Dump Salad

1 3oz box orange jello, dry
12oz container cottage cheese
4oz container cool whip
8oz can crushed pineapple, drained
11oz can mandarin oranges, drained
1 cup miniature marshmallows

Mix all ingredients together. Chill and serve.

If you have leftovers, don’t stir the salad before serving again or it will separate.

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Raspberry Cream Salad

1 3oz box raspberry jello
1 cup hot water
1 pkg frozen raspberries, thawed
1 pint vanilla ice cream

Dissolve jello in hot water. Stir in raspberries and ice cream while still hot. Refrigerate to set. Serve.

Banana Bread
Makes 2 loaves

1 cup sugar
3/4 cup shortening
2 eggs
1 teaspoon soda
3 Tablespoons sour milk
2 cups flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
3 bananas, mashed

Mix all ingredients together an pour into greased loaf pans. Bake for 1 hour at 325.

I had quite the surprise yesterday evening.

At 7pm, I heard door slamming outside the house and went to go see who was here. It was a couple of ladies from church and two teen girls – bringing me a birthday cake!

One of the ladies is taking Wilton classes, and made her most recent cake for me for my birthday! I thought that was so incredibly thoughtful of her.

My birthday was Wednesday. We had a TON of running and things to do that day, so yesterday I tried to play catch-up a little and get caught up on housework. My friends from church caught me at the end of a very hot day. I felt pretty grubby looking after being outside, but the surprise was so worth it.

I’m not sure if they’ll ever realize what an encouragement they were to me yesterday, but they really were.

Then I discovered something else. I absolutely love fondant icing. That would be a problem, lol! Wow – that stuff is GOOD! I’d always wondered how to make it and how it would taste, but I don’t think I better ever try to make it myself for fear I’ll eat too much of it. YUM.

Isn’t it pretty?

I was just writing an email to a friend, and mentioned my to-do list for today.

Work on a website for my pastor’s wife (I’ll post a link where when it’s finished – it’s been a major project but a real blessing to be able to work on it)
Finish a bridal shower gift for my future sister-in-law. It’s a recipe book I’m putting together of my brother’s favorite recipes and my tried-and-true recipes. At last count it was up to 53 pages. I hope my printer has enough ink!
Restring 2 bracelets for a customer
Do a load of laundry or two
Bake bread for Stephen for lunches
Maybe start packing – we fly out Monday and there won’t be much time on Sunday to pack

Hm. Maybe I need to get to work instead of writing to-do lists!

Yesterday we had record-breaking temperatures and it hit 102 in our area. Today weather.com says it’s 104 here. Wow.

There are some things I’m thankful for with this heat.

Air conditioning would top that list by a long shot.

Next I think would be the air conditioning in our van. We’ve owned vehicles that haven’t had a/c, so I’m thankful that our van does.

Next – ice water. And insulated jugs that keep the water cold while we’re outside.

I am thankful for the heat though – my clothes are drying super fast on the clothesline and today I’m pretty sure that it’s hot enough to dry two full loads of clothes instead of the usual one.

Early Monday morning S and I are flying up to spend a week with my family. I’m thankful that we get to fly North – even if it’s hot up there, surely it will be somewhat cooler. . .right? ;O)

Today has been absolutely wonderful so far.

My day started with breakfast in bed. :O) It’s our sixth anniversary today, and Stephen made me chocolate chip waffles topped with a chocolate peanut butter sauce. It’s really not as fattening as it sounds, but even so, it was still a treat. I so love that man! He loves to make me breakfast in bed, and I’ll gladly enjoy it there when he does it!

After a lazy morning, we dropped S off at Grandma’s house for the day while we went and explored a new-to-us thrift store. I found a pretty blouse for myself, got Stephen a few pair of work jeans, and I think I completely outfitted S in the next size jeans for when he outgrows the ones he’s in now. All of those clothes combined cost me a whopping $5 – I think that was pretty good, lol! We also found an ice cream freezer for only $2 – which was great because Stephen’s dad had been looking for another one and this was exactly what he had been wanting.

We headed up to town to do some more errands. It’s tax-free weekend in NC, so things were a bit crazy, but we got what we needed. It was also fun to dream about some of the laptops that we looked at. We won’t be buying one any time soon, but it was nice to dream anyways. I also had some things printed up for a new item I’ll be adding to the notebook store soon, so stay tuned for a post about that in the near future.

Now we’re home and enjoying the peace and quiet before we go get S from Grandma’s house. I’ve had some fabric sitting around for a new dress, so I think I just might start it. It’s supposed to be a 2 hour pattern, so maybe I can get it done for church tomorrow. . .

*added later*
It probably helps to actually hit the “publish” button, huh? Oiy. I got so involved with sewing the new dress that I completely forgot. It did get finished though, and seems like it’s going to be rather comfortable. I’m already trying to think through my stash to see if I have a big enough piece for another dress, but I’m not sure about that yet.

We went to Stephen’s parents’ house to go get S, and ended up staying for dinner. I never realized how much I enjoy spending time with them until we moved away. Now it’s a treat to be able to go over there.

My darling husband did the dishes when we came home too (we ran out the door in somewhat of a rush earlier and they didn’t get done. Oops. I try to always have them done, but it doesn’t always happen yet).

Either way, it was a wonderful day. It was so nice to just be able to spend time with Stephen – even though we were just running errands for part of the day. We really didn’t do anything big or out of the ordinary, but it was a special day regardless. I am so thankful God brought us together!