May Mantle

If you follow me, personally, on FB you already know this, but I have been so encouraged by all the prayers that I am going to post this here, too! Quinn was sent home last Tuesday with pink eye. Then he spiked a fever on Wednesday. On Thursday I took both my shorties to the doc, and my Q had strep throat. Mo had a cold and an ear infection. Then Q's ear drum burst on Friday. Yesterday my husband took his new bicycle for a quick spin, and the tire blew and he tipped and broke his collar bone. Today I am thanking God for our health, even in the midst of our ailments, and Casting Crowns "Praise You in the Storm" keeps running through my head. In spite of everything, I am encouraged.  

1 Chronicles 16:34 "Give thanks to the Lord, for He is good; His love endures for ever." Amen? Amen!!!

I am working like crazy on my booth for the flea market, so I haven't spent much time working on projects for my house.  I did, FINALLY, update my mantle.  I mean, it isn't Easter anymore...;) This mantle has a very similar feel to the Easter Mantle, but no bunnies!  

It's time for some more pain medicine for my hubs, so I've got to run.  Enjoy your day, and enjoy the Son!!!

Hello...?

For those of you that have noticed my absence, thank you for your concern.  It makes me feel very blessed! To answer your questions, I am not sick, nor is my family!  We are all quite healthy--praise the Lord!!!

Here is a quick update on my absence on the blog.  First of all, the weather is finally nice, and I am enjoying time outside with my kiddos.  I do not really know why, but I have been very aware lately of how quickly this time will be gone.  While the CONSTANT, "Mommy!  Watch me!!" and, "Mama!!!  Look at this!" wear me out by the end of the day, I know that all too soon that will be over.  I see my short people growing everyday and becoming more and more independent--and that is fantastic!  That's what we want, right?  I just don't want to look back and wish I would have spent more time with them.  I feel quite confident that I will never say, "Gosh.  I wish I would have spent more time on my blog when the shorties were still shorties...", ya know what I mean?

Second, I cannot remember if I shared this or not, I am going to have a booth at the Kane County Flea Market in June.  I am sooooo excited about this, and I have been making projects like crazy!  Seriously, my living room/dining room has been overrun with projects. I am having a lot of fun making the projects for the booth, but it is time consuming.  

Third, my knee is still pretty rotten and everything I do takes about three times longer than normal.  Ugh.  Since my knee slows me down so much, it takes all the time I have in the day to work on projects and just be a wife and mommy, and stopping to write a post means I am not working on all the other stuff that is piling up.  It's a vicious cycle, I tell ya! ;)  The good news is that I did see an orthopaedic surgeon, and I do NOT, for sure!, need surgery.  The bad news is that when I hurt my knee, it appears that I actually cut into the MCL and hamstring.  It has been almost four months since the injury, and my knee is still very sore and swollen.  I have fluid in the bone, which is a very deep bone bruise.  The specialist said it could take up to 18 months to fully recovery.  I am faithful with my PT and feel confident that my knee is improving.  Pray for me, though, because I do get discouraged at times!!!

Fourth, (now it just seems like I'm making stuff up!), since it is finally nice out I have been able to do some yard work.  You may not know this, but I LOVE yard work.  Seriously, I really, truly enjoy it.  It is hardwork, but it is so rewarding!  Sidenote: I have wanted tulips my whole life, but I never remember to plant bulbs in the fall.  However, last fall, Mo and I planted 30 bulbs, and they all came up.  So pretty!

And last, I am going to be "auditioning" for the upcoming season of So You Think You're Crafty. I won't know for a few weeks yet if I am actually in the competition, but since I am going to be in Texas for the first couple of weeks of the competition, I have to have my projects ready in case I actually advance.  Since all of the projects have to be completely annonymous, I am not sharing most of the things I have been working on just yet.

Sorry I do not have any photos to share right now.  I am having some technical difficulties, and my tech guy is out of town, at a tech conference!  Oh, the irony!!!

Thank you all for following along with me--even when there isn't much to see!  Praying you are all well!

Love, Holly

Tuesday Tips and Recipes #6

So much has happened in the last week and a half, and I will share it all with you soon!  For now, I am just going to share this week's tip with you.  Here it is: Go directly to your nearest Home Depot and buy some ferns!

Seriously, they are enormous!  ENORMOUS!!!

They are currently on sale for $9.98 each.  Did I mention that they are enormous?!

I hung them up as soon as I got home, and it instantly felt more Spring-y.  (You know what I mean!)

My hubs and I were sitting on the porch before I took a pic.  I sit on my porch every.single.day. from April-November.  I absolutely love this cozy space.  Anyhow, my hubs asked if I wanted him to move for the pic, and I was like, "Nah.  It's more real this way!"  

I have been buying ferns for our porch for four years now, and these are truly the largest ferns I have ever bought at that price!  I am honestly not sure if my ferns, that I fertilized and nurtured for six months, ever looked as big as these do right now!  

I generally do not buy any plants before Mother's Day, but I make an exception for my ferns.  They are very hardy, and if we do have another freeze, they are easy enough to just unhook and move into the garage.

Do you live in an area where it is already safe to plant without worrying about a late, spring freeze? Have you started planting yet?  What about you gardeners out there?  Have you started your seeds inside?

Well, whether you are planting anything or not, I hope you take time to enjoy the rebirth and renewal that Spring brings.  Enjoy the Son!

Easter Mantle

I know.  Easter was last week.  We were on Spring Break, so I didn't post anything, but I thought this mantle was too cute not to share!

Remember those buckets that I gave a faux patina?  They all ended up on my mantle!

My husband recently surprised me with a "just because" gift, and included in the gift where these three nails, and I thought they were incredibly fitting for an Easter display.  So thankful that my debt has been paid!!!

I just LOVE old books, and I love to incorporate them into my decor!

I have quite a collection of flower pots.  I very quickly dry brushed some white paint onto a few of them, and I like the way they turned out.  And you can see that I stuffed book pages into just about everything for this vignette!

I think I will leave this up for awhile.  It makes me happy!  What about you?  Do you have your spring decor out, or have you already moved on?

I pray things are well for you!  Enjoy the Son!

Tuesday Tips and Recipes #5

I pray you all had a lovely Easter!  We have been on Spring Break, so I took a short hiatus from blogging to spend the time with my short people!  

This installment of TTR is kind of a recipe AND a tip.  A few weeks ago, I read this fantasic post from Victoria over at A Subtle Revelry.  When I saw this "piñata" cake, I knew it would be perfect for my son's birthday party!

Now, Victoria has great photos and great tips, so check her post out for lots of details.  Or just read mine and hope for the best (kidding!).

I started with two boxes of vanilla cake mix.  Since I only have one glass bowl for baking, I baked each cake seperately.  I mixed the cake per the instruction, poured the batter into the glass bowl (which I lined with parchment paper on the bottom and sprayed the sides of the bowl), and baked the cake for 55 minutes.  I let the cake cool for 10 minutes, and then I transfered it to a cooling rack, where I let it cool overnight.  Then I repeated the same steps for the second cake!

The next morning, I cut the tops off of my cakes to make them flat.

Then I scooped out some of the inside of each cake, being careful not to get too close to the edge or too close to the bottom.  I saved the inside pieces of cake for cake pops!  Then I filled the bottom cake with candy.

Next, I frosted the edge of the bottom cake (using a jar of whipped, buttercream frosting) so that I could "glue" the cakes together.

Once the cakes were together, my daughter helped me frost and sprinkle the cake.  **Worthy of note: When I carved out the "top" cake, I went a touch too deep, and I could feel that the top was very thin.  I had to be careful when frosting so as not to puncture the top.  I succeeded, but the cake did collapse a bit once we cut into it.

My short people watched/helped me make this cake, so they knew what was coming.  We, however, did not tell any of our short guests what was inside, so their faces where priceless when we cut into the cake! Unfortunately, I do not have pics of that, and I barely have pics of the inside, because it is hard to serve cake and ice cream and take pics!  No worries, though.  It was a fun time, and I am SURE we will be making this again!

I feel like I should note that while this was super fun to make and surprise the kids with, most kids just kind of picked at it and went for the cake pops instead!  I don't blame them--I wasn't even tempted to try this!  I got a sugar high just from putting it together! ;)

This was such a fun and easy spin on a birthday cake.  If you try this, send me a picture and I will but a post together with YOUR cakes!

Enjoy the Son!