Happy Tuesday Giveaway Winner and More

Hey everyone! Here we are on the first day of May! Holy cow how did that happen? Well first things first: The giveaway winner of the cookbook is entry #19 (for some reason random.org wouldn't let me copy and paste the page here but this is  the number picked by random.org) I will be emailing entry #19 soon so I can get your mailing address and ship your cookbook right out :) Thanks so much for your entries.  I have another really cool giveaway coming up. So don't unsubscribe ;) OK, now onto my first week follow up to my vegan diet.  I lost 2 lbs!!!! Yay! Remember, this is without me doing any kind of exercise. I do it this way because I have found that starting off with exercise makes me REALLY hungry and then I start to eat a lot, making me gain weight, then I get all depressed, and p.o.'ed LOL thus causing me to throw up my arms in desperation and wanting to give up. So that is why I do it this way.  Once I hit 10 lbs of weight

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Dollar Store Craft-Make A Pretty Cupcake Plate

Happy Wednesday to all!! We're almost to the weekend and I am here today to share a really simple and cheap way to pretty up your cupcake and party presentation!  Here's what you'll need: 2 dollar store plates 2 dollar store small glass candle sticks vinyl Cricut electronic cutter Storybook Cartridge  Loctite Superglue (All Glass) First gather your plate and candlestick and make sure they are clean and dry. Lay your plate bottom side up on a sturdy surface. You will take your Loctite glue and squeeze some out onto the top of the candlestick. Turn the candlestick over and carefully center it onto the back of the plate. Hold for a few minutes to set it onto the plate. Carefully turn the plate and candlestick over while holding onto both and place a book or other object on plate to further set it in place. Do the same for your other plate(s). When your plates are all done, you can continue on to cut your vinyl. I set my Cricut cutte

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Starting Over, Going Vegan and One Year Anniversary

Was that title long enough for ya? Yep it was exactly one year ago today that I suffered my brain hemorrhage.  I spent two days in the ICU then was moved to the Neuro floor for another 8.  I spent Easter in the hospital. Looking back now, I am extremely blessed at how the entire event unfolded. I collapsed at home, feeling paralyzed in almost an instant from my neck down and unable to speak, but the actual bursting of the blood vessels didn't occur until the next morning in the hospital, on Good Friday. They were about to let me go since they didn't see any blood. But one of the doctors said, "Let's do one more CT scan before you go." And bam! There it was. If I had come home I would have died later on that week. Yikes! It was scary but at the same time it changed me. I'll have to go over those changes in another post, because they are faaaaar too long to post here. But needless to say, I am still here and loving my life and family.

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Getting Ready for Camp - Camp Huawni

I love summer trips. Yesterday I talked a bit about our trip to Austin and the simple and fun things we got to do. And last night I got to thinking that the most fun I've had is  when I am just doing simple things.  Not having to spend lots of money on outings, just kinda hanging out with friends. Either at a cookout, neighborhood block party,  or watching the kids run around. That last one is a bit hard to do, running around. What with living in a suburb and all the crazies out there, parents are usually paranoid (and rightfully so) to let their kids run around outside playing like we used to do.  This is why, when the opportunity to send my child away to camp for the summer, I considered it.  I have to admit that I was a bit nervous at first to send my soon to be 10 y.o. son away for two weeks! I've never sent him away before. EVER!!! But the more I talked about it with other parents and people in general that had gone to summer camps as children,

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Random Ramblings And A Cookbook Giveaway

Since my trip out to Austin with the hubs has come to  an end, I find myself planning summer vacations, quick weekend getaways, anniversary parties and summer birthdays for a certain soon-to-be 10 year old. I know that planning and dreaming up places to visit is fun. I know a couple of people (maybe more) who actually go on travel websites and look at luxury resorts, researching fun things to do while at the fantasy vacation and  dreaming that someday that will all come true. Isn't that fun?  I have to admit I've done it too ;) After all, who doesn't want to traipse along white sandy beaches of Grenada,  {images: grenada-beaches.com} Go snorkeling in the coral reefs of Belize {image: source } Go brocante shopping in the French Countryside  {image source: Northern Light} or riding  a motor scooter through Sicily? {image source:  http://motorscootermuse.com/classic_motorscooters.php} ^^^^ Like this one? I know I d

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Happy Monday and Tutu Winner Announced!

Well happy Monday my sweet peeps! I am having a blast visiting the mighty Longhorns city of Austin, Texas! Yeehaw! ;) I am attending a conference here and brought the hubs along and let me tell ya it is the BEST to get away together and have fun. Well I know you are dying to know who won the awesome Tutu and headband giveaway from Melany's Boutique, right? I plugged in the 16 entries and this is what it came up with : True Random Number Generator Min: Max: Result: 12 Powered by RANDOM.ORG Entry 12 won!! Michelle J. you are the winner :) Please contact me via email with your mailing address and Melany will contact you so you can pick your tutu and headbands and hair clip :) I will be back tomorrow to reveal a REALLY exciting blog promotion I am participating in that will be awarding hundreds of prizes !!! Don't miss it and subscribe via email on that side>>>> Have a great Tuesday everyone Patty

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Transformation Tuesday {Pretty Up The Front Porch}

After all the storms and tornadoes passed, it turned out to be a pretty nice weekend. Friday I was off from work due to Good Friday and me and the boys got to work on the front yard.   My front porch was looking pretty sad what with the faded black wicker settee and table out front, I knew I needed to give it a quick face lift. First I removed the furniture and accessories from the porch and gave it a good sweeping.  Then I noticed the windows were filthy and so my little guy was given the task to clean those up. Meanwhile my big guy and I got to work on cleaning up the flower bed.  I decided to move the birdbath from one flower bed to another where the gorgeous rose bush is just a-bloomin' Isn't it gorgeous!! I need to buy more like this to put in my backyard garden I am planning. After cleaning and clearing the flower beds, birdbath moved and fixing up here and there, I took the wicker settee out back and gave it

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Spring Fever and Making Pretty Paper Flowers

Well here we are in the month of April.  Phew, March certainly did blow in and out fast, didn't it? And I don't know about you but all this warm weather makes me appreciate all the beauty that surrounds us. In particular, flowers. I love gardening.  And I love having flowers in my home as well. So today I want to share with you something special  I whipped up for a very important person: My mother :) She is turning 60 years old today and I greatly admire her. At her age she still smokin' hot and STILL turns heads!! I am working on getting her to model for me so I can feature her both on my photography gallery and my blog ;) She has agreed so stay tuned for that. So here we go: I bought a little inexpensive wooden box at my local craft store that rhymes with mobby dobby. I also bought some pretty scrapbook paper and got to work. I used this cartridge with my Cricut to cut the flowers:  I love this cart!! It has so many beautiful images

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