Tina The Storyteller

  A Prayerbook for Husbands and Wives I was reminded of this little book while having lunch with a dear friend this past week.  It is a lovely collection of prayers for husbands and wives to share with and for one another.  It has a broad range of subjects that it covers including good times and bad.  The book also has a litany for celebrating Sabbath as well as a yearly retreat for couples.  Joel and I have used this little book off and on through out our marriage.  It was an impulse buy one day at Barnes and Noble during our second year of marriage and it has been a blessing.  It helped us get started in our celebration of Sabbath and has helped us retreat with one another to grow in the bond that God has created between us.  I recommend it if you want to pray for your spouse but I warn you that you may very well end up in a deeper relationship with them and with God.  I would also recommend Wangerin's As For Me and My House . 

1. Safe Travels!  I am so thankful tha twe made it home safe and sound.  And I am also thankful that even though it's icy out today, we have had safe travels around town.  It's such a blessing to be able to get where you want to go with out getting hurt along the way. 2. Lazy days at other people's homes.  it's nice not to have to do house work because you aren't home, but then get to come home that evening and sleep in your own bed.  It's good stuff. 3.  Glasses, without the, I would totally not be able to see. 4.  Crazy dreams.  I hate them, but they help me to appreciate when they aren't occuring and to rely more heavily up on God.  5.  Cash, I don't carry it around with me often, but it's kind of nice to know that when it's gone it's gone and I don't have to log on to the computer to see if I have enough money for something.  Maybe this will be a new trend.

One of the things that I hate about traveling is that it always causes me to second guess our decision to home school.  Well, it's not the traveling itself, I think that promotes it because then we can see family on their schedule and not have to worry about taking Hannah out of school or catching up on homework.  Okay, I love the travel part, it's the comparison part that gets me.  Either I'm doing it or someone else is telling me about how it's "okay" that Hannah doesn't know certain things yet.  And then I compare our progress with what is evident in other children that have been in the school system this entire year and I get that little doubt of fear that I'm making my child stupid by keeping her home and teaching her as the winds blow.  Do all home school families go through this season of doubt when first starting?  I find it hard to find as much comfort in the things that my daughter is not learning, such as the concept of "hot" and

I had all these grandeous plans to finish a bunch of projects and then start new ones without the guilt of leaving the old ones behind.  That did not last long at all.  I did two and half of the StallOut projects done and have been collecting wonderful fabric for the other two quilts (which is acceptable, right?) and have pretty much decided to ditch the other one I reported on, but now, I have a whole new set of things that I'm working on.  Would you like to see a picture??? You see that? Smocking has taken over once again.  I didn't even put in my socks in the picture, and I have two on needles right now! I'm hoping to start with these two smocking projects and get them finished by the time Hannah is still able to wear them! Unlike that purple one on the top right which is in the StallOut category because I can't figure out what to do with it now that the smocking is done and it's no good for the original purpose. I blame it all on Australian Smocking and Embroi

It's always interesting to me to be able to leave during the week and then be back in time for church. It's almost as if the trip was its own little secret. Speaking of secrets, can someone please share with me the secret of keeping kids from tattling on one another. And I guess that's not the real secret I want to know, the one I really want to know is how exactly is it that one gets children to play nice with one another. I am thankful that the cousins were all comfortable enough with one another that they bickered and argued but to be honest, it annoyed me to no end. I try my best to not instruct or correct my niece and nephew, as we only see each other once a year, twice if we're lucky. But it's tough to stand by and let things happen as well. I guess that's the part of family life that will have to be figured out as the years go by. Unfortunately, I did not get any pictures from this trip, well, there was one picture almost right at the beginning,

I wanted to jump in today and say a quick hello and let you know about some of the things that I am utterly thankful for this Thursday! 1. Planes and their ability to move people from one location to another so quickly. What used to be a once in a lifetime one way journey I can now make easily in a days time and then turn around in a week and do it all over again. 2. The Seattle Museum. It was quite lovely and I enjoyed seeing some Monet, my favorite, and then I also enjoyed seeing a Matisse and thinking "I could totally do that" 3. Coffee, good Seattle kind of coffee, strong and with junk readily available to cut the bitter, things like half and half or steamed milk. NUM 4. Family. It's quite lovely to be with family. And I'm thankful that they are willing to love one another enough to argue, but man it wears me out (I'm referring to Hannah and her cousins not the adults) 5. My dear sweet husband, whom I love with all my heart. I'm so glad

We've made it here safely and are having a fantastic time. Thought I would be able to post more, but it appears that I need to catch some bunnies in a Mario world

Just wanted to let you know I won't be around to blog next week. I'll try to sneak in a post or two but no guarantees. By the way that's a tough word to spell.

I don't even know if I could tell you how thankful I am that today is Thursday.  The day did start out just a little rough, but we coffee'd through that.  I am so glad that I get to share some lovely things with you that I am super thankful for.  1. Sunday is my birthday!!!  34 years ago Sunday, my Momma bore me from her womb.  I am so thankful that God used her to deliver me into this world and that she and my father, cared for me and taught me and set me free to unleash my craziness self on the world. 2. With that in mind I am thankful for early birthday presents!!!!!! Which will make up the rest of my Thankful Thursday list... A.   A membership to The Detroit Institute of Art .  I am looking forward to wandering around and taking in all  the beautiful arts and maybe even catching a film or two! B. A gift card to amazon.com where I purchased not only Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs from Video On Demand that we've been watching on the Roku , but also a subscrip

Do you remember that old hooked on phonics foreign language commercial where they taught you how to say things by turning them into things you already knew? Like spelling socks aloud actually means something in Spanish. No? Well, no matter, that's not what I'm really posting about any way :D What I'm really posting about is my first pair of knit socks! Hannah was kind enough to photograph them for me.  I think she might have a future as a photographer! It was actually enjoyable once I watched some tutorials from Miz Booshay at The Quiet Life .  The first sock took me a month, the second was done within two weeks!  And as soon as they were off the needles, I was hot to put my second pair on.  Remember, I have all that cute yarn just waiting.  I started on it last Friday and had turned the heel and finished the gusset by midday Sunday, but then had to "frog" it because it was too small for dear Hannah's foot!  So now, I'm back to working on it agai

I was inspired by Allison over at the last bite and her post on Grilled Cheese to share this little treat with you.  I found the original recipe in the little booklet that came with a sandwich press that I bought for my hubby a couple Christmas's ago.  I don't know that we used the machine more than once, but this recipe has been a nummy treat several times since I call it PB&C cause that's what it is.  Here's all the ingredients you'll need: That's right, bread, peanut butter, chocolate chips and little butter for frying. You just spread the peanut butter on the bread, sprinkle with chocolate chips, add another slice on top and then fry it up like a grilled cheese.  This is what you get in the end: Ooey Gooey nummy PB&C.  It's nice and rich, a good alternative to spoonfuls of frosting.  (Don't pretend like you don't do it, too!)  I think the added protein helps stop the sweet craving faster than normal cookies.  It's super

Our poor daughter is blessed with the messy gene. She comes by it naturally, I am a messy child myself and my husband comes from a line of hoarders too long to list. It's tough stuff for little people. The mess becomes so large in their room so quickly that it's near impossible for them to tackle it by themselves and don't even start to factor in emotional attachment that prevents the complete removal of stuff from their life. Well, my beloved husband, Joel, did a thorough cleaning of Hannah's room this past Christmas break while he was off from work.  It was beautiful.  He did a great job. I went back in there today and it was you guessed it, not safe for human habitation. Stuff everywhere! So as a Valentine's present, I decided to clean her room. We also rearranged, but that's not nearly as important as my bright idea. I was done picking out all the trash and toys that were beyond broken or had no reason to be with us other than the fact that we ca

Today, I'm going to share one of my favorite recipes!  This is real winner at our house and we often serve it to guests. Chicken Enchilada Soup adapted from a  cooks.com recipe 1 dozen corn tortillas 1 onion, chopped 4 cloves garlic, minced 2 tablespoon oil plus more for frying 14 1/2 ounce beef broth (we use water with bouillon) 10 ounce chicken broth (ditto with the bouillon) 1 can cream of chicken soup (undiluted) 1 pound baked chicken seasoned with fuego (mixture of spices, I'll have to find the recipe and add later, we make a big batch and use it for fajitas and this soup and any thing else that needs some tasty spicy goodness) 1 1/2 cup water 2 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce 1 teaspoon ground cumin 1 teaspoon chile powder (not the spice mixture, but ground chile peppers) 1/8 teaspoon ground pepper 2 cups Cheddar cheese, grated Cut all tortillas into 1/2 inch strips and set aside half. Fry remaining half of tortillas in hot oil until crisp. Feel free to

Today, I am exceptionally thankful for 1. A car! We have one and share it between the two of us. And I am ever so grateful that we don't have to walk everywhere. I'm even more grateful for all those wonderful people that drive me places like CBS, Bible Study, and random days out. 2. Snow. I know most of you out there are anti-winter, but I must say, given the choice to play in the snow or play in the slush, or even the barren brown winter grass, I'll choose snow hands down every time. I love the stuff, maybe because it reminds me that my sins have been washed away, or maybe because it's like sand but without the uncomfortable grit. 3. Coffee. I don't need it, but I definitely am thankful for not only the beverage, but the conversations that it allows. How many times have I been able to sit with my mom and talk about real stuff over coffee? I can't even count. 4. The USPS! I love mail! And I am thankful that I can put things in a box and they

When I was a wee lass in my late teens/early twenties, I had long hair.   It was beautiful.  I always got complements on it, especially when I would go to get it trimmed. Well, about three or four months after this picture, I got crazy one night and shaved it all off. People complemented me on the shape of my head, but for the most part my friends were not impressed. I have not really grown it long since then. I've tried and then I get to about the chin length stage and hack it all off.  Well, I decided that I am going to grow it out long once again.  I'm not going to try to do it, I am going to do it.  I will give myself bangs, I figure once it gets long, I can grow those out separate.  But I'm here to say that I will be posting periodically about my angst and frustration as it grows and grows and grows some more. I would like to say one thing about this for those of you that think this is a silly thing to post, because the truth is it is a silly thing.  When I d

Hannah is a huge fan of marshmallows and I have always been on the quest to discover exactly why it is that people love s'mores. I'm not the biggest chocolate fan, in fact I don't really like it at all. But there is something about this treat that intrigues me. Normally when I've been served s'mores at the campfire, the marshmallow has been tasty, the chocolate cold and the graham crackers lacking. I've done several things to "fix" the solid chocolate situation, normally I put the cracker and the chocolate next to the fire while I'm roasting the mallow to toasty goodness and that helps, a little. Recently, I read about someone making s'mores with Reese's peanut butter cups, and since this is one of my favorite treats, I had to give it a try. We went to the store and got our stash OH yeah, we picked up some caramel milk chocolates to try those out as well.   I used the stove to toast the marshmallows and a little metal shish-kabob s