Day 5 was Sound

Hello Friends!!
Look at that you got a capital letter.
Come on, let's face it...you deserve it for stopping by to read for a bit.

I can honestly say that I did not have time available to write on Friday.
I did find sound to be a tough sense to bring in the thanks with.
It seems that most sounds that get my attention are annoying or distracting. So, turning those feelings into thankfulness made this quite a challenge.

I found in the "senses thankfulness challenge" that my sense of sight is the one I depend on.
It is the one that comes most naturally to me, and I am betting for most of you as well.
I do find myself being constantly thankful for things that I see, especially because of all the amazingly wonderful, creative things God puts before us each day.
Well, anyway, I hope that got you out of your box a bit to be thankful and near to God.

Hey, while you are here let me change the subject and tell you about a few things!

First and foremost...something happened and my camera is back to being friends with my computer! I am not sure what the problem was, but I am sure glad they got it worked out.

Secondly...

Yummy! Chocolate covered pretzels! This is insanely easy to do and they turn out so pretty and leave people begging for more!
Simply melt the chocolate, (slowly in the microwave, stirring often)
coat the pretzels, (you may need to use a spoon to get it on there good)
let them dry on wax paper (this takes quite a bit longer than you might imagine as you stand there waiting to devour the first one, to make sure the taste is just right because you wouldn't want to send something crazy weird tasting with your kid to school, especially since it is a new school and you want people to like her snack, especially since it is not some of those cupcakes with all of the insane icing that stains everything)
and eat. (No explanation needed)
I added sprinkles to this bunch because it was the treat going with my daughter to school, and you know how kids love sprinkles!!


Mmmmm chocolate and sprinkles!

Thirdly. Wow, thirdly is a very strange word.

I decided to do an oriental themed birthday party for my little shnookums! I readily admit it was because I was at Target and the dollar spot had all this uber cute oriental stuff covered with the pretty shiny fabric and it got my juices flowing on an idea. Not to mention it was all on sale! Half off of a dollar is too good to pass up!


So, this was the party favor! A cute little "to go" box, a bracelet, a notebook and fun dragon pen for writing, and the pretty headband which was a total hit with my girl!!

I think she is planning her outfit for the day around this headband!
She's only 7, should this be happening already??


I knew I wanted to play some sort of games with rice, so while I was at Sam's the other day, shopping with my 13 year old who was liberally giving advice, I chose the 25 lb bag of rice.
You know, so that I would have plenty of rice for whatever we might want to do, and enough to feed the entire neighborhood for 3 solid weeks should a disaster strike.
Yes, it was way way way too much rice.
Did I ever tell you that my oldest child has a strong penchance for rice??
He was thinking with his stomach on this purchase, and I was not thinking at all.
At least it was cheap!!

We played a few games with rice, but this was my favorite! It is the fourthly thing that I want to tell you about.
As a birthday present to my little darling, I cleaned her room.
It was "the mommy" kind of clean up!
The "dump everything in the middle of the room and start over" kind of clean up.
The "why in the world is she keeping this" clean up.
The "fill a sack with what looks like trash to me and take it out before she gets home" kind of clean up.
I had a secondary mission as well. I was on the look out for small objects to make a game with.
Check out what I found.

I split these things up and put them into 2 jars filled with rice, then printed off this search and find paper. The goal is to shake around the jar looking for items and cross them off as they are found.
I gotta say, this was so much fun!!
It is frustrating, but in a way that propels you on to search for yet another item!

And now fifthly!
I took huge liberties with this next thing, but loved how it turned out.
I found each party attendees name in Chinese.
I then sketched it out on a piece of paper for each child to paint at the party.
I think they all really enjoyed having this little "craft" time, while seeing their name in a different way.
I wanted these to have a traditional (as far as I could remember) feel, and did the characters running down the page. I have no idea if it is right or not, but liked the look of it.
I also found a neat dragon stamp, which brought in that little touch of red to work with the red string.
One of the moms hung one on a tree to dry, and it was such a neat look that we kept going and then ended up with this shot of it.



Sixthly, I just can't imagine that seventhly is actually a word, but I just had to type it out anyway!! Say that 4 times in a row!!!
seventhly seventhly seventhly seventhly
Ahhh Ha Ha ha! It is the little things that just thrill me!!
You know what??? Have a great day, I am gonna!

Day 4--Taste

I must tell you I specifically assigned TASTE to this day on purpose!
It is the birthday of my baby!!
She is 7 today!
sigh!!
I am not sure when than happened.
I knew today would be an excellent taste day for me, so I worked it like that.
I admit it!

My sweet dumpling asked for "Shooshe" for lunch! Ha! You gotta love that.
Sushi at 7!
Am I raising her right or what??? (no comment Nicoll)
This is the only kid I have any sort of a chance with in the food department.
Oldest brother eats almost no fruits and veggies and has a very limited taste acceptability factor!
Older brother changes on a dime what is palatable. I don't know from one day to the next what he may decide he doesn't like anymore.
But not my tiny baby girl. She will eat almost anything, and is game for trying new things as well.
Hence the "Shooshe"!!
Psalms 34:8
O taste and see that the LORD is good ; How blessed is the man who takes refuge in Him! Hmmmm, nice how that scripture works in with our week!!!

Day 3--Touch

Whoa, this is gonna be a challenging one today!
I mean we touch everything, right.

How many things have I touched and it isn't yet 9 in the morning?
Here, let me name a few just for fun!
Bread for sandwiches, apples for snacks, clothes, hairbrush, water, dishes, blankets, toothbrush, coffee cup, chips, cookie dough, oven handle, dirty dishes, my cell phone, a sharpie marker, my children, my dog, my dog's leash, door knob, tennis shoes, my keyboard...obviously!!
Whew, that is just the obvious big stuff that I remember off hand.

Now some of that stuff God didn't make directly. He didn't create my spinning toothbrush, or sharpie markers.
Big deal, the stuff he designed and made is way more impressive!

God made your world.
The things you touch were created for you!
God didn't have to make it all amazing, but He did.
Let's take pleasure in that, but also let's show our admiration and appreciation.

Hey, you better get with it, you are gonna be busy today!!

Day 2--sight

Alright-y friends, our sense of the day is sight!

I must confess that yesterday, by the time afternoon rolled around I forgot about our assignment. I was so caught up in my mommy duties, which compound exponentially once half past three hits!!

I was running my oldest home from Taekwondo class in the 7 o'clock hour and forgot to take advantage of all the smells of sweaty children, cars and parking lots, and so many more things.

Remember our project is to be over the top thankful to our heavenly father who blesses us beyond measure. The idea is that our thankfulness draws us nearer to Him, and our nearness to God is our good.

So, as you look around today be thankful.
Look extra careful today, really pay attention to the details our master designer has worked into everyday objects that we may only give a passing glance.

Go!

Thankful

I was working up a lesson the other day for a class I had to teach and came across this verse.
Psalms 73:28
But as for me, the nearness of God is my good ; I have made the Lord GOD my refuge

It is so simple, but tells us so much!
If we could somehow, possibly remember every single minute of every day that the nearness of God is our good....wow!!!

One way to stay near to God is to be thankful to Him.
Let's challenge ourselves this week to be over the top thankful to our God who has bestowed such blessings on us.

Let's work to acknowledge all those things we take for granted each day.
I have an idea! Let's take each day of the week and use one of our senses to guide the beginning and direction of our thanks to God.
I will randomly assign something for each day....here ya go.
Monday...smell
Tuesday...sight
Wednesday...touch
Thursday...taste
Friday...sound

So, today as different smells reach your sniffer, think of how you can be thankful to God for what that smell puts through your mind.
As I sort the laundry and smell the dirty clothes and the laundry soap so many things will flood my mind.
Who makes those clothes dirty, and what do they do to make 'em smell the way they do?

(the smell isn't all that bad, but work with me here okay??)
That thought alone takes my mind buzzing in so many directions with so much to be thankful for. My kids, my husband, healthy bodies to play and run, places that I need to be that call for different clothes and how those places bless my life! You get what I mean, right??!!

This is just a bit of a challenge to get us out of our normal routine, and really thinking about the wonderful creator we have, who is so very very good!

Okay, get out there and be thankful, it should be fun!!

Too hard!

My husbands favorite cake is German Chocolate.



Somehow in the 19 years of our marriage I have managed to not make it from scratch!

How did that happen?
Oh, yes...the old days of cake mixes and tubs o' frosting!
And, visits from his Mommy, who made sure to fix her babywaybee's special cake!
Aren't Mom's the bomb!!

Anyway...
I determined this year I would tackle the cake.
I searched the internet and found a recipe which seemed determined to maximize the number of cake making steps to the fullest.
I must have been in a hurry and half out of my mind to choose that stinkin' recipe.
By the time I got done making that cake, I was exhausted!

I threw the recipe in the trash.
No really I did.
Pitched it right in there along with the 8 egg shells, and crushed it all down, listening gleefully to the sound of their further smashing.

It just doesn't have to be that hard to make a deliciously wonderful cake.
I would never recommend that recipe to you.

Now the cake however....YUM!!!
It is really, really good.
It is light and fluffy, ooey and gooey.
So delectable.
But not good enough to make again!
Ever!
So there!

Now the peanut butter cookie recipe I also tried....oh yeah!
I will be sharing that one with ya, asap!
Not making too many promises though as to the when.
It is my babies birthday this week, and that means busy busy Mommy.
Hey, I gotta carry on "the bomb" tradition, right!?!

What do you see?

I have quite a busy day ahead, as were the two before this one.

I do have something that has been on my mind to share with you though.


I was stumbling the internet the other day and came across this!



Perspective is an unusual thing, is it not?
See the cute little doggie ears, eyes, and nose?

See if you can make it happen on this picture too!



Yikes, that dog is looking a little angry!

Just something to get ya thinking, and smiling.

Have a great Wednesday!