Monday Funday #32...Where Are You Going This Summer?

Happy Monday everyone!!  Today is turning out to be beautiful.  Last week was a rainy, cloudy mess.  I'm not complaining about the rain because we definatly need all week can get after the dry year we had last year.  The only problem was that it was so dark and cloudy all week that there was no way I could get any good pictures off the goodies I made for Storybook Felts.  I hope to get all of that done in a little bit.

Since I don't have any goodies or even a book review to share, I thought I would share some of the places the kids and I are planning to go for their summer break.  Their last day will be May 24.  The official last day is May 28 but with the 27th being a holiday their won't be too many there.  They even today my daughter that if they came on the last day they would only be sitting in the lunch room the entire day being bored so not to bother coming.

One place we are planning on going this summer is The Tulsa Zoo and Living Museum in Tulsa Oklahoma.

It's only a couple hours away and the kids love to go spend the day there.  

Sissy loves the Pink Flamingos and the Penguins.

 

Boo love all the birds and the big turtles.

  

They also have a train you can ride through the zoo.

We haven't been in a few years and they have redone some of the exhibits and added new ones so they are excited to go.

Then we are also planning on going to Magic Springs in Hot Springs, Arkansas.

Hubby won a free two night stay at a vacation rental home in Hot Springs so we will get to stay in a nice house for free while we are there too.  We have never been to Magic Springs before but it looks like a lot of fun.  Plus they are adding to the water park. 

Not sure it will be finished when we go but it does look fun.

From this map it looks like a pretty good sized park.

These are just two of the places we plan to go. I will share more places as we decide what we will be doing. Have any of you been to either of these places?  If so I would love to hear about your trip or see pictures.  Feel free to link up you trip post or any other type of blog post below. Have a great week!

Monday Funday #31....Fish and Bread & Wine

Happy Monday everyone!!  We had a beautiful weekend here and it is turning out to be another beautiful day today.  We spent Saturday at the lake fishing again.  Boo and I fished with hubby and Tootie went out with her PaPa again.  Boo got a couple fish this time so it was a little more fun for him.

That little guy is all B O Y but he's still not quite ready to grab hold of that fishy yet so dad held it up for mom to get a picture of it.

Here are my two favorite guys concentrating on their fishing.  Be one with the lure OMMMMM.

We remember the sunscreen this time so no one got sun burnt.  We wound up bringing home 25 fish and the other boat brought home 30.  Tootie was proud to have caught 13!! and she is ready to go again.  Hubby was off to get a check up at the dr this morning then we are going to sneak off and go fishing before I have to go back and get the kiddos this afternoon.  But before I go I wanted to share a book I just finished reading with you.

This book is Bread & Wine by Shauna Niequist. I received a advance reading copy from Handlebar Marketing in exchange for my honest review of the book. You can click on the book image above to go to the authors website.

 It is not only a book about real life, it is a book full of wonderful recipes also.  In the book, Shauna talks about how food is linked to memories.  As I was reading this book I was amazed at how right she was.  There are so many memories that I have from my childhood that are linked to food.  Pizza and ice cream on Friday nights.  Special lunches at a little diner with my Daddy.  Smells and tastes that remind us of home. The book also talks about food comforting us and nourishing us not only physically but spiritually as well.

The back of the book says...My prayer is that you'll read these pages first curled up  on your couch or in bed or in the bathtub, and then after that you'll bring it to the kitchen with you, turning corner of pages, breaking the spine, spilling red wine on it and splashing vinegar across the pages, that it will become battered and stained as you cook and chop and play, music loud and kitchen messy. And more than anything, I hope that when you put this book down, you'll gather the people you love around your table to eat and drink, to tell stories, to be heard and fed and nourished on every level.

I have a hard time reading non fiction books sometimes.  It is hard for me to get into them, but this book was not that way.  I found myself wanting to read more and more of it to find out what Shauna would talk about next.  I couldn't wait to see what other recipes she would share.  There are some wonderful recipes in this book!!  I have quite a few pages dog eared so that I can go back and try to make some of them.  Some of the recipes are a little fancy sounding and I would have liked for her to explain what some of them were so I didn't have to look it up in a dictionary, but I would still love to try them just the same. There is even a recipe index and sample menus  in the back of the book.  I would recommend this book to anyone who loves food!!

I have been wanting and needing to try some new ways of cooking for my family.  This book inspired me to get up and do it.  I have been having trouble with my stomach for awhile now. I have also been noticing that it was worse when I would eat something that had a lot of preservatives in it. I decided last week that I was going to try and cook some yummy things for us to try.

My kids both love pasta of any kind.  Boo is not a big fan of the tomato sauce though so I always put a little butter and parm cheese on his when we have spaghetti. Then I have to fix him something else to go with it so he has a little protein to keep him from getting hungry again in five minutes.  I then decided that I didn't want to have to do that any more, plus the tomato sauce tends to bother my stomach sometimes.  So, it was time for me to learn to fix Alfredo sauce.  I have tried the jar kind and most of it is gross.  We come time find out it is simple to make. All you need is:

1 pint heavy cream

1/2 cup (1 stick) Butter

1 cup freshly grated Parmigiana-Reggiano cheese

salt and pepper to taste.

Heat the cream over low-medium heat in a deep saute pan.  Add the butter and whisk until melted. Then just sprinkle the cheese in to incorporate it.  Then season with the salt and pepper.

I also grilled some boneless skinless chicken breast and cut it up to go with it. Then we ate it over some fettuccine.  YUMMY!!  Tootie said it was just as good or better than the Fettuccine Alfredo from the Olive Garden!!

I also made some chicken and cheese enchiladas.  I made up my own recipe for the filling for the chicken ones. I used about a half of a can of green chili enchilada sauce and a small 8 oz tub of sour cream and mixed it together.  Then I grilled 4 medium/large boneless skinless chicken breasted and shredded them with a fork and mixed the chicken with the sour cream mixture. I spooned the chicken mixture down the middle of some wheat tortillas and crumbled a little of the white queso cheese on top of that them rolled them jelly roll style and put them seam side down in my baking dish.  After the pan was full (made about 7) I added a little of the sour cream mixture one top along with a little of the cheese.  I also made cheese ones with the crumbled queso and some of the Sargentos 4 cheese blend.  My kids loved them.  I had some left over so Hubby's mom came do to have them for lunch the next day along with my home made guacamole and she said it was better than any she has had at a restaurant.  They were even better warmed up than they had been fresh.  

The best part was none of this food hurt my stomach!!!  We all need to learn to cook from fresh foods instead of eating so many things from boxes!!  I have started buying lots of frozen veggies when we can't get the fresh ones also.

I hope I have inspired some of you to try to cook something new for your families.  If you want more detailed directions for what I made above please let me know and I would be happy to type it up and email it to you.  I'm off to go catch some more fish so we can have it for dinner tonight.  I hope all of you have a great day! Add your links below so I can see what you have been up to!!

Basketball Anyone?

Just a little peek at the newest sets in the Storybook Felts Shop.

My Little Basketball Star for boys and girls.

For more information please visit the Storybook Felts Blog.

Monday Funday #30...Here Fishy Fishy

Monday is here again. I hope you all had a wonderful weekend.  I was pretty warm here although we did have a cool start on Saturday.  The kids decided they wanted to go fishing so Hubby loaded us all up in the boat and off we went.  Tootie wound up going with her PaPa at first because Boo hasn't fished out of the boat much and we were afraid it might get a little crowded with all those hooks flying.

Mr. Boo is so excited to be in the boat.  This is when we first go to the lake and of course it started raining the minute we put the boat in the water.  We hung in there though and just got a little damp.

Mr. Boo is having a blast in the back of the boat.  "Here Fishy Fishy Fishy!!"

Mr. Boo even got to drive the boat.  Gotta love that face.  The sun in his eyes and the wind blowing in his face was not a great combo.  As you can see it turned out to be a really pretty day.  Of course mom forgot to put sunscreen on everyone since it was raining when we left the house. Needless to say we wound up a little sunburned. 

"HI MOM!!!"  

After Boo got a little practice fishing in the boat, Miss Tootie got in with us and had a blast...as you can tell.

We wound up bringing home around 20 crappie.  Tootie caught 6 fish and was so proud.  A few of them were to small to keep.  Poor little Boo never caught a fish and was very disappointed.  He is doing better now and was proud of the giant sticks he caught. ;) Of course I was too busy taking fish off of hooks and fishing myself to get too many pictures.  

I have one more picture to share with you.  This one makes me a little sad in a way.  My sweet baby girl will be 14 in June and mommy promised to teach her how to drive when she turned 14.  Well I decided yesterday to throw her in the driver seat and let her have a go. 

Her daddy told me to tell her to make sure to keep those eyes open when she was driving.  She got to start in dad's car.  It is almost as old as she is.

I do have one craft to share with you today.  It is a crocheted fishing game for kids.

Fishing Game Kids Toy

I am off to take some pictures of the latest Storybook Felts set.  It should be up in the shop in a couple of days. I hope all of you have a great week. Please link up below so I can see what all of you have been up to.

Are You A No Reply Blogger?

Now that blogger would like for all of us to switch over to G+, everyone is making the change.  But, what most of us do not realize is that once we do this we will all become a no-reply blogger.  Thanks to a sweet friend of mine (Thank Susan), I now know how to fix this and I'm going to share it with all of you so you can get yours fixed also.  Here is the link to go to the Fluster Buster blog to get more info.

http://www.flusterbuster.com/2013/02/are-you-no-reply-blogger.html

Have a great weekend everyone.

I Could Use A Little Help Please

Hey everyone! I need your help. I have been offered the chance to get a sponsor for my businesses. But, in order for them to sponsor me I need to get more Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest or Blog followers. I will need at least 5,000 Facebook, Twitter or Pinterest Likes/Followers or 800 Blog Followers. I am attaching links to all of these places. I am only listing the links for the Mel's Daisy Patch because they have the strongest following at this time. Please spread the word and help me get this sponsorship!!

http://melsdaisypatch.blogspot.com/
http://www.bloglovin.com/en/blog/4107122
http://pinterest.com/melsdaisypatch/
https://twitter.com/@daisycrochet
https://www.facebook.com/MelsDaisyPatch

It would be easier to get the blog followers up to 800. Again please help me spread the word and let's see if we can get my a wonderful sponsorship for my businesses.

Once we hit the mark I would like to have a fun little giveaway with fun surprises or something. 

Edit:  If this happens, it would mean I would be able to share some of the goodies that I get with all of you too.

Thanks a bunch!!

Roar...Roar...Hello There!!

Just a little sneak peek at what has been added to the Storybook Felts Store.


For more information and more pictures please run over to the Storybook Felts Blog page and have a peek.  But try not to scare these little guys...We don't want them getting away.

Monday Funday #29... 2 Reviews In 1 Day

Happy Monday everyone!!  I hope you all had a wonderful weekend.  I was extra busy with the Storybook Felts projects this weekend.  I hope to have a new set ready to go in the next couple of days. I have a few reviews I need to catch up on so I thought I would just squeeze them both in today.  I hope you guys don't mind.

The first one is for Glasses.  Yes, I said glasses.



There is a wonderful new online company named Firmoo.com that offers a great price for prescription and non-prescription glasses and sunglasses.  They offered me a chance to get a free pair of glasses, of my choice, and I jumped on it.  The pair I picked are semi-rimless and came in red.  I normally would not have picked red, but since they were free I thought I would give a new color a try. Here is a couple lovely pictures of me wearing the new glasses.

I really like the rimless look.  I think I will continue to get this kind from now on.  I think this pair was a little wide for my face but they look pretty good.  I don't normally  use a lens for closeup vision in my regular glasses.  Most of the time if I am reading or doing work closeup I just take my glasses off.  The only problem with this is I can't see the TV or computer screen without my glasses.  I decided it might be nice to have a little something for closeup in this pair.  They are more for reading or computer work.  They are great for sewing.  My eyes are not getting as tired now when I am working. Firmoo even gives you the option to try on your glasses before you buy them.  Simply take a picture of yourself closeup and then upload it on their site.  Then just try on any pair of glasses to get an idea of what they will look like on you.  The quality of the frames and lenses is wonderful. The prices are also very low. To get a prescription pair all you need is your current prescription to type in.  I just called my eye doctor to get mine.

Here is a little more information about Firmoo.com.

The old opinion that glasses are only necessities for people with vision problems has already gone. Glasses are increasingly becoming a fad and must-have accessories for  celebs and fashionistas. Everyday we can spot millions of non prescription glasses wearers and we are constantly fascinated by many noted film stars’ signature non prescription glasses.They instantly upgrade your look of modern,sexy, vintage or geek by wearing different styles of frames.

Any hot glasses/sunglasses /goggles frames you want can be found on Firmoo, and all are available for both prescription lenses and non-prescription lenses. Are you desperate to have a new look? Now here is the chance, Firmoo has launched a First Pair Free Program to people  worldwide. You will absolutely fall in love with the excellent quality, affordable prices, fashionable designs, fast delivery and the good service after trying them with paying shipping only! You even can get a refund/exchange if you are not satisfied with them. It's totally Risk free, so why not have a try? 
Click here (http://www.firmoo.com/free-glasses.html) to get your free glasses now!

Now go on over to Firmoo.com and see if you can find a pair for you.

I was given a free complete pair of glasses for my honest review.  All opinions are mine.


My second review is on a book that I just finished reading.



Firefly Island by Lisa Wingate is her third book in the Moses Lake Series.  I have not read the first two yet, but hope to very soon.

From the back of the book...
Sometimes love takes you on an adventure completely off the map.  Mallory Hale's life quickly veers off course when she falls hopelessly in love.  After a whirlwind romance, Mallory finds herself leaving the bustle and action of Capitol Hill for the remote town of Moses Lake, Texas-with husband, stepson, and a U-Haul in tow.

A sweet, mishap-filled journey into marriage, motherhood and ranch living ensues, and Mallory is filled with both the wonderment of love and the insecurities of change.  But what she can't shake is the unease she feels around her husband's new boss, Jack West.  Jack's presence-and his mysterious past-set her one edge, and when hits of a scandal emerge, Mallory finds herself seeking answers...and comes to realize that the middle-of-nowhere home she wasn't sure she wanted is the very place she'll risk everything to save.

From the minute I started this book I could not put it down.  The deeper I read into it, the better it got.  There is a lot of mystery that goes on it this book.  Yes, it is a romance/love story, but it is also so much more.  There are so many interesting people in this book.  Some of them have a past that they want to keep hidden.  There are Docksiders' who hang out at the local cafe and the crazy lady, Cowgirl Al, who lives next door and raises goats.  You will also meet Keren and the summer school kids, most of whom are living in poverty in the Chinquapin Peaks area.  Mallory learns that she needs to put her old self behind and learns how to open up to these unique people that she is with on a daily basis.

Mallory has a hard time getting used to being a step-mom and not having a job.  Her sisters and friends from DC are all busy with their lives and don't have time to talk to her and answer emails all day.  Then her sister and her friends tell her she needs to  start writing all of her adventures down.  She thinks they are crazy.  After her friends set up a blog for her she decides one night that it might be a good idea to write some of it down after all.  Then her blog, The Frontier Woman, becomes a big hit, not only with her family and friends but with the world.  Then she finds herself in the middle of a mystery/controversy that could change a lot of lives.  Will she risk it all to protect the new friends that she has made?

I could go on and on about this book but you need to read it for yourself.  If you want to read the first chapter, just click on the image above and it will take you to the authors website.  You can read the first chapter of this book as well as some of the others that she has written.

I was given a copy of this book by Bethany House for review purposes.  All opinions in this review are mine.

Now that I have shared these goodies with you, feel free to share your links with me below.  I'm off to finish up this weeks Storybook Felts set.  Roar....

Firefly Island by Lisa Wingate

Firefly Island by Lisa Wingate is her third book in the Moses Lake Series.  I have not read the first two yet, but hope to very soon.

From the back of the book...
Sometimes love takes you on an adventure completely off the map.  Mallory Hale's life quickly veers off course when she falls hopelessly in love.  After a whirlwind romance, Mallory finds herself leaving the bustle and action of Capitol Hill for the remote town of Moses Lake, Texas-with husband, stepson, and a U-Haul in tow.

A sweet, mishap-filled journey into marriage, motherhood and ranch living ensues, and Mallory is filled with both the wonderment of love and the insecurities of change.  But what she can't shake is the unease she feels around her husband's new boss, Jack West.  Jack's presence-and his mysterious past-set her one edge, and when hits of a scandal emerge, Mallory finds herself seeking answers...and comes to realize that the middle-of-nowhere home she wasn't sure she wanted is the very place she'll risk everything to save.

From the minute I started this book I could not put it down.  The deeper I read into it, the better it got.  There is a lot of mystery that goes on it this book.  Yes, it is a romance/love story, but it is also so much more.  There are so many interesting people in this book.  Some of them have a past that they want to keep hidden.  There are Docksiders' who hang out at the local cafe and the crazy lady, Cowgirl Al, who lives next door and raises goats.  You will also meet Keren and the summer school kids, most of whom are living in poverty in the Chinquapin Peaks area.  Mallory learns that she needs to put her old self behind and learns how to open up to these unique people that she is with on a daily basis.

Mallory has a hard time getting used to being a step-mom and not having a job.  Her sisters and friends from DC are all busy with their lives and don't have time to talk to her and answer emails all day.  Then her sister and her friends tell her she needs to  start writing all of her adventures down.  She thinks they are crazy.  After her friends set up a blog for her she decides one night that it might be a good idea to write some of it down after all.  Then her blog, The Frontier Woman, becomes a big hit, not only with her family and friends but with the world.  Then she finds herself in the middle of a mystery/controversy that could change a lot of lives.  Will she risk it all to protect the new friends that she has made?

I could go on and on about this book but you need to read it for yourself.  If you want to read the first chapter, just click on the image above and it will take you to the authors website.  You can read the first chapter of this book as well as some of the others that she has written.

I was given a copy of this book by Bethany House for review purposes.  All opinions in this review are mine.

Now that I have shared these goodies with you, feel free to share your links with me below.  I'm off to finish up this weeks Storybook Felts set.  Roar....

How Long Has It Been Since You Played Dress Up?

I've been working hard this week getting lots of dolls cut out and ready to be sewn together.  Here's the pile I have cut out so far.

Now to get them all sewn together and ready to go.

I also just released the newest set in the Storybook Felts store. 

Storybook Felts My Little Let's Play Dress Up Sets

For more information on this set and what is coming up next go have a peek at the Storybook Felts blog.

I hope all of you a staying busy with things you enjoy this week!

Monday Funday # 28 My Work Space

Happy Monday all.  I hope you had a relaxing Easter with your families. This last week and weekend were crazy busy.  I had a huge order from my Storybook Felts Store.  It went out this morning. YEAH!!  Then on Thursday I wound up at the doctor and found out I may have kidney stones.  UGH!! Then of course yesterday was Easter. Needless to say there has not been a whole lot done in searching for goodies to share on Monday Funday.  So, this week I decided to share a few pictures of my work space.  Of course it was a mess this morning.  I had to get that big order packaged up and ready to go out plus I had made and bought a huge amount of goodies for my new nephew.  I didn't get a chance to clean up last night so here is what it looked like this morning when I got back from taking the kids to school.

What a mess!!  I just bought the gum, Tic Tacs, pens & markers, and embroidery thread this morning.  There is Easter candy up in the right corner. YUMMY.  There is all kinds of yarn, thread, sticky notes, you name it.  And of course the T.V.  Gotta have that for noise at least. 

I'll share a few of my must haves for my sewing and embroidery work.

I just picked these up the other day.  They are over in the office supplies. They call them Silicone Finger Tips.  The are for sorting paper and mail and such.  I use them as thimbles.  My finger and thumb get sore when I have to sew a lot of heavy material so I use these to keep them from getting sore and you can still tie knots in your thread and every thing.

This is my thread/yarn catcher.  I used to have gum in it.  I took the label off and now it makes a wonderful tiny trash can. Best of all it comes free with the purchase of gum.  With kids it's not hard to go through one of these pretty quick.  They are also great for paper clips and other small things.

My favorite tracing pens.  The red on is actually chalk.  I found it at Joann's.  It comes with a lot of white and colored chalk.  I think you can also get refills for it.  The other one is a disappearing maker.  

This is my head lamp that I picked up at our local sporting goods store.  It's great for use in  low light or if you just need a little extra light for those small stitches.  And besides I look sooooo lovely when I have it on!!

Another recycles item.  This is a clear plastic container that a Lunchable came in.  I have a few of these running around.  They are great to store items you are working on them or keep things hand while you are working. That little green circle is a silicone needle puller for those hard to get through fabrics. And of course binder clips to hold things together with.  For me they are handier than pins most of the time.  The doggie is Mr. Boo's.  He is working on him a little at a time.  He loves to come in and sit down and sew with mom.

My poor over poked pin cushion that I whipped up in about 5 minutes one day when I didn't have one handy.

That storage tower is my newest thing.  I did have my markers and such in little tin pails that came out of the $ bin at Target.  They kept getting in the way and I could never find what I wanted because I kept throwing things in different buckets. Oh and you get a peek at what I have been sitting here watching while typing this.  I am a big Grease and Grease 2 fan.  Plus I have two huge windows in front of me.  Our bird feeder hang out there and I watch the birds while I work too.

The bottom drawer has my permanent markers. Yummy lemonade in my mug there.  It's plastic and came with the lid and straw.  Purchased at Wally World.

The next drawer has regular pens and a few black markers as well as my tracing pens and such.

The middle drawer holds my scissors and glue.  I always put a dot on the glue I have been using so I know which one needs used up first.

This drawer holds my binder clips, silicone thimbles, and needles.  The little yellow tin in the back has my tape measures in it.

The top drawer has velcro, snaps, rubber bands, and my stuffing stick.

Now that I have given you a little peek into my work table, I'm off to have lunch and fold a little laundry. Feel free to link up anything you like below.  I would love to see a few picks of your craft/work area too. I hope you have a great week.