Thoughts of a Grasshopper

You Are a Dash Your life is fast paced and varied. You are realistic, down to earth, and very honest. You're often busy doing something interesting, and what you do changes quickly. You have many facets to your personality, and you connect them together well. You have a ton of interests. While some of them are a bit offbeat, they all tie together well. You friends rely on you to bring novelty and excitement to their lives. (And while you're the most interesting person they know, they can't help feeling like they don't know you well.) You excel in: Anything to do with money You get along best with: the Exclamation Point What Punctuation Mark Are You?

I thoroughly enjoyed this book. I found the book entertaining because there were parts where I could identify with due to I was as a teenager and what I must have put my mother through. The not-so-funny part is I'm in the beginning stages of some of these antics with our own kids. There were so many parts to appreciate about Claire as she continued to evolve. The worries of being a pastor's wife, wanting a wedding gown way out of her price range and becoming a dog walker to pay for, serving others through her dog walking business and eventually the assisted living facility she worked at. The ways in which we are quick to judge without having the whole picture. Wanting to be that great parent and struggling to know how to handle situations. The situations that are presented in this book are so realistic and it is easy to get wrapped up in the story and appreciate how things are handled and on occasion, consider what you would have done in that particular situation. The thre...

This card came after the swap was mailed but was part of the swap. So worth the wait and a super cute card to boot. Bev Gerard made the card and did a lot of cutting for this swap. I like the stitching with the DP, it seems to fit perfectly with this set. I was chatting with a friend outside last night when the sun was starting to set. I love that time of night when the clouds get a pinkish hue and the mountains seem to glow. My description can not do justice to what I saw, it was a magical few moments which this picture doesn't really do justice to. Due to the clouds, the mountains don't have their usual glow but it was beautiful.

Here are the cards from the swap I participated in. Created by: Jennifer Moneagle, Janine Tinklenberg Created by: Jessica Newton, Crystal Spencer Created by: Lisa Hoekstra

It has been a while since I read the book Leave It to Claire . I needed some light reading and because I enjoyed the first one so much, I picked up book 2 and 3 at a used store online. Time has been pretty short lately and by the time I'm going to bed and ready to read, I really need something light to read and enjoy. A couple of weeks ago a friend recommended Things My Girlfriend and I have Argued About . I know I finished the second chapter but I don't think I ever finished the third chapter. I'm returning it to the library tomorrow. Perhaps another time but it didn't appeal to me right now. I also bought Twilight because so many people have highly recommended it. I must admit I bought it with reservation because I'm just not into vampires. I will read it, but I haven't even tried to yet. I will probably read Anna Karenina and 19 Minutes before I get to Twilight. On to yet another easy read, Claire Knows Best. I really enjoyed this one, perhaps mor...

I was at a friends house recently and she had oodles of peaches and gave me 3 bags of peaches to do something with. Time wasn't on my side to make freezer jam like I had hoped. Church needs kept me crazy busy for most of the week. I found a recipe for bread and for muffins. The kids really liked the bread, so when I was at the commissary, I picked up more peaches. As I was cleaning off the counters last night I noted they weren't going to make it much longer so I made a couple more loaves of the bread. The bread seems like more of a spice bread to me because you can't taste the peaches at all. They are visible but they don't seem to really add anything to the bread. Still, another loaf is gone. I froze the other one for a later time. Peach Bread 2/3C butter or margarine softened 2C sugar 4 eggs 1/3C water 1/3C oil 2t vanilla 1/4t almond extract 2C peeled sliced peaches 3-1/3C flour 2t cinnamon 2t baking soda 1t salt 1/2t baking powder 1C chopped pecans Topping:...

This is the card I ended up making for Jami's sneak peek swap. I was frustrated because I tried to come up with a way to decorate the tree but I either didn't have enough (i.e., brads to use) or it just didn't work out like I hoped. In the end, I think I would like the card better with different colors but I went with the house I grew up and used the red that matched the DP. One last note, it was incredibly stressful to me to be in this swap. The ladies that were in the swap are leagues above me. Hopefully they were happy with what they received. I cut the windows three times and that was rather tedious. Not sure that I would do that many again or at least at one time. Not a terribly good picture but you can see the tree being more in the background with this picture. Stamps: Window Dressing, Lovely as a Tree CS: Celery, Riding Hood Red, VV, Hunter Bella Rose DP Ink: Stazon Black, Hunter, Garden Green Misc.: Dimensionals, VV Grosgrain, Transparencies, DD, CE