A low energy week.

  Well, I know it's been quite a while since I've been on here and wrote a post. I've been a bit under the weather to say the least. The chemo I take causes severe drowsiness, and mouth sores, and lots of other crazy side effects, so I've been dealing with that. The last few days, I've slept all day and all night long, waking up only to go to the bathroom or get a drink of something to soothe the burning in my mouth. But I have managed in the last week to make several desserts, and snacks!
   Some oyster crackers got TRANSFORMED into a delicious "grab a handful at a time" snack, and some salty sweet pretzel bites have made the list as a top 10 to some of the family, with is not an easy task, I must say. I also made a delicious bread pudding with a streusel topping. No Brandy sauce this time, since I can't buy it yet, legally. And I also made those fancy poached pears, like I talked about in the last post. Since pears are so abundant right now, I suggest you try that recipe. (I did improve the sauce this time too, recipe will be posted as the last statement of this blog post)

My "grab by the handful" oyster crackers, easy yet so delicious.
2 bags oyster crackers (normally about 1 buck a bag)
2 packets of the dry ranch mixture
3 teaspoons lemon pepper
3teaspoons garlic powder
1 teaspoon turmeric powder (for the cancer fighting qualities)
A couple pinches of salt
A few grinds of fresh ground black pepper
1/4 cup oil, like veggie oil or sunflower oil

1. Get a gallon size baggie and pour all your ingredients in and shake shake shake shake shake until its all coated well.
2. Bake at 350 degrees on a shallow cookie sheet or cake pan, (make sure they are spread out) about 20- 25 minutes.
Tip***
Stir the crackers around every 10 minutes or so, to keep the browning even.

Next, the salty sweet goodness of pretzel bark. Wow, this stuff is like, I don't even know, just good.

One bag of pretzels, any shape you desire, we used the normal pretzel twists
1 bag dark chocolate chips
1 batch homemade caramel (recipe to follow)

Layer your pretzels and chocolate chips, pour caramel over while still hot, top with a few more chocolate chips! Simple as that. Wait for it to cool, and cut into pieces.

*homemade caramel*
1 stick of unsalted butter
1 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup heavy cream
1 tsp vanilla
Pinch salt

1. Melt everything in a saucepan until smooth. Stir with wooden spoon.
2. Bring to a boil.
3. Cover, and cook 7 minutes.
4. Uncover, DO NOT STIR. Use candy thermometer and let it reach 250 degrees. **be careful this could cause severe burns**
5. Remove from heat, stir, and pour over pretzel mixture.

My bread pudding recipe is of course, Paula Deen's recipe, so google it and make it. It's the best there is. No doubt about it.

Now, for that sauce for the pears.
Take all that extra juice you have from the crock pot, that the pears have cooked in, and pour it into a cast iron skillet. Bring to a simmer and add in a cornstarch slurry. (1/4 cup cornstarch, and 5 tbls water, stirred together smooth.) whisk whisk whisk until smooth and thick. Add in about 4 tbls heavy cream and a teaspoon vanilla, stir and remove from heat. This stuff is delicious on its own lol serve with some pumpkin pie spiced whipped cream on top of your poached pears and enjoy!

Now, enough about desserts. Back to life.
Today, my brother brought his pet pig over here. Yes, pig. Petunia, is a miniature pot bellied pig. She loves vanilla wafers, and banana chips. She is oh-so adorable. I fell in love. We pig sat today, and now she's spending the night. She stayed outside today for most of the day, exploring. But now she's sleeping in my bathroom with an ungodly amount of towels and a big queen size sheet, just in case she gets cold. Since we have a vicious little ankle-biting chihuahua who doesn't like anyone but himself and us, we had to keep the two away from each other all day and night. It has definitely been a task to watch her, but when she rolled over on her back so I could pet her belly a few minutes ago, it made it all worth while.
   
In the morning, I go for routine blood work. Last time I went was Monday, and it was a 12.5. It sure doesn't feel like its that high right now. Normal activity that doesn't require hardly any effort is causing me to get winded. And the strange cold feeling in my lips and toes is a sign of a low hemoglobin.(which is what I get checked) So, we shall see. I'm hoping it's either low enough for me to just get an outpatient transfusion, and go home, or mayyyybe it'll be high, and I'll feel better. I've got big plans this weekend! Paula Deen is coming to town for a cooking and entertaining expo, and I've got tickets! Hopefully I'll be ale to visit with her like I did last year. She's an awesome woman. If you're one of those people who talks crap about her, please, stop reading this blog! I just love her. And from my impression of her last year, she lived me right back. So hopefully, with the help of her body guard and a couple others, I'll get to see her once again.
Well, typing is hurting these crampy hands of mine. Chemo is a crazy drug y'all. I will definitely try to write again sooner. Pictures of the cooking expo will be posted. That's such a cool event. Soooo many samples!! Woohoo!
Thanks for reading :)

And please, anyone who would like to, pray for me! This low energy is for the birds!

Pears, and puff pastry, and cookies, oh my!

Pears, and puff pastry, and cookies, oh my! 


   So, the past few days have been, all but exciting.. Other than the fact that I've cooked a different dessert every night! A night of fancy Poached Pears, with Honey Brown Sugar Sauce. a Cast Iron Skillet Chocolate Chip Cookie, some Puff Pasty Ricotta and Chocolate Chip "Tacos", and today, some deeeelicious Butter Cookies. 
   I'll start out by saying, my favorite of the bunch is the Butter cookies. I love something that's not too sweet, a little crispy, just delicious. And of course I dipped some of them in chocolate. (How could I resist!)
I love those tins of assorted cookies you get from someone who's not really sure of what to bring for a dinner or get together. I can't get enough of them! And these don't even compare. Homemade is just so much better. And these are suuuper easy. 

 ~Piped Butter Cookies~
2 1/4 cup flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup white sugar
1 egg
1 cup butter
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon lemon extract

Set oven to 350 degrees.
Start off by creaming butter and sugar until it's pale and creamy. (About 5 minutes)
In another bowl, mix flour and salt together until well combined. Set aside.
After your sugar has been creamed, add in vanilla and lemon, then the egg.
Mix well.
SLOWLY pour flour mixture in, and let mix until just incorporated. (BE CAREFUL! This could get messy if you don't go slow.)
Fill up a pastry bag with a big star tip, with the dough. (This needs to be a strong bag, the dough is thick)
On a parchment lined, (or silpat lined) baking sheet, pipe out cookies in whatever shape you please. Make sure that on each cookie sheet, the cookies are the same shape and size, if not you'll have some uncooked, some over cooked. So use a couple different sheets if needed. 
Bake at 350 degrees, for 10-20 minutes depending on how thick the cookies are. Just watch them after 10 or so minutes, and see if they need more time. They should just be browned on the edges slightly. 
Put them on a cooling rack for a few minutes after they're done, and store in an air tight container once cooled. 

This is where you can be pretty creative with these cookies. I dipped mine in melted semi-sweet chocolate chips, and sprinkled some with chopped pecans. You could use colored chocolate, peppermints, sprinkles any kind of candy you like really. You could also add dye to the cookie dough before you add flour mixture. Possibilities are really endless here.


I know I'm making a big batch of these, putting them in cute tins, and giving them out as Christmas gifts! :) So everybody get ready!!!

Here is my recipe for the fancy poached pears from the crock pot! This is easy, and so delicious! People will think you slaved over these. You can add or subtract for the amount of people you're having over. It's not an exact science or anything. You can kind of just flavor as you please. 

~Fancy Shmancy Poached Pears~
  (IN THE CROCK POT! Shh!)
5-7 medium sized pears, cored peeled, and halved
3/4 cup brown sugar 
3/4 cup honey
1 teaspoon cinnamon

After your pears are prepared, lay them in the crock pot.
In another bowl, mix the rest of your ingredients, and pour over pears.
Cook on high 2 1/2 hours.
Remove your pears, leaving the juice in crock pot.
Using a whisk, add in 
1 tablespoon of cornstarch 
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 teaspoons lemon juice
Whisk together and let cook on high for 10-15 minutes until it thickens some.
Serve your pears in a cup or bowl and drizzle sauce over. Top with some cinnamon whipped cream, or vanilla ice cream and you're set!

Galveston and gardening

Galveston Island, and Gardening

   Well, I haven't wrote in a while, I've been a bit busy with the normal end of summer fun.. Other than being stung by a stingray lol. I went, yet agin, to Galveston. This time with my dad's cousin and her daughter, my niece Lex, and my mama. We stayed on the strand, in a beautiful hotel, called the Tremont Hotel. Seriously one of the most beautiful hotels I've ever stayed at. (thanks Kim!) we had a wonderful time. It was rainy, but it made for an unpredictable tip. Which is always fun. We went to the Pleasure Pier, rode the infamous ferris wheel, which was especially beautiful at night, when we rode. (Ferris wheels are my favorite thing a a carnival/fair) We walked around the Bubba Gump restaurant, and had a good laugh at all the Forrest Gump memorabilia. All the while hiding out from the unexpected rain storm that had hit us. The walk back to the car was especially laughable.. We took off out of the restaurant at the front of the Pleasure Pier, only to find that it was still raining, hard. The cheapo umbrellas that we were using, broke, lol. So the run back to the car was definitely exciting. Very memorable though, that's for sure. We did a lot of gift shop shopping, well, window shopping. Lol cause every one of those shops have the same thing, maybe just in a different color. We had an all around good time. Lots of gigles and talking, and discussions about the normal things women talk about.. A hen party, to say the least, and I love it.  I was sad to come home.


   Upon coming home, I found my okra plant covered in perfect sized okra! Exciting, in my mind. So, I decided today, to pickle my findings. A friend of mine, the other day, on Facebook, asked for a pickle recipe, so here's my perfect opportunity to give it out. I'm not a master canner, but nothing lasts in this house anyway, so it doesn't have to last long lol. This recipe could go for ANYTHING that you want to pickle. Now let me warn you, these are good sour pickles, my favorite. Here it is:
   



   Depending on the amount of veggies you have, you're going to have to switch this up a bit..
You need:
3parts white or apple cider vinegar
1part water
Black peppercorns
Fresh dill sprigs just a little bit will do
Kosher salt (kosher is important, regular salt will make them look cloudy)
A clove of garlic for every jar you are going to use
Okra, cucumbers, or anything else that can squish into a jar!

Take your vinegar, water, salt, peppercorns, and peeled garlic and bring it to a low boil for a few minutes. This is the point that you should taste your vinegar mixture and make sure you like it. It needs to taste good to you at this point, for you to like the pickles. Add water, pepper, whatever you want to make it taste like you want it.
By this point you should have disinfected your jars and lids, lookup a Kerr or Ball website on canning to find a tutorial.
Take your veggies, and prep them as you want, slice, cube, whatever your preference, and shove them in the jars, and I mean shove. You've gotta fit all of them in there so that you don't have wasted space. I also put a clove of my boiled garlic, extra black peppercorns, and a sprig of dill in each jar, before and after I put my okra in it.
Put the lid on and hand turn it, until it's somewhat tight, not too tight though, just a little snug.
Boil it in a pot, that has enough water to cover the jars, bring to a boil, for 25 minutes. Take them out with tongs, and let them cool to room temp, listen for them to pop. If it doesn't pop, you can either reboil it, or just keep them in the fridge. Eat them quicker than the others.  Let the popped jars sit for 2 weeks or longer, before eating them. They'll taste better.

Enjoy!! :) hopefully your pickling experiences turn out as good as mine.
Let me know what you pickle and how they turned out!

Surfside Weekend.

Surfside/stingray weekend. 

   So this weekend, I planned on going to the beach for the day and doing some serious relaxing.. Come to find out, a good family friend, had a friend who had a vacant beach house this weekend! What a coincidence! So they invited us to stay the weekend, and without a moment of doubt, we started packing! 

   After a rushed car ride all the way to Surfside, Texas. We arrived at a beautiful beach house! It backed up to a canal that ran from the Inter coastal waterway. We were about 5 minutes away from the beach by car, and to our excitement, we were only about 10 minutes away from the many Buc-ee's that Clute, and Surfside has to offer. We unpacked that night, talked for hours, and got comfortable. The next morning, we headed to the beach after a homemade pancake breakfast! We stayed for several hours, and played out in the beautiful water, made sand castles, ran around like we were free as we could ever be. It was a great time. 

   As soon as we got back to the beach house, we showered off, and started fishing. One of my favorite past-times. We fished for hours. Teaching the kids to cast and bait their own hooks with pieces of the slimy squid we paid an arm and a leg for, down at one of the only bait shops there. (They know they can charge a lot, since the closest town with a Walmart or grocery store is at least 15 miles away!) The kids caught fish, and the adults took pictures and cheered them on, after each tiny catch. We grilled some burgers and sausage, took yet another trip to Buc-ee's, and once again talked into the wee hours of the night. 

   So, the next morning, we slept in for a while, woke up and relaxed on the breezy deck of the two story house. And after a bit of cleaning, we decided we were going to go hit the beach one last time. We figured we'd get packed up, and everything cleaned, and just get back to the house after, to shower off, and put everything in the car. WELL, that didn't go as planned, of course.

   After Garrett and I swam in the water for a good hour, riding around on a little boogey-board, I decided I'd go out and rinse my bathing suit out, since it was sandy and gross. Everyone else had already started cleaning up, and getting ready to go. I was floating around, and let my right foot hit the sandy sea bottom, to my surprise, something "pinched" my middle toe. Shocked, I looked up and yelled to my mom, "Something just got my foot!" And sort of swam off.. It was pretty painful, I thought it was a crab or something similar, until I got up to the shoreline, to see it bleeding.. We rinsed it off with some fresh water, and Garrett carried me up to the concrete. (Yep, it was hurting bad.) By this point, I was panting, and trying to catch my breath, whatever happened, it was burning unusually. I started walking, and rinsing, walking, and rinsing.. Shaking my hands around to try to get my mind off the pain.. Well by this point it was hurting so bad, that I finally said, "I need to go to the hospital." The pain was shooting up in my leg, all the way to my thigh. Rubbing didn't help, moving didn't help, nothing would stop that horrible pain.
   In the meantime, my mom had gone up to a hotel, and told them to call an ambulance for me. Since we didn't know where the closest hospital was. By this point, I was in tears. My body was shaking. My chin was quivering, it was terrible. I knew that this wasn't a crab pinch, it was something much worse. The woman at the hotel said it sounded like a stingray had barbed me. And she hit the nail on the head.

   After a quick ride in an ambulance to Lake Jackson, after the paramedic established that it was in fact a stingray that got me, we pulled into Brazosport Cancer Center. (What a coincidence, right?) And they immediately stuck my foot into hot hot water. WOW! What a difference... After only a few minutes, the hot intense pain had stopped. My foot, finally felt normal again. Although it was swollen about twice it's normal size. They took me back, I filled out some paperwork, they x-ray'd my foot, to establish if they had to remove a barb or not. And thankfully, the barb had come out, in the act of me cleaning the cut at the hotel outdoor shower. They gave me a prescription for antibiotics. And the advice to keep it very clean, and put it in hot hot water to help the burning. For pain, they told me to take my normal pain meds. And sent me on my way. We loaded up, made a quick stop at Buc-ee's for some coffee and sweets, and finally made it home. A few hours later than we intended, but at least we were home. 

   I must say, that I have never in my life felt pain like the sting of a stingray. I wouldn't wish that pain on anyone! The nurses at Brazosport Hospital took very good care of me. And we had a fantastic time at the beach house. Although our trip ended a little different than we had planned, it was so much fun, and I guess I have an interesting story to tell, and a little scar to show off. 

  After a little research about stingrays, I DID find out, that a stingray is one of the top 10 animals with the most painful stings. Up there with a black widow, a stone fish, a viper, and a few others. 

   Only me. LOL! So I give a little warning to anyone out in the water, just be careful when others are fishing, and the water is churning around, the paramedics said that that is when they are the most prevalent, as in my situation. 

 But still, always enjoy the beach, because to me, seeing the "hugeness" of it, and feeling the sand between your toes, and the salty air blowing around, makes me feel like I'm right there with God. Like He's right there with me. It's spiritual to me. And I always will love it. Even if I got stung by a critter under the water. 

                                                                                                           -Jess

A normal night; full of nephews, bathing suits, and microwave cookies.

Nephews, bathing suits, and microwave cookies!

   So, after I was done writng my first two posts the other night, I went ahead and took my bath, and headed to sleep... It was all of about 2:30am...Well of course I posted a link to the blog on facebook, thinking that it would get a couple views, and WOW is all I can say. I had over 160 views on my next log in!!! I just want to say thank you all for actually reading and ENJOYING it!!
   I didn't do anything interesting last night, so I figured I'd spare y'all from just listening to me ramble about watching tv, (and sleeping till 3:00pm, getting used to a normal schedule is hard! Considering I'd stay up all night with my nurses while I was in the hospital.. But anyways..) and eating dinner.. But tonight I do have a few things to brag about! 

(<<< Crazy little nephews)

   A couple of my little nephews are over for the night. (spending the night with Noanie and pawpaw and Jess.. So of course I had to unnecessarily buy them something! Just some Target "dollar spot" Dr.Suess bags, with a Thing 1 and Thing 2 dry erase board, a marker, and Spongebob fruit snacks! I love having nieces and nephews.. Who else can you buy unnecessary toys and junk for, load them up on sugar, and send home? You don't wanna do that with your own kids! Lol cause then you can't stop the chaos. So I prefer having my little ones running around, joking laughing, telling me secrets, for a couple days , and then its time for mama and daddy again. There's no other bond like one with an aunt and her nieces and nephews. 
   Garrett and I also went to Old Navy, (after I heard a tip from my good old' Bubba about some good sales) and I racked up! A lot of their summer clothing is clearance and marked down pretty low, some not so much, who wants to pay $12 bucks for plastic flip flops? Not me!! but their swimsuit collection, although picked over, was marked down LOW! I got 2 swimsuits, which is 4 separate pieces these days, since mismatched ones are in style, for $3.99 a piece! I don't know about you, but that's a heck of a deal. I did put one back because it was $7.99 and $5.99 a piece. Just couldn't do it! 

(<<<My new cute swimsuits!!!)

   So, in celebration of my new swimsuits, I think it's indeed time for a beach trip. Even just for the day. I've made my "phone calls" (just sent a little mass text) and as long as all is going good, this weekend's nautical "new swimsuit celebration" should be on, with a couple close friends. It's the little things, remember, that keep us all going. Like a crazy reason like mine, just to hit the beach. 
   So as tonight has fizzled out and everyone has fallen fast asleep, I obviously am wide awake.. (night shift nurse, remember?) and as always I'm craving something sweet. I've seen on Pinterest several times, and my sister in law has actually posted on fb, that you can make a single serve, microwave chocolate chip cookie. Well, as an avid baker, I had to try it.. And although, it was good.. It wasn't as good as I though.. So I tinkered with the recipe a bit, and have come up with a slightly chewier, better tasting (for my taste) microwave single serve cookie. The original recipe consisted of the normal ingredients that would be in a cookie, other than, you just use an egg yolk, and there was no salt!  No salt! Again, no salt? Salt, although some people would probably disagree, just makes everything taste better, not in a huge quantity or anything, but just enough to excentuate the favors a bit. So, here's my take on the recipe:
1/4 cup flour
2tbls each brown and white sugar 
1tbls meted margarine or butter (use your preference)
1 egg yolk
A couple drops of vanilla
Very small pinch salt
2 tbls or so, chocolate chips, or anything else for that matter, possibilities are endless on this one. Coconut and toffee chips would be great. 

You mix all those ingredients up, very very well, and use a coffee cup or ramekin, and microwave for about 45-60 seconds, sometimes you may need longer, just depends. The tops should be slightly darker, and should spring back when poked lightly with finger tip.  Let that puppy sit for a few minutes before partaking, because it will burn the living crap out of your mouth! Trust me on that one!
    So, if you're craving something sweet, but don't want to heat the whole kitchen up, and do tons of dishes, try it..

Well, I'll end it tonight with this, thank y'all for reading and supporting, you have no idea how much it means to me. And bring the suggestions on! (I think you have to have a google account to comment, that may be why y'all had a problem with it before.) But I can't say it enough, thank you all!!And remember the little things in life, and normal night, like this one, will always bring you joy, just like mine has. 
                                                                                            -Jess


 

A FINE day of Thrifting.

I just recently was admitted in the hospital for bleeding. It's kind of a normal with my type of cancer, and I've dealt with it before, we know when it's about to happen, depending on how I'm feeling, and all, but it's still a really scary experience.. My hemoglobin levels drop fast and down really low. I normally need a blood transfusion after this, so they keep me at MD Anderson for a good while. This trip was 6 days long. I got home Monday around 1:00 in the afternoon, and I took it easy, considering they really don't let you sleep in hospitals lol, they like to do blood work and weigh you at 4:00am and then leave you alone for the most part, in the middle of the day. So I took a nap, and watched Rocky 1 and 2 (haha) and then I ate a little dinner, went to "go to bed" and was awake until 5:30 am! I did get to watch 3 of the intervention shows back to back, how exciting! Lol 

So when I woke up today, me and Mama loaded up to go to the Woodlands and got my blood work done, to make sure the blood transfusion had done it's job and the blood stayed in me, (since it was "leaving" me before.) Blood work came out GREAT! 12.0! (which, for me, is fantastic, because at a normal I'm maybe a 9.5-10.0. It can range at a normal rate, from 12-15 in others.)  So I decided, since I was feeling up to it, and this old house heats up like crazy in August,no matter how hard the ac blows, that Mama and I should go and steal some AC, and go "thrift storing". And we did. And boy did I hit the jackpot! I found this awesome, vintage,15 piece Japanese, hand painted, dainty, dainty tea set! It even has the hidden geisha in the cups and all. I got it for a steal, too!Which is even better. You couldn't even imagine my excitement. 

I bought other things, too, but this tea set just out weighs them all to me. 

We had a VERY productive thrift store shopping trip, today. And I couldn't be happier with what I found. 

^^This is the cup, when lifted up to the light. ^^

I can't find this dang tea set ANYWHERE online, so if anyone happens to come across is, let me know. I know it's worth a lot, but obviously I wouldn't sell it, I already love it too much. And I haven't even drank tea from it! ;)

Just goes to show, that you never know what you're going to find in those stores, so why not check them out?!

My favorite thrift stores, are the Family Thrift chain stores. They even have a members card that you can use through the week, to get a discount on Sundays! 

My very first blog post.. Exciting!!!

MY FIRST POST!!!

   Well, I've never blogged before.. Didn't even read blogs until the infamous Pinterest! 

But I figure I should give it a try.. I guess I'm interesting LOL! I really don't know. 

So...........................................here it goes!
About little ol' me;

   I'm Jessica Schwausch. I'm 20, soon to be 21. I'm an old soul, to say the least. I love the things of the past. You could say I was born in the wrong time period. I'm different from most people my age.. I'm not into the latest trends.. I can't stand the plastic 80's style glasses, I think vampires should've been left alone at Dracula, and the "mummy feet" shoes everyone's into these days are just terrible. (For those of you who don't know what mummy feet shoes are, they're TOMS) Lol, I apologize if I offend anyone for that, but it's the truth. They just look like mummified feet! Ew! Moving on now.. 

   I was diagnosed in 2010 with a rare cancer, GastroIntestinal Stromal Tumor, GIST for short. It's in my stomach, and it moved to my liver. I do the whole chemo, and MD Anderson thing. I do well for the most part. I have a strong will to stay as healthy and lively as possible.. So I'm not giving up without a fight. It's been a slow, long battle, with very little improvement.. But I have a devastatingly positive attitude, and that will not change. ~"Save A Tummy!!! Gone Periwinkle!"~
   I'm what you call, a spiritual person. I love God, I know that He is my savior. He is working within me to spread the gospel. I won't push it on anyone, because I've seen from experience, that that pushes some people away even more. I just know that one day, I'm going to live forever, in heaven, with no more pain, or hurt. Faith is how I get through my life, and if THAT offends you, I don't think you should be on my blog.

  Some other hobbies I enjoy could include, that I love sewing. And crocheting.(I'm not great at it, just a beginner, can't even read the patterns!) Not to mention I'm obsessed with food, and the art of making it. Anything! I love to bake, and to fry, and sift, flip, whisk, taste, and anything else you can think of that has to do with making something taste fantastic. I'm not much on making things look really pretty, I'm a purist,and I like things old fashioned, like your granny would've made. (Old soul, remember?) I love to craft. All sorts of stuff. I just wing it for the most part, and it normally turns out pretty dang good! And not to forget, I go NUTS in thrift stores. I love them. (It's a love hate thing, honestly, I really don't need 90% of what I buy, but I love it all!)

   Another big part of my life is that, I love my family. More than this world, and everything in it. They keep me laughing. The word family to me, includes way more than just my relatives. I have people in my life that I consider family, that are NO WHERE NEAR related to me. I have a big family, and we are so, so close. We get together for every little event, whether it's a "hospital homecoming," birthday, or even just the "let's eat some good food" party, we do it. And we do it up big! We always have good, home cooked food, laughter, teasing, joking, and just plain enjoyment, when we're around each other. (Cheesy isn't it?) But we pride ourselves on it. Not many people can say that they had 48 people at a Mexican restaurant when they got out of the hospital, but I can. And that was just the immediate family! I don't know what I'd do without them in my life. 

   I'm not married. But I AM dating a true southern sweetheart. I love him. And I even LIKE him most of the time! That's something to be said! Lol His name is Garrett Lunsford. And he stole my heart November 6th, 2010. We went out dancing for my 19th birthday. And my best friend, Derek, brought him along for the fun. Little did I know, he was gonna sweep me off my feet like he did. And it's been a whirlwind since then. December 4th, is our "anniversary" we'll be together 2 years this year. (if you didn't want to do the math)

   This blog is going to be a place that I can share my home cooked food, my crafts that turned out, and that didn't, my trial and error in every little thing that I do. I have no idea how to do this the "right" way, but I'll wing it, just like everything else. 

   Now, if you actually read all that and made it alllllll the way down here to the bottom of this post, I'd like to say thank you, from the bottom of my heart, for actually getting into it. If anyone has any suggestions that would help me make it a little more enjoyable for them, let me know! I'll do what ever I can, since I really do appreciate that you're reading this little thing I've created. 

                                                                                                                  -Jess

(stephanie jones photography, look her up!
www.stephotojones.com)