September 9, 2011

Cleaning up....

Many times, when I've seen flood pictures on the news, I have thought.....but where does the water come from?


You see pictures of towns....restaurants.....houses under water.....how does it get there?




On Wednesday.....it was raining...alot.....I needed a few things from the store, so I decided to go out before the weather "got too bad".  After turning around a couple of times because of flooded roads, I ended up on this road because at the time, it was a road....




You can't see it now, but there is a bridge past that red light that goes over a creek....a creek!  A few hours later, it turned into this....




These are the main gates at the amusement park Hershey Park...we went through those gates last Thursday.....


....the water source?...a creek...

Our Rita's.....you guessed it...a creek...



I am so grateful for the friends, family and even a stranger-to-us that helped us Wednesday night.....we live on a hill and have never experienced flooding in our house.  My son was nervous about....of all things....the electric guitar in the basement and about 9:30 asked us to check on it.


We had been at our neighbor's house that afternoon helping them because they had already flooded.  I felt like we had made it through the worst part of what would eventually be 15 inches of rain....


I am so grateful for that little voice of my son because water was beginning to come up out of our sump pit and out of our french drains......into our finished basement....


We started making phone calls to friends and family....


Despite the fact that there were no roads into or out of our town, a friend of my dad's brought us.....in the middle of the storm at 10:00 at night in truly torrential rain a sump pump.....I still don't know how he got it here.....but he was an angel to us....


We had two portable sump pumps running.....2 shop vacs and then 1 industrial pump and our basement was saved......who really cares about carpet when a few doors down they are talking about replacing their furnace and water heater....


In the midst of it all.....as we waited for help to arrive...I just remember crying "Jesus please....."  I couldn't even form sentences.....my heart was just crying out....


And the Holy Spirit helps us in our weakness. For example, we don’t know what God wants us to pray for. But the Holy Spirit prays for us with groanings that cannot be expressed in words."  Romans 8:26


...although I must confess that I screamed "OMG" repeatedly at the point when we first turned on the big pump and the suction pulled the hose into the house and was pumping all the water back into our family room....but truly, that was a prayer!


We are still cleaning up.....as are many people.....but in the midst of all of this, I am just very thankful for a God who is still good.....for friends who pulled their pump out of their own home to use in ours......for neighbors who woke their kids to come help us man shop vacs.....for a dad who has amazing friends....for kids who worked their little hearts out......and a hubby who puts up with his nearly (well....fully) hysterical wife!


So now, we've experienced an earthquake, a hurricane and a flood...


Hmm....could that Harold Camping guy be onto something??

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September 7, 2011

Thrifty Thursday #25

So I am looking out my back yard right now at this.....



......actually, that's looking upstream into my neighbor's yard.....what a day it has been!  


Today is my 40th birthday and all that I wanted was a nice quiet night to go out-to-dinner with my hubby.....



Maybe next year???



So, since I'll be here....eating take-out if my hubby makes it home.....I may as well host Week #25 of Thrifty Thursday!

Tres Chere did it again with this dresser makeover.....I saw one like this in an HGTV email that I got, but I like theirs better!



Miss Kopy Kat used some Annie Sloan chalk paint to transform her dresser into this beautiful white piece.....



These knock-off Ballard design curtains from Blessed Beyond Measure are just gorgeous......and so simple to make!



Sugar and Spice...and Everything Nice made this simple yard wreath for fall.  Have you started decorating for fall, yet?



The transformation on this dresser from The Frosted Gardner is just amazing.....it doesn't even resemble its former self!



Keeping up with the Joneses made these adorable fall wreaths out of Dollar Tree materials!



Domesticated Nomad made these adorable little Polaroid magnets for her fridge!



I just LOVE this DIY window cornice from At The Picket Fence....you'll never believe what this is made from!




If you were featured this week, be sure to grab a button!


Here are some very simple suggestions for the party:

1. Please become a follower of Thrifty Decorating.
2. Be sure to link to your POST and not your blog.
3. Please copy and paste my link button somewhere in 
your post or blog so that others can link back.


After you've linked here, hop over and say "hi" 
to Johnnie at her Thrifty Thursday link party
ThriftyThurs SBLC Buttons


You can also head over to visit Erika 
at Thrifty and Fabulous and join 
her Thrifty Thursday!

Let's begin week #25 of  Thrifty Thursday!

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The waters are rising.....

Here on the East Coast, we are currently being battered again with rain....




Since I've taken this picture about 2 hours ago, the water is now running just about over the trampoline.....


To give you some perspective, this is usually our view.....


....and now it's this....but higher!




Please pray for us in here Central Pennsylvania....


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September 5, 2011

Fall Wreath Ideas....

Are you ready to decorate for fall??  I sure am!  My outside plants were fried by the summer heat and are crispy little stalks of brown now.....over the weekend I replaced them with some of the $0.50 quarts of mums from Lowe's!  They are still on sale through today!


My home is also bare because after the 4th of July, I did not feel inspired to do any type of household decorating.....it was just TOO hot!


Here are some ideas to kick-off your fall door decor.....they are in no particular order.


#1.  Corn Husk Wreath from Poppies at Play



#2.  Dollar Store Wreath from Thrifty Decor Chic

#3.  Candy Corn Wreath from The heaps


#4.  Rosette Wreath from Little Things Bring Smiles

#5.  Acorn Wreath from Little Things Bring Smiles


#6.  Burlap Wreath from Craftaholics Anonymous


#7.  Corn Husk Wreath from How Does She
(I made one like this, but I glazed and antiqued my ends to make it look more authentic!)


#8.  Burlap Scrap Wreath from In Between Laundry



#9.  Wheat Wreath from Thrive


#10.  Magnolia Leaf Wreath from Centsational Girl


Edited to add my $3.00 Fall Wreath Idea as #11.....

I've been working on a Fall Pinterest board.....I'll keep adding to it as I find fun ideas!

What are you working on for fall?

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September 4, 2011

Sesame Green Beans....


My friend, Cheryl, is an amazing cook.  This summer we had a picnic with her family and she made these green beans....I ate about 4 plate-fulls they are SO yummy!

They are also very easy to make.....


You will need fresh green beans, garlic, sesame seeds and olive oil.


Cut the ends off of your green beans.  At our country market, I got a quart for $1.99...



I don't necessarily like my green beans to be crunchy, so I boiled mine for about 7 minutes.....cook less if you like crunchier beans....



While the beans are boiling, press your garlic.  I don't really like garlic....it was one of the triggers that made me crazy nauseous when I was pregnant....so, I only added one clove.  Add as much as you prefer....



You will want to brown you garlic and sesame seeds in about 2-3 Tablespoons of oil olive.  I just eye-balled my sesame seeds.....I like sesame seeds, so I added a lot...



One word of caution as you cook the sesame seeds....they pop all over your stove top, so have a lid nearby!


Once everything is browned and the beans are cooked, drain the water and add the beans to the seeds and oil....


Healthy and tasty!

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September 2, 2011

Homemade Baby Food.....



Years ago....I started making homemade baby food.  It was rather experimental for my older son and I really wasn't as diligent as I could have been.  


Part of it was because I was really nervous to break free from the What to do the first year book....also, I wasn't able to go and "Google" baby food recipes since "Google" didn't exist!


By the time my 3rd child came along, I think that I only bought Gerber banana's and it was partially so that I could eat them....are you with me....aren't they good!


My poor daughter really never saw food from a jar.....it was just too expensive! I would just puree what we were having for dinner and feed it to her or make my own veggies and fruit in ice cube trays.


The result.....my first born is easily my pickest eater....my last born ate anything until recently and even eats casseroles where food is touching other food!




Happy Hour Projects linked her Trying to Raise a Foodie this week to Thrifty Thursday and I just had to give her a stand-alone feature because this is a great tutorial for how to make your own baby food!  All the pictures in the post are hers!


I highly recommend making your own babyfood!  Not only are you cutting cost tremendously, but you are introducing your cooking to your child!



If you get a chance, hop over to Happy Hour Projects and
 check out Adrianne's tutorial for how to she does it!


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UPrinting Giveaway Winner....



Congratulations Courtney-O.....you win the letterhead from Uprinting!




Please contact me with your email address so that I can get you your prize!


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