At the bottom of the list

OK. Now that my blog is at the bottom of everyone's list for inactivity I thought I would come back and say a few words!!!! This has been a hectic time for us Schwartzes. Nothing crazy. Just wrestling with some possible job changes for Tony that would require us to vacate the premises. I am not at liberty to fully discuss it but can say that I am fully on board and that God has really been working on me. He truly is sovereign and so awesome. Remember my earlier blog about God being small? Well that was in the midst of my struggling with the idea of moving away. Since then God has truly done a work on me and now I think I will be somewhat disappointed if we stay! WOW! Those words would never have come out of my mouth a few months ago. This past Sunday at Grace we had a FANTASTIC sermon about fear. I know that God was speaking directly at me and Tony. Now, everyone I was talking to afterward said the same thing so it must have been a really good one! Have you ever had the feeling that God is preparing you specifically for some purpose? I have that. I do not know if this is it, but he is really working on something. My sense of awe and anticipation of what God will do is overwhelming. If nothing else he has caused me to wrestle with him and come out the other side courageous. I am ready to go wherever he may lead. I was not a while back. I would have said I was but when confronted with it I found myself sorely lacking in faith!!! God has since increased my measure of faith 10 fold! Whatever happens it is in his hand. Pray that he would speak to us and that we would follow!!!!

Laundry mishap ( mean moms fault)

Earlier this week I had invited my parents over for dinner and was in the process of making a dessert for dinner with Nena. Anna was getting dressed (at 4:00 in the afternoon) and came to inform me that she had no pants. I ever so kindly(sarcasm) said that they were in the washer and if she would not mind she could transfer them into the dryer and turn it on for me. She looked at me like I had 3 heads and in my ever so patient voice I said go ahead and get started and if you run into trouble or do not know how to set it come and get me. What could possibly go wrong? (Foreshadowing) Meanwhile Nena and I went about baking our cake. About 10 -15 minutes later Anna returned to the kitchen in tears with hands that were bright red! She said" Can you please help me? My hands are numb!" It was then that I realized the cycle in the wash must not have been finished and she was loading the dryer with freezing cold sopping wet jeans! I ran downstairs and sure enough there was a pile of wet laundry and about 5" of water in the bottom of the dryer! YIKES! We got it all cleaned up and all is well but Mom still feels like a big turd. I was annoyed that she needed my help while I was in the middle of something and so I sent her off to do what she was not sure how to do. She was trying to please mom and did not come to get me and the poor thing tried to do it herself. :( I think I need a spanking !!!

For us girls with "assets" ( you know who you are)

Just a little caveat before I begin blogging: For those of you at Pastor Brad's service on Sunday I just want you to know that I did read my bible before blogging!There, now that that's out of the way let's move on.
I have made one of the greatest discoveries of my life! Seriously. While trying hard to spend a gift certificate for Dillards from Christmas I thought I would look at the jeans in hopes of finding something acceptable that might be on clearance. I pulled a few 12P's off the shelf with a bit of laughter thinking that any of these might fit my amply endowed butt! Now, for those of you who do not know, my nickname growing up was bubble butt or better yet basketball butt! I always took it in stride and didn't think too much of it. I could usually find acceptable pants before I had children but ( no pun intended) now that God's little gifts have rearranged the hip to waist ratio I struggle to find pants, jeans etc. that allow for a waist as much as 2 sizes smaller than my booty. The low rise jeans do help this a little and that has pacified me the past few years. However on one glorious day in January I found the answer to my prayers. Here it is...Levi's 529 curvy jeans. What a godsend. ( I know God didn't make them but I think he guided the saint who did!) I slipped these jeans on in the dressing room with an audible oohhhhhh! They are low rise in the front but with extra fabric in the back to cover your butt!!!!!! Don't worry your large butt will make the waist look even all the way around. What genius do I owe my thanks to? Not to mention all of this at the reasonable price of $29.99. Better yet you can catch them on sale! They are made of nice thick denim. Not that thin fashion jean fabric that has been stone washed into oblivion. You can feel the difference right away. They also come in dark and light washes. ( Do I need to tell you not to buy the light wash) They shouldn't even make that for us with big butts!

Cherry chocolate chip cake recipe

Here it is Krisser,

1 can cherry pie filling
2 cups mini chocolate chips( do not use regular size, they stick to the cake pan too much)
1 recipe white or vanilla cake
1 jar maraschino cherries
4 cups buttercream frosting
1/2 cup heavy cream for whipped cream

For cake:
Drain and rinse cherry pie filling under running water. Press cherries between paper towels or a dishcloth until very dry. Chop cherries fine. Gently fold cherries and chocolate chips into cake batter. Grease and flour 3 8in. cake pans. divide batter evenly and bake on middle rack at 350 for 20 or so min. Until toothpick comes out dry.

For frosting:
Beat food coloring into buttercream recipe. Or buy 2-3 cans of Pillsbury(?) cherry icing!
( that's what I do) Frost each layer with 3/4 cup frosting and then finish the sides.

For topping:
Whip the cream in a chilled bowl and add 2tbs. sugar at the soft peak stage.
Melt some chips in a microwave bowl and dip either maraschino cherries or some real cherries into the melted chocolate.
Pile all of this deliciousness on the top of the cake!

Happy belated Valentine's day

Long time no blog!!!!! I was busy trying to figure out this whole picture thing. Thanks to all of you that passed on your tips!

We love Valentines day here but not for the romantic warm fuzzy reasons. The truth be told we love crafts and we love to cook big meals that we never cook. Here are some of the envelopes we decorated to send Valentines to all of our cousins. It is so much fun to get pretty mail. The girls really enjoy this because while homeschooling we miss some of the in-class Valentine exchange things and they really want a reason to buy the little Valentine card kits for kids.


Also, at our house I have started a tradition of celebrating at home with family and maybe a few guests. It takes the pressure off of trying to go out that night or feel like we have to do something extravagant. I try to cook a very special meal with a super yummy dessert! Something that I really do not take the time to make on a regular basis. This year we ( I ) chose to make my mom's lasagna. MMMMMMM!!!!!! I love this stuff. It isn't to hard to make, just lots of steps and making your own sauce. Sorry I have no pictures of it because I forgot and ate it to quickly:)
Then to top it all off we make a crazy dessert. For the past few years I have been making this Cherry chocolate chip cake on the back of a Cook's Country magazine. It is to die for! Here's a peek before we destroyed it!




And last but not least a touching and funny moment at the Schwartz House:

Mom: These cherries look just like hearts. Isn't that cool?
Anna: Yeah! here are some more....

Rooting through bag inspecting different cherries

Nena: They do look like cherries but I think they look more like BUTTS!

Hahahahaha ROFL That's our Nena!!!!

HAPPY VALENTINE"S DAY!!!

Painting on wood

We here at the House of Schwartz absolutely love to paint all manner of small wooden items. We usually purchase these items at the Dollar Tree, Goodwill or craft store. Our only rule is it has to cost less than 1$. The girls will paint anything! We have purchased crosses, picture frames, bird-houses, letters and other items. Here are some of their latest creations......

Help with pictures

All right everyone out there in blog land I need help. I cannot seem to figure out how to post pictures in my blog without them all being smooshed together at the top. Can you click and drag them around or do I need to HTML them into certain spots and if so how? GRRRRR I have a backlog of mind clutter that I need to blog ! :) I guess to sum up I need to know how you post pics in the places that you want them. I cannot seem to find the info I need. This may be really easy and stupid but hey I can't get it!!!!!!

Is God too small in my life?

Do you ever really question if God is big? I don't mean intellectually but really? I would never say if asked that God is small or not working somewhere else but I think in my own thoughts that is what I believe. When confronted with my life in this cozy section of Northern Kentucky, where everyone in my extended family lives, where all I have ever known is, where my favorite church on earth is and where true blue friends can be found; I realize that I am very insulated and comfortable. Do I believe that God knows what is best and that whatever his plan is for me and my family it is really for his glory and our great good? I have everything I could ever want here. What if he calls us to be somewhere else? Do I trust him with my life, my children, my relationships , my spiritual life? This is where I am this morning as I stay home with the still recovering kiddos. Like I said I know all of this intellectually but I feel a deeper need to know it in my heart. ( Watch out I feel a trial coming on:) My prayer is that God would stretch and grow me to be more reliant on him and not just on the comforts that surround me, which are many. I think I need to stop in the book nook and get "When You are big and God is Small" (or something like that) Anyone out there read that one?

The Joy of vomiting

Here it is February and we are experiencing our annual vomit party. It usually starts out of nowhere and continues late into the night. Any of you who have little ones can appreciate the look of horror that comes across Nena's face only milliseconds before projectile vomiting up the last three days woth of captain crunchberries onto me and the down comforter on our bed. (Those things cannot go in our washing machine!!! Here we come drycleaner.) Within minutes Anna did the same thing. Now, how's that for synchronization? I am caught between wanting and not wanting to eat today for fear I will see it again in a few hours.
Poor Anna really had it bad and got up every hour like clockwork until 5:30 AM. Poor kid had nothing left but just a spasming stomach. She kept reciting " I am OK" to herself. She gets really worried about not being able to breathe while it is happening.
After all that, I slept until about 11:30 in the morning. The sweet hubby stayed home while I slept on the couch and also went out to get the required Gatorade supply. That is a real man in my book!

Sugar cereal in the Schwartz house

So I decide a few years back to not buy sugar cereal on a regular basis. However, I didn't want to be a complete freak and suck all the joy out of childhood so I came up with a plan. Well actually I stole it from someone else but I don't remember who. We decided that for Christmas, birthdays and vacations they can pick out whatever ridiculous box of junk their heart desires. Seemed reasonable to me.....until my children outsmarted me. As some of you may or may not know poor Anna has her Birthday on Christmas Eve ( this makes her one day older than Jesus according to her) So therefore she picks 2 boxes of junk at the same time. One for birthday, one for Christmas. Nena then also picks her cereal for Christmas at the same time. Now the rule is they have to share with eachother. So they have conspired together to buy the largest bargain bags of generic sugar cereals possible. Currently that is the 32 ounce or 2lb. bag of Kroger Fruitn' Rice and Crispy Berry Crunch. So as you can see, even though it is now February we still have sugar cereal!!!!! Foiled again.... At least they are bargain shoppers :) $2.99 for 2lbs of crap. Now who can argue with that.

Back to the grind

Ok. We are really going to do school today. I meant to on Monday but we had to many errands to run in preparation for our homeschool co-op that began on Tuesday. It always sneaks up on me eventhough it has been on my calendar since August! I always think I have more time to prepare for the classes that I teach and to find the missing ballet leotards that I haven't seen since Christmas. Such is life.

Co-op went well yesterday and I even had all of my supplies with me! ( This rarely happens) This semester I am teaching a craft and story time to the preschoolers, Collage art to 7th -12th graders and Predators of the deep lapbook to 2nd and 3rd graders. Remind me not to teach 3 classes again next year! DUH! Always seems like a good idea in August when I am all excited to get started but by the time it is February I am confronted with my delusional ways.

The snow storm hit just before we all had to leave the church parking lot and that was a little hairy but we got home just before it got bad. Tony worked late trying to avoid some of the traffic and that worked out well. I am so thankful on days like today that we do not have to get up and go anywhere. We can rise with the sunshine and eat a healthy breakfast of Captain Crunchberries ( more on this later) before plugging in for the day. Nothing like getting through math on a sugar buzz! Whatever works.

Hello World!

I know it is incredibly ridiculous but I am just now joining the blogoshere. I am really excited to get started. I will be back with more to say........