Trixie's Travels...

Where in the world does this come from?

Each week Sis & Pook have a geography class with a couple of girls down the street.  They learn a lot and forget a lot too! That is a complete side note though. 

This week they did geography with a twist.  Mrs. L. thought of a great way to bring things from around the world to a different light.  We met up at a "world" market and Mrs. L broke them up into 2 teams.  Each team was given a list of countries and they needed to figure out and write down an item that came from the different countries. 

The person who wrote down the items could NOT pick up things to see where they came from. 

The first round was where different products came from such as, glasses, bedding, toiletries etc.

The next round was the food and drink round.  They needed to identify foods/drinks from a different list of countries. 

The store employees were so gracious for letting us go around and the kids really were on their best behavior....maybe with the exception of one - look at what she is doing to the sign!  What is that?!?!?!?!
The things you find in a picture!

These are the types of things I love about homeschooling!

Side note:  If you would like to do something like this - I recommend that you maintain a small group of children and an adult is with each group/team at all times. It is also a good idea to pre-arrange with the store to make sure there is a time that works for them.  Taking pictures in the store can be a "no-no", so make sure they don't mind or what is appropriate. (I found this out on previous excursions)

I'm so glad you called...

and told Pook to tell me to get up off my butt and go outside with my camera. 

I saw this

and I smiled.

It made me remember

God's promise (Genesis 9:12-17).

It made me think of

how faithful God is to keeping His promises.

It reminded me

of how faithful He is to me and those around me.

He reminded me today that He is my strength and He is faithful and all I needed to do was listen and look.  I'm so glad you reminded me to look!

Yippee!

1,000 Words

A thousand words of encouragement can be destroyed with one word of discouragement.

Where do you lie with that?  Me - ohh...ouch, zinger, little to close for comfort...

With that, words of encouragement that I received this morning -

"I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me." Phil 4:13

Don't look at what you can't do or don't have the strength to do - look at what He can do and take it one step at a time with HIM.

A Favorite Kind of Day

A couple of weeks ago, a few homeschool Moms and I decided to have a casserole/soup exchange.  Each of us would make 5 entrees and swap at a designated spot on a designated day.  The day will arrive tomorrow so that meant I needed to get cookin' today.

I actually couldn't wait.  I love to cook for other people.  As usual, I picked a recipe that I hadn't made before... but one I had been eyeing for quite some time. 

The recipe was from "From Our House to Yours" Comfort Food to Give and Share.  The cookbook was created to benefit Meals on Wheels in San Francisco.  I have found some delicious recipes in it and I believe that this one is just as tasty as the others. 

I needed to adapt the recipe to ingredients that I could easily find in this area - all but one was found so that one was left out. 

There isn't anything like making sauce from scratch...it is one of my all time joys in cooking. 

The smell filled the house.  This one contained red wine in it and it would "intoxicate" your senses as you walked through the kitchen.  I ended up making 3 pots of sauce.  It had pork sausage and lean hamburger in it along with various veggies and herbs. 

I didn't realize how much it made.....

nor how big the lasagna would be by the time I had finished BUILDING it. 

I grated 6 1/2 pounds of mozzarella cheese

and by the time I was done....

I had 32 pounds of lasagna casserole on my hands.  That was just between 4 of them!  That wasn't including the one I got to keep (and ate for dinner tonight).

It was a wonderful day filled with anticipation of sharing a little bit of what I love to do with others. 

Yeehaw! to sharing with others!

An Old Poem

Love

Love is often talked about
And often is defined
But clarity of meaning
Is sometimes hard to find

Some say it is a feeling
With a warm and friendly glow
But feelings are changeable
They come and then they go

But the highest form of love
The kind that God does share
Is a love that knows no limit
And the kind that's full of care

It's not a means to selfish end
It's given because there is a need
For better and for worse
It's a kindly and caring deed

It's shown by reaching out
With understanding for another
It's overlooking faults
Of a sister or a brother

It does not stop to measure
Just who is the most deserving
Its concern is not for power
But instead for kindly serving

It does not seek to dominate
And cause one endless strife
It does not say "I want my way"
Overwhelming someone's life

Godly love is a treasure
And sharing is the key
God shared such love in Christ,
His Son
And through Him we are truly free.

By Pastor Herb Knutson of Bethany Lutheran Church
printed in the Bigfork Eagle April 26, 1989

Funny the things I have saved for over 20 years.

Just hangin' out with my sis...

We hung up the phone last night with "See ya tomorrow!" and giggles just echoing over the phone.  We sounded like we were teenagers again and it was pretty funny.  The whole family was waiting for this moment,  when Trixie and the Sassy Stamper would be together for a little "stamp-fest".

You see, a couple of months ago, my sister came up with the brilliant idea of "virtual stamping".  This came up after her and the kids were messing around with her Mac camera at Thanksgiving.  It was going to take me a wee bit more time to get my act together up here, as I don't have the "Mac-daddy" of computers as she does - pun intended.....

We had worked the last couple of evenings trying to get the camera running on my computer.  I actually needed to walk away from her for a little bit because she couldn't do the over the phone support desk help thing effectively enough and Hot Rocks had never installed a camera before on the computer, so this was new to him too.  I needed to work with it alone, in the quietness of my home. HA!

I followed what FEW and I mean FEW instructions were given on the package and in the instruction pamphlet. 

So tonight was the BIG night, the Red Carpet Stamp Event, if you might say.  Yes, it was going to be a night of complete stampin' MOJO madness....

That was until we couldn't get the computers to let us talk to each other without our ears to the phone or on (in?) a headset. 

Have no fear, Hot Rocks is near!  He jumps in the chair and takes over.  All the kids are waving to Auntie - she is there - she is really there - and they are giggling as much as we did the night before.

20 minutes later, we are up and running - voices being heard loud and clear over the computer and sisters grinning and giggling like little kids because Karrie's idea really worked and we'll never be the same again!

I would love to report that our stamping MOJO was unbelievable.  That we were showing each other one great creative card after another but after the immediate technical/audio difficulties, we had pretty much lost our stamping creativeness.

That was just fine though, as we had watched our favorite movie together....The Fellowship of the Rings.  We had just sat there with each other for over 3 hours ... just chatting like we were in each other's homes and knew that we would have many more days of stamping fun to come!

Virtual Stamping - the next best thing to the REAL thing!

When I got home....

with all of my birthday "treats".  We set up what we knew would be the biggest surprise of them all in Pookie's room.  (Yes, we shopped for our kids - what else do you do when they aren't with you?)

At my favorite store, soon to be the only store that I EVER shop at; of course, when things are on sale and I have an entire day to do nothing but shop - we found this guy waiting to find a new home.

Now mind you, we are not a Santa Claus family.  We aren't at all.  We never bought Santa Claus things, we celebrate Christmas for the simple reason of Jesus being born to redeem us.  Plain and simple - no bones about it. 

Over the last couple of years, yard decorations have become an item for Pook.  He would have a whole yard of them, if we could afford such things.  He is pretty specific too - he likes the "vintage" type.  Such as the one shown above.

Check out his reaction though as he walked into his room to find these little gems:

 

I was standing in the dark, in a corner, waiting for him to "find" these things. 

So here Santa will remain until next year - just hanging out with the Pookster in his room, listening to the tunes on his iTouch.

What do your kids make for breakfast?

I feel sorry for their future spouses...they will have high culinary standards that they will need to meet.

His poor wife - he already scours the frig for new things to try in his omelets.

It just can't be yogurt for her.  It needs to be a yogurt parfait. 

What have we done to these poor kids?

So what does a simple girl do for her birthday?

I didn't have any plans other than the normal weekly routine that happens on that particular day - which happens to be Community Bible Study.  I figured that I would go to a quick dinner with my husband that evening and call it good.  Hot Rocks had a different plan - it was to steal me away and let me enjoy some simple pleasures that just don't happen very often.

I did go to study that day, but didn't stay as long as normal.  When I got home, we jumped in the truck and headed off to Marin County without the children!  Now, I haven't spent a lot of time over there - once or twice, I have driven through, but that is the extent of my visiting. 

We went over the Marin Bridge....

and as we ended our ride on the bridge, over on the left was a place that California is well-known, for but rarely noted as one of the top places to stop and visit...

San Quentin.  I think the little town that is right above it, was San Quentin Village.  It had the most adorable houses there.  There was this all brick 2-story home that I was in awe over.  Unusual I know - but like I said, I don't get out that often.

As we ended our short tour of the town, we headed to Corte Madera where Hot Rocks found one of my favorite catalog's in a "store version".  Yes, this little gem was there in good ole' Corte Madera....

I don't know why I latched on to this venue as being one of my favorite/dreamy...eye-catching places to shop.  I am a sale shopper.  I admit it - there is no way that I can afford things regular price - so I have learned to wait or due without on some things. 

I was in hog heaven because they had a HUGE selection of sale things and the customer service was to die for!!!! I am telling you, it tells you something about the area you live in...... when a person being nice to you, wanting to talk to you, not finding it a great burden to help you....brings your shopping expierence to this - "I only want to shop over here forever!"

I also liked the landscaping.

I told you, I am really easy to please - I could of taken pictures of the plants at this shopping village place and would have been just as happy!

I got to shop or window-shop at a number of my favorite shops...Anthropologie, Banana Republic, Gap, Williams-Sonoma, Smith & Hawken.  The only one missing was Sur La Table. 

Amazing enough, we ate at The Cheesecake Factory for lunch and I did NOT have dessert - believe it or not..... but I did have.....

yep, can't miss a day without it.  Sorry Karrie, it was my birthday - I got to splurge :)

We drove up Mt. Tamapalais and we climbed up a little hill and just took in the view.  Wow - just plain pretty and I thanked God that I lived in such a unique "land" area as the Bay Area.  You can go from one environment to another in less than an hour. 

I love watching sunsets - the colors that permeate the sky are just breath-taking.

Dinner wasn't long after the sunset.  I had the most delicious baby back ribs from this place...

They also had an artichoke appetizer that could have been my dinner from the get-go and I would have been completely content!

We ended our evening down towards a bay that looks straight across to S.F.  It was completely dark when I took these pictures...

 

that one was a little squirrelly....

I was messing with the settings on the camera and I don't know how long it took for the lens to actually close on these but Hot Rocks and I stood on this little bridge, watched raccoons scurry in the water and shared a kiss under the beautiful night sky. 

Yepper, that was a pretty fun day.  You'll have to see tomorrow what happened with the kids!

A Simple Girl - Give-Away Winners!

What a fun time that was!  Thanks to everyone that stopped by the ole' blog and left comments.  It really made the last few days pretty exciting - the kids and I were having fun reading all the comments from everyone.

So the winner of A Simple Girl - Day 3 Give Away is........

(drum roll, please)

Random Integer Generator

Here are your random numbers:

9

Timestamp: 2009-01-16 00:40:52 UTC

So who is #9 of yesterday's comments?  None other than.....

Happy Birthday!!!!My favorite birthday gift was a birthstone ring when I turned 16 from my parents!

Posted by: Kathy Hering | January 14, 2009 at 07:43 PM

Congrats Kathy!  Just e-mail me your address to:  katcookman@yahoo.com and I'll get that sent off to ya!

I am also waiting to hear from my Day 1 & Day 2 winners..they are:
Day 2 winner is:

My paper crafting area's grown by leaps and bounds over the last few years so I guess I could note the paper, stamps and card stock on hand ... but besides that is needlework! I laughingly tell friends that I collect unfinished needlework projects!

Thanx for the grins!

Posted by: Sue B | January 13, 2009 at 12:30 PM

Day 1 winner is:

I'm a homebody and really enjoy peace and quiet. Anytime I'm sitting quietly with my loved ones or quietly crafting and have a nice, cold soda in-hand... I'm happy as a clam.

Happy Birthday and thank you so much for the chance to win! :)

Posted by: Kim Ross | January 12, 2009 at 08:55 AM

Thanks to everyone who stopped by to help me celebrate my birthday these past few days.  I hope you have a lovely evening and I'll see ya back here at the ole' blog.