Should we lower our expectations?

As children I think we have high expectations of people (and things for that matter). Being a child we need parents, family members and friends for physical and financial support more than we do as adults. As adults we need others for emotional support. And as I journeyed through my late 20's and thirties I have come to a very sad realization that my expectations were seriously too high of other adults in my life.

Seems easier to lower my expectations of people so I don't get hurt. But is that the real way to go? I know that by doing that I will be hurt less and its defiantly the easy way out. I've lived the last 8 months with lower expectations of others and its been much easier. My anxiety is gone (thank you, Jesus), I'm a happier person, not so quick to anger.... I could go on and on. As I was having a conversation with my husband last night and I told him about my theory of lowering my expectations he said yea, that sounds simple enough. I'm gonna try that too. Then a light bulb practically hit me on my head. WHAT WAS I DOING??? This is ridiculous, God doesn't want us to take the easy way out. Now my mission is the pray about it and figure out exactly what He wants me to do with my theory and easy way out.

The one person who keeps exceeding my expectations is God. He has been a rock through every aspect of my life. I'm am so thankful for the day when I was 13 years old sitting around a table at a family friends house and hearing about God and how AMAZING He really is. I've continued on occasion to sit around a table with those two very important people and learn about the Word of God and it has opened my eyes and heart to show me that the most important thing in this world is God. And that he gave his only son, Jesus, up for us to wash our sins away forever. I remember laying on the floor of my friends bedroom, having a sleepover, praying a simple prayer and asking Jesus into my heart. That day was a changing day for me, however, I didn't realize it until years later.

Until next time, many blessings.
Fran

New beginnings - the story of All Stickered Up!!

a sample of a few things I've been working on. The first tile has your family last name and first names on the very top of the tile and the bible verse Phil 4:13. The second photo is the set of 4 coasters. And the third tile is a 9x7 tile personalized with grandchildrens names.

WHEW... We've been so busy the past 8 weeks. Now that Christmas is officially over I have a little time to post (finally).
Lots has been going on, about 8 weeks ago, I started a business (by accident). I know you're asking how the heck does someone start a business by accident. I've been scratching my head ever since too.

Over the past year I've been trying to figure out what I wanted to do with my life. Because since my boys started going to school full time I've felt a little unimportant. Like I'm not needed as much in their lives. It was really a very difficult time from August to about the middle of October. All that feeling unimportant was over mid October when my sister brought back all of my scrapbooking stuff included in the stuff was my Cricut. It hit my like a ton of bricks, seriously like God was screaming at me, this is what you need to be doing right now. YOU CAN DO THIS!!! I got my Cricut out (mind you it was in the middle of my nephews birthday party we were hosting at our home) and found some old blue and white plaid contact paper and just went to town practicing cutting words out of the migshift vinyl on my Cricut. If you've ever seen PS I Love you (I just watched it for the first time last night) I felt like that scene when she finally realized what she wanted to do with her life was design shoes. I was whirling around in my office, cutting with the Cricut, making list of designs and ideas and more. I am getting goosebumps just typing this as I think about how enlightening it is to FINALLY know what you want to do and put it to work.

So as I'm cutting the contact paper with my cricut I hear my mom and my sisters saying where the heck is Frannie. As I'm adhearing the first vinyl wall word I've ever created to my office door everyone is like that is so awsome!! The next day I race out to Michaels to purchase some real vinyl and transfer paper and created my first real wall qoute that is on my family photo wall and I created a ceramic personalized tile for my mom with all our names on it. The next week when I showed my mom the personalzied tile she loved it and asked if I could make something with the vinyl for my sisters baby shower favors. I said of course and that is when I came up with the 3x3 personalized coasters that I made for each guest at her shower. I got literally 12 orders by the end of that evening. And I thought this might be something people really like. After the baby shower I created my website on Etsy and posted and few photos on Facebook and as of today I've had over 60 orders. Check out my items here
allstickeredup.etsy.com

This has been a really fun time getting my creative juices flowing. My husband has been a huge help with all of the projects. And I've gotten some really great ideas from family and friends. I want to thank each one of you all for showing me such great support!

Thats whats been going on in my life. I'm super busy and lovin' it!!!

Have a blessed week.
Fran

Recipe: Spaghetti with eggplant and tomato sauce

I just saw this recipe in the Woman's Day Magazine. It sure looks yummy!! I'm going to make it next week, hope its tasty. And its a perfect way to use some of our homegrown garden tomatoes

Spaghetti with Eggplant and tomato sauce
Active Time: 15 minutes
Total Time: 1 hour 5 minutes

INGREDIENTS
2 lb eggplant, diced (11 cups)
2 Tbsp salt (for soaking eggplant)
3 Tbsp olive oil
3 garlic cloves, chopped
1 lb ripe tomatoes, peeled (if desired), seeded and chopped
2 Tbsp tomato paste
12 oz spaghetti or spaghettini
Oil for frying
1⁄4 cup chopped basil
1⁄4 cup grated ricotta salata orParmesan (see Tip)
Freshly ground black pepper and salt, preferably sea salt, to taste

PREPARATION
1. Put eggplant into a colander over a plate. Sprinkle with 2 Tbsp salt; toss. Set aside to drain 30 minutes. Rinse and pat dry with paper towels.
2. Bring a large pot of lightly salted water to a boil.
3. Meanwhile, heat olive oil in a large nonstick skillet. Add garlic and cook 1 to 2 minutes over medium-low heat until light golden. Add tomatoes and tomato paste; cook 15 minutes, stirring occasionally, until tomatoes soften and sauce is slightly thickened.
4. Meanwhile, when water comes to a boil, add pasta and cook as package directs.
5. While pasta cooks, heat 1⁄2 in. vegetable oil in another large skillet (you’ll use about 2 cups of oil). Add eggplant and fry until golden, about 8 minutes. Remove with a slotted spoon to paper towels to drain. Stir eggplant into tomato sauce.
6. When pasta is cooked, reserve 2 Tbsp pasta cooking water, then drain. Return pasta to pot. Stir in sauce, reserved water, basil and cheese. Season with salt, pepper if desired.

Maxine’s Tip: Ricotta salata is cheese made from sheep’s milk that is salted and aged. Aged pecorino or feta cheese can be used instead.

Nutrition Facts
Yield 4 servings
Amount Per Serving
Calories 594
Total Fat 21g
Saturated Fat 4g
Cholesterol 8mg
Sodium 657mg
Total Carbohydrates 89g
Dietary Fiber 10g
Protein 16g

Show us where you live - kids bedrooms

Kelly from Kelly's Korner is hosting another Show Us Where you Live Friday's. This week its kids bedrooms/Nursery.

Well my boys have been in a bedroom together since they were born. A month ago the boys came up to me and asked if they could have their own rooms. It totally broke my heart, but I said yes. We took apart their bunk beds and put them in their own rooms. I just finally found the perfect bedding for their "skateboard" room. Now I'm searching for 5 drawer dresser chests and nightstands. And its a HUGE painstaking task. So since their rooms are not totally complete, I didn't want to post pics of half done rooms. So I decided to past pics from their old room, which by the way was sooooo cute!!

So these pics are from two years ago when we redid their room into a Thomas the Tank room. I loved loved loved their Thomas mural and the bunk beds were perfect for my boys. But that was when they were 3, now that they are 5 they said they were too big for Thomas :(

my sweet boy on their bunk beds.

If you are interested in the Show us where you live series that Kelly at Kelly's Korner is hosting check out her blog at kellyskorner.com.

Have a blessed week!!!
Fran

My new favorite thing....

Gotta love summertime...warm weather, swimming, baseball and ice cream. I purchased these Cool Cones push up ice cream cones. They are reusable push up cones.

I purchased these from LTDCommodites.com. Just fill them with your favorite ice cream, sorbet, or I've been filling them with yogurt and fruit. Our boys love them!!!

Check them out!!
Fran

Show us where you live - Livingrooms

Kelly at Kellys Korner blog is hosting another Show Us Where you Live Friday again. I am a little late. I am lovin' taking a peek into other ppls homes and seeing their decorating styles. After last weeks kitchen addition of SUWYL I did a little sprucing up in my kitchen. We painted a green wall yellow, I put up some pictures and bought three apothocary jars (like Kelly's) filled with pears and pomegranates. The changes make our kitchen look fresh.

This week is livingrooms. Ours is small but cozy. I didn't take photos of our familyroom. I might later this weeek and add them to this post.



This is the livingroom view from our dining room.


This is the view from the top of our stairs. A few years ago we (I mean John) tore down
a half wall and his brother in law installed new railings for us. they are beautiful!!







This is table has my two favorite things on it right now. The digital photo frame
my parents got John and I for Christmas. The bottom left of the big frame is a
digital photo frame and the other three frames are for still pics. And on the second
shelf is my Ipod Touch docking station, it has a radio and CD player too. LOVE IT!!



We live in a bi-level house, so when you enter our home you either walk up 6 steps
or down 6 steps. And this is the shelf right above the door where we put cutsy knick knacks.
And at Chirstmas, Easter and Halloween we decorate it too.

Too participate check out Kelly's blog at http://www.kellyskornerblog.com/

Have a blessed week!!!
Fran

Show us where you live "Kitchen addition"

UPDATED: I decided to post a couple of updated pics of a few things I added and changed after seeing everyones beautiful kitchens.


After seeing Kelly's apothocary jars I ran out the next day and bought three....copy cat, I know. But they are just so beautiful. thanks for the idea Kelly


And this little display is in the corner of our kitchen counter.


Hubby painted this wall that was green a beautiful golden yellow, I LOVE it. It totally brightens up our kitchen, which is the heart of our home.


My friend Janine and I added these last week. they look perfect and have an uplifting message.


and one final pic. Ignore the black folding table, that was set up for a party we were having that evening. Thanks for looking!!!





Kelly at Kelly's Korner was hosting a Mr. Linky party yesterday, so I thought I would get on the bandwagon and post pics of our kitchen too. I love seeing pics of ppls homes. It gives me fresh decorating ideas. And I am in redecorating mode since we got back from vacation.

A few projects were going to be taking on over the next few months is re carpeting our stairs, tiling our entryway, re carpeting our boys new rooms, installing hardwood flooring in our office. Whew, that's a lot of stuff to do, thankfully my sweet hubby is handy and he'll be doing most of it.

Well here are a couple pics of our kitchen.

This is a pic from about two years ago, since we have painted a couple of the walls a golden yellow color.


and we have replaced the fridge with a side by side freezer on the bottom.


Here is our dining area. Love my table and chairs. the green wall is now the golden yellow and the wall with our french doors and breakfast bar is yellow too.


This is so true. I just picked this up at Kohls a few weeks ago.



I picked up these pictures at Hobby Lobby several years ago cuz I loved them so much. There are inspirational bible versus on each of the pictures. DH just recently got around to hanging them last year...lol

Check out Kelly's blog for more kitchen pics http://www.kellyskornerblog.com/

Enjoy and have a blessed week!
Fran