My name is Janae....NOT JanEa.

Anyone who knows me knows that my name is almost ALWAYS mispronounced. And this is rather grating. Sometimes I wonder if it would have been easier to have a common name like "Sarah" or "Emma".

But then I remember what my name means and why it was given to me.

You see, I was a surprise. That's right. Big 'ol surprise baby commin' right up! Highfives to all you surprise babies out there.

But you know what? Mom and Dad thought that was the coolest thing to have a little girl ten years after two boys. And what did they name me? Janae. Which means "God's Gracious Gift".

So my name is both a pleasing and a curse. Why? Because no one gets it right. There is a poor child named JanEa who refuses to answer to roll call for her Stanford Achievement Tests. Poor her. So are Janie, Janna, Jenna, and Jeannie.

But Janae is sitting there waiting. And when I think about how much my parents loved me to give me a name so rare and beautiful, I'm glad I'm not a Sarah. Or an Emma. I'm glad I'm Janae.

And one day, if God decides to bless me with a beautiful surprise baby girl, I'll name her Janae.

I'll just spell it differently. ;)

Spring!

Sorry guys about all the background changes. I've been messing around with some different themes and tidbits. I finally decided on this one, it's nice and fresh and I love the color. A Few things to check out:

I have pages now! YAY! I'll posting all my sewing projects and statuses in "Under the Needle".

Causes and projects I support are in "Do Something About It". And lastly, all the people and blogs I love are in "From Their Fingertips".

And now for some fun! Despite the rain from the past few days, I've managed to plant my herb garden for the year and I'm so excited about it. Everything's so green! I've got some pics, and I hope you enjoy!

Herbs I planted: Basil, Chamomile, Cilantro, Fennel, Lavender, Lemon Balm, Mint, Oregano, Rosemary, Sage, Taragon, and Thyme! Not all are planted, as some I have to do seedlings, and others I have as cuttings in mason jars in the kitchen window sill. :D But, here are the few I did this afternoon.

Back view of it. Daddy built me a bed alongside the fence with all these lovely flowers behind it!
Frontal view. That's Dad in the background with the straw hat. XD
Sage!
Mint!

Note: I apologize for the sad state of the photos. Due to my camera not allowing me to load pictures to the comp, I've had to use the camcorder. I'm working on saving for a much better one. But until then, well, deal with it. :P ;)

4 Random Things...and some announcements.

Apparently, the flooding has reached national headlines...didn't realize that. But it's bad. realllll bad. Most of Nashville is underwater and will be for quite some time. This is horrible for our economy...which ain't the greatest anyways.

The dams here are also brimming, but they can't let out anymore water as it would destroy even more. This is very dangerous. If the water overflows, it could damage the dams.

Clean drinking water is also running out and people are being asked to conserve. This comes at the worst time, when everyone is planting their gardens and farms..that need water.

For those of you who care, I AM okay. There's been some flooding near us, closing off some of the major (and minor) road ways which make it hard to get to anything, like jobs and stores. Schools have been closed as buses can't get where they need to, and most of the schools have suffered damage as well.

The biggest concern in mold. Everyone is trying desperately to clean the water up, but in some places it's over 10 feet deep. Mold sets in after two days, and we're pretty darn near that mark. This could be disastrous to people who've already lost almost everything by just the water. Mold means you have to replace everything, down to the sheetrock.

Please keep us all in your prayers as we try to help others worse off than us. We need them.

Now, 4 Random Things for the Planting Chums!

1. I LOVE Sharpies. Seriously! They're so much fun! I recently bought a huge package of them with the double ends in all these bright colors!! MUCH love. :D

2. I sleep with my cat. I do, I do, I do!!! :D Usually she curls up behind my knees.

3. I spell "grey" with an 'e' not an 'a'. E looks better...more...green. XD

4. I do NOT "lol". Blegch. Nasteh uncreative abbreviations. It's *laugh* or "That made me laugh!" Whoever invented texting DESTROYED the English Language. UGH.

So...now that I've had my little rant. :D What about you? What are four random things about you? Comment to let us know!

For Lexi....

Keete 4 by heartoverflowing featuring Ksubi jeans

Keete 3 by heartoverflowing featuring Chilli Pepper coats

Keete 2 by heartoverflowing featuring Roberto Cavalli jewelry

Keete by heartoverflowing featuring Vivienne Westwood Anglomania coats

Love you girl. :D Hope you enjoyed.

Yum Yum

Down in the dumps? Here's a recipe for a quiet, happier afternoon.

Snack:

1/2 cup of unflavored yogurt

1/4 cup of Cascadian Farms Honey and Oats Granola

1/4 cup of Ocean Spray Pomegranate Craisins

Mix together and Enjoy! I like mine with a warm mug of Celestial's Green Tea with Honey and Ginseng.

Grab a good book and some of Myleene Klass's music and your good to go!

Updates galore! Part 2

Oh for the love of butter! Well, Spring Encampment was a blast and my main employment was in the making (and cleaning) of butter. Sam and her sister Marci were my main helpers. Here's how it works.

I churned the butter for about an hour. Depending on the temperature outside, it takes anywhere from 15 minutes to and hour and a half (from my own experience) to make the butter separate from the butter milk.
Luckily, I had plenty of friends to keep me company while I churned. The giant apron I'm wearing was made with the sole purpose of making butter with it. It's wide skirt completely covers my petticoats and the bib keeps the butter cream from splashing up on my jacket front. Making butter isn't the cleanest occupation. ;)

When we finished, I scooped the butter out and ran water over it in the colander, until the water drained out clear. We then filled the bigger mold (in the background) and began to fill the smaller mold which Sam is holding. The bigger one can be seen in the background. The bowl in front is an 18th century pottery colander. We used it to wash the butter.

Pushing it out!

Popping the larger butter cake out of the mold. Marci was such a good helper!

Releasing the first mold. This one was kinda messy as the larger mold wasn't as good quality as the smaller one.
Getting the second layer out of the mold. This one was trickier because the suction was better. Sam's other sister, Vanessa is in the foreground.
Putting the two layers together...
Molding the butter.
Rubbing the two butter cakes together...
Picking up left over pieces of butter to fill in the cracks...
Here Sam explains to Marci how the butter mold works.
Smoothing extra butter around the edges...

Marci learned a lot about churning that day..

TADA! Butter! Here we are draining excess water off the plate before replacing the butter cake.
Getting all the butter off our hands...
Cleaning the butter molds. That's Lee in the background.
Washing the dishes...and ourselves! :D
Drying off our hands on my huge butter churning apron...

Mumsie had made several loaves of bread in the bake oven and between my butter and her bread, we fed plenty of people that weekend! By Sunday, the butter was entirely gone!

Anyways, hope you guys enjoyed that little instruction as to 18th century butter making!

Updates galore! Part 1

So...I have quite a few things to post, but I'll go in chronological order, so bear with me. :D I'm also doing separate posts, because my computer is acting up and wont let me move pics around. Gr.

First off: Baby Jared! Here's some more pics. NOTE: I didn't bother to do my hair in any of these pics, so it looks fluffy and odd. Bear with it. ;) I'm getting it cut soon for summer.

Okay, this has to be my absolute favorite picture this year. XD Jared fell asleep on me first, and then I fell asleep too! After the long drive to NC and then a day out with friends to the movies and mall, I crashed on the couch whilst Janessa and a friend played Modern Warfare! XD
A little dark, but isn't he an angel?!!? Almost always sleeps on his side....

Departure day. His little onsie has a whale on it and says "Little Squirt" !!! How cute!