the beauty of the seasons.

same driveway scene...just add a little snow!!

WFMW ~ Personal cookbooks

What really works for me this morning is being in my warm cozy house since it is -24 degrees outside. :-) But beyond that....

At one of my bridal showers (over 10 years ago) I received this cookbook. It is actually a photo album but each lady that came to the shower provided a recipe to go in it and then as I collected recipes I could put them in their as well. The friend that put it together put tabs on to divide it into categories.

This cookbook has definitely been the most used one that I have.(As you can probably tell from the picture!!) When I was newly married I remember getting from mom her cornbread, biscuit, doughnut and various other recipes.When living by my Grandma I added quite a few recipes from her. I also got quite a few recipes from my friend Tina who is a great cook as well as many other friends. In later years I have started adding ones that I found on the Internet and we tried and liked. But lately this cookbook has been less useful since it was falling apart. It was time to do something about it.

I got one of the many 3 ring binders we have around our house, bought some page protectors to go in it and then decided to use some colored paper that we had a bunch of (it was given to us in 3 colors: pink, orange and green and it was 15 inches long but I just cut it to fit.) and then I just started securing the recipes to the page. Originally I had thought that I would type all the recipes out put decided it would be easier and also more interesting to put in the recipes the way I had them as many of them are written by the person they came from and they all bring back memories. I divided them into categories the way that I liked best and had a certain color of paper for the categories (rotating the colors throughout the book), I also made a title page and tab for each category.

I am really looking forward to putting my new book to work. Some of the other benefits of this book include washable pages and a cover that has pockets on the inside so I can stick recipes that I want to put in the book in the pocket until I get around to putting them in. For recipes that I think look neat but haven't tried I stick in my recipe card box to wait until I have time to try them and see if they are actually good or not. A personal cookbook really works for me!!

Another way I have personal cookbooks is with my regular ones I make notes a lot of the time. If I try a new recipe I try to write what we thought of it and what adjustments I made. This really helps when I go back to use it again.

What do you do with all your recipes? What methods or tips do you have?

learning from life

I read this and it made me grin, so I thought I would share it with you all.

Q: How does a homeschooler change a light bulb?

A: First, mom checks three books on electricity out of the library, then the kids make models of light bulbs, read a biography of Thomas Edison and do a skit based on his life. Next, everyone studies the history of lighting methods, wrapping up with dipping their own candles. Next, everyone takes a trip to the store where they compare types of light bulbs as well as prices and figure out how much change they'll get if they buy two bulbs for $1.99 and pay with a five dollar bill. On the way home, a discussion develops over the history of money and also Abraham Lincoln, as his picture is on the five dollar bill. Finally, after building a homemade ladder out of branches dragged from the woods, the light bulb is installed. And there is light. ~Author Unknown

Sneak Peak LO

I have finally had a few minutes to myself to get some scrapping done and to jump on line and post them.

This one is first one "Resolution" is for the 123 Challenge Blog.I have had to take out this layout as is being sent away for publication.

The last two "Our Little Princess" and "Sweetheart" I have done for Just Scrapbooking - I had fun doing a story

book like page.

Little lovely parts of life

I had mentioned in my goals for this year that I wanted to spend more time "living in the moment". Meaning slowing down and taking time to enjoy each small thing around me and really learning to listen to and enjoy the people around me.

I though it would be fun to share some of the fun "moments" in my life lately. (Most of them are from today as my memory isn't that great:-).) I think this will be fun to share every so often including cute things that are said, things said that make me think, stuff that makes me smile and pictures that I think are beautiful. I know I will enjoy it, I hope you might too.

Here we go.....

An excited Aaron: "5+3 is 8, I just figured that out!!" Last week we worked on flashcards some and now he is really understanding this adding business and thinks it is pretty neat.

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A sweet Megan singing "Jesus loves me, I am so..." I never did find out what she was, as that is when the song started over each time.

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Aaron and Megan having lots of fun playing house together. I really enjoy watching my kids interact, for the most part they play so nicely and the boys are especially tender around Megan.

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Getting to share clothes with Mara for the first time. She had on a sweater(that had been given to her) this morning with sleeves that were quite a bit to long and so we rolled them up. This afternoon I was going to try to figure out some way to shorten them but first thought maybe I should just try the sweater on. Sure enough it fit... Perfectly. So sorry Mara, I am afraid you lost a cute sweater. Meanwhile mine had 3 quarter length sleeves so I said "Here, you can wear mine". It worked just fine. Mara is getting so big, before long we will be the same size for real.

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Getting to point out the words to Jonathan in the hymn book this morning and enjoying hearing him sing along softly.

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This photo is actually Megan at church last week. Before church I had told her to brush her hair but figured Mara or I would do the final touch up. I sent Mara in the bathroom to help her but Megan sang out "I am brushing my hair." I went to find this fancy do that she had worked very hard at. I didn't have the heart to redo it so off to church she went with a fancy bump on the front.

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I had fun visiting after church tonight especially hearing Ed (an older man from church) tell a funny story but he started laughing so hard before he had hardly started and was turning red and couldn't talk that we all started laughing just because it was so contagious, not even knowing why we were laughing.

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Yesterday we had fun having a simple birthday lunch for Tomisha at our house (I think we had 16 here). Tomisha loves pink so we thought it would be fun to do a little decorating. I don't have a lot of pink around but found some pink cloth to go over white tablecloths, tide of the silverware, wrapped in white napkins with pink ribbon and tucked a pink (for girls) or blue (for the boys) feather in it. Emily brought pink balloons which we blew up with a helium tank we had on hand. The girls and I also wore pink. I am not a huge pink fan but I think I am starting to like it a lot more. All the pink looked really pretty!

Mary sent over a musical candle for her cake which was rather fun. The cake, which Keren made, was a very yummy chocolate with peanut butter frosting and Reeses chunks on top. Oh I am wanting some now!

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Enjoying the style of my dress-up girl. Don't you love the hat? It is supposed to be a sleeve for a princess outfit but she is sure it is for your head.

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Having fun decoding a sweet e-mail message from my husband, then shooting one back in code as well.

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Taking the time to read 2 chapters in our very fun naptime book several days to the delight of my oldest 3.

How has your week been? Are you enjoying the simple little moments?