Inspiring

Many of my friends have buttons on their blogs that say, "I read Nie Nie". About a month ago, I finally checked out the NieNie Diaologues. It is an absolutly beautiful blog. Her story is amazing and her life is beautiful. I could read her blog all day. I feel like I'm reading a Jane Austen novel. It's probably because she almost always refers to her husband as Mr. Nielson. Its the best kind of love story.

To catch up on her life story, I'd suggest reading this article on Opra's website.  Take a moment to read her posts prior to the accident and the ones written by husband when she couldn't write....you'll be hooked!  Her words and pictures make an almost ordinary life seem so magical. It's simply beautiful. I always come away wanting to live my life to the fullest and love my husband more.

Her blog is linked on the right here, just click on "I read NieNie".

I hope you enjoy her stories and her expressions of faith and love!!

Someday Crafts

Somewhere during my maternity leave I was introduced to craft blogs, now I'm addicted. If anyone had mentioned craft blogs prior to this time I wouldn't have been necessarily interested. Now, I love the idea of thinking about, "what can I make? or "how can I improve this or that?" So I see all of these awesome ideas but I usually can't do them because I lack either the materials, tools, space or time and I forget about them. But here are a few of my "someday" crafts. (I know there is a blog called Someday Crafts and I thought it was perfect for me because that's what I always say....someday.)

Heart Felt Wreath

Would have liked to have done this one for Valentine's day.

Flowered Shirt- Idea Room

Snowmen Balls- Idea Room

I love snowmen! But not right now, this is a craft for next year!

I think this picture is funny...poor little snowmen stuck in a jar. It's like they are saying, "Somebody,let me out, please!"

Beadboard Frames-Batchelors Way

Love this...do you think it would work with only three pictures?

Now, I need to find spring ideas and get ahead of the game.

Tomorrow I'll have to post a picture of a really cute flowered headband I made for little girl to go with her sunday dress! I was so excited about it! I never knew crafting could be so much fun!!

Can't leave it alone!

Here is a scrumptous, simple dessert that you really just can't leave alone. Trust me. I was going to take a picture of what it looked like yesterday when I got home but Victory got home before I did and there wasn't much left to take a picture of. :)

Can't Leave it Alone Cake
1 box Yellow Cake
1/3 C Oil
2 Eggs

1 C semi-sweet chocolate chips
1 can Sweetened Condensed Milk
1 stick of butter (I've used margarine and it hadn't been turning out so Sunday I used butter and it finally turned out right)

Mix cake mix, oil and eggs. Spread 1/2 -2/3 of mixture on the bottom of 9x13 pan. Melt the chocolate chips, sweeten condensed milk and butter in microwave. Pour over the cake mixture in pan. Dollop the remaining cake mixture over the chocolate. Bake at 350 for 20-25 min...just until golden.  ENJOY!!!

*I got this from my sister, who got it from somebody...not sure of the original source.

In need of a second wind

I am exhausted! So tired. I feel like I can't keep up. I lied in one of my previous posts where I thought working full time was probably easier than staying home with little girl but I feel that I am wrong. I feel like ever since I said that it has just been getting more difficult everyday.
My boss came in the office this morning and asked, "what's the good word?" I had I nothing to offer. I realized I need an attitude change! No more "woe is me". Maybe I can bring on my own second wind by thinking about the positive!

Positives of working:

-Insurance

-Savings

-sometimes fulfilling

-gaining skills and confidence in certain areas

-a nice walk from my car to my building on campus everyday

-a good boss and coworkers (most of them any way)

-my own office with a window

-I know little girl is in good hands while I'm at work. (but I do miss her!!)

Other postitives:

-An AWESOME husband who realized I needed a break this weekend and took care of a lot of the household responsibilities.

-I felt like I spent some quality time with Victory and little girl this weekend.

-I didn't leave the house AT ALL on Saturday...so nice.

-Little girl fell asleep in my arms at church...she hasn't done that for me for a very long time. It was very sweet.

-My "Can't leave it alone cake" turned out fantastically yesterday. YUM YUM! Butter not maragine. I think it made all the difference! (maybe tomorrow I'll leave you the recipe for it).

-Had a nice dinner with family and friends. We played a Monopoly card game. I kinda like it. In my opinion, much better than actual monopoly.

With that list of positives I'm going to leave you now. Hope the sun comes out today!!

Curious for some Green$$$

Question: Do you ever click on the ads that are posted on blogs?

Question: Would you ever consider putting ads on your blog for money?

Question: Would I be lame if I did? :)

I've thought about monetizing my blog with Adsense (you can do it to your blog too). You get paid for either  cost-per-click or cost-per 1000 impressions (by how often their ad shows up on your blog).  It sounds like the likelihood of making much is pretty low but I am curious whether it will work or not.

So, if you have any experience with it I'd like to know  OR if you think I'd be completely LAME-O for trying...let me know! I don't want to lose any friends or visitors because of my curiosity. :)

If by your comments, I am not deemed "LAME-O" for trying, I will do a trial run for a month or two and let you know how it goes because really, I'm curious. If I can make enough to buy a Frozen Hot Chocolate from DQ in a couple of months- I'd be pleasantly surprised.

*Random side note: Back in High school I used to work at DQ. Pretty much tried everything. My absolute favorites: Strawberry Banana Smoothie and the aforementioned Frozen Hot Chocolate Smoothie. HEAVEN! You won't see them on the menu but you can still order them.

Still Hungry

I was just looking at my Olive Garden post....I'm hungry. Always hungry. What's a girl to do?

the end.

9,862 Days

This is the precise age (at least fairly precise if I did my math right and calculated the correct number of leap years) of my dear hubby on his 27th birthday. No wonder why he was afraid of 27! Thats a heck of a lot of days! However, I told him he's not old in my book until he's 70 thats approximately 25,550 days. Now thats old! :) jk.

I think I should be extremely happy if we could spend somewhere close to 24,813 more days together (and let's not forget eternity after that!).

YOU'RE THE BEST HUN!!!