Book Giveaway!

Come on over to my new blog and enter for a chance to win a new book, hot off the press, entitled "Until We All Come Home." 

It's the true story of one mother's harrowing journey to bring her adopted son home from the Ukraine. It's a true page-turner! I read my copy in one day!

Read my book review and enter the contest here:
 At Home on Orange Blossom Trail Book review and giveaway!

Come on over!

Hello "old friends"! I hope you'll come on over to my new blog at At Home On Orange Blossom Trail and get caught up on what's been happening at the Peterson's! 

Giveaway...

Super cute giveaway from room*6 Boutique!!

She makes the cutest stuff! Like this:

Spring Fever

CSN.com Giveaway

CSN.com $35 giveaway

There are some things I miss about living in the country.

You could park right at the door at the little country post office. The PO was full of personal touches...plants, etc. The postmistress knew my name...you could pick up your mail without a mailbox key. She asked how my sick FIL was doing. Today, when I went to the PO in this city I live in now, there was a line waiting for a parking space. The country PO has 2 parking spaces and it was sufficient. Now, my local PO has 30-40 spaces & it isn't enough.

When I got inside, there were at least 35 people in line!! At the country PO, if you had to wait in line, it was usually behind an old farmer, catching up on gossip. He would step aside, let you go in front of him but all the while stand beside you and keep talking.

Tonight, at the grocery store, there were at least 11 people in line to rent a movie from a Red Box. In my country town, a huge percentage of people didn't even know how to operate the Red Box movie rental thing, which set outside the McDonald's. Or, they didn't have a credit card to use it because they always pay cash.

I miss the rolling hills, the farm land, the wild animals...the librarian who let you check out books without your library card...here if you forget your card, they charge you $1 to look up your number...

But as a praying Christian family, we know God called us out of our comfortable setting and moved us to a sometimes uncomfortable place. We are changing and growing. But, no matter how much I change and grow, I hope someday, God will "call" me back to the country!

I won! And other stuff...

Per my previous post, I was holding my breath, hoping to win the $15 credit at Embraceable Lace on etsy.com. Well, I won!!

And here's what I chose:

It's black and white silk ribbon roses on a black metal headband. I LOVE it! I've worn it umpteen times since getting it! I have waist length hair and in this pic I had it curled and pinned up. 

Other stuff...we've had an ice storm the past 2 days and I'm over it. LOL We've had tons and tons of snow and now the ice. Spring, where art thou?

I did get out of the house a little while today, only to find everything closed. Even Michael's was closed! BOO! lol

Our road is 3 inches of solid ice...

My cutie pie daughter has been entertaining herself by laying in a kitchen cabinet and coloring! lol

and baking cookies with Mama

 I love this pic I got of her last week while we were riding in the car:

My 2 year old diva! LOL

I hope you're staying warm and well!

Embraceable Lace Giveaway

I just came across a giveaway that I'm crossing my fingers AND toes to win!! LOVE these headbands, etc. Read all about it here, The Days of a SAHM blog: Giveaway

Will you follow me on over?

First off, I saw a picture of this awesome staircase and had to share it! Love the sentiments too!

photo credit: Keith Scott Morton

Nextly, (is that a word?) I am starting a new blog that will chronicle our journey in making our new house a home. I'd LOVE it if you'd follow me on over to At Home on Orange Blossom Trail 


I hope to concentrate more of my time over there this winter. I've already posted "Before" pix of the house. For the first time in AGES I'm not going all primitive, so decorating has been a real struggle because I don't own much "non prim" stuff. Maybe you'll have some ideas to share?

Happy Thanksgiving to all my awesome friends! I hope to "see you" over on Orange Blossom Trail! 

Oh! Here's one more pic I took of the neighbor's tree. I took it with my cell phone, so it isn't the best, but I loved the sunlight streaming through! 

And...one more...my goofy little girl! lol

So thankful the miners are ALL out!

What an amazing thing to see unfold on live television...the rescue of ALL 33 miners! Thanks be to God!

My $12 Goodwill find! woohoo!

Boboli Pizza Grilling Party!

A few months ago, I applied to host a Beat the BBQ Boredom Boboli pizza party at Houseparty.com. It was my first attempt at applying to host one of the House Parties and I was chosen! WOOHOO!!

Right away Boboli Fed Ex'd us a package containing the coupons we'd need to purchase the pizza supplies as well as coupons for our guests plus recipe cards, reusable Boboli bags, magnets, etc.

We fired up the gas grill and then made several types of pizzas! I don't think we had any leftovers at all!!

Who knew grilling Bobli pizza would be SO YUMMY? This is definitely something we'll be doing often!!

Thank you to Boboli & HouseParty.com for this awesome opportunity! We had 9 guests!

Helloooo

Hello out there! How's everyone doin'? Are you having a sweltering hot summer like we are here in Hoosierland? UGH! I don't wanna rush things, but you might get me to admit I'm nearly ready for fall! It's too stinkin' hot to enjoy spending time outside!

So, we're all moved in to our new house. Except for the stuff stored in our large storage unit. And the small storage unit. And my in-law's garage. And their RV. OK! And their shed too! Sigh. How did we accumulate so much stuff???

Anyhoo. Haven't had a chance to do much decorating or anything here yet. Well, especially since most of my decor is stored in that RV I mentioned. Between my baby turning 2 on July 1, our 17th anniversary on July 3, a teething child and me having strep throat...well, I haven't gotten much of anything done, it seems.

I'm actually sitting on the floor, typing this, on our home computer (not a laptop) in a empty upstairs loft because we don't have any furniture in here yet. That's OK. I need the exercise of getting up and down off the floor. LOL What a sight to behold!

Still trying to adjust to living in a neighborhood with actual people as neighbors instead of raccoons, foxes, bunnies, deer and what not that we were used to before. But, it's actually just what I need. I'm working on some personal growth and I've spent way too many years keeping to myself, not having friends to do things with, etc. I'm also really shy, so that only added to my isolation. I've been talking to our new neighbors and even went for a walk through the neighborhood last night. People are out everywhere! Walking, play, mowing, swimming, gardening, bike riding. It's amazing. At our old house in the country, I could mow for 2 hours and never see a car pass by!

Well, I'm all talked out for now. LOL I hope y'all are having your best summer ever!

My baby turns 2 today!

Moving!

We've found a new house and we're moving this weekend! Woohoo! I've started a new blog called At Home on Orange Blossom Trail to chronicle our journey in making this new house a HOME! I hope you'll come over and check it out and follow us on the journey!

Super cute Mother's day craft!

Super cute Mother's day craft!

LoVe this Clip It!!

Saw this on Facebook & I have to make one!! Or two!!

My 2 besties!

My hubby & baby girl!

Scrapbook paper Flower Tree

In the corner of the waiting room at my DR's office, there's a gorgeous spring-y tree with flowers made from scrapbook paper! The lighting in there is terrible, so my pix don't do the tree justice, but I thought it was too pretty not to share! The colors are very vibrant in person! I might have to make one for my daughter's room or my future craft room. LOVE it!

The base is a large flower pot with foam in it and a green tissue paper cover. The branches are real tree branches and the flowers were hot glued to the branches. The center of each flower was a ribbon-tied button.