Fifty Things About Me (1-10)

Embracing the number...

My 50th birthday is in June.  Even though she is much younger than I, Heather inspired me to "embrace the number" in THIS POST. So, I thought in the weeks leading up to my birthday, that I would share 50 random things about me --about ten at a time, because... really - that's all you'll be able to take.  This isn't anything too amazing, folks (except perhaps to my mom and dad.  And to God - who made me what I am... Perfectly ME.)

So here goes:
{Let's hope I can come up with fifty things before my birthday!  Ha!}

1. Who am I?  A daughter, a sister, a wife, a mom, a friend -- and even more important than all of that... I am a child of God.  (It's possible that I should've listed/counted all of those titles separately...)

2. I'm only "brand conscious" about a few things.  For example: I always thought I had to buy a certain brand of ketchup for my family.  One day, when pinching a penny, I bought another brand. You know what?  My family still hasn't noticed.

3. I love the strong aroma of newly opened ground coffee or peppermint tea bags, but the smell of a newly opened bag of brown sugar almost makes me sick.

4. I have been to Disney World 4 times.  It's not my favorite vacation spot.  (I'm a beach-vacation girl!)  On the other hand, I've been on a Disney Cruise only once, but didn't want to come home.

5. If I was offered (today) the job that I had when I was in college - I would take it in a minute! Unfortunately, the company went out of business.  The job?  I worked in an accounting department, but had never taken an accounting class in my life.  (You're thinking: perhaps that's why the company went out of business? LOL)

6. I collect bowls.  I love them because they are functional, but these days, there are so many beautiful ones!  How great is it when useful things can be beautiful, and vice versa?

7. I love taking pictures of flowers -- especially in the macro setting.  You don't have to trick flowers into smiling, or tell them to behave when getting their picture taken --  and you often see characteristics that you wouldn't have noticed with your eyes alone.

8. I am a SAHM, winding up our last year of homeschooling, and currently unemployed -- except for the fact that a dear friend pays me to create scrapbooks for her family.

9. I love to bake.  LOVE. TO. BAKE.  Nothing fancy or difficult -- in fact, NOT fancy or difficult.  Just down-home favorites.

10. I love spring, summer, and fall.  Winter?  Not so much.

How about you?

Have a birthday coming up?

I double-dog dare you to make a list.

Pinterest Board: Baking

I was checking out my Pinterest boards the other day... moving some things around. Sometimes when I pin something, I totally know what board I want to pin it on, and later I wonder, "What was I thinking?  It makes more sense over here!"  And I move it.  I know. I'm weird.  Who cares.  (Confession:  I love Pinterest!)

I thought maybe I'd chat about some of the boards that don't get much attention. Because... they still have some of my favorite things on them.  Today: baking.

Do you love to bake?  Oh my gosh - I do.  I find it so relaxing.  Below are a few favorite tips and products from my "baking" board on Pinterest.

Click on the photo or the "title" to go to the site.

Source: simonesmith.hubpages.com via Sally on Pinterest

10 Tips on Baking with Silicone Molds
I love these things!  We eat a lot of muffins around here.  They are an easy breakfast on the go, but I felt like I was buying the liner-things all the time!!!  Now, I bake my muffins in these silicone molds, let the muffins cool, and then "peel" the molds before bagging the muffins for the freezer.  The muffins come out like a dream.  I soak the molds in soapy water, scrub them, and let them air-dry.


How to Replace Eggs in Your Cooking
This is a site that I just used recently when I was short one egg for a recipe.  I used suggestion #6 of water, oil, and baking powder, and my banana muffins came out just fine!


Baking Ingredients and their Function
This page takes me back to my college days and a class I took called "Food for the Family."  I remember memorizing various baking ingredients and their functions.  This is a great tool -- especially in conjunction with the (above) egg replacement suggestion -- because the first step says, "Work out what you want your egg replacement to do."  As this page will tell you... eggs serve many functions.  Lots of good information here.


And last but not least...

Source: theletteredcottage.net via Sally on Pinterest

...a tutorial from the lovely Layla at The Lettered Cottage for an adorable Cupcake Stand.  Maybe it's a s-t-r-e-t-c-h to have this on my "baking" board, but I think I was afraid this one would get lost over on my "Crafty" board.  I love this.  You could deck this out in any fashion specific to your occasion.  It's a fun piece, isn't it?

See, loads of good ideas here.  And this doesn't even include baking RECIPES.  I've got other Pinterest boards for them!!!

Not on Pinterest yet?
{You'll need an invitation.}
Leave me a note in the comments
or send me an e-mail,
and I'd be glad to invite you.

Project Life Update 5.9

Life has gotten busy, and these last pages are getting finished at a much slower rate... but I'm still really excited about the final result.  It will be so much fun to remember our trip as we browse through this scrapbook!

Here are the latest pages I finished of The Magic Kingdom ~ WDW.

This is a mini lay-out that I did on the back of the park brochure (below - from last post).

It was a great spot to incorporate a vertical photo of Cinderella's Castle -- no words necessary.

Close-Up

Apparently this happens every day?  The people who have season passes probably were laughing at the newbies oohing and aahing at "Jesus Loves Me" in the sky!

Close-Up

My dad (who sings in our local Derbytown Barbershop Chorus) found a quartet singing on Main Street, and managed to get his picture taken with them.  Kinda cool.  Those barber-shoppers really stick together!

Close-Up: Beautiful reflections

Close-Up

Tomorrowland Indy Speedway.

This girl is one crazy driver!!

Stay tuned for more WDW and Epcot!

You can see all of my Project Life posts HERE.

Google+ Update (& stuff)

You might remember THIS POST and THIS POST where I talked about the end of Google Friend Connect and the beginning of Google+.

Well, let me update you on a few things around here.

1.  First of all WELCOME, Linky friends and NetworkedBlogs friends!  Glad you're here.

2.  My intention was to totally remove my Google Friend Connect box - I thought people would stop using it.  Wrong.  Blogger people are still using it.  So, I've moved it back up from the end of my blog-page to the sidebar.  WELCOME, new Google Friend Connect friends!

3.  Google+ was a bust as far as I was concerned.  At this point, it doesn't seem to be of any value to me.  I was  only using it to note new blog posts.  People don't really seem to communicate much there -- of course, the other possibility is that I don't really "get it" yet. Nevertheless, not worth my time.  I have deleted my account.  The button is gone from my sidebar.  Perhaps in the future, they will knock my socks off, and I'll try again.  For now... not so much.

But let's face it:

The only thing constant is CHANGE.

UPDATE:  Wow, here I go again.  This is so un-worthy of another post, so I thought I'd just add an update here.  I've received some comments about not being on Google+, and so... months later, I went back to check it out, signed on again, and realized that MANY more people are on it now than when I started.  So, I'm trying it again.  Truly not expecting much -- but I'm just going to hang in there this time and see what happens.  It doesn't hurt anything to HAVE an account.  So, if you're into the Google+ thing... c'mon over and join me.  New button on my sidebar.  So embarrassed.  Let's not talk about this anymore, k?  K!

A Garden Visitor

TGIF!  What a day!

This guy just needed 40-winks in the shade!

"Rest is not idleness, and to lie sometimes on the grass under trees on a summer's day, listening to the murmur of the water, or watching the clouds float across the sky, is by no means a waste of time."

-- John Lubbock

"Okay, I'm up.  I'm up!"

That was Friday.  On Saturday, he was back -- all nestled under the rose bush.  My son said the rabbit had hopped 'round in circles preparing a little spot for himself to lie down.  I commented that he picked a heck of a spot.  "Have you SEEN the thorns on that rose bush?" I said to my son.  Actually, my son reminded me that the rabbit had probably picked a very safe napping spot.  What other critter would bother the bunny knowing he had to tangle with those thorns?  As I made my way out the sliding glass door to the patio to take some pictures of flowers in the garden, the bunny hopped to attention, and looked ready to bolt.  I kept to my side of the patio, and he let me go out, take pictures in the yard, and go back in without ever leaving his spot.  It appears that the two of us will have to have an understanding this summer.

No summer job this year, buddy.

I'm here all summer.  Get used to it.