I've Been Nominated!

Dolly and Amy have nominated me for the "Nice Matters" Award! " According to Dolly, "This award will be given to those that are just nice people , good blog friends and those that inspire good feelings and inspiration! Those that care about others that are there to lend support or those that are just a positive influence in our blogging world!" How sweet is that!? I must say you couldn't find a more generous, helpful or just plain nice group of people than the ones I have run into in the blogging world! From Phyllis and Adrienne who were there to help me learn how to update my banner to Amy and Bertie and so many more who stop by on a regular basis and leave such sweet and supportive comments. I really appreciate you all! I am supposed to nominate 7 other bloggers and it will be hard coming up with 7 that havent already been hit but here goes! I nominate
Adrienne, Deb, Lallee, Lori, Heather, Jen, and Penny. They are all sweethearts with beautiful blogs that I really enjoy. Thank you Dolly and Amy! You make my day every time you stop by. :>)

Have you ever seen a hummingbird moth?

These little moths are about half the size of a Hummingbird. You can't see its wings because, like a hummingbird, they are just blurs when they hover. The first time I saw one of these last year I thought at first that it was the tiniest little strange hummer I had ever seen. They come out in the day and they go from flower to flower and drink nectar. In spite of how small they are they are much more substantial and heavier looking than most moths. My husband and I were just enchanted when we saw it and looked it up online and found out what it was. They hover, they are brightly colored, and as you can see, they have a little tail, but they also have antennae! That is what finally tipped us off what it might be. We saw this one outside the living room window yesterday. Since they are a bug rather than a bird, I was able to run outside and get pretty close with the camera without scaring it away.
Have any of you seen these?

Sunday Morning

My dear sister, Keeka gave me some wonderful, sweet wild blackberries that her girls picked at church camp last week. These are the best blackberries I have ever tasted! She also gave me a recipe to use them in and I made it for Sunday morning breakfast. Delish! These and a big cup of coffee will start your day off right! Here is the recipe:
Blueberry (or blackberry, or what about raspberry!) Cheese rolls
1 pkg. (8 oz.) refrig. crescent rolls
4 oz. Neufchatel cheese
2 Tbsp. Sugar
1/2 cup blueberries (or blackberries, or......)
Preheat oven to 375. Unroll dough into 4 rectangles; firmly press perforations together to seal. Combine cream cheese and sugar: (I added a small egg to make it more like cheesecake consistency) spread onto dough rectangles to within 1/2 inch of the edges. Top evenly with berries. Bring opposite corners together to seal. Place on an ungreased cookie sheet.
Bake 11-13 minutes or until golden brown. Sprinkle with a little powdered sugar. Makes 4 servings. These are super easy to make and really delicious. I would add more fruit next time too. Have a peaceful and fun Sunday!

Meet another daughter!

This is my eldest daughter Lauren Kathleen. My sweet college student. Lauren is 19 and has been the joy of my life for most of that time (hey, we can't all be joy all the time! and 99.9% is a pretty good percentage :>)) No really, I love her to pieces and she loves me. Lauren is a lot like me and in some of these pics she resembles my younger self so much it is scary. Sometimes I think she likes being like me and sometimes I think she is just trying to be just herself. I guess that is what we all have to do eventually, find our own place in this world. Find out who we are and how we define ourselves.I am so proud of the woman Lauren has become, but sometimes I want to say,"come back over and sit on my knee, be my little girl again. " Lauren defining herself, redefines me too. I will always be her mom and I will always love her, but the relationship does change. She needs her independence. She needs to make choices and decisions on her own. She needs my trust that she can manage her own life without my constant advice. Some day I know it will be easier to step back and give her that space (please tell me it will !) but right now I struggle. I worry she will fall. I worry that I haven't taught her enough or the right things. I relate her success way too much to my own.
Lauren you are my heart beating outside my body. I hope I gave you wings big enough to take you wherever you want to go.

I would like to thank everyone for the kind and thoughtful comments on VIctorias birthday. What a great group of people you meet when blogging! Sorry I havent had time to post this week til now. VBS has taken all my time. It is one of those weeks that just fill every moment with one more little thing to do until you fall into bed at 11:30...and then can't get to sleep because you are running through the list in your head to see if there is something you forgot. I don't know if your brain works that way but I just can't seem to shut mine off sometimes. Anyways, The house is kind of a mess, I have about 40 little muslin bags to finish up tonight for tomorrows craft (bath salts in a little muslin bag) and my girls are throwing a going away party for one of their friends tonight complete with a cookout and hopefully a campfire later in the night. I should probably mention it is supposed to hit a lovely humid 96 or so today and possible thunderstorms tonight. Remember when I said our house is only about 1100 square feet?...... campfire? rain? Yeah. It's another busy day. On the other hand, my morning glories are spectacular this morning! See the tuteur in front of them? I got it painted but didnt get it set out in time for them to climb up. Oh well, they are managing without it :>) Next year...