Are you kidding me???

Look who's having a great sale!! Bath and Body Works is having a wonderful sale on almost everything. They are selling their great classics for $5, that's half off from $10.

the irony of this sale is that last week I ordered some of this stuff and paid full price! I'm not bitter, I'm not bitter!!!

Anyhow, here's your chance to get a good deal and it is.

I Love Croatia #3

Well it's been a long time since I posted an I Love Croatia post but I'm back!

About 8 years ago I first tasted this old Croatian recipe called Zlevanka and simply loved it. It reminds me so much of home (the good ol' Lone Star State) and yummy corn bread and I think that's why I like it so much.

Anyhow, the other day at the national pastor's house his sweet wife Ljubica made Zlevanka. Okay let me confess a bit, I had 3 pieces!

So today I made some Zlevanka at home and served it with some mixed berries with lemon juice and powdered sugar. It was to die for and oh so easy. Croatians add dollops of fresh cheese and raisins but I think it's great without so that's how I fix it.

Here's the recipe and you'll be surprised at how easy and delish it is.

Croatian Zlevanka

1 cup flour
1 cup corn meal
1 cup sugar
1 tbsp. baking powder
2 large eggs
1 cup oil
1 cup milk

Mix everything thoroughly and pour into 9x8 baking pan or dish. Bake at °325 just until a tooth pick comes out somewhat clean, do not over bake.

Sprinkle with powdered sugar while still warm. Enjoy!

Let me know if you make this and what you think.

Old Navy + IKEA = Cool

Okay so I got the ol' Singer Ingenuity out today and tried something I have been wanting to for a while. I buy long jean skirts for Hannah from Old Navy, they're great but where the split is in the back they seem to wear out really fast. They pull when she runs (she doesn't know she's not suppose to run in those skirts) and the back wears out way faster then the rest of the skirt.

Anyhow, I had one of those such skirts and

this really cute birdy fabric from IKEA and a little initutive today so I jumped in. I bought a meter of fabric and used almost all of it with the belt too.
So here it is, oh yea and the model too. :0) I made the skirt two tiers and I like the fullness. The one problem I found was stitching the seam up or down on the inside. I couldn't stitch it to the jean because then you would be able to see the stitches on the jean and I could figure out how to stitch it to the skirt piece either. Oh well, it still turned out great.

Oh yea if you upsize this photo of Hannah you'll see she just lost a tooth. She goes tomorrow to the orthodontist and will soon be sporting shiny, new braces. She has really strait teeth but she is missing a tooth. It never formed and will never come in. She's missing the one to the right of her two big front teeth, no I don't know the name of that tooth, I'm a mom not a dentist! :0)


I included this one just because I like it. Hannah's always goofing off, I love that she's always smiling.

Look around, maybe that skirt you were planning on throwing out can be repurposed, ya never know.

Sew here we go!

Well we got out the machine today and Hannah made her very first pair of culottes. She did so well and made way less mistakes than I did the first time I sewed on the machine. She followed instructions very well and was crazy excited when she finished.

We used a box pleat pattern and it turned out really nice. They are a little large but that just means she'll be able to wear them even longer.

I really want her to learn all these homemaking skills before she becomes a wife. I married knowing very little about how to be a good wife and I know my poor husband suffered a little because of that. He finally told me, "No more Hamburger Helper!".

Anyhoo, here's Hannah's first real sewing project and I'm proud of her, not to mention it lightens my load! :0)

I'm back and with photos!

Wow, where do I even start? I have been gone from Blogville for a while now and yes I'm ashamed but I'm repentant and I'm back! Oh yea and with pics too!

We just said goodbye to Bro. Jim Pranger and his wife Laura this morning. They came down on Wednesday and he preached and then we took them to the coast on Thursday and then to the capital on Friday. It was fun and I managed to snap a few along the way.


Bro. Jim and Laura Pranger we missionaries in Russia for 10 years and are now in Budapest, Hungary. A Roman judgement hall in Pula, Croatia.


I saw this guy biking with his wife and little doggie. Look how he made a little tent for it, how sweet is that?


Some of my amature photography at the arena in Pula.



My kiddos, yea I'm proud!

Then on Friday we went to Zagreb and happened to catch a festival they were having, way too cool. Here are some random shots.








Okay now isn't this the most gnome-like fella you ever saw???



Like that table!



Yummy cheeses.


Oh yea and the students in Croatia are protesting the costs of college and this was one of the protests there. Apparently selling these students.
This guys was good, he was the salesman and he was so charismatic and likeable. He almost made me pick one out myself. :0)


Oh yea, check out that barcode on their foreheads, how prophetic!

Oh and these guys were there too, kinda knew that didn't ya?

**So sorry that I haven't been around to visit y'all but I'm back and I have lots of reading to do!

Life as usual, or maybe not.

I know I've been MIA for a little while, just living life.

Things are good here, busy working as usual. About 4 weeks ago we started a new work with the children from a near by Gypsy village. The national pastor's wife is leading it and doing a wonderful job. Anyhow, Johnny runs a route to the village to pick up the kids and until now everything has been going great. We usually have up to 20 kids and they're excited about the class.

Sunday night as we waited out front at the church for Johnny and the kids to arrive we were shocked by what followed. Johnny drove up and one of the Gypsy families we pick up got out of the van and do you know how many kids followed? None, not one of those 20 came. What happened? Where were they?

Come to find out one of the families got very upset when they found out we were Baptist, how could they not know, and they forbid their kids from coming. Sadly Gypsy people in Croatia are very clannish and tend to follow the crowd quite easily. Oh yea and the father of these children made it very known that he didn't have Johnny's welfare at heart and threatened him with bodily harm. Are you kidding, I mean really, how long do we have to fight before the devil gives up a little of his territory?

Every time we have ever begun working in the Gypsy villages something has happened. Our first work in one of the villages ended tragically with molestation within the group of saved Gypsies and finally murder of the very first man that was saved. Now that God has begun a new work the Devil is hard at work to keep us from gaining any ground. Johnny wrote a nice blog post on this topic, check it out.

Anyhow, what else have I been up to? Hmm..a little Spring cleaning. Been busy trying to get things caught up around the house. It seems like as soon as I get caught up I have lost control again. How did June Cleaver do it anyhow?

My beautiful 100 year old armoire is still sitting in the garage untouched. I keep meaning to work on it but it's so dark in the garage, and I like to work outside. The armoire weighs a ton and so it's not so easily moved in and out. Maybe this week...

Still haven't used my new IKEA material. Need to get busy on that too. Hannah is in need of some new skirts and I have the means but not the motivation. I'm planning on using this tutorial for a few of the skirts because I simply hate cutting out patterns. YUCK!



Since I don't really have an image to share with you today I thought I would introduce you to the two best nieces in the world. This is Madison and Kaitlynn, Johnny's sisters girls. Talked to Madison yesterday and we talked about her having a pink car with purple interior when she grows up. She then told me that when she gets her car she will drive to where I am. Aww, I almost cried. Of all the things I miss in Texas, I think I miss her the most.
BTW, they saved a lot of dough by allowing Madison to cut her own hair!

So this is why I have been MIA for a time. No excuses, just lazy I guess. Sorry for not making it around to all your blogs, I'll try to get caught up on that soon too.