A Little Easter Egg Inspiration

I love a good "creature" story.

And if actual photographs are included...well, now that's good reading!

So I wanted to share this article that I read a few days ago. I found it in our local community magazine that comes out about 2x a month.

I was just about to pull up Mapquest to find the exact neighborhood where the story took place so I could begin my stakeout, when I realized that this siteing actually took place in the Dallas metroplex, rather than here (Houston).

Let me know what you think!!!

Thanks to the author, Amanda Tackett for sharing her story!

The Sleep Deprived Mom and Other Horror Stories

Last night I awoke to Zachary crying in the middle of the night.

His throat is sore and he has had a cough so I got up and gave him some medicine...and then held him for a good while on the couch.

It was really nice to have a quite time in the middle of the night to be together....just me and him. Now on those rare occasions when one of the boys needs me in the middle of the night, it is almost fun to be awakened.

.

Hasn't always been that way.

My memories of the newborn stage are fuzzy at best.

Before he was born, I thought, "Sleep deprivation??? No problem. I am married to a youth pastor. It will be no different than a lock -in."

.

Ha!

My little lock-in lasted a good 3 months. As I recall, it was non-stop crying (and Zachary did his share of crying as well) :)

I was exhausted and thought I was loosing my mind (I think I was, in part....but I'll save that for another post)

I can remember sitting in the hospital bed 2 nights after his birth.

"Shhh, It's ok, Caleb. Don't cry little Caleb,Mommie's here."

His name is Zachary.

A few weeks later I would sleep right thru one of his hunger induced cries while dreaming that an aquaintance of mine was nursing him.

Once he got the sleeping thing down, he was actually an excellent sleeper and still is. Let's just say that I don't miss that stage. Not really. Not as long as they still need me in the middle of the night on ocassions.

Rare ocassions.

Very rare ocassions.

.

If you love to participate in swaps, check out this fun site!

I have a feeling that many of you already know about this! I am always the last one in the "loop!" :)

There's lots of competition for children's items on Etsy.

So I'm not sure how these will do, but I have just had so much fun making them!

Maybe I'll participate in a craft fair later this spring and summer and try to sell some there as well.

I wish that when the boys were little I had known how to sew so I could have made some things for them!

Yesterday I received a treasure chest in the mail.

It was from a dear woman, Ethel, who happens to be my brother-in-law's mother.

When my mom passed away in 1998, all of my mom's sewing supplies were given to Ethel as she is a professional seamstress and would make good use of them.

I didn't sew then...had little interest in it. And truthfully, I didn't even know where my mom's things had ended up until just a few weeks ago. Ethel found out that I now love to sew and emailed me telling me to expect a box in the mail.

So yesterday I got a huge box full of supplies that were once my mother's.

And my grandmothers.

My grandmother was a fantastic seamstress and when she passed away in 1987, her supplies went to my mother.

I am thrilled to have theses items... many vintage.

Who loves buttons? Apparently my mom and grandma did!

Tomorrow I plan on contacting someone to see about getting a necklace and earring set made from some of the buttons.

I feel so blessed and thankful for this sweet gift. It was so kind of Ethel to think of me in this way!

Rosemary Cheese Bread

We had this along with steaks, wild rice and salad last night for dinner.

I really love this bread. It is very dense so if you prefer the light as air, melt in your mouth type breads, this may not be for you. You can throw this together fairly quickly and tweak the seasonings to your liking.

Rosemary Cheese Bread~

2 1/2 cups all purpose flour

1 Tbsp sugar

3/4 - 1 tsp ground black pepper

1 Tbsp dried rosemary

1 Tbsp dried minced onion

1 tsp baking powder

3/4 tsp salt

1/2 tsp baking soda

2 eggs (beaten)

1 cup plain yogurt

1/2 cup oil

1/4 cup cream (or milk)

1 cup shredded cheddar cheese

Preheat oven to 350. Grease bottom and sides of 8x4x2 loaf pan. Combine 1st 8 ingredients. Make a "well" in the center of mixture. In another bowl combine eggs, yogurt, oil and cream/milk. Add to dry ingredients along with the cheese and mix until just combined. Bake about 40 minutes (use toothpick test). Cool 10 minutes and then turn out to platter.

My oven is misbehaving so I had to bake my bread quite a bit longer. Next time I will cook it even longer to get it nice and brown on top....I just got tired of waiting!

Enjoy!

By the way, do you love the potholder fabric? It's Henry....of course! I am thinking about adding some of these to my shop.