Want free stuff???

How would you like to win a COACH PURSE???? Seriously not kidding at ALL- just go to the AMAZING Recessionista site and enter THIS giveaway here. Quickly, no go now and then come back cause I have something just as awesome to tell you.

Ok thanks for coming back.

How would you like to win something like this???

Go to the Creative Crate and enter this wonderful giveaway.

These ladies are AWESOME for doing these giveaways, so make sure to thank them!!!!

Melissa and Doug Giveaway

Need a cute Christmas gift for a kid in your life? Want something that is not only fun but SAFE? Melissa and Doug products offer fun for kids and peace of mind for parents. Their products are safe for kids which is so important in the evergrowing 'lead paint' society we find our toys coming from.


Head over to "A Little Tipsy" and enter her giveaway for the Melissa and Doug Fruit Crate. It is ADORABLE! Your little one gets to actually CUT fruit with a little play knife- what kid wouldn't like that?

Blessings to you all, and I hope you win! (But not more than I hope I win) :)

Mixed Martha 'Motions

It's supposed to be "emotions" but the 3 M's just taunted me too much. I give in so easily to that little voice that snickers in my mind at things like that- the voice sounds a LOT like my friend Danielle Wolf.

ANYWAY- the real reason you are reading this post- MARTHA STEWART. That name brings strong emotions for many people. Some love her and emulate her every move, others loathe her and want nothing to do with her. I'm somewhere in the middle. I'm not a follower of her to the point that everything in my house is a soft breezy color and every gift or goodie I make is homemade but I'm also not a hater. She has some good ideas some of which I use and some I throw away knowing I will NEVER IN A MILLION YEARS use/make that!

No matter how you feel about Martha I have a link for you. On her website she has set up a "Santa's Workshop" page and it is CHOCK FULL of fantastic ideas! There are some really great recipes I'd love to try- these are just too cute!

And talk about GIFTS GALORE!!! They are all homemade gifts and you can search for different categories like 'for her,' 'for him,' 'for kids,' and others. I found several things that would be great ideas for not only Christmas, but birthdays and other celebrations!

Go check it out and if you make anything please let me know how it turns out!

Your hut

I received an e-mail from my Aunt today. She's a twin and is the 'receiver' between them, which means that when her twin sister has any kind of pain, she can feel it. They don't even live in the same STATE, but she knows when her sister has even a headache! The reason I preface this post with info on my Aunts is because I want you to understand who sent this message to me, it makes the words so much more powerful.
Dad was the twins older brother and definitely took on some 'fatherly' roles since my Grandpa had MS. Grandpa passed away when all the kids were young, and my Grandma remarried to a WONDERFUL man that raised my Dad and my Aunts as his own. Skip ahead SEVERAL years and here is what has happened in my Aunt's lifetime: Her father passed away when she was young, her brother (my dad) passed away in his 20's (leaving a wife, a 3 year old son, and a 13 month old daughter), her mother and step-dad both passed away, her nephew (my brother) passed away at age 19, and in the midst of ALL this she and her sister both incur incredibly painful physical problems and no amount of surgery or medication can fully control the pain. Now remember with the pain problems, that not only is she experiencing her OWN pain, but also the pain of her twin sister!!! DOUBLE WHAMMY!

Anyway- all that to share this with you, and to remind you that no matter what your circumstance, God is doing something through it. Just trust Him since he has YOUR best interest at heart.

Your Hut
The only survivor of a shipwreck was washed up on a small, uninhabited island. He prayed feverishly for God to rescue him. Every day he scanned the horizon for help, but none seemed forthcoming. Exhausted, he eventually managed to build a little hut out of driftwood to protect him from the elements, and to store his few possessions.
One day, after scavenging for food, he arrived home to find his little hut in flames, with smoke rolling up to the sky. He felt the worst had happened, and everything was lost. He was stunned with disbelief, grief, and anger. He cried out, "God! How could you do this to me?"
Early the next day, he was awakened by the sound of a ship approaching the island! It had come to rescue him! "How did you know I was here?" asked the weary man of his rescuers. "We saw your smoke signal," they replied.

The Moral of This Story: It's easy to get discouraged when things are going bad, but we shouldn't lose heart, because God is at work in our lives, even in the midst of our pain and suffering. Remember that the next time your little hut seems to be burning to the ground.

It just may be a smoke signal that summons the Grace of God.

Giving away PEARLS?!?!?!

So thank you to Songberries for the scooparooni on this amazing giveaway. Bungalow is giving away $50 worth of PEARL JEWELRY from Pearl Necklace Source.com!!!!! Wahoo!!!!

My personal favorite is this pearl bracelet- called the Hannah.

Pick your mouth off the floor and wipe the drool off the computer screen. Go enter the giveaway HERE!!!!

Lost and Found- Friend edition

I logged onto Facebook tonight after a LOOOOONG day. Woke up this morning and cleaned part of the house, then my sister and Dad came over for a few minutes since she was in town. A few other people dropped by had coffee and before I knew it my morning was GONE! I ran out to get measurement of the Kids Church room at church so I could make some curtains that I PROMISED would be finished today (which is why I was up so late in the first place.) After I got back home I got ready, went to a birthday party, then the whole family went to dinner and shopping with my Grandparents. Tons of family fun!

So back to the original story.... I logged onto Facebook (like I do every night before going to bed) and got a great surprise. A friend I haven't spoken to in about 4 years started a 'chat' with me! What?! Seriously?! At first I thought it was going to be a quick little "Hi what's new? Bye" kinda thing, but it wasn't and I was THRILLED!

This guy was my best friend at one point in my life, and when Dave and I started dating the friendship dwindled. Not that I wanted it to, but he had feelings for me and I think he was hurt. ANYWAY we haven't talked in about 4 years and it has caused me a lot of turmoil. Over the past few years I have told Dave COUNTLESS stories about Chuck and how much fun we had together. I tried calling him early on and seeing if he wanted to hang out but got no response. I commented on his blog and got no response, so finally I just gave up.

But tonight was different. Tonight was the "old Chuck and Jenna." I felt like I had my friend back and I loved it! Nothing huge was talked about, just catching up on life but it was so good to have him back. Even now I feel like some part of my life has been restored that I never realized I was so hurt about. How strange is that?! And right now- the total NON CRIER that I am has tears running down her cheeks because I'm so happy.

Chuck and I will probably never see each other face to face again since he lives in Hawaii now. We'll never have movie night. He won't teach me how to play video games again, or take me bowling, but I'm still happy. It took 4 stinkin years for us to come back to this point, but I'm glad I found my friend again.

Do you need a good laugh?

Have you had a bad day? Have you had a good day? Have you just had a whatever day?

Well I have the cure for ANY AND ALL kinds of days!!! Hilgers wonder serum takes care of..... oh wait, just kidding! (No I really don't think I'm that funny- don't worry)

The real cure is two cute blogs that I've fallen in love with. Now be prepared to not only get some crafty ideas, but also to laugh so hard, while trying to be quiet that (a) your husband looks sideways at you wondering what you could possibly be giggling at while he is watching SportCenter (b) you have to excuse yourself to the restroom cause you just peed a little (c) you need to get a tissue to wipe the latte spittle that just came from some oraface on your face that is now splattered on your computer screen OR (d) all of the above **Disclaimer- I of course did none of these things, I just have a good imagination** ;)

Now that I have given you proper warning to prepare yourself- visit Matsutake (which is apparently some sort of Japaneese mushroom, but her site has nothing to do with mushrooms) she is hilarious and has some of the most RANDOM but fun crafts to do.

Then my next favarito is Lollychops. By the end of reading her posts I felt that I had been in some craft fanatic brain of a child diagnosed with ADD but not on any medication. Long story short- she's amazingly random. Just fantastic!

So go visiting and then come back and tell me what you think of my new finds!

Bloggie Giveawy

Hello All~

I wanted to tell you about an ADORABLE Etsy shop called Jesse Janes. (Isn't that cute first of all!) She make some beautiful item and they are reasonably priced too! Can't beat that... or CAN you????

Go to Songberries and you could WIN one for FREE wahoo! Plus she has some really great recipe ideas. So head over to Songberries and enter the giveaway, and then take time to look through her recipes. The Chocolate Buttermallow Cake she has up looks TO DIE FOR!!!!!