Challenging contest

Hey Everyone!
The other day as I sorted the mail at my post office job I realized how very few people write personal letters anymore. I remember the days when running to the mailbox was an exciting part of the day. You'd get news from friends and family. However, now we simply hop on facebook, stalk their statuses and move on with our day. Something has been lost in the process of us moving on with technology. I would even go as far to say that writing letters is, in a sense, is a lost art.
About a year ago my uncle found letters that my great, great, uncle, who fought in many wars, had written. These were letters that he had written to my Grandpa and his siblings, what treasures these letters are! When I read them I smiled as I noticed his reactions to the letters the family had sent him overseas. He spoke of the war, inquired of things back home, and gave his advice to the children. Thinking back to these letters makes me wonder, "What are we leaving behind for later generations?" With e-mails and facebook there will be no old letters in the barn for them to discover.
So here's my challenge to all you: Start writing letters once again! From April 12th to May 12th I want to have a letter writing contest. The person who sends the most letters by May 12th will receive a prize, which is still to be disclosed. The honor system will be used to keep track of how many letters are written. Whoever decides to take part will keep track and let me know how many personal letters they have sent over this time period. BILLS DO NOT COUNT! :) Encourage the people you write to write you back and to write others. Letters have a personal touch and it's a great way to let people know you care and help them keep up to date with your life. Please feel free to let me know of any interesting places you decide to write! It'll be fun to see where all the letters go!

I'd like to leave you with something to ponder; is 44¢ too much to let someone know you care?

Let me know if you're interested!

Erin

Sweet Cravings

Tonight after our walk with Mom and Dad I was craving something sweet. I asked my facebook friends to give me ideas of what I could make but no one came up with anything that really hit the spot. After looking at my newest, favorite blog, http://foodologie.com/, I decided to come up with some little "pies".

I started with instant pudding and a Graham Cracker crust made of crushed Grahams, Agave Nectar, and butter. I cooked that for 4 minutes in my convection toaster oven at 375 degrees! :)

After that I decided to put a little layer of peanut butter. WELL after the squirls got into our first HUGE container of Natural Peanut butter Asa decided to put this bucket in the freezer.

SO when I went to get it it was FROZEN rock solid! So I made shavings of peanut butter and sprinkled them over the crust!

Then I cut up Bananas and put them as the next layer.

Then I drizzled a little bit of chocolate and then put pudding down.

I then added some pudding, little spot of whipped topping, a drizzle of chocolate and some more peanut butter shavings :)

And THIS is my husband waiting for the treat, and doing taxes. WE've been doing taxes for the past two days... NOT too much fun! I think he deserved this! His favorite... bananas and peanut butter! <3

What's some of everyones favorite quick sweet snacks to make?

Contest details

New Ambitions

Sorry I haven't posted lately. I was reading someone's blog tonight and it inspired me... inspired me to post, eat healthier, and cook! <3>

I took a nice walk today... it's all a part of becoming healthier! Thankfully the weather has been beautiful lately. Compared to two weeks ago when we had our HUGE snowstorm.

My Cozy house:

Hopefully it's the only one for the year. I really loved it though, being snowed in and enjoying two entire days with Mom. I actually worked on a sewing project.

Emily showing off my girly blanket!

This blanket had a bright green material on the other side!

As I was making the blankets I started getting a little hint of baby fever. However, my boss keeps reminding me over and over again that I can't get pregnant until Aug (when she's taking her huge vacation)!

Before the storm we had a lot of visitors at our bird feeder! It was so exciting, there were 6 gold finches all the way around the feeder and two sitting up on the top of the branches... On Saturday we had a purple finch also!

Saturday we had a group of people come up from church for a sledding! We had a great time and got some really good exercise, walking up and down the hill acrossed from the house! I think everyone had a good time. We had popcorn, puppy chow, cookies, and hot chocolate for snacks after everyone was tired of sledding. Our company was so jolly and comfortable. Some of them played games, chatted and worked on my puzzle that I have been neglecting. I realized again how much I truely enjoying spending time with and having people over at my house! It was a blast!

Ok well... Asa's on the phone and I'm going to go make a shopping list for my new baking adventures!

PS. I just found this picture and I can't remember if I posted it... It's of Asa's Birthday dinner!

Valentines day!

Since today was valentines Day I made a special dinner for Asa last night. We had calzones and watched a movie! It was so cozy and a lot of fun!

This was our table and dinner:

Healthy Dinner

Tonight was our somewhat healthy and delicious dinner! I ended up having Mom and Dad over for round two. Asa and I had eaten and then mom and dad came over! They loved it! It felt so good to make something everyone could enjoy! I was able to make everything from scratch! Here are some pictures!

Making the Falafels:

The Pita:

The finished Product:

Asa and I have been working on making our bathroom beautiful! I'm so happy it's almost totally finished... after many coats of paint... and he made a platform for our washer to go up on... so I can put the laundry baskets underneath! It's wonderful! Even though he hasn't had work I have kept him BUSY! :)

Here's some pictures!

We took designs from our shower curtain and put together a border!

looking down the LONG wall!

Thanks to everyone who has left me comments! It always brightens my day to see what you all have to think about the daily happenings in my life! Even though Asa needs work it's been really nice to just have him around... working on the house! Our phone line problem is finally fixed!!! The mice had chewed the cord up in the basement! !!!! Crazy mice!

Hope everyone is doing well!

---Erin <3

Well... It's been a while since I've updated! I guess I've been kept busy with Emily being home. Sadly, however, Emily has gone back to school. So the past few days I've been lamenting the fact that she's gone. Tonight I'm making rice pudding to send with Asa in his lunches. I think it will be a nice treat!

Since I've written last Emily and I have attempted some new creations! We tried making sesame chicken, sweet and sour chicken, as well as veggie lo mein. We had chinese for my dad's bday and from the way he heaped seconds on his plate I think we could all assume he loved our creations! We had a blast and were thrilled to find new recipes that taste sooo delicious!

I received a cake decorating set for Christmas from mom and dad. I had a blast making Emily's birthday cake! She likes funky modern things so I thought a black and white cake was perfect for her. It was a fun confetti cake with a little layer of raspberry filling.

The weekend before Emily's birthday we took a trip to NYC with our friends, the Yoder boys, from NC. They had never been to the city before so we were able to see lots of the typical NYC sights. We also went ice skating in Bryant Park on friday night. That was something new for us, we had a blast!

Since then I haven't been up to much... working at the PO... making bread... and trying out other recipes. I have finally mastered the frappachino!!!! SOOOO amazing! Emily and I enjoy treating ourselves to them once in a while!

Here's a drawing I just started working on... it's a close up of some of my flowers from the wedding... I was bored :)