Traci's Christian Cottage

New to Sewing? If you are new to sewing, or want to learn some new crafts - all geared for beginners - then I've got a site for you: Sewing Projects for Beginners is a new site that offers sewing and craft projects that...

4th of July & Spark People Happy 4th!! We are spending a relaxing weekend at home. I am very thankful for the freedom I have and for this country I live in and for all those who gave their lives so I can enjoy this freedom. I...

Signs of Modesty Remember that guy from the American Idol auditions who sang "Pants on the Ground"? While his performance did not garner him a golden ticket to Hollywood, he certainly made an excellent point. Common...

Homeschooling Summer Break We've been officially done with homeschool for the year for about two weeks; however, as you can tell by my lack of blog posts - life has been a bit busy. While our homeschooling year went fabulously...

Josie Duggar Goes Home from the Hospital! Yesterday Josie Duggar, the 19th child of Jim Bob & Michelle Duggar, finally got to come home from the hospital. Josie was born December 10, 2009 at only 25 weeks gestation due to Michelle's pre-eclampsia....

Winds of Change... If you follow this blog at all, you've no doubt noticed cobwebs forming in the virtual corners. Life has been crazy busy and quite honestly, I didn't have much to share that I thought you all would be...

Duggar Family to Welcome Baby #19 Awesome news from the Duggar family of Arkansas today, and also the same family from the TV show "18 Kids and Counting!": Michelle Duggar is expecting baby #19 in spring 2010! Jim-Bob and Michelle Duggar's...

HydroChic Modest Swimwear for Women In May of 2008 I blogged about HydroChic Modest Swimwear for women and I mentioned they were stylish, but really mainly discussed the UV protection qualities. Protecting your skin from sun damaging is...

Prayer Works - even via Twitter ;) Sorry I've not blogged here much lately. I'm around, and if you follow me on Twitter you'll see I'm very active there or on Facebook. I'm also blogging on my business site and have been very busy business-wise,...

Homeschool Planning for Fall 2009 We finished up our 12th year of homeschooling without much fanfare. All went well, and although while we liked our year of using the Prairie Primer Unit Study, we will not be using that again next year....

Win Rosetta Stone Software for Your Homeschool Rosetta Stone is the fastest way to learn a language and has been the #1 foreign language curriculum among homeschoolers for a while — and you can WIN the *all new* version 3 Rosetta Stone Homeschool...

Missing My Best Friend Have you ever had one of those days where you've had enough? Enough laundry sickness fatigue busy-ness stress loneliness depression and 'stuff' .... to last you a lifetime? Have...

Homeschooling: Join the 'Club'? Recently on Twitter, I had someone tweet me a series of questions that began with the basic assumption (stereotype) that all homeschooling families must have their own coffee cake recipes and ended with...

Do you share smiles? I am an encourager. I am a people person and I love to make people smile - even laugh! I have overcome extreme shyness and self-esteem issues to be the real me that God created me to be. It is often...

Upcoming Pastor's Conferences I'm so excited about some upcoming conferences I'll be attending. First is next month on March 13-14, 2009 in Nashville, TN. I'll be attending the Beth Moore Pastor's Wives Conference with my Pastor's...

Spring is Near - Baby Chicks are Here! Yesterday I ran some errands and stopped by our local Orshclen's (farm supply store) and immediately upon walking in the door, I hear the peeping. Yep, the first round of baby chicks have arrived! Every...

7 Odd and Interesting Things About Traci Well, LisaMarie Mary tagged me for this. I don't know if there are seven odd and interesting things about me; but I'll do my best to wow and amaze you with strange oddities about myself. :P 1. I have...

Hubby Job Update #1: Possible Job! For those who follow me on Twitter, or are personal friends, you know that as of January 30, 2009, my husband Mark has been unemployed. This was really a planned unemployment as he worked for Chrysler...

I'm the Featured Homeschooler of the Week Recently I was interviewed by Nikowa at Heart of the Matter Online and this week, I'm their Featured Homeschooler of the Week! Thanks Nikowa!

Menopause Sucks My rambling observations on menopause, as one who has lived it for the past almost 6 years. Menopause.... sucks the memory right out of your brain. You can't remember what you had for breakfast,...

Glenn Beck on the Economic Stimulus Plan Leave it to Glenn to tell it like it is - and with great insight. I honestly do not see how Obama's new economic 'stimulus' plan is going to help anything. It's wasteful 'pork' and nothing more. We need...

Finally Home by MercyMe This is an excellent song by MercyMe and a very touching video. Enjoy!

They have an e-card for 'that'?! I have seen a lot of weird things in my life from bizarre to sinful and most things in between. But today I learn that if you happened to have 'hooked up' (aka: slept with) someone and you could have exposed...

Ann Coulter: Is She About Helping The Right or Herself? I am staunchly conservative. I would say probably more so than Ann Coulter. I respect her right to free speech. On one hand I applaud her for standing up for the right; but honestly - sometimes I think...

Food for Everyone via Organic Vegetable Gardening I am not the gardener in this household. I'll admit it - my husband is. He loves being outside digging in the dirt, walking in the woods and all that. But nothing is done here that is not a family project...

I Want a Facebook for GrownUps Ok, I am really a very social gal - especially online. I love all these social networking sites and applications like Twitter. Twitter is my hands-down favorite. If you're asking, "What is Twitter?", ...

Merry Christmas from Traci A video Christmas message from Traci. (.wmv 27mb) Traci's Christmas Message to YOU

Birthday Bash Winners! My first LIVE birthday bash last Saturday was a smashing success! We had a great time and I want to again thank everyone who joined me. In addition to the free Party Favor Gifts that every single party...

Baby's First Year The first year of your baby's life can be the hardest, happiest, scariest and best year you get to experience with your child. You are going to experience so many emotions during the baby’s first year!...

Baby Room Furniture for multiples Determining what baby room furniture is needed for a baby's room is one of the fun parts of being pregnant. Now imagine if you will multiply that by two, three or sometimes even six. When you have multiples,...

Checking out Baby Cribs Being pregnant and preparing for your baby’s arrival is an exciting time. It can also be an overwhelming time. You will feel as though there are just too many things to do and an overwhelming amount...

Traci's Birthday Bash! Sat. December 13th 7pm Saturday, December 13th is my birthday - but you could get the gifts! Join me for my birthday bash for some fun, laughs, games and yep - birthday gifts for a few lucky winners! The party will be held...

Mark's Car Accident & God's Protection The Call At 4:50 am this morning my phone rang, and that usually never means good news. Mark had worked a 12 hour shift and got off work at 4:30 am and I was expecting him home around 5:30 am. My dogs...

Wii Fit Mommiis Challenge: Want a chance to win a Wii? Join me for the Wii Fit Mommii's Twitter Tweet-Up on Wednesday, December 10th at 8pm Eastern. To register for the Tweet-Up and get details on how you could be entered to win a Ninento Wii, go here. I...

#CWTU Christian Women Tweet Up: Mon. Dec. 8th @ 8pm... Monday, December 8th at 8pm - 9:30pm CST 6:00pm-7:30pm Pacific or 9:00pm-10:30 pm Eastern It's time for another Christian Women Tweet Up (#CWTU) on Twitter. We had a blast last time! There were...

I nearly blew-up a top 10 hosting company's servers Today started out like any other day, coffee and Twitter in the AM, then shower andTwitter some more; load up three children and go grocery shopping. Come home - ready to Twitter, and the phone rings....

Sewing Cutting Tables: Not Just for Sewing! One of my prized possessions is a gift my husband gave me one year for Mother's Day: a sewing cutting table. I had wanted one for a long time, before they went on clearance at my local Walmart and my husband...

Learning Sign Language: Baby Signing A Brilliant Idea A few years ago, I first heard about the concept of teaching a baby sign language. I did not do this with my own children, but found the idea very appealing. It makes sense to provide...

Traci's Video Thanksgiving message Have a blessed Thanksgiving!

Black Friday Shopping Deals Are you one of those die-hard bargain shopping gurus who rouses themselves out of the turkey induced coma to hit the stores before dawn to shop on Black Friday? Hey I love a bargain too; but getting up...

The Church Needs a Bail-out This morning on Twitter, @johnpanico posted a link to his article tying together, of all things: the recent bank bail-out and the proprosed auto industry bail-out, to the dire financial situation in his...

My national radio interview on the auto industry bail-out! I have been asked to be a guest on the Darla Shine nationally syndicated radio show tomorrow, Saturday, November 22, 2008 from 1-3PM EST. Darla wants to chat with women who will be directly effected by...

The MIT's Still Going Strong It has been a very long time since I've blogged about my MIT's (MacGuyvers in Training), I'm sure you all assumed they were finally using their skills for good - and they have been for the most part. However,...

Auto Industry Bail-Out: My husband works for Chrysler The latest news is a buzz about the 'Big 3' (GM, Ford & Chrysler) wanting a government bail-out similar to what the banks recently received. Since my husband is currently a Chrysler employee, and my...

3 Key Check Points before Following on Twitter While I joined Twitter on May 17, 2008, I did not start actively using it until June/July 2008. Like most, when I first got on Twitter, I wasn't sure how it all worked, how to find people to follow and...

Christian Women Tweet Up - Mon, Nov. 24th, 8pm CST A what?! You're asking. :) A Tweet Up is an online meetup where the conversations are done via Twitter. So obviously you need to go sign-up for a free Twitter account, if you haven't already. Then you...

Are all stay at home jobs a hoax? If you have done any searching at all for legitimate stay at home jobs, you quickly realize that most are hoaxes. They are scams trying to sell you on the 'get rich quick' concept where you can earn tons...

Ed Dale and his iPhone I think Ed needs a 12-step program to overcome his iPhone obsession. Ed's fever-like pitch that ensued prior to the release of the iPhone was a bit funny, but hey - the guy is into gadgets. ;) I just use...

Should he stay or should he go? My husband and I have a tough decision to make and could use some prayer, in addition to our own prayers on this. For those who don't know, my husband works for Chrysler. Read the paper or watch the news...

A Morning Praise I will be glad and rejoice in you; I will sing praise to your name, O Most High. Psalms 9:2 Enjoy! I hope you have an AWESOME day.

In God We Still Trust

Want Six Pack Abdominals? Get The Truth About Abs Did you know that most of what we know or think about getting those 'six pack abs' or a flat stomach isn't true? If you're on my Cottage eNews mailing list, then you will have received the mailings regarding...

Recycled Chinese Take-Out Leftovers = Breakfast Rice As a child, my mother would often make what we call 'Breakfast Rice'. It's simply prepared white rice, with milk, butter and sugar added. I guess it's concept is similar to grits eaten for breakfast....

CWTR Confession Meme: Advocate Noelle over at Christian Women Take Root has come up with the brilliant idea of the 'Confession Meme'. It's an awesome way to spur a blog topic, or share what's going on with you and/or your business. ...

I Can Agree with Obama on One Thing: Renewable Energy Being a conservative Christian, it's no surprise that I disagree with President-elect Obama on just about every single thing; except one - renewable energy. While I do not agree that we need to bankrupt...

Client's new song: Heroes Left Behind I have a friend, who also happens to be a web design client of mine (site under construction), and he's an awesome singer. He used to do country and toured with Loretta Lynn and was her song writer for...

Spinach Potatoes with Cheese This is one of our all-time favorite side-dishes. Tonight we're having it with my crockpot chicken. 4 cups prepared mashed potatoes 1 12-16 oz bag chopped spinach, cooked & drained 2 cups shredded...

Traci's Crockpot Chicken This is a common meal at our house - easy and inexpensive. It's not fancy fare by any stretch - but my family loves it. Traci's Crockpot Chicken 1 whole chicken, rinsed well Herbs of your choice....

A Black Conservative Against Obama This guy tells it like it is. No fluff. Just a lot of wisdom.

Update: car wreck prayer request 12:15 pm update: I just spoke with my friend Kathy, and my Pastor's wife (who is at the hospital); Jennifer is somewhat stable. They have her completely sedated and intubated and on a ventilator. Apparently,...

URGENT: car wreck prayer request update I just received a call, Jennifer is in cardiac arrest at this moment. She's been in ICU, as bone marrow has gotten into her lungs when they did the surgery to fix her broken femur and stabilize her pelvis. I...

Tater Tot Casserole This is my variation on the Duggar family's recipe they have on their web site. [caption id="attachment_922" align="alignnone" width="300" caption=""][/caption] Traci's Tater Tot Casserole 1.5...

What Is Your Blog Type? Courtroom or Library I got to thinking about blogs, and how vastly different they are. What makes some popular and others... well, not so much. Obviously the personality of the blog author comes through more clearly in some...

Mercy Saw Me Powerful Chonda Pierce song.

eNews Changes If you have been subscribed to my Cottage eNews, you should have received an email this evening asking you to opt-in to my new eNews provider (aweber). If you'd like to receive my new Cottage eNews then...

Christianity is Not a Religion Most people refer to Christianity as a religion, whether out of habit or convenience; but in truth, Christianity is not a religion, it's a relationship with Christ. There have been countless atrocities...

Water Fuel: Run Your Car on.. Water?! This article is another in my continuation in helping you and your family achieve debt-free living and cost-cutting measures. Gas prices to fuel up the family car have been outrageous; and if you are...

Wed AM Car Wreck Prayer Request update Jennifer is in ICU this morning with pneumonia. Her surgery went well yesterday to repair her broken femur; they put a rod in that. They also stabilized her pelvis with external rods with a halo type...

Make Electricity at Home: Make a windmill and homemade... Make your own electricity? Yes - and you can learn how to make electricity at home with this guide that will show you how to make a windmill and homemade solar panels, without spending a fortune like you...

Homemade Laundry Detergent The Duggar's aren't the only family who makes their own laundry detergent; years ago, I did too! It's really more of a gel-like consistency. Here's my recipe. Traci's Homemade Laundry Detergent 3...

Tues. AM Car Wreck Prayer Request Update Posting an update for those for family and friends that visit my site & follow me on Twitter that are praying for this family. Jennifer: will be in surgery nearly all day today. They are repairing...

Chonda Pierce: What A Friend We Have in Jesus No matter what your trials or needs, Chonda gives us a good reminder that God is only a prayer away.

Mon. AM Car Wreck Prayer Request Update I will keep posting updates here on my blog, for those who are praying, and as I get major updates to post. Baby Kacyn: is showing slight improvement this morning. His color is better. They still...

Sun. PM Car Wreck Prayer Request Update They have placed the baby in a medically induced coma to keep him stabilized. He's still in critical condition, but at least stable for now. This baby is not out of the woods by any stretch. So all...

Sun AM Car Wreck Prayer Request Update I just spoke with my friend (grandmother of the baby and mother of the baby's father) and got an update: The baby (Kacyn) is in very serious condition. He lost quite a bit of blood yesterday and he is...

Car Wreck Prayer Request Update If you follow me on Twitter, then you saw the tweet I made earlier this afternoon asking for prayer for my Pastors and another couple in our church following the car accident they were all in this today. ...

Homeschool Software: Help for Those Challenging Classes When I tell people that I homeschool my children, I usually get one of three reactions; "I could never do that, my kids would drive me nuts." The curiosity questions about socialization, are they...

Homeschool Software: Rosetta Stone Do you use homeschool software as part of your curriculum? Or do you use homeschool software for mainly just games? I was chatting online the other evening with some homeschool moms and one of them was...

Need Help to Dig Out of Debt? Times are tough. I've said it before, the economy just plain stinks. I don't think it much matters at this point who wins the election - it's going to take a long time for this country to recover from...

Don't Breathe I love it! Christian comedian Anita Renfroe's remake of Faith Hill's Breathe. Too funny!!

What is education? "Education is not the filing of a bucket, but the lighting of a fire." - William Butler Yeats "I never let my schooling interfere with my education." - Mark Twain "An investment in knowledge always...

LIVE Cottage TV & homeschooling Our own TV Show I've been working on this for the past couple of weeks, and I'm not quite ready - yet; but soon, Traci's Cottage will be airing it's very own one-hour weekly live TV show on ustream.tv! ...

The Duggar's: Quiverful Role Models I have been watching the Duggar family's new reality TV show 18 Kids and Counting for the past couple of weeks. I really like the show. Of course, I admit, I have a fascination with the Duggar's like...

Homemade Cleaners Gas prices are down here (at this MOMENT), but the cost of living is still high. Many are clipping coupons, going "green" and even making their own household cleaners to try and save money as discussed...

Abortion: Why I urge you not to vote Obama This is a very graphic video. Do not have your young children in the room as you watch this; but I do urge you to watch it - even if you're an Obama supporter, you need to see what he thinks is acceptable. ...

7 Tips for Large Christian Families in Tough Economic... As I have written previously on this topic of affording many children, there are many things that our family has done to afford having a large family. I know there are folks that probably have even more...

Skimbaco: Cute Kids Clothes up to 75% off! Well you know I love a bargain, and have I found a bargain for you! Run, er - click quickly over to Skimbaco and snatch up some of these adorable kids clothes for up to 75% off! Seriously - some...

Burning Down the House: What Caused Our Economic Crisis? It may not be who you thought... Interesting video.

Duggar Family Reality TV show! & Baby #18 will be a... The Duggar family is finally entering into the reality TV scene with their show entitled "17 Kids and Counting", as their interview on the MSNBC's Today web site revealed. Honestly, that's one reality...

Tithing in the midst of foreclosure USA Today wrote an article about Christians who continue to tithe while they are losing their homes to foreclosure. While the article attempted to explain why Christians tithe, without one actually being...

Stealing Diapers & Baby Food - Tough times for single... Yesterday my husband took our three children to the park for his one-on-one time with them (and my quiet time at home ;). I am blessed to have a husband with a good job, our nice home, food to eat and...

Proof the theory of evolution is FALSE! If evolution were true, all mothers (especially those of us who work at home and homeschool our children) would have evolved to have the eight arms, two heads and absolutely no need for sleep to get everything...

Shock & Awe for .25 cents! I did it again today. I do it nearly every week. I did some 'shock & awe' in the Aldi grocery store parking lot. If you want to blow people's minds; get them stammering, mouths ajar, then grinning...

You're No One If You're Not on Twitter video This is a funny, and pretty right-on, video about Twitter. By the way: I tweet - therefore I am. Follow me on Twitter

Chicken Fettuccine Alfredo Tonight I'm making this wonderful dish not only for my family, but for a family in our church that just had a baby. :) Tis yummy good and not the least bit diet-friendly. I got the original recipe...

Conservative Politics: [enter stage RIGHT] McCain and Palin vs. Obama and Biden: I don't know about you, but I feel like I'm watching a poorly scripted drama production of a very off-broadway show. Don't get me wrong, the acting is good, often...

International Chocolate Day TODAY Who knew! Today, September 13th, is International Chocolate Day. In the spirit of international peace and good will, I will eat some chocolate. I mean honestly, who doesn't want world peace! And...

Business Building Opportunity: STSE2 For those who know me, know that I have owned a web design company for the past 10 years. For about the past year and a half or so, I have been studying search engine optimization (SEO) and more recently,...

Time Management Tips for Success I was born with the 'time management gene'. I'm one of those Type A organized folks you hear about. I think Martha Stewart and I must be long lost cousins or something. I remember on my third grade...

Operation: Hog Bladder The Prairie Primer Unit Study - click to order Oh my goodness - what an adventure this has been! We have started our homeschooling year, and we are using the Prairie Primer Unit Study, which is based...

Grandparents Day? My Pastor's wife informs me this morning that today is Grandparent's Day. This must be a newer holiday, one that I've never participated in on the sending end, and never actually been on the receiving...

Sipping coffee, chainsaws buzzing in the background... this was how my morning started yesterday. The tree removal process began. They did manage to get the tree down and once it was, we see that we do indeed have roof damage (not surprising when a 30...

Gustav damage at my Missouri home?!!! Yes it's true. Hurricane Gustav made it's way to Missouri, although only a tropical depression/storm, big rain - whatever, we got over 3 inches of rain in a very short time. This was apparently more...

A Grammy - AGAIN! Yep, I'm going to be a Grammy again!!! SQUEE!! My son Tom, and my daughter-in-law Jenny, called this evening with the news that they are expecting their first child. They're due in April 2009. ...

Super Quick Update What a crazy week. Sam has been sick with swimmer's ear. Doesn't sound like a big deal - well it has been. We've made one ER trip and one Urgent Care trip and he's still not well. This is an...

TWD: Black & White Banana Loaf Well, another week out for me. It's 108 degrees here and our a/c is still not fixed. It's barely working and I can not turn on the oven to bake anything. Next week is ice cream - even though I do...

If you just joined the 30 Day Challenge.... I've heard from several of you that you have joined me in the 30 Day Challenge - this is awesome!!!! Welcome!!! I also know that some of you are trying to catch up and/or have questions. You can...

Thirty Day Challenge - What is it? For those still wondering what the 30DC is, what it does or can do for you....

Thirty Day Challenge - It's not too late It's not too late to join the 30 Day Challenge.

Birthdays: Emily & Lilly Yesterday was my daughter Emily's 8th birthday. August 5th will be my granddaughter Lilly's 1st birthday. We had a party at my parent's house yesterday for everyone (including my dad, whose birthday...

30 Day Challenge - join me! For the past few weeks, I've been gearing up for this year's 30 Day Challenge (30DC) with the pre-season lessons. What is the 30DC? Here's a quote straight from the 30DC web site: WHAT IS THE THIRTY...

Kitchen mixers: I need your advice The time has come that I need to get a mixer. I only have a small hand mixer; no stand mixer of any kind. What I'm looking for is something I could use to make a cake, batch of cookies and also knead...

Eyes of a Child by Michael McDonald Wow! I love this song!! Michael McDonald is from St. Louis - how cool is that?! [audio:09-michael_mcdonald_-_eyes_of_a_child.mp3]

Internet & A/C update and Farming Internet: Well, I did call on Monday and the repairman came and fixed my internet problem. It was, in part, due to the heat and how they had it all hooked up. Whatever - it's now working. A/C: we're...

What kind of flower are you? "Mischief is your middle name, but your first is friend. You are quite the prankster that loves to make other people laugh." Uh - yep, I'd say this is about right: Parts of me have snapped, and the...

TWD: passing on the cherry-rhubarb cobbler I'm not baking this week's treat of cherry-rhubarb cobbler, as I tried to find rhubarb and could not. I've had rhubarb a time or two and it isn't my favorite, but I was going to bake this anyway. I saw...

Internet connection & A/C issues For the past two weeks or more, my internet connection has been very 'iffy'. By noon each day, the connection starts getting extremely slow - so much so, I really can't get to web sites and barely get...

The patterns are gone! I've heard the rumors. I know it's been happening all across the country. But the other day I went to my local Walmart to search for a pattern: and they are GONE! Never again to be found in my...

TWD: Chocolate Pudding Squee! Today is my first time joining in with the Tuesdays With Dorie group in baking fresh, from scratch, desserts and baked goods using the cookbook Baking: From My Home to Yours by Dorie Greenspan This...

Vacation just about over..... Well, my two-week vacation comes to an end officially tomorrow; Monday it's back to the daily grind. I'm not looking forward to it. Not at all. I've spent a great deal of time the past year or so,...

Vacation Week #2 My Mark had to return to work yesterday, but my self-imposed vacation continues this week. Although Mark is taking Friday, Saturday and Sunday off for this coming weekend; so we'll jump back into the...

Office update and Georgie My original arrangement with the stacked dog crates wasn't as stable/sturdy as it needed to be, so I changed that and moved my sewing cutting table to a new location in the office as well. This works...

A little too organic for my taste This video is a riot. I'm all for nutritious healthy food - but I do have my limits.

Clean Office Project Today was the day to re-arrange and clean my office. Since Mark bought me a brand spankin' new vacuum cleaner the other day, I thought I would see if I could break it by vacuuming up copious amounts of...

Joyful Baker vs. Hesitant Cook: Blame it on Chocolatechic So the dogs wake me up at 4:00 am on this vacation morning (yeah, I wasn't too happy!) and of course, I can't go back to sleep once I'm up; so I come in to check email and my RSS blog feeds. Nearly every...

Vacation 2008 Day 4: Meramec Caverns Yes, I'm on day four, as days two and three were spent at home not doing anything overly noteworthy. Today was day four of our family vacation and we took the children to Meramec Caverns, which is...

Vacation 2008 Day 1: Six Flags, ThirdDay concert Saturday, June 28, 2008 was our first official day of vacation and we started it off with a bang: a trip to Six Flags St Louis. Not only did we get to enjoy the park, rides and fun - but the Christian...

What's your cardboard testimony?

Barbie dress: a la Kleenex My three youngest children are creative (the older three are as well) - very creative. It is nearly a daily thing that my children are drawing, reading and participating in creative play of varying sorts. ...

Blue Thistle Home School I found another awesome homeschool curriculum resource today: Blue Thistle Home School. I happened to read a post via Heart of the Matter, written by Hallie - owner of Blue Thistle Home School; where...

Homeschool Boutique Oh my goodness - you have to visit this site!! What adorably cute things! Homeschool t-shirts, backbacks, aprons and about the cutest handbags I've ever seen, and with scripture on them !! You can even...

Countdown to VACATION! Our two-week vacation officially starts tomorrow. I've been working like a crazy woman getting web design work done before tomorrow. It's crunch time, but I believe I'm on the home-stretch and will indeed...

Biology 101 DVDs Giveaway! Heart of the Matter Online, is running a Biology 101 giveaway contest. This is an awesome, Christian-based series of four DVDs. Check out the giveaway details and sign-up for your chance to win....

The Homeschool Toolbar What an awesome tool! I just downloaded this and can already see how it will be very useful for me. So much good stuff, right at my finger.....mouse tip. No spyware, malware or any other 'wares'...

Cells phones can pop popcorn! Embedded Video Blogged with the Flock BrowserTags: cellphones popping popcorn, microwaves cell phone,

First day of swim lessons, and.... it's been storming. *sigh* The children were so looking forward to today. The lessons are due to start at 10:45 am this morning, and even though now (at 7:45am) it's not technically raining, my weatherbug...

Daily Homeschool Freebies One of the gals on the T2CHK board posted a link to a site that offers daily freebies for homeschoolers. Looks like some awesome things. The Homeschool FREEBIE of the Day

Awesome Homeschooling Resource Site Oh my goodness - this is one cool site! It has an interactive online tutorial for sign language; interactive learning tools for phonics and reading help. And some educational, and interactive, segments...

Missouri mom sentenced to 2 days in jail for son's... Wow! This is bizarre and, actually, not common in Missouri. A single mother of five was sentenced to two days in jail for her 13 year old son's truancy from public school. According to the news report,...

Menu Plan Monday Since I'm now using Dine Without Whine for my menu plans, I thought I'd post what we're having this week. Monday Breakfast: berries & yogurt Lunch: Stroganoff Stew, apples Dinner:...

Simply Susan 2nd Blogiversary Giveaway What a cool idea - to celebrate the 2nd blogiversary, Susan is giving away two different prize packages. Check it out at Simply Susan. Mmmmm - maybe I should try something like this too!

What type of homeschooler are you? I am a ........ (not surprising ) You're a "Relaxed" Homeschooler You kind of do it all....you teach through conversation, you may purchase an "all-in-one" curriculum for the child's entire school...

Modesty vs. the World As I wrote in my article Is Wearing Dresses Only, Legalistic ?, dressing modestly is what God's word says we are to do. It's about obedience, and more importantly, it's about having a heart toward God...

Worship Online with Worship Find I discovered an awesome new music site where you can go listen to worship songs - for free! The site is Worship Find (http://www.worshipfind.com). It uses Rhapsody Music to bring you the best in worship...

Pure Fashion in the Modesty Movement High style and fashionable clothing are not usually thought of together when it comes to modesty. However, I have been blogging about modesty for several years and more recently about Modern Modesty...

Modest UV Swimwear for women: HydroChic Wow! What a find I made today: stylish nice looking modest swimsuits for women that also serve with a SPF/UPF 50+. Sun protection is important, and sunblocks just don't always work, or need to...

Homeschooling labeled 'Educational Anarchy' More drama resulting from California's recent decision on homeschooling. That mess is far from over, apparently. Read the full story... What are your thoughts: Should parents be required to...

Flock to Twitter Goodness, what 'social' week I've had. First, I have switched my web browser to Flock. Yeah, I hadn't heard of it either until this weekend. But if you are the social networking type, you must get...

Tooth Loss in Moms of Many Children Well now, here's some interesting news. Supposedly, the more children you have, the more teeth you'll lose. This article, For women, more children can mean fewer teeth, suggests that this tooth loss...

Back to...homeschooling! With the change in my husband's work schedule back to 2nd shift/7 days per week; we quickly realized that he did not see the children at all on their school days, when attending the private school. This...

Gently Used Modest Clothing- poll Would you be interested in purchasing some gently used modest clothing? I have access to some very nice things, many of these items are well-known name brands! I can offer them at very reasonable prices...

Chore Chart system This is not my original idea and I can't find the link at the moment as to where I found this.... but the concept is extremely simple and because it's hands-on, my kiddos really like it. I whipped...

Hannah's beautiful handwriting & 1st lost tooth My Hannah, age 6 and in kindergarten, brought this paper home from school today. Doesn't she have beautiful handwriting?! I thought so. Other big news for Miss Hannah - she lost her first tooth...

Dine Without Whine - meal planning Well SQUEE!!!!!!! This is an awesome service I just signed up for. I don't know about you, but I am BUSY. Seriously busy. I happened to find this site, looked at their free sample recipes and shopping...

Chuck Norris - God bless the atheists! Chuck Norris, actor, World Middleweight Karate Champion and Christian, writes regularly for WorldNetDaily.com, often on political issues. His latest article is a great read, in a well versed commentary...

Memorial Day Hello I've been crazy busy this past week or two and haven't blogged much. Sorry about that. Today is Memorial Day in the United States; where we remember and honor our military who have fought...

Maria Chapman and her daddy washing dishes Sweet memories and times of Maria with her daddy. I know I've posted on this topic a few times today, but it's touched me so deeply. I wanted to reach out to everyone else and share the glimpses...

Cinderella by Steven Curtis Chapman I'm posting this as a loving tribute to the Chapman family during their time of grief. This song now, more then ever, holds special meaning. Please continue to hold this family up in prayer.

Steven Curtis Chapman's 5 year old daughter killed On a very sad note this morning, Steven Curtis Chapman's 5 year old daughter was killed in a tragic accident yesterday at their family home, when his teenage son hit her with their SUV when he did not...

David Cook WINS American Idol! SQUEE!!!!!!! The MISSOURI boy won!!!!!! :D Even though I posted earlier that I really liked David Archuleta, and I do - as I continued to watch the show, I realized that David Cook was actually...

Baby #18 for the Duggars! The Duggars have officially announced that baby #18 is on the way! Congratulations Duggar family! :)

2.5 yr old sings the Lord's Prayer This little girl is amazing!! And she's 2.5 years old!!

Trips to the Beauty Shop It all started with my trip to the beauty shop this week to get my hair cut. It was long over-due. I like the new cut. A bit shorter, but mostly straightened out and fixed from the botched up cut I...

A Lesson From the Moment of Truth This is a very powerful video from Way of the Master, using a segment of the TV show Moment of Truth to make a point and to share the gospel and salvation message.

The Transformed Conference Today I went to the Transformed conference here in St Louis, which is a ministry of Way of the Master Ministries. It was awesome!! The conference was really an introduction to the biblical form of evangelism;...

Parental Rights I believe this is one petition worth signing. Watch this video and if you agree, please go sign the petition.

What kind of punctuation are you? No surprise here! LOL You Are An Exclamation Point You are a bundle of... well, something. You're often a bundle of joy, passion, or drama. You're loud, brash, and outgoing....

The Church of Oprah God help us.

Powerful Indeed I was reading blogs this morning, and read Pamela's blog entry at Welcome Home and saw a video she posted from Ray Comfort of Way of the Master and Living Waters. Very powerful and moving, so I'm posting...

Why I've been MIA There's a couple reasons: I've also been busy working on web design client things, tackling my new role as Children's Pastor at church and getting things organized and setup for that, cleaning and...

Happy Birthday Tom! My oldest son, Tom, turns 25 years old today. Happy birthday son. :)

Flooding in Missouri Part of Missouri are having some serious flooding. In the town where I live, the Meramec State Park is flooded. Mark and I went today and took these photos: In the flood of 1982, I lost...

Spring Cleaning Progress! I've been working on my modified spring cleaning this week, in preparation for the Easter family event here this weekend. I'm making progress and going room-by-room and really digging in and getting...

What dog breed are you? So what dog breed are you?

Free Primitive Raggedy Annie doll pattern Oh my stars - look at what I found today: Bowls-n-Annies: free primitive Raggedy Ann doll patterns!!! I am soooo loving these patterns!! How adorable and honestly, not that hard at all to make. I'm...

Easy Shepherd's Pie Yum! I made this the other night. Huge hit! Easy Shepherd's Pie 2 lbs ground beef 1/2 cup onion, chopped 2 cloves garlic, minced 2 cans black beans, drained 2 cups co-jack cheese,...

Oatmeal Raisin Cookies What else do you do on a snowy day - bake cookies of course! :) Here's my helper for this batch, my 6 year old Hannah. We still plan to make either peppermint chunk chip and/or butterscotch chip...

Spring Cleaning: in Green It's getting to be that time of year, when we think about spring cleaning on the T2CHK board. Sylvia usually spear-heads this event each year. I admit, I usually never follow her schedule, as I 'march...

David Archuleta Gets My Vote Do you watch American Idol? I have some years, not so much other years and I don't get to watch it every week. But man oh man. Wow - this kid can sing! I get chills every time I hear him. [youtube...

Coffee Table Books I'm sure we all know what they are: books that sit on the coffee table. Duh! But generally these gems are filled with literature, art or other such noteworthy treasures. It is a given that you...

Countdown to Easter Well, countdown to Palm Sunday to be exact. We are hosting Mark's family here on Palm Sunday for our Easter celebration with them. That means I have my spring cleaning to do between now and then. Uh...

Death by Chocolate Oh my stars!!! Over 600 chocolate recipes. Nothing else to say - get your copy of this delicious eBook now. On sale for only $5.00 for a limited time. Squee!!! I'm in chocolate heaven!!!

Progress, slowly but surely Whew! I managed to get caught up with the laundry washing, drying and folding. (don't ask me about the putting away ) I got the core of the design client issues also resolved today and even managed...

Our Dream Vacation Mark and I are not much into traveling. We are confirmed homebodies. However, there is one place that we have said we both would love to go: Australia. We want to go to the Australia Zoo (yes, we were...

Tired Tuesday Man, I am tired today. The children were too. I could hardly get them out of bed and ready for school this morning. We managed, but we were moving very slowly. For me it's the post-migraine fatigue. ...

What's in a name? Well, apparently a lot of money for thieves, and hassles, headaches and the ruining of not only your credit score, but your good name: all from identity theft. You would think, in today's high-tech...

Rainy days and Mondays Well, it's not exactly raining, but it looks like it could; but it's definitely a "Monday". I have a migraine starting. I'm not sure why - I haven't checked the weather to see if a weather-front is...

Want some free postcards? Squee! I love free stuff. I can afford free and I bet you can too! VistaPrint has so many awesome products for your business and personal use, I don't know if I could list everything. They have labels,...

Why is it..... that when you talk to God, it's called prayer; and when God talks to you, you're considered nuts? In the past God spoke to our forefathers through the prophets at many times and in various ways, but...

6 yr old singing sensation and she melts Simon's heart!! He was nice to her!!! Squee!!!! [youtube 7zBxt_w8_zQ nolink]

Easter Family Fun eBook Easter is a time for celebrating rebirth and new beginnings. Celebrate this Easter in style with the fun recipes, games and craft...

More ice, some sewing & cleaning We have another winter storm upon us this morning, so the children are home from school once again. They will be cleaning their rooms today. ;) I have some sewing to do today that must get done...

Rockin' Lilly 2-20-08 She was trying to get this chair to rock. She just about did! And this is the face of the grandbaby who refused to nap.

Homemade Pop-Tarts My online blogging friend Chocolatechic posted how to make homemade pop-tarts on her blog a week or so ago. Well, today I took the plunge and made these beauties. The kiddos LOVED them. :D ...

Joel Osteen controversy I'm not big on "bashing" or bad-mouthing other preachers or teachers; but I do believe in sound doctrine and teaching and we do need to know the truths behind the beliefs and teachings of any preacher...

Taxes, a Date & Snow Today I finally managed to get my tax numbers and things together so Mark can start our taxes. He has done our taxes himself our whole marriage. I think one year we paid someone and quickly determined...

Traci's Baked Potato Soup Okay, when it looks like this outside your house: ....and that's ice, by the way - not snow. Then you need some of this to warm you up. My "famous" baked potato soup and a warm buttery Texas...

King George of the Jungle No, it's not a new movie; but it is a name fit for royalty living in this house. Meet the new member of our household.

Valentine's Week Yes, a whole week!! :) My anniversary is Thursday (Valentine's Day), also known around here as the "Vale-versary". ;) However, it's one busy week - with Mark's crazy work schedule this month, me...

Adjusting & Articles We're doing fairly well adjusting to Mark's new work schedule. It went well today with the children home from school on a snow-day keeping them quiet enough so Mark could sleep this afternoon. They played...

Valentine's Day Recipes Have I got a deal for you! A fabulous downloadable recipe book of 146 delicious Valentine's Day themed recipes!! No need to go out and spend tons of money to have a special Valentine's Day together....

Snow & School Well, we have a snow storm on the way today. For us, it's considered a major snow, about 5-7 inches expected. We've certainly had more snow than this in our area, but we seem to get more ice in recent...

Emily's Tub Art If you've been reading my posts and articles here at The Cottage for very long, you'll realize that Emily is my ultra-compliant child. (unlike the MIT's, who are often into mischief ;) ) Emily is the...

Alone at last Yesterday was Mark's first day back to work after having a month off. Today was the children's first day back to school this week. So it's just me, home alone, well, as alone as one can be with four...

Spam Free Zone I hate spam: in a can, my email inbox or on my blog. My questions are more rhetorical: do spammers really think that I would allow their spammy comments on my blog. Do they think any blogger...

Amazing Grace: video I love Chris Tomlin's version of this song from the Amazing Grace movie. [youtube AXV6HJxUebg nolink]

Sunshine for Chocolatechic My friend Chocolatechic needs some sunshine. Here ya go hon - sunshine, just for you. :) [artwork from allposters.com ]

Large Families & Reality TV? I am not a huge TV watcher. I don't have time to sit and watch TV, and when I do, I find there's precious little on actually worth watching. What I find particularly disturbing is reality TV. Most of...

Can ya feel the love? Well, see the love - with my new theme?! :D This Friday is February first, and I'm getting a jumpstart on a new Valentine's theme. My anniversary happens to be Valentine's Day - and we fondly call it our...

Parenting 101: Don't try this at home (or at the store) [local /wp-content/uploads/2008/01/motheroftheyear.wmv nolink]

Progress! I think my email is on the fritz. I'm not getting my usual mail volume. I did get the majority of the work done on the web site I am working on and sent things to the client to check and get back to...

Artic Freeze Goodness - it's cold out this morning. 2 degrees with a windchill of MINUS 7. Brrrrrrrr!!! I've made sure to put tights on my girlies as they head off to school today. Mark and I are still fighting...

Slow progress Hannah finally went to school today. This was a good thing. :) Her throat hurts her some, but it's much, much better. Praise God! Mark and I are not feeling well. We both had headaches today. ...

When a Lilly smiles.... it melts this Grammy's heart. :) And just when she looks at me - it brings tears of joy to my eyes. What a sweet blessing she is!!! Having a quiverful of children is awesome - because...

Busy day Today was crazy busy. Hannah was home today, the others did go to school. However, Hannah is much better and will be going to school tomorrow. For the first night since her surgery, she's even sleeping...

Improvement & the Daily Grind I finally saw some real improvement with Hannah today - she ate all of her macaroni and cheese for lunch. :D This is the most she's really eaten for a week. According to the surgeon, she only needed...

A different America? Today's post on my friend Chocolatechic's Blog really got me to thinking. The gist of that post was that President Bush was not wrong to enter into the war on terror, his error was in thinking that...

The surgeon didn't lie Day 5 is definitely worse on post-op pain. Who would'a thunk it. My poor baby girl. :( When we skated by yesterday, I thought perhaps we would not have to endure this day 4 or 5 worse on pain...

Chic Modest Dresses If you've visited The Cottage before, you know I believe in modest dressing. One thing I don't care for is the gunny sack look. I mean honestly, we can be modest but not look like we're wearing yesterday's...

How's your Calgon stock? Remember, I advised you to buy that Calgon stock early in the week, and had you done so, I'm sure you would have noticed some nice profits by now. ;) Yesterday was a doozy. Sam woke up, no fever,...

Happy 6th Birthday Hannah! & Update Today is my Hannah's birthday. I don't think she feel much like celebrating though. :( I have her ice cream cake ordered and I'm hoping she can decide on a birthday supper that she wants that...

Thurs. morning update We're hanging in there, by a thread. Hannah is sick to her stomach this morning. Sam is too and while he isn't running fever this morning, he was last night - so he's home from school again today. ...

Long night - rough morning It was a long night. Hannah did okay really, but we had to get up throughout the night to give her pain medication every 4 hours, and we had the baby monitor next to her so I could hear her - and every...

Super quick update We just got home about 4:30 or so. Hannah came through surgery fine. She's had some issues with vomiting after. She's still vomiting, but they assured me this was normal and still okay to send her...

More strep! Just as I suspected, Sam has strep and Emily has tonsillitis. The doctor also suspects that Mark and I also have strep - so we're all on meds now. This the day before Hannah has her surgery. *sigh* I'm...

Buy your Calgon stock now..... because I'm going to make you all very rich. Emily started yesterday not feeling well. Emily never complains. She could be running a high fever and vomiting and will tell you she's okay. Well, she...

We dined IN! I don't think I posted about the prime rib roast I bought a couple weeks back. It was on sale at the local grocery where I get all my meat. They have great meat there and great sales every week. I have...

I'm a sloth, lessons, birthdays & a free calendar Well, I feel like sloth anyway. I've been battling a dull migraine for two days. It never really developed into a full-blown migraine, so I've just been dealing with the pain. Well, today I finally...

Surgery date change! The doctor's office called today and they had a cancellation: Hannah's surgery has been moved up to this coming Tuesday - January 15th! This is good, as Mark will be off work and home to help during...

Busy, Baby, a Boy & a Surgery Date Wow! How is it that I find myself getting so busy?! Mmmmm??? I've got three, no - four web clients needing my attention. I start to work on one site, get an urgent email or phone call from a client,...

Cat Play Pen Up until now, the cats had taken over my sewing room. Recently, I moved my office up into my sewing room - and well, I quickly saw that all of us sharing this one room, wasn't going to work well. Not...

In just one day..... our temps here in Missouri went from a high of 72 at this time yesterday - to right now, it's 44 degrees outside. It's no wonder we're all coughing and sneezing. It's been gray and drizzly all day...

Surgery for Hannah & more... We had the consult today with the ENT for Hannah - and he definitely concurred that she needed her tonsils out and her adenoids too. His staff is going to call the hospital to get some dates together...

Call me Miss Traci Okay - that technically should be Mrs. Traci; perhaps it's a southern thing, but Miss Traci is what my new Sunday school class children are calling me. The first day of teaching went well. I was...

I'm Certified!! I spent the entire day undergoing certification training to be a support group leader for ObesityHelp.com. After an entire day of training, I am now a certified ObesityHelp Support Group Leader. ...

The new bed & cute cat After a long day, lots of hauling and tugging, we managed to get the king size bed setup. The no headboard thing is going to drive me nuts; because as you can see - the bed sits right in front of a window. ...

The Weather, WordPress & Cats It is cold frigid here in Missouri this morning. It's now 9:30 am and it's only 7 degrees outside with a windchill of -7 . Yes, it feels like minus 7 degrees outside my house at this moment. ...

A King Size Squee!!!! My mother called and she and my dad are planning to get a new mattress and box springs and wanted to know if Mark and I wanted their old set. Their "old" set is only about 5 years old. My current queen...

A Blogging We Will Go Well, I will go. I signed up with Blog365 to blog every day this year. Now, I do blog often, but not necessarily every single day; and I do have more than one blog, so maybe I do blog pretty much every...

The Dog, The Girl and The Look Like the new look. I went to visit my friend Jen's blog and saw her new Snowmen WordPress theme. I loved it and so, I bought it and installed it for myself. The snowmen and those houses are very...

Oh that Entrepreneurial Spirit! It must be in the blood. Something deep within Mark and I stirs us to keep dreaming, thinking and praying about a business venture. Mark has a job - a well paying one; but it's not his 'dream' and...

Five Generations!! We once again have five generations in our family, with the arrival of Lilly. We had five generations for many years when my oldest children were little until my great-grandfather died in 2000, just...

Maggie the Mathmatic Dog Oh my goodness - this is the most amazing dog I've ever seen! Wow!!!! [metacafe 21958/maggie_the_mathematic_dog nolink]

Faith of a child Get the tissues before you hit play. [youtube zCdZwitrNoY Logan, the Sky Angel Cowboy]

Merry Christmas! The presents are all wrapped, bagged, boxed, etc... and under the tree. :) This morning I'll be baking cookies to take to my in-laws later this afternoon, as we go celebrate every Christmas Eve with...

Turning up the heat Winter is here and I don't know about where you live, but it can get mighty cold here in Missouri. We have a rather large home, about 4000 square feet that we are trying to heat/cool. That's quite a...

Guess what I'm getting? A new Cavalier King Charles Spaniel puppy!!!!!!!!!!!!! Squee!!!!!! Here he is - isn't he sweet?!! But, he doesn't have a name yet. Suggestions? I'm very open to suggestions at this point....

I'm so Smorty As I posted earlier this week, I've begun a new focus/direction here at The Cottage to continue doing what I've always done, but have chosen select online companies that will allow me to get paid for blogging....

My afternoon plans with a preemie This afternoon I get the pleasure of watching a friend from church's foster baby. She is one of the preemie twin girls that she and her husband are taking into their home. The twin I'm watching today,...

The best purse on the planet? Okay, are you like me and you keep buying purse after purse, not just because you want or need a different color or style to go with your outfit, but because you can't find one that really suits your needs....

Barbara Walters offended Yesterday morning, while driving my children to their private Christian school and listening to the local Christian radio station, they relayed a news story of how Barbara Walters was offended by a Christmas...

Once was blinds, but... Okay, a but hoaky, but I used to love blinds. Window blinds that is. I still do, I guess. I have them, and some shades too. But I absolutely hate the ones in my girls' bedroom. They have these very...

I'm done! & Christmas Questions Yes folks. I'm done Christmas shopping! YAY! I had been almost done for quite a while, but had those last few gifts that I needed and didn't quite know what to get and yesterday I found them. So now...

LapBand by Journey Lite In July 2004 I had laproscopic Roux-en-Y Gastric Bypass Surgery (RNY), aka: weight loss surgery. At the time of my surgery, I had type II diabetes, uncontrolled high blood pressure, GERD and many aches...

Christmas countdown Are you done? I'm about done. I mailed a package off today. Got the last of the stocking stuffers bought. I need to see if I have gift wrap, gift bags - Yikes!! I don't have a clue! My head hurts...

Paid to Blog If you have visited The Cottage much, you know that I normally post about my daily life, often about what the Lord leads me to regarding my faith, convictions and topics to help and mentor women, specifically....

Nice sewing cutting table Oooooo - look at this lovely sewing cutting table I happened upon today. WOW! It's a wee bit expensive, but hey - if you can afford that, I say go for it! It looks very nicely made, completely with...

Stocking Sale Oooooo - since church was canceled this morning, we decided to go to Cracker Barrel for breakfast. They have all their Christmas stuff 40-50% off. Squee!!!!!!! Look at these adorable stockings I got...

Snow at the Cottage We received 5.5 inches of snow. It's beautiful! :)

Let it SNOW! We woke up to about 2 inches of snow this morning, with more falling all morning. Supposedly, the worst and heaviest is yet to come this evening. When all is said and done - we're getting about 8 inches....

Friday: Modern Modesty Mission Week Going grocery shopping today! It's COLD out today and they're calling for 4 inches of snow for us tomorrow. Brrrr!!!! Here's today's outfit for me - what are you wearing today? :) Today is...

A-B-C's of Christmas Won't you join me in saying the A-B-C's of Christmas? I'll start, you can reply and following along. :) A is for...... Angels With halos so bright Whose carols were heard On that first Christmas...

Thursday: Modern Modesty Mission Week Today's outfit. :) What are you wearing today?

My Birthday: December 13th Tomorrow is my birthday, and my hubby just can not keep a gift secret. LOL So he walks in the door from work this evening with this for my birthday: This, after he gave me birthday cash a few...

Lilly 12-12-07 Here's my precious grandbaby today. She wasn't feeling well, as she got four shots yesterday. I sat her in the bouncy seat (fondly called "The Pink Cloud") and a few minutes later, this is what...

Wednesday: Modern Modesty Mission Week Ugh! We're not feeling well at our house today. The children are home sick today from school - so I'm not glamorous, but here I am none-the-less. :) At least the wet weather today is wet and...

Tuesday: Modern Modesty Mission Week Okay, I look and feel a little more human today. :P The ice is melting outside, the children go back to school; which means I must venture out into the public - and my appearance reflects that. ;) What...

Monday: Modern Modesty Mission Week Today is day one of the Modern Modesty Mission Week (MMMW); and I'm going ultra-casual, as my children do not have school on Mondays, and we're having an ice storm here where I live. So it seemed like...

Ice! The view outside my window this morning. Lovely - well, to look at anyway.

Reindeer Treats The children and I finally got those Reindeer Treats made today from Gina's blog. They turned out so cute! Hannah, as usual, was right beside me the entire time. Emily eventually decided to join...

Reminder: Modern Modesty Mission week starts Monday! Just a reminder, if you'd like to join us, for the Modern Modesty Mission Week this coming week, December 10 - 14, 2007. Click the link for full details. :)

Modern Modesty Mission Week: Dec. 10-14, 2007 As I mentioned in my post on Modern Day Modesty, I am planning a Modern Modesty Mission Week here at The Cottage for the week of December 10 - 14, 2007. The purpose of this week is for everyone to share...

A day of sewing I love my sewing table!! Squeeeee!!!!! It made a day of sewing soooo much easier with no stooping to cut. I'm telling you - if you do not have a sewing cutting table, you must get one. Trust me -...

An Emily-ism Over the weekend, I overheard Emily, age 7, chatting with her siblings. She was discussing the benefits of drinking water. She said, "Daddy told me that drinking water would make my skin shine. ...

Finished Rag Quilt It just dawned on me that I never posted the final pictures of the finished rag quilt! My friend Kathy ended up making this for me! :D It turned out lovely!!!! This was her first attempt...

Modern Day Modesty Have you noticed there are "movements" within the Christian world? The "Quiverful Movement", the "Homeschooling Movement", the "Homechurch Movement" and there's also the "Modesty Movement". And honestly,...

Do you shop on Black Friday? I have long avoided shopping on Black Friday. I am not a large crowds kinda gal and therefore, avoid going out at all costs. With the invention of the internet, I am able to do most of my shopping...

Quiverful - Does Size Matter? When you think of quiverful families, you usually think of super-size families like the Duggar family of 17 children or the Arndt's with 14 children, or any other family with many children. Obviously...

Hannah-isms The children are all home sick from school with strep throat. *lovely* The weather also turned much colder again, so I'm making a large stock pot of bean soup today (one of Emily's favorites). Hannah,...

Poll: Quiverful Questions.... I'm doing an informal poll/survey on quiverful families to see the similarities and differences among those who consider themselves quiverful. There seems to be some common convictions among many who...

Poll: eBooks or Printed? These days, you will find many web sites offering eBooks - which are books written in an online format (usually in pdf) that you can read online, or print them off yourself to read offline, if you choose....

Christmas Giveaways 5MinutesforMoms.com is doing a huge Christmas giveaway with several different contests running. I entered the SpiderMan3 contest and also the Secure2Me Baby Blanket is the most clever invention ever!...

91 year old Veteran Goes to College Wow - I was watching the news earlier today and saw this clip about a 91 year old veteran who is attending college! If that doesn't prove you're never too old to learn, I don't know what does. A...

Christmas ADVENTure at the Cottage! Yes, I know it's a bit early - it's not even Thanksgiving! BUT, I'm nearly done with my Christmas shopping and well..... why not! :D So I've changed the theme, complete with a countdown counter...

Quiverful: Guilt-free It should not come as a surprise to you that Traci's Cottage is a grace-based teaching ministry site. I offer my articles to help encourage women, not to heap guilt on them for doing, or not doing, such...

A Very Productive Day I tell ya - I feel like a new woman since my iron infusion! WOW!! I'm thinking so much more clearly. I'm getting more accomplished in a day. It's amazing - I feel more like my old self. I only...

Then it hit me... For years, Mark and I have been struggling financially. He makes a good income; but we also have a big out-go. Thus the quandary. Thankfully, we have lived on a budget our entire married life - or...

Knoppe-style Communication In our home, Mark and I often leave notes for one another. This is for a variety of reasons, one of them so I can actually remember what I need my menopause brain to remember ;-), and it's also a loving...

When I get my energy back...... (after my iron infusion kicks in) I'm going to: Do my own version of a Fall Deep Clean on the entire house - including windows! Deep clean and organize my bedroom Move my office upstairs to my...

Heart issues Okay - so this whole "was it a heart attack or wasn't it" has been bugging me. I did some research on the enzyme test they did on me and discovered that apparently I do have something going on with my...

An ER Trip, Heart of the Matter & Iron Infusions What a week! I truly hate to post about this, but well..... then how would anyone know what to pray for - so I will. I ended up spending Thursday in the ER. As I've posted here over the past few...

Lilly Here's my sweet granddaughter - Lilly today (10-17-07) smiling pretty for her Grammy. :D

Sauer Pork Granny Stew Say what?! This is what I've dubbed that Sauerkraut Bacon and Apples recipe. I finally made it this evening. It's pretty good: tart, sweet and interesting. Most family members liked it, one...

The Cat Cave It's been a lazy afternoon around the house. I managed to get some photos of the kittens. Their absolute favorite place is on top the dining room chairs, under the table cloth - it's like their very...

Sauerkraut with Bacon & Apples My husband is German through and through. Both of his parents are full German and both sets of my husbands grandparents spoken German. So, it should go without saying, my husband enjoys German foods!...

Laundry room border Mark and I finally got the laundry room border up today. YAY!! Finally!! Honestly, it only took us less than 30 minutes to get it done, once we got all the things cleared out of the way and all the...

The Right Look & General Ramblings I've been searching and searching for a fall theme I truly like for the blog, and I'm not really finding much. This one is as good as any I guess. I keep changing my mind. I don't have time or energy...

Sewing Cutting Table options The sewing cutting table that I have is apparently no longer available from Walmart and must have been a one-time buy type thing for Mother's Day. I've gotten a lot of emails and a ton of web hits because...

Babies at school! Hannah has informed me they now have babies at school. "Really" I asked, "who has babies? How old are they?", wondering if one of the teachers perhaps brought in a grandbaby or something. "They're...

Hannah K5: Day 2 Hannah is an extremely bright child; so much so that the private school the children attend allowed her to attend their K4 program (they use Abeka) when she was only 3. They did so on a trial basis as...

First Day of School Today was the first day back to school. They were so excited, Sam and Hannah were up at 4am!! WOW! All three were up and completely dressed with backpacks on and lunch bags in hand and sitting on the...

Chocolate Calories I thought this was funny! :) A good piece of chocolate has about 200 calories. As I enjoy two servings per night, and a few more on weekends, I consume 3,500 calories of chocolate in a week, which equals...

Obedience vs. Convictions, Preferences & Sin This is an older article that was originally posted on my Titus 2 Ministries web site a few years ago. I've updated it a bit and am re-posting it here, as it is very applicable still today! I hope you...

Top Stats Topic: Quiverful Wow - my stats show that by far, folks come to my site seeking information regarding the quiverful topic. That's awesome, and I do have articles on the topic of quiverful; but since I am now in menopause...

Hannah and the Doctor's Visit "Momma, why do they have these short beds in here? Is this just beds for kids?" "No, Hannah, it's to save space. There's a part that pulls out if an adult needs to lay on it." "Why is there paper...

We have weapons - drinking and driving Today the children and I ran some errands, one of those being a trip to the social security office. Upon our arrival, I struggled to suppress a grin when a Barney Fife looking security officer, completely...

Fear, Opinions, Trash & Love I've never posted my full testimony here on my blog; as much of it is very personal - but I have posted it on the T2CHK message board. So if you'd care to read it, you can join the board to do so. ...

Aunt Hannah Hannah says to me this morning: "My life is so much better now because of Lilly." :) I guess Hannah loves being an Aunt!

Should Christians be Politically Correct? Everywhere you look, read or see there is propaganda urging everyone to conform to "political correctness". Being politically correct is just another form of tolerance. Politically correct is defined...

Hannah needs a what?! This morning, as I was fixing breakfast, Hannah was at her usual post, watching me cook. She was chatting with me about a great many things, most of them intense questions on what I was fixing for breakfast...

The Scale vs. Society I'm sure you've seen them, the weight loss program commercials where the woman claims to finally have gone from a size 10 down to a size 2. Well, the poor dear, a size 10, no wonder she paid hundreds...

Crockpot Cooking I am working on a detailed menu plan based solely on the crockpot! I have one month's worth of menus completed and have most of the shopping list already done. I have requested more whole foods type...

New theme: Partridge Family Retro? Okay, so I'm playing with blog themes this week and found this one called "Bluebird", but it looked more Partridge Family retro to me. LOL Whatever, it suits my mood - today anyway. It also reminded...

A Calgon Kinda Day..again Yes, it's been another one of those days, and it's just past noon! Daycare baby "D" is teething and has a cold and bad cough - his cough is waking him up, and then woke up daycare baby "B". They've...

Cat Seasoning?! Oh that Hannah! With the two new kitties in the house, the children have acquired new duties: cleaning the cat box. They are each assigned a time of day to scoop the kitty litter (morning, noon and...

School stuff .... again! Well, after more prayer and number crunching, the children will be going to private school after all. I must say I am very glad and much relieved. While I do believe homeschooling to be a good thing,...

Three Girls & A Fishing Cake Yesterday we had a family birthday celebration for my dad, Emily and also for my granddaughter Lilly! Last year's party, we had a Barbie cake - which my was dad was gracious enough to endure through....

Where's Mommy? (joke) I thought this was hilarious. LOL .............. One evening after dinner, a five-year-old boy noticed that his mother had gone out and he asked his father, "Where did Mommy go?" In answer to...

Lilly: Progression of a Visit on 8-9-07 I went to visit Heather, Matthew and Lilly on their first day home from the hospital last night and took them a meal and some new preemie sized things for Lilly. When I arrived, Heather was sitting and...

What makes someone a good homekeeper? What is your definition of a good homekeeper? Is it someone who keeps a spotless home? Someone who has everything very organized or perhaps someone who makes everything from scratch, using little in the...

One of those days..... Oh my - well, I'm not sure if it's the extreme heat, my lack of sleep, summer boredom finally kicking in or a combination of the above: but today was quite a day and Calgon could not take me away quick...

Lilly pictures I went to visit my little peanut last night. She's so sweet! (just click the pictures to see larger sizes) Here she is with my mother, her Great Nana ! And her sweet profile My camera...

Lilly is here! I'm officially a Grammy! :) Lillian Noelle Carter arrived August 5, 2007, weighing in at 5 lb 8 oz. and 18.5 inches. She's just beautiful! The Birth Story (the abbreviated version): Heather...

Which Jane Austen character are you? Which Jane Austen Character Are You? You are Eliza Bennett from Pride and Prejudice! Yay, you! Perhaps the brightest and best character in all of English literature, you are intelligent,...

New Kittens! We have two new kittens in the family! MacGuyver (Mac) and Moses (Moe) are their names. Mac was to be Emily's birthday present, and well, Moe was the brother/littermate, still without a home, so we took...

Summer videos Ooooo - I'm so excited! I've joined Blockbuster video rental online and have been enjoying some wonderful selections. This is where I go online and rent what I want and they mail them to me and I can...

Homeschooling musings Maybe I shouldn't post anything about our curriculum until it's ordered, we've started school and are actually using it! LOL I tell ya, finances are tight for us. Wow! We had the money for school...

A Wedding - Part 2 A few more photos and details for you this morning. First, it was a lovely day - which was the exact opposite of the day before for the rehearsal dinner, which was the equivalent of a monsoon! However,...

A Wedding! My oldest daughter, Lyndsay, was married last night to Benjamin! It was a beautiful wedding! I managed to get a few photos myself - although my photo taking skills are seriously lacking. So I will...

Progress... albeit, slowly Today Mark stripped the floral wallpaper border in Sam's room, left from when the girls occupied the room and was actually a border that was here when we bought the house. We're just now getting...

Neuro Appointment today Well, not a whole lot to tell really, as this was my first appointment with this neuro. However, after chatting with him, discussing my symptoms, etc... he is also inclined to think the same diagnosis...

Honest Truth or Polite Avoidance? What do you say when you meet someone at church on Sunday morning, or run into someone at Walmart and they ask how you're doing? Do you say "Fine. How are you?"; when you're really not fine - whether...

Blogging... Connoisseur? Well, we've established with the recent coffee survey/quiz that connoisseur is a more preferred term than addict, so we'll go with that this time around regarding blogging as well. :D Actually, what...

I really don't have an accent! I knew it - and this proves it, I really don't have an accent! LOL And by the way, I'm born and raised in Missouri. :) What American accent do you have? Your Result: The Midland "You...

I'm a Career Woman I must confess, I never had any inclination, as a child, to be a doctor, lawyer, accountant and definitely NOT a secretary!, or any other such career. Nothing appealed to me. What I longed for was to...

Smell the Coffee I admit, I love coffee! Although I do not usually drink more than 1/2 cup at any one time, and usually no more than 2 whole cups daily, I still feel every bit the coffee devotee. :) However, as the...

Independence Day - July 4, 2007 Happy Birthday America! I love the good 'ol USA and the freedom we have in this country. We are abundantly blessed. Praise God! :) While I am patriotic, I do not enjoy the usual celebrations...

Traci's Carrot Cake This is the carrot cake recipe I originally found in an Emilie Barnes tea book. I LOVE it! It's the one I make for really special occasions and tea parties. I made it yesterday, at my daughter...

Curriculum Change.... After more prayer and research, Mark and I have decided to use the Bob Jones DVD program with the children, instead of Abeka. While I do like many things about Abeka, I prefer the critical thinking learning...

You never have to pray about pink! A couple of years ago, I went to a Beth Moore conference in Kansas City, Missouri. I went with a group of ladies from our church (we've since moved and changed churches) and we had a great time. I had...

Decluttering has begun..... With my health having not been good for quite a while with severe fatigue, etc.... my house has slowly slipped into disarray. I'm a very Type A type person and really prefer my environment to be very...

Blog Browsing via Google Being a web designer and somewhat of a computer geek, I often don't stop to consider that things I do everyday, related to computer/technical web browsing type things, and that others may not know some...

A Kitchen Castle This morning, my two girlies (er, princesses) Emily (almost 7) and Hannah (5) decided they wanted to build a castle. So with some help from their expert tent, uh, castle building momma (who way back in...

Conversations with Hannah 6-28-07 [true conversations this evening with my 5.5 year old Hannah] "Mom, what is spinach made out of?" "Spinach. Hannah. The leaves of the spinach plant.", I reply as I'm fixing supper "Do they...

Don't Go Down with the Plane If you've ever flown on a plane you'll remember the flight attendant telling you the various operations of the plane, the location of the exits, how the seat makes a cool flotation device and how should...

Music lessons! With us going back to homeschooling this fall - that move is affording us more opportunities for the children, one is music lessons! Sam will begin his piano lessons this week!!! Emily will begin violin...

Health down-swing I seem to be on a downward spiral again healthwise - I guess one would call it an "attack" or "episode". It began last weekend in Branson and has slowly declined throughout this week. Today, I did...

Back to homeschooling? Edited: the final decision has been made - we will be homeschooling again starting fall 2007! :) I called yesterday to make an appointment at the private Christian school the children have been attending...

Kitchen Border - DONE! Kathy and I worked like the wind today while the daycare babies napped. We had to stop about 2/3 of the way done because they woke up, so then had to wait until their next nap. But we got 'er done!!!...

The MIT's are getting BIG! This past weekend, Kathy got some nice photos of the children. Here's Sam, he just turned 8 years old in March. He's BIG (as in TALL) for eight. And Emily, who turns 7 on July 27th. She's all...

We're home! Branson was AWESOME! We had a wonderful time away - just what we needed. However, I'm glad to be back home; but I'm exhausted and could use a vacation to recover from my vacation. LOL The children...

Harry Potter: Are we desensitizing our children...... There's been recent discussion on the T2CHK forum regarding Harry Potter books. As with just about any 'hot topic', there's not 100% agreement on how one should handle this situation. As with most everything...

Only a day away...... [ me in my best singing voice ] Tomorrow, tomorrow, I love ya tomorrow - you're only a day away. :D Tomorrow we leave for our weekend away in Branson. I'm really excited about going away for the...

Good Days & Real Food I've had a very good couple of days - no major symptoms and NO MIGRAINES!! Praise God!!!! I'm still waiting for my doctor's office to call me and tell me when they scheduled my neurological appointment....

A weekend away..... I'm very excited, the weekend of June 15th, Mark and I are going away ALONE for the weekend to Branson, Missouri! We are looking forward to this time alone together, with Mark's work schedule and my daily...

T2CHK - Like-minded? I often hear the term "like-minded" tossed around the web; quite often when we receive applications for ladies wishing to join the T2CHK message board. They have found the Titus 2 Christian HomeKeeper...

A Baby & A Wedding Next week I'm giving my daughter Heather her baby shower! My granddaughter Lilly is due to arrive sometime around August 24th. However, my daughter Lyndsay is getting married July 20th and I'm giving...

No answers.... yet Well, I had an MRI done last Thursday. Not without a more than 2 hour delay, some drama over needing a letter confirming that some ear surgery I had years before, and the "parts" used for that, was MRI...

A Humbling Day I've been a very independent person for most of my life. I'm good at multi-tasking. I like to help other people and I believe that's why God gave me the gifts He did so He could use me in ministry. ...

A BEAR in my backyard! Yes - real BEAR! A Black bear to be more specific!!! YIKES! This past week, my friend Kathy's husband called to tell me that the Strauser's (who own the local pharmacy and who are also my neighbors...

A Word from God We stayed home from church this morning and watched Ed Young and Joel Osteen on TV. Joel's message was on staying the course while God works behind the scenes. He talked about a friend who was diagnosed...

Health Update I hesitate to write this, but feel an update is warranted. I went to the doctor this week as my many symptoms are worsening and my husband put them all together and felt that they may somehow be connected....

Shhh- they're ALL sleeping! It's now 8:54 AM, Kathy had to run to the doctor this am for an appointment and that has left me here with three infants: one that's 4 months and two that are 8 months - and I'm pleased to say that all...

So Blessed... I awoke this morning feeling so blessed. I realize and fully acknowledge every single day that I am - but feel especially so this Mother's Day morning. First, I have an amazing husband who is truly...

Happy Mother's Day This is Mother's Day weekend. I spent the morning working on finishing up a web design site for a client while my sweet hubby and children cleaned the house. I did manage to go out and buy a gift for...

Health issues - I need prayer I haven't posted about this here, or much of anywhere, and have only briefly mentioned or alluded to what is going on with me on the T2CHK message forum. I've got some potentially serious health issues...

MIA - again! Whew - sorry folks! I've been missing-in-action again. Life is well, you know - busy. I barely have time to do what I need to do, much less what I don't - and blogging isn't on the need to do list....

Habits of a Proverbs 31 Woman Challenge Sylvia has started our annual challenge on the message board. In years past, this was a "Dress Challenge"; meaning, those who felt called to do so, would wear only dresses for the duration of the 2 week...

Computer Shut Down Day There is a web site that is going to try an experiment - to see if people can shut down their computers for one whole day. I have signed up to do this; will you join me? Here's the web site for details:...

A quiet Sunday at home I stayed home from church today, I'm not feeling well. Mark took the kiddos and went. I didn't do a whole lot yesterday either. I'm fighting a virus I guess - a bad cold? I'm not sure. Nothing too...

What's this? The bottom of the laundry basket? Who knew there was such a thing. :D

Taboo Topics? Have you noticed a lack of mentoring help in the areas of marriage and parenting teens? I sure have. When my oldest children were teens, and we were going through some minor issues with them, I sought...

Words of Wisdom? If you've been coming to Traci's Cottage for any length of time, you may have noticed a lack of new articles. It's not that I have run out of help to offer, I've just been too busy helping others to,...

Baby Watch! This has been an emotional roller coaster of a week: some friends of mine from my church are adopting a baby through a friend of a friend of mine. I'm basically the go-between/mediator in this situation...

It's my Vale-versary That would be Valentine's Day + my wedding anniversary. :) Fourteen years of wedding bliss. We celebrated last Saturday with a night out on the town: dining at Pasta House and then a round of bargain...

A whirlwind week It's been wonderful having Mark home from work these past five weeks. He's gotten a lot done. He has one more week off, then back to work. This next week, I believe he's going to be FINALLY painting...

Grammy's House Daycare My friend Kathy and I are close to meeting the licensing requirements for the new daycare we're starting and plan to operate out of my home. We have a few things yet to do and the licensing application...

Ice Storm! Missouri has been hit hard again with another ice storm. We had one the first part of December and over a half a million people were without power. This storm is coming in three waves, with the first...

A Missouri MIRACLE! On Monday, January 8, 2007 Ben Ownby was kidnapped near his home in Beaufort, Missouri. He had just gotten off the school bus and was walking home. A friend happened to see a suspicious truck and told...

January 11, 2007 update We're moving along with our home improvement plans while Mark is off these five weeks. About two more weeks of him being off, then it's back to work for him. He was joking the other day he'll be glad...

Weight Loss & Fitness Resource Yesterday I found this site called http://sparkpeople.com It's FREE and a very full-featured web site to help you track your food intake, exercise goals and even interact with others for support. I can...

Raisin Cinnamon Rolls - Quick & Easy Something I whipped up for breakfast this morning. :) Raisin Cinnamon Rolls 2 cans crescent rolls spreadable butter or margarine sugar cinnamon raisins powdered sugar (optional) milk...

Black Beans and Rice This is the only vegetarian main dish meal I make. My hubby is a meat and potatoes kinda guy, so he's not overly fond of anything that doesn't contain meat - but he does like this one. I've been making...

To Schedule or Not to Schedule That is the question. I'm not really a hard-core scheduler myself, I prefer a more relaxed, routine-based approach to my daily life. I have a general time-frame each day when I do my usual daily things. ...

Are you still on track? Okay, so it's the first day of the brand new year: are you still on track with your New Year's resolutions? If your goal was to exercise and get healthy: what have you done so far today to work toward...

2007 is going to be a BIG year! I woke up this morning thinking about things in my life and realize that 2007 is going to be a big year of changes in my family: My oldest daughter will turn 26 in April and will finally be graduating...

Flu!! Ick - we've been sick with the flu. This started in the wee hours of Friday night/Saturday morning before Christmas, with Hannah throwing up. It quickly spread to Emily and Sam. For whatever reason,...

Merry Christmas!! We had a good time last night at my in-laws home, celebrating with my husband's family. Everyone was there and it was good to see the family. However, the children were not feeling well. Hannah...

Merry Christmas Eve! The temperature has dropped some here in Missouri - it's only 26 degrees this morning (not terribly cold, but colder than it has been). And can you believe there's SNOW in tomorrow's forecast?!!!! ...

Done! and a Blue Christmas? I've got all the presents bought, wrapped and under the tree. Whew!!! I spent all day finishing up. I'm exhausted and working on another migraine. *sigh* But at least we're ready for Christmas. ...

O Holy Night - Oh my goodness! This is truly painful to listen to - my dogs were howling, quite sure someone was in pain. I was laughing so hard I was crying. LOL Well, Merry Christmas anyway. Click the link below to listen to...

I'm going to be a GRANDMA!!! Yes - it's finally true, my daughter Heather and my son-in-law Matthew are expecting!!!! :D I'm thrilled! I'm not sure yet on the official due date, most likely August sometime, we'll know more after...

What season is this? Okay, what was it, two weeks ago and we had a horrible ice and snow storm, with over a half a million people in the St Louis area without power; and today it was in the mid 60's!! Needless to say, the...

A birthday, a new dog (or two) and holidays Yesterday was my birthday. It was a pretty good day, as birthdays go. I purposely didn't do much work in my office. Didn't do any laundry or any of that normal every day stuff. I went to my parents'...

My IQ Results I've taken online IQ tests before, and gotten differing scores. So not sure this is 100% accurate, but it's probably close. Congratulations, Traci! Your IQ score is 126 This number is based on...

Christmas Party & a Unique Gift This coming weekend (December 9th to be exact) is the Christmas Party for our church here at our home. I have things pretty much in order still from our Thanksgiving entertaining, so there's not quite...

Let it Snow... and Ice! Bad weather is upon us here in Missouri. We have freezing rain right now, with about a 1/2 inch of ice accumulation expected. Then we're expected to get about 6-8 inches or so of snow later today and...

The Santa Clause 3 Movie Review Mark and I took the children to the theater to see The Santa Clause 3 - The Escape Clause movie today. We've seen the previous two of this series and liked both of those. All the same characters return...

Thanksgiving - Round #1 SUCCESS Well, my weeks of preparation were worth the effort. Yesterday had a total of 16 here for Thanksgiving dinner and most of them out of town family that have never seen this house since we moved in last...

Getting there....... I've been working my way through my house in preparation for the holidays: deep cleaning and organizing. It's been a whirlwind of a year since we moved into this home, and I haven't really had much time...

Snow? Today is a cold, windy, rainy day. It's going to be a steady soaking rain all day, with falling temps. They're saying we could get an inch or two of snow by morning. The ground is really too warm...

Celebrity Look Alike Sylvia had a post in her blog on what celebrities she looks like from this web site. Here's my results. Wow - Heather Locklear!! Who knew?! Maybe I should go blonde! :P

A Time and A Season for Everything "There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under heaven..." Ecc. 3:1 I've thought a lot about this verse, as I've had some major milestones occur recently in my life and I guess...

Gearing Up for the Holidays Dare I say it - yes, I've been busy! Ongoing, it would seem. My web design business keeps me hopping, along with my family and the dogs. Now with the holiday season nearly here, I've had extra...

Checking In Hi everyone Wow - I didn't realize it had been a while since I last posted. Been my usual busy I guess and didn't get around to posting anything. Our T2CHK Christian Women's Retreat is less than two...

Do you decorate for the seasons? ... I never really have. I have some pictures on the wall, some "things" out and my house looks decorated, but I've just never changed decorations or done anything special for the changing seasons. ...

Time of Repentence Ouch - lessons from the Lord can sting the flesh. My flesh is stinging. For those who have read my blog and/or know me, you know I do not enjoy cooking. I know how, just don't rush to the kitchen each...

Health Issues Well, I have osteoporosis. My bone density test confirms this. It was quite a shock to me - but I guess it shouldn't surprise me. With my having had a total hysterectomy over 3 years ago (thus in...

Busy-ness Abounds I did not realize how many blog posts I have that involve the word busy. LOL Guess that means I'm busy. ;) Today I have a sitter coming to stay with my children and the one little girl from church...

Change of plans Well Sylvia called me this morning to see what I was writing about today. Uh, nothing. LOL It's funny how life has a way of changing our plans. So instead, today, I've been on the phone with some...

A Whole Day of Writing Tomorrow I may break from my usual routine and spend the day writing. Andy Wibbels, a blogging for business guru, whose blog I read, is challenging those of us with backlogged writing to do to just stop...

*sigh* Wow - what a week! I do not care to repeat it. First, it's HOT. Very hot. 101 this afternoon. I have no clue what the heat index was - HOT! Then, I've had a migraine, disobedient children,...

Tired? Busy? or Both? I haven't blogged much lately, just trying to take a break from the computer. I've been so tired lately, not sure what's up with that. My recent blood work came back "off". My iron is low, so I'm...

Oooooweeeeee - it's HOT! My Weatherbug is telling me it's currently 98 degrees at the Sullivan Middle School, with a heat index of 106. I believe it! My children have spent the entire day in the pool. We have a small, softside...

My Sewing-Cutting Table Yesterday, my husband Mark bought me this sewing cutting table from Walmart!! :D Robin S. - is this the one that your hubby bought you? I know you mentioned he got you one from Walmart, so I'm thinkin'...

Shabby Chic Rag Quilt - con't Well, I have all the squares cut for everything but the flannel middle layer. I originally bought a batting, and at the wisdom of Wardeh (the great crafter that she is! :) ), I am going to use flannel,...

More fabric! I got out of the house this afternoon, by myself, and of course in the small town I live in - Walmart is about the only real shopping to be had. So I strolled around the store and ended up in the fabric...

Allrecipes.com - I LOVE IT! I know I have posted about this site before, but it bears repeating - I just love this site! Their recipe search by ingredient has saved my bacon (:)) more than once when I needed a recipe for supper,...

Shabby Chic Rag Quilt Shabby Chic Rag Quilt I LOVE the whole shabby chic look. After years of cherry wood and more Victorian styles, I discovered that what I really love is more of a country cottage look - which can be more...

Funny Dance Man video I love this video!

TraMar scrap layout This is a layout I created using photos from Rosie's first litter of puppies. :-)

Hannah K4 layout Here's Miss Hannah in her K4 school picture.

Sam K5 layout Here's Sam in his K5 school photo. I used a scrap page kit called Gone Fishin' for this.

Emily K5 LO Here's my efforts working with Emily's K5 school photo. Isn't she beautiful!!! :)

My Very First Snappy Scrap Layout This is my first ever digital scrapbooking effort. I took a cute picture of Samuel, taken during the children's outreach for our church, and that inspired me to create this.

Joy in the Morning I have been a morning person my whole life. I love getting up early, watching the sunrise and enjoying the quiet. This is my time alone to spend with God in prayer and reflection. It makes me smile...

Striving to be Debt-Free Why do we *know* the right thing to do, yet find ourselves doing the wrong thing? This is where Mark and I have found ourselves - actually, we found ourselves here a few years ago, and we're still trying...

Digital Scrapbooking I think I'm the last person on the planet to do any type of scrapbooking. I love looking at scrapbooks, but never really had the time, money or desire to delve into it myself. With six children, I...

Subtle Disobedience is still Disobedience Disobedience is something that must be addressed promptly by parents - even the most subtle of disobedience - as the root for all disobedience is rebellion. My Hannah is a sweet, loving and extremely...

Spirit Led Our God is so faithful. I posted a few weeks ago about the parenting classes I would be teaching at church. In part, the delay from the original idea to fruition was because I was trying to write (word-for-word)...

K5 Graduation Thursday night was graduation night as the childrens' private Christian school. They did all graduating grades on the same night: K4, K5, 8th and 12th grades. Here's a couple photos of Samuel and Emily,...

Weekend Happenings It was a busy week. Whew! It's going to be a busy weekend as well; I have the whole house that needs a good scrubbing, and then there's laundry to do. Since Mark is working today, I'm going to concentrate...

It's Wednesday! That means parenting classes at church tonight. As I'm letting the Holy Spirit lead me in teaching the class, I'm not always sure what we might cover: last week the focus primarily on consistency in...

Busy weekend - busier week! My Memorial Day weekend was busy, but not doing the normal holiday BBQ-type celebrations; I was here tube feeding an ailing puppy. The female pup in Sophie's litter isn't gaining, and I'm concerned. ...

Memorial Day Weekend fun We have no special plans this weekend, as I knew Sophie was due with puppies (they were born Friday, see my TraMar Shih Tzu web site for more information). Mark cut grass yesterday and got the yard looking...

Emily Observations My Emily is the sweetest child. Truly - she's a gem and has such a kind, tender heart. Yesterday, on the way home from school, we passed by an old log home looking building (at one point it had been...

The wonders of Tea Tree Oil I first heard about this amazing oil about 7 years ago when I was using cloth diapers for Samuel; it was one of the ingredients listed for the cloth wipes solution to help control the growth of bacteria,...

The Flu! Oh dear Lord - help me! Monday, all three children came down with the flu. Much puking going on - and it wasn't pretty, or fun. The next day (yesterday), all three children were well and went to...

Conversations with Hannah 5-23-06 "Mom, I need your help!" "Just a minute Hannah, I just got out of the shower..... Okay, what do you need?" "I need help with my skirt." (I button her skirt and then head back to the bathroom to dry...

Flowers and a Wreath I had to share a couple photos with everyone. First are the flowers I got for Mother's Day. They are over a week old and still look this good!! They match my kitchen well too. ;) And this is...

Corn and Potato Chowder Ooooo - weee, I created a good supper tonight! This recipe was originally going to be my Baked Potato Soup, with some corn added. We had a dinner at church Saturday night, and we were sent home with,...

A Calgon Kinda Day This is a Calgon Take Me Away kinda day. I awoke this morning with high expectations and plans to get much accomplished; instead of my plans, I have been tending to sick children who have been throwing...

Saturday 5-20-06 I'm still fighting a head cold, so I'm going to take it easy most of the day. I do have some laundry that I need to do, but other than that, I think I'm going to lay around and watch TV and REST! Tonight...

You know you live in the country when.... walking out to the mailbox you nearly step on a snake! :O Oh my stars - I about had a cow right there on the spot! I know we have acres and acres of woods around us, but we do have neighbors and...

Sam's Spider Bite This past Saturday, Samuel saw a bunny hop under this evergreen shrub we have in front of the house. So he goes out and sticks his arm into the bush to try and get the bunny. Apparently while doing so,...

Happy Mother's Day To all you mothers out here, I pray the Lord blesses you with a happy Mother's Day with your family. :) This morning we're off to church, then off to my parent's house to spend the afternoon with my...

Stay Up to Date One of the most time-consuming, and often difficult, things to keep up with for our computers is making sure we keep up to date on our software and programs. Some programs aren't updated very often,...

Fun Saturday I've been playing on the computer all day thus far. I've joined Vanilla Fields, which is a pixel/graphics group that has tutorials and helps on a bazillion and one different things. I've found some cool...

New Theme Ooooo, I love this new blog theme: Timeless Grace. If you are viewing this site with a different theme, please check out Timeless Grace. *sigh* It's just lovely!!! :) It's cold out today,...

My Soapbox Well, I don't often get up on my soapbox, as I see that more as ranting and complaining really - but there are occasions when I think something needs to be said that is against the flow. And in this...

About those Apron Society Coffee Clubs If you've visited my ministry web site (http://t2chk.org) within the past few months, you will have noticed a section called Apron Society Coffee Clubs (ASCC). These are, generally speaking, going to...

More puppies soon! The last of Rosie's litter of Shih Tzu puppies left last Saturday, and Sophie is due with a new litter in two weeks! WHEW! It's fun and exciting having puppies around, but those last few weeks are a...

More bargains! I just love the local thrift store. Yesterday I went to the local butcher shop to see about getting some steaks for supper; and this shop just so happens to be next door to the thrift store. While the...

Parenting Classes I will begin teaching a parenting class at our church the end of this month. I'll be teaching this on Wednesday evenings, with the "launch", if you will, at a Family Celebration Banquet on Saturday, May...

Marvelous Monday 5-8-06 Well, today is going to be a bit busy - but not as busy as I need it to be. My children don't have school on Mondays. I really like the three day weekend this school schedule allows, but I do have...

Jenny - my new daughter-in-law I'm so thrilled to announce that I'm a mother-in-law once again. :D My son, Tom, had been engaged to Jenny for a few months now. Jenny graduated last December with her nursing degree and Tom is still...

Honey Mustard Chicken Tonight's supper is very quick and easy. 6 boneless, skinless chicken breasts salt and pepper 1/2 cup honey 1/2 cup prepared mustard 2-3 tablespoons Italian seasoning Preheat oven to...

God's Blessing and Provision In September 2005, we closed on the home that is now ours. Mark and I had wanted to move for many years. We loved our old home, but not the subdivision life and neighbor issues we had. We wanted...

Yahoo - Bargain Finds! I love bargain shopping. I get such a thrill when shopping, finding something my family needs (notice I said "needs", not wants or would like to have - otherwise, your bargain isn't a bargain, it's just...

Taco Lasagna 2 pounds ground beef (I used ground turkey) 2 packages taco seasoning mix 1 teaspoon garlic salt 1 1/2 cups water 1 tablespoon cornmeal 18 corn tortillas 1 1/2 jars (24 ounce jars) salsa 16 ounces...

It's Saturday - Cleaning Day All throughout my childhood, Saturday was cleaning day. My mother went back to work when I was two years old (she still works!) and so therefore, Saturday was her day off and we would clean house that...

My Call To Serve For many years now, I've mentored women in areas of homekeeping and parenting. My area of focus has mostly been in parenting. God gave me a vision and calling for my life that I was to help unwed mothers...

Theme Issues Well, I uploaded some new themes for everyone to choose from, and noticed some issues with a few of them - so I deleted all but Coffee Cub and Dixie Belle. I have Coffee Cup set as default. So if you...

I'm bi-lingual - who knew?! A Hannah funny for ya...... This morning, I went up to set the TV on a channel for the children to watch something. I turned on PBS and Teletubbies was on. The girls got very excited as they don't...

Quiverful - How Can You Afford Them All? Quiverfull - How Can You Afford Them All? by...

Quiverfull - Giving Them All Attention Quiverfull - Giving Them All Attention by Mrs....

A Large Family as a Witness & Ministry A Large Family as a Witness & Ministry by Mrs....

Quiverfull - the Blessings of Children Quiverfull - the Blessings of Children by Mrs. Traci Knoppe Quiverfull...

Adoption Update Mark and I had a nice talk, and he's in agreement for adoption! YAY! However, he wants to wait to get things going until September 2007. His reasonings were valid and sound, and I'm in agreement...

An Act of Faith for Jacob Daniel I went out this afternoon and made an act of faith for adopting a baby son - I bought a baby boy outfit and shoes. The whole outfit only cost me a dollar; but that wasn't the point - it was the same...

The Adoption Option For the past year or more, the Lord has been pressing upon me to adopt. Of course, my husband must also agree and have this same conviction to make all this a reality. At this point, I'm not sure if...

Gently Used Women's Dresses and Jumpers No dresses available at this time. :)

True Modesty Begins Within True Modesty Begins Within by Mrs. Traci Knoppe 1 Peter...

Is Wearing Dresses Only, Legalistic? Is Wearing Dresses Only, Legalistic? by Mrs. Traci Knoppe I...

Modest Dress & Christian Femininity The invention of the internet has been a mixed...

New Modest Clothing Links I've added a new links category for modest clothing resources. If you know of a good resource that I don't have listed, please let me know. :) I will also be moving my articles on modesty here to...

He Lives! Praise the Lord, my Jesus lives. I pray you have a blessed day of celebrating Jesus' resurrection. We're off to church this morning, then home to pick up the food, and a puppy or two, then off to my...

Tonight's Supper It's going to hit nearly 90 degrees here today - what happened to spring?! It seems we've gone straight to summer! :-O So today I will be using the crockpot to make our evening meal. Here's the...

He is Risen! I love Jesus and I'm so thankful for His sacrifice on the cross. The horrible death He endured, by right, should have been me (or you!) in His place instead. He didn't deserve it - He died for us. I'm...

Last night's supper We went with a dish called Plantation that I found at Allrecipes.com It was good, kids ate it okay. I couldn't eat it - but after my weight loss surgery, sometimes my pouch gets picky. ;-) Mark...

Allrecipes.com I absolutely LOVE this web site! For those who do not know me, I do not enjoy cooking. I know how, but just don't take pleasure in it like some do. A few years ago I found the Allrecipes.com web...

Hannah Banana This child cracks me up! She's my cling peach girl - and nearly always right at my side. She does go off and play with her siblings, but more often than not, is back at my side a short time later. She's...

Sam the Man Warm weather has arrived in Missouri. Yesterday was mid 80's and they're calling for more of the same today. Samuel (7) is very much all-boy; running, playing, riding bikes, playing with cars and anything...

Lady Emily Yesterday, Emily came up to me and asked for another smallbread cookie. A what? Oh, a shortbread cookie is what she meant. :) We strive to raise our children in a Godly fashion and that includes modesty....

Pink Vermin! We awoke this morning to see a terrible site - we've been invaded by pink vermin. This is a fundraising idea for our church youth group. We can have the "vermin" removed by calling a special "exterminator"...

Pearls of Wisdom I apparently live in a cave, or within my shell, and often miss newsworthy events. I don't mind this, as much of what goes on in the world is worth missing, IMHO. However, with my recent hiatus from...

It WAS a day of rest! As I posted yesterday, Hannah woke up sick and her and I stayed home from church. The good news is that her and I also laid in bed and rested. She actually napped, something my 4 year old Hannah has...

A day of rest? Well, it's Sunday morning - this should be a day of rest, but alas, I don't think that will be the case. Hannah has been complaining of ear ache and headache since yesterday. Considering that the doctor...

This n' That Oy - what a winter we've had! All three children and I were back at the doctor yesterday: Emily has strep AGAIN, Sam has ANOTHER ear infection and Hannah has Fifth's Disease. I only had an ear infection...

Church at NIGHT! Last night I attended my first Wednesday evening service at our church. We've attended evening church services in the past, but not since we joined our new church last year. With my hubby getting up...

A Time of Trial and Testing I know I'm doing something right for the kingdom of God; because satan is on the prowl in my life again. Isn't that the way it always goes, we are doing the right things, and satan gets mad and starts...

A foggy morning A video view from outside my office door this morning. http://traciscottage.com/images/foggymorning3-6-06.avi

Weigh-in 3-4-06 Well, I bought a new scale yesterday, came home and weighed (with jeans and sweatshirt on, no shoes and I had not eaten) and got 149 on the scale. This morning, right out of bed with my PJ's on, I weighed...

Weigh-in 3-2-06 Not as bad as I thought it would be: 149 lbs. The lowest I've gone is 143 after I had my hernia repair surgery in September 2005. So I'm up 6 lbs from that. That's quite far enough, thank you very...

Day 1 - Getting Back on Track 5:43 am: Well, so far so good, just having my morning cup of coffee. I will be limiting my coffee intake, and yes, it's fully leaded. So I'll limit myself to one cup per day. I've already had...

Staying the Course For those who may not be aware, I had Roux-en-Y Gastric Bypass Surgery (or weight loss surgery or WLS) on July 27, 2004. Within the first year, I lost 107 lbs. :-D Before surgery, I had diabetes, high...

Priorities - Where are yours? Have you ever had a time in your life where you stop and find yourself in a place and you're not quite sure how you got there? I don't mean a literal "place", but a time in your life or a situation. ...

Freedom in Christ Not long ago, my pastor preached a message that was extra good (all his sermons are good - this one was EXTRA good ;-)). He was talking about our freedom in Christ. We are saved by grace, and God gave...

What a week: puppies and snow! It has been a very busy week and I'm still trying to catch up. Monday evening my Shih Tzu Rosie had four puppies! I was up literally all night and did not get to sleep until Tuesday evening. I'm...

New Blog Software and Sick Kiddos You all may have noticed things look a little different around The Cottage today. :D This morning I installed WordPress blog software on my servers and imported my blogger stuff into WordPress. It was...

Profession, Calling & Hobby + Life Role I'm on several networking groups. These groups are primarily for my chosen profession of web design. Whenever you join these types of groups, you post an introduction. Usually, I post an intro that...

Do you paint your house? There's a thread on the T2CHK message board about what everyone wears each day. I like these types of threads, because it lets us get to know other sisters-in-Christ in a more personal way, and being...

What Kind of Dancer are You? (quiz) This is sooooooo me!!!! :0) What kind of dancers are you? (Girls only) You are a Chinese/Asian Dancer. You are the smartest in the party, you have a beautiful creative mind and you like to use...

The Apron - a Symbol of Service Exciting things are happening at Titus 2 Christian HomeKeeper. Here's our new logo!! YAY!! It's perfect. I had a good laugh this evening. A fellow web designer, and networking friend, referred the...

We're Havin' a Party! Today Mark and I have spent the day cleaning the house, getting ready for the birthday party tomorrow. It's lookin' good!! Mark is so good about pitching in and helping - and with a house this size,...

Busy day It has been a productive day. YAY!! I got quite a bit accomplished and that feels great! I even shampooed the carpet in my office. :0) Today is my daughter Heather's 20th birthday! Happy birthday...

Merry Christmas! It's a white Christmas for us this morning - Yippeee!!!!! It was 62 degrees just two days ago, and this morning SNOW! LOL Gotta love Missouri weather. The children will be so excited when they wake...

What a face! This is my Hannah. Isn't she sweet? She's not been feeling well, but she manages a meek smile in this photo, but what a love she is! Hannah is a momma's girl through and through! She's my shadow all...

Appliance Mania Okay, so we bought this new (read: 18 year old) house this summer. It's a nice, custom built house, but it's not exactly new. That's fine, but what is up with the appliances?! As soon as we moved in...

Resolutions I have never been one to have New Year's Resolutions. I have done them, of course, but usually not successfully - so long ago, I stopped making them. However, as the new year approaches, one can't help...

I am a Noble Princess What Kind of Princess are You? - Beautiful Artwork (Original Music is BACK!!!) The Noble PrincessYou are just and fair, a perfectionist with a strong sense of proper decorum. You are very attracted...

Vision "A vision is a picture of a future state for the organization, a description of what it would be like to be a number of years from now. It is a dynamic picture of the organization in the future, as seen...

Practicing the part This morning, I gave my two youngest girls their good morning greetings, as I usually do. This morning they had their baby dolls with them, and I asked what their names were (they often change the names!...

A Time to Write and Rest I've made some progress on my book; although I've been working on it forever, it's only been in spurts. However, the Lord is pressing upon me to remain diligent in this, so I'm kicking it up a notch...

Tis the Season - JESUS is the reason! Well the holidays have officially begun. I'm not a scrooge, I'm really not, but the commercialism of the holidays gets to me. The whole reason we have Christmas is to celebrate the birth of Christ. ...

Snapshots of my life Thanksgiving sunrise - outside my office door. Isn't is beautiful!! We have our own little "mountain" range view in the distance. Check out these views from the corner jacuzzi tub in my bathroom!...

Happy Thanksgiving! I am so thankful for many things in my life: freedom to live my life of faith in Jesus; for all of my family and friends; my health, my ministry and my business. God has abundantly blessed me and my...

Lego church! You must see this awesome church made out of Legos. No, it's not a full life-size church, but big enough for a cat! How come I'm never that creative? All I ever made with Legos was tall towers to knock...

What kind of elitist are you? So I took the quiz linked above, and here is my result. "Name the era, and you can name every artist from it. You've got an eye for design and a knack for feng shui. Color schemes, architecture, and objt...

False assumptions I spent a good part of my life living in fear. Fear of what others thought, resulting in very low self-esteem. A good many of the poor decisions I've made, have been a direct result of low self-esteem...

Family Day Even though my husband isn't feeling well, and the children have colds, we had a nice day at home watching some TV and relaxing. I had a roast going in the crockpot, so supper was super easy for me! I...

Faith in Evolution? The St Louis Post-Dispatch has front page news on the recent decision by the state of Tennessee forbidding the teaching of any evolutionary theory in its public schools, naturally this has caused quite...

Old blog postings For those who have been to Traci's Cottage before - you can view my old blog here: http://traciscottage.com/main/ If you're looking for my articles, you can find those on my ministry site: http://t2chk.org....

Mmmm - lost in space I can't believe I forgot I had a blogger blog! I have one on my domain http://traciscottage.com/main/ and forgot about this one. Oh well, guess I can have two. :-) Well, this is going to be a super...

Proverbs Parenting The general concept of Proverbs Parenting™, is taken from the book of Proverbs, which is full of Godly wisdom to help parents in training their children. I’ve recently come across some false-teaching...

MacGuyvers in Training Once upon a time there was a mother who had three children. One child was very compliant, one semi-compliant and one - not so compliant. The mother went through many trials and circumstances training up...

Baby Bootcamp: Character Training & Discipline What is it? Baby Bootcamp is what our family calls intensive child training sessions. The general concept is that we (as the parents) buckle down and become ultra-diligent in our consistency in training....

Healthier Me Edited to add: please visit my new weight loss surgery related blog/web site: WLS4Health.com Welcome! It would seem that the bulk of US society also has their weight struggles, according to...

My Tubal Reversal Testimony Many years ago, I was a single mother with three small children; I was also a very new Christian. I was dating someone seriously, and was not walking in obedience to the Lord and His word. I made the decision...

105369718431813893 WOW! My very first blog posting. I guess I'm 'high tech' now. :-) Honestly, I can't believe I haven't gotten into blogging much sooner, most likely due to lack of time to sit long enough to put together...

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