Birthday Wish List

My birthday is Sunday {woot woot.} I'm not 30 yet but I'll be pretty dang close. I'm not one of those women who is afraid of getting older, maybe it has to do with being {constantly!} mistaken for being 15-17 years old! Yeah, I know - How awful is that?!

It's not that bad actually, except for when I'm with my church girls (I'm the leader of the Beehives, 12-13 year old girls) and I blend right in! I'm a petite gal in height and weight so yeah, I blend right in. Heck, some of my girls are much taller than me. Hopefully my take charge attitude and self confidence shows that I'm NOT one of the 12 year-olds.

The only other time it is annoying to look so young is when I'm pregnant. Especially if I'm out and about by myself or with one of my kids. You should see the dirty looks I get especially from other middle-aged women. When they are giving me one of those piercing looks of disapproval, the hormonal crazy person inside of me just wants to go over there and give them some of my "oh-no-you-did-nt" attitude. It makes me want to yell at them to mind their own business and tell them how happily married I am (now 8 years!!) to a wonderful husband who has a great job so I can stay home to raise my children, and about how they can take their judgments and shove it. {It's a good thing I'm only hormonal while pregnant - which I'm not mom!} Interestingly enough I've never noticed any of the same looks when I'm out with my husband. I jokingly tell him that the looks we get then, are directed at him for "robbing the cradle." Actually when we are all out together we get tons of nice compliments about our family, our well behaved kids, and about what "cute children we make." {I still don't know how to feel about that lost comment/compliment!}

Mr PD wanted some direction as to what I would like for my birthday. Usually our birthday requests are at least slightly influenced by our needs. So I thought about it and came to the conclusion that right now our needs are met. How great is that blessing? I'm glad that my Heavenly Father has given me that gift for my birthday, that all of our needs are met: we are debt free, we have a budget, we have food storage, we have a home, we have food, we have friends, we have a job, we are healthy (when I know so many friends who are not), we are Happy, we are TOGETHER, we are at Peace, and we can help others. My cup definitely runneth over.

My wants are simple, oh sure I could ask for {not that it would happen, ever or anytime soon}:

a longarm; $12-$20Kbut I'm not willing to make my family go into debt for something I can't drive to the store


an AccuQuilt Studio Cutterat $1600 I don't think so!


Instead I would really appreciate:


a cute little timer; <$4 Bed Bath & Beyond (not for cooking but for limiting my time on the internet! )

any of the following kitchen gadgets to go with the amazing book I already got from my MIL


a danish dough hook/whisk; $7 amazon
a bread box to keep all that yummy bread fresh; $15 Target (my Target had these on clearance for $9)

and something to hold my recipes and books while I'm cooking; $15-25 target
See, simple! Oh and I wouldn't say no to a Hobby Lobby gift card! Did you notice that there are no quilting items/fabric? I'm trying to minimize my stash and use what I have, so I've put myself on a fabric diet. I could use a new quilting ruler and batting but a Hobby Lobby gift card would take care of that.

What would you love to get for your birthday?

Not so original!

I had a good laugh the other day when I realized that my "original" tulip flower block was not so original {ok so it was just a smidgen disappointing.} Browsing through my flickr faves I came across Amy's (Park City Girl's) DQS7:


Isn't it gorgeous?

Apparently it made an impression since I didn't even remember having it in my favorites. Still it was fun to figure out the block for myself. I hope Amy doesn't mind that my subconscious really wants to be like her!

I have no idea what size or how Amy constructed her block. I've had questions regarding a pattern for my block my answers:

Where can I find the pattern? Well the tulips can be found in "Jelly Roll Quilts," and a paper piecing template can be found on Sentimental Stitches (I can't seem to find the link so I don't know if she removed the pattern, you could always ask her!)

There is no pattern for the way I made my block, I just made it up! I think I will be writing a pattern for my quilt once it is finished though.

So much for my originality! Then again, it's really hard to be completely original in quilting where creativity and inspiration is drawn from so many other blocks/quilts, it's hard to know who "did it" first.

Time for some serious Fundraising

I can't believe that my Triathlon is little more than a month away!! I must admit that I have been quite the slacker this year with my fundraising efforts. Honestly the effort has been non-existent! That's not good at all. If I don't meet my goal I'll be letting down a really good charity not to mention I'll feel crummy about myself, but I also have to think about the example I'm setting for my kids and for my Young Women girls. Especially since I have been trying to teach them about commitment and following through.

So I'm gearing up my efforts with a special sale in my Etsy Shop. There will be 25 special silhouette listings with the title "Free Digital Portrait Silhouette with Donation to Charity." When you purchase one of these listings and make a $10 (tax deductible! oh yeah!) donation to my fundraising efforts you will get one of my classic portrait ($15 value) silhouettes FREE!

So help a girl out and spread the word will ya?

Of course you can also make a donation even if you don't want a portrait silhouette! Every little bit helps and will be greatly appreciated, even if it's only $1.

What can $1 do?

• Hope Home care for an orphan for an entire day.
• Life saving medicine to 7 Haitian Earthquake Refugees .
• 1 days worth of treatment to a child suffering from Tuberculosis.
• 25,000 Gallons of clean drinking water .

Here is how you can donate:
1) Head on over to: www.miraclemarathon.net/runner.php
3) Select "Norma Evans" from the drop down menu
4) Click the yellow "Donate" button
5) "Norma Evans" and "Mach Tenn Triathlon" should be highlighted.
6) Fill out the form to make your desired donation through PayPal.
7) You will get a receipt (tax deductible!) and your name will appear on my fundraising site.


I thank you humbly in advance,

Bunny Peeps Shirt Stencil

Sometimes I don't know what comes over me when I decide that I must do something at an insanely late hour or last minute! I seriously wonder when Mr. Pd is going to have me committed to a craft rehab program!

Such was the case the night before Easter. This year I didn't bother making cutesy matching outfits, nor did I bother purchasing them. I thought I would be ok with my decision but apparently I was wrong! I got the itch to have matching shirts for my kids at about 6pm on Saturday night.

I very quickly drew up a cute bunny on Illustrator then copy and pasted it so I would have 3 because odd numbers are better than even numbers {trust me on this.} Then I used my handy dandy Silhouette craft cutter {which had been sitting in it's box since we moved in January, *cough *cough} to cut it out of freezer paper for me. A little bit of craft paint and I had these lovelies ready by 9pm!

And because I'm such a nice person {a nice procrastinator!} I'm sharing the template with you. If you've got a Silhouette or a Cricut (with software) you can easily convert this file over to for use on your machine. Never mind that Easter is over but you can make these for next year! Heck they are cute enough that I'm going to make one for myself and I will proudly wear it all year long! You do have to fill in the gaps with a fine brush.
*by downloading this image you agree to use this template for your own personal use and not for items that are for sale. You may not re-distribute the image by any means. You may not re-format the image for to a .gsd (or any other format) for sale. You are welcome to link back to my site for others to obtain the image for themselves.

What's for Dinner? Low Country Boil

It's been awhile since I did one of these post! I really wanted to share one of my favorite southern dishes: Low Country Boil (minus the newspapers, look it up!)


It couldn't be easier to make this dish and it is ALWAYS a crowd pleaser. What's not to love? Sausage, corn, shrimp and potatoes and don't forget the corn bread! This time I added carrots because I saw it with carrots the other day at Cracker Barrel and thought "why not?" I follow a super simple recipe by my favorite all time cook Miss Paula Deen! Honestly it's so easy I don't even look at the recipe anymore!

I really, I mean reheheally want to go to her restaurant in Savannah, Ga and I really want to stay at her cottage home on Tybee Island the "Ya'll Come Inn!" I also wouldn't mind a few pieces of furniture from her collection. OK yeah, I really love Paula Deen!