Fun and Easy Baby Gift

I love babies!! So of course, I love baby showers. I have always kinda struggled though to find the "perfect" baby gift for that new mommy. It took me a very long time (I think I'm mentally challenged in the area of figuring out the simple things!!!) to figure out that I should just come up with a really simple idea and make a bunch of them ahead of time so I would have a gift on hand every time and not have to run out and find something special.

This idea is not created by me. I first saw this when a friend of mind asked me to help her figure out how to make these on her own from a sample she brought to my house (Thanks, Rhonda!!!). It was really easy to put together, but it was a very long time ago too. So I ran across this project again at my local JoAnn Fabrics Superstore......which have I mentioned that I wish I could just LIVE there!!

So I thought I might share with you this little idea as well as keep a record of this for myself so I don't forget how to do it later on down the line.

Easy Hooded Bath Towel

I started with just a simple bath towel and hand towel. For the first several I make, I'm buying the least expensive I can find as Wal-Mart.

Start by taking the hand towel and folding it in half and pinning along the top selvage.

Stitch along the selvage removing the pins as you go. Then turn inside out and lay the hood out as a triangle.

Pin the long side of the hood to the top selvage of the towel (laid out long ways).

Stitch along the pinning, attaching the hood to the towel.

That's all there is to it!!! Two seams!!! No finishing raw edges. Couldn't be easier.

So for the fun part!!

Our local high school has a vocational program for mentally/physically challenged teenagers

where they teach them all kinds of skills. One of the skills is how to use a fancy embroidery machine. You can take your projects in to the teachers there, go through the catalog and look at the gazillions of pictures they can program into the computer, and then they teach these teenagers how to embroider your designs on your projects for you.

The cost: CHEAP!!

For BOTH the hood and the back on this hooded towel it cost me $7.00.

I couldn't have been more pleased!!!

As you can see, this version of the hooded towel doesn't exactly fit a newborn. I'm going to be experimenting with some different folds and maybe even cutting the towels down and finishing the edges with contrasting bias tape for added color. I'll keep you posted with the new designs!!

"First Responder's Sunday"

Have I mentioned before how much I love our church? It has been such a blessing to us on so many different levels, and yesterday was no exception.

Every couple years they honor all the first responder's of our community with a "First Responder's Sunday." They/We invite, invite, invite as many EMT's, firemen, and police officers as we can for a powerful message, a catered lunch, and a chance to represent their departments with vehicle/equipment displays. It's a great time for the children to see all the different types of emergency vehicles used in their community, and to get to know the men and women who have trained to help them in the event of an emergency.

Sorry this picture is so dark and grainy, but I wanted a picture of the color guard and pledges during the morning service.

My wonderful husband talking to the children in front of his department's police vehicle.

The life-flight helicopter made a special landing for us.

There was a delicious catered lunch of Texas BBQ for all the first responders and their families.

My husband with our special speaker, Mr. Emery Esse. This gentleman was a Detroit SWAT member and has an amazing testimony. He gave a most powerful message of salvation through faith in Jesus Christ from being a Shiite Muslim!!!

The gentleman on the right is our Pastor Emeritus, Dr. Raymond Barber.

Modeling his sheriff's badge.

Getting his fingerprints scanned for his child safety ID.

Comments??

I LOVE comments. Comments are grand.

Comments are the voices in your head talking back to me as you read my posts.

I tend to think that everyone taking the time to read my blog would be thinking lovely, encouraging, thought-provoking, positive things,

but then I tend to see through rose colored glasses on occasion too.

So, I'm going to experiment.

I've had several folks mention to me that they have tried to leave a nice comment, but couldn't figure it out. So I began investigating and discovered that I had set this thing up to receive comments only from those who are registered users on certain thingys....ummm....forums??......ummm......social networking sites?? I don't exactly know. All I know is that I could sign in but other people could not.......SO......I changed it.

Mind your manners now!!! I don't want any of that crazy, mean, ugly stuff.

Suggestions, yes. Corrections, fine. Cuss words, no.

I mean it.

I will delete your mean self so fast it'll make your head spin!!

So for those of you who are new at this, here is what you do:

Click on "Thoughtful comments or questions" at the bottom of the post.

At the bottom of the empty box where your comment is to go,

you will see "Comment as" with a little box that has a arrow to expand

and give you some options.

Click on the arrow, then click on "Name/URL".

You can then type in your name and leave the "URL" space blank.

Then you can type in your comment and you should be able to publish it without any problem.

I apologize if you already know how to do this, but I know there are

several in my reading audience who are "Computerly Challenged"........and you KNOW

who you are!!

So, now that you are free to speak and I have removed the binders, LET ME HEAR

YOUR THOUGHTS!!!!

Sovereignty

For many years I have had this little poem tucked in my Bible. It's not the most brilliantly composed piece of poetry, but I believe it is well-loved. Having studied textiles a little bit while in college for my Home Economics degree (which I'm pretty sure is obsolete now), these words have extra strength and meaning for me. It encouraged me this morning, I hope it will you:

The Weaver

My life is but a weaving

between my Lord and me,

I cannot choose the colors

He worketh steadily.

Ofttimes He weaveth sorrow,

And I in foolish pride

Forget He sees the upper

And I, the underside.

Not till the loom is silent

And the shuttles cease to fly

Shall God unroll the canvas

And explain the reason why.

The dark threads are as needful

In the Weaver's skillful hand

As the threads of gold and silver

In the pattern He has planned.

The Honeymoon is OVER!!!!

I really don't know what is going on other than we must be adjusting to life POST "honeymoon". I just can't get a "good" blood sugar reading from Ashlyn, no matter WHAT I try.

For those of you who aren't familiar with diabetic terms, the "honeymoon" is known as that period of time after initial diagnosis when your pancreas kicks back in a little and erratically produces a little more of its own insulin. Then you have these really low blood sugar readings and have to back off of the synthetic insulin. This could last for weeks or months or even a year or more. It just depends. Nobody knows.

For us, Ashlyn's honeymoon period kicked in several weeks after diagnosis in March. After every meal her blood sugar would drop to 40 and take HOURS to edge back up even with eating or drinking 15 g. of carbs every 15 minutes. It was EXCRUCIATING.

So we backed WAY off on the injected insulin.

Last week our endocrinologist informed us that she is formally OUT of the honeymoon period.

Her looked at her numbers while we were there, and said she was "obviously underdosed" even though her A1C was 7.5%, so he tweaked her ratios from 1:16 at dinner to 1:13 and upped her Lantus at bedtime to 9 units.

Nearly two weeks later, there is not much difference. She is still waking up to numbers over 200, and jumping up by dinnertime to over 300.....consistently. I changed her breakfast and lunch ratios today, and she had a better lunchtime reading but dinner was still over 300. We changed her Lantus a couple days ago to 10 units, but I'm thinking that we're going to have to go up to 11 units here pretty soon.

How far up will she go?? I have no idea. I guess that other children take tons more and in comparison we're still on relatively low amounts of insulin. We met a family with a boy Ashlyn's age who is on 21 units of Lantus, and the endo told us he has teenage boys (as patients) who are on 80 units of Lantus (obviously big, busy guys!!).

Our goal is a blood sugar reading of 80-150, so I guess we'll just keep plugging along here in search of the elusive "good" numbers.

On another note, I'm interested in talking with my Aunt on my mother's side who was diagnosed with Type 1 Diabetes as a young girl in the early 50's. I'd like to hear how things have changed through the years for her, how she started out reading her blood sugar since they didn't have meters back then, and how she was instructed to manage her blood sugar. I wonder how much insulin she is on now and how this disease has affected her quality of life. That little interview would make for a good blog entry in the near future. Stay TUNED!!!

Friday's Fabulous Family Recipe

Peanut Butter Popcorn

I know, I know.....you're thinking......"Huh?", or "Gross", or "On POPCORN?".

But let me just reassure you......this is De-LISH!!!

I've been making this since AT LEAST the summer of 1987, and it

has always been an old family favorite......well, my side of the family!

Super easy to make and worth every minute of it.

(Oh, just TRY it!!)

1/2 cup corn syrup (I know, I know....haven't tried it with honey yet)

1/2 cup granulated sugar

1/2 cup peanut butter

1/2 tsp. vanilla

About 9 cups of popped popcorn (I used two bags of microwave popcorn)

In a saucepan mix the sugar and corn syrup together. Heat until boiling.

When it begins to boil around the edges, remove from the heat and stir in the peanut butter and vanilla. The sauce will be nice and thick, but pourable. Move quickly though because

it sets up and gets stiffer pretty quick.

Pour sauce over popcorn and fold around until popcorn is evenly coated.

Enjoy the yumminess...but be careful.....it's addictive!

First Days of School

I don't know if you can read the jolly little apples on their pictures,

but it says,

"Welcome back to school!"