WIP Wednesday

As you can see, I have been working very hard to get this Christmas star completed. As soon as I do, I have two more stars (thankfully, smaller ones) to finish this project. Will I get it done before Christmas? I think so. Will I get it done by the end of this month? I doubt it. In case you are wondering, this star has 217 individual motifs, or, at least, it will when I finish it. I usually get about seven or eight done a day, so you can see how slow a process it is. However, when I finally do finish it, it will be a lovely centerpiece for my dining room table for years and years and years and years.... I have to admit that I am pretty proud of how this thing is turning out.

To see more works in progress, or to add your own, head over to the Place of H.

Kitchen Tip Tuesdays: Chicken and Casseroles

I tried something new last week, and I thought I would share it with you because you might find it helpful, too. I love chicken casseroles, but I hate dealing with a raw, whole chicken. I complain about it every time, and John always asks me why I do it. Why do I do it? I put up with the mess and disgusting-ness of a raw, whole chicken because it is the most economical way to buy chicken. I thought my only other option was boneless, skinless chicken breasts which are not such a good investment for a casserole.

Then I read something (I forgot where) about using split chicken breasts. What a great idea! And I tried it out last week. They typically go on sale here for $0.99 per pounds as compared with $0.79 per pound for a whole chicken. For twenty extra cents per pound, I feel like I get more meat. I know I get more time because it takes less time to cook and to debone the chicken. And those of you who have deboned a chicken know how much easier it is to get the breast meat off the bone than all of the other meat. For me, it's worth a little extra money for all of these advantages.

I hate to admit it, but we don't have casseroles very often because I'm too lazy to deal with a whole chicken. I think that will change now. I have been stocking up on split chicken breasts lately because I plan to stock my freezer with lots of casseroles before this baby is born. With three little ones on my hands, I think I will be very happy I did that.

By the way, I don't have any pictures because you know what raw chicken looks like. You also know what cooked chicken looks like.

For more kitchen tips, head over to Tammy's Recipes.

Aliens Among Us?

I have kind of a weird topic for my post today, but since it is my blog, I get to do with it whatever I want. Right?

On the radio this morning, I heard them talking about aliens and the likelihood that there are some living among us already. Yes, I am talking about outer-space-type aliens. As you may or may not know, I like the science fiction kind of thing. And I'm curious: what do you think? Do you think there is life on other planets? Do you think they have discovered us? Do you think they have actually come to live among us? Do you think the discovery of aliens would affect your religious beliefs at all?

Do you want my thoughts? I don't know. I don't know if there is life on other planets, but I think it would be neat if there were. However, since I believe that God created everything at once (in six days, of course), I think these aliens would be at a similar technological stage as we are, meaning that they wouldn't be able to come find us. If they are somehow more advanced and have found us, I still don't know. Is the scenario like the one out of C.S. Lewis' Space Trilogy series where only Earth fell and the other planets still live in "Eden?" Or is it more like a book my dad received to edit when I was in high school (and I don't know if it was ever published) and let me read which had the premise that all peoples fell throughout the universe and that God sent Jesus to all the planets at the same time. (He is God, so it is possible.) Either way, I don't see any problems between my Bible and the existence of aliens.

However, I have to admit that if an alien just showed up one day, claiming to want to help us, I would be skeptical. I've seen too many movies and read too many books about these type of aliens who end up serving their own purposes not ours. But of course, that was all fiction, wasn't it?

What about you? I really am curious as to what you think. Am I alone in my conclusions?

WIP Wednesday

I have been working very hard on my Christmas stars, and this is what I have accomplished so far. I have the main body of the white star done, along with one complete point of the star and most of the second point. I have been crocheting almost exclusively on this project because I hope to get it done by the end of the month for decorating purposes. In case you have forgotten, there are two more, smaller stars part of this project, too: a red one and a green one. The diameter of the center circle is about 15 inches.

I have not crocheted a single stitch on my pink, basket weave blanket, but I have plenty of time to finish it before Baby Sister comes.

For more works in progress, or to add your own, head over to the Place of H.

Halloween Pictures

I know that some of my readers don't "do" Halloween, and at the risk of offending you, I thought I would show you some pictures of our first Halloween. Yes, this is the first Halloween that we dressed up the children and took them trick or treating. John decided Friday night that we should do this, so we went shopping early Saturday morning for costumes. The selection wasn't very good, as you might imagine, but at least the costumes were on sale.

Poor Daniel got to be a piece of candy corn. We hope this doesn't scar him for life.

Sarah Beth loved this dress. She is not exactly sure what a princess is, but it was enough that the dress was pink and came with a headband.

John didn't keep them out long, but they sure did enjoy the couple of pieces of candy we let them have when they got home. Our poor children don't get candy very often.

How was your Halloween?

Pictures from Our Trip to St. Louis

As I promised earlier, here are some pictures from our trip to St. Louis this past weekend.

Here is Sarah Beth playing with Uncle Bob while Aunt Charlene watches. We're not exactly sure what the relationship is between our children and John's father's cousins, so we just simplified things by calling them "aunt" and "uncle."

Daniel got Uncle Ray to read to him while Sarah Beth played with Aunt Charlene.

Here is another picture of Daniel and Uncle Ray. In the background you can see the mess we brought to St. Louis with us. Do your children do that, too?

There was a park near Charlene and Bob's house that we played at one morning.

Do you see those leaves on the ground behind Daniel? We saw some beautiful fall foliage on our trip. That may not be a big deal to some of you, but we are so far south that we mostly have pine trees which don't change color. There are very few trees in our area that actually change color so our fall doesn't look very fall-ish.

Early, Easy Christmas Presents

If you are looking for some easy, thoughtful Christmas presents, I have a couple of suggestions for you.

My good, blogging friend Marva sells a variety of mixes at this time of year. I ordered a few last year, and they were absolutely delicious. I just placed my order for this year, but I ordered more because we enjoyed them so much last year. You can check them out at Marva's Marvelous Mixes. Meals and desserts just don't get much easier than when they come from mixes.

Another of my blogging friends Sasha sews handbags, purses, and aprons. I have ordered a couple of things from her as well, and I have been delighted with them. She has her own etsy shop which you can find at Sasha Sews. You need to check her things out because there are some really cute ones there.

On a totally different note, did you notice that I now only have 99 days left until my due date? I'm in the double digits now! And I bet the time will fly by with the holidays coming up.