a mouse in the house, a Christmas mouse?

Nope, just a field mouse trying to eat my pies.  So, we set a few traps.  One was behind the microwave on our counter, since we saw...evidence...that he had been there.  We set the trap, went to my sister's for thanksgiving dinner, then returned home to get ready for bed.  I came down the hall from our bedroom to Troy standing in the hall telling me he had an "interesting" situation.


I followed him into the kitchen while he explained he injured the mouse.  But, the mouse had escaped from the trap.


And was running free on the counter.


Actually, he was just cowering behind the microwave.


In front of a bloody mess.  Blood was splattered all over the counter back there.  Nasty.


We were faced with the dilema - how to catch him?


Why, with a kitchen knife and grill tongs, of course!

I used the knife.  Troy used the tongs.  I chased, he waited and snapped.  We lifted the microwave.  We missed, and missed.  Oh, and missed.


Finally, I thought we needed to try a different tactic.  I made my move to set the knife down in the sink, and...


The mouse FLEW out from under the microwave right at my face.  I turned, in slow motion, saw him flying at my face, and, even though I have laryngitis, screamed bloody, (ha ha), murder.


Troy, being the athlete that he is, snatched the mouse out of his midair flight right as he was nearing my eyes.


Just kidding, the mouse actually fell into the sink on it's way to my face, and Troy tonged him right up, ran out the door and tossed him far away into the field.




Great Thanksgiving story, right?


You should hear what my parents found when they got home...

A recipe: Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Brownies

I know, don't they sound good?  I found this recipe while blog hopping.  You should check out her blog, it's full of great crafting ideas and some yummy recipes.  She seems to love brownies nearly as much as I do ;)
noe place like home

Here's how they look.  (Wish I could describe how they taste, just imagine homemade chocolate chip brownies covered with cookie dough and topped with a layer of chocolate.  Yum~)

And, here's the recipe.  It's long, but well worth it!

Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Brownies

•2 cups Butter, Divided
•¾ cups Unsweetened Cocoa Powder
•2-¾ cups Granulated White Sugar, Divided
•1 cup Packed Light Brown Sugar
•3-¼ cups All-purpose Flour, Divided
•3 whole Eggs
•½ teaspoons Salt
•½ teaspoons Baking Powder
•4 Tablespoons Milk
•3 teaspoons Vanilla Extract, Divided
•2-½ cups Mini Semi-sweet Chocolate Chips, Divided
•1 Tablespoon Shortening, Such As Crisco

For Brownies:

1 c. butter
3/4 c. unsweetened cocoa powder
2 1/4 c. granulated sugar
1/2 tsp. salt
3 eggs
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1 1/4 c. all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 c. mini semi-sweet chocolate chips

Prepare 13X13 baking pan by laying a piece of foil in the bottom and up the sides. Spray with cooking spray or butter the foil.

Melt 2 sticks of butter in a medium saucepan; add cocoa, stirring until smooth. Remove from heat and cool slightly. Add sugar, salt, eggs, and vanilla; beat with a spoon until combined. Add flour and baking powder; mix well. Stir in chocolate chips. Spread batter into pan. Bake at 350 degrees for 25 minutes. (I always remove my brownies from the oven when a toothpick inserted 1 inch from the side of the pan comes out clean or almost clean.) Allow brownies to cool completely before moving on to the next step.

For Cookie Dough Filling:

1 c. butter, softened
1 c. packed light brown sugar
1/2 c. granulated sugar
4 Tbsp. milk
2 tsp. vanilla extract
2 c. all-purpose flour
1 c. mini semi-sweet chocolate chips

Combine first 5 ingredients in a mixing bowl and cream together. Add flour and stir until combined. Stir in chocolate chips. Spread in an even layer on top of cooled brownies. Chill before adding chocolate glaze.

For Chocolate Glaze:

1 c. semi-sweet chocolate chips
1 Tbsp. Crisco shortening

Melt chocolate with shortening and stir until smooth. Spread over chilled cookie dough layer.


I only ate one, (really, only 1 - do you believe me?), of these after I took the picture...

Long time, no see...

...or read.  Write?  Whatever.

Wanna know where I've been?

Living life.  Yep, I've been doing stuff instead of writing about it.

Mostly taking care of my children.  Troy's been out of town more than he's been in town for the last 5 weeks now.  After next week, in which he's scheduled to be gone Wednesday through Saturday, he says it should slow down.  We'll see.

I'm glad he has a job.  God is taking care of us after he was ...I don't know how to say it... fired?  kicked out?  told we don't want your kind here anymore... from our last church.  Where we know God wanted us to be.  I'm so sad about that still...

Maybe our new church needed us more?  I sure do love them, there are so many wonderful, kind people surrounding us.

But, He's given us both jobs.  If Troy's ends, which, it's really a day-to-day thing, I could go full time and maybe support us?  Don't know, kids are expensive, and so are dads.  (and moms!)

So, I've been busy taking care of the girls, working a little bit.  (by the way, work has gone mostly good, I remembered how to do my job, and Delcie does okay while I'm gone.  Just okay.  She still won't drink from a bottle.)  And, crafting just a touch.  I've added a few items to my Etsy shop.  I can't find anything to concentrate on, I like so many things.  I run a poorly managed shop.

I have the cutest models!

Check them out!  the alligator purse
I even learned how to create a header for my shop.

I also helped get our church's new web site up and running.  It's pretty basic right now, but as we run it and get feedback, I'm sure it will be super soon!

Ocean City Baptist Church

Vacation is over...

... if delivering an 8 pound baby can be considered vacation.

Anyway, it's back to the "grind", (ha ha), tomorrow morning.

We'll see how Delcie does without me.  She has to go from about 5am until 10am tomorrow.  I have frozen milk for her, but she doesn't seem to be a fan of it.  Pray for her, I'm so worried about this.

M.A.B.E.L.

When we were first married, Troy and I would always watch the tv show, "Mad About You".  We worked or were in school all day long, came home after 9 each night, ate dinner or played cards with friends, then watched this show before we went to bed.

Wish I still had that much energy.  I'm getting old.

Back to the subject...
Paul and Jamie, (the main characters), had a baby girl towards the end of the series.  They were having trouble coming up with a name for her.  As they were heading to the hospital, Jamie's mother told her, "Remember, Mothers always bring extra love."

Jamie remembered that and used it to name the baby - Mabel.

I have remembered that for a long time, now, yes, almost 13 years.  I think I need to write it down and post it on my bathroom mirror or my fridge.  There are times when I seem to forget to love my girls.  We are so busy disciplining them or ignoring them that we forget to love them.  I know I don't spend enough time playing with them.  Sometimes I feel I rob time from one to give to another.  I guess these are all results of having children close in age.

When I was pregnant with Averie, I was having a really hard time understanding how I would be able to love her as much as I loved Camdyn.  I didn't think I would have as much love left to give to her, because I loved Cam so much.  So, I crochet her a blanket, hoping the project would help me feel closer to my unborn baby.  I'm not sure if it did, I think so, and the blanket turned out awful, but anyway...

The day Averie was born, I left the hospital while I was in labor just so I could go give Camdyn love before Averie was born.  I couldn't stand the thought of taking some of my love away to give to her baby sister.

But, as soon as Aves was born, I realized that I wasn't taking love away from Camdyn, I was adding another person to give love to her.  I don't understand how I was able to continue to love Camdyn as much but also love this new little one just as much.  It's just a miraculous thing.

Now that we have 3 little girls, I see it all over again.  I love Delcie just as much as I love her big sisters. I would give each of them anything they asked for if I could.  I don't understand how this multiplication of love works, but it's amazing.

This was just something that Troy and I were talking about tonight.  It's a scary thing being a parent, you hold a big responsibility for the tiny lives God has loaned you for a little while.   But, it's also a wonderful thing, being able to teach these little children about the world, and themselves, and God.

Don't forget, bring extra love.

Trying out cloth diapers

While I was pregnant, I found a few really good deals on nice cloth diapers.  I bought some, thinking if I decided I didn't like using them, I could resell them on E-bay.  Believe it or not, they sell for $25 each there! I left them in the package, haven't broken into them yet.

I also bought some cheaper ones, seconds, and washed them.  I have been using them this week while we are home, not out and about, though.  They're econobums.  I think I like them.  But, they're so bulky.  They look so much more comfortable than disposables.

So, since I've done okay with my 5 econobums, I'm branching out and washing my 6 bum genius AIO's.  (AOI = All In One.)

They look like they won't be as bulky as the econobums.  We'll see.

Honestly, the hardest thing about this is working with Troy.  He has been pretty vocal about not wanting to deal with the *solids* part of changing diapers.

So, I got him some bummies liners that are supposed to make "clean-up" easier.

Wonder what my attitude about these will be in a couple of weeks...

I've revived my Etsy shop!

I created it a couple of years ago to sell quilted Christmas ornaments and hand-stamped Christmas cards.  During the rest of the year, I continue to be crafty, and my family can only take so much of my crafty-ness. So, after much coaxing from a dear friend, I'm making my store into a year-round venture.

So, I have 2 items listed.  Wow!

I know.  Get on the ball.  But, I'm not as crafty as I implied, these things take time.

But, I think my 2 items are adorable ;)

Keep checking my store for more items, I do have quite a few that I'll be listing within the next few days.

The Alligator Purse

My beautiful model.