tlc's Random Life

I have so many things I want to blog about.  Wanted post last night, but was home alone for a bit but having a little dinner and snuggling into my bed to watch a some TV sounded better at the time.  Anyway...Quilting, again.  It seems like something I learned to do yesterday (probably because I only do about 1 quilt a year these days)  The reality of it is that it has been 8 years since I learned to quilt (future post for that whole story) at first it was all I did as soon as one was done I would start the next project and so on...enter a so called friend who talked me into going into business quilting and embroidery to be exact.  It went well at first then one day while I was on vacation with the family she sold off almost all my quilting supplies...leaving only embroidery which I did but it wasn't my favorite thing to do.  things were not good after that we parted ways, I got stuck with $25000 worth of debt (that is now...

Yes, I believe I will... ...never buy store bought microwave popcorn again that is. This was another "Pinterest" find and I must say I had my doubts yet again.  But of course IT WORKED! ~~~~ All you need is: 1 plain brown paper lunch bag 1/4 cup regular popping corn ~Fold the bag over at the top twice and tape it shut. ~Lay it in the microwave and turn it on for 2 minutes or until you hear that the popping has slowed to about 1 pop every 3-5 seconds. ~Remove from the microwave and add any topping you choose and enjoy right there out of the bag.  No mess no dirty dishes (unless you melt butter)  The above instructions are for one serving, if you have 2, 3, 4, 5...people wanting popcorn they that's how many times you will have to run through the steps, but it is so much better than the stuff we have all been buying from the store it really is worth it. ~~~~ I added about 3 teaspoons of butter and sprinkled some salt held the bag shut and gave it a good shake.  ...

The information you all have been waiting for...how do you win a prize.  it will be pretty simple for you and I plan to leave it open for one week before I pick the final 3 prize winners. ~~~~ Step 1: look through my whole first year of blogging. Step 2: find your favorite story and post a comment as to why it is your favorite. Step 3: sign up as a follower of this blog over on the right of the page.  If you are already signed up as a follower congratulations you are 1 step ahead. ~~~~ I'm looking forward to see what posts are your favorites. Now for the most fun part...PRIZES!! I will be giving away 3 gifts in total random order (cause that's how I roll) one will be knife gift set.  that's right. A Rada paring knife and cutting mat along with the sharpener so that you always have a sharp knife handy in the kitchen. Another will be the wonderful cookbook I wrote about several weeks back.  The one from my friends church, some of the best food you will ever cook. A...

So the picture isn't the best, you're not looking at a wonderful back drop or perfectly packaged product for this jar of sugar scrub.  But what you are looking at is a simply wonderful homemade sugar body scrub.  I am guilty of spending more than my share of time on the ever growing in popularity website craze "Pinterest" just looking and pinning, pinning, pinning.  I asked myself some time last week "what is the point in this if I don't try some of the things I am pinning."  So yesterday I found this recipe for a sugar body scrub, it helps take off  dry dead skin and it hydrates as well. Now I know we haven't been hit with a bad winter (yet) but the air has been terribly dry and my skin is really suffering all dry and itchy.  My hands have gotten so bad that they were starting to crack and bleed around my cuticles.  So I made this scrub last night before taking my shower.  Here is what I did: Mix 1/3 cup of each in a bowl Brown sugar Regular...

The basic starter set This brand of knifes are just about the best.  I was introduced to these knives several years ago (thanks Steph)  She gave me one paring knife.  Turned out to be the best knife I had in the kitchen.  Fast forward a few years and my kitchen has several of them (some even duplicated because I liked them most).  Rada is made right here in the US and have a lifetime guarantee.  The company offers every type of knife you can think of and they even come with black handles if you want.  But it isn't just knives, there are different useful utensils for serving and cooking, along with cutting mats, cookbooks, stoneware (that can go into the dishwasher freezer & oven), candles and mixes for different soups, dips, smoothies and pound cakes. Stephanee's mom (Reta) will be selling these amazing knives out of her booth at the local flea market. (email @ tlc33195@ymail.com  me if you want some ...

 Brittnie, DaLaney, Valorie & MaKyla  These girls have been friends since the beginning of time (their time anyway)  I met their momma shortly after I started dating Stephen, she was dating his friend so they wanted us to get to know each other.  It was crazy at first.  I never take to new people well and that day was no different.  But over time we build an amazing friendship for us (and our children).  I think that she is the sister my parents forgot to give me.  Either that or God knew no mother could handle the both of us as sisters either way we are great friends.  She had some changes in life that took her and her girls away for about 4 years, but here we are all back together (-1, +1) as one big crazy family.  Our girls fight just like sisters, but the love they have for each other is unconditional.  We got to see this first hand when the little ones had a huge fight with a bunch of horrible things they said t...

Yes, that's right its almost here.  January 27th will be my 1 year anniversary to when I first started this little blog thing.  I still don't know exactly why I started and I never even thought anyone would read it, but there a couple of you out there that do and I am grateful.  Thank you.  I really enjoy writing about all the stuff that goes on in my life.  "My crazy random life" is exactly what happens on the pages of this blog.  I know from lots of research about blogging that your blog should be "meaningful" or have a purpose.  well let me just say I DON'T CARE what they say.  I think that my randomness is why I have a few of the readers I do have and I am ok with it not looking exactly perfect or that it doesn't follow a "recommended guideline" If no one wants to read it I am ok with that too.  Because I write for me for pure entertainment.  Yes the things I write are true (nothing fiction or fake about my life)  If they a...

 So at Christmas I was having a hard time finding just the right gift for Stephanee.  I don't know why it was so difficult, but I couldn't find anything I thought she would enjoy.  So I went to texting her: me-what do you want for Christmas? steph-nothing me-whatever me-there has to be something you want steph-a quilt me-bahahaha me-it's 3 days til Christmas there is no way I can make a quilt by then steph-but you could start one Ok so she had me there.  So for Christmas 2011 Stephanee is getting a handmade "tammyc" quilt. I let her pick the pattern (hoping she would pick something easy, it's been a while) and we went to the store and bought all the fabric needed to complete this task. It is all cut and ready to sew.  She is even helping me with her gift.  She pressed all the fabric after washing it.  I done the cutting and she is putting the colors in the order she likes them best.  Maybe before the end of January she will have ...

Whew...it has been a pretty crazy 2 weeks of the new year.  I hope that is the extent of excitement like that we have for the rest of the year. I don't feel like i have been very frugal this last week with all the trips to the hospital and the added cost of medication for momma.  Anyway, we have been doing well at keeping up with where we spend our money and using what we have in the freezer instead of running to the store everyday for something for dinner.  Another thing we tried and it really seemed to work (don't laugh) I made home made fire starting logs. Yep I know it sounds silly but really, with the cooler weather (and snow last night) we use lots of the store bought ones. they are not cheap either.   I bet you have this around the house   So here is what I did.  I took empty toilet paper rolls (house full of girls we have tons of these) smeared the inside with petroleum jelly (less than $2) and stuffed them with dryer lint.   t...

My momma & daddy Today's blog isn't on track with my whole being frugal goal but then life happens and plans change.  Saturday night(Sunday morning really) my momma had a heart attack.  This was very unexpected for us and as much as I like to think I can handle things like that if they happen, I learned very quickly that I can not.  I believe had it not been my own mom then yes my head would have been screwed on straight and I would have been able to remember everything I was taught (i hope)  She seems to be doing well today we are waiting for more tests to find out how much damage was done by the episode Saturday night.  The doctors seem very positive about everything.  I keep thinking about how I could have made different choices to make things different, like not having to wait 45 minutes on an ambulance or communicating with mom better to know ahead of time that she has been prescribed nitro and we could have eased the pain much quicker, if we di...

So what does that word mean to you? I have always thought it meant doing without the fun things in life.  But I found a blog called frugally sustainable and this lady is teaching me more about being frugal than I ever thought i needed to know. Just today I read that: "Living frugally does not require that we put off all material possessions and live in abject poverty. In fact it’s quite the opposite.  Frugality means we are to embrace and enjoy what we have!" Well now.  I think we can do this whole frugal living thing, we already have so very much stuff.  there is no reason we shouldn't be using it.  So on this website she has issued a challenge  "23 day living frugal challenge" and every day she is giving us a challenge so here I go...both feet not turning back.  if nothing else it will help me save a little money for the next 23 days right.  anyway, maybe it will be fun and I can get the kids and Stephen on board with this plan ...

Ugh!  I have started and deleted this blog entry more times than I care to admit. :)  I have so many things floating around in my mind that I want to write about that I keep jumbling them all up on the page and they are not making sense to me so I am sure you will not have a clue what I am saying...babble, babble, babble... Anyway maybe this one will work for us all. The new year.  2012  Wow.  I am getting so old, I don't ever recall thinking this far in to the future when I was a kid except maybe when I watched movies with flying cars and hoovering skate boards and such thinking it would be neat to have a flying car.  but here we are still living a pretty normal life without all that stuff. I chuckle a little when I think of all the things I enjoy, these things certainly don't "fit" the year 2012 as the movie writers would write it. Because I don't want a flying car, I think it would be fun to ride a horse everywhere or have a covered w...