What's That I Smell Burning?

I have to tell you that I have a love/hate relationship with candles. I love being able to reflect my mood in a wonderful scent. Around Thanksgiving I want to have pumpkin pie spice scenting my house, without actually having to make a pie. Early fall should be apple cinnamon scented. Obviously Christmastime brings out the woodsy pine or the comforting smell of gingerbread.

My problem is that I live in a house with 2 teenage boys and 2 cats. The boys know better than to mess with the candles, but who’s to say that a stray sock thrown at one’s brother won’t knock over a candle. And my cats…well they’re just plain bad news with candles. We have had a couple of unfortunate incidents with melted whiskers that my cats prefer not to be reminded of.

My problem was solved when I found Scentsy. These are amazing wickless waxes that burn over a small light. Since it’s plugged in as opposed to lit with a match there’s no risk of fire. No chance of burning little fingers (or whiskers)!

My go to winter scent is spruceberry, and I always keep grapefruit blossom on hand for a great pick me up.

These make really great gifts for the elderly too. I’ve gotten a couple already for stocking stuffers for my grandma. Her hands are shaky so she has trouble lighting the wick on regular candles. She also worries that her forgetfulness will lead to a fire. I went & picked out a black weave plug in warmer and some sugar cookie Scentsy bars & my shopping for her is done.

Let’s share tips. Scentsy has gifts that I know I can always count on. What are some great products that you automatically think of when gift giving?

Hi folks,

I won't be blogging for a few days. I accidently poured boiling gravy on my hand on Thanksgiving & I have 2nd degree burns on my left hand. Luckily I'm right handed, but typing is too painful right now! I hope to be back to blogging Tuesday or Wednesday.

Hugs & love to you all.

1 Chronicles 16:34

For more Word Filled Wednesday

Visit The 160 Acre Wood

Outside My Window... Snow! Big puffy chunks of it!

I am thinking... How much I dread helping JD learn to drive in the snow!

I am thankful for... That my church finally picked a new rectory for our pastor & his wife. They are wonderful people & great friends.

From the kitchen... Meatball sandwiches for dinner.

I am wearing... An old ratty nightshirt. I'm vetoing the day by not getting dressed yet!

I am creating... A Christams to remember.

I am going... Nowhere fast.

I am reading... She Always Wore Red, by Angela Hunt.

I am hoping... For my headache to go away.

I am hearing... Peaceful quiet.

Around the house... As usual, laundry & school work.

One of my favorite things... My snuggly, warm bed!

A Few Plans For The Rest Of The Week... Celebrating & being thankful.

Here is picture thought I am sharing... Chloe helping me take pictures!

Thank you to Peggy at ~The Simple Woman~ for this great daybook idea. You can visit her here http://thesimplewomansdaybook.blogspot.com/

Men...

I just truly do not get it. It's really a shame too since I live with 3 of them!

My husband is watching a show called Survivor Man. This guy goes out into the woods by himself & has to survive on his own. On this episode he's brought 2 horses for a journey through the Rocky Mountains. He's really out there on his own, he even films himself.

Now I'm not really sure why he's doing this, but I'm following along as he looks for shelter, makes fire & even eats an earthworm for sustenence. I'm with him right up until the point where he sets up his electric fence for the horses...crazy man say what?!?

The man brings a battery operated electric fence & he can't pack a sandwich! Maybe a bag of rice, some beef jerkey & a little granola. My mommy brain just can't wrap itself around the point of this. Obviously this man needs himself a wife to make him a nice list before he leaves.

I have been exposed to this type of show before. Hubby has watched Man vs. Wild. This is the same type of thing, but he's not alone, he has camera people that go with him, but they can't help him. I was watching with Chris one night & Bear Grylls (the host) was tracking through some desert. He didn't have any water. The man took off his shirt, peed on it, sucked the pee out of the shirt to quench his thirst, & then put the pee shirt on his head to keep him cool. WTF?

He really did it, he didn't just pretend for demonstration purposes. I stayed on the couch only until the dry heaves subsided & then left my husbands side to go read a nice book.

Go ahead honey, tell me one more time how my shows are silly.

When I'm Hopped Up On Goofballs, I Steal Things!

Yeah, who knew. I'm a closet kleptomaniac. Let me explain. I have been hospitalized about 12-15 times in the last 2 years. It took them that long to figure out my problem was my gall bladder.

I need to confess to my stealing ways. I was kept pretty looped up on Dilaudid, Vicodin and muscle relaxers. When Chris would bring me home he would start to put away my hospital bags & find odd things. The first time I brought home about 50 wrapped straws, a butter knife, a bunch of things of handlotion & some of those kidney-shaped puke receptacles! They were clean, because I hadn't used any, but why I brought home 5 or 6 of them I don't know.

Like any criminal I escalated. The next time Chris found my stash I had a box of hospital maxi pads (they are the size of a twin size mattress), a few hospital wash cloths (about as thick as newspaper), and 4 tablespoons.

Finally I was apparently elated at them figuring out my problem & removing the offending gall bladder. I brought home 4 dirty glass bowls that the hospital served Jello in, a pair of scrub pants & 1 jumbo sized adult diaper.

I'm hoping to get a hospital bed into my backpack if I ever have to go back to the hospital. I really like how you can adjust them.

Word Filled Wednesday

Psalm 104:24

(Today's WFW brought to you by Chloe!)

For more Word Filled Wednesday

Visit The 160 Acre Wood

Great Holiday Gifts!

I’m always looking for holiday gifts I can make myself, but gifts that aren’t lame!

Living here in Michigan we have cold winters. Quilts are at a premium at our house. I do know how to sew, but rarely have the time to drag out my sewing machine, remember how to thread the thing, find the proper thread tension to the needle, finding a bobbin, etc.

Eureka! I found the perfect solution. No sew fleece blankets. Check out the link for the instructions, along with pictures. I'm going to invite all my friends over, have everyone bring a yummy dish to pass, some fleece fabric & spend a night having fun and making these!

You can find the super fuzzy fleece material at any fabric store like Michaels, or JoAnn Fabrics. It comes in patterns to match any color and any age group. I found peace signs, BMX bikes, Scottie dogs & camouflage all in an anti-pill fleece for only $6.49 per yard, and that’s just a few of the 269 types of fleece at one web site. For the man or boy in your life you can even find MLB, NBA, NFL & NCAA fabrics. That means you can create a no sew fleece blanket for anyone you know for under $10.00.

Just so you know what your getting yourself into, let me give you the list of supplies you'll need to make one of these. Fabric & scissors. Yep, you heard me, just fabric & scissors. While you're making them make sure to make one for yourself.

Check it out & I'll see you at the fabric store!

I have found many great discounts for my online shopping at sites like http://www.couponcabin.com/, http://www.currentcodes.com/, & http://www.couponheaven.com/.

Sites like these give you current coupon codes available for your online purchases. For instance today I ordered something for my son for Christmas from the store Hot Topic. I Googled "Hot Topic promo code" and I found a coupon code for 25% off of my order. Sweet, huh?

Check out http://www.blogmommas.com/ for more from Tuesday's Tip Jar.

8's

One of the blogs I read is Delightfully Cliche. I know Jen is cool, cause she shares my love of God, NCIS & Matthew Gray Gubler! Still a little suspicious of her fondness for David Caruso, but hey we can't all be perfect!

Jen just posted her 800th post! She shared some things about herself in quantities of 8 & invited all of her readers to do the same, so here goes.

8 THINGS I LOVE

God

My Boys (Chris, John, Jack & Oskar the schnauzer)

Camping

Reading

Laughing

Being in the Water

Office Supplies

8 THINGS THAT GIVE ME THE HEEBIE-JEEBIES

Maggots

Spiders

Open Wounds

Overly Hairy People

Wet Cat Food

Oatmeal (it's allowed in cookies)

Seaweed

Tofu

PLACES I'VE BEEN

Savannah

Kentucky

Michigan's U.P.

Washington D.C.

Toronto

Missouri

Chicago

Baaaa Haaaba, Maine

8 RANDOM FACTS

I'm an only child.

I make up my own words & people around me actually start using them.

Every surgery or serious injury I've had has been on my right side.

I think my stuffed animals have feelings.

I have huge feet (10)!

I have no idea why my husband actually loves me, but I'm so glad he does.

I really like the berry SoyJoy bars.

I wear my Grandmas wedding & my Dads baby ring on a chain around my neck. Always.

8 FAVORITE TV SHOWS

NCIS

Mad Men

Criminal Minds

Survivor

Bones

Psych

Monk

Swingtown (I think it got cancelled)

There ya go. Happy 800th Jen!

(PS - I don't know why everything is double spaced. If anyone knows how to fix it, let me know!)

For more Word Filled Wednesday

Visit The 160 Acre Wood

Tuesday's Tip Jar

My tip this week is to find great ways to make homemade gifts for the holidays. I have a book that has all kinds of great recipes that you make up in advance, like bean soup, or dip mix, and then give with the recipe for completing the dish. Years like this when the economy is so bad being able to give a nice homemade gift is really worth the time to check it out.

Food Gifts From Your Kitchen is a great site to check out. It has tons of great ideas for nice homemade gifts.

You can also find the books at your local library. The Perfect Mix is one that I bought years ago & absolutely love.

Check out http://www.blogmommas.com/ for more from Tuesday's Tip Jar.

Outside My Window... Snow on top of the leaves we haven't raked yet!

I am thinking... About climbing back into bed with DH who is home sick.

I am thankful for... My belief on God.

From the kitchen... Cheesy Mexican Casserole.

I am wearing... A gray sweat shirt, blue hospital scrub pants & my long cozy bath robe.

I am creating... A new devotional blog, Devotional Daze.

I am going... To take Jack to school.

I am reading... The book of Job.

I am hoping... For the yard faries to come & rake my leaves!

I am hearing... My camera shutting itself off.

Around the house... Scrubbing the bathtub.

One of my favorite things... Sunflowers.

A Few Plans For The Rest Of The Week...Taking care of DH.

Here is picture thought I am sharing... A pic of my oldest JD last year, with a bible verse I added last week for Work Filled Wednesday.

Thank you to Peggy at ~The Simple Woman~ for this great daybook idea. You can visit her here http://thesimplewomansdaybook.blogspot.com/

Do You See This Gorgeous Quilt???

A fantastic hand-made quilt like this could be yours! FREE!

Abbie over at The Handmade Quilt-er is giving away a quilt like this to one lucky reader.

Abbie made the quilt pictured above for a neighbor who donated her bone-marrow to a stranger. She was so moved she decided to give away a second quilt to a reader from her blog. So stop by The Handmade Quilt-er today to tell Abbie how beautiful her work is & to register for a chance to win a quilt for yourself.

I guess I should say good luck to you, but our Michigan winters are really cold & I sure would like to be the winner snuggled up under this quilt. If you win, drop me a line. Maybe I could snuggle under it when your not using it! *wink*

Barney's Bad Day

Barney, President & Mrs. Bush's Scottish Terrier, is apparantly unhappy about his upcoming change of address.

This reported found out the hard way. Luckily Barney's baby sister Mrs. Beasley was sleeping and did not witness the drama.

Don't mess with Barney!

More Initials Than Any Other TV Crime Drama

NCIS

Yes, NCIS! Naval Criminal Investigative Service. This is a show I just found this year. I LOVE this show!

Let's see Mark Harmon as Jethro Leroy Gibbs & Mark Weatherly as Anthony DiNozzo, yeah a couple other people too. Favorite line, "Well since I'm here let's not waste me, I vote for a group bath," Tony DiNozzo.

If you haven't found this show yet, it plays about 50 times per day on the USA network & usually on ION TV too. New shows are Tuesday nights on CBS.

Now as someone who likes 2 out of the 3 CSI shows (can't stand Miami, Horatio Caine ruins it for me, plus I keep waiting for the boobs to fall out of the sleazy clothes & contaminate the evidence.) I love Criminal Minds (fellow bloggie friend Jenn at Delightfully Cliche shares my crush on Matthew Gray Gubler), 48 Hours Mystery, Bones...

O.K. besides demonstrating that I spend way too much time watching TV, I'm trying to let you know that I like TV crime shows. NCIS is a good one. Especially now that NCIS director Jenny Shepherd is gone. Watching Lauren Holly try to keep up with the rest of the actors was like watching a fright wig on a stick.

So next time your stressed, look for NCIS. Listen to Ducky's long stories, laugh at Abby's farting hippo, Bert & watch to see if Tony & Ziva ever get together. Tell 'em Mimi sent ya!

That's "Mrs." Thor Ravenhurst To You

Well I have found a great new website. Paperback Swap is a website where you post your used books to trade with others. FYI, they also have www.SwapaCD.com, www.SwapaDVD.com & www.SwapaGoat.com. No I'm not kidding. They don't currently have any goat swapping going on that I can see, but I guess it's good to have that web domain name reserved should the need arise.

I have hundreds of books in my house & so does my mom. She is one of 9 kids (Catholic) and her & her sisters all swap books. She had a bunch that she was going to take to Salvation Army, but I took them to post.

Somone in my mom's family likes the uh historical romance genre. I have never in my life seen so many ripped bodices. Words like flame-haired, merciless, stallion, aristocrat & desire are tossed around the way we use words like the & have.

What really gets me though are the names. Here are just a few of my personal favorites. Fleur Toogood & Rafe McIntyre. How about Gem McBride & Chase Dupre, Lady Regina Termaine & Viscount Draker, or Lady Adriana Sutton & Colton Wyndham. The last one is a Kathleen E. Woodiwiss book called The Reluctant Suitor, which is described on the back cover as “Genteelly Steamy!”

Another favorite is Sweet Velvet Passion featuring Silly Southern Minx, Velvet McBride & Backwoods Yankee Buck, J. Eliot Cutter

Lake Emerson, the lusty liontamer & his woman Clover Sinclair in Midnight Ecstasy.

Just when I thought it couldn't get any better I found the holy grail of trashy romance novels. Behold the cover of Savage Thunder featuring none other than Fabio himself!

Fabio is an Native American in this book, so note how they cleverly made his long flowing hair black. Best of all is the name of the character that Fabio represents on the cover. "Colt Thunder" and to think that I settled for John & Jack when naming my sons. *sigh*

Psalm 71:14 (NIV)

For more Word Filled Wednesday

Visit The 160 Acre Wood

Hope For Tomorrow

I always feel such a cool rush when I go & vote, especially in a presidential year. I used to always make a point to take my boys with me so I could let them know what an privilege it is to live in the U.S.A. (They are half Canadian, so in my opinion they have the best of both worlds. They are both U.S. citizens, but in case of a draft that they don't agree with, they can legally live in Canada.)

Anywho, I have been frustrated by the seeminly endless months of campaigning. I have not made this blog a forum for my political choice, but there is one thing that I really want all of us to try to do tomorrow.

Support whoever wins. That's my plan. Whether it's "my guy" or the "other guy" that person needs the support of this entire nation. We cannot go on being a country torn apart. Of course there are issues we won't agree with, but honestly who agrees with everything any candidate stands for.

Let's all just try, give whoever wins a chance. Pray for our new president-to-be & pray for our country.

(I'll put my soapbox back in the closet now!)

Well I just did this last night & dang it all if it didn't work again! When someone is coughing put Vicks Vap-o-rub on the bottom of their feet! Put socks on top of the Vicks & listen for the coughing to stop. I have no idea why this works, but it does.

Check out http://www.blogmommas.com/ for more from Tuesday's Tip Jar.

Outside My Window... The sun trying to shine through the clouds.

I am thinking... About having to take JD to a second funeral in 6 months. This time his favorite teacher & mentor is dead at 45 from brain cancer.

I am thankful for... My health.

From the kitchen... Apple cake.

I am wearing... A t-shirt that says "chill," and sweats.

I am creating... A new devotional blog, Devotional Daze.

I am going... To a funeral.

I am reading... My bible, in chronological order.

I am hoping... To know how to comfort hurting teens.

I am hearing... Eddie Money playing on the radio.

Around the house... Cleaning up.

One of my favorite things... This new blog design.

A Few Plans For The Rest Of The Week...Working on my new devotional blog.

Here is picture thought I am sharing... Oskar wrapped up in the Christmas quilt my mom made us! My mom started quilting when she retired & I cherish the 4 quilts she has made us so far.

Thank you to Peggy at ~The Simple Woman~ for this great daybook idea. You can visit her here.