Creativity or Copy Cat?

I've been told that I'm creative. I can paint, sing, bake, etc.... And I can make pretty things... but I really don't think God gave me the gift of "creativity". I believe He gave me the ability to look at something and create my version of it. I don't really think I'm being a copy cat.

I can't think up something and put it on paper. Or create something out of thin air. BUT, I can see something, get an inspiration and try it out for myself. Whether it's a photograph of a sunset and I want to recreate it with watercolor or acrylics. Or if it's a cute cupcake and I want to try my hand at it.

When I started blogging here, I came across Farmgirl Paints blog. She creates the cutest necklaces. When I saw them, I thought to myself: "I can do that!". So I did some research, ordered the materials and voila! I really could do it! Not as well as Farmgirl Paints, but I can do it. I have made some for my "girls" at church when they are baptized. I have two to do this weekend. I will have to take pictures and post.

A few months ago, my friend Natalie mentioned that she would LOVE a painting of sea turtles. She asked my husband to do this for her, but I took over. I didn't even know if I could do it. Normally, when I paint, I go for landscapes or inanimate objects. So painting her beloved sea turtles was a little daunting. But I did it! I went online and found pictures of sea turtles and paintings of under water scenes.

I even took pictures of my progress/process. I don't have a fancy scanner that will scan the painting, so I took the pictures w/ my camera phone.

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Natalie loved the painting and I felt so blessed to be able to make her happy by painting her this painting.

Cooking

I'm not a great cook. Never have been, don't really strive to be. But I do try new recipes. I'm a recipe person. I don't like the "a pinch here" or "a dash there" approach to cooking. I want measured control.

When I find something that works, I generally stick with it. When I find something that Jon likes, I try to keep it on the menu. (he's probably thinking, "what menu?? You cook twice a month and all of a sudden you have a menu?") A couple of weeks ago I found a great website with healthy and healthified recipes. One that REALLY stuck out was the Healthified Skillet Lasagna. I tried it out and it was a hit with Jon. Christen could take it or leave it I think.

I made it again this week and decided to take pictures of the process. I guess to prove to myself that I can actually make something that tastes great and isn't TOO bad for you.

I used ground turkey this week. I must admit, I really dislike touching any kind of raw meat. I will wash my hands countless times while cooking because of this. There is also two cloves of chopped garlic and just 1/4 of a chopped onion mixed in there.

These are all the other ingredients. You're supposed to use the tiny lasagna noodles, but I can never find them at the supermarket, so I just use the big ones and break them up. The recipe also calls for bell pepper, but since I'm the only one in the house hold that eats bell pepper, I leave it out. (sorry for the poor lighting and picture quality, I used my camera phone)

All the ingredients are in and have been simmering for about 10 minutes here. Yumm-O!

Here's in my bowl, with the four kinds of Italian cheeses just melting all over it! This is really what makes it sooooo goooood!!! I.love.cheese.

And just before I devoured the whole bowl!! Yep, I'm not much of a cook , but I can follow directions. So that means I can come up with something edible every now and then.

To the Parade We Went

A town in my county had it's annual Pepper Festival Parade on Saturday. Afterward, there were many vendors to check out and there were activities for kids to enjoy. The only problem? It was H~O~T, HOT!! We did not stay long but we made it through the parade, watching intently for the cutest parade participant!

That's my niece, she the one waving her right hand and clutching her wand and water bottle in her left hand. As she walked away with her school's float, I noticed how much she's grown. She's becoming a young lady more and more every day. Jeez... makes me a little sad.

We saw a lot of cool things in the parade:

Yep, that's a patriotic Spider Man! This guy was my P.E. coach in middle school and Christen's P.E. Coach in 5th & 6th grade. He still looks young and loves doing crazy stuff like this. He also has a Captain America suit.

There were antique tractors aplenty in this parade. I decided to post my favorite. I love the color!

Not quite sure who put this float together, but the cute kids and the "God's Promise" made it an awesome float.

This is the balloon that waved above the God's Promise float.

Yes, that's a deer head and two bass fish mounted on driftwood. My husband actually used this company to mount his bass that he caught a few years ago. You know you're in South GA when......

No parade is complete without the local high school band!

I'm NOT a fan of clowns. They creep me out. I was so happy she was driving instead of out and about doing..... clown things...

Another, you know you're in South GA when.... moment.

Update on Last Weekend While at the Cusp of THIS Weekend

Wow... how did Friday get here? So happy this week flew by. Short work weeks normally don't fly by, not for me anyway.

Last weekend, I had the house all to myself! It was WONDERFUL! Only myself to pick up after, I didn't have to sit through boring-to-me TV shows or movies and my time was my own. I highly suggest to all mothers (and fathers too) to have a weekend to yourself every now and again. Sure, I get the occasional Saturday to myself, but never a whole weekend. It was such a treat!

Some people would go crazy with loneliness by the second day, not me. I wasn't a very social child, could always play by myself and find things to keep occupied. I had a vivid imagination, so I could keep myself entertained all day long.

So I really didn't make huge plans. Friday I went out to eat with my brother. Saturday I cleaned a little bit, watched movies and went out to eat with my friend. Sunday I slept in and missed early service, but got there in time to teach the PreK and Kindergarten Sunday School classes and I went to late service. Sunday afternoon I had a children's music ministry meeting at church, then after that went home and watched another movie. Monday, I cleaned up a bit more and lounged in the pool. By Monday morning, I was ready for my family to be home. Thankfully the day passed by quickly.

So, what was Jon & Christen doing?? Why were they gone?? Last Christmas, I gave them passes to DragonCon. Jon has wanted to go for a long time. I could care less about it, so I planned to stay home. They met a lot of nice and weird people and a few celebrities. Enjoy the pictures!

They were going to dress up as Jedi's, but didn't get their costumes made in time. They were thankful in the end though b/c it was super hot in Atlanta.

Christen with Pinky & The Brain. I used to LOVE this cartoon!

These guys are on some ghost hunter show. Christen and Jon watch it and when I'm in the same room, I tend to make fun of it. She was happy to meet these two guys from the show.

This is Kelly LeBrock. She was a model in the 80's and was in the movie "Weird Science".

I believe every guy Jon's age had a crush on her growing up.

Yep, my husband met "The Hulk", Lou Ferrigno! He was so excited!!

This is my favorite. Barbara Eden!! Jon said she is still beautiful and so very kind!

I'm glad they got to meet new people and hang out with those odd convention people. Even though it wasn't my cup of tea. It's good to have different interests. It was a weekend of father/daughter bonding for sure!

As for me I was happy all by myself with my movies and:

Weekends, then and now....

Wow, this week just flew right on by. It's Friday and I have a feeling that the weekend will fly right on by too.

I remember, when I was just little younger, the weekends held so many possibilities. Now, I just rather clean house (yeah, right) and lounge.

I use to do things like this on my weekends:

This one is of me @ at race at the Atlanta Motor Speedway.

I still like to go out and do things, just not as much as I used to. When we do get out, it's normally to watch Christen play soccer (and now, softball). So that's enough entertainment for me most of the time. We'll be at a softball tournament this weekend (tonight and tomorrow). While I'll be there in body (and spirit if Christen gets to play!), I'll be longing to get home and do this:

Have a wonderful and blessed weekend!!

Never a dull moment...

When you have dogs, especially dogs who live inside, you never have a dull moment. I love my dogs, they are a constant source of entertainment. But many times, I find it hard to laugh while in the moment of their entertaining.

For example, it rained this past Saturday. When I let the dogs outside to "do their business" I never really thought about the rain or mud for that matter. But I did find it odd they were not clawing at the door to be let back in as quickly as they normally do. When they finally did come to the back door, I let them in, not even noticing anything wrong until I saw the tracks. MUD tracks on the floor!

I quickly shooed them outside and before hosing them off, I snapped a couple of pictures:

As you can see, they were quite happy with themselves. I admit, I was a bit annoyed at having to walk all the way to the cabana (where the waterhose is), FIND the waterhose, hold them down and hose them off (all while lightning was flashing in the distace). But looking back, it was kinda funny, and who can blame them? When's the last time YOU could play in a mud puddle??

I remember as a kid wishing for it to rain while @ my Ma & Pa's house because there would be the most awesome mudpuddles to play in. I think I would get some strange looks now if I tried to do that!

But who knows.... may be the next time I see a mud puddle, I'll make a mud pie.... Just for old times sake.... :o)

First Day of School

My baby girl is officially a Junior in High School today. Wow... doesn't seem possible to be honest. But it's true!

It really seems like just yesterday we were celebrating her 1st Birthday.

But really, it was just last week that we celebrated her 16th Birthday!

This morning, I made a point to take her picture for the first day of school. I know I've taken pictures in the past, but I haven't been consistent and I couldn't tell you where in the world those pictures are now!!

Here, she is having an intense conversation w/ Beckham while she's getting her shoes on this morning. I think she was comforting him, letting him know it was just like any other day, she would still be home in the afternoon! He was quite pitiful, as you can see below:

Brandi, on the other hand, is pretty used to the first day of school, so she knows there's nothing to worry about.

Below is the classic "first day of school" pose, minus the bookbag. I didn't make her put her bookbag over her shoulder. I didn't feel like pushing my luck. She agreed to let me take her picture, so that was good enough for me!

And her favorite part of her outfit??? Her shoes of course!!

Now I'm ready for the post first day of school update! Unfortunately, I won't get to talk to her until 5pm since she has softball practice this afternoon.

I am praying that her first day goes great and I'm also keeping all our teachers and all our students in my prayers today. They will need all the prayers they can get!! And also, those parents who are sending their children to school for the first time, I know they need prayers today too.