

I learned, however, that if you drop the filter and pour the hot glue directly ON your finger - IT STILL HURTS LIKE FIRE.

Fortunately they have a first aid kit there, so I was able to put Neosporin on it right away and it only hurt for a little bit.

Here was the project halfway through.

 This photo was inspired by our listening to the Newsboys CD, including the song God's Not Dead and the line "He's livin' on the inside, roarin' like a lion!"

 And in honor of the Kentucky Derby....

 And now we're done being silly. This is the wreath!! Took one hundred coffee filters. I loved the way it turned out!

 Dinner was chicken and carrots and potatoes and a roll and a brownie (not pictured, but certainly loved). And no, I did not eat it all.

After dinner we watched the first ever episode of Grey's Anatomy and I just have to say - there's a whole lot I'd forgotten about in 8 seasons!!

I left about 10 p.m. and got SO much accomplished. Better than that - I had fun with my friends and ate a lot of good food. And survived the snake. :)

Braeya is Six Diva-licious Years Old

I was not going to do a blog post about Braeya's birthday. HELLO. She's a cat. But she's too daggone funny. It has to be discussed.

I feel bad for the poor girl. She gets lonely. Kaegan's gone and I'm not getting this one a new sibling, and I'm ALWAYS busy. I do feel bad for her. And I think that she KNEW it was her birthday. Her day. And boy did she let me know she was ready for some ATTENTION.

"A little to the left, please." This one is greedy for her head-scratching and belly rubs.

I wanted a picture with the birthday girl. Is that too much to ask?? YES, I tell you. YES. "PUT ME DOWN, MOM!!" This one = not a cuddler. She likes very much to snuggle up next to me while I'm sitting on the fat chair or sleeping in bed. But none of this holding business. It's way too sentimental.

"Treats? For ME??????"

Literally one second later - "Are there more? More treats please? It's my birthday. I would like more treats please."

In order to wear her out so I could sleep...I got out the laser light. One of her favorite games of all time.

Until, of course, it's time to primp.

And by then....sometimes a six year old diva is just SO TIRED. Forget playing. It's time for a nap.

And that is how a six year old divalicious party goes in Bekahland.

It's the Weekly Recap!

* Last Sunday, I had a killer headache and had to leave church early. :( I spent most of the day resting, and then at the end of the day, I drowned my sorrows in a cooking fest! Made hot chicken salad (per Lynne's request), another batch of the chocolate/peanut butter goodness to mail out to friends who wanted some, and made baked spaghetti to take to the Crandall clan as a happy-new-baby gift! Whew! And in all that madness...found these in the back yard. First blooms!

* Monday evening I met my newest nephew...not of blood, of course. (No need to freak anyone out that my sisters are having babies!) I just inherit a lot of honorary nieces and nephews. He is so laid back. Mayhem could have been swirling and he sort of opened one eye like...I'm just gonna ignore that for now. Darling.

* Tuesday evening, after my Beth Moore phone study with Olivia...I settled in to bake chocolate chip cookies and watch the Biggest Loser finale. Yeah. Not kidding. WISH I was kidding. Ahhhh that's not even true. That's a good combo. Cookies and weight loss. :) I missed the first HALF of TBL though, because our NBC station was running storm info. (Apparently the storms weren't that bad. People weren't happy.) Here's some happy, though!

* Wednesday evening I spoke at a women's banquet at Maple Run Friends Church. I already posted about that...but I just want to say again that it was a delightful evening of very good food, many hugs and laughs, new friends and longtime friends...and I didn't pass out!!

* Thursday was a crazy busy evening! I went house hunting after work (in Fort Wayne and surrounding areas) and found another house that is on the "this could be a keeper!" list. It's adorable. Then I scurried home and had JUST enough time to mow the yard before it got dark! Whew! And while at work...I embraced my inner organizational nerd in preparation for Friday's giveaway show. Getting my seat ready:

* Friday was a monumental day. It was Braeya Jo Jo's sixth birthday - and she knew ALL DAY that it was HER day. Diva. It was also my sister's birthday. It was also the 5th anniversary of the Greensburg tornado. It was also the day Lynne and I spent on the air together doing a really fun giveaway show. Like I said. Busy day. Here's the birthday girl! (The one that lives at my house.)

* Saturday I spent the entire day at the Cherished Moments Craft Hideaway...catching up on my scrapping, making my coffee filter wreath, burning my finger on the hot glue gun, eating amazing food, finding a snake in the yard...oh the adventures I have to tell you....

One Thousand Gifts: My biggest gift this week was not only getting through my speech at the banquet, but also really enjoying it. Satan was SO after me prior to that night, so I figured it would be a battle clear up through the end. But that whole evening was just so enjoyable and I was so thankful God gave me that gift.

Pinterest Inspiration: Y'all...one actually WORKED. :) A craft project that did not fail!!  Here was the inspiration....

Source: livinglaughingandloving.com via Rebekah on Pinterest

And here is mine. (I plan to add a bow...not sure yet what color I want.)

Complete RANDOMNESS

I have a number of completely non-related items to share with you today.

* Let's start out shallow and address TV, shall we? I watch Greys - and I'm curious AND nervous AND not happy about the news that they're killing a main character on the season finale this year. Phats suggested it might be Adelle (or however she spells it)...but I think it's going to be one of the doctors. Please leave Shepherd and both Greys and Bailey and Karev and Kepner and Sloane and Jackson and Yang and Owen and the Chief alone. Just a request. I'm not that attached to Teddy or Arizona or Callie.

* This is what happens when Lynne leaves her label maker at work. :)

* Yesterday was Braeya Jo Jo's birthday. She's six now and she is a d.i.v.a. I tried to get some pictures of her...you know, cute, sweet pictures of a kitty enjoying her day? What I got was a mess of blurry pictures of her inhaling her treats, chasing a laser light, and begging for a belly rub. And I even had my camera on the sports setting! She's like a toddler. Here's one I managed to get of both of us. We both look horrid.

* Yesterday was also the five year anniversary of the Greensburg tornado. I know some of you are new to the blog in the last year or so...so you weren't around for those blog posts! Five years ago yesterday, a massive F5 tornado hit the itty bitty town of Greensburg, where my sister, brother-in-law and niece live. It wiped out the entire town and they lost their home and the church where my brother-in-law is the pastor. The town has been working hard to rebuild, and it's remarkable, when you think of how much destruction they had. (To see all those posts from days gone by, you can check out the May 2007 archives.) Anyway, here's a link to a news report from this week showing both then and now.

* My roots are coming in (pure white, thankyouverymuch) and I don't want to pay for a full color job to just fix that. So. I'm THINKING of trying one of those little root touch up kits. Has anyone used one? What are the chances I will dye my hair orange? (Remember that HAS actually happened to me.)

* I went house hunting again this week and found a house I ADORED. I've found two other houses I adored in the past year. One sold and the other has an offer on it. (I'm such good luck for other people's house sales!) Anyway. Mine still hasn't sold, so if you want to pray with me for that, I welcome the assistance!!
Think that's all I have for today!

Speaking Again!

Someone said to me the other day, "You know, for someone who says she doesn't like crowds...you sure talk to a lot of them!" I think after I talked to the crowd at the Honeywell Center...I am a little less afraid!

I was invited to speak at a ladies' banquet at a church not far from my home...and I said yes! So...Wednesday night I headed out for a fun evening! (Actually there was some internal drama surrounding this that I'll tell you about next week, but the night itself was amazingly fun.)

Kari (you remember Kari) sang...and look at us coordinating without even discussing wardrobe!!

This was the group of ladies at my table. Or I was at theirs...whatever. In the front is Kari and her mom Sandee (who is like a second mom to me...we worked together at IWU) and Sandee's friend (Patty, I think?). And on the right in the front is Kari's sister Kandee, who also happens to take very good care of my hair! I'm in the back with Robyn (also from IWU) and her mom.

Dinner was quite scrumptious. Salad, rolls, baked potato bar and of course...DESSERT!

I had no idea Robyn was going to be there, so this was a hugely pleasant surprise! Robyn still works in Financial Aid and I do miss her!

We ate dinner first, and then Kari sang. She did Greater than Grace and Blessings. And yes. I cried. Blessings gets me ev.ry.time.

Then I went up to speak and left my camera with Sandee and Kandee. Sandee started out the photography with this lovely photo, which Kandee said made me look like Eve. LOL!!!

I think Kandee took over then. :) The theme for the night was "Embracing Your Life Story" - and I shared a bit from the pages of Bekahland...

Yes. I'm barefoot. Confession: Heels make me dizzy when I'm nervous. So to avoid that from happening, I ditched the shoes before taking the stage. I told them they didn't need to take up a collection...I really did have shoes.

Apparently very excited about this point!!

At the end of the night, Linda Cabe, who organized the event, came up on stage to pray with me.

All done!! This is me with Sandee!

Can't wait to tell you more about what I talked about...next week!

An Announcement of Sorts

Today's blog post begins with a little video message from yours truly. I appreciate the way the thing froze at the most awkward possible facial expression:



I'll give you a minute. I couldn't believe it either, so I understand your shock.

I would like to say a couple of things about this adventure.

1. I am NOT doing this so I can become one of those hard core runner people. And I mean that with ALL the love in my heart for those of you reading who ARE hard core runner people. I'm not looking to take up a lifelong hobby. I don't want the rest of my days to revolve around outdoing my last personal best.

2. I AM doing this to prove to myself that I'm capable of taking a challenge. I need to step outside my comfort zone...and believe me, this is waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay outside my comfort zone.

3. It very well may kill me. But I sure hope not.

4. I've already thought about where I'll eat lunch when I've finished the race. Because that's the kind of girl I am.

Chocolate Peanut Butter Bars

Oh my dear people. Oh. My. Dear. People. I am absolutely in love. (With this recipe. Right. Like I would have held out on you if I had a man.) I found this recipe on the blog called "The Girl Who Ate Everything." Kind of makes you feel like I have a second blog, there with that title, doesn't it??? It's not me. But she's my kindred spirit in food, and I couldn't be happier about the discovery of THIS bad boy. And it really is a bad boy. Let's just skip over the thought of nutritional information, shall we? It's not good for you. But it is GOOD. Make no mistake about that.

I was just going to be satisfied to have this on my pretty little Pinterest board and go back to it over and over...but I needed it in my favorites list. NEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEDED it. You hear me? I made this last week for work, where it was promptly gobbled up and raved over. Then I made a second batch, which I gave away (well, mostly)...and I've had several people ask for the recipe. So....with all credit and props to the Girl Who Ate Everything...here are (drumroll) the chocolate peanut butter bars.

The Recipe

1 box yellow cake mix
1/2 cup butter, melted
1 cup creamy peanut butter
2 eggs
1  package semi-sweet chocolate chips
1 (14 ounce) can sweetened condensed milk
2 Tablespoons butter 2 teaspoons vanilla

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Combine cake mix, melted butter, peanut butter, and eggs in a large bowl. Press into a 9x13 pan reserving 1 1/2 cup of the mixture to crumble on top. In a small pan, melt chocolate chips, sweetened condensed milk, and butter. Remove from heat and stir in the vanilla. Spread chocolate mixture over the crust pressed in the pan and then crumble the 1 1/2 cups of reserved cake mixture on top evenly. Bake for 20-25 minutes. Cool completely before cutting into bars.

Guess what I forgot to actually put in BOTH times I made this? The vanilla. Good grief.

Start by melting the stick of butter.

Add the cake mix and stir it up. It will be very thick.

Add the peanut butter - even thicker.

Add the eggs and stir it all up well. It will be almost like cookie dough.

I put a sandwich baggie over my hand and pressed the dough into the bottom of the 9x13

I just used a regular sauce pan for the sweetened condensed milk, chocolate chips, and butter.

Stand over it and stir all the time while it melts together....you don't want it to burn to the bottom of the pan! Then add the vanilla. You know. If you remember.

It will be a very thick chocolate batter - spread it over the "crust."

Went back to the baggie trick to pull out "tufts" of the crust to place around on the top.

I call it artsy. You may think it looks like a five year old baked it. Trust me. It tastes good no matter what it looks like.

When it's done baking, it will still be kind of gooey until it cools. But it really is done. Even if it doesn't look like it.

Ta daaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa

Cuteness

I have a new honorary nephew! I love it that all my friends are so wonderful to have cute babies that I can go play with and then...I go home and sleep! :)

This handsome boy, I feared, was ready to drive and I just now got there to meet him! Turns out I made it a bit before he got his license, but I couldn't believe I'd let any time at all pass before I got to meet him! I appreciated that he still fits into newborn clothes at least.

C.U.T.E. baby Amos!

One day he'll learn...baked spaghetti dinners are not meant for sleeping through. They're laden with CARBS and meant to be LOVED. But for now...he only dreams of such things...

Big brother is learning the art of GENTLY.

Big sister is learning the art of "Hey Aunt Bekah! Take another picture of me!!" (Man I love that kid. Want to know another reason why I love her? Check this out: they were streaming some music on the TV and the screen showed the album cover of the songs playing. A Vocal Band kid song came on and when she was asked to pick out her favorite GVB member, guess who she pointed to? David Phelps. And I didn't even prompt that. HONEST.)

When lacking a train track...improvise.

Had such fun hanging out with them and cuddling the cuteness that is a newborn - and playing with the cuteness that is the two that are mobile. I should have played harder. Could have counted it as a workout. :)