A little more wedding stuff...

Here's a picture of Heather's bridesmaids.  Don't they all look pretty?  Left to right - friend Melissa with her husband Mike, sister Laura with husband Aaron (who always misbehaves when his picture is taken), cousin Katelyn with her boyfriend Nathan.
I wanted to share that picture along with something Laura wrote for the wedding.  As Matron of honor, she had to give a little speech at the reception.  Instead of a traditional toast, she wrote a little story, that I thought was both cute, and touching.  Here it is - hope you like it too.

Hello everyone! In case I haven’t met you yet, I’m Heather’s sister, Laura. I’ve was thinking about what I could say to tell you all a little more about Heather and Andrew, and then I came across a little story that I thought did it perfectly, so I’d like to share it with all of you today.
Once upon a time, in a land not so very far away, on a holiday set aside to celebrate love, a princess was born. She lived with her parents, the king and queen, her older and slightly bossy but mostly nice sister, and her troublemaking younger brother.
She loved to play with her sister. They especially liked to build castles out of chairs and blankets and hide inside, which would have been more fun if they didn’t have to defend their castle from the aforementioned troublemaking brother who pretended to be an invading enemy and liked to tear their castles down.
The sisters shared a bedroom and even had bunk beds, and as they grew older, they loved to stay up talking and dreaming together. The only problem was, at night a terrifying troll would patrol the halls of the castle yelling, “I better not hear one more peep out of this bedroom!” So the sisters developed a method of tying notes to string and dropping them down from the top bunk, then writing a note back and tugging on the string for the top bunk to pull the note back up. It worked quite well, and the troll left them alone.
The princess grew into a beautiful, kind, softhearted young woman. She loved all the animals of the kingdom, especially the cats. She loved to read and was regularly seen with her nose in a book. Her parents and siblings were very proud of the lady she had grown into. Suitors began to arrive at the castle for the princess, but they were all frogs as far as the princess’s family was concerned. None of them were good enough for the princess. The princess wondered if there would ever be someone she could laugh, go on adventures, share life, and watch Dr. Who with.
One wintery day, a knight arrived at the castle. He had heard that the princess was an excellent shopper, and after a glance at her shoe and handbag collection, he surmised the rumors were true. He needed help with Christmas shopping, and wondered if the princess could offer her services. The princess agreed and went shopping with the knight.
Soon after, the kingdom began to notice a change in the princess. Whispers of her constant smile, bright eyes and joyful spirit were all over the kingdom. Rumors were heard that the princess had gone out in blizzard like conditions, against the advice of her parents, just to see the knight.
The princess told her sister about the wonderful knight she had met. The sister worried that he better be as good as the princess said he was, since she was obviously smitten with him.
And then the family met the knight, and could see that he was as fine a gentleman as they had been told. They could see the knight loved the princess and treated her very well. And yes, he even enjoyed watching Dr. Who with her. The family was thrilled.
So one evening when the princess was away, the knight went to the king and asked for the princess’s hand in marriage. The king said yes, because he could see how very happy the knight made his daughter. So the knight took the princess on a long carriage ride to the kingdom of Chicago where they enjoyed visiting historical sites, one of the princess’s favorite things to do. At just the right moment, the knight took out a ring and asked the princess to marry him. She of course said yes, and here we all are today to celebrate!
Andrew and Heather, we are all so happy to be part of this first chapter of your story. There is so much more to come, and we are all wishing you tons of happiness and praying for God to bless you and always be the center of your marriage.
So now let’s all toast to Andrew and Heather. We love you guys! To your happily ever after! 

The end....

Cooking Thursday

My good friend Becky offered to bring some food to the church the day of Heathers wedding.  She knew we would be there all day and wanted to help out.  She brought some heart shaped brownies, cookies, fruit, a veggie tray and this wonderful cheese ball.  She had some Pita chips to go with it.  We all enjoyed the goodies!  I asked for the cheese ball recipe to share with you.  She said it's the easiest cheese ball to make and the recipe proves it. Here's it is!

Dried Beef Cheese Ball

2 - 3 ounce packages of chipped beef
2 - 8 ounce packages cream cheese
2 green onions, chopped
1 tablespoon Accent
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce

Chop chipped beef into small pieces.
Stir together softened cream cheese, Accent and Worcestershire sauce.  Stir in green onions and chipped beef.
Shape into a ball or place into bowl.  Refrigerate overnight.
Serve with crackers or pita chips.

Wordless Wednesday

Tip for Tuesday

Here's a tip that isn't of much help to many people, but it was a huge help to us, so I'm passing it on, in case someone else has to make a seating arrangement.

To make a seating arrangement, get a package of post-it strips.  Write your guests names on the strips, using the different colors to code them - one color for grooms family, one for brides family, one for grooms friends...  You can separate your guest into whatever groups work for you.  Once you've done that and have numbered your tables, you can put the strips at tables, moving them as you need to.
Hope this helps someone!

Wedding!

Heather got married Saturday!  The weather was terrible last week, but we had a break on Saturday, which we'd been praying for.  The wedding went off without a hitch, and was beautiful!
I wish I had more photos, but I was kind of busy!  Here's a few to show you a little bit of the wedding.  I'll share more of the professional ones when we get them.
Heather loves old things and history, and this was shown in her vintage style wedding.

Instead of having a candle lit in memory of special people who are no longer with us, she set up this chest, with an old oil lamp, old books and photos of grandparents who have passed.

Here are the programs, printed on kraft paper and tied with twine, nestled in an old drawer.

Instead of a unity candle, they had a braiding ceremony.  There are 3 cords to symbolize the fact that God is a part of their marriage.

This antique bible was printed in the 1920's.  The ringbearer carried it instead of a pillow with rings.

This old picnic tote was used for cards at the gift table.

Here's Bob hard at work while we were setting up.  This gives an idea of what the reception area looked like.  There were also small jars of jelly that Heather and Andrew made, at each place setting for the guests.

The wedding cake!

 This old frame was used to list the table seating arrangements.  We later added an old food scale to the area where the old books are, and added a pile of old books near the flower.

Here's the groomsmen waiting for the wedding.  You can see the hats, suspenders and bowties they wore.  I love that vintage look!

 Here's my sweet Alaina, getting ready for her flowergirl duties.  She did a great job!

 Head table, ready to start the reception!

 These little cones were filled with fake snow to throw at the couple when they left the church.

Here's a picture my sister took as that "snow" was thrown.


Here's a few sneak peak photos we got from the photographer.

 Aren't the flowers gorgeous?  Laura did all the flower arrangements.

They even went outside for a few photos in the snow.

I love this shot! 
That's it for now - I'm share more when we get them.

Happy Birthday/Happy Valentines Day!

Saturday is Valentines Day, and it's also Heathers birthday!  It's her last birthday at home, because a week from Saturday she's getting married.  We're very happy for Heather and Andrew, and are excited for the special day.
Happy Birthday Heather - we love you lots!
I'm going to be on a blogging break next week, as I'm going to be just a little bit busy.  :)
I'll see you all the next week with some wedding pictures!

Cooking Thursday

I made a new recipe this week that I have to share with you.  It's a twist on the Lemon Bars many of us have had.  This one uses crescent rolls as a base and has cream cheese in it too.  Yum!

Lemon Cream Cheese Bars

2  8 ounce packages crescent rolls (I use Pillsbury Recipe Creations w/o seams)
2 pkgs cream cheese, softened
6 tablespoons lemon juice
1/2 cup sugar
2 tablespoons melted butter
3 tablespoons sugar.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees and spray 9x13 pan with cooking spray.
Lay one roll of crescent rolls in bottom of pan, stretching to make it fit.
Beat cream cheese with 1/2 cup sugar until smooth.  Add lemon juice.
Spread mix over crescent rolls in pan.
Unroll second roll of crescents over cream cheese, stretching it to fit pan.
Brush melted butter over top of crescent rolls, then sprinkle sugar over top.
Bake for 30 minutes until lightly browned.
When cool, keep in refrigerator.

Wordless Wednesday

Tip for Tuesday

I like to keep some of the plastic bags you get from different stores.  You never know when you might need one!  However, they can take up a lot of room and look messy.  I saw this tip a few weeks ago, and tried it out.  It really doesn't take long to roll them and it works!

If you save them too, you might like this tip.

Frozen!

Yes, it's been a little cold here, and we've had plenty of snow.  But, it's been nothing like last winter and we're doing alright.
However, there is a place in Detroit that's seen too much ice and cold.
Apparently there was a fire at this house and the landlord had it locked.  He forgot something important though - he didn't turn the water off.  Three days later, the house looked like this!

 The pipes froze and burst, leaving water running all over the house, and then out the windows and doors.

 

The outside looks bad enough, but inside one floor collapsed and all the belongings are covered with ice too.

Apparently the problems didn't end there. The water ran out into the street and several neighbors cars were frozen to the road.
The house will now have to be torn down.
Isn't it incredible what water and freezing temps can do?

Smoke Art

I've got a little art to share with you today.  The artist name is Jim Dingilian.  He creates images inside old bottles that I think are really incredible.

He starts by coating the inside of the bottle with smoke.  He then uses brushes and small implements mounted on the ends of dowels to reach inside. He slowly and selectively erases certain areas. The smoke which remains on the glass forms an amazing scene.

Here's a few of his pieces:

Have you ever seen anything like this?  I wouldn't be able to do this on the outside of a bottle, much less the inside!

Cooking Thursday

I'm sharing a recipe I should have put out last week, because it's a good one for a Superbowl party. However, I made it for our Superbowl night, so you're getting it a little late. This is one my family always enjoyed and we still do. It makes quite a bit, but I have made it and frozen half to use later, which works well.

Taco Dip

3 pounds hamburg, browned and drained
1 can tomato soup
1 small can tomato sauce
1 can refried beans
2 tablespoons chili powder
1 package taco seasoning
16 ounces Velveeta cheese
Stir all ingredients but cheese together.  Cut cheese into large cubes and stir in.  Heat through (I put it in the crock pot for a few hours) and serve with tortilla chips.

Wordless Wednesday

Tip for Tuesday

I saw this tip on facebook last week and tried it this weekend. The tip said that if you have a can of something thick, like tomato paste, to punch a few holes in the bottom of the can before you open it.  The air pressure will help it to come out of the can easily.

This weekend, I was making a taco dip that used a can of refried beans, and I thought it was worth a try. I keep a small hammer and a package of nails in my kitchen junk drawer, so I cleaned the nail, and punched a few holes as you can see in the picture.
I opened it and flipped it over and was amazed!  The refried beans, which usually require some effort to get out,  immediately slid out of the can!
This is a tip that works, and I'll be using it again.

What a week!

I had kind of a crazy week, last week. A week ago Saturday, 2 ladies who were special to me passed away. One was the mom of my best friend all through school. She had surgery and just never recovered from it. I used to spend a lot of time at my friends house and called her my second mom. The other was my aunt, my Mom's sister. I have lots of good memories of her too. We celebrated birthdays and holidays with her and her family and were always close. Both of these ladies were 84, and most important, they were both Christians. These deaths meant a few funerals and visitations for me. Although sad, we know where they are! It was good to see a lot of old friends at one funeral, and catch up with some of my cousins at the other. It seems you only see some people at weddings and funerals!
It was also a busy week for me at work. Every month, in the last few days I have to work extra to get the paper work done for the next month. This paper work is medication sheets, side effect monitoring sheets, treatment sheets, Dr order sheets and several other sheets that staff document on. It was unfortunate that this happened the same week as the funerals because it meant working some long days to make up for it. One day I went in at 5am and left at 7pm. But - I got it done!
Friday night we went to Aaron and Laura's house and watched Alaina and Ruby so they could go out by themselves. We had great fun, and tired both girls out.
Saturday was Heather's last shower. It was given by the ladies of Andrew's church which we thought was really nice. It was nice to meet them all and we had a really nice time. Heather got lots of nice things, and I got this:

Andrews mom took these along to the shower - crocheted slippers that look like shoes! She made a pair for Heather, then made this pair for me.  They are comfy and warm and I'm already enjoying them!
As I type this, we're watching the Superbowl and listening to the wind blow.  We've been under a winter storm warning all day, and it's supposed to continue until 6am Monday, and they say we could get 12 inches of snow.   Most everything has been cancelled around here and I'm not really looking forward to the drive in to work tomorrow.
So, that's my week.  Hope yours was quieter!