Can Cardboard and Sharpie......................

................really say all that?

If you follow Kelly's Korner then you've probably already seen this.  But that's OK.  I wanted to share it again as a testament to God's healing, power, forgiveness, rememption, mercy, grace, peace, and love.

Otis Wishes He Made These........

Otis as in Spunkmeyer.  Nevermind..........joke fail.

My SIL Amy's, mother makes the hands down best Chocolate Chip Cookies in the world.  The best ever made.  They could win on Iron Chef America.  Yesterday was my day to take snacks to our youth group meeting.  I sent Ames a text and asked her to ask her mom how to make these fantastic cookies.  It's so easy a child could do it.  And if mine had been feeling a little better he would have stirred for me.

Without further adieu.......................

Ms. Sheryl's Cookies

or

The World's Best/Most Awesome/Fantastic/Super Fly/Go buy another gallon of milk because you're gonna need it when these come out of the oven.........Cookies

(Complete with pictorial instructions)

1 Yellow/White Cake Mix

1/3 cup of oil

2 eggs

And about half a bag of chocolate/butterscotch/peanut butter/peppermint/whatever kind you want chips

Mix all this together and you get.......

 

It's thick.  Don't be tempted to add more oil/water.  Just don't do it.

  

I don't know if you're supposed to o this or not but I did.  My rational was that when making a cake you have to spray/flour the pan.  So I did.  I don't know if it helped, but it didn't hurt.

Halfway done.........

Success!

I prefer cookies soft.  They need to be brown on the bottom with just a tough of light light light golden brown on the top.

I got 48 cookies out of 1 box of cake mix.  I don't really care for the "Tollhouse" method.  The cookies just aren't right.  These are way better and less expensive to make.  I think I have $3 in 48 cookies.  And yes, the Route 44 Diet Coke from Sonic most definitely helps the cookies to bake up better.


OOPS I forgot...................
I cooked on 350 for 11-13 minutes.  I thought 11-12 minutes yielded the softest cookies, but if you like the crunchy kind(Chad does) then cook for 13 minutes.

Bob, Larry, and Audrey

Today was a very special day for our family.  We saw some of the Veggie Tales live and in person or vegetable whatever.  Before Christmas I found the VT "The Star of Christmas" in the $5 bin at Walmart.  I bought it for Clayton to watch in what's becoming our Friday night Family Movie night.  After "The Star of Christmas" we were all immediatley hooked.  Clayton also received more VT DVD's for Christmas.  The "Heroes of the Bible" series is a fantastic and fun way to tell some of the more recognized Bible story.  The others "God Made you Special" and "The Good, The Bad, and The Eggly" are just plain funny.  And they do have a great theme of how special and loved each person is to God.

Anyway, we have a major addict on our hands.  Clayton would watch the VT all day long if we would let him.  We have rationed him to 1 viewing per day.  And it's normally in the morning right after breakfast.  I need my coffee with Skinny Caramel Macchiato Creamer and Clayton needs Bob and Larry.

One of our church members called Chad on Thursday and told him that Bob and Larry were going to be at a Lifeway Store in the next town(Thanks, Sonny).  Chad and I decided that if there was any way possible to get their we were going to see Bob and Larry today.  Thankfully the weather cleared up this morning and we were able to meet Clayton's heroes of the moment.  And we also used a gift certificate for lunch at Cracker Barrell(thanks Youth Group, ya'll are the best).  It was a great family day.  And frugal too(well sorta but more on that in a few).

Red has been a little under the weather lately.  He just couldn't make it.

But when he saw these guys he was WIDE AWAKE!

Introduce slowly.  I think a life sized tomato and cucumber would be frightening.  Not for Clayton.

Clayton would look everywhere but at the camera.

He really did enjoy himself.  After lunch, Chad had to make a hospital visit so Clayton and I headed to the nearest Goodwill.  Score!!  When we were in the checkout line an elderly lady asked him what his name was and he responded "Bob".  Maybe we need to change that ration to once a week.

Our Lifeway was having a pretty decent sale today.  Chad and I picked up a few things for ourselves in addition to the VT DVD that was on sale(and they gave us a VT Umbrella and Cookie Cutter.....Double Score!!).  One of the things I grabbed was the new "Selah" CD, "You Deliver Me"(maybe it wasn't such a frugal family date after all).  I am so hooked on this band.  Their music is phenomenal.  This bonus track on the CD is "I Will Carry You".  If you don't know the story of Todd, and Angie Smith (Todd's the male voice behind Selah) you should definitely check out Angie's blog.  Their 4th daughter died 2 hours after her birth.  Like us they knew ahead of time that their daughter was "incompatible with life" and chose to respect her life.  I'm rambling.  The song is fantastic.  I cried and then I laughed in the clergy parking at Frye Hospital.  The passers by probably thought I was insane but that's OK because I am a slightly off kilter.  Please listen to this song.  I realize you're busy and have better things to do.  But if you have the time please listen.  It's a fantastic remberance and reminder of the roller coaster of our new life.

Shopping Your House

(and that really means just moving stuff around and having my wonderful fantastic handsome talented husband do all the really hard work for me.  Thanks sweets!)

On June 1st we will be in our house for 3 years.  In that 3 years I have been pregnant twice, had an infant and now a toddler, buried a daughter, and helped nurse a Type 1 diabetic/husband back to good health.  It's been a very busy 3 years.  That busyness is my excuse for not doing much decorating around my house.  Time is not an excuse I have any more.  My excuse now is money.  Lest you forget, I am unemployed(and actually quite content if I do say so myself).  So I have the desire to change a few things and am learning to do so on a much tighter budget.

I have wanted a mirror over the fireplace for a very long time.  But I wasn't about to drop $100 and up on a mirror.  I wouldn't do that if I were still employed.  Personally, for me anyway, that's just crazy.  I could get like two 1 hour massages in our area for that.  I paid $20 instead.  It's not the best quality.  But from where it hangs you would never know that.  And it serves its purpose quite nicely.

JoJo on the left and Clayton on the right.  These used to hang where the mirror is now.  I like the look of the black and white.  I feel kinda bad for Clayton that his picture is smaller that Johanna's.  But then I probably have 30 pictures of Clayton hanging in different places.  And that's not an exaggeration.

I got these frames at the same discount department store as the mirror.  They were $5 for the smaller ones and the larger one was $10.  I have $20 in this wall and I love it.  I was needing something for this wall in our dining room and I wanted to put up more of Johanna's pictures.  This served both purposes(I do see that the frames need to be straightened).

More walls in our dining room.  I told you that I had a lot of pictures of Clayton. All of these pictures were about the mantle where the gigantic mirror now lives.  I like the crazy hanging look.  I just need more pics to fill up the walls.  And I will fill up those walls.  Oh yes.

Baseball.  All baseball.  Chad is a New York Yankees fan.  And he really likes the Yankees teams from the 50's and 60's.  There's just something iconic about that era. This wall is in our kitchen.  And yes our kitchen is Yankee blue.  The kitchen is huge(but laid out really strange) so a dark color is very nice in here.  And the two smallest pictures on the top and bottom are from Chad's baseball career(elementary but whatever).  They are adorable and fit nicely on the wall.

Goodwill $9.50  It's OK to be jealous.  I love this chandelier.  I love it.  And I do believe love is an appropriate emotion for this particular chandelier.  It's amazing.  I almost passed it because it had these really ugly canvas shades over the lights.  Once I got it home and Chad took off the shades(or broke them) I was hooked.  And it's really bright.  We can now see my horrible cooking.

And a new light in the kitchen.  And it came from the Habitat Restore.  It was a hanging light until Chad removed that hanging parts and made it a flush mount.  It looks much better this way.  That's the rest of my oddly formed kitchen behind you.  Those cabinets are useless.  They are so tall and I'm so not tall.  Most of them are empty and I have a storage shelf in the laundry room(which I will never show you because my laundry room/office/storage/bookshelf/coupon center is hideously cluttered).  I can not keep that room clean.

That's all of my recent bargain shopping.  I got new lights, picture frames, and a mirror for $75.  I have been collecting these things over a few weeks.  I'm officially hooked on Goodwill.  I shall never pay full retail again(if I can help it and as long as The Children's Place isn't having a $3 sale).

AAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHH...........

Sorry to have been absent for the better part of the past 2 weeks.

We've had some things done to the house.  And well that has just about done me in.  Well that was probably an exxageration.

Starting last Tuesday and lasting until yesterday(there was a delay due to snow and a sick husband) we had our house completely rewired.  Completely.  Every receptacle and light is new. Unbeknowest to us our house had been wired with EXTENSION CORDS.  Yeah, you read that correctly.  That of course had to go.  Now we are back up to code.  And even better we can run the microwave, coffee pot, washing machine, and my hair dryer at the same time.  We couldn't do that before because our house has some crazy wiring and that would cause the breakers to flip.

And today, our house is being insulated.  Our house is 70 years old and besides the things we've done to it in the last 3 years it has had very very few upgrades.  The time has come for insulation.  It was kinda drafty but not anymore.  And if you've never seen a standing house insulated, well then, you have missed a treat.  They don't roll out the insulation.  Oh no.  It is sprayed in with this super long tube thing that kinda looks like a dryer vent.  It's a pretty cool process. Clayton has loved watching men go in and out of the attic.  And they have a "big truck" so he's impressed by that.

That's been our life for the past 2 weeks. It's almost over now and I have a solemn vow from my husband that this is the last improvement/upgrade for a long time.  I certainly hope so.  We have to clean up and then I have to head out to the grocery store before the impending doom(snow, ice, sleet, or whatever we're getting) gets here.

Toodles................

Johanna,


You would have been 3 months old by now.  How has that much time passed already?  I imagine that you would be smiling at Daddy, Clayton, and me.  And possibly Tram and Bobba(Gram and Poppa for all of ya'll that don't speak Clayton), Mawmaw and Pawpaw, and all your silly aunts and uncles.  I would guess that you would have started reaching for things and sleeping through the night.  It seems like we've missed a lifetime of things with you already.


Your ears would have been pierced with tiny little diamonds.  You would constantly have a bow in your hair.  And that hair I imagine it would be very light by now.  We were all amazed at how dark your hair was on your birthday.  Dresses and really cool shoes too.  I can't walk through the baby department(and I'm there a lot since Clayton is still has some baby needs), see the dresses and imagine how they would have looked on your little body.  Clayton was always a slim baby and imagine that you would have been too.  Both of you seemed to be made just like your daddy.  Tall and slim(unlike your mother who is neither tall nor slim).


I miss you more today than I did the day you were born.  How is that possible?  I don't know how all of these things work but I know my heart hurts more now for you.  I know what you're doing and I wouldn't bring you back to me for a king's ransom.  But the Johanna side of my heart is broken from missing you.


Enjoy your eternal day with the Lord.  I don't know if you have realization of our world or not.  If you do please know that your Mommy and Daddy(and a whole list of other people) love you very much.  We are fortunate to have you be our daughter.  We're proud of you.


Love always,
Mommy

My Big Plan

Monday of last week I told ya'll that I had been laid(?layed) off.  It was a shock and a surprise.  But I can see God doing something marvellous.  I've been dreaming of something for a while.  And now I have the opportunity to reach out and touch that dream.  I was actually going to begin taking the baby steps last summer.  But then we found out that Johanna had Trisomy 18.  God changed our/my plans and His timing really is the best.  So now instead of taking the baby steps, I get to take the big leap all at one time.  I'm afraid to go do it and I'm afraid not to do it.  I feel like I am Charlie and Willy Wonka has given me the golden ticket.  All I have to do is take it to the chocolate factory, and ride the magic glass elevator.  Well maybe that was over the top.  But I do love Willy Wonka.

I digress.  And I'm rambling(because I'm scared).

I have worked in medicine in one form or another since I was in high school.  And I love it.  I'm made for it.  With God's direction and His unexplainable timing, I have decided to begin the journey of Emergency Medical Services.  If all goes as planned(but what does) and as the advisors have assured me, I will begin the Paramedic program in August.  I can't begin to describe how excited I am.  There are so many advantages and very few disadvantages.  The program is a 2 year program and I should finish May 2012 with an AAS in Emergency Medical Services.  Once I'm finished I want to work.  I love working.  And I hope to be in a position to actually help someone.  To save lives and to show others how much God loves them.  My ultimate fantasy goal would be that of Flight Paramedic.  But that has to wait.  We'll see what God has in store for me.

He works all things for my good(paraphrased from Romans 8:28).  Even unemployment.  He knows the desires of my heart and is giving them to me in the most unexpected way.