Recipe of the Day
A Canadian friend introduced me to Nanaimo Bars. These are not for the faint-heart chocoholic or weak to count calories....It's one of those : You must try them once in your life and on very special occasion bars for our family. Here's the recipe and the lovely city it's named after in Canada. Nanaimo Bars Recipe
Enjoy!

The picture above is my dragon's tears plant. Later it gets red bean pods!

Friday Freebies

Love chocolate? Don't forget to Register for your free chocolate bars at Mars. They are having a "Chocolate Relief Act" Friday's.

I am for anything free that puts smiles on hundreds of folks faces!
Go here to register Chocolate Relief Act (and yes, I did get an actual coupon worth up $0.85 for any Mars product I selected). So it is real and I do check the links I post.

But I think my coupon may have been misplaced in my DH's hand......

Have a great weekend!

How to Make a Solar Oven | eHow.com

How to Make a Solar Oven | eHow.com

Shared via AddThis

The Rock

I haven't blogged enough about our church and what we do there. Besides being a great place to learn about the Lord, we have a ton of activities.

This week is Vacation bible school and coming up is the Rockin' Life Camp experience which I truly believe can change a young person's life. It can do that for the Adults too but we all need to volunteer a smidgen more than we have been. Why's it so hard to give time when it's all for the Lord?

I think I am guilty of forgetting that this world passes by quickly and what we do for Christ in his name is all that really matters.

Come see us at the Rock! Say hello or listen to some of the sermons by Pastor Mike. I think you will love it as much as we do.

For the kids today, come visit this fun site (adults will love it too!)

Weekend Freebie in Florida

Have you ever wanted to have a great weekend and just didn't have the funds? Well Florida's State Parks have surely cured the "Blahs" for many families by offering Fee Free Weekends. Most state parks offer the same program so check with this listing for information.

Here's the listing of Florida and other state Fee-Free State Parks! Enjoy!

This is a UFO Pepper bush our son Marcus started for me :-) Have a Blessed day with the Lord.

Crafts For Kids

Hope you had a great day. I stumbled onto a great (really creative) kids craft site tonight while checking my email. Alpha-Mom(tm) has instructions for making a really neat art notebook that I fell in love with. It's an excellent way to preserve any age groups refrigerator art and could even be done with a theme in mind.

They are an awesome craft site. Be sure to look over the crafts for kids of all age groups.

Check out: Alpha-Mom(tm)

This is some Purple-leafed Basil starting to grow in my herb garden.

Where to find Good Reading

I love being online. I like to answer my email, look at links, respond to posts, collect recipes (which I actually use) and do my Swaptree trades. I also love to read online and have found the Bible, Dead Sea scrolls, Apocrypha and discussion forums at : Interfaith Lovely site with various versions of the bible.

If you have old books lying around, CD's, DVD's or games I highly recommend SwapTree. You can trade items for other items for the cost of postage. Really nice, secure site. If you join, please mention me Sleepy554 as your referring member. Thank you!

Enjoy the links!

Today's picture is Imagine *Emma-jean* enjoying the flowers!

June 11 & 12 $5.00 off coupon

Well, for anyone frugal this June 11th and 12th Walgreen's is giving a $5.00 coupon toward any purchase of $25.00.

Here's the link to print the coupon. Walgreens June 11th and 12th Special offer

This a fire Dahlia starting to bloom in my little garden :-) More as it progresses.

Paper Toys to Make for Gifts & Fun

I found the most creative link on the web that I have the opportunity to share with you all.
Marilyn Scott-Walters has created a nice little free section on making paper gifts. It has to be one of my favorite links of all time.

Have a look, make some toys! Make someone's day with a gift... Perform a RAK *Random Act of Kindness*. Just make everyday count, every second a treasure and every life around you a joy.

The picture is of my recent bouquet from the ceremony renewing our vows at the Rock with Pastor Mike Jarrett officiating.
I guess I'd marry my Marine everyday and feel like I do everyday. It's great to be able to do that. Praise report *smiles* It's cool to have Pastor J actually performing the ceremony. It means more to us than the first time just having him there. Thanks Pastor J!

Have fun!
Now on to the toys!
Fun with Paper!

How to Save Money at the Grocery Store

I found that by looking through the sales ad's of all the stores I shop at, I can make a list easily.
There's a pretty awesome link that lets you pick and print coupons, compare sale items, mark items then print your list.
This week alone, I saved over $80.00 using this. Now, to me that's a bunch but to some it doesn't mean much. I guess in today's economy, I feel any savings helps.
Thank you to Duke University Digital collection for the awesome grocery-related pic.
Here's how to save some money on one of those things we all need (food)! Free Grocery Store Lists

Until the next post, God Bless!

Garden Based Learning for Educators

Afternoon all, there's a really cool site dedicated to teaching gardening to youth. Complete with lesson plans for educators, summer camps, volunteers and anyone loving gardening.

Cornell University sponsors the Garden-Based Learning Site which rocks!
Check them out here! Cornell University Garden-Based Learning Site

Have fun and be sure to post some of your activities to me so I can blog you.

This is Florida "Lake Smart" at dusk.

How to Make Paper Look Old

If you haven't discovered WilkiHow, this might be a great time to. One of my favorites is WilkiHow to Make Paper Look old. You can make paper look ancient which is excellent for my handmade journals and papers.
Here's an example of some old paper, many thanks to Duke University Digital Collection for providing the world's greatest old ads and more.
Here's a picture of the garden this morning. Enjoy and Have a blessed day!

Bottle Brush Tree

Thanks to Mimi from Hawaii and Yahoo Groups PlantSwap, the mysterious tree has been identified! The lovely red flowers and bark are really unusual but she identified right away from my little badly taken picture.

If you love swapping plants in a great environment, check out the group. You will find resident experts on plants, information galore and a group of for the most part real nice folks. No money exchanges hands here so it is not a vendor forum. It is trades only here.

Check out the forum if you love plants and like interacting with other plant lovers.

The picture enclosed is a Croton. The one below is the Bottle Brush Tree.

Enjoy!

Our new Youth Pastor Jack

Jack leaves Florida with the kids tonight for Cedar Point , Ohio where they earned a trip pulling Cat tails from the lake channel. They also sold Photos, did church clean-up and other healthy activities for a much deserved outing.

This is their first official trip without Pastor Mike on board so we are all praying for a safe, fun trip for the kids. Have fun y'all!

If you haven't seen Jacks Blog, please take a moment to go visit him and say Howdy!
http://jackjarrett.com/ We are really pleased to have him at our church working with our kids.

The sermon rocked today and I figured out I needed to understand revelations instead of running from it. It's one of those books of the bible, I never tried to really understand. With Pastor Mike's help I am getting there....sloooooowly but surely.

We sent taco fixings with the kids and hope they get more meals to assist them with their trip. They get the opportunity to cook at churches along the way to save their much needed cash reserves.

Have fun guys! and take pictures!!!


God Bless!

Playing With Spiders

My friend Diane amazes me. She's a Master Gardener, a good friend and she shares fun things.
Well last night in my email, she shared a game with me. I just have to pass it on...*Big Grin*
There must be some goal to the game? See for yourself.
Playing with spiders

The picture of the day is Imagine, our kitten pronounced *Emma-Jean*. She talks to plants. Enclosed photo should brighten any plants day even during our rainy Florida day.

Iponea Leaves from the garden

Want to be an Earth Observer? There's a treat for those that do...A lovely orchid!

More details here!

The U.S. Geological Survey and affiliated groups is looking for volunteers for a climate change observation force.

In an unusual collaboration of government and academic scientists, the USGS and other outfits want to build a network of "citizen scientists" who will observe and record such things as when and where plants sprout, flower and fruit, and animals reproduce, migrate and hibernate.

Anyone interested in participating in the USA-National Phenology Network can sign up at:

www.usanpn.org

Freebies *For Romance Readers*

Who doesn't love a good love story once in awhile? Barnes and Noble are celebrating
Harlequin's birthday with a series of 16 downloadable novels.

Enjoy them while they last!
Free Novels

A bit of my garden today since I am too busy to really write much today!