FYI Friday

Paula Dean's White Bean Chili

So this is a winter stable in our house.

I put it in the crock pot before church most of the time.

I hope you enjoy it with your family too.

We serve it with Pumpernickel rolls and butter.

Top Ten Thurs.

My Top Ten Crushes:

My Sweets....

Orange Nail Polish 

 Words with Friends

 Cake Pops...
My shortcut is donut holes on sticks dipped in
white chocolate with sprinkles.

L.U.V. Madonna
Buying tickets for her concert in March
Can't wait! 

Green, Isn't it a fresh change from
grey? 

Globes...
I might start a collection. I love them.

 Tulips...any color.

Downton Abbey Season 2

Fabulous Series on PBS

Blue and Green Married together.
Like the Ocean. 

Have a great Thursday friends.
It's sure nice to get together here at
Sweet Madness with you.

It's Official!

Here it is...

Sweet Madness Photography!

This was such a big step
for me. I am so passionate 
about my work. I love going to work!

Come on over to Etsy.com to take a look.
Sweetmadnessphotos Shop
or my website Sweetmadnessphotography.com
I would love some feed back from my
friends. If you go to either place send me a message
from that location or like my page on facebook
and come back here and comment.
The first five people to do this will
get a 8x10 print from me!
This is gonna be an amazing adventure.

FYI Friday

Do you ever wonder what to keep cool and what

to store at room temp.?

This will help. I laminated mine and attached a magnet.

Now my tomatoes and onions are fresh.

I won't tell you how long I kept onions in the fridge!

Lesson Learned...and shared.

Have a great Weekend!

Ten Ten Thurs.

Ten Thank You's
1. Thank you to Karen, the nice women in the Target Parking Lot who saw me in distress and offered to take me and my three kids home after I locked my keys, my phone and my wallet in our car.
2. Thank you to Allison, My neighbor who took Easton to play at her house one afternoon a few months back when I was out of town and Easton was home alone with Ben.
3. Thank you to Claire for sticking up for Sierra when she was bullied earlier in the year by a group of mean girls in the lunch room. She told the school councelor what happened. Bullies need stopped.
4.  Thank you to the lunch ladies who found Easton and returned him to his Kindergarten teacher after feeding him a banana and yogurt. He had told them that his mother didn't feed him breakfast and he was crazy hungry. ( We all know I fed him breakfast).
5. Thank you to Grandma Wilson for homemade fried chicken and the fix'ins. We love that you treat us with good home cook'in when you visit.
6. Thank you to Grandma Southam for all the long hand written letters and pictures you send across the miles. This week we opened hand made Valentines with sweet words of love. Thank you.
7. Thank you to our Home Teachers you never miss a month. Our family has never experiences such steady and unwavering care. Bro. Dave and Bro. Paul we love your visits with our family.
8.  Thank you to all the Teachers of my children, both at school and church. Your work and patience are priceless.
9.  Thank you to all the service men and women who pay a high price for my personal freedom and the freedom of my family. Thank you.
10.  Thank you to all my girl friends. You always know when to be there.

     This list could go on and on. I am a firm believer in "paying it forward'. Look at all the people who have touched my life in little ways. If you liked this post I encourage you to do one thing to "pay it forward" this week. Stop back by and comment and let's see what we can do together! Get moving Girls.    

Be My Valentine

i am a hopeless romantic. 

i love Valentines.

i heart chocolate and kissing.

Together?

So here is what the plan for Valentines 

at our house will look like...

I will make this lovely Red velvet Cake.

i hope my Valentines will enjoy it. 

 It will be just a Tuesday, but I will 

wear red lips and nails if only for a day!

 i will wear red shoes to church.

Wearing red makes a girl feel lovely

 i will get seven red balloons and attach

a love note to each for all the sweets in my life. If you

come on by i will have one for you too!

 It may rain and i will be ready with a 

beautiful red umbrella.

 Courage is so attractive don't you think.

Five years ago My husband was told he had 

a brain tumor. He is the most courageous

man I know. He will surely get a love note!

 We will eat our simple dinner by candlelight.

it sure can make any meal extra special, even papa murphy's pizza.

 Poppies are one of my favorite flowers. On Tuesday flowers from the grocery

store will be great. I also know that getting them myself sometimes is just as fun as

getting them from Ben.

After my little Valentines are tucked in bed. I hope to find the energy

to watch my favorite romantic movie of all time.

"You bewitch me body and soul". What a beautiful sentence. 

Happy Valentines Sweet Lovelies!

XOOX

Oceans of Love

A sleep-eyed blonde headed seven years old interrupted my sleep early this morning. She tearfully explained that in her dream a deep dark ocean full of sharks had surrounded her. I wrapped my arms around her and told her it was only a dream.  After I got my barring and the burgers out of my eyes we went to the kitchen for some toast and hot cocoa. In my mind as we descended the stairs together I thought of her life and all those real “sharks” and “dark oceans” she will see. As her parent with Christian beliefs I have taught her about God’s unconditional love. His grace and wisdom.  Will it be enough to battle these sharks? She starts second grade in a week. I think of how she will handle rejection. I wonder how she will handle herself when asked to leave some else out of the kick ball game. With grace and kindness? I pray so. Have you heard some of those boys? They are ruthless. Did I mention they are smelly? They can swarm and draw blood with their words.  Will she try out some hurtful words or have patience and charity? Everyday she has the chance to choose Christ. When I held her in my arms years ago I knew these days of sweet innocence were numbered. I hope we have a few more. While we finished our toast I held her close to me. Her hair surrounding her face and smelling of chorine from our swim the night before. She grabbed my face with her hands, her mouth full of toast, and gave me what we call a nose kiss. You get nose to nose and rub noses back and forth. She told me that she loved me too much to help clean up. Cleaver. She got that phrase from one of my parenting bibles “Parenting with love and logic    “. One of the suggestions in this book is that when a child argues with a parent, the parent needs to say with sincerity “ I love you to much to argue”. I guess I must say this a lot during the day. It’s nice to see that some of the tools of this book are paying off. Maybe when the sharks of second grade gather in the deep ocean of the “plays ground” she will respond with “ I love you too much to argue” or “ I love you too much to help”. Could be a good thing could be a bad thing. I will continue praying for good.  

Just a taste of what I sent to Kansas City Star Sunday Faith Column, it was never published. I will keep trying though. What do you think? I really enjoy writing its one of my favorite outlets.