Making a House a Home

Today, for Kelli's Show & Tell Friday, I would like to share something very special to me.


This is my favorite quilt in the world. My grandma made it for me when I was very small and I have fond memories of picnicing with it in our backyard as well as making forts with it in our family room. Believe me when I say this quilt has been well used over the years!!!

My grandma made Sunbonnet Sue quilts for all her granddaughters and Sunbonnet Sam (often known better as Overall Andy) quilts for all her grandsons. I'm sure this must have taken her quite a while, but she did it because she loved her grandchildren so.

My grandma was a Christian, and when she died in 1993, she went to Heaven to be with the Lord. Even though my quilt is wearing thin and doesn't warm nearly as well as it used to, when I wrap up in it and I see the stitches she lovingly made, I can't help but think, "I wonder if Grandma ever knew that her great granddaughter would be wrapped up in this quilt one day, too? I wonder if she knew it would cover her granddaughter's bed when she was grown and married? I wonder if she knew how much I would miss her?"

What a great legacy she left. I am blessed to have this beautiful quilt and blessed to have such fond memories of my dear grandma.

Do y'all every have those days when, for the life of you, you just can't figure out what to have for dinner? You open the refrigerator and see that you have a few eggs. You also have some pita bread, too. Looking in the pantry, you notice a can of baked beans. What can you do with THOSE ingredients???

Lo and behold, I found a neat website!!! It's called CookingByNumbers and you simply click on the ingredients that you have and, voila, you've got recipes to use with your ingredients!! Granted, there aren't zillions of ingredients to choose from, but there are many ingredients that I think most of probably have hovering in our pantries, anyway.

Next time you're wondering what to prepare for your family's supper, check out CookingByNumbers and, hopefully, you'll get some tasty ideas!!!

One year ago today, February 25, 2007, we received our daughter, Elizabeth. Words cannot even begin to describe how very much we love this little sweetheart. We simply cannot imagine our lives without her.

This is one of the first photos of Elizabeth on that wonderful day.



And here she is one year later. Full of laughter. Full of love.



God has truly spoiled us by allowing us to be her parents. We are so blessed!!!!

Is it only me? Is anyone else having problems uploading photos to your blog? Not photos from the internet, but your personal photos.

This has been going on for several weeks now and it is driving me crazy!! Every once in a while I'll hit it at just the right time and upload a photo (maybe even two- woohoo!), but for the most part, I just sit and wait and wait and wait... and nothing happens. Oh wait... something does happen. I get this message on the screen that says

"This program cannot display the webpage"

Am I the only one with this problem?? Help!!!!

Oh dear. I just ran across this on April's blog (thank you, April, for sharing this!!!). I find it rather alarming and I think you will, too.

Definitely part of making a house a home is making it a safe home!!!!



UPDATE: Mrs. Pear has kindly shared with me that Kwikset makes a "SmartKey" that helps protect against lock bumping. Thank you, Mrs. Pear, for sharing this!!!

I found another wonderful blog, y'all. It's called Passionate Homemaking. Definitely go over and visit with her.

I've been wanting to make homemade mayonnaise for a few years now (since I saw Alton Brown make some on his show). It just seemed to complicated and something that only real chefs and people like Martha Stewart could do. Well, Lindsay explains how to do it and it is wonderfully easy!!! Much easier than I ever anticipated!!!

So... here it is.... Homemade Mayonnaise!!!!! Can you believe it????



Now...the next thing on my "I-simply-HAVE-to-make-that-just-to-see-if-I-really-can" list is HOMEMADE MARSHMALLOWS!!!!!! Yep, the thought of that scares me, but I WILL attempt it one day and, success or failure, y'all will hear about it.

Have a blessed day!!! And, while you're at it, try making some mayonnaise!!

My sweet friend (in real life), Melissa, has ventured into making her own bread!! I am so very excited for her. If you head on over to her blog, you can see the yummy pictures that she's posted.

She would LOVE it if you shared your family's favorite bread recipe with her, so please do. There are lots of y'all that have been making your own bread for years and have learned little helpful hints here and there and she would love to learn those, too!!

The jasmine is blooming profusely this year. It looks so pretty growing all along our backyard fence. This is definitely the best year it has had so far.

The Lord is so kind to give us such beautiful flowers to look at and admire His handiwork.

This is my refrigerator door. You see that plastic strip across the top of the door? It's the brown strip.... see it???? Look closer...


No... look even CLOSER!!!!



OH MY STARS!!!! Do y'all see all that icky stuff in there? I discovered it the other day and just had to take a picture to share with you. I mean, when was the last time you looked inside that little crevice? I never thought to look in there to clean, but boy am I glad I did!! All it took was a quick brush with an old toothbrush (that I use to clean with) and the nasty crumbs were all gone.

How they got there in the first place will always be a mystery, but I can promise y'all they will never return!!!

Can you guess what these are??? They are homemade crackers!! Yes, can you believe it? I, Mrs. U, made CRACKERS!!! And the best part? They are GOOD!!!!!

I was visiting a wonderful blog on Friday called The Nourishing Gourmet. She has some really good information on there! Anyway, she shared a recipe for easy and YUMMY rich, whole grain crackers. I knew I just had to try them, so Saturday I mixed up a batch to let it start "soaking". I rolled them out, cut them and baked them Sunday and SUCCESS- a very good cracker to share with my family!!

I have to be honest. I tried one time before to make crackers and they were a FLOP!! Not only did I not roll them out thin enough, but the taste wasn't very good, either. These, however, are QUITE tasty and I made sure to roll them out thinly. They are now sitting all snug on my counter in a container just waiting to be nibbled on.

If any of y'all try theses, too, let me know. Kimi even shares how you can change the taste for different flavor crackers. YUM!!

So, today is Friday and the weekend is soon underway. What kind of things do you and your family have planned this weekend? We will do the usual on Saturday- sleep in a bit later, we'll probably have biscuits for breakfast and head out to run errands and maybe stop for in our favorite Mexican restaurant for lunch.

Sunday, of course, will be spent fellowshipping with the saints at church. We have monthly fellowship groups and this Sunday night is the time for the next group to meet. It's a fun time to meet in a smaller group to talk and get to know each other better.

Today I need to vacuum the house, wash all the bath mats and wash all trashcans, too. It is AMAZING how nasty trash cans can get and it is equally amazing how much nicer they look when they have a good cleaning. :)

Above all, I need to spend time with the Lord. I have been blessed lately by watching sermons online by John MacArthur. The internet can be SUCH a blessing sometimes!!

I pray that everyone has a wonderful weekend with their family!! Spending time with your family and loving them is the best part of making a house a home!!!!

I know that most of you reading this blog aren't Chinese nor do most of you celebrate Chinese New Year. We didn't either, until Elizabeth came home. Now that has changed for us.

While we do not follow the zodiac signs, we do want to teach Elizabeth about the history and culture of China. Part of that culture is learning about Chinese New Year and today, February 7, 2008, is the beginning of the New Year on the Chinese calendar... at least for this year, anyway.

We will make lanterns, go to our favorite Chinese restaurant to visit with the owners (who are also from the same province Elizabeth is from, Guangdong), and, most importantly, we will pray for China. Yes, I do pray for China almost daily, but on this special day (and the Moon Festival), I want to make sure that we pray even more for China, for her people, for the government, for the light of Jesus Christ to shine brightly in a dark, dark, land.

So today, if you think about it, please pray for China. Two websites that can help you pray more specifically are Pray for China and The Voice of the Martyrs.

We fell in love with China while we were there. It will always hold a most special place in our hearts and we would love to be able to go back there one day. And if we are never able to return, I know that the Lord is watching over His children there. I know that His purposes will be fulfilled. And I know that He created China for His glory.

So, HAPPY CHINESE NEW YEAR!!!!

Okay... so April has tagged me to post 7 things about myself. The rules are to link the person who sent this to you and leave a comment on their blog so their readers can visit yours. Post the rules on your blog. Share 7 strange/weird facts about yourself. Tag 7 random people at the end of your post, linking their blog. Let each person know they have been tagged by leaving a comment on their blog.

So here goes...

1) I do not like seafood. Of any kind. No, not fishsticks. No tuna either, thank you very much. If it swims in water, I am NOT eating it!!

2) I must have all the dishes facing the same direction in the dishwasher.

3) I do NOT like to eat one thing at a time. I have to eat a few bites of one thing, move on to another, etc. Always saving the best bite for last. :)

4) Every night, no matter how late it is, I MUST wash my face, brush my teeth, and put Carmex on my lips (sure does keep my lips from chapping!!!). I simply cannot fathom going to bed with a dirty face, dirty teeth and dry lips!! OH MY STARS!!!!!

5) I visited Albuquerque, NM, for 2 1/2 hours last March 10. And I NEVER touched my foot on the ground!! HAHA!!! Seriously, a lady on our plane coming home from China (well, we were flying out of LA back to Atlanta) got sick. Our plane made an emergency landing in Albuquerque and we sat there for 2 1/2 LOOOOOOOOOOONG hours before our plan was allowed to take off again. It was NOT fun.

6) I like vacuuming.

7) The longer Mr. U and I are married, the more of a "night owl" I am turning into. I used to go to bed about 9:30, but since we were married over 9 years ago, the evenings get later and later!!!

And here's an extra, just because...

8) I LOVE LOVE LOVE taking photographs of Elizabeth!!!!!!(In this photo, she's "modeling" a new winter hat. HAHA! For some reason, she thought it was neat to pull it way down over her eyes. Silly girl!!)




So if you are reading this and there is a "7" anywhere in your phone number, consider yourself tagged!!!

Yesterday, Mr. U hung around home after lunch (he usually heads back to work after lunch). He told me he had ordered The Andy Griffith Show- the Complete First Season from Amazon and he knew that UPS was going to deliver it then. Sure enough, UPS came not too long after lunch. He brought the package in and I asked why the box was so big. "Oh, lots of bubble wrap I suppose" was his answer.

Well, look what was in the box!!!!



Yep!!! Now y'all all know... I have the sweetest hubby in the world!!! He knew I've been eyeing this Taste of Home cookbook and he bought it to surprise me!!!

Oh, he did order The Andy Griffith Show. It's just coming tomorrow. :)