I Think I've Lost My Mind...

I did it...I opened an Etsy store to sell my digital cards. I mentioned in this post that I was thinking of opening an Etsy store after a friend asked me to make some birthday cards for her daughter's first birthday party. I started to REALLY enjoy coming up with the ideas and picking out digital elements, so I thought, why not?!?

So without further ado, welcome to my new Etsy Store, For Our Garden.

Would you believe that I've already had my first order?!?! AND I have another person that is wanting a set of my shower invites (she just hasn't decided which one she likes best yet).

Here are some of my favorites so far...

So please make sure you stop by my Etsy Store , make it one of your favorites, and please share it with your friends!!!!

The more I think about it...this Etsy Store is probably the last thing I should be adding to my plate, so I think I've lost my mind. But, I think I've lost my mind in a good way :)

New Hobby...

As if I needed ONE more thing to do...I've gotten a new hobby. I mentioned in THIS previous post that a friend of mine asked me to create some birthday invitations for her little girl's first birthday party. I was having so much fun, that I decided to get a few digital elements and make a few more. Here are some invitations that I've come up with so far...

I'm thinking I might try to sell these invites on Etsy. What do you think? Would you buy one? Do you think they would be at hit?

Prayers NEEDED!!!

A friend of mine sent me an email today asking for prayers for her best friend's son. Can you please read her email below and join me in prayer for this sweet little boy?

My very best friend that I grew up with  is going through something very scary and I hope each of you will add just one extra name to your prayer list. Alisa's 5 year old son, Dane Bishop, has recently had several swollen glands appear on his neck and groin. The doctor's have yet to figure out what is causing the lumps and have run multiple tests on poor little Dane. He has now been referred to a hematology/oncology doctor and they will see him this Thursday morning. As you can imagine, my friend is doing her best to keep her head up and think positive thoughts that this is all precautionary to rule out anything bad quickly, but as you can also imagine, her mind is all over the place with the "what ifs." Alisa lives in Arizona and has not been there long. She does have her husband there with her, but she is without any family or close friends to support her during this potentially frightening time. Please keep the entire Bishop family in your prayers as they delve further into what could be causing this for their precious one and only child and please think good optimistic thoughts that Thursday's appointment will go well.

I feel helpless being so far from her and just thought additional prayers couldn't hurt. I have already told her that there were many prayers from Flroida for great news on Thursday, so please help me make that statement true.

Thank you so much and may the power of great prayer bring good news and good results in the days ahead for little Dane and his family.

If you have a minute...please leave me a comment and let me know from what state you will be praying from. I'd love to share this info with my friend and Dane's mommy.

Finished Product...LOVE!!!

I mentioned in THIS post that my hubby was having our kitchen, laundry room, and guest bathroom tiled for my birthday. Well, here is the finished product...

For some reason our table keeps making a strange glare on my pics :(

This is our guest bathroom...

Yes, I know this is a wine bottle holder, but I originally had rolled up towels in it. Should I put magazines in it instead or put the towels back in it? Or do you have any other ideas?

This is our laundry room...we keep Kodi's food in that big tin container on the floor.

 This is the view of the laundry room from the garage...

Thanks honey...I just LOVE our new tiled rooms!!!

Guacamole Recipe...

I have been SO addicted to guacamole lately and I have to admit that I think I have the PERFECT recipe. And something as GOOD as this, just needs to be shared.

Sorry, I didn't take any pictures of me making it, but I think this recipe is pretty self-explanatory.

What you'll need:

3 ripe avocados (I didn't know this at first, but you need the brownest and softest avocados...not the green ones)

1 can of Mexican style Rotel Tomatoes

1 bunch of cilantro

The juice from half a lime

And my secret ingredient...Garlic Salt to taste

If you want your guacamole to have a little kick...cut up a few jalapenos in tiny tiny little pieces. Remember, I'm from Texas, so I always like a little spice in my food :)

I usually peel the avocados first, removing the seed, and then smash the avocados in a bowl with a fork. Add the remaining ingredients and stir. I add the juice of the lime last...not only does it give it a tangy flavor, but it also prevents the guacamole from turning brown.

And that's it! Pretty simple, huh?

Serve with your favorite tortilla chips and ENJOY!!!

Birthday Gift...

Yesteday was SUCH an exciting day for me!!

I mentioned in THIS post that my hubby had agreed to have our kitchen, guest bathroom, and laundry room tiled for me for my birthday. We started the process yesterday and I am SO thrilled with the results.

I think my excitement stems from the thought that we really couldn't afford to have this done right now and I had already accepted that tiling our kitchen was one of those "to do" things WAY in our future. Unfortunately for my parents, they recently had to redo their entire kitchen and entry way because their original tile had buckled and cracked. Thankfully for us...they ordered WAY too much tile and offered to give us the remaining tile they had.

On our last trip to Texas (for my reunion) we took David's truck and hauled about 1000 lbs of the tile back with us to Florida. Our neighbor lays tile for a living, so we knew exactly who to ask for assistance and guidance. All we needed to do was purchase the sticky stuff (I have no idea what the technical term for this is ) to lay the tile down on, grout, and quarter round to replace what we had to pull up. So overall this was an EXTREMELY cheap project that is going to make our home look totally brand new!

Here are a few pics of the linoleum we had in our kitchen...

Before our neighbor came over, we moved our fridge and stove so we could clean underneath them. I was APPALLED by what I saw behind the stove....

I honestly pride myself in being a neat freak...well, really it's MAJOR OCD with cleanliness. My hubby gets so tired of my fragrance...Clorox Clean-up!! I seriously use that stuff on EVERYTHING!!!

So I really FREAKED out when I saw all the food, spillage in this area when we pulled the stove out. Not to mention that I nearly gagged when I saw a piece of an onion glued to the side of the cabinet :( GROSS!

Ahhhh....this is MUCH better :)

Our neighbor recommended that we go ahead and leave the linoleum down and tile over it. This way, if we decide (one day WAY in our future) to put down a different tile, it would be easier to pull up AND the linoleum would be like a cushion for our flooring.

So here is the start of our NEW tiled kitchen...

I'll post more pics tomorrow when the grout is down and we have a finished product.

I LOVE my birthday gift this year :)

Invitations...

About two years ago, I met a girl that asked me to create her wedding reception invitations for her. I loved stamping and making greeting cards, so I agreed to do them. It took me FOREVER to create them...as I stamped each and every one of them, cut them out, and glued them to special paper, etc. I thought they turned out adorable and I prayed that she would LOVE them as much as I did.

Well, evidently she LOVED them...she emailed me a few days ago and asked if I would create a birthday inviation for her 1 year old daughter!! So, I took that as a compliment and agreed to take on this task.

I knew that I didn't want to create the invitations by stamping, cutting, and gluing this time...so I have been trying my hand at graphic designs. She requested a Candyland theme and even showed me a few cards on Etsy that she really liked.

So here is what I came up with...

I started having so much fun that I created a few additional ones...

And this one...

I am also working on creating stickers for the envelopes and tags for the candy jars.

So what do you think of my new hobby???

My Birthday...

Yesterday was my birthday and I had a great day...not your typical day, but it was still a special birthday.

The hubby got up EARLY and went fishing, so I was able to sleep in. I woke up around 9:00, let Kodi out, and to my surprise, look at what I saw on the pool deck...

Pretty creative huh? I never know what to expect from the hubby :)

I go back inside and start to give Kodi his breakfast. I pull down one of his cans of dog food from the pantry...

And find THIS on top...

Talk about feeling LOVED! I also had a few other random post-it notes around the house and I have to admit...I had a smile from ear to ear as I found each and every one :)

We had planned to go for a boat ride and then have lunch on the water. But unfortunately, it rained ALL DAY here in Florida. I normally would complain, but we are in need of some serious rain, so although it put a dent in our plans, my yard sure appreciated the rain.

We did end up having a quick lunch, then came back home for a nice long nap...what better time to nap than with gloomy skies and the sound of rain coming down?!?

The hubby got me a few small things for my birthday...one is a new garage door opener. This might sound silly, but mine is TERRIBLY old and worn out. Unfortunately, we couldn't get it to work properly, so he's ordering me one on-line. He also got me this...

A cool little night light for my Kindle. I usually read before falling asleep and I use this mini-flashlight so I don't have to turn the lamp on my nightstand on. So this little nifty light will be PERFECT!!

My big gift is coming a little later this week...we are getting our kitchen, laundry room, and guest bathroom tiled!! I am so thrilled. I'll post more about that when it happens and the story behind how we were GIVEN the tile...believe me, you'll want to see the before and after :)

That evening we met my mother-in-love at Maggiano's for dinner. I LOVE me some Maggiano's!!! We actually had our rehearsal dinner at Maggiano's so it was way cool to see that every single banquet room was used last night for either an engagement party, rehearsal dinner, AND an actual small wedding.

The food was AMAZING...I had the lasagna and David and his mom had the chicken parmesan. Maggiano's has this ridiculous offer going on right now that when you buy one of their classic pastas, they send you home with ANOTHER one. So needless to say, we WILL be having pasta for lunch (and maybe dinner) tonight.

I received many birthday cards and phone calls from family and friends (I thought my facebook and twitter pages were going to BLOW UP) and overall it was a fabulous day.

I feel so lucky and EXTREMELY loved!

Heaven is for Real...

A good friend of mine recommended the book, Heaven is for Real by Todd Burpo, to me a few weeks ago. I finally got around to reading it and OH MY WORD!!! It is one of the greatest books I've ever read. It's a short read and the message behind the book is phenomenal...and TRUE!

Here is a little excerpt about the book...

Heaven Is for Real is the true story of the four-year old son of a small town Nebraska pastor who during emergency surgery slips from consciousness and enters heaven. He survives and begins talking about being able to look down and see the doctor operating and his dad praying in the waiting room. The family didn't know what to believe but soon the evidence was clear.

Colton said he met his miscarried sister, whom no one had told him about, and his great grandfather who died 30 years before Colton was born, then shared impossible-to-know details about each. He describes the horse that only Jesus could ride, about how "reaaally big" God and his chair are, and how the Holy Spirit "shoots down power" from heaven to help us.

Told by the father, but often in Colton's own words, the disarmingly simple message is heaven is a real place, Jesus really loves children, and be ready, there is a coming last battle.

I can't even begin to tell you the impact this book has had on my life. Trust me, you MUST read this book ASAP!

A Face with a Name...

A few months ago, I asked for your prayers for my friend, Tiffany, who was diagnosed with cancer. Many of you showered her with prayers and so generously donated money to her and her family.

So many things have happened since I last posted about Tiffany. On a positive note, her son graduated from high school and she was able to attend his graduation. AND Tiffany sat on the stage and gave her son his diploma...and THAT is very special :) Tiffany also has a new neice...who she found out was named after her.

On a not so good note, Tiffany's cancer is back.  But she is a force to be reckoned with. She refuses to give up...Tiffany is NOT a quitter!! The doctors urged Tiffany to go to North Dakota to visit her family and although most of us would have taken this recommendation as a negative, she looked at as an opportunity of a lifetime. She shared with us that she had the BEST time visiting with her family. She stayed the night with a different family member each night, she literally stayed up all night spending quality time with her family, ate the best food, and just had the time of her life.

Tiffany also received another blow from her doctors...he urged her to resign from her job at the school. So she came up to the school last week and cleaned out her desk. It was so hard for US to see such a dedicated and hard worker leave...but just as we would expect from Tiffany, she promised to be back once school starts to volunteer. If that doesn't say something about Tiffany's character, I don't know what else does.

We made a plan for her to come to the school this week to visit and to have lunch with a few of us. We had such a great time and decided that we need to keep up our lunch dates throughout the summer and the school year. And by the looks of the pictures, I think you would agree that Tiffany had a great time.

This is Tiffany (on the left) and her boss, another one of our assistant principals.

Ali, Tammy, and I. Please excuse my hand---I was drawing my claws out for Tammy (she LOVES cats and we call her the Cat Lady)

Tammy and Tiffany (and their claws).

Tiffany and I.

The whole group!!

I just wanted you all to have a face with a name. Please continue to pray for Tiffany and her family. Pray for her by name...that this cancer will leave her body and she will be healed completely. I know one thing for sure...this cancer doesn't stand a chance when it comes to Tiffany's attitude or her faith.

So BIG!

My nephew, Mikey, is getting SO BIG! After looking through these pictures today, I honestly can't believe how grown up he's gotten...and way TOO fast, I might add!

From the day when he was old enough to walk...he's been helping me water my plants.

I even bought him a little water bucket to use, just his size, when he comes to visit.

But as you can see from these pics, he's graduated to MY bucket now.

He's such a sweet little helper!

I hope when he gets older, he'll still want to help his Auntie Lianna in the yard.

We bought him this Radio Flyer big wheel for his birthday last year and he loves it.

WOW!!! He's such a BIG boy now :)

Fireworks...

We were invited to watch the Downtown Jacksonville 4th of July Fireworks by our friend, Lisa...on her BOAT!

It is definitely an experience, if you haven't ever done it, to watch fireworks over the water.

David and I had a great time, even more so because we didn't think we were going to make it. Short story: Lisa and her friends were already anchored in the water by the time we arrived. There really wasn't anyone that could come and pick us up to get on the boat. We even tried paying the water taxi company to give us a lift over to her boat...but they quickly declined :( Luckily, one of Lisa's friends hadn't arrived just yet and she sent them to the boardwalk to pick us up first before they tied up to the rest of the boats.  So we were able to witness these beautiful things...

...from the bow of her boat.

The view of Downtown Jax was GORGEOUS  ...what a way to view the July 4th Fireworks!