Love Love Love

A lot has happened in the last 18 years since I said "I do" to my husband Dan.  We've been been better and we've been worse; we've been richer and now poorer; we've had sickness but thankfully mostly health - and we're still together, continuing to love and cherish. 
Our marriage is stronger than it has ever been.  I wish I knew 18 years ago what I know now ... I wish I realized then what I see so clearly today - but the journey to this day has been a part of God's plan for me.  I am a better person because of my husband.  I haven't always understood or liked what God was teaching me through Dan, but I am ever so thankful for all I've learned. 
Mostly I've learned what unconditional love is.  To give and receive it.  It is an amazing gift.

This Christmas "Break" has been flying by us ... and we have a full week ahead.  I have so much I want to share on my blog - so many pictures to show - of MiMi's 1st birthday, of our Christmas ... but there just isn't time right now.  Once the "routine" kicks in again in January, I am hopeful to be back to blogging in full swing. Until then, I'll be popping in and out as time allows.

In honor of my anniversary today, you could read last year's post here (and see a precious pic of an itty bitty Miriam!!)

Starbucks Treat!

Did you get a starbucks gift card for Christmas?

As a teacher, my husband gets a few gift cards as Christmas gifts most years - and this year he did get a Starbucks card.  He doesn't really care for coffee (though he drinks "socially" if someone else makes it), so YEAH FOR ME!!! 

I get to enjoy the benefits of his students' generosity.

If you register your Starbucks gift card, you get rewards & FREE COFFEE on your birthday (I sure enjoyed my tall peppermint mocha for FREE back in November).

REGISTER YOUR STARBUCKS GIFT CARD(S) TODAY!!

Greetings & Information

I found this cute GERMAN clip art while browsing clip art recently ... whimsical ... reminds me of the garden gnomes my Opa had in his little garden!  It basically says Heart-felt Christmas Greetings (Germans like to smoosh words together like that!). 

I hope everyone had a nice Christmas today.  We did ... and I'm so thankful for a nice day at home with my family. 

I also wanted to share a give away that my friend Melanie is offering!  You have until Monday (Dec 27) to enter for a prize that would be a blessing to you!  Check it out at Out of the Miry Clay. 

Silent Night ...

As we celebrate this Holy Night, I want to wish all my bloggy friends a VERY MERRY CHRISTmas!  

We have been so busy the last few days at the Hutchhaus!!  Not only were we getting ready for Christmas, but we were also celebrating:

Miriam has been with us for a whole year now!  I will share more about her birthday and our week later, but for now, I - in my Christmas pj's - am ready to settle down for a long winter's nap!  

Blissfully Domestic - ME? Really.

I was accepted as a contributor to Blissfully Domestic, which is a website I've subscribed to since my earliest days of blog reading.  

TODAY my first article was put out there ... I'm honored mostly because B/D has a pretty big audience ... not that this means any of that audience would actually want to read MY article ... but it was fun to do anyway.  If YOU are curious about my article, please check it out:  Time Management Tips for the Holidays.

(oh the irony, TIME MANAGEMENT TIPS from ME - the woman who is continually late - but at least I can write from experience!)

Old But New Article

I'm so thankful to have found several outlets for my writing lately!!  Mamabzz.com continues to graciously put out my articles even though I'm just an amateur.

TOMORROW (Tuesday), I should be able to share an exciting (for me) opportunity I have also been given from another website!  :)  This one may actually generate a teeny tiny bit of income - and as we all know, EVERY LITTLE BIT HELPS!!!!  :)

Mamabzz adapted my previous blog entry for their website; I thought they did a nice job (with the clip art especially!).  :)  If you have a minute, read about "Having a Grinch-Free Holiday" and check out mamabuzz. 

Cookie X-Change (the long painful version)

(I have be to honest - these are NOT my cookies; they are from someone far more talented than me's blog)!

Today I attended my first ever cookie exchange.  I wanted to make something clever and unique, of course.  Something to really WOW everyone and to make this a memorable experience.  It was memorable alright ... in usual Conny-style, where everything tends to run amok and not turn out QUITE like I wanted. BUT in the end, I had fun ... most of the time. 

Friday night, I started in on making my cookies.  I had found the CUTEST recipe/idea for "melted snowmen sugar cookies" ... and thus I began baking.  I needed 4 dozen cookies, and since my recipe did not say how many cookies it would yield, and because I was using a biscuit cutter to make a big enough cookie, I ended up making 3 separate bowls of sugar cookie dough.  Oh fun.  That only took 100 hours (give or take a few hours). 

THEN I had to make a glaze.  The recipe I used was not quite what I had expected or really what I'd recommend (although my family seemed to like it fine):
1 cup powder sugar
2 tsp light karo syrup
2 tsp milk
1/2 tsp vanilla
Add more milk &stir until the consistency you want. 

Again, time consuming ... and glazing 48 cookies (plus a few spare for taste-testing) took another 100 hours (or so) and many batches of the above icing recipe. 

THEN the decorating part.  I didn't have BIG marshmallows at home as this was a last minute, hare-brained idea, so off to Walmart for supplies.  I also needed sprinkles.  Though I live about 8 miles from Walmart, I can never make a "quick trip" to Walmart for some reason??!  I don't understand it. But anyway ...

To put the snowman head on, you microwave your marshmallow for about 25 seconds (I did batches of 5).  Let it sit just a few seconds and grab it quickly & throw it on a cookie.  OR grease your fingers with Pam (cooking spray) and gently pick up your marshmallow and place it on the cookie.  I tried both approaches; I preferred approach #2.

At this point, I had a slight disaster interruption:  Miriam had been puttering all over the house, but mainly she was underfoot in the kitchen.  I let her open the lower cabinets & pull out all the plastic ware down there.  There are also a few bottles of sealed things like oil ... and a bottle of a what-I-thought-was-a-sealed-thing like garlic oil.  My house now smells like a pizzeria ... thanks to Miriam dumping about a gallon of garlic oil all over herself, my floor, and it even managed to get off the linoleum onto the carpet.  There goes another 100 hours of my life to try to fix the damage (had to shampoo carpet today & mop the kitchen ... again). 

SO, where was I??  OH:  cookies.  QUICKLY, while the marshmallow is still hot, put on the sprinkle eyes & nose.  (the sprinkle buttons should have been done when the icing stuff was first poured)  OR if you were more talented than me, you could pipe colored icing for the eyes and even make arms or draw a scarf around your snowman head ...

After snowman #30ish, I quit.  I quickly iced the last few cookies, dumped some sprinkles on them, and called it a night.  Thankfully, my taste-testers did give my cookies a 2 thumbs-up - and off I went today to the cookie exchange (transporting these things was another logistical nightmare, but I'll spare you my pain). 

A small group of ladies from my church came also... and the hostess was so gracious ... and HER food was yummy - and probably took no less then 1 hour to prepare.  The other ladies baked some wonderful treats as well.  Thankfully, I came home with 4 dozen cookies because I'm not baking another cookie this entire holiday season if I can at all help it.  ;)

PS  Spellcheck lesson of the day:  it's marshMALLOW, not marshMELLOW.  I didn't know.

On School Gift Exchanges

My children attend a Christian school. Well, each year, most (almost all) the classes have a gift exchange among themselves. There is a dollar limit given, and each boy brings a boy gift; each girl, a girl gift. My kids have been doing this since K-4.

When my son was in 5th grade, the gift he got was a POKER SET ... Texas Hold'em. Now, I'm not saying that to judge anyone, I'm just saying:  SERIOUSLY?!! In 5th grade - a poker set?? and at a Christian school??!! Not always sure what some parents are thinking ... but anyway, we were able to quietly exchange it for something else at Wal-mart (yeah for Walmart's exchange policy!!). :)


So, this year, my daughter is in 5th grade. One of the boys in her class got a box of Trader Joe's multi grain crackers at their gift exchange.  NOW, again, to preface, I realize Trader Joe's is a great store; I realize that healthy food is a great thing to promote ... but to give a kid a box of crackers at a school gift exchange??!?! I mean, if the parent wanted to make a point of giving a healthy gift, doesn't Trader Joe's have some fun fruit leather or all-natural candy that she could have chosen instead??!

In any case, the student who received the crackers was VERY mature about it and kind of quietly showed his teacher (with much disappointment) what he received. Of course, every other kid - to include the student whose parent had sent in the crackers - had received some form of TOY or book or fun item ... and this one boy was left holding a box of crackers (which I think the teacher is going to get him something to make up for his disappointing gift, without trying to hurt the giver's feelings). 

And Andrew? This year at his gift exchange, he got a gift box of Old Spice ...

with matching deodorant. I kind of held my breath as he showed me and waited to see what he'd say. Thankfully, he was actually pretty excited about it once I explained to him what it was: his first REAL men's cologne!!! (I was just thankful it wasn't after-shave!!) ... and I showed him how to use it. He was actually very pleased with himself, feeling rather grown up, knowing he was wearing the same cologne his grandfather has worn for years. My young man, growing up so fast ... but believe me, he still won't be playing Texas Hold'em any time soon ...

Christmas Vacation is Finally Here!

It is officially Christmas Break for us ... well, ALMOST.  My husband still hasn't come home from closing up at school, but the children were dismissed at noon today. 

Having two children in school, I was torn today between 2 Christmas parties going on simultaneously, which also meant I got to enjoy FOOD from 2 Christmas parties!!  :) 
There are 3 Korean families in Anna's class group, and her Christmas party featured kimbap, yaki mandu, and egg rolls!  I love oriental food, so I was sooooooooo happy (because food is my love language!).  I brought my party punch, and there were desserts, fruit and veggies trays, and root beer floats.  I think Anna will be sugared up for the next 3 days.

The 7th-12th graders celebrated among themselves, and they ate pizza delivered from a local Greek/Italian restaurant, also SUPER yummy, especially the gyros pizza!!  :)

Now we are HOME SWEET HOME ... Despite all we need to do before the holidays, I am ready to just enjoy my family, write my Christmas cards (which the UPS man just delivered today!!), and hopefully spend a lot more time focusing on what CHRISTmas is all about! 

Who Doesn't Love Surprises?

My newest blog friend Michelle G is having a fun give-away!  In celebration of her 70th post, she is giving away 3 grab-bag type packages.  HOW FUN - who doesn't love SURPRISES!??!!

Go check out her blog at Undeserving And Yet Overblessed!!  And tell her that Conny sent you.  :)

Veggie Pizza (Recipe)

I was given this recipe before I was even married ... so over *ahem* 18 years ago ...
It's been a hit at every party or potluck or get-together I've brought it to!

I think there is a version of this from Pampered Chef, but I got the recipe before Pampered Chef was even born ... ;)

VEGGIE PIZZA:
2 pkgs crescent rolls (can use the reduced fat kind)
2 pkgs (8 oz) cream cheese (can use 1/3 les fat variety), softened
3/4 cup Miracle Whip
1 packet Hidden Valley Ranch (dry) dressing

variety of cut veggies:  carrots, cauliflower, broccoli (for $2.88 our Walmart sells a little baggie of these veggies already cut up, it's the PERFECT amount)
shredded cheddar

Unroll the crescents & lay on a cookie sheet.  Press the seams together.  Can make a little "crust" edge along the outside, if preferred.
Bake as recommended.
Let cool

In a bowl, mix cream cheese, ranch dressing mix, and miracle whip.  Spread over cooled crescents.
Top with veggies then with shredded cheese.  Cut into bars. 

For more recipes, check out Diary of a SAHM.

Where the Jewels Are - a Review

How do you say No to a princess who has everything? This princess has a wise father who sends her on a journey to find the one thing she doesn't know she needs. Where the Jewels Are is a fairytale for kids 8-10 years old, or for the young at heart.


Paperback

ISBN 978-193499502-0

$5.99

45 pages

This bok was provided to me by Diana Symons, author of the book, at no cost for my honest opinions & review.
____________________________________

My thoughts:
This book was kind of a fairy tale/morality tale with a message for everyone who has ever longed for more than they already have ... So often we don't see how blessed we are, but our loving Heavenly Father helps us to realize it in His own loving way!  The princess in this book was just the same - seeking a jewel that she HAD TO HAVE.  Guided from afar by her father, the king, she finds a treasure far greater than a gem. 

My 10 year old daughter read this book as well ... she got the story, but she did not understand the "hidden" meaning behind the tale until I explained it to her.  Now - no offense to the "blondes" - but my daughter IS blonde!  :)  However, I do recommend this book for reading outloud and discussing.  It was an easy read, and I would look forward to another tale by Diana Symons! 

Holiday Deals & Steals

Have you mailed your Christmas cards yet??  I haven't ... of course, I haven't even received the finished cards in the mail yet (hopefully tomorrow!).  You might consider ordering some FREE address labels from Vistaprint.  I have done this before - and they are pretty nice but standard labels - but what'd'ya expect?  THEY ARE FREE!!!  :)


And what about those holiday photos??  You can get 40 FREE prints if you sign up with York Photo (use code:  YMW4CP) as well as $0.04 photos!!  That's one of the cheapest most inexpensive prices I've found for prints.   If you're like me and wait a long time before getting prints of digital pictures, this is a great offer.  :)


And as always, check out coupons.com.  Just Monday night, I made vegetable pizza for a ladies' meeting and needed 2 packages of crescent rolls (which I hate to pay full-price for!).  Walmart had them on sale, AND I got a coupon for $0.55 off 2 packages of crescents (Pillsbury).  YEAH!


And lastly, for fun, check this out:

A Really Neat Person:

It is funny how you "meet" people in the blogging world that somehow become your "friends" ... you kind of "click" (literally and figuratively), and then you find you have things in common (and even some things NOT in common, but that's ok too). 

Mrs. Doug is a fascinating person who blogs at Green Twig!  She is one of my favorite commenters on my blog & leaves me interesting tidbits or encouraging advice.  She lives on a home-stead-like property in the Northeast with Mr. Doug (wouldn't it be weird if I had said something like Mr. Steve or Mr. Jim??!! hee hee).  She works full time plus takes care of a variety of plants (garden) and animals (mostly fowl). 

She used to be a Christian school teacher, which endears me to her even more - and I wish she'd move to Missouri and work in MY KIDS' Christian school ... ;) 

Anyway, Mrs. D is celebrating her 1 year blog-a-versary ... and she is giving away 2 items!!!  2 very very cool items.  I prefer item #1 but I think item(s) #2 are really nice as well.  Soooooooo, go check out my friend - and enter to win!!  :) 

Say MMM! - a review

This is a Mama Buzz review. The product was provided by saymmm.com/Brian Hutchins for this review.
I am LOUSY at meal planning ... LOUSY.  I am LOUSY at working with a meal-planning web-site ... LOUSY.  It is through NO FAULT OF THEIR OWN that I can not give you my personal experience on saymmm.com, a meal-planning website HOWEVER I am happy to pass along this information BECAUSE if I weren't so LOUSY at meal-planning, I'd be using this website in a heart beat!! 

The concept of saymmm.com is to help families save time & money to get meals on the table!  And the basic service is FREE!!!  You can get free meal planning, grocery lists, and organize recipes in one handy place on the web.  (SayMMM Premium with many more features is $3/month)

Check out more information on facebook - with instructional videos available there too.  Saymmm is even compatible with iPhones! 

If I ever get it together and start meal planning, saymmm.com is saved in my favorites, & I will be trying it. 

You can read more reviews about saymmm on mamabuzz from people who have actually tried the site.  In fact, after reading the reviews there, I am thinking it is time for ME to dive into my saymmm membership & get to meal-planning!!

My Shutterfly Christmas

With Love Chartreuse Christmas Card

Shutterfly Christmas cards

View the entire collection of cards.

Thanks to Melanie sharing her friend's link to a great deal, I got 50 *FREE* Christmas cards from Shutterfly.com!  It took me a long time to scroll through their vast selection to find a card that fit my pictures perfectly, but I finally found one!  I can't wait to get my cards in the mail.

I did have to pay shipping & tax - but that was MINOR compared to paying full price for the cards.  If you can't get FREE cards, you can still get up to 20% savings or free shipping (on orders of $50 or more) right now.

 THANK YOU, SHUTTERFLY!  I've always been a fan of your photobooks and cards, but now you're my Christmas Heroes!  ;)

Real Life Revealed

So, Thursday, I went Christmas shopping with a friend and her 2 daughters.  We were to meet at 9:30 a.m. - and I, NOT being a morning person, slept in until the last possible minute.  As I attempted to get myself and my baby ready in a very short period of time, I just kind of left a trail of things behind me as I rushed through the house, trying to get everything together.  I let Miriam pull things out of the cabinets as I fixed my hair and make-up in the bathroom and decided just to leave all the bath-and-body products she pulled out where they lay.  Plus there were about 5 loads of unfolded laundry in my living room, stacks of unorganized paperwork and mail on the dining room table, and I probably needed to clean the cat litter boxes.  If I had taken time to empty the dishwasher, I could have put in all the dirty dishes left in the sink.

Leaving the mess behind me, I picked up my friends, and blissfully, we drove to a nearby city to go do our shopping.  Half way to our destination, my cell phone rang, and my husband informed that my in-laws were going to be stopping at our house TODAY instead of tomorrow, as planned, on their way home from his grandma's funeral.  Well, there was NO WAY I was going to give up my shopping plans to go home to clean up my house.  And thus I made a huge decision:

I decided that my in-laws would have to see my house as it was. Since they would be arriving there before me, there was no hiding my mess.  This is just how life happens sometimes.  They would get a glimpse of the real, unorganized me.  As someone who ALWAYS cleans frantically before company comes, who hates to be caught off-guard, this wasn't so easy for me to accept ... but given no choice, this was my fate. 

I came home that evening to find my in-laws, husband, and older two children sitting in the midst of my mess, chatting happily, eating some left-overs they had brought, seemingly totally oblivious of the mess all around them.  They were just happy to be together.  And I was happy to join them. 

PROLOGUE:  my in-laws went to bed early, and I immediately commenced cleaning up everything so that I had a somewhat orderly house again by the next day.  :)

As I contemplated what had happened to me, I thought of a spiritual analogy - a "moral to this story:" 
I clean up myself pretty well for church each Sunday and Wednesday; I know what the Bible says about how a Christian should act and live; I desire to be sincerely and genuinely doing what is right.  BUT I am often more of a mess than I want to be.  I neglect the maintenance of my spiritual life sometimes, and I turn into a great big, walking disaster.  Occasionally, because it is bound to happen, that mess is revealed - either by my bad attitude, by something ugly I say, or oftentimes just because I slip up and reveal the true sinfulness of my heart. 

Matthew 12:34, "...out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaketh."  Or as Jim Berg describes it in Changed Into His Image, our lives are like tea bags; when we get into "hot water," what is inside comes out.  If anger, bitterness, and ugly thoughts are inside, they will eventually be revealed.  If we try to maintain a godly attitude, joy, and a love for others, that too will be shown clearly when times of trial, irritation, interruption, or the unexpected happen. 

Sometimes we have to do some "spiritual housekeeping."  It would be easier if we weren't so prone to sin, so apt to forget the needful things to maintain a clean heart before the Lord.  Thankfully, as Christians, God still works on us daily, knowing our "frame" (our weakness), that we are but dust.  (Ps. 103:14).  He lives in our hearts; He knows the REAL us.  Even in the midst of the mess, He still comes in, ready to accept, forgive, and help us work our way out, if we allow Him to. 

"Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me."  (Psalm 51:10)

Budget Bargains

Today it was time to do a little (more) Christmas shopping!!!  I took a friend & her home-schooled girls (to entertain Miriam) ... and off we went to the BIG CITY. 

After a successful stop at a grocery surplus store, we went to the mall.  Since I got over my 1980's childhood/teen-hood need to walk aimlessly through the mall, I really don't go to the mall much any more ever.  HOWEVER, I had coupons!

And hence this post may become a VBP* (Very Boring Post) to you:  my coupon successes.  Now, some may say, I would have "saved" more money by not spending any money AT ALL, but apparently, I have "sucker" written on my forehead ... and so off I went, lured in by some smarty-pant's marketing campaign to get me to the mall.

Our first stop was Bath and Body Works.  Their holiday pocketbac anti-bacterials were $1 each.  FUN SCENTS!!  and the holders were 50 cents each!!

I got some of those & 2 holders as stocking stuffers/gifts.  As well as a $5 "winter" room spray so that my fake Christmas tree can smell real ... with this $10 of stuff, my coupon entitled me to 1 free product valued up to $13.  I got Anna some body spray in "Forever Sunshine" fragrance ... which sounded like her - though my husband said the scent reminded him somewhat of mosquito repellent ... so we're hopeful it will do double-duty if she wears it in the summer.  ;)

On to the Hallmark store - I had a $5 off a $5 or more purchase coupon.  Since Miriam has not had any special ornaments given to her yet, I got her this Keepsake one:

This will NOT be Miriam's 1st Christmas since she was born on December 22 last year ... but she will be 1 year old this Christmas.  This represents her age not her "1st Christmas" since it doesn't say those words on it like some of the ornaments do.  It just has the year on the back.   

My last coupon/offer was for Kay's Jeweler's.  Every so often they have a great customer appreciation sale and usually offer 2 pieces of jewelry for a special price.  I've gotten 2 quality rings and a necklace in the last few years for $20 each.  This weekend (Friday-Sunday), they are offering a nice ring and a lovely (IMO) necklace for $19.95 each.  Since it was Thursday, I asked if they had their specials in already ... and they did!  A sapphire with little diamonds on a silver chain.  I have enough jewelry myself, so I'm contemplating who to give this to, but I couldn't pass it up.  My friend got one as well.  If you like jewelry and live near a Kay's Jeweler's, I'd recommend checking it out!!  :)

Satisfied with our "bargains," we headed home.  It was getting REALLY COLD and with a few packages in hand, I was beginning to feel a little more of the holiday spirit! 
This evening we attended our school's band and choir concert in which our older 2 children participated.  Christmas music played and sung by 5th-12th graders seemed to seal the idea in my mind that it is officially THE HOLIDAYS. 

Tea Traditions

Growing up, I moved several times while in elementary school.  I went to a different school in Kindergarten, 1st grade, and then 2nd grade, only to change again in 5th grade AND then moved to another state right before 6th grade!  I can't remember any of my "friends" from Kindergarten to 4th grade at all...

Since we have lived in the same place now since 2001, Anna has grown up with 2 special friends that she has known since she was a year old.  Even though the oldest is a full year older than Anna and the middle friend is 9 months older, they are in the same grade at our Christian school.

 Since 2004, these girls and their mothers have gone to a quaint tea house in Versailles, Missouri called Shady Gables.  Anna was 3 years old when she first went to Teddy Bear Tea - and sniffed her tea and declared, "THIS STINKS!"  We used to also go to "Tea with Mrs. Claus," but this year we had the Queens Choice full afternoon meal.  It was delicious!! 

 I am so thankful for these memories with my daughter.  Each Christmas we have gotten a special tea ornament to commemorate our visit.  I love getting them out each year and remembering all the special times we've shared.

 But don't let all my talk of traditions and tea fool you, we moms benefit from this tea time because we get to talk, laugh, act goofy, eat, and do a little shopping afterwards ... all our favorite things!  :)

(Christmas Tea Day 2008)

Please Vote for ME!!

My blog has been a bit impersonal the last few days ... I apologize.  I'm a little uninspired & busy right now. 

So, CHRISTmas is approaching fast!!  It's going to be a simple Christmas for us this year (as it usually is actually), but I'm trying to find some frugal ways to make it through the holidays.  I recently won a $100 Walmart gift card from Elmer's/Wal-mart/MamaBuzz which will help ... and now I'm trying to win a Hallmark Keepsake ornaments package (which would make nice gifts!).  If you have a moment, would you consider voting for my tree??  The link to the voting form is at the end of the article; it just takes a click by "The Life of an Ordinary Hausfrau" ... UNLESS you look at all the trees and don't think mine is as nice as some of the others.  Vote with your conscience!!  ;) 

THANK YOU!!

Winter & Holiday Offers

I've been a fan of Vistaprint since I got a FREE personalized photo calendar from them.  I have also used them for address labels and a gift for my daughter's teacher (personalized postcards, don't tell!!). 
20 holiday cards for $1.99 is another great deal!

And check out this offer too.
(I had to click through a few survey questions/offers before I got my coupons/samples, but it only took about 5 minutes since I just clicked "no" and "no thanks" for every offer):