Editing, Features, and Yummy Light

Today?

Amazing.

I took the day off work so I could chain myself to my computer and edit all day.

It was fabulous.

I woke up and immediately posted on Facebook this status:

"Today is mine. All mine. And I'm going to make it awesome!"

Awesome. it. was.

 I edited then took a nap.

Then edited then ate lunch.

Then edited and got some sa-weet news.

I was featured on IHeart Organizing!

What to the WHAT?!

I love me some Jen. She's one super amazing lady.

I am inspired by her daily and it was such an honor to be featured with my wee bitty project!

I'm still smiling.

And fist pumping.

 This evening brought a photo shoot that contained 4 Littles (eeesh) and super cool moms that really got into it and came fully loaded with snacks, balls, bubbles, and toys which kept those Littles happy (YAY!).

Then God gave me time to bathe in this yummy light and some time to spend with my energetic Little

 who loves to play in it.

 It was a good day.

So good.

I needed this day.

And holy cats!

Hello new followers and friends!

Welcome to my little slice of the blogpie.

Thank you so very much for stopping by!

I'm kinda floored by how many people HAVE stopped by today.

I'm going to bed a happy gal.

My cup?

Runneth over.

Happy Wednesday!

Tearing In

I have a to-do list that I've made for changes I'd like to do to our bitty home.

But I started a little project this evening that just came to me.

It wasn't on the list.

And I just started tearing into it before I even thought about taking pictures.

So, you'll have to use your imagination.

(Sorry about the picture quality.)

This shelf below that's now in Griffin's room...

 ...was on this wall in our bedroom (between my closet and the window)...

 ...It housed these things...

 ...but it looks much cuter here...And I have big plans for the now empty wall in our bedroom...

 So stay tuned!

For now, I'll leave you with a picture of the wheel of Big Foot, Griffin...

...and Griffin's Weenis.

Happy Monday!

Shout Outs & S'mores

First of all,

I'd like to give a big shout out to God for making such a b.e.a.utiful sunset!

It's the first day of summer

and we have crossed another item off our Summer List.

 Making S'mores!

 We got this super awesome S'mores maker for Christmas this last year

but we never got around to trying it out.

 Can you believe all the flavors of marshmallows there are?

I nabbed regular, strawberry, and chocolate & vanilla swirl.

 It was super easy to use! We just filled the backer with water, snapped the lid closed,

placed the S'mores on the plate, put down the holder-feet-thingies, popped it in the

microwave for 30 seconds and viola!!

 We were a bit nervous about putting marshmallows in the microwave for a whole

30 seconds when they tend to almost explode on their own after 8 seconds.

But they turned out perfect!!

 We all tried them.

Unanimous approval.

And so messy.

 Nom

 Nom

Nom

We each tried all three flavors of marshmallow.

My favorite was the strawberry.

A-Yum.

I highly recommend this S'mores maker.

They turned out perfect every time.

Here's one place you can get them.

Happy Tuesday!

Doctors, Haircuts, and Friendship

Warning:

This is a long, sappy, post that might be TMI for some.

But I've always been pretty transparent.

So here goes.

I was sitting down one day about 2 months ago and the person standing near me said

words I'll never forget.

"Did you know you have a bald spot?"

Wha?

I knew my hair was really getting dangerously thin and I needed

to get in to see a doctor so he or she could tell me I needed to quit my super demanding, stressful, emotional, crazy insane day job.

I just thought I was over-worked and totally at my stress limit and was seeing the physical results.

But a BALD SPOT?

I took my vain self to my car and cried. And called Hubs.

For the first time since I've known him he wasn't all,

"It's not that bad. It'll be fine."

He was ready to attack.

Papa Bear was on the defensive.

So I forced myself to go in to see a Dermatologist.

Hands folded in my lap, I was fully ready to hear her say,

"Do you have any stress or anxiety in your life?"

To which I would probably tear up and blab about my day job.

But nope.

Not a single question about that.

She said, very calmly and...sternly...I guess,

"You are going to lose your hair."

I'm sorry.

WHA?

"Some women just lose their hair. But that bald spot is discolored. I'm going to take a Biopsy."

Dude.

I've heard Biopsy's don't hurt.

Walk in the park.

But man. Let's just say I had a spot the size of a dime and now I really don't have one anymore.

And I got a face lift.

Eeesh.

And she sewed my hair up in it so I had loops of hair that would catch on my

 comb as I combed my hair for 2 weeks.

Really?!

Fast forward.

I go back.

Armed with my mother.

Suck it in, Cass.

Lupus.

"You have Lupus."

"There are several kinds of Lupus and we need to do further testing to find out what kind you have."

Now, it would have been way cooler had the results been LUPINE.

As in, I turn into a werewolf once a month.

*sigh*

I started to cry because I had no idea what that was or what that meant to me.

At the first sign of tears, the doctor left. Just like that. And never came back.

Even my poor mother was all,

What just happened?

So, there we have it.

Lupus.

I've said it over and over and I still don't know what it really means to me yet.

I'm in the works to find a new doctor and get testing done but in the meantime a decision needed to be made about my hair.

 Here it is, in all it's puny glory. :)

Really, though. It took me years to get past the awkward stages and grow it to my shoulders.

But I couldn't wear it down.

Some parts of my hair were super thin and others were normal so it would never

lay right. So, this is what it looked like pretty much every day for a few months.

It took me a long time to get up the courage to cut it.

Because this time it meant something different.

It possibly meant never going back to long.

I wasn't just going to change it up with a new 'do.

I contacted the only person I would trust to handle such a situation.

Donna Harris has been doing my hair for years.

She is also an amazing photographer.

I sat in her chair when I said out loud for the first time that I wanted to be a photographer.

 Leading up to this we had many discussions about this so she was prepared.

"I'm leaving this totally up to you."

I was confident she was the person I needed in that moment.

And because she knew that, she said,

"I'm going to give you a hug now."

 We talked, as we do, about our kids and husbands and photography.

We talked about Lupus.

About how I'm not quite sure about how I feel about it.

About how I feel about telling people. About the decision to blog about it.

Obviously it's affecting my life.

But I'm not dying.

I'm tired a lot. I've lost hair. I have to stay out of the sun or cover up and wear hats.

More than that is to be determined.

But I'm not dying.

So I feel like a bit of a whiner.

(Photo by Donna Harris)
Because she's awesome, she grabbed my camera and snapped a few shots for me.

I wanted to document this.

And I'll tell you the truth here.

The more she cut my hair, the more peaceful I felt.

Let's be honest here. I'm not the thinnest of gals.

And short, thin hair wasn't going to flatter my jowly jaw.

But something happened.

(Photo by Donna Harris)
She finished up, handed me the mirror and I just cried.

Big, soppy tears.

She made me feel pretty.

I didn't look or feel like I had thinning hair.

Her friendship in this moment renewed my spirit.

She gave me the greatest peace hug ever.

I will always remember this act of love, patience, and understanding between two women.

 And 3 people commented on how awesome I looked as I left the salon.

Nice.

(Photo by Hubs)
I am moving forward grateful that this is nothing worse.

It affects my daily life but it's nothing I can't handle.

It's nothing Hubs can't handle.

I will not die from this.

I will live with it.

I will take it seriously and give it it's due respect.

But this is my body.

My body is strong, despite the fact that it wants to attack itself.

I am strong.

And you know what?

I might not lose my hair.

I have faith.

I have faith that I haven't been brought this far to be abandoned now.

So, there you have it.

Oh happy day!

I am blessed with an amazing haircut.

I really don't want my blog to turn into

"check in on Lupus day"

so if any of you readers have any questions, I'd be happy to answer any of them!

I'm not looking for sympathy.

This is heavy.

But all good.

So good.

Happy Monday!

Cuteness Overload - Recipe for Raspberry Pie In A Jar

I had never made a pie before.

Lots of cupcakes.

Lots of cookies.

Lots of cakes.

But a pie?

Never.

I saw this from Shauna (man, inspiration is everywhere!) and totally died.

Must make. Now.

So I did!

Ladies and gents...

Pie. In a jar.

Here's what you'll need:

4 half-pint mason jars

For the crust:

2 C Flour
11 T Butter - real butter
1/4 t Salt
4-5 T ice water

For the fruit filling:

4 C prepared fruit
up to 1/2 C Sugar
3 T Flour
2 T Butter

 Put the flour and salt in a bowl.

The cut up your insane amount of butter (COLD - straight from the fridge)

into little butter chunks and add them to your flour & salt mixture.

Mix it all together and break up the butter chunks into super small butter chunks.

 Add ice water a tablespoon at a time and mix .

Eventually just grab it all with your hands and knead a bit.

 Your dough should look like this.

 In another bowl, take your washed and prepared fruit (I used raspberries), sugar,

flour, and butter and mix it all together until it is a mushy, mashy, gooey mound of

yumminess.

I added a splash of vanilla to this mixture as well.

 Okay, so your dough is prepared and hanging out in a bowl.

And your fruit filling is prepared and hanging out in another bowl.

Take some of your dough and roll out on the counter.

(Don't want a counter full of flour? Just sandwich the dough between 2 pieces of wax paper and roll.)

Take a lid from one of your jars and cut 4 circles.

This is for the pie tops.

Set those aside for now.

 Take the rest of your dough and press it into the jars.

You don't need to roll the dough for this out.

Just press with your fingers.

Make sure to get the dough all the way up the sides of the jar.

 Fill them up!!

A-Yum.

Once you've filled the jars with the filling, stick a little pat of butter on top of the fruit.

Now place your precut toppers onto the top of the jars and

press against the sides with your fingers or a fork to seal them.

Make sure you have a vent or a hole cut into the topper!

Have fun with a little cookie cutter.

Cuteness overload.

 When your crazy jars of goodness are ready to go in the oven,

sprinkle some melted butter and sugar on top.

OMG.

Then bake at 375 for 45 minutes.

 Hooooooly cats.

This was so good.

So so good.

 And the best part?

You can prepare these puppies ahead of time and freeze them for when you are ready!

WHAT?!

Just stick the lids on them and pop 'em in the freezer.

When you are ready for them, just take them out of the freezer and bake at 375 for

50-60 minutes instead of 45.

Check out this link.

I love this site and for this particular recipe, it gives lots of other ideas as well!

Hello crumb topping and mini lattice work.

I die.

Oh happy day!

Bedtime

These pictures make my heart just melt.

This is what bedtime looks like to me each night.

Happy Friday!

A Happy Little Project

I recently got inspired by Shauna at Cake and Cotton.

I fell in love with this idea of making fun drinking glasses for Griffin from jars!

Here's what you'll need:

 The red and white checked lid didn't come with the jars but 

at $2 for a pack of 12, the cuteness was worth it.

 Okay, it was really really hard to punch a hole in the lid but it was so worth it!

 How. Awesome. Is. THIS?!

This little project made me so happy.

I may just like this more than Griffin!

 It made me so happy, I went outside under a little shady tree and just sat for a sec.

I sat with my cool drink and a happy book.

It was good.

So good.

Happy Thursday!