Yet Another Book

1) Paper Roses (Texas Dreams Book #1) by Amanda Cabot (here) - a sweet book about a mail-order-bride who arrives to her new home only to find out that her fiance had been killed. Love, forgiveness mixed with sneaky plots make you want to read faster :)

Easter Peeps - Not Just for Eating!

Well, I had a great time re-purposing those Easter Peeps today. I had a happy toddler who loves to paint, ton of willingness and the necessary materials, so what was going to stop me? Nothing.

The main ingredients are the following:

Also, watercolors (or whatever paints you have) and pipe cleaners. That's it!

I cut the egg cartons into single "nests" and my toddler and I painted them together. Then added the grass and Peeps and then attached the pipe cleaner (punched holes on the sides) and those tiny nests were done.

Here is the result:

Once my preschooler got home, he needed blue Peeps, so all together looked like this:

It looks festive and Easter-y and, most importantly - it was fun and kept everybody occupied :)

Easter Wreath in a Picture Frame

I got myself my very first glue gun the other day. And I'm certain that Martha Stewart is afraid of the competition now. And there is a reason to be! :). I had been wanting to get one for a while and only recently discovered how inexpensive they were. Go figure. Walking in the store with your eyes open might pay off. Well, it did. This time.

I decided to make an Easter wreath for our door.I wanted something different and knew that utilizing a picture frame was a definite requirement. I already had a picture frame that I had acquired for free, so what else was there to think about?

So, out came the craft supplies and here is the outcome of my creative juices:

In case you are interested, then here is what I used:

- scrapbook paper (I used it to cover the picture frame)
- plastic eggs (of course)
- gold thread (looked cute, but you can use anything you want)
- foam sheets
- tulip, regular flower and butterfly cookie cutters
- pencil
- scissors
- glitter
- small toy chick
- gift wrap ribbon
- willingness
- a smile

Here is how it all went down:

1) I used a bigger needle to get "un-holey" eggs "holey" so that I could hang them with the gold thread and at different heights.

2) I taped scrapbook paper on the picture frame (could have glued it but at this time I wasn't a proud owner of a glue gun yet :)

3) Then I used the cookie cutters to trace and then cut out butterfly, general flower and tulip shapes.

4) Used some green scraps for stems.

5) Cut out some extra tiny hearts (to "girl it up") and glued them on the butterflies.

6) Glued the glitter pieces where I saw fit (felt mighty powerful).

7) As a final touch, I attached a small chick on the frame (it is an Easter wreath after all).

8) Added the ribbon and the wreath was done!


Now that I look at it, perhaps I could shift the eggs around a bit but that's ok.

And as an added bonus, the day after I hung  it all on the door, we got a major snow storm with unpleasant wind and cold temperatures to top it off. My frilly and flower-y door creation looked very out of place. And cold. But... Easter is next Sunday! There isn't much time when it comes to the pre-Easter anticipation decorations. 

Snow or no snow, my wreath will stay here. There. I said it.

Worshiping Ramsey

I follow several blogs that are about frugality, coupons, saving money etc. Sounds like I'm a very responsible person doing it (well, it should). It is very noticeable how every second person who writes anything or comments sings praises to Dave Ramsey. Every second is too kind - person and a half more like it. For the love of Pete... Are they getting paid for it? If they do, I wouldn't mind plugging his name in every post I may or may not write about who knows what.

The idea is decent but it is absolutely common sense - you have five dollars, you spend five dollars. That's it. You won't go spending six because you simply don't have it to spend. Right? Well, apparently you need to have a charismatic person put it down in writing, have a publisher distribute it, make people already in debt pay high prices for the books, courses and a bucket list item cross offs, and only then people start understanding how six is a bigger number than five. Adults, you say? I bet they'd pay more for books if they had something blinking or flashing on it.

Yes, that was going too far. But I doubt anybody even reads it :). But having a flashy blog might get me more readers...

There is pretty much a niche created where people print out envelopes (not just choose one from the stack you already own) for just such occasion.  People turn Ramsey's ideas into their own, revise them and then start giving classes. For a fee. I wonder if Ramsey himself knows it? He must... maybe he collects royalties?

I'm not saying it's a bad idea to use envelopes but the amount of praise songs is getting annoying and makes me want to do the opposite. How mature is that? :) Very. 

Saving money is beautiful whether you have a blog about it or not. You have a goal, save money, get the goal and be happy. I think that's how it works. I better go and buy Ramsey's book and make sure he says it's ok.

I do have to confess that I just remembered that I do actually have his book on my Kindle - it was on a major discount and I thought hey, I'd spend this money for just one loaf of bread, so no big deal. But have been reluctant to read. Why? Because of all the pluggings! You'd think that all the praise does good and makes anybody want to go and get right on that bandwagon. Well, it doesn't :)

Another Book Finished

 I managed to finish another book:

"Christmas Roses" by Amanda Cabot (here) - absolutely loved every page of it. Sweet, kind, cute and encouraging. Really a wonderful read and it doesn't have to be a Christmas time to read it and get this cozy feeling going :)

More Books Finished

Meanwhile I've finished two more books:

1) Speechless: Finding God's Grace in My Son's Autism by Sandra Peoples (here) - an amazing book that would be an eye opener for anybody, not just parents with autistic children

 2) Secrets of the Heart by Jillian Kent (Ravensmoore Chronicles Book 1) (here) - loved it! The author knows what she is doing - fast paced, interesting, a total page turner.

Books I've Read This Year

So, I thought I'd list all the books I've read so far. The list is not extensive therefore not very impressive but I'm fairly satisfied that I've managed to keep up with my goal. I am in the middle of about 7 books right now and they are all interesting :)


Here is the list of the books that I've finished so far:

1) "Still Life in Shadows" by Alice J. Wisler (here) - enjoyed it. Compared to those Amish books I've read before, this was a bit different and yes, darker, but it was still interesting to read from the other side. Most the Amish books I've read paint a beautiful picture of an ideal world with its understandable shortcomings. This book doesn't do that.

 2) "Honor Redeemed" by Loree Lough (here) - well written until the end. Disappointing and I felt like I had wasted a lot of time reading this since it didn't feel like it ended. Nothing was "redeemed", so many questions were left hanging. I don't know if there is a sequel but it doesn't matter. A book should be able to stand on its own even if you don't read the rest of the books in the same series (if there are any).

3) " Oath of the Office" by Michael Palmer (here) - loved it! It is very difficult to write concisely what I liked. I read some other reviews and a lot of things that I enjoyed were stumbling blocks for others. But it doesn't matter. This author is great - he gets you hooked and then won't let go. Crazy scenarios that may or may not happen in our current crazy world make you want to read faster to just see what happens next!

4) "Political Suicide" by Michael Palmer (here)- loved it! Again, Michael Palmer knows exactly how to get his readers hooked with a plot that could be real and yet sounds a bit crazy :). But what if something like is already happening somewhere? It is possible, I'm sure. But I hope it isn't.

5) "Touch & Go" by Lisa Gardner (here)- oh my... absolutely loved it! Family vanishes, strange clues are left behind, what exactly happened is anybody's guess. Meanwhile family who has been kidnapped skillfully by someone or someones who knew exactly what they were doing. All the secrets that surface shock every family member in the middle of being held somewhere as a prisoner... Psychological thriller will not leave you disappointed.

6) "Medical Error" by Richard L. Mabry, M.D.(here) - By now I've read all three books in this series and this one was quite disappointing. The idea was good but the content was weak - perhaps the author had spent all his energy on the other books, so he ran out of steam? I found it difficult to finish since it didn't have as much of the needed depth. It felt like everything was all over the place. But, like I said, the idea was good.

Spring Month... or Is It?

Living where I do, March does not mean blooming flowers, singing birds and warmth. It just means that another month of winter has arrived and tells you to deal with it. 

Currently we have below freezing temperatures that are in 20s and even teens. In March. Then they promise snow - about 6 more inches. However good it may be for the ground water and wells, but as a human being, shivering and being cold all the time is getting old. When the icicles are deceptively dripping it does not mean that it's warmer outside. It just means that the sun is shining and even the icicles have given up...

Sounds awfully pessimistic.

Today I read on Mike Huckabee's FB page that there is (and now I'm copy-pasting from https://www.facebook.com/mikehuckabee?ref=ts&fref=ts) "a new study from Germany that discovered pessimists live longer. The 10-year study of 40,000 adults found that those who were overly optimistic about the future were about 10 percent more likely to suffer disability or death within 10 years. Those who had low expectations for a satisfying future were actually healthier and lived longer. It could be that since pessimists expect the worst, they’re more cautious about their health and safety. I don’t know how it will affect the results if this news makes pessimists optimistic and optimists pessimistic. But as an optimist, all I can say is that if I die first, at least I won’t have to live with all those old pessimists"

Pessimistic attitude can save lives! :)