Frugal Dandies

Last night i got the amazing oppurtunity to hear grace Taylor (uga gymdog) share her testimony and it spoke to me to see her using what God had given her to share her faith, so God layed it on my heart for me to share mine with whoever chooses to read this today.

I'll start at Birth  I was born without the ability to suck. For three days doctors tried night and day to get me to suck and nothing worked they were about to put a feeding tube in me when my daddy( a southern baptist preacher) hit the floor and started praying and we all know how powerful prayer is well now that i'm a parent I understand the prayer from a parent is a mighty mighty prayer, anyways back to my dad on his knees. The Lord layed it on his heart to go get a goat bottle ( i know crazy right those nipples are huge ) well he got the bottle and filled it with formula stuck it down my thoat till i gagged a little then i went to town on that baby!!! Skip forward a few years to age 5. I was swimming in our pool and  got this really wierd feeling and ended up throwing up over the side of the pool , little did we know that this incident was the beginning of a long nightmare. After that incident I started having this problem to where my salavatory glands would overact for an hour and at the end of the hour I would throw up. this happened every other hour. We traveled all over the u.s I was poked proded looked at like a lab rat, taken out of school( obviously) and  pretty much lived in my room with a nintendo and  puke pan) when i wasnt on 1 and two week hiatuses in hospitals. By age 8 I barely weighed thirty pounds and was having to take trips to the hospital to get iv's of pure fat lipids . We made one last stich effort to get into a clinic to see a doctor in atlanta we'd heard great storied about. The only problem was he was strictly an adult doctor and had never made any acceptions to take kids, that was untill me, It turned out he was a christian and he said God told him to take my case. We tried a few meds with no result then he put me on a med called dialantin( i think i spelled that right) and it helped but didnt fix the problem so he decided to add tegretol and  it worked!!!! God had brought me through yet another hurdle in my young life. A couple weeks after we had found the cure!! I was laying in my bed next to my parents bed( i still slept in there for a few months just incase there was a  return seizure) anyways I was laying in bed  and what comes next you'd only understand if your raised in a small southern church that preaches hell brimstone and fire but I sware its what happened. I was laying in bed and started picturing devils and Hell on the back of the couch and I knew in my heart it was Jesus speaking to me. I felt him saying Now Tara I have rought you through so much in your little life already and you still dont trust in me. I ddint bring you through all this so you could spend eternity in hell. That was all I needed to hear I yelled for momma and daddy and they came running thinking I was having a seizure and instead they were met by i need Jesus help me Daddy So my momma and daddy knelt beside my bed and I prayed a prayer something like this " Lord I know I've done allota bad things in my life  and I want you to forgive me for that I believe you dided on the cross for me and your alive and in heaven today . your so amazing to have brought me through what you have please come into my heart and be my lord and savior" thats was it as simple as that I was a child of the king bound for heaven.....needless to say I don't live a perfect live ... I stumble and fall with the best of em', but I know my Lord and Savior is there by my side in the Good and the Bad and he loves me through and through

If someone today reads this as misspelled and unpunctuated as it is and  it touches their heart  know this GOd doesnt care what you've done,where you've been or how unworthy you think you are. He loves you and he wants you to accept him as your Lord and Savior so he can be with you in heaven.There is no sin to big for God to forgive!!!!!!   

 In christ,
Tara

As I'm sitting here in the sunroom looking out the window watching Reagan play on the backporch all these little things she does started to flood my memory and I wanted to write them down so I'll never forget.

At age 2 -she called strawberry shortcake -Fried Coop Cake
At age 3 - she called an octopus- popopuss
At age 3 - She was obssessed with Strawberry shortcake she still loves her to this day
At age 4 - She got her first swingset ( we'll technically it's 4 her 5th birthday but we're letting her have it early so she can play with it this summer)
At age 4- she got her first boyfriend- Jackson Van Nus
At age 4- We figured out how to treat her Reflux without medicine (juice plus was the cure)
At age 3,4- She called home depot- Hungry Hippo
At age 3,4- She loved Dora the explorer
At age 4- She tried ballet and hated it-boring
At age 4- She stayed with Mimi and Pops for 3 days and two night - the longest shes ever gone without both of us
At age 4 - she could talk the ears of a horse
At age 4- She started gettign a little of a attitude- i dont wanna. I'm not gonna,cry if i dont get my way

Everyday I have with My beautiful Princess is such a blessing from God. I strive everyday to tell her she's a Princess and How Beautiful and Smart and Talented she is , because this world seems to think differently about girls this day and age and tear down more then they lift up, but my child is a child of the king and that makes her a royal Princess. She may not act like a princess a 100% of the time but shes still my princess.

Have you ever had one of those,days,months,years that you just felt like throwing yourself a pity party? We'll I've decided mines today!!! I;m frustrated,tired,broke,and a little mad, and probably my reasons dont even qualify for such emotions ,but I'm just going with them. I'll start with a flashback.... when I was 5 I started having spasms seizures... to this day there still not sure what they we're. My salavary glands would overact, my left hand and left foot would draw in a little and this would last ofr about an hour and at the end of the hour I would throw up. this happened ever other hour... Needless to say I got very sick ,very fast and they got to the point they feed me pure fat thru an I.V to keep me nurished... I traveled all over the u.s got poke proded and stuck every place you can think... finally after 3 years of this Dr. Lindsey(now retired) took me on as a patient even though he didnt see children and tried two medicines with me tegretol and dialaten I took dialatem for ten years and tegretol for over 20 years and its had a lot of lifelong side effects from the meds that I never talk about I just deal with....... I'm a tough cookie,but looking back at my childhood I dont have allot of good memories.....that being said I am not sad bitter mad for myself its for my precious Reagan. Who was diagnosed with Severe Reflux at birth and has had to go thru testing anfter testing and medicine after medicine... I somehow think what I had she got a small dose off and it makes me feel awful. As a mother you dont want your child to go through what you went through, you want them to be perfect and happy. Today while putting drops in my childs eyes for pink eye and watching how well she took them. I had to leave the room and cry. Shes so use to taking medicine and having herself poked and proded from procedures that it really doesn't fase her. while a regular four year old would take two grown men to hold them down. I know shes overall healthy and I know shes a tough cookie ,but i hate that she has to be a tough cookie.I am so blessed beyond measure to have her in my life. she is my joy,my smile in the morning,my kiss goodnight, shes so smart and talented and I know shes going to do amazing things someday, but for know shes my baby girl whom I want to be happy and never have to wipe away a tear, I know that's selfish, but thats just how I'm feeling today.

O.k so I get that potty training isn't easy. I get it's differen't for everyone, but really,Really!!! SO here's what I've tried....potty training in one day....skittles/mnm's rewards.....Punishment.......talking.....potty watch ....and prob a few other things I just can't thinl of right now... It's been two years and while the potty watch has been the biggest sucess when shes not wearing it its awful so today ( she'll be 4 the 30th) We we're leaving preschool and I begged her to go she said no I don't need to waited till I put her in her carseat and then came the floods...then We go to ballett and I get home ask her to go potty she says no and the floods come again......then she ask me to play her vtech with her and i do and we're playing and i notice the carpet is a darker shade of blue you guessed it ...... I know she knows when to go because while not wearing her panties we never ever have an accindent ,but as soon as she puts anything over that tutu of hers its time to let the dam loose and the floods come.............. I mean I knew this was hard but really.....I'm litereally loosing hair from the stress. If shes not potty trained by september no preschool and she needs preschool. I have gave it over to the Lord and asked for his help, but help or not this is one stressed upset momma. I mean my child is perfect, polite,honest,doesn't have a mean bone in her body this is her only gliche and whhew what a gliche... She'd rather play pee and know she gets in trouble than take 2 minutes out to go potty and come back ......I know to someone who's never potty trained, or had a super quick potty training experience this may seem crazy, but I have cried form stress and feeling like im a failure as a mom so many nights. Is there anyone else out there like me , or am I just one crazy mom!!!!!

Thank's to my Amazing Mother-in-Law I was introduced into the world of milk glass. She has a huge collection I just oodle over. I love the fact that it's so reto yet modern in every way. I love all the lines curves and textures each piece has yet the clean look the milk glass gives it. So as you can see I'm a fan. We'll I've started my own collection, and wanted to share some of the amazing finds I've found.

The First Piece I found was at an antique store in Stone Mountain,Ga It;s not the thicker milkglass I'm madly in love with ,but I was excited it was only 2.99

I found my next piece in Lawrenceville Flea and Antique I paid 4.99 for it but I love the fact it's a waffle bowl Icecream dish so 50's Era


I found the next two at an Antique Mall in Rome,Ga it's Huge if you ever visit Rome this is my Favorite Antique Mall. I paid $4.99 for the large square one I think it was once used as a planter, but have used it as a cracker dish etc. I paid 2.99 for the small round pedestal one which i find very sleek and awesomely Modern.






Lastly but certainly not least I found two In Dalton when Me and My daughter went to stay a week with my parents. The first piece wa also the thinner milk glass but I got it for $1.00 so I couldn't pass it up. The Second Piece is a Treasure I love the lace around the Rim I found it at Providence Thrift store for $3.99

So If anyone knows me well you should know I'm a very thrifty person. If it's not on sale and I don't have a coupon for that sale item I usually don't get it. That being said I threw my childhood B.F.F a baby shower. She had like 7 differen't showers, typicall baby decor etc, and I wanted mine to be unique, but I also wanted to buy things I could reuse for My daughters Birthday party and party's I throw in the future. I came up with a Sweet Treats Theme it was like a 50's candy shop. Here's some crafty ideas I used. The Family Dollar store was having a 50% off clearance on all there summer stripped cups bowls etc so I took full advantage. I bought several bowls and misc platters for like $2-3 a piece they had 3 packs of minature buckets in the same color schem for $1.99 and I used those for nuts dip etc.

I also Got 50 Invitations for Free from VistaPrint ,a Free Personalized T-shirt, Personalized Baby Magnet for there Car, and a Personalized Stamp with theirs and the baby's name on it for Christmas again all for free all I had to pay for was shipping.I went with the whole 50's postcard theme and they had this amazing candyshoppe background







I made a Candy Bar by covering a box with paper and placing various glass cups I got at the Dollar tree on it.I bought nostalgic candy in the color scheme of my party. Here's a money saving tip if you need candy of a certain color after easter its all on clearance and they have pink blue,yellow,green..etc





I bought some old record's and covered them with new labels I just cute a circle out of cardstock the same size as the label glued it on got some pill and stick letters and walla custom albums. The said things like "diaper duty blues" "Narcolepsy her I come" "Nates Gurlz" etc. I had one on each table as a centerpiece with a cup full of cotton candy. I also made washcloth lollipops as a centepeice for each cup!!





I made brownies,mini cupcakes,chocolate covered bacon, chips with homeade salsa,finder sandwich's, and my favorite chocolate covered marshmellows ( look like cupcakes)


So there's my party hope it's an inspiration for more crafty fun ideas!!