Life is too short to live without....

 This is my 5th blog and a completion of my first month on Strawberry Delight. Lots of celebration going on here....There is a special surprise at the end for my first ever "follower"

So I'm going to share with you some of my favorite items that make my life more enjoyable.

Sit back, relax, laugh, snicker, cry, (no, on second thought, please don't cry) and most of all,

ENJOY!

First on my list would be...

1.CARESS body soap.

Seriously...if you want to smell luscious after a shower, spend the few extra dollars on this soap. It will not disappoint. Thank You to my WONDERFUL mom for the introduction!

 2.Curel Body Lotion. I am picky about lotion. I used to buy lotion from Melaleuca but I have found Curel to do just as well of a job. It keeps my skin  moisturized. I loath having the feel of dry skin AFTER I use lotion. Curel is the cure for that. (I should make commercials!)

3.Charmin Toilet Paper. For real, why do we skimp on treating our behinds well. That is an area you really DO want to treat with respect. I decided last year that I was going to buy the TOP brand of toilet paper because it just doesn't feel right, (in more ways than one) to save a few extra dollars in this area. I have found Charmin (Ultra Soft) to do the job completely. Even use it for kleenex if you like. Spending time "doing my thing" is definitely more enjoyable with Charmin.

4.Tide Laundry Detergent. Yes, this is way more expensive than most brands, but it does the job and it does it well. I was using Tide for awhile and decided to use an off brand that looked like it was comparable to Tide....not even close. This past month, our clothes began looking dull. So bad choice on my part. I don't want to be buying new clothes only after a month of having them because they already look shabby. I will go back to spending more  money on the detergent that not only keeps the clothes looking new, but gets the baby poop out really well.

Oh, I am a fan of the Tide Pods as well. Just keep them out of reach from your little ones. I heard that a hand full of children thought they were candy and ate them....they got very sick. (Needless to say.)

http://www.nydailynews.com/life-style/health/kids-sickened-eating-tide-pods-single-use-clothing-detergent-mistaken-candy-small-children-article-1.1083971

5.Juanita's Tortilla Chips. OMW, my FAVE chips!!! I found them at WinCo and are even Gluten Free. Nothing more to say about that. THEY ARE DELISH!

6.This flexible chopping mat. It is so easy to store and pull out to chop food on and clean and put away. Most cutting boards are too bulky and take up too much space to store. This MOST definitely makes my life easier.

Thanks to my AMAZING mom-in-law.....

(Odd picture, I know, I have a thing for odd pictures...or is it maybe embarrassing people. That's probably more like it!)

 for bringing me these all the way from Indiana!!!

Well, these are just a few of my favorite things. I'm sure there are MANY more items I could list and I'm sure you have MANY items you enjoy as well. Leave me a comment and let me know some of your favorite items you can't live without!

AND...as a special thank you to my FIRST ever follower Zoe Garcia...

 I will be sending her a box of my favorite things to enjoy! :))) 

And to the rest of you, whether you are a follower or not, T H A N K Y O U for taking the time to read Strawberry Delight and to each of you who have really encouraged me with the blog!!! You are AWESOME :)

Till Next Time!

God's love through Tatum's eyes...

YES! I finally get to blog!!! There is always something to do when you have a 24/7 job but I am taking a break to blog!!! (Or maybe I should say I am sacrificing a few hours of precious sleep to blog.) I'm really getting into this blogging thing.

So my little 5 month old...

TATUM BELLA

brought me to tears this past week. The other day, she was in her swing crying to get out. It was her nap time so I was ignoring her, hoping she would fall asleep while I was trying to get something done around the house.

BTW, I do feel like this most of the time (minus the dog and cat)

After minutes went by, I could see nap time was not coming so I picked her up and sat with her on the recliner. As I looked in her eyes, with tears still falling from her eyeballs dripping down off her cheeks,

This is not Tatum, but she does those poochy lips often

she gave me this absolute sweet "I ADORE YOU MOM" smile and tears immediatly swelled up my eyes. I didn't deserve her smile and adoration. For all she knew, I was completely ignoring her for no purpose when she was crying out for my attention as she sat in the swing. I would've completely understood if after I picked her up, she would've given me the cold shoulder because she thought I didn't want to hold her. But instead, she was giving me this adoring smile.

At that moment, I could sense God speaking to my heart. "This is how I look at you Charlotte, ALL THE TIME,not just when you do everything right, but even when you ignore ME." He doesn't punish me in any way, He just LOVES me. (Romans 2:4 God's GOODNESS leads us to repentance)

Talk about a WOW moment with God and Tatum. THANK YOU GOD FOR GIVING ME A LITERAL PICTURE OF YOUR LOVING EYES LOOKING AT ME! (I need to remember all this when I am mad at myself for those rare times I am not perfect.

 Oh,Wait a second, I wrote that wrong. I mean, I need to remember those loving eyes looking at me all day long as I am RARELY

. Yeah, that sounds right. ;)

Oh, and UPDATE ON MY DIRTY BATHROOMS:

I cleaned them this week....

Notice I have 3 rolls of toilet paper waiting for you...or a bag of baby wipes if you prefer!

 So if you come over to my house, not only will there be enough toilet paper for you, the toilet seats will be sparkling....(nothing brown stuck on them....hopefully) ;)

Till Next Time!

Valentines Day and Dirty Bathrooms

WHAT A WEEK! I have been wanting to post ALL week and it has been a whirlwind. I can tend to be a perfectionist so I have been "editing" a certain post but it's just not jiving so I'm just gonna write tonight and see where it takes me...YIKES...this could be scary!

First, today is Valentines Day and I realize Valentines Day really has a love or hate relationship with most people. Valentines Day has not really been a big deal to me growing up. It's nice but maybe just too commercialized. You hear most of the single people complain of Valentines Day and yes, I tend to feel bad for them but really we all have a valentine in our life. Whoever means a lot to us can be our valentine.

Anyway, what I really wanted to say about Valentines Day is that was I haven't really been on a date with my hubby in over a year. We were long overdue. So tonight we left the house for 1 hour and went to Starbucks, thanks on behalf of my mommy...

and it was sooooo fun! It was so short, so sweet, so simple, and I THOROUGHLY enjoyed myself. Whenever we spend time together without being parents, I am reminded again how much I love that man!!! God showed me mercy big time with him.

 Rolling on with the Valentine theme...I caught myself last night beginning to complain about all the valentine stuff. This year it has been hard work to make sure we have all the cards written out for each classmate, enough candy for all, love notes written for the family, going to the valentine appointments, which really I only had to go to one party this week. However, it just seemed like ALOT!

So in the midst of my complaining, I realized how STUPID it was to complain.

 I wanted children. I got them. I wanted to stay home with them, I get to. I want to be involved with their school functions, I can and I am! I have NO excuse to complain...

 I repented...immediatly. Thank you Lord for your mercy!

But I am THANKFUL most of this week is behind me because the bathrooms have been neglected and they need some attention....

but now that I think about it...they can wait till next week! Tomorrows friday...not feeling like its a bathroom cleaning day. So if you come over and you have to use my bathroom, I will at least make sure there is enough toilet paper in there for you.

Oh Yeah, just so my mom doesn't strangle me...here is what she really looks like. :)

She really should be a model!

Till Next Time!

3 bowls of cereal...and LOVE

Disclaimer: This post was written weeks ago. :)

I'm titling my post 3 bowls of cereal because it is 9:30 on a friday night, the kids are in bed, and I'm snuggled on my favorite recliner chair eating (you guessed it) my 3rd bowl of cereal. Ok, by the time I'm writing this sentence, I'm actually on my 4th. Cut me a little slack, I'm eating out of a SMALL cereal bowl..the kind you take along when you go camping. I'm sure you are at the edge of your seat wanting to know what kind of cereal I am partaking. Plain old boring cheerios. No honey, no sugar, just me, cheerios and a little milk.

I grew up on cereal. Not for any reason other than we enjoyed cereal. We ate it for breakfast, ate it for a late night snack, we ate it when nothing else sounded good, we ate it because we had nothing worthwhile in the refrigerator. Well, I am still carrying those habits and thanks to grocery stores like Winco that sell cereal for half the cost than other stores, it is now affordable. I'm not sure why I was inspired to share my enjoyment of cereal with you..ALTHOUGH,

it does remind me of the role it played in "snatching" my husband....
It was a youth night and Donnie (now my hubby) was acting like a jerk towards me.

ok...maybe a bad choice of pictures...he does look more like an axe murderer right here, but you get the point, I felt like he was treating ME...

innocent ME

 like a jerk. (Never mind that it was because of how I was treating him) Anyways, it was about 10:30 at night and I was stewing at home because of the way he treated me that night. He was moving back home (to Indiana) in a few days and I knew I had to make a move before it was too  late. So I called him on his cell and asked if he would come over for some CEREAL and talk. He agreed and WHA LA...11 years and 3 children later...

we still got it going on...oh, and I'm STILL eating cereal late at night.

WOW, it is amazing how I just intended to write about "cereal" and now I'm writing about the beginning of my relationship with my husband. So I guess I will say

CHEERS to CHEERIOS!

You've met the needs of my hungry tummy many times and most importantly, you were there for me on the night I stopped playing hard to get and "snatched" my husband.

Till Next Time! :)

 

New Beginnings....

Ok...well, I'm going to act like I know what I'm doing. This is my first ever blog post on Strawberry Delight, however, not my first blog. My husband started a blog about 3 years ago called Shetlers Desert Oasis. He wrote a few times on there as well as I and then, wouldn't ya know, we were introduced to FACEBOOK and our blog got left behind. Lame, I know! But here's to NEW BEGINNINGS!

CHEERS!!!

 I have felt impressed to write a blog for quite awhile but I was distracted by the (mentioned above) distraction. I enjoy writing and I know that God has gifted me with it and He did so for a purpose.  So here we go!

THANK YOU for taking the time to read this. My desire for this blog is to be an inspiration to you. My hearts desire is to share the GOODNESS of God with you. I have spent the majority of my 32 years here on earth picturing God as a MEAN God that was SOOOO totally disappointed in me. 

How Ridiculous!

When you read the Bible with OPEN eyes,

you realize that is SO far from the truth. There is a reason the enemy is not only called the destroyer, stealer, killer,and liar, but THE Father of ALL lies. He enjoys us believing that all these "tests and trials" (sickness,poverty,depression,etc,etc) are from God because we need to learn something from this. LIE,LIE LIE!!!!

Well, I might start preaching right here and this post was not meant to do that. I just wanted to introduce myself.

oops, accidentally posted the wrong picture! (hehe)

This really is me, with a few minor changes :)))

This is ME!

Thank You for reading my first ever post and I hope you come back! :)