Cozy Cottage & Simple Living

2013-01-25T20:38:00.001-08:00

Wow! I know it's been a whole year since I last blogged, but Life just got so busy!
Now I am starting something new and I want to share it with you!
I am a "Hoader" ! I have piles of stuff all over my cottage! Every flat surface is covered!
I just joined a Boot Camp!

Source: buttonedupbootcamp.com via Rhonda on Pinterest

I am going to blog about this beginning on 1 Feb!
I am asking for support, encouragement. and for anyone out in Blog land to Cheer me on!
This is a one month commitment!
So I am now going to commit to blogging everyday in February!
Please leave me a comment, so I know you have my back in this difficult commitment!
I love my stuff! I have OCD about letting go of my beloved stuff! It's time to Let go and live my dream life.....Clutter free and Organized!

~Blessings~
Rhonda

Clever Ideas To Make Life Easier, Even If You Don't Live In A 900 Sq. Ft. Cottage!

2012-01-03T19:23:00.000-08:00

To hull a Strawberry use a Straw!

To stop an apple from browning after cutting it, put a rubber band around the Apple!

How to fold a fitted sheet instaed of just Scrunching and bunching it then stuff it in the linen closet!

For a neat linnen closet store your sheet sets in one of the pillow cases.
There'll be no more hunting for matching set!

I love this one! Attach a strip of Velcro on the wall to hang up those little stuffed animals and soft toys!

Use a Megnetic strip, attach it to the inside of your bathroom cabinet or vanity door to store bobbie pins, Tweezers,and clippers!

I'm all for "Recycling" so what to do with those bread tags?
They make perfect cord lables for your TV and Computer, whatever cords you want to lable!

Use wire to make a space to store your gift wrap rolls against the ceiling instead of taking up floor space! I love this in our cottage as every bit of floor space counts and besides having rolls of gift wrap in a tall trash can takes up floor space. I hung up my wire in my closet, it's out of the way and off the floor!

Install a tension rod inside your cabinet to store all your cleaning bottles!

Micowave your own popcorn in a brown papaer bag instead of buying the expenisive Micowave popcorn! It's healthier and cheaper too!

Bake cupcakes directly in an ice-cream cone! It's much more fun and easier for children to eat!

In our homeschool, we use a muffin tin for all our craft items and "tools" to become our craft caddy! I put magnets in the bottom of the cups, so it becomes tip-resistant!

I have more that I'll post at another time. I hope you have enjoyed this blog as much as I have enjoyed blogging about these "Clever Ideas"!
I would love to hear what you think of these clever ideas! Leave me a comment!
Until next time, Have a blessed day and the may your week be a blessing to you!
Blessings,
Rhonda

Have I got something for you for the new year!

2011-12-19T20:29:00.000-08:00

I know I haven't been blogging like I thought I would when I first started this blog. (I thought I'd be blogging everyday about something interesting!)
I thought by now I would have tons of followers, because in my mind I visioned my blog would be so popular! Ha!
Ok I am now working on a blog post that is going to make your life easy peasy in 2012! Even if you just do a few, or all! Please come back to my Blog to see what I am talking about! I should have my new blog posted in 2012 on the 1st or 2nd of January! Oh! I'm so excited about this blog and this new year 2012!

Something we all need to keep in mind this Christmas!

2011-12-19T20:20:00.000-08:00

Just a few days ago, my friends on Face Book, in CEO Moms, wwere talking about this very thing "prefection"!
Prefection can be a very dangerous thing! I know I use to "re do" what my child just did. Like she would make her bed and it wasn't perfect, so I just fixed it a bit to look better to my liking! I was always fixing the things she did or made, one day she looked at me, with huge tears rolling down her cheecks, and in a sobbing cry she said, "Mommy just leave it,it's my work! It's just fine! Leave it alone!" she barried her little head in my apron,on my lap. Sobbing her little heart out. I felt about two inches high, right then. and vowed I would never touch another thing, that my little five year old did again ever ever agin! I haven't either!

This was in an E-mail I received and it was so fitting to me. I just had to share it!

The Beauty of Imperfection

In my mind, I saw perfect little gingerbread houses all lined up in a row, looking much too good to eat. I quickly realized this family project would yield anything but perfect gingerbread houses and there would be more eating than architecture completed that night.

And it was beautiful.

There we were gathered ’round the dining room table with piles of graham crackers, tubs of frosting, and oodles of brightly colored candies, creating delicious memories.

No, these gingerbread houses did not step off the pages of some nationally syndicated cooking magazine, but to my children, that night was perfect.

How often my heart longs for perfection. I want those perfectly staged magazine ads. I want perfect hair and the perfect apron and the perfect kitchen. How often I fail to recognize that what I want does not exist and even if it did, I would not want it.

No memories are made in studio photo shoots of staged holidays with airbrushed models. And if I spend my life longing for an ideal that only exists in magazines and on television, I will have missed the beauty of my real life.

We must teach our daughters that perfection is not something to be found in the things of this earth. We must never get so caught up in our expectations that we fail to see the beauty in our limitations.

As my family laughed and frolicked that night, I was struck by how even my best attempts at perfection always fall miserably short, but if my heart and mind are focused on Christ, it is His love that shines through my imperfections and creates a beauty that far exceeds my expectations.

So, this holiday season, I seek Christ’s perfection and not my own.

And it is beautiful.

So please remember, It's OK if things aren't perfect for holidays or anything in your life....It's OK....It's OK just keep telling yourself that when you are temped to "fix" something your child has just done!

Merry Christmas everyone!

2011-12-19T19:20:00.001-08:00

Annebell

2011-11-03T00:36:00.000-07:00

Annebell had her puppies on July 29, 2011. She had seven puppies! We were so surprised to discover she had them sometime in the early morning of July 29!
She seemed to be nervous, and would not nurse the puppies. That night, we checked on Annebell and the puppies, they all seemed to be doing great. Annnebell was laying with her puppies.
Then the next morning we went to check on Annebell and the puppies and we found Annebell dead. The puppies were under her legs and we had to pull them out and clean them up.

We had to bottle feed the puppies. We use reuglar baby bottles and nipples to feed the puppies. We bought puppy formula and it cost $20.00 a can! It was more than baby formula! Anyway, feeding seven puppies was very overwhelming for us! We had to feed these puppies every three hours! And then try to manage our two children and a household. I couldn't do it, so my daughter found a friend of hers that was willing to help us out. So she took four puppies into her home and bottle fed them. We kept three. That was all I could do with having children too. Unfortunately, the four other puppies caught a virus and all died. Our three puppies did very well and they are now healthy and happy pups!

When the puppies got older, we started feeding them "mush" which was puppy food mixed up with a hand mixer. They LOVED it! and the feedings got easier as the puppies got older, it went from every three hours to every six hours.

The puppies had many baths, and they didn't like it!

I think the puppies were about two weeks old, maybe older (I don't remember)they could eat, and do their business all on their own. Yay we didn't have to help them do their business anymore! (Not a job I liked!)

I love this photo!

Maria loves to play with the puppies and they love her!
I will post some new photos of the puppies, now that they are 3 months old.
We are keeping all three puppies. their names are:
Ladokta, he is my pup. He is the watcher of the group. He loves to please, and loves to cuddle! He's so sweet!
Cocoa, is Maria's pup. She is the trouble maker and loves to get into anything she can! But we love her!
Cheyenne, She is Ken's pup and looks like she could be Annebells twin! Cheyenne is the oldest of all the puppies. She loves to please and loves to play tug the toy with her brother and sister.

2011-11-02T23:23:00.001-07:00

Oh My!

2011-10-24T23:12:00.000-07:00

I am so sorry I haven't kept up on my Blogging! So much has happend over the summer! I tell you what, I am going to do a "catch up" Tomorrow, while my littlest daughter is napping. I have so much to tell you! Some sweet and some very sad news. I will also post pictures too! Please come back and check out what I have to tell y'all! I hope y'all had a lovely summer! my goodness where did our summer go?
Many Blessing to each and everyone who comes across my blog! :0)

Catching up over the fall and winter.........

2011-03-20T20:43:00.000-07:00

This blog is a "Catch Up", I kinda forgot about my blogging duties during the long winter! So now I decided to just do a whole mess of photos to show you what our simple life has been like over the long winter. So get some hot tea or coffee, sit back and enjoy reading about our simple lives over the long winter!

Our little Eliza Jane is growing up fast! Here are a few photos during our long winter.

Here's Happy Maria!

Cold Lake Superior!

The Harbor at Lake Superior

Our Lovely dog, Annabell!

Winter season was long!

So Happy today is the first day of SpRiNg!

Our lovely Dog, Annabell wanting to come in to say "Hello"....

We had a beautiful Fall Season, Just wanted to share some photos with you of our beautiful Fall tree leaves.....

This last Fall , we had fun building "Fairy houses"!

My oldest granddaughter busy making "Spoon Dolls"

These two are four months apart....

The whole cousin gang!

Winter in the North land of Minnesota, there are days where you can't let the children go out to play in the snow because it's too cold.

To stay busy, I taught Maria how to sew by hand, and we made bean bags! This is her first time sewing. She loves to sew and will ask me to help her sew dolly clothes, more bean bags, and clothes for spoon dolls.

Here are a few photos of my living room. I have spring fever ,so I did some spring cleaning this weekend. Today is the first day of Spring! But it snowed all day today..Ugh!

Having a small living room 12W X 14L,I can't have much furniture. But I think this new set up is cozy!

Now that Spring is here, I can't wait for the snow to melt,so I can get out into my gardens and start planting! I've been pouring over seed catalogs all winter!
C'mon snow get melting!

Well I guess that all the photos for now. I am going to try and keep up my blogging. I do like to write about our life.....but my question is...

Is anyone out there reading my blog? I would love more folowers!
Blessings!
Rhonda

2010-12-11T23:06:00.000-08:00

Ok It's the Christmas season! I love this movie of the photos I posted above. I hope everyone, who reads my blog, has a Merry Christmas!

My son is traveling back to the lower 48 from Alaska. He will be here for Christmas, and then in January, he'll be traveling to New York, to his new duty station. My Son is in the U.S. Army. He has been in the military for nine years. I can't wait to see him!

I haven't posted photos of the inside of my home. So here's a peek into our home. The above photo is our dinning room.

Putting The Gardens "To Bed" The Ruth Stout Way

2010-10-02T14:08:00.000-07:00

These past few weeks I have been cleaning out the gardens and putting them to bed the Ruth Stout way. I just know I am going to like this new (to me anyway) gardening method that Ruth Stout discovered so long ago. I bought her her book called, "How to Have a Green Thumb Without an Aching Back" I read it in one night from cover to cover,I couldn't put it down! Oh and this little book wasn't cheap, but well worth it to me. As this little book is now my "Bible" to gardening.
Reading Ruth's book was like sitting in her kitchen, drinking tea, and having a conversation with her! Her book is just lovely with all her stories of her failures and successes of her gardening experiences.

I took some photos of the garden after I put the hay down.
I'm not going to compost in a compost bin anymore. I am just going to collect the food scraps in my compost pot I have in the kitchen, and then dump it out into the garden area in different places of the garden. Why not? Ruth says the garden is one big compost anyway!

I hope y'all have a great fall this season. The colors up here in the north land is just beautiful! I should blog about how beautiful the colors are here! Maybe That will be my next blog!
Many Blessing to you all!
Rhonda

Potato Harvest

2010-09-22T18:31:00.000-07:00

This year we tried the "Ruth Stout" method of gardening. You use hay for mulch. You lay hay down in your garden area up to 8 inches to start with. You keep adding hay when you see a weed pop up. you never have to hoe, plow, weed, water...it's like a dream come true! You can have a garden and not have to to all that hard labor of weeding and watering! Well I thought I had this garden in the bag this year! Then When I got my garden planted in June, I got sick and had to go to hospital for two days. Then after that spell, of being in hospital, my energy just slipped away! I couldn't function! I could barely take care of my little girls. All I wanted to do was sleep, and I still couldn't get enough sleep to actually function right. So my garden went by the wayside for the summer. I never went back into my garden since I had planted it, and it sadden me.

The summer went by fast, and I enjoyed the good days when I felt pretty good and could do a little housework and take care of my little girls. As I did the dishes, I'd look out the kitchen window and see my poor neglected garden calling me to come take a peek. But I never did. I just figured that nothing was growing because I didn't do anything! Not even put hay on top of the weeds, and I could see the weeds were doing very well, and it sickened me to know that I spent all that money on seed potatoes and bails of hay for my hopeful beautiful garden I was dreaming of!

Now it's September. Summer is finished up here in the north land. The trees are turning their beautiful burnt orange, deep red, and brilliant yellow hues. The air has the smell of fall. Maria always tells me, "Mommy, come outside and smell how beautiful smells like!"

I'm feeling better now at least I have my energy back. I can take care of my little girls, and take care of my housework. So yesterday, we went outside to play baseball with Maria's new bat and ball. We took turns hitting the ball with the bat, and had a good time playing.

We were taking a break, sitting on the steps and I looked over at my neglected garden. It called to me to just come look..... just maybe something grew...yeah right, I said to myself. Well curiosity got the best of me, so we went to venture over to the garden ..just to take a look.

I saw dead potato plants, weeds everywhere, mostly morning glory chocking the potato plants. "They didn't even have a chance!" I said to myself. Maria was walking around the dead potato plants and she pulled a plant out of the dirt, several small potatoes fell out with the plant. We both looked at each other, and Maria said," look mama! Potatoes!" She scrambled to pick them up. I then started poking around another dead potato plant and found more good size potatoes under that hay mulch. So we went to the garage got a pitch fork and two plastic milk creates, went back to the garden and started digging up the mulch and finding potatoes! Some were chewed on by a family of mice, but we were hopeful to maybe find some potatoes that the mice didn't get to and sure enough we soon filled the two milk creates with potatoes! Some potatoes were huge for a garden that was totally neglected the whole summer!

After we finished digging up all the potatoes and came into the house to warm up, as it was chilly. I said some prayers of thanks to the Lord.
We harvested two milk creates of potatoes, I keep thinking had I took care of my garden and mulch as I saw the weeds come up, just think of the harvest I could of had! But I am still thankful of what the Lord did provide for us!

“If I’d learned anything from experience and from Ruth Stout’s books it was to experiment….try different methods, be open to the ideas of others, but always temper those ideas with common sense…..Gardening is like cooking: Read the recipe and then use your head.” A dash of skepticism can do no harm. Go lightly on caution, heavily on adventure and see what comes out. If you make a mistake, what of it? That’s one way to learn, and tomorrow is another day.” Ruth Stout

Harvesting a Neglected Garden.......

2010-09-06T21:18:00.000-07:00

This year we tried the "Ruth Stout" method of gardening. You use hay for mulch. You lay hay down in your garden area up to 8 inches to start with. You keep adding hay when you see a weed pop up. you never have to hoe, plow, weed, water...it's like a dream come true! You can have a garden and not have to to all that hard labor of weeding and watering! Well I thought I had this garden in the bag this year! Then When I got my garden planted in June, I got sick and had to go to hospital for two days. Then after that spell, of being in hospital, my energy just slipped away! I couldn't function! I could barely take care of my little girls. All I wanted to do was sleep, and I still couldn't get enough sleep to actually function right. So my garden went by the wayside for the summer. I never went back into my garden since I had planted it, and it sadden me.
The summer went by fast, and I enjoyed the good days when I felt pretty good and could do a little housework and take care of my little girls. As I did the dishes, I'd look out the kitchen window and see my poor neglected garden calling me to come take a peek. But I never did. I just figured that nothing was growing because I didn't do anything! Not even put hay on top of the weeds, and I could see the weeds were doing very well, and it sickened me to know that I spent all that money on seed potatoes and bails of hay for my hopeful beautiful garden I was dreaming of!

Now it's September. Summer is finished up here in the northland. The trees are turning thier beautiful burnt orange, deep red, and brillant yellow hues. The air has the smell of fall. Maria always tells me, "Mommy, come outside and smell how beautiful smells like!"

I'm feeling better now at least I have my energy back. I can take care of my little girls, and take care of my housework. So yesterday, we went outside to play baseball with Maria's new bat and ball. We took turns hitting the ball with the bat, and had a good time playing.

We were taking a break, sitting on the steps and I looked over at my neglected garden. It called to me to just come look..... just maybe something grew...yeah right, I said to myself. Well curiosity got the best of me, so we went to venture over to the garden ..just to take a look.

I saw dead potato plants, weeds everywhere, mostly morning glory chocking the potato plants. "They didn't even have a chance!" I said to myself. Maria was walking around the dead potao plants and she pulled a plant out of the dirt, several small potatoes fell out with the plant. We both looked at each other, and Maria said," look mama! Potatoes!" She scrammbled to pick them up. I then started poking around another dead potato plant and found more good size potatoes under that hay mulch. So we went to the garage got a pitch fork and two plastic milk creats, went back to the garden and started digging up the mulch and finding potatoes! Some were chewed on by a family of mice, but we were hopeful to maybe find some potaoes that the mice didn't get to and sure enough we soon filled the two milk creats with potatoes! Some potatoes were huge for a garden that was totally neglected the whole summer!

After we finished digging up all the potatoes and came into the house to warm up, as it was chilly. I said some prayers of thanks to the Lord.
We harvested two milk creats of potatoes, I keep thinking had I took care of my garden and mulch as I saw the weeds come up, just think of the harvest I could of had! But I am still thankfull of what the Lord did provide for us!

“If I’d learned anything from experience and from Ruth Stout’s books it was to experiment….try different methods, be open to the ideas of others, but always temper those ideas with common sense…..Gardening is like cooking: Read the recipe and then use your head.” A dash of skepticism can do no harm. Go lightly on caution, heavily on adventure and see what comes out. If you make a mistake, what of it? That’s one way to learn, and tomorrow is another day.” Ruth Stout

Sharing a new recipe and doin' a little catchin' up....

2010-06-30T16:56:00.001-07:00

Lemon Herb Chicken

1/3 C. oil
2T. Grilling seasoning
1T. Garlic
2T. Lemon Juice (Fresh is best!)
2T. Parsley, Chopped
2T. Rosemary,Chopped
2T. Basil, Chopped
Place all in a bowl except the chicken!
Stir to mix well.
Place chicken pieces into mixture.
Be sure to coat chicken pieces well.
Place in Refrigerator for at least 2 hours or over night.
I like to use Chicken legs with this recipe, but you can use what you like.
Next cook chicken pieces on grill or on cook top.

So where do I begin? So much has been going on with us! Maria went to "Farm School" for two weeks, she absolutely love it! They did chores on the farm, caught minnows and counted them. Collected eggs and graded them. Feed the goats and sheep baby goats and lambs. Held the baby bunnies to tame them. On the last day they did a program resiting little finger plays and poems. I thought this will be great to blog about! I was so excited to tell you all about "farm School"! Of course I forgot my camera! I was so angry at myself! Well Maria is going next summer in June, and you can bet I am going to remember my camera!

Eliza Jane has so many teeth I have lost count! She is crawling and pulling herself up on the furniture! She'll be walking very soon! I'm thinking before she turns one year in Sept.

On June 25th, 26th & 27th, we had our family reunion on my Mum's side. There was great food, great conversations, and my sister and I were clowns! We had some of the children and adults stand up in front of everyone, and do the "Tooie Ta" dance. It was great fun!

We are taking a summer break from home schooling until August 27th. Maria and I need a break for a while.

I am working on my "Family Closet". I want to blog about how I set the "Family Closet" up. The reason I am doing a "Family Closet" is because my little cottage does not have enough closet space. Plus with my laundry room, if you can call it a "laundry room", is in the basement, I am tired of hauling laundry baskets up the stairs and too tired to put the clothes away, so we live out of laundry baskets. our clothes are always so wrinkled then. So I am doing something about it! But that's another blog post in the near future!

We haven't gone on any camping trips, as money is tight right now. But we live in Northern Minnesota, so it's like we are camping all the time anyway. But yet, it would be nice to get away from here just for a bit!
I hope y'all are having a great summer so far!
Happy 4th of July!
Rhonda

Stepping into the past of the 1700's........

2010-03-05T13:51:00.000-08:00

We went to a "Sugar on Snow" fest and had a great time! Here are some of the things Maria did. She rally enjoyed learning about what people did back in the 1700's.

Two lovely ladies all dressed up!

Grinding wheat berries into flour.

Small animal pelts for clothing.

More small animal pelts.

Spinning the Flax into yarn.

Working Flax into yarn.

Wood working.

Uhoh....... what did she do?

Maria learning about making wooden spoons, counldn't just go to the store to buy a spoon back in the 1700's!

Learning about the Spinning wheele.

She's working hard at making that butter!

Maria got to see how butter was made. She even got to churn the butter!

Maria played some games from the 1700's

For a weekend we got to look into the past of the 1700's....
In the children's corner, Maria got to play games that children played in the 1700's. I asked her if she like her toys better or the toys from the 1700's. She said she liked the toys from the 1700's! She loved the stilts, and did very well with help of course!

Preschool for Maria

2010-02-27T15:16:00.000-08:00

We are finishing up on learning about Virginia Randolph, Frederick M. Jones, Charles Drew, and George Washington Carver. We have learned so much about these wonderful people!

Today, Maria will play Dentist in dramatic play. she will give all her dolls and stuff animals checkups and teeth cleanings! I set up a dentist office in our dramatic play area.

For manipulative activity, Maria will do several "tooth" puzzles.

We will also learn how to practice brushing and flossing. I have a Styrofoam egg carton, a toothbrush, and 12" length of yarn. Maria will be encourage to pretend to brush and floss the sections of the egg carton as if she is flossing teeth. While she practices< I will be talking about the importance of brushing and flossing to keep her teeth and gums healthy.

Our Rhyme we are learning is:

Brush Your Teeth
Brush your teeth. It's fun, you'll see.
You can brush them now with me!
Put on toothpaste, just a bit.
Then start brushing, just like this.
Brush and brush, it takes awhile.
When you're finshed, show your smile.

Hope your weekend is going great!
Blessings,
Rhonda

Life Lesson I have learned......

2010-02-23T14:57:00.000-08:00

Here is a life lesson I was sent from a dear friend. I want to share with everyone!
It has changed my way of thinking and how I handle myself.
Enjoy!

Carrots, Eggs, & Coffee

A carrot, an egg, and a cup of coffee...You will never look at a cup
of coffee the same way again.
A young woman went to her mother and told her about her
life and how things were so hard for her. She did not know how
She was going to make it and wanted to give up, She was tired of
fighting and struggling. It seemed as one problem was solved,
a new one arose.

Her mother took her to the kitchen. She filled three pots with water
and placed each on a high fire. Soon the pots came to boil.
In the first she placed carrots, in the second she placed eggs,
and in the last she placed ground coffee beans.
She let them sit and boil;
without saying a word.
In about twenty minutes she turned off the burners..
She fished the carrots out and placed them in a bowl.
She pulled the eggs out and placed them in a bowl.
Then she ladled the coffee out and placed it in a bowl.
Turning to her daughter, she asked, ' Tell me what you see.
''Carrots, eggs, and coffee," she replied.
Her mother brought her closer and asked her to feel the carrots.
She did and noted that they were soft.
The mother then asked the daughter to take an egg and break it.
After pulling off the shell, she observed the hard- boiled egg.
Finally, the mother asked the daughter to sip the coffee.
Her daughter smiled, as she tasted its rich aroma.
The daughter then asked, 'What does it mean, mother?'
Her mother explained that each of these objects had faced the same
adversity: boiling water. Each reacted differently.
The carrot went in strong, hard, and unrelenting. However,
after being subjected to the boiling water, it softened
and became weak.
The egg had been fragile. Its thin outer shell had protected its liquid interior,
but after sitting through the boiling water, its inside became hardened.
The ground coffee beans were unique, however.
After they were in the boiling water, they had changed the water.
'Which are you?' she asked her daughter.
'When adversity knocks on your door, how do you respond?
Are you a carrot, an egg or a coffee bean?
Think of this: Which am I? Am I the carrot
that seems strong, but with pain and adversity do I wilt and become soft
and lose my strength?
Am I the egg that starts with a malleable heart, but changes with the heat?
Did I have a fluid spirit, but after a death, a breakup, a financial hardship
or some other trial, have I become hardened and stiff?
Does my shell look the same,
but on the inside am I bitter and tough with a stiff spirit and hardened heart?
Or am I like the coffee bean? The bean actually changes the hot water,
the very circumstance that brings the pain.
When the water gets hot, it releases the fragrance and flavor.
If you are like the bean, when things are at their worst, you get better
and change the situation around you. When the hour is the darkest and trials
are their greatest do you elevate yourself to another level?
How do you handle adversity? Are you a carrot, an egg or a coffee bean?
May you have enough contentment to make you sweet;
enough trials to make you strong;
enough sorrow to keep you human
and enough hope to make you happy.
The happiest of people don't necessarily have the best of everything;
they just make the most of everything that comes along their way.
The brightest future will always be based on a forgotten past;
you can't go forward in life until you let go of your past failures and heartaches.
When you were born, you were crying and everyone around you
was smiling.
Live your life so at the end, you're the one who is smiling and
everyone around you is crying, either from laughing to hard,
or because they're missing you!

Quilting and Sewing is my hobby......

2010-02-12T21:39:00.000-08:00

This is a quilt, I made two years ago. It took me almost a whole year to make this quilt. It's my second one I have made. The first quilt, I made, was a baby quilt for my first grand baby. I just wanted to share it with y'all.
I love to sew! I like making clothing for my four year old daughter, mostly dresses! I also like to sew dresses for myself. I enjoy sewing very much , as it is a relaxing time for me.

Maria's Favorite Homemade Pizza....

2010-02-05T18:04:00.000-08:00

~ Johnny Apple Seed Pizza ~

One pizza Crust or use 1 can of crescent roll.

Wash one apple core it, and cut into bite size pieces.

Cheddar cheese, grated. 1 Tsp. brown sugar, 2 tsp.cinnamon and sugar or use more to suit your taste. Form pizza dough into a pizza crust. If using the crescent rolls, lay dough into four pieces side by side, and press the "seams" together. To make a rectangle shape.

Grade the cheddar cheese and cover crust. Next, slice the apple into bite size bits and put on top of cheese. Sprinkle brown sugar on top of apple bits. Then sprinkle cinnamon and sugar mix on next. Top with a little more cheddar cheese to cover all the apples. Preheat oven to 350 F., Bake for 15- 17 minutes.

Enjoy!

2010-01-06T22:05:00.000-08:00

Ok It's 2010 and I am going to start blogging! I just noticed that I have made this blog in March 2009! I have totally forgotten I started this! LOL