Fostering closeness in your family..

Happy Friday!! What are some activities you do with your family to foster cooperation and appreciation in your home? I find it encouraging and even hopeful (lol) to hear how others come up with ideas to bring the families closer..In this day and age we sure need to be vigilant in this area ..am I right? I hope you have a glorious weekend! thanks for stopping by! love ya mean it! Stephanie
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Reckless fun for "perfect" people!

Is this white stuff getting to ya? Have you gotten beyond the "romance" of it? Are the kids off school and you are wondering why? Has your day been interrupted by it? Do you have wet boots and more laundry than usual? Are you out of ideas for kids crafts and making forts in the living room and need a break? Well. IF you are..I have a nice little "big girl" adventure for you! A little black book that can take anything you give it..because it wants you to..

I found this book awhile ago and I LOVE IT!!!! Do you feel guilt when you fold the corner of a book page to mark where you are reading? Well, if so, your gonna be sooo naughty.. library rules are out and librarian's are catching their breaths everywhere..you are gonna WRECK this book!

your gonna scrub pages off..

write a word over and over..

drag this book on the ground mind you!..

And become secretive ..and creative...

And on top of that you get to make coffee spills and it's ok!!! Yes, I know!!! My hearts- a- fluttering right now!!! Is yours?

I challenge you to grab this book and really find out how "perfect" you have tried to be..isn't that interesting and reckless at the same time? This is a creative experience for ANYONE!!!!! You don't have to be an artist to do it!..I would love to start a series where we do this book together and share our thoughts on what we discovered..would you be interested? Lets open this for discussion..anyone who is interested..please leave a comment and we can see if its is something we can do together! Thanks for stopping by! love ya mean it! Stephanie

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Spring in your mouth!!

Fresh basil is AMAZING!! It's like spring in your mouth! And since its snowing or raining somewhere today.. I think I will share my absolute favorite snack ....that I could live on..... if needed!! So here goes..

Fresh, grape tomatoes, cut in half..

Fresh basil...

Fresh mozzarella..

and cracked pepper Triscuits crackers..

So.... I take a cracker, layer a sliver of fresh mozzarella on top and gingerly add a beautiful piece of fresh basil across it and top off with a grape tomato sliced in half and take a deep breath people.... spring it here!!! At least for today.... Happy Monday!!

Thanks for stopping by! love ya mean it! Stephanie

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If I could and caramel popcorn..

When I asked "If you could"..I actually had to think for a few days before I could really answer that question myself..I still don't know if I have an answer! There are so many things that I would want to give them and when I think about it.. I would give them each something different.. mainly, I would give them discernment...the world is a scary place and it can be really hard to live above the influence of the world surrounding them ..I know it is a battlefield for me at times and I am a young, healthy 30 something! lol Thank you for sharing your "if I could's" I love each of the answers as they spoke to me too..what a mom wouldn't give to their children..and we can!! Being Mom..it's the best gift you can give! Caramel popcorn recipe

for the weekend!!

Ingredients
3 (3.5 ounce) packages microwave popcorn, popped
2 1/4 cups packed brown sugar
1 cup corn syrup
1 cup butter
1 (5 ounce) can sweetened condensed milk

Directions
Place the popcorn in a large bowl. Shake and toss the bowl to make the unpopped kernels go to the bottom; discard.

In a sauce pan over medium-high heat, cook the brown sugar, corn syrup, and butter, stirring constantly. Heat to 270 to 290 degrees F (132 to 143 degrees C), or until a small amount of syrup dropped into cold water forms hard but pliable threads. Remove from the heat, and carefully pour in the can of condensed milk; stir until smooth.

Pour 1/4 of the caramel at a time over the popcorn, stirring until all of the popcorn is covered. Cool at least 10 minutes before serving..

Have a great weekend everyone!!! love ya mean it! Stephanie

If you could....

If you could give your child one thing nonmaterial what would it be?

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It's all about the B..

Today is all about "b" for break..

chicken soup on the stove

all my chicks at home

poor sick hubby who needs t.l.c

did my bible studies

snuggled in bed

loving the day off...

Thanks for stopping by! love ya mean it! Stephanie

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wise words.. to good to tuck away..

I wanted to share a comment that I received from Julie.. Stephanie,Just checking in to say a BIG thank you for all of the work and effort and time you have taken to post EVERY day for us to participate in this wonderful exercise on Love and Marriage and Commitment. Sure can make a girl think...and I for one am grateful. It was hard sometimes because of my current circumstances, but hubby is flying back in for a whole week, so all the ones I could not do because he wasn't here...well...they will be accomplished this week. Looking forward to it. I shall continue to do this Dare for my marriage. I told Dianna that I was going to make my own personalized LOVE DARE booklet/journal to match my marriage specifically, and try to just keep the effort going. Selfishness to Selflessness..sounds like the formula for a Happily Ever After...And of course Releasing Expectations of any returns back to me...doing it simply because I know it is a GOOD thing. It is GOD thing. God will take care of me where any gaps occur on my husband's part unintentionally. After all, he's a man....different...NOT wrong.**The one thing that has left a large impression in my heart is that whatever little things my man does that rub me the wrong way...are rubbing on me for a reason..to CHANGE me. God wants me to change from the RUB. When I change, I think I will see a change in my man. God always works upside down from the way we do. :-) And I can certainly motivate, inspire, encourage, model and "helpmeet" him along the way. Whatever is CAUGHT by my example of love, will be extremely more profitable than what is poorly or wrongfully TAUGHT by my words or verbal pressure or nagging... yes?! Thanks so much again Stephanie. (had comp. technical problems lately and haven't left comments.) Hugs to you!! Joy and Happiness on your Marriage Journey.

Is this not the reason for sharing out loud? The blessings keep coming every day as I read comments and see friends that have "dared to be dared" in their marriages..I love that Julie was inspired to be a the "help meet" her husband deserves and I quote "Whatever is caught by my example of love, will be extremely more profitable than what is poorly or wrongfully taught by my words or verbal pressure or nagging"..WOW..good stuff! Thanks Julie for sharing and I hope your not embarrassed by my sharing your comment..but I felt it was to good to be tucked away in the comment section! Hugs to each and everyone of you and thanks for stopping by! love ya mean it! Stephanie

A huge thank you to Lisa, Dianna and Karen and Connie Lou who were consistent commenter's ..you ladies are the best!!

Visit my friends blogs that are highlighted in blue! enjoy!