Christmas meaning-from a 13 year old:)

I am Happy the Holidays are over, well almost, the next few days will be unwinding as a we wind down from the Holidays:) Well, my hubby had to be back to work today so he gets No real time to wind down, back to 6 day work weeks and 10-12 hour days:(.... I wanted to share a quick story about something my daughter told me. She got tons of presents, cds, perfume, purse, so on so on,stereo system,curlers.........on and on..... She told me that her favorite gift of all was not all she got from everyone material wise, her favorite gift was that that was given to her by her great-grandma who is over 80 years old, a beautiful blanket with her name, school name, and graduation date. She tells her that even if she does not make it too graduation she will have somethin from her, and Joli is the most soft hearted lil gal, and takes right after the sweetest lady I have ever been blessed to have known, my hubby;s grandma. She loves everyone, she(my daughter) made it known that is the best gift ever!!! She shared it to her friends on facebook, verbally to other loved ones. It's not often when a teenager can bring a dose of reality to an adult but that was a definate one for me. We are Christians and believe in giving, and Jesus is the true meaning of Christmas, I think he uses Children as gifts to many to learn from even at their young age. I believe that in so many ways..........I Love that the Lord has blessed me with SO much, and that my daughter can bring a dose of reality to me, its not material things that matter, its all about love<3 SOMETIMES in the present bought world we live in material things for show are what makes people happy, look at my ring, my laptop, my north face coat, my new shoes, louis vuitton purse......so on so on............. I am glad that I have raised my daughter to know what is really meaningful. I thank you Lord for sending her to me, and I thank you for all that I have been given, and for always finding away to make sure that I know you are around(in this case I believe it was the message sent through my daughter ) I thank you all for stopping at my blog today, and hope you understand my lil message I received from my daughter, and sometimes I could use a reality check in this department, material things don't matter...... and I got your message Lord........ It's Love.........

My daughter Joli and her Great Grandma

  

Missing In Action!! Giveaway Winner!!

I had to take a break from blogging for so many reasons. I am gonna try and get back to it becasue I sure miss it. Its been a long few weeks since my last post, round of flu in our house hold, sons basketball games, searching for a new car, and so much here and there. I also have been havin alot of problems hurting in my back, and I finally just made a doctors appointment for it, and it is Monday of next week. After almost 2 years of not going to the doctors. I finally picked up the phone and made an appointment, thats how bad my back pain is and it hurts:( I am really excited for the Holidays, I would like to post some pictures to share my Holiday decor and tree with you all. I think I will take some pictures today and get that up tomorrow. I am hoping to make a few of my cookie recipes and peanut butter fudge for the Holidays if I can because of my back. I will keep my fingers crossed. Now I am so sorry about my delay of my giveaway winner, its just been as I stated a LONG few weeks, and I forgot to announce my winner...........according to random.org........giveaway winner is #11 affectioknit said... I'm following you on Twitter too!

CONGRATULATIONS!!!! I will be e-mailing you to get your goodie out to you, and your $15 Target gift card. As always thanks for following my blog, and I am sure I will be back to my ole bloggin self, bare with me. I am off to take some pictures of the house now, will share my Holiday items around the house tomorrow:) See you real soon.........

Busy As A Elf....Holidays, Black Friday, TWO TEENS........

The title is not quite true as I have been busy,but am NO elf...lol...the holidays seem to do that to us all. I was happy to spend Thanksgiving with my family, and my cousin Nate was here from Calafornia too. Basketball season is officially beginning my son is in 10th grade and plays on the High School JV team, and they have started with the scrimmages, and official first game is this Friday. Excited to see him play, he loves basketball. My daughter has a boyfirend now...lol... at 13 and half ...don't know where her and her boyfriend are gonna go...they are 13 and maybe a bike ride...lol... Young teens use the term dating ...but shes is not dating...lol...too young. With her going through the boy thing, and my son into basketball and runnin, plus the Holiday last week, threw me off from any posts. I believe there should be a show called life as a teenage mom :) I am happy to say I did get my decorating started and will post some pictures of that tomorrow. I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving Holiday. I know I did. And a busy Black Friday too, yes I was one of those silly people that stay out all night and morning to get the best deals. I had my hubby, daughter, and son help out too, but they were done after the midnight sales. I took them home rested for about 2 hours than off again I went. Crazy huh???lol... I made a Great recipe for a new dessert called Pumpkin Crunch...it was really delicious. I will share that recipe tomorrow with the Holiday pictures of my house, until then....Have A Great Day... DON'T FORGET TO SIGN UP FOR THE GIVEAWAY. A TARGET GIFT CARD AND A CHRISTMAS GOODIE. I HAVE EXTENDED THE GIVEAWAY UNTIL DECEMBER 12TH, THE WINNER WILL BE DRAWN ON DECEMBER 12TH. JUST WANTED TO LET PEOPLE GET THEIR ENTRIES IN. THANKS FOR STOPPING BY...........

Cute Craft Finds/Bazaars/Holidays

I just had to share the items I got this weekend at a craft show here near my home in Ohio. I love going to all the local craft shows around the area. I like to see all the new ideas, and of course buy some goodies too. Here is what I bought, I can't wait to get my house decorated for the Holidays... I just love the Holidays.....

I also got the cutest handmade clay snowmen, there was a variety of them, all were unique all had their own personalities. I chose the basketball-for my son, and a volleyball snowman- for my daughter to put on the tree. I always buy these every year off of a woman I know at the craft shows, I have a football one, lil baby ones, all they are sooo cute...

DON'T FORGET TO SIGN UP FOR MY GIVEAWAY, A TARGET GIFT CARD AND A CUTE LIL CHRISTMAS GOODIE, ENDS DEC 1ST. THANKS FOR STOPPING BY TODAY...ITS GONNA BE A GREAT HOLIDAY ...WHAT ARE YOU ALL DOING FOR THE HOLIDAYS? I LOVE FOR US ALL TO SHARE OUR TREES WHEN THEY ARE UP, AND YOUR HOLIDAY DECOR....I LOVE TO SHARE IDEAS.... COME BACK LATER THIS WEEK I HAVE A FEW THINGS I WOULD LOVE TO SHARE, A NEW RECIPE, AND CRAFT....SEE YA SOON........

Veterans Day Poem+Flag Cake

What a GREAT Day today is. A day to celebrate Veterans on this Veterans Day. I am so thankful to live in a country so freely as we do in the United States, and for ever grateful to have had so many men and women fall to their death so that I may live so freely, it is a BLESSING for myself and us all. My husband is a Us Army Veteran he served 5 years active duty and 2 years National Guard. I served as a military wife for several years, and let me tell you the wives and husbands are just so precious to me, they sacrifice so much to maintain all on the home front while there love one is away. I did this so often when my hubby served too. It really is hard to be separated from your spouse and to worry about them. I commend all military families!!! I THANK all serving now, and in the past, soilders who have gone to heaven to be with Our Lord as a fallen HERO, I thank you from the bottom of my heart. We have so many friends, family members who have served, along with my husband too, grandfathers, cousins, uncles, and brothers. It is so GREAT that OUR country Honor all VETERANS it really is as the song says Land Of The Free And Home Of The Brave. I wanted to share this poem I found with you all,some one like you or I wrote this from their HEART..Please read over it.......let it really sink into what a Veteran is.....

I also wanted to share a flag cake that I have made and shared here on my blog before....ENJOY........... Flag Jello Cake 1 box yellow cake mix(make cake mix according to the package) after cake is cooled poke several holes in it using a fork Take one small package of jello mix and make it according to the box( you may use any flavor, but I used strawberry to go with the stawberries on the theme of my cake) pour liguid jello mixture over cake then place in fridge for a few hours add almost 1 tub of cool whip( depending on how thick you want the cool whip on your cake) add fresh fruit in my case strawberries and blueberries I made in a flag design this time but I usually just add strawberries on top or blueberries any fruit that goes with your jello flavoring would be the best be sure to leave your cake in the fridge keep it cool when not eating:) All this is great cake, hope you enjoy:)YUMMY!!!

I LOVE OUR VETERANS!!!!!!!!!!!!

Giveaway Time!!! Target Gift Card+ Christmas SURPRISE!!

It is a giveaway time here at my blog, I am gonna combine this to be a Christmas giveaway. I will be giving away a 15 dollar Target gift card + a SURPRISE Christmas goodie(will tell you that it is a decorative item) for your home. I will be running the giveaway starting today and ending on December 1st. I will announce the winner on December 2nd. Please take the time to sign up! It is EASY!! To be eligiable to win please be a follower of my blog- At Home With Michelle- 1 entry. Follow me on twitter my user name is mnmomofinohio- 1 entry. Write a blog post or post about the giveaway on your blog- 2 entries. That's it simple ways to enter. I love having giveaways here on my blog. I hope you enjoy them too:) Please leave all your entries in the comment section below. Be sure and include your e-mail address. Also contest is open to US residents only please.Random.org will be used to determine the winner. Thank You, and have a GREAT bloggin day!!!

Bullying In Schools-Last week was the WORST week ever for me........

I was hoping to have my giveaway up for this month a $15 Target gift card, and a Chritmas goodie surprise. I wanted to have it up on the 1st but that was not gonna happen, and after a long week last week, it will be up tomoroow the giveaway that is. I wanted to tell briefly why I have been missing all last week. I got a call last Tuesday that my daughter had been punched in the face and in the head several times, and an ambulance was on there way to get her and meet them at the hospital. You see she had passed out, and awoke to massive blood she was spitting out of her mouth as she was gagging on it, laying on the floor in the hall ways. I called my husband immediately from my cell phone, he happened to be on a job sight near my daughters school and rushed there.He got there to be with her and ride in the ambulance he said he had never seen anything so bad:( She ended up getting cat scan of her head and jaw, and had a minor head injury and her jaw was not dislocated thank goodness but was swollen. She missed all last week of school and was wrote off from the hospital. She is really a GREAT kid!!! She is an 8th grader, and just got all A's on her report card, never been in trouble, and luvs school and a people person. So to hear she got upset and got beat up it was a total SHOCK!!! I later found out that the girl who hit her was wanting a chair that Joli my daughters friend was sitting in, and my daughter said its a chair, and even one of the girls went and got her another one. Well she wasn't having it and wanted that chair, so my daughter told her friends lets just let her have it and they left and went to another table. Later in the hall way the fight took place, and this girl is known to be a bully, and has been in trouble for other things at school. The whole ordeal has made me realize even though I have had issues with my son and bullying in the past, he dealt with it held his own, my daughter on the other hand is so laid back does not stick up for herself, and I think that makes her an easy target for bullying. I was not all pleased about the schools handeling of the fight, as students broke up the fight, and it wasn't untill my daughter got up and walked a few steps and collapsed and black out that teachers rushed to her side, and teachers were not located in the hallway and the superintendent assured me that he had told teachers previuosly that teachers need to stand outside their classrooms while kids are changing classes as fights are often started in hallways. My daughter was seriously hurt from bullying, I think the girl was just jealous of her, and I believe some kids are meant to be just plain mean, and there is no help for them!!! I could go on and on, but I will not be doing that today. I am happy my daughter went back to school today. She received so much love and support while she was recovering, I think she is traumatized by the whole ordeal, and I really seen her never be as sad and depressed as she has been these last few days. We went to church yesterday and I think that really cheered her up, being in the Lords house is always a GREAT place to be:) I just hope that sharing my story will tell you a little bit about bullying from a parent, a story I hope NONE of you ever have to deal with. It breaks a parents heart, and really devastates all children that are bullied!!! Please come back tomorrow for my giveaway.... Target gift card...and a Christmas goodie SURPRISE!!! Here is some pictures of my daughter........She really is my best friend, I am blessed to have such a wonderful young lady in my life. I LOVE you Joli!!

Halloween Cupcakes & Finished Costume Followup

We were invited to a Halloween party at my friends house last night. I made some cupcakes to take to the party. Simple cute cupcakes I think for Halloween. Just a devils food chocolate cake mix(bake according to directions). I then used black gel icing to write RIP on some milano cookies, great cookies for the tombstones I needed, and pushed the cookies down into the cupcakes. I crushed some chocolate oreo cookies, and sprinkled on top the iced cupcakes. I also added lil candy pumpkins to the cupcakes too. Really a simple lil project for Halloween. Here are some pictures of the cupcakes.

Remember the crowns and costume jewlery I was working on for my husband and I Halloween costumes for the party, here they are..... My husband and I dressed up for the party last night......He was Burger King and I was Dairy Queen:)

Halloween Party From The Past

Last year for Halloween I allowed my daughter to have a HALLOWEEN party, and with the economy and all last year, I told her we would have one but we would have to have a reasonable limit and stick to it. She really wanted to have another one this year, but we were unable to. I am happy to show you some of the party highlights from last year, alot of the props were purchased at Dollar Zone a Dollar store we had in our area. Also from Dollar General, all paper plate, napkins were from Dollar Tree and we had a cake made with a hand coming out of the ground you gotta see that!!! We made a great lil party, had hot dogs we roasted, and chips, and orange sherbert punch, which was AWESOME!!! All the girls got a pumpkin to decorate which was bought at pumpkin patch for 2 dollars each, can't complain:) Candy and the cutest handmade treat bags made from paper brown bags with some material glued onto the small bags were made and each gal got to fill her bag with candy from our lil candy buffet we had, so each girl took home their pumpkin they painted and their candy bags.We came up with some fun games too. I had a special prize for the best dressed costume too:) I have to admit last years sure was FUN!!!!

Come back this weekend to check out the costume I put together for my hubby and I to wear to a Halloween party Saturday night, and I will share the pictures from the party Monday, along with the cake I will be making, it is going to be a grave yard cake. I will also share other food pictures from the party, as everyone is to bring a Halloween covered dish. So come back Monday to check out all the pictures, and will all share in the spooky day together. What are your Halloween plans??? Please share I love hearing from all of you:)

Handmade Halloween Costume(The Start)

Hi everyone, I thought I share the start of the costumes I am makin for my husband and I for a costume party we got invited to Saturday. With money always tight in our home I was trying to think of something we could be for this party, without breaking the bank:) I researched and came up with an idea for him to be Burger King, and I am Dairy Queen...lol...funny idea, but really inexpensive. I got 2 crowns one is already done from Burger King the other I wrapped with aluminum foil and added the DQ logo and some sparkle gel glue to appear as gems. Burger King gave me a few bags, fry boxes ,and the crowns, and DQ did too, so I have the items for free. The necklaces are to look like the big brooch necklaces that a king and queen wear, well I just cut out pictures from the bags and cups that were givin to me. The crowns are not done yet, I have to attach the mini whoppers on my husbands crown, and the mini ice cream cones from my crown. We will use robes, as are attire, with some fancy logos on them. Finishing up the crowns tonight, and printing out some large logos for the robes. I just wanted to share a little of what I got done last night. I really like the idea, and the non-cost to it, and I can't see buying a costume that you wear once. Just a sneak peak here are a few pictures... What are you going to be for Halloween?? I love to hear back:)your ideas and costume creations. The Mess-

The process a few items complete-

Come Back and See the finish project, and I will post a picture of us this weekend and party pictures. Every couple is suppose to bring a Halloween theme dish. I can not wait to see those. I am making a graveyard cake, or maybe graveyard cupcakes, I haven't decided between the cake or cupcakes. I do know my daughter is excited to help me make it, should be lots of fun..........Thanks for visiting and come back!!!! :)

Stuffed Pepper Soup

I made a new soup over the weekend, called stuffed pepper soup, taste just like stuffed peppers:) YUMMY!!! Thought I share the recipe with you all. 1 lb ground beef(brown and drained)..I use about a pound and a half in my soup we like hamburger... 4-6 cups of green peppers(3 really large peppers) 28oz canned diced tomatoes 28oz can of tomatoe sauce 2 cups water 1/2 cup of brown sugar 1 and 1/2 cups of cooked rice( I use minute rice) 2 teaspoon of salt 1/2 teaspoon pepper ...mix all ingredients in crockpot EXCEPT the rice...... Cover and cook in crockpot for 4 hours in crock pot I would cook at least 2 hours on high so that peppers are nice and soft and cooked throughly... After peppers are cooked add rice and continue to cook on high for 20-30 minutes longer... recipe could be made on stovetop; cook for around 50 minutes add rice and cook an additional 10 minutes All Done it was a big hit at our house this weekend. We had family over and it makes a ton of soup, feed all are guest and we had left over for the next day........ Here is a few pictures of me and the soup......

Enjoy.please don't forget to come back and sign up for my monthly drawing giveaways I have, November giveaway will be a gift card, and congrats to nooren the winner of my fall candle giveaway.......Have A Great Day!!!

Giveaway Winner!!!

Sorry, I didn't get this posted yesterday. The winner of the fall candle is...noreen said... Google friend connect

Thanks to all who entered my giveaway..lucky number #7 according to random.org who picked that number. Please contact me Noreen with your mailing address so I can get your candle sent out. Be sure to come back next month for my gift card giveaway starts November 1st and will run through the 21st,just in time for some Holiday shopping. So be sure to come back and enter:)Happy Day My Blogging Friends............

Cheap Halloween Pictures

I took some ugly print pictures I got on clearence for .99 cents and decided to turn them into some cheap Halloween Pictures. I had everything on hand, and thought why not....I painted the 2 pictures a black, which I always seem to have black paint on hand:) I had to put several coats of paint on to cover the print on the picture, and let dry and just placed some Halloween scrapbooking pictures stickers all over the painted prints. I am NOT one to spend a lot of money , tight budget over at this bloggers home, but I managed to try and come up with something to make:) I know its not that fancy, but it is 1 up from that .......CHEAP........lol.... well thought I share have a wonderful day. Please don't forget to sign up for my candle giveaway, it ends this Friday........

Halloween Handmade Treat Bags

I was thinking of something to put and share on my blog, I try to come up with inexpensive ideas, or post that are simple when it comes to the crafting and cooking department. I decided to share these cute lil inexpensive treat bags. They are small brown bags you can find at any craft store, I added a self stick double sided sticker to seal the bag, you really do NOT need to add the sticker,you could just fold them, and they would be just fine. I cut along the top of the bag with my scrapbooking fancy scissors, and then take a piece of any material and cut into pieces I used a Halloween print for these bags, but you could use any print for any party:) Glue your material you cut out and place on the bag, and they are DONE! A really cheap, handmade treat bag,I thought I would share to my bloggin friends.....Take A look at the pictures.

ENJOYING MY FREE GOOSEBERRY PATCH SUNMAID RAISENS CCOKBOOK, DID YOU ALL GET YOUR FREE COOKBOOK WHEN THEY WERE GIVING THEM AWAY?? I SURE DID, WHO DOESN'T LOVE FREE ITEMS!!! :)

Ghost Craft!! Cute, Easy Ghost To Make.....

I made this cute lil ghost from some tea-stained cheese cloth. I took a section of cheese cloth and put it in a sauce pan with tea. I let it soak, and removed and let dry out. I then took a small styrofoam ball and a long slim stick pushes the stick into the ball. I put a lil brown paint on my stick or you could use stain, and smear the paint around on the stick(use a glove)let dry :) I took the tea stained cheese cloth and placed over the ball and stick, and tied with a piece of twine. I then took a black magic marker and drew the face, and made a lil BOO sign out of a pice of muslin, you could use a brown bag and cut out a small piece for the BOO sign too, and safety pin it on to the ghost, and he is now done. A really cute primitive looking ghost, really inexpensive to make, and looks great stuck in your fall mums, or in any of your Halloween decor:)Hope you like here are the pictures:)