And the Winner is...

I'm about to post my 16,000th tweet on Twitter, and you know what that means! I've got a winner. I know you're going to love Erin's work as much as I do. With no further ado... @SassafrasHill You just won a $40 gift certificate from Erin Lowden and Love Letters Jewelry!!! Thank you to all who entered. I can't wait to do it again! Be sure to check out www.loveletters.name for gifts to match any occasion. *The winner was chosen at random electronically from the list of entrants.

Super Saturday Giveaway!!!

Yesterday I introduced you all to Erin and Love Letters Jewelry. Today she's giving you the chance to win a $40 gift certificate! That's right. If you win, you get $40 to spend any way you'd like at www.loveletters.name

I can see you're excited, so let me tell you how to win. Each person

gets one (1) entry.

That's it. Just one.

You can either leave me a comment on this blog post (just click the circle up by the post title) with your favorite thing from the Love Letters Jewelry website, your name and email address, or you can copy the following message and post on Twitter:

I want @cassie_d_ape and @lovelettersFW to make me a winner!

A winner will be chosen at random when I reach 16,000 tweets. (Less than 500 from now.) The more you talk to me on Twitter, the faster the contest will end! (But you still only get one entry.)

Why are you still sitting here?! Get yourself entered. And tell the guys to enter too because this would be an awesome gift!

*Disclaimer: I do not receive monetary compensation for my blog. I do receive a sample product free of charge for evaluation. I was not required to give a positive review. All opinions expressed are my own.

Featured Friday: Love Letters Jewelry

This little box came in my mail today.

My own personal Love Letter

I come across people of all sorts on Twitter, and while I'm nearly a hermit in real life, I love socializing on the internet. Of course, I'm drawn to people with interests similar to mine. One of my favorite aspects of Twitter is meeting people who are creative and crafty, people who take pride in making things for others to enjoy. That is what led me to Erin Lowden, or @lovelettersFW.

Erin has a full-time job away from home, but when her husband, Chris, was laid off, she decided to turn her hobby into a home business. She opened Love Letters in April, and loves it so much that she would like to be able to be a full-time work at home mom. (Her son, Jonathan is adorable. I can see why she would want to be home with him!)

Love Letters Jewelry is high quality, personalized, hand stamped jewelry. She makes necklaces, bracelets, baby bracelets, bookmarks, key chains, pets tags, and even dog tags and golf ball markers for the menfolk!

For man's best friend . . .

For Mom or Grandma . . .

For the bride . . .

Erin's products are great gifts for birthdays, weddings, holidays, new parents, graduation, and the list goes on. She has charms for nearly anything you can think of. If your kid makes the bobsled team or your wife is an RN, Love Letters Jewelry has you covered! If you're like me and you can't make up your mind, you can always go with a Love Letters gift certificate.

When you fall in love with Love Letters Jewelry like I have, you can sign up for the newsletter, check the calendar for upcoming events, and you can even host parties (locally in Fort Wayne or on a website set up just for you)!

You can check out Love Letters Jewelry on the web at www.loveletters.name , on facebook www.facebook.com/lovelettersjewelry , and @lovelettersFW on Twitter.

Check back tomorrow for a special Love Letters Jewelry Super Saturday Giveaway!

Disclaimer: The keychain shown above was provided to me for free to review. I was not required to write a positive review. All opinions expressed are my own.

God's Blanket

I had already had an ultrasound. My midwife had already told me I would miscarry. I already knew my babies (2 of them) hadn't developed and would never breathe, smile, or grab my finger. Still, there was a nagging voice in my head telling me to buy the two pieces of fleece in sweet baby prints. So I did.

All this time I thought God was up to something in my life. It always takes me by surprise when I realize that it's not all about me.

Last night while looking through my fabric stash for a cute piece to make a baby blanket, that same voice kept saying, "Not that one. Keep looking". Over and over again. Just as I thought I was out of choices, I came to those two pieces of fleece, hidden away in the bottom of the box. "Yes. Those ones. It's time to use them."

I immediately burst into tears (because I'm an emotional wreck anyway) and formed my argument on the tip of my tongue. But God always wins. He said, "She needs to feel loved more than you need to hide away these pieces of fabric."

I know this all sounds silly, but I always thought God telling me to buy it anyway was His way of telling me I would need it someday. For me. For my babies. I had no idea He meant it for someone I hadn't even met. But again, God always wins.

I haven't cut into it yet, but I will. And I will wash it before I send it off. It's not fair to blanket someone else in my tears.

Fall is in the air, and the kitchen!

Summer is the season of the young. I can recall the bliss of spending the entire day riding my bike around the neighborhood with my wild band of friends. A sun kissed glow across my cheeks and popsicles in my belly. As an adult, I've come to enjoy the arrival of fall. The cooler temperatures and beautiful colors fit this season of my life.

As much as I like the changes in weather and foliage, I think I'm more in love with the seasonal food and drinks. So on this very gloomy, wet, chilly day, I indulged in some of my Autumn favorites. (I will include the recipes for you)

As an afternoon treat for the kids (and maybe for me) I made a batch of no-bake oatmeal cookies. Ok, they are my favorite, but I did share with the kids. I also nearly cried when I was gathering ingredients and didn't have any vanilla extract. (Who doesn't have vanilla extract??) I hit up Google though, and found that I could substitute maple syrup for vanilla. Crisis averted!

*No Bake Oatmeal Cookies

Combine 2c sugar, 1/4c cocoa, and 1/2c milk in a saucepan. Bring to a boil, and boil for one minute. Remove from heat.
Stir in 1/2c peanut butter, 1 stick of butter, 1tsp vanilla (or syrup), and 3c quick oats.
Drop with a spoon onto waxed paper and let stand until firm.

The cookies were so yummy, and such a hit with the kids that I got really ambitious and decided to make my absolute favorite cold-weather food...potato soup! I pulled out the old church cookbook (the cookie recipe was from the same book) and the first soup recipe was for a creamy potato soup and I had all the ingredients. That's a sign, right?

*Creamy Potato Soup with Chicken

Cut two chicken breasts into bite sized pieces and cook in frying pan. Set aside.
Wash and cut 6 medium potatoes into cubes. Dice an onion (or not, onion is optional) and add the potatoes and onion to a large can of chicken stock in a big stock pot. When potatoes are cooked, use a slotted spoon to remove 2/3 to a large bowl. Puree the other 1/3 with the liquid and set aside.
In the stock pot, melt 2tbsp butter and mix in 2tbsp flour. Combine to make a soft paste. Then add 1c milk. Stir continuously until it thickens and becomes creamy.
Add in puree, potatoes, and chicken. I also added some Alpine Touch (a Montana made seasoned salt) and some parmesan cheese.
Makes approximately 6 servings.

*this soup would also be great with corn, broccoli, or bacon!

The soup turned out creamy and delicious. Even though my kitchen is a MESS, I am in love with today. The air was crisp. The cookies were chocolatey. The potato soup was just like Grandpa used to make.

Homeschool PE 101: No more training wheels

I love that we can choose from so many activities for homeschool PE. The kids express interest in something new every day, and we add it to our list of things to look into. However, we decided that our first PE activity should be learning to ride a two-wheeled bike.
Our oldest is ten and already knows how, but the next two, ages six and seven haven't learned yet. Our oldest son learned to ride in three days, so I just assumed the other kids would be equally as quick to pick it up.

I. Was. So. Wrong.

The first thing my daughter said to me was, "What if I fall down and scrape my knees?"
"Well, you will. It's going to happen. It might happen even AFTER you learn to ride. You just have to suck it up and keep trying."
"But I don't want to."
"I understand. No one WANTS to get hurt, but it happens. Sometimes that's the price you pay to have fun and learn new things."
"It doesn't sound like fun," she replied.
"Well, no. Getting hurt isn't the fun part. Being able to ride and the freedom is the fun part. If you just keep pedaling and steer, I will help you balance so you don't fall."

*insert look of skepticism here

So, she geared up, walked her bike out to the (very quiet and safe) street, and climbed on. I reassured her that I would be holding on. She put one foot up on the pedal and shot me a look that clearly implied that I would be held accountable for any skinned knees. Finally, she started to pedal.
I ran next to her on the down slope. I practically pushed all 75 pounds of her and her bike back up. She wobbled. She jumped off. We repeated this several times. It was hot, frustrating (for both of us), and took a lot of practice, but guess what...
Well, never mind. She didn't get it, and I'm pretty sure I had heat stroke by the time we were done. We both walked away annoyed, exhausted, and dehydrated. Two days later I was still thinking we should have started with something easier and less dangerous... Maybe archery or knife juggling.
On the other hand, maybe there is such a thing as over teaching on things like bike riding. She took it upon herself to go out and practice. She risked the safety of her knees, not to mention our neighbor's mailbox (which she only hit once) and was successful. She's still wobbly and uncertain, but the training wheels are gone for good.
While I'm still mad at myself for being so impatient and not knowing exactly what she needed from me in order to learn, I'm also wildly excited for her, and so proud of her determination!

If the Heat Doesn't Kill You, the Prices Will!

My mom called me first thing this morning to see if the kids and I wanted to check out the Farmer's Market with her downtown. I didn't have anything planned, so we went.
I won't lie. I had visions of making my two-year-old daughter walk so I could fill the stroller plumb full of fresh produce, Hutterite baked goods, and beautiful plants.
We got lucky right off and found a close parking spot right at the entrance. I should have known it was an omen. Extreme good has to be balanced out with an equal amount of bad juju.
The first fail of the day was the temperature. As soon as I stepped out of the car, enormous beads of sweat formed on my forehead. Since it is July, I went with it. We had several water bottles filled with ice water, so I figured we'd survive.
As we started walking from booth to booth, I nearly lost it. I thought maybe the sweat dripping in my eyes was impairing my vision, but no. The prices were truly...I don't know. Heart stopping? Ridiculous? Definitely not affordable to the average Joe.
I'm all for supporting my local growers and I LOVE fresh produce, but if I have to get a home equity loan to pay for it, I will just stick to Sam's Club.