Coastal life

Appreciate your moments, pause your rush, and open your eyes to the beauty around you.

Seashells and Mason Jars

Sunday funday and I'm itching to start some crafts....so out comes the craft bin and I started browsing Pintrest for some ideas. Well I knew I had an abundance of shells and Mason Jars with some burlap so here's what I came up with...

Some hot glue, assorted shells, burlap ribbon with wire, and white ribbon (any color will do). Grab a mason jar and start gluing the shells to the jar to fit any open spaces. Once you are happy with the placement of shells, let the glue dry for a minute. Then measure the top of your jar and cut the burlap ribbon to fit. Glue this to the top of the month of the jar. Next make a simple bow with your white ribbon and glue this to the burlap on the top of the jar.

Once completed use for storage, in your bathroom, or as a candle holder. I found a spot for mine in the bathroom holding my brushes and combs. Happy crafting y'all! :-)

My Love, My Life, My Family

Other things may change us, but we start and end with the family.  ~Anthony Brandt

Keeping it local...like in my backyard.

Spring fever hit me early this year with South Carolina experiencing a short winter. When February rolled in, I was rolling up my sleeves eager to get my hands in the dirt and start planting a backyard garden. Some of my first additons were an assortment of lettuces, early girl tomatoes, strawberries, and cabbage.  I am trying my hand at organic home gardening and I'm loving the fruits of my labor.  Below are some butter crunch and mescalin blend varieties of the lettuce I grew in a salad we had for dinner with some garlic feta cheese and Greek vinaigrette.  It was very yummy and my 9 year old son loves it too.  I can't wait to show you what other yummy creations come out of our garden very soon.

Crockpot Monday - Slow Cooker Ribs

My goal lately has been to find ways to de-stress my life as much as possible.  In my quest for some new found peace (and quiet if someone could get my kids to cooperate), I have decided to incorporate meal planning into our lives.  My oldest son has been thrilled with this decision. He is such a fan that on a trip to his school last week, I saw his school nurse who mentioned my son was talking to her about the "weekly menu" .  Apparently I'm on to something here.  With this new meal planning enthusiasm of mine, I have brought my crockpot out to be a major player.  Another great tip on helping to de-stress is having one less thing to worry about at the end of the day.  Start dinner in the morning and walk away until it's time to eat it. I love this!   And so far I'm starting to feel the benefits of my planning.  I have felt less stress during the dinner or after school snack time rush and my kids are happier knowing what's for dinner rather than asking me twenty times in the 30 minutes before mealtime.  I'm going to start adding some favorite crockpot recipes of my family on Mondays to the blog.  Please check back for more tips and yummy goodies to make! 

The hubby and kids will love this one!

Slow Cooker Ribs

• 1 cup White distilled Vinegar
• 1/2 cup Ketchup
• 2 Tbsp Sugar
• 2 Tbsp yellow mustard BBQ sauce (can substitute 2 tsp dry mustard)
• 1 Tbsp A-1 Steak Sauce
• 1 Tbsp Soy Sauce
• 1 tsp paprika
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/8 tsp pepper
• 2 -3 lbs. ribs

Mix vinegar, ketchup, and sugar in crockpot.  Add sauces and seasonings to mixture.  Heat a skillet with 1 -2 Tbsp. oil to 375 degrees and cook both sides of spareribs until they have a slightly browned crust.  Transfer ribs to crockpot mixture and cook on low for 6 hours.  Serve with favorite coleslaw and baked beans.

30 SEC READING: why do we shout in anger?

I found this great reading this morning and thought I would share with everyone.  Please take the time to read.  It helped me get a fresh perspective on things today.  I feel like often times, and I'm sure other women do as well, that we are constantly going and going without ever getting a break.  I notice in myself that certain things my children or husband do start to upset me over time which leads to yelling or arguing.  I want to find a way to lessen this in my life so things can be handled in a more calm and compassionate manner. After stepping back and looking at the bigger picture I notice I start to have these feelings when I feel less appreciation from my family, resulting in feelings of anger.  As a wife and mother, I want to be able to listen more and yell less, without having these feelings of anger come up and lead to shouting, arguing, etc.  Everything that comes behind that anger ends up being lost with receiving party.  We lose the other person's ear, respect, love, and so on.  For myself and my sanity, I want to get past these feelings and find resolutions to the problems that cause these situations.  More understanding of myself and better communication of the message are things that I can work on without letting anger get the best of me.  Looking more into your heart for love and less for words may help.  Sometimes the words just seem to clog things up.  Thank you to the author of this article this morning for reminding me that love can conquer all!     30 SEC READING: why do we shout in anger?

30 SEC READING: why do we shout in anger?by PAULO COELHO on JANUARY 9, 2012
A master asked his disciples:‘Why do we shout in anger? Why do people shout at each other when they are upset?’the disciples thought for a while, and one of them said‘Because we lose our calm, we shout for that.’‘But, why to shout when the other person is just next to you? ‘Isn’t it possible to speak to him or her with a soft voice? Why do you shout at a person when you’re angry?’The disciples gave him some other answers but none satisfied the master.Finally he explained:‘When two people are angry at each other, their hearts distance a lot. To cover that distance they must shout to be able to hear each other. The angrier they are, the stronger they will have to shout to hear each other through that great distance.’Then the master asked:‘What happens when two people fall in love? They don’t shout at each other but talk softly, why? Because their hearts are very close. The distance between them is very small…’And he concluded:‘When they love each other even more, what happens?‘They do not speak, only whisper and they get even closer to each other in their love.‘Finally they even need not whisper, they only look at each other and that’s all. That is how close two people are when they love each other.’

Cake muffins...he has a point.

Inspiration often comes from watching my children daily and my adventures into blogging are no different.  With  three children ranging from 1 - 9 years old, I see it all.  My husband tends to look at the world a little bit differently than most people and our 5 year old son is coming up with this part of his personality as well.  Landon is an undercover secret agent/ comedian/ builder/ five year old who loves to make up his own words for things.  He is usually the trendsetter in our house, always showing up in the morning dressed up in his corduroy jacket, a hat, and flip flops or some other outfit he came up with for the day.  His outfit choices always look good, especially for a little boy.  I think he gets that great style from me.  His trendsetting also spills over into new words or slang.  This kid amazes me daily with things he says and I notice weeks later everyone starts using his words.  He is one to watch.  His latest phrases came from a couple different scenarios, which I will share, and have showed me to always look at the other perspectives in life.

• Cake Muffins - also known as cupcakes .  I have been on a cupcake baking spree as of late and have really fired up my baking in the kitchen.  My two boys love to help me cook and this one day I was making some cupcakes for my oldest boy's class at school.  Little Land-o (our nickname for Landon now, you can add anything to the end) comes into the kitchen and asks if he can help.  I told him sure, go wash your hands to get ready.  He comes back eager to make a treat with Mom.  We started with getting all the ingredients out, bowls, and mixer.  He asks what we are making and I tell him cupcakes. Lando answers back with an oh okay and starts opening the butter.  I told him to get out the pan for the cupcakes and he sets it down and says I like making cake muffins with you Mom.  I corrected him and said no they are cupcakes sweetie.  I went back to making the cupcakes and starting up the mixer.  When we were pouring the batter into the liners, he says he likes the way the cake muffins look.  I was almost about to correct him again before I took the time to stop myself and look at his point of view.  Landon has helped me several times before in the kitchen or watched me cook.  I think a time before this I made some muffins for breakfast recently and I've always made cakes.  He associated the two and came up with a better term, in his eyes, for cupcakes.  I asked him why he was calling them "Cake Muffins"?  He replies, "Because that's cake and those (pointing at pan) make muffins."  Simple enough, point taken.  He has converted the entire house over to calling these former cupcakes now "Cake Muffins."  Those cake muffins always remind me to listen to what the little guy has to say.