Many Useful but Unrelated Tidbits

I have a bunch of random things to share with you today...and if you make it to the end, there's a prize. {Well, sort of...it's a discount code...surprise!} I guess now you don't have to read the whole post.

Let's start with this picture of Maren...I have no idea what she is doing, but I included it since it's, well, random.

I love to read. My goal for 2013 is to read 33 books. I'll let you guess why 33, because a woman never tells her age.

My aunt gave me this little prayer book for Christmas several years ago, and I've just recently started using it again. There are a month's worth of simple prayers for morning and evening. My prayer life has been richly flavored by Baillie's words over the past couple of weeks.

I also just finished The Thirteenth Tale, based on a recommendation from a trusted fellow-reader-friend. {Side note...if someone who loves food is a foodie, and a picture you take of yourself is a selfie, what would you call someone who loves books? Just doesn't quite work. Also, if you live in Colorado, you are not eligible to participate in Amazon's affiliate program. Sad. Not that I was planning on getting rich from it or anything, but I love to buy books, so thought I'd give it a go. No go, Colorado address.}

I liked The Thirteenth Tale. It's dark and eerie and has a pretty great, unexpected twist at the end.

Maren learned to change diapers. Almost. It's backwards, but it worked! And...one less diaper for me. Literally, one less. This was her first and last attempt.

I've decided to do some things a little differently in my shop. I've read several books this year, and I've just been generally convicted lately about simple living. I'm pretty terrible at it, but as a family, we're working on getting better. It's so hard not to chase after the next new, better, smarter, more fun or special thing. I like to shop. I like to decorate. I like to cook. I like to read. I like clothes. I like stuff. There, I said it. But, I'm trying not to let all those things consume me or my family's resources. 

The thing is, I also LOVE to give things away. I like giving gifts to my friends and family, I like filling boxes at Christmas for children who might not have much, I like supporting various missionary friends, and I really find great joy in giving and supporting people doing special things. 

All this considered, I started praying a couple months ago about how I might use my Etsy shop to serve, love and help others. I received some great feedback and support from a couple of special friends. {Thanks Hannah and Heather! You should visit their blogs and shops...two very special ladies!} And, what I've decided is that I want to use much of my income from Oh Write to offer support to friends and family who are walking through the adoption process. My goal has never been to get rich from my Etsy shop, but I do really LOVE the idea of using it to help others! 

Effective immediately, 50% {hopefully even more...just need to see how the numbers all pan out!} of my sales will go directly towards helping families who are adopting. I have 2 special friends who will likely be my first recipients. I'm in the process of working out those details...but hopefully I'll get to share about them with you soon. I've always had a hard time promoting my shop for my own benefit, but now I'm thrilled for the opportunity to use my creativity and time to bless others...so go buy something! Ha. But, seriously, it's for a good cause. {wink}

Finally, I've come across a few great posts recently, and maybe you'll be blessed, encouraged, or informed by them, too.

Tsh reminded me to take time for Friends of All Ages. I'm constantly blessed by my friendships with older and younger ladies...how about you?

Is your family broken? Elisa shares the truth that we ALL come from broken families. Such a freeing reminder!

Do you read Edie's blog? I can hardly wait to try some of her October recipe suggestions...and please tell me that we're not the only family NOT eating like this every day?!

These Quinoa, Black Bean and Corn Tacos were delicious. Every single one of us loved them and raved about them...and they're a great meatless option, if that sort of thing matters to you!

And, that about wraps up this post.

Oh, yeah...a prize!!! Use code RANDOMLOVE for 20% at the shop.

How about you? Any random goodness in your life lately?

Thanksgiving

Ever since Brett and I got married almost 10 years ago (!) I have looked forward to hosting Thanksgiving. This was the big year! It was a LOT of work, but worth every moment. We were blessed to share our day with lots of family and friends.

Maren loved helping me in the kitchen the days before. She had the great idea to wear her goggles while we chopped onions. Smart kid. My friend, Jaime, spent Wednesday at our house helping me do most of the cooking. It was fun to share some of the work with someone I like so much. :)

We moved some furniture around to accomodate one huge long table. It worked out perfectly, and allowed us all to be in the same area.

Maren cut out and painted 24 of these corn place cards (all by herself!). I love working on things like this with her...she loves having people in our home just as much as Brett and I do, and it's fun to watch her work hard in preparation.

On Thanksgiving morning Brett rescued a couple of tiny mice from one of our window wells. Maren and Truett were very interested by their brief visit. Maren was certain they'd find their parents across the street in the horse pasture.

This turkey was delicious...I found a recipe for  Maple-Cider Brined Turkey with Bourbon-Cider Gravy. The gravy was the best I've ever had...and others said the same. Mmmmm.

Brett did the carving.

Serving the food buffet-style worked great with our big group. (And there's a peak at the finished white cabinets! We're hoping to get hardware soon, and then I'll post about the whole process!)

Pilgrim Abby, Maren and Hannah are such great friends...it was a delight to share Thanksgiving with them!

Feasting...

Truett's favorite? Mashed potatoes.

We had 2 brand new babies...my sweet nephew, Ian...

...and another sort-of nephew, Luke. Precious boys!

Me and Jaime. I love her.

Brett and me...we celebrate our 10th anniversary next month. I can't wait!

Our friends Kyle and Brooke with their daughter, Karis. Kyle and Brooke were dishwashers-extraordinaire! It was fun to have them spend the day with us...and not just because they helped in the kitchen. *wink*

Gigi brought some yummy pie...Maren chose pumpkin!

So thankful for my family. Truett had just woken up from a nap, so he's got sleepy-hair in this picture. We also found out the next day that he had an ear infection. Poor buddy. It's looking like he might be getting tubes pretty soon. Sad.

Truett loves his Papa...and he loves pie and ice-cream!

Mike and Ian.

Robin and Tiffany...we love our Colorado family!

Pastor Ben and Miss Jaime...they might as well be family.

Brett's parents introduced us to a fun new game called Mexican Train Dominoes. It was the perfect ending to a lovely day. Happy Thanksgiving!

...and now Christmas season begins! It's my favorite time of the year. Yay!

Rainbow Party Details

 Long ago Maren determined that her 4th birthday should be celebrated with a rainbow themed party. I was happy to oblige. I have found that my collection of paper lanterns is quite versatile. In this instance, the lanterns were transformed into a rainbow.

Maren helped me sort through her box of crayons so we could arrange them in rainbow fashion for the centerpieces. I rolled out ikea art paper on the table and the girls were able to color while waiting for dinner. This served to be a brilliant idea, as containing 10 hungry, excited girls could have potentially started the party off on a crazy note. Instead, they all giggled and colored away. I found the colored cups and napkins at Ikea a while ago, and knew they'd be perfect for the party.

 I sewed little circle garlands for the light and just draped them around. Love how this turned out, and I'll definitely keep the garlands for future use.

Maren and I sorted out rainbow beads so each girl would have the right amount to make bracelets.

Rainbow pudding cups...just vanilla pudding with food coloring.

Rainbow fruit skewers...

I made cupcake toppers out of toothpicks and cardstock...

Simple cupcakes with rainbow sprinkles and flags...

...and look what the inside of the cupcakes looked like! These were a huge hit for the girls.

It was fun this year to have Maren's help in planning and preparing for the party. One of the neighbor girls came over to help us make the cupcakes. Thankfully, the actual party turned out to be fabulous. I'll share those pictures tomorrow!

Here's where I found some ideas (via my Party Pinterest page):

Pudding
Cupcakes
Crayon Centerpieces

Coming back...coffee punch made me write

Well friends, it's been a long time since I've written, and wouldn't you know that coffee punch is what finally dragged me out of my non-writing slump.

Before I share the recipe with you, let me catch you up on the past couple of months in our lives. Maybe someday I'll be brave enough to actually write something meaningful about all of these things. For now, I'll share a teeny tiny glimpse into where I've been. And then I'll share a recipe that you will want to make tonight.

In May I found out I was pregnant...we were shocked, but so thrilled. At my 8 week appointment we learned that our baby no longer had a heartbeat. This was devastating. My third miscarriage. It is a terrible thing to lose a baby. A lonely, heart-wrenching, horrible loss to experience. My mom flew out to be with me during the worst of it, and I was so glad to have her here. A week later my dad came, and we enjoyed a week of touristy fun around Colorado Springs. Sometime during that week our sweet boy turned 1. I cannot believe it has been a year since Truett joined our family. And almost a year since we walked through his heart surgery. Apart from a fading scar, you'd never guess that our happy, silly, active little boy was ever sick. God is so good. We celebrated with a splash party. It was a perfect day. Last week, our beautiful Colorado mountains caught on fire. On Tuesday the fire crept down into our city, and so many families lost their homes. We've had friends evacuated and friends lose everything. We had a family staying with us for a few days. It was so hard to wait and watch as over 300 homes burned to the ground. I cannot imagine what the next days and weeks will hold for the families who've lost so much. It's been a difficult week for our little city. I am so glad to serve a God who is very much in control, even when things around us seem to be falling apart.

Which brings me to today. Strangely, on Tuesday night as so many were fleeing their homes, I was hosting a baby shower for a dear friend. If I'm honest, it seems a little trivial to share a recipe for coffee punch in light of all that's happened in our lives recently. But, this is where I'm starting. I just don't have the energy to write much more on real life stuff. I hope you understand.

I adapted a few recipes I had, and this is what I came up with. It is delicious and was a huge hit...hence the sharing. It's worth it, trust me.

Coffee Punch

4 cups of strong (cannot emphasize the 'strong' part enough!) coffee...I used my French Press and let it steep for several extra minutes
10 teaspoons of Swiss Mocha
1/2 pint of original creamer
1/2 pint of flavored creamer (I used Coffeemate Italian Sweet Creme)
1 quart of whole milk
2 teaspoons of vanilla

1. While the coffee is still hot, mix it together with the Swiss Mocha
2. Combine coffee mixture with rest of ingredients, mix well, and freeze
3. Thaw to a slush and enjoy

*If you prefer a sweeter taste, you could add 1/2 cup of sugar in with the coffee and Swiss Mocha.
**I doubled this recipe for the shower.

It's good to finally be back. Hopefully you'll hear from me again soon...happy weekend to you!

A few things...

Happy Wednesday! Did you know that November is nablopomo?

No?

Well, it is, and I'm going to do my best to post every.single.day. We'll see how that goes!

Today is a snow day. So far we've worked on letters, built a fort in the family room, played with the neighborhood kids in the snow, made chalk-art...and all before nap-time. I love cozy days at home with my kids!


This little man loves the bouncy seat. We pulled it out of the basement last week, much to his delight!



Why must children's toys be so cumbersome and crazy-looking? Seriously...it looks like Truett could orbit the moon in this contraption, doesn't it?



Yes, Maren is wearing shorts and a t-shirt today. She dressed herself this morning and I guess she's not going to let go of summer without a fight!
And yes, the pictures of Maren are blurry...she was a swiftly moving target this morning. I probably just need to learn how to use my camera a little better.

I made these for Life Group tonight...

{Source: via Pinterest}

They have chocolate chips and pretzels in them, and they are just as delicious as they look. Thank goodness, because the last time I tried a recipe from Pinterest, I was grossly disappointed!

A set of my notecards was featured in a fun hedgehog treasury. If you want to see some sweet little items, go check it out!

So, how about a little snow-day giveaway? Leave a comment with your favorite snow-day activity...and you might just win your choice of a set of notecards from my shop!*

*I'll announce the winner on Saturday morning!*

A little autumn dinner party

I love entertaining in the fall and winter months. There's something so comforting about a cool day spent in the kitchen and an evening of conversation shared with friends...old or new!

We recently had a little dinner party with our dear pastor and his family. It was so wonderful to get to know them a bit better, and to share an evening with this family who so faithfully serves our church body. I was excited to finally feel up for entertaining again...it only took 4 months after Truett was born for me to get motivated to do so!

I try to find balance between keeping things simple, and making things feel just special enough to 'spoil' our company. There are times when friends are invited over for a bowl of soup, and we eat around our kitchen table...complete with paper napkins. Other times I feel inspired to set a lovely table in the dining room. Either way, we feel it's important to welcome others into our home. Brett and I want our kids to be hospitable and generous with others and we have found dinners in our home to be an excellent way to put these values to practice.

I have a couple of tried-and-true menus I like to serve to company. I also have a nice little plan now that turns a potentially stressful day into an enjoyable day at home. I do the cleaning several days beforehand, so all we're doing the day-of is picking up toys and straightening a few things. I've given up the idea that our home must be spotless and fresh whenever we invite people in. Real people do live here, and I have learned to embrace the fact that very few people will ever notice if the piano is a little dusty.

I do as much of the food-prep as possible the evening before after the kids go to bed. Sometimes Brett cooks with me, and it's really fun to share that time with him in the kitchen. The morning of the dinner I set the table. Maren and I typically do any necessary baking together, which is always entertaining. She loves to help me in the kitchen, and she's almost to the age where she actually is helpful. *wink* In the afternoon while the kids are napping I'm able to finish up any of the cooking-prep. All that's left is to get dinner in the oven and to fill the glasses with ice and water before our friends arrive.


Our pastor and his wife have four kids. I wanted to be sure the kids felt a part of the conversation, so I put together a little box with some fun questions we could discuss during dinner. Maren was the youngest and the oldest was a seventh-grader, so I did my best to include topics that anyone could discuss. I passed the box around while we ate, and everyone received a question to answer. It was a fun way to learn more about each other, and the kids were eager to participate.
Do you enjoy hosting others for meals in your home? What are some things you do to make others feel welcome around your table?

Linking up...

pin-did week 1: a tiny bird's nest and chocolate-banana-fail

I had so much fun picking out a couple of my Pinterest projects to try this week. I had one great success and one near-fail.

I loved these sweet bird's nests from the first time I saw them...

{source: via Pinterest}

...so, one evening last week I pulled out my boxes of small treasures and set to work on making my own little nests.

The wire I had on hand wasn't quite what Sarah originally recommended, so I have one chunky nest and one very petite nest. I used wire to make loops for the chain instead of using jump rings. I love how sweet and whimsical these little nests turned out. This project went together very quickly, and I think these would make lovely gifts for friends. If I get motivated enough I might make them for our youth group girls this Christmas.

My second attempt at a Pinterest recreation was not so impressive. Doesn't this look great?

{source: via Pinterest}

The instructions were simple enough: Freeze a banana, then combine with 2 tbsp cocoa powder and blend until smooth and creamy. I did exactly as instructed, with less-than-favorable results...{sorry for the disgusting photo...just keeping it real!}
I have to admit, this did taste quite delicious. I found it to be a little too cocoa-y, so I'll probably just use 1 T. of cocoa next time. I tried to use my Magic Bullet, and things didn't blend up well at all. I might attempt this again in my real blender. The problem is, with just one banana, there really isn't much substance to blend up. My sweet {nursing} boy has an aversion to dairy, so I had high hopes of this concoction being a satisfactory substitution for ice-cream. While it was yummy, it just wasn't quite as appetizing-looking as that picture I pinned.

So, there you have it! I actually get to check off 2 things from my ever-growing lists of Pinterest projects to try.