Overloaded

Does anyone else feel this way? I just can't seem to get a handle on prioritizing what needs to be done. It is driving me mad.

I am sure you have noticed how behind I am on my MITM (Monkey In The Middle) projects. ARGH!!!! I have had some orders come in which are GREATLY appreciated & welcomed but I feel like I am falling farther behind than what I want to be. LOL So with that, I want to apologize to you all for my tardiness in most of the things I have intended to do. I am hoping to have all my orders finished by tomorrow & mailed out. WOO HOO

As for my little contest that I want to run, I am hoping to have that prize finished for your viewing pleasure by Thursday. I will get all the details for that ready to post. I am super excited about the prize. It makes me smile *Ü*. So please check back this week for this upcoming event.

My Amish Friendship Bread is coming along nicely. Thank goodness I haven't managed to mess that up yet. Hahaha I am on day 5 today so I added my 1 cuppa of everything to the mix & smush, smush, smush. LOL How are all of yours doing? Carm did you get yours baked yesterday?

Easter went off without a hitch. Kind of a lazy day for us. We went to church & came home & had an indoor egg hunt for Travis. The snow we got a few days ago made it impossible to hide eggs outside. They are calling for more snow this week. So much for spring around here. LOL I added some pictures to my flickr if you want to take a peek. Jim worked all weekend so it was kind of quiet. Just me & the kids hanging at home. I hope all your Easter festivities were grand. A few of you shared what you had planned & it was fun hearing how everyone was spending their holiday. So I guess it is time to start planning Mother's Day right? ;)

I am so excited...I have to share. I am a confessed Blog junkie. I know I will be in a step program before long. Hahaha There are quite a few that I adore & visit often. While visiting Honey Girl Studio for my paper bag album fix, as well as altered art, I saw this ATC (Artist Trading Card) Happy Easter George & fell in love with it. It is so cute & whimsical. Well Tootie sent me an email saying I won the card. YIPPEE...I love this boys face. I am so excited to get it. Thank you Tootie! Go check out her work. It is so much fun! :)

Well I am going to get busy with that prize & get everything buttoned up here. Will be back soon to share & get this party started.

Have a wonderful day friends.

Toodles ♥

Our little outdoorsman

Today was the day for Travis my 10 year old to do his shoot for his Hunters Safety class. We have been attending classes every monday for the last eight weeks. Although mom found it quite boring Travis was ecstatic about it. He has been wanting to go hunting with the big boys for a couple of years now. Needless to say, he has been chomping at the bit to reach the golden age of 10 so he could attend class. :) So we trudged on every monday hating every minute of it.....it is so boring! Anyways, he finished the class & passed the test with a 95. We were quite proud of him. If you know Travis, this alone was such a huge accomplishment. He was born mildly autistic & has had learning disabilities throughout school. So like I said we were thrilled for him. He was so excited about today because they got to shoot "real" guns. Hahaha He did great & it was a lot of fun seeing his excitement & getting to snap pictures throughout the process. Isn't that hat too funny? It is so big but I know there is no chance of getting him out of it. So we now have a future hunter among us......watch out world!

The boys have gone to the movies to see Horton. Once they get back we will dye eggs & get ready for tomorrow.

I think we are going to have a lazy day tomorrow & nothing to fancy. We will go to church in the morning & come home & have our indoor egg hunt. LOL Gotta love the snow! I asked Jim what he would like for dinner....now the options were wide open. I said I would cook anything he would like. So after all that & hoping it would be something rather nice, considering it's a holiday, he decides he wants philly cheesesteaks. LOL He loves my phillys. So I actually am getting off rather light in the cooking department tomorrow. ;) I hope you all have a wonderful, peaceful & safe Easter. Enjoy your families & friends. Take lots of pictures. Until tomorrow......

Toodles *Ü*

Isn't It Supposed To Be Spring Argh!!!

Well I thought it was supposed to be spring. I got up this morning to find it snowing like mad....like mad I tell ya. :) I went and snapped a couple of pics to show you. Nope I dont see any signs of spring at all.

Looks like we will be having an indoor egg hunt for my youngest. We are going to dye our eggs tonight. I am excited about deviled eggs & egg salad sandwhiches...YUM!

How are you planning on celebrating Easter? Are you fixing a fancy meal or just relaxing & have sandwhiches? I haven't decided what I am going to make yet. Jim is working patrol all weekend (including Sunday :( ) so haven't quite decided whats on the menu. I may just cook something nice since he will be off at a decent hour that night. Any suggestions?

I am excited I finally got my Amish Friendship Bread starter started...lol Here is a picture of it ready to go for day 1. Are any of you going to give it a whirl? Carmen is almost done with hers. I think she said she is baking hers on Monday. Cant wait to hear how it is. Baked goods are my weakness. It is bad, bad, bad! hahaha I would take a baked good over a meal anytime. See I told you it was bad. Something I really need to work on. Well if anybody decides to join in on our Amish bake off ....let me know. Would love to see what you do with it.

I am thinking it is time to have some fun. I am going to get something fun together & post it on Monday. We will have a little contest. So stay tuned for an announcement on Monday. :)

Well back to work for me. Have an incredible day!

Toodles

Yummy Goodness

Ok so it has been years & years since I have done this. Over at Carm's blog she had the recipe for the Amish Friendship starter. I saw it & it gave me fond memories of when my older two were little ones. I had those starters sitting all over my counter. It really made me smile to think about those days so I decided to start a starter batch LOL. I thought maybe you might like to do the same & bring some sunshine to your friends, family or neighbors. :) Here is the recipe & the daily to do's involved. Super simple really! Come on spread some Spring sunshine! Thank you Carm for letting me share.

Amish Friendship Bread Starter
In a non metal bowl mix 1 cup sugar 1 cup milk and 1 cup flour, mix with a non metal spoon to get the lumps out. Pour mixture into a gallon size ziplock bag that is your day oneday 1. you just made your starter do nothingday 2. Mush your bag3. Mush bag4. Mush bag5. in a non metal bowl mix 1 cup sugar 1 cup milk and 1 cup of flour mix it well to get out lumps with a non metal spoon or whisk and then pour into your main bag this is called feeding your starter.Day 6. mush bagday 7. mush bagday 8. mush bagday 9.. yup you guessed it mush bag lolday 10. Pour the entire contents of the bag into a non metal bowl. Add 1 C sugar, 1 C milk and 1 C flour.Measure out 4 separate batters of 1 Cup each and place into 4 one gallon size ziplock bags. Keep one of the bags for yourself to keep yours going and with what is left in the bowl you can make a batch of amish cinnamon bread. Give the other 3 bags away to friends . Make sure to print out instructions for them. If its been a couple days make sure to let them know which day the bag is on so they can continue. here is a great site for some Amish recipes and what to do with your starter in the bowl http://www.amishrecipes.net/recipes.php/19/Amish-Friendship-Starter/Bread/

Go look at the finished product at Carm's. All I can say is YUMMO!

Well I need to get back to work on my projects. Hope your day is productive & fun!
*Well I was rather boring today wasn't I* LOL

Toodles!

So Excited....

My first blog award! YIPPEE :)

Carm over at Shweet Potato added me to her list of recipients. Thank you so much Carm *Ü*

You made my day brighter. So I will now pass this on too.

Now the rules for the “You Make My Day” award are to re-present it to those whose blogs bring you happiness and inspiration and make you feel happy about blog land. Let them know through email or by posting a comment on their blog so they can pass it on. Beware you may get the award several times, and if you do, consider yourself really, really loved.I award the "You Make My Day" award to:

Carm of course for making my day bright & tempting me with those delicious baked goods she has on her blog. YUM She also has adorable creations & awesome banners & avatars.

Donna for inspiring me & making me laugh. This girl has such a great personality. She always makes me smile when I visit her blog & website.

Steph for inspiring me with her creativity. Love her work! She has the bestest patterns & designs on her site.

Marissa my good friend who is such a sweetheart & talented beyond belief. From dollies to soaps & that girlie stuff in between. She is on a new adventure....knitting. Check in with her to see what she is offering.

Nicole whose blog really inspired me to blog. I always enjoyed reading what she was creating & what new adventure she was on. Lets not forget all her beautiful dollies that I adore.

Well girls, enjoy your awards & keep doing what you're doing. *Smiles*

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Last night we went to our son's Spring Recital at school. It was so cute to watch all the kids sing their hearts out. I just love watching the kindergarteners. They are so animated. Well, on top of all the fun of watching them perform they had a raffle for some themed baskets. They had four different themes to pick from. I decided right off the bat that I was putting my tickets in for the princess basket & the other half in the chef basket. I told my hubby & daughter I was winning that princess basket...it would be mine! LOL Well lo & behold guess who won it...thats right ME ME ME! I was so excited when they called my name. Here is a pic of it & all the loot that was inside. Look at all that bling & a tiara to top it off. No complaints here. Hahaha Now if only I could predict my winning the HGTV Dream House on Sunday. *LOL* Well a girl can dream cant she??

Adding a few pics of the recital....love this age (10). Still growing into their ears & teeth. Gotta love em. ;)

Travis being goofy. Second one is Jim & I with Trav. It was a patriotic themed recital. :)

I have a ton of orders that I have to get done. Should be working all weekend to fill all of them. Everything is going good. I will check in tomorrow. I want to add a goodie from Carm. I just didn't want this post to be any longer than I already made it. Have a great friday night. *Ü*

Toodles

Still Working

Well this week got away from me somehow. Monday just kind of came & went in a blink of an eye. I have to hang my head in shame.

I did get my bunny pillows done. Yippee! Sad to say I did not complete my other bunnies or the album for Carolynne yet.....notice I did add "yet". Hahaha I have listed the pillows on Ebay & Etsy so go take a look at those. :)

I received a wholesale order that has kind of taken up what time I had to work on the MITM (Monkey In The Middle) projects. Sales seem to be picking up. I couldn't be more ecstatic! It has been a long dry spell. I could use some shaking up... thats for sure. So all of this is a welcome breath of fresh air. Now I have to work twice as hard to get the other things done. ;)

Did you all go visit Steph at Sunshine N Ravioli to see how her MITM projects are going? Go check out her blog & website she is super talented & you wont be disappointed. I am going to have another WIP for Monday's MITM. I have some creations swirling in my head & just have to get them down on paper. So stay tuned.

We are still wanting more takers for this challenge. Just let Steph or myself know. It is always fun to have some friendly motivation & good friends to share your accomplishments with. There really is no pressure involved either. Just work at your own pace.

I went to a Stamping Up workshop on Monday night & we made this Easter themed bag & notecard. It was a lot of fun. I am also adding pics of the matchbook style tag book we did before that. I am loving all the projects. There just isn't enough time during the day to get all I want to do done. I am sure you can relate.

Well I hope you have a wonderful day. I am back to stuffing bunnies & painting clothespins. *Hi*HO*HI*HO* It's off to work I go.......

Toodles

It's Monday....

H♥E♥L♥L♥O.....

Sending Monday LOVE! LOL

How was everyone's weekend? Mine was pretty quiet for the most part. I am excited to say I did get some of my WIP's (works in progress) finished. I did not, however, get them all done. :( I finished two of the three. I am happy though. I am a lollygagger, so for me this is progress. Hahaha I am attaching my finished pics. You can look at the previous post to see the "before" pics. :) I did get my fatty bunnies stuffed & grunged. I didn't get their faces done though. So this means they carry over for next monday right? It will be the first one on the list before I do the next two. I decided I was personally going to work in three's. It's a comfort zone thing for me. Not too few & not too much. Hahaha I am going to have to pop over to Steph's Blog & see what she has done for this week. Go visit her & say Hi. I hope to see a few of you join in. It is so satisfying to get projects completed. The bunny box is going to be listed on Etsy today. The ornies were an order from Etsy but are always available for order. Just shoot me an email.

Oh I also wanted to show you the new little creation I attempted. It is sooooo cute! I saw this on Michelle's blog My Paper Tales. I just love this! I am having so much fun making these for people as little "brighten your day" or "birthday" gifts. I had a tough time getting the pattern. Mine still needs a little bit of tweaking....it is a bit crooked. ;) The key is heavy cardstock. My paper was too thin. Anyways, I just loved the brown & pink. I MUST get some paper to make myself one in those colors. You can fill these with little treats too. Just so cute!

Ok so on with the MITM projects for this week. First off I will finish my fatty bunnies. I then want to tackle this latest paperbag book for my niece Carolynne. Her birthday is March 9th. She has always liked bright colors...so I am giving her BRIGHT! LOL My third one is a surprise. I am showing you the base. I just love the robins egg blue in this plaid. I am making two but I think I am gonna keep one for myself. I never do this. I always sell everything & never keep the ones I like. So check back next Monday to see how these little rectangles take shape. :)

Have a wonderful Monday....hope it's productive.

**Could one of you please shoot me a reply & let me know what day you get this. I have several blogs that dont come until the day after they post them. If thats the case then I will start sending this out on Sunday so you get it on Monday. Thanks so much! :)

Toodles!