40 by 40 update

Just a few updates on my 40 goals by 40.  This is my own personal accountability more than anything else.

1) I completed another item - I took a CPR class on Thursday, Sept 16th and passed with flying colors.  It was much easier than I thought it would be and am glad I learned it.  I like that I can use a defibulator now too.  Which, by the way, never be scared to use one - they are all dummy proof.  Just open the case and turn it on.  It will give the directions to follow. 

2)  I located the music to Clare-de-lune.  The same music I used back in high school when I played it for my senior recital.  I'm excited to squeak out time to work on this song.  When I get it down, I will record it and post it so you can hear :-)

3) I e-mailed Lisa Laplant to see if I can get her to meet us for dinner :-)

4) I started reading my Bible through in a year - my start date was Wednesday, Sept. 15th, 2010

5) My quilt is coming along - I actually have it out of the basket it was in and had hoped to get the binding all pinned today but I ran out of time.  Maybe I can get that done tomorrow.  Than I just have to sew it :-)

6)  I'm doing research to find out how to get on the bone marrow transplant list too!!

That is what I've been doing :-)

On a seperate note - Fall Decorating.  I've been bit by the fall decorating bug!  I've been looking at so many blogs where the writers have decorated for the fall so I'm going to pull out what I have, try to make some things I've seen, and maybe check out the dollar store with my change jar (seriously . . ) and see what I can find.  My goal is to decorate the first weekend in October so I had better get busy :-)  I'll post pictures of what I do and links to crafts as well!

Show Us Your Life - Living Room

Another blog I follower, Kelly's Korner, is doing a weekly posting called "Show us your life" Fridays (Obviously I'm a day late!).  It looks kinda fun so I thought I'd try it.  Feel free to look up the info on her blog.  http://www.kellyskornerblog.com/2010/09/show-us-your-life-living-rooms.html

So here is my living room:

So this is the view of my living room standing in the dining room (on the left) and standing at the end of the living room looking towards the dining room (on the right).  Yes, I have along living room and, in case you were wondering, we do have kids! LOL

Here's the toy corner a little closer - I love this storage unit.  It holds so much stuff neatly!  Eventually it will get moved into one of the boys rooms and I will get another one for the other room (that's how much I love them!)  and that will open up a nice space in the living room :-)

Opposite of the toy corner is my "office"  We turned our office into our baby room so I had to cut down and organize!! 

And our entertainment center.  I do love it but it is huge.  Eventually, when we can get a flat screen TV that we can hang on the wall, we'll get something more streamlined.  The only downside is I will lose my display area on top.  For now, I'm enjoying my things :-)

Finally this is the view into our master bedroom - the first door between the chairs (next weeks room!) and one of the boy's bedrooms. 

Hope you enjoyed your tour :-)

Too Much Chocolate Cake

I came across this recipe recently and yes, I admit, the name sucked me in because, really, can there  be "Too much chocolate cake"?  It's cool and rainy today so it seemed like a perfect day to check this out!

Too Much Chocolate Cake

1 (18.25oz) Package Devil's food cake mix
1 (5.9 oz) package instant chocolate pudding mix
1 cup sour cream
1 cup vegetable oil
4 eggs
1/2 cup warm water
2 cups semisweet chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  In a large bowl mix together the cake mix, pudding mix, sour cream, oil, beaten eggs, and water.  Stir in the chocolate chips and pour batter into a well greased 12 cup bundt pan.  Bake for 50-55 minutes or until top is springy to the touch and a wooden toothpick inserted comes out clean.  Cool cake thoroughly in pan at least an hour and a half before inverting onto a plate.  If desired, dust the cake with powdered sugar

(Yes there is a slice missing - I had to taste it!!)

Notes:  Sitting here, I got to thinking - I do believe I left the oil out of this recipe . .. because I don't remember pouring any oil but I could be wrong . . I know I set the oil on the counter but don't remember pouring it.  I wouldn't suggest trying it without it though, just in case I just don't remember??? But the cake is fantastic . .. so maybe I'll have to make it again and not put oil in on purpose . . the sour cream might be enough moisture. . ..
** I added 1 teaspoon of instant coffee to the water (I boiled the water and added the coffee) because coffee enhances the flavor of chocolate (I am not a coffee drinker and do not taste the coffee in the cake)
**I made a chocolate glaze for the cake (like it wasn't chocolate enough) using 3-4 Tablespoons of whipping cream and 2/3 cups chocolate chips.  Melt in microwave about 30 seconds and stir until melted.  Spread on cake allowing it to fall off the sides.
**Also, I used mini chocolate chips - I like them in cakes because they don't sink to the bottom of the cake and tend to melt making little pockets of chocolate instead of a firm piece of chocolate in the cake.
**I did not have a bundt pan so I used my angel food cake pan instead and it turned out fine
**This is an incredible cake - a great one to make for a gathering because it is so good!! (Or keep it all for yourself but it is RICH!!)

How to Make a Baggy Book

Here's a fun craft to do with your kids, students, Sunday school class or up-and-coming Scrapbooker!

The Supplies for a Baggy Book are simple:  3 or more Zip-lock style sandwich bags; cardstock or poster board; Photos or pictures; Scissors, Marker, Glue (or Glue stick), Stapler and Duct Tape

1) Step one:  Cut Cardstock down to size to fit inside the baggy.

2) Cut out the pictures, as needed.  There are many options - for this example, I just used clip art pictures from my computer.  Real pictures of family members or sights would also be a great tool as well.  Using pictures of family members would be a great way of association for infants and children with learning disabilities.

3) Glue photos on the front and back side of the cut cardstock.

4) Label the pictures, if desired.  The labels could be left off so the child has to remember what the picture is or the picture could be put on the front side and the word on the back so the child could see the picture and also recognize the word.

5) Once all of the pictures are placed on the pages, slide the finished pages into the baggy. Stack all the baggies on top of each other.

6) Staple along the side of the stacked bags.  I chose to do mine along the "open" end.  You could do this along the "sealed" edge instead and reuse the bags for other projects.

7) Once stapled securely, use duct tape to make a "binding" on the book.

Above is the front cover of my book.  The rest of the pages are below:

This is a quick and easy project to do for any unit that is being studied.

1) Young Children - use it to help them learn new words, animals, shapes, colors and more

2) Sunday School - Have the children create one at the end of the unit with a key picture from each lesson; just supply the pictures and have them tell the store in one short sentence.

3) School  - use it for any subject as a study guide or as a project to go along with the lesson.

4) Scrapbookers - If you have a little one who likes to "help" you scrapbook, cut paper to size and give them pictures and scrapbooking glue.  Allow them to scrapbook away and put their finished project in the baggie and make a book!  Think of how proud they will be of this special project which you can also include in your own scrapbook later.

SMA Blog Party!

What is SMA?  It is Spinal Muscular Atrophy, the #1 genetic killer of young children.  Take time to watch this video and I'll also explain why I'm taking part in this SMA Blog party.
 http://www.youtube.com/gsfoundation

I was going to do a post with lots of info on SMA but I think that this blog tells it best :

http://kendraandryanwebster.blogspot.com/

It is through this blog that I even know about this disease as they lost their 4 month old daughter to one of the mutations of this terrible disease.  You can read the story on their site as well starting in November 2009
So why a blog party?  Just trying to get the word out there and get people to vote for the Gwendolyn Strong Foundation to win $20,000.00 for SMA research.  Go to VoteForSMA.com every day in September through Jimmie Johnson's Samsung Helmet of Hope contest. 

PLEASE VOTE: It's really this simple
You can vote once EVERY DAY from now until September 29th at 5 PM EDT.

Go to VoteForSMA.com, select Gwendolyn Strong Foundation, enter the two security words, check the Official Rules box, and than click "Vote now!"

That's it!  It's really that simple.

Share this with those that you know and get them to vote too!  This doesn't cost you anything other than a moment to vote for something that could help someone in your family down the road.

And, if you need further encouragement to click on any of the links in this e-mail or read the stories just look at this:

This is a picture of the sweet little girl who passed away from this disease. 

You can also watch this video as well:
http://www.youtube.com/user/stronwi

Thank you!

Worship Wednesday - Lead Me

Last week, I heard a song on the radio called "Lead Me" by Sanctus Real. I quickly wrote down the name and finally had a chance today to look up the group.  The song is great - it talks about a Wife who needs her husband to lead, Children who need their Daddy to lead and the prayer of a Husband and Father to God to help him be the man he needs to be.  The words are strong but it goes further than that.  Check out their website ( http://sanctusreal.com/) There is a video that gives the story behind the song and there is also a "book" you can click on with the "Lead Me" prayers. A Prayer for Husband, A Prayer for your children and grandchildren, and A Prayer for Wives.  I love when Songwriters have a reason behind their songs and this is truely a great reason. 

Lead me is now the top song on my play list.

Good Morning Girls

In my search of blogs, I came across one called Women Living Well ( http://womenlivingwell-courtney.blogspot.com/ ) that was pretty interesting.  I noticed one item she posted about was the Good Morning Girls group.

  It is an accountability group of friends who e-mail each other every morning to check in on their daily devotions. I thought it sounded like a good idea and before I had time to try and "convict" people into joining a group, she set up a website where you could connect with women all around the world to set up accountability group.  That is what I did :-)  I've met up with 9 (I think that is what we are at now) women.  As we shared backgrounds, we found that we all come from some very different backgrounds which makes us very well-rounded.  Feel free to click the button on the side of my blog to read more about this opportunity.

I wanted to share what I'm working on in my devotions right now.

First, I am Reading a daily devotional book called Today is the First Day which deals a lot with loving yourself as your are and being a light for God even with your uniqueness.  It has been on my shelf for years and I figured now was a good time to start it.  For my Bible Reading, I am using the Woman's Devotional Bible (2) and reading the daily passage along with the daily devotional.  The "A New Day" is actually my journal for where I record what I learn.  Than there my prayer journal.  I'm also, as part of the 40 goals by 40, starting my journey of reading through the Bible so I have my Bible for that with the spreadsheet.  Finally, the book on the top, Miracles by Karen Kingsbury, is a weekly devotional that I plan on using on Sundays in place of everything else to add some variety.  In case you are worried this is too much, to do everything each day only takes about 20 minutes :-)