Mom and Single

Sundays are so special. After church, we go out for coffee with the kids or come home, make something to eat, sleep or go for a walk.
Today, being so close to Thanksgiving Day, our church had a dinner at a single mother’s apartment. Yes, is single, but has a special gift. The Lord has placed her in an apartment that is larger than some of our homes. All the ladies pitched in and made all kinds of food. I went to her house last night to decorate for today.
What a joyous day. We had a time of people sharing a thanks to the Lord for something in their lives.
Debbie being a single mom and having a teen still living at home, was able to share her thanksgiving for the church and the brethren and the closeness she has had with many people unlike any other time in her life. It was very uplifting especially to a new man that visited our church and actually came to the dinner. My teenage son and another man in our church work with this new man. So, it was quite exciting to have someone join us for dinner and be touched by the transparency of the people. We do not hide our hardships. We have people in our church that are sick, that are going through marriage problems, money problems, lonely problems. But you know what, the Lord is there with each and every one of them and that was shared today.
Sunday’s are so special.
Here is a site that I love. Milliande is an artist and she has wonderful free teaching videos on her site along with a small contest going on. Check it out!

http://www.milliande.com/images/milliande-make-a-wish-christmas-wishlist-wish-come-true-1250.jpg

Tags apartment, artist, church, coffee, decorate, eat, food, gift, home, kids, ladies, Lord, single mom, single mother, site, sleep, Sunday, Thanksgiving Day, transparency, videos, walk

www.Victorianscrapworks.com

I love the video that comes on this site. The artist may use better quality supplies but I know that Christmas ornaments-(oval ornaments) are sold at the Dollar Store and also a thin tinsel type of pipe cleaners. Nowadays, many antique pictures can be found on line that can be printed. www.Doverpublications.com is a good one for signing up and they will send you often, pictures and worksheets that you can print. The other item really mandatory I think, is glitter. The Dollar Store also provides glitter. Perhaps not the prettiest glitter because people like Martha Stewart have come up with a beautiful glitter. I love downloading coupons from Michaels, ACMoore or JoeAnne’s and the coupons interchange from store to store. Therefore, if you have some money, copy three coupons and go out and get some special craft supplies. Glitter goes a long way, so work over a bowl or surface that you can scoop the glitter back into its original package if it doesn’t have drops of glue in it. These ornaments you will see on this site are very worth giving as a gift especially if you use a good quality glitter or tinsel.

If your computer printer puts out a cheaper quality print, the glitter will hide the imperfections. You can also use markers, watercolor pencils to color in your picture if you want the colors darker. Then paint on the glue with a paint brush (you can water your glue down a bit so that the consistancy is not so thick. After painting on the glue, shake or sprinkle the glitter on the glue. I have placed some of my favorite neutral sparkly glitter in a salt shaker. Then I can sprinkle just the amount I want.

The dollar store also sells photo paper that is matte or shiny. This quality paper is good for printing out vintage pictures also whereas regular printing paper is dull.

These are so beautiful. I figure the price for supplies:

tinsel pipe cleaners $1.00
Photo paper $1.00
Ornaments $1.00/package
Glitter $1.00 (glitter of better quality $4.00)

These supplies like the glitter, pipe cleaners and photo paper will make quite a few ornaments. The expense is your ornaments. You may get approximately 2-4 ornaments in each package.

These ornaments can be made for other holidays also. I love the Easter Ornaments with different vintage pictures in the middle of the ball.

Make these with other mothers or with your children. Put on a pot of coffee and have a night out for other mothers at your house. Share your home. It will make you feel good.

I am going to be having a new daughter-in-law in a few months and these would beautiful to make around six and package them with a pretty tissue paper in a box (all bought at Dollar Store, just add $2.00 more to your purchase) and give as a gift for my son’s and daughter-in-law’s Christmas tree.

total- UNDER $10.00 for approx. 8 ornaments. You can’t even buy beautiful ornaments for $1.00 a piece

Tags AC Moore, antique pictures, beautiful, box, children, Christmas, coffee, colors, daughter-in-law, Dollar Store, Dovetr publications, Easter, gifts, glitter, home, house, JoeAnne's, Martha Stewart, ornaments, package, photo paper, pipe cleaners, printing, salt shaker, son, sparkly, store, supplies, tinsel, tissue paper, tree, victorian, video

The other day, we were traveling to get to my daughter’s orthodontist appointment when I saw a sign “Five Dollars for two bags”. “Oh can we stop”? I asked. Sound like a kid I know but I get excited when I see signs like that at consignment shops.
My husband was kind and patient when we didn’t leave that store till an hour and a half later. Abercrombie and Fitch, Aerospostle and Chico’s were just a few names of tags in the clothing. We were able to get four bags of clothing and also kitchen nic nacs and pocket books. I even got pocket books that I may be able to sell at the consignment shop near my house; a silver one, a red velvet one, a black satin with a glittery buckle.

When we got there, the older lady, the grandma of the store, was marking down tags which brought the items down to putting them into the bag. Lots of camisole type shirts and even jeans. We were thrilled.

So don’t feel down when you think you can’t dress nice if you are single and have children. Many churches have sales like this at the end of each season. Call churches that have thrift shops to see what their dates are for sales.

Freecycle.com is a site you need to go to, find your town, and list that you are looking for free clothes and state size. You can do this for your children and yourself. People give away clothes and they can be wonderful.

Tags Abercrombie and Fitch, Aeropostle, camisole, Chicos, churches, clothing, consignment shop, daughter, jeans, orthodontist, pocketbook, thrift shops

The other day, I was reminiscing what I used to play as a child. I use to play alot by myself because my brothers were much older and were gone to the military and married. My bicycle was my favorite form of transportation because we only had one car (this was in the 1960′s) and I had a little white basket attached to the front of my blue bike with sissy bar. I felt like I was driving my own little car. In that white basket I would carry my jumprope, jacks, footsy (do you remember that), and what ever else would fit into that basket.

Don’t forget that the little things, the small inexpensive toys can be what makes a child the happiest, the most creative, and busy.

Hangman-When we were on recess in school, on those rainy days or snowy days that you could not go out and play, we would play hangman. All you need is a piece of paper and pencil or crayon. One child puts down lines for each letter of a word they are thinking of but doesn’t tell the other child what the word is. The other child has to guess what the letters are. If they guess correctly, the letter gets put into its proper spot. If they guess wrong, a circle has to be drawn for the hangman. As the game continues, and letters are guessed either correctly or wrong, a letter is added to the lines until the word is spelled or if not, another body part is added to the circle to create a stick like figure. If the whole body is created before the word is guessed, their man is hung. The child can try to guess the word at any-time.

Chinese jump-rope-An elastic type of rope is used. Two children have the jump rope around their ankles set apart from each other approximately two to three fee. There is another child that does the jumping. The saying is “In, out, side, side, ropes, in, out.” If they do not accomplish the jumping with their feet, they have to take one of the children’s sides, and that child now gets to jump. When you are jumping, your feet jump on the outside of the rope, then you jump inside the rectangular shape created by the children’s feet. Then you jump on each side of the rope, jump with both feet onto the ropes, back inside the rectangular shape, and then both feet jump out (the left foot goes on the outside of the left rope, the right foot jumps on the outside of the right rope). If a child’s foot nics the rope at anytime, they are OUT and have to take the one of the child’s turns of holding the rope at the ankles. This game can be altered by having the rope up at the knees of the children. We used to try the neck but I wouldn’t suggest that:) No one can jump that high. Because I was an only child, I used to make believe play by myself having two chairs as the other kids, and just practice. ALTERATION: You can do the same saying “In, out, side, side, ropes, in, out with clapping your hands, or you can spin your body around. That one is the complicated one. All the children can sing the son “In, out, side, side, ropes, in, out. Have fun! Mom can play with the children too.

Tags ankles, basket, bicycle, bike, body, brothers, car, chairs, child, children, favorite, footsy, game, hands, hangman, jacks, jumprope, knees, married, military, neck, play, reminiscing, rope, sissy bar, toys, transportation

Go to this site Prairie Flower.com moms and you will see an awesome prize you can win with scripture written on it.
I have been impressed in my heart over the years to paint scripture or have something with scripture over my doorways.

Not too long ago, a man I met gave me a plackard that says “As For Me and My House, We Will Serve The Lord. It is a wooden piece carved out in a half circle shape and I put it above my front door. I would like to stencil some scriptures along the tops of windows. They now sell scriptures to rub on your walls but I am sure they are quite expensive. Stenciling is an inexpensive way of doing things. Stencils cost approximately $3-4.00 and a bottle of paint (acrylic) is $.50-1.00 at ACMoore or Michaels or your local craft store.

Get busy and decorate your house with the word of the Lord over your windows and above your doorways. Perhaps even a hardwooden floor might look quite nice with scripture stenciled at entrance ways.

You can direct your children and perhaps one in your family is artsy. Have them help you tape the stencil on the wall, also to check if your work is straight when you step away. Kids love helping around the house.

Tags ACMoore, acrylic paint, artsy, carved, children, craft store, decorate, doorway, doorways, hardwood floor, heart, Huose, kids, Lord, Michaels, mom, mothers, paint, plackard, prairie flower, prize, scripture, scriptures, stencil, windows, wooden

Leaves are falling and spiraling to the ground. The other day was extraordinary to me. One area near my home is so orange yellow and the ground and street is covered but still many leaves are on the trees. Well, I got inspired to go out and harvest all sorts of flowers and plants that are drying in my yard and garden. I found a bush that’s branches and twigs twist nicely. Instead of grapevines, I used these to make a base of a wreath. I cut a few and long ones and grabbed them together and created a circle shape tucking the ends into each other. Then the madness continued. Oh, beautiful plants drying up. Seed pods, small tiny flowers, larger flowers, other branches from bushes that were red or yellow, yarrow leaves, mint leaves, bits of oregano, lambs ear, mums, burning bush branches…on an on. The only thing I had to buy was green floral wire which was a dollar. I usually like to have it around. I grabbed pieces of these items together and tied a piece of wire around the grouping to keep them together and tucked them into the simple wreath I made. I also wired some of them to the wreath. You can add a bow if you would like. The Dollar tree sells ribbon at this time of the year and also the green wire. I didn’t use a bow because I had filled up the wreath with all of these dry items. If the plants you are picking are not completely dry, that is o.k. Alot of my sprigs of plants still had life and moisture to them but I still attached them because I wanted to see what they would look like when they dried.
Many ideas can be done to a wreath. You can gather your branches and flowers and only fill one side of the wreath and keep the beauty of the wreath on the other side bare or fill up the whole thing. Hydrangea bushes are drying nicely and are almost going to sleep with the winter so pick them now. Fill in that wreath if you like it full or just simply with some branches of berries or vines. I have a vintage ladder in my dining room and I attached the wreath to the rung of the ladder. You can hang this on a door facing the out of doors to greet people when they visit. Hang it on a wall or on an inside door. Make one for your bathroom or kitchen.
If you do not have a yard, go to a park and just pick away. If the flowers or trees belong to neighbors while you are taking a walk, ask them if it is o.k. to pick from their yard. I have alot that grows on the roadside near my house so I pick.
I love picking branches with berries. There is a bush that has red berries but boy there are spikes coming off of the branch also so becareful. But these look really nice when you can get a bunch and put into a clay pot or your favorite vase. Hang them upside down with twine, ribbon, raffia, tie them into bundles and hang from a hook. The color brings a nice affect into the house for the fall. When they are dried and dusty, keep the ribbon or twine and reuse so that you can be frugal.
Your kids can make these and give as gifts to grandma or an elderly lady.
Enjoy the season.

Tags autumn, branches, burning bush, children, dollar, elderly, flowers, garden, grapevines, jfloral wire, kids, lady, lambs ear, leaves, mint, mother, mums, neighbors, oregano, plants, ribbon, roadside, seed pods, single, sprig, trees, twigs, twine, walk, wreath, yard, yarrow

I am going to make this real soon. It is from the site Simply Vintagegirl blog.
She made an awesome journal/notebook. It is made out of index cards, papers, and double sided tape and brads and rings. You cover the index cards with your special papers from scrapbooking. Then you use paper from a note book and cut it to size of your index cards. I know there are a couple sized index cards on the market. I am going to make one special for church. I want to have my outline labeled for one index card, another for scriptures I want to remember and memorize, and perhaps names of christian characters and quotes. What is nice about this notebook is that it is inexpensive. Index cards are at Walmart or the Dollar Store. Fancy papers are also sold at the Dollar store or at AC Moore or Michaels for very inexpensive per sheet ($.45 cents and up per sheet) or if you even want to buy a book of paper, they are approximately $10.00 but you can use an AC Moore coupon at Michaels or vice versa and have a whole pad of decorated papers for $5.00 that you can use for many other projects with the kids.
Each of your children including yourself could make one with the tabs empty and exchange your books to each other so that you will not have the one you made.
Ideas for your books: prayer books, household books, autograph books, photo books, recipe books, herb books with each label being an herb and keeping info on that herb.
I think I am going to make one for herbs and one for my sermon notes and scriptures!

Tags AC Moore, autograph, blog, children, christian, church, Dollar Store, herbs, index cards, journal, notebook, papers, photo, prayer, projects, quotes, recipe, scrapbooking, scriptures, sermon, Simply Vintagegirl, single mom

A chicken recipe that I made last week and was excitedly delicious.

3 chicken breasts
Bisquick
4 packages brown gravy
miscellaneous frozen veggies-(brocolli, peas, corn, peppers and onions)

I browned the chicken breasts in butter till cooked.
I heated the brown gravy in a small pan and then took a mug, added flour and milk, mixed it good in the cup and added it to the hot gravy. This made more gravy and a lighter tasting gravy. I cut up the chicken in pieces, mixed the gravy in and added the vegetables. Poured it into a 2 qt. casserole dish. I made the bisquick by the package directions and put it on top. Threw it into the oven for 350 degrees and kept an eye on it for 20 minutes. The bisquick cooked fast and could get too dark so watch it.
It was so yummy. This fed one helping for six people or two helpings for four people. You can make mashed potatoes if you need more food.
Three chicken breasts cost about 3-4 dollars. The gravy was $2.00 and then the veggies probably around $1.50 to $2.00.
I buy my frozen veggies cheap and on sale in the grocery store and keep an eye out on the chicken breasts. Buy a huge box of bisquick and your off and running.

Tags Bisquick, casserole, cheap, chicken, flour, gravy, grocery store, milk, people, potatoes, running, vegetables

Monday’s I will log practical and frugal ideas.
Tuesday’s I will write down a frugal and yummy recipe
Wednesday’s I will write down a game you can play
Thursday’s will be an unusual item to do with your children.

Tags children, frugal, game, item, Monday, practical, recipe, Thursday, Tuesday, unusual, Wednesday

Hey there,
For a change in my writing about somewhat depressive subjects, let’s look at a yummy recipe to make on a fall day or on a sick day.

Chicken Tortilla Soup
Feeds five to six people

1 package of chicken breasts (3 breasts)
3-4 cans chicken broth
chicken bouillon
onion/garlic
package of tortilla’s
avocado/sour cream/optional
2-3 TBS of butter
bottle of vegetable oil

I saute the chicken with the onion and garlic in a bit of butter. Don’t let the chicken dry out.
Take your pot and pour the chicken broth in, add water to make a pot of soup, and add chicken bouillon till the flavor is salty enough for your own taste. After the chicken is cooked with the whole onion and lots of garlic, add to the broth and simmer 1/2 hour for the flavor to get into the broth.

Slice your tortilla’s in slices about 1″ wide, add to hot oil in pot. You can use almost the whole bottle of oil.
They will brown quickly. Take them out and place on paper towels to drain the oil.

Put the soup in the individual bowls, allow person to put their tortilla chips on top and have the avocado sliced and sour cream in a bowl to allow person to put how much they want on top of their soup. The left over chips can be eaten while eating the soup.