Some Randomness

• My baby is finally better.
• It's been three weeks of some sort of sickness in our home.
• We skipped Sunday Sweets yesterday because we were too busy getting everything done that was ignored while everyone kept getting sick.
• I scrapbooked 5 layouts this weekend between cleaning and catering.  Oh you didn't know I was a caterer?? Yes I cater to my children all day long.
• I'm going to a scrapbooking "retreat" of sorts on Saturday with my dear friends Michelle and Lisa, can't wait
• Racking my brain for a great 9 year old boy theme for J's birthday party that we finally scheduled.  You may recall his birthday is in January.  What do you do for a 9 year old boy that isn't too babyish or to grown up?????
• Today is the first day all three kids will be in school in three weeks!
• I finished my latest journal and now have to pick a new one.  This is no small feat. You see, I have two drawers full of blank books! The journal just has to feel right.  If you are a journal writer you know what I mean by that.
• A seriously needs a hair cut.  I mean seriously.
• I love homemade granola.
• My new love is green tea.
• I read/check approximately 75 blogs a day.  It's an addiction!  I think I need an intervention!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  Someone please help me. . . . .
• I have three knitting WIP and I want to start more! 
• I can not wait for warm weather.  I really, really can not wait.
• I climb the staircases in my house approximately 3 billion times a day.  Really.
• Although I can be sarcastic and have what some would call a dry sense of humor, (read above) I am happy and content.  Things are good and I am grateful.
• Thank you for taking the time to visit me.

My Poor Baby

has the flu.

I'll be back to this space once he's better.

Tonight we made:: 

Pasta With Peas and Ricotta

From this cookbook

This is my new must have cookbook.  I took it out of the library and as I was perusing it, I must of said "Yum", "I need to make this", "Delicious", etc. etc. at least a million times.  

Seriously, I would make everything in this book.  Everything.

Pasta With Peas and Ricotta did not let me down.  It was simple, and subtle and just right. 

Thank you Martha Stewart.

Sunday Sweets

Today we made:

Stove Top Granola

from Allrecipe.com

I've made this granola for several weeks now.  It's so yummy!  The kids love it so much this batch will be gone before Friday.  


We have tried it with raisins, dried cherries, and apricots.


This week I consider it Sunday Sweets because I threw in a good handful of chocolate chips. 

Mmmmmmmmm chocolate chips . . . . . . . . . . .

=======================================================================

Stove Top Granola

Ingredients

• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 2 cups rolled oats
• 1/3 cup butter
• 2 tablespoons honey
• 1/3 cup packed brown sugar
• 1/2 cup chopped almonds
• 1/3 cup dried cranberries

Directions

1. Heat the oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add oats then cook and stir until starting to brown and crisp, about 5 minutes. Remove from heat and spread out on a cookie sheet to cool.
2. Melt the butter in the same pan over medium heat. Stir in the honey and brown sugar; cook, stirring constantly, until bubbly. Return the oats to the pan. Cook and stir for another 5 minutes or so. Pour out onto the cookie sheet and spread to cool.
3. Once cool, transfer to an airtight container and stir in the almonds and dried cranberries. Any additional nuts and fruit can be stirred in at this time also.

I'm Done

with winter!  


I have enjoyed the winter season and the snow . . .    


But then there was more snow and more snow and more snow and more snow . . .  oh I'm sorry I got lost in the terror of all the snow and then my mind started imagining more coming down from the sky and I started shaking.  


I'm better now.


Anyway, like I said I'm done.  I want warm weather.  I want to wear short sleeves and skirts.  I want to wear nothing on my feet and not have my toes freeze off.  I want to go for a walk and feel the warm sun on my skin.  I want to take the kids outside without first having to bundle each of them like a stuffed sausage.  I want to walk the local trails without sinking into mud.  


I want to finally plant that garden that I have been determined to do for years but haven't for so many reasons, one being fear (of failure) and the other because The Husband hasn't put forth the effort to build me my raised beds.  So it looks like I must do it myself.  But I'm scared!!!!  


I would like something like this

image source from here 

or this 

image source here

maybe this??

image source here

I CAN DREAM!

I want Spring with or without my raised beds!


Are you dreaming of spring?

Project Linus

The girls began arriving around 1:00 Saturday afternoon.  They received the directions on how to make a no-sew fleece blankets and chose a place to sit to begin their work.  Once they finished the blanket they moved to the back of the room where they could write a note to the baby who will receive their blanket.  We had a bucket of handmade paper cards and markers.

Next they chose a stamp to stamp on the card.  The stamps all say "homemade" in some way.

Once the card was finished they moved on to the table where they could choose the color ribbon they would like their blankets wrapped with

The blankets were rolled with the ribbon and before it was tied we attached their card and a rubber ducky wrapped in a cellophane bag to the blanket.

The Pile grows.

At the meeting before Saturday the girls all made their own posters to help decorate the cafeteria.  The posters are so cute and they wrote such sweet things on them.  I included those posters without names for the blog.

A few girls hard at work. I wold love to have shown you a picture when the cafeteria was bursting, but I do not have permission to show all the girls.

It was a perfect day!  

And many, many babies will benefit.  You can't beat that!

Happy Valentine's Day - A Bit Late

Hope you enjoyed your Valentine's Day and ate some chocolate.  Isn't Valentine's day really about the chocolate??  It is for me!  Mmmmmm chocolate . . . . . . 


Oh I'm sorry I started dreaming about chocolate.  Let's move on, shall we?  


I haven't been around because I've been sick the past few days.  I'm feeling a little better and am very very thankful I wasn't sick on Saturday when we had our Project Linus event, (post about it tomorrow) which was a great success. I haven't actually had the chance to count how many blankets were made but I am guessing from the sign-in sheet we have around 90 blankets!  Not too shabby.

Back to Valentines Day. 

Cream filled heart shaped donuts from Nana

I had plans to make the day really special for the kids, I picked up some chocolates, cards, and planned to make a special dinner.  I purchased a bunch of valentine themed plates and napkins, heart doilies, and candles etc.  My plan was to decorate the table all "pretty like" for dinner.  Because I was feeling so yucky I was only able to decorate the table and The Husband made the kids grilled cheese, not what you would envision for a Valentine's Day dinner but the kids liked it.  One of the things I was really excited about was giving the kids punch in champagne glasses.  Unfortunately because I was on the couch for two days I was unable to purchase what I needed to make the punch.  We still used the champagne glasses (plastic ones) and I let them have a splash of soda which we never allow them to have.  Thankfully they didn't like it.  Phew! 

Do you love the knife and A's arm?? 

Hope your Valentine's was  good one.

This Moment . . .

inspired by Amanda

Hot Chocolate with pink marshmallows!

Busy, Busy

It's been very busy around here.  My Brownie troop is preparing for our huge service project event this coming Saturday.  We'll be making no-sew fleece blankets for Project Linus.    

We did this last year as well.  The event was for the troops in our school only.  The event was a huge success last year with over sixty five blankets made and landed us a spot in our town paper!  

However this year we invited all the schools in our town with a limit of sixty girls per sessions with two sessions scheduled.  

With all the troops in town invited, can you believe we didn't fill the second session?!?  I was a bit disappointed but still we'll have around over one hundred blankets to donate to a local hospital!  I and the girls feel really good about this. 

The girls made posters and folded scrapbook paper into cards so the girls can write a quick note to the baby who will receive their blanket.  We also will be including baby rubber ducks with each blanket.  The ducks will be put in a cellophane bag and tied with a ribbon of the girls' choice. The blanket will be rolled and held together with a ribbon.  The ribbon will also hold the card and baby rubber ducks.  

I'll post pictures next week.

Wish us luck!

Sunday Sweets

This week we made

 Chocolate Cupcakes with Chocolate Frosting

(with a few sprinkles for good measure)

Need I say more???

My New Love - Baking Bread

Bread.

Warm, delicious, freshly baked bread. Need I say more?

I will of course because it's my new love.  

I've mentioned it before here, but I just love it so much I need to share more.

Here's my bread story. . . 

I purchased this book 

approximately 18 years ago.  I know this because I bought it when I first started dating The Husband which was 18 years ago!  We would go to a book store every weekend.  It was our thing.  You see not only do I love books and reading but so does he.  Anyway, I remember picking this up at Barnes and Noble so many years ago thinking wouldn't it be fun to make bread.

I also remember trying to make coffee cake from this book and having it be a complete failure.  It turned me off from working with yeast for oh, approximately 17 years!  But here I am now with the courage and confidence to try things that once scared me .  You know, like cooking, baking, sewing, knitting, etc. etc. 

So last weekend I was making a bread from The Complete Bread Book and I said to The Husband  "I think I'll bake each bread in the book starting at the beginning. "  And he said "Oh, are you going to bake your way through the book and write about it on your blog. Then write a book and make a movie about it."  Yes he said this to me with a big smile

 on his face.  

Fresh I say!!  FRESH!  

My response:  "NO! I just thought it would be fun to make each bread in the book and why not go in order?"  And then I said "FRESHY FACE!"  Although I really wanted to say more colorful words. 

The first bread I made from the book were these Button Rolls.  They were picked based on the ingredients I had on hand.

The button rolls were not my best, but they were the first attempt after 17 years.  So not too bad if I do say so myself.  (They are shining from an egg wash and the little bumps on top are supposed to look like buttons. Mine did not.) The kids liked them and they went well with soup.

Once I made the button rolls I did a quick look through the book to see what ingredients I should always have in the pantry.  I now can make almost any bread in the book and add the ingredients to the grocery list as I go.

The first bread in the book is The First Loaf.  Makes sense right?

Easy peasy and so yummy.

The next bread is the Cuban Bread.  The author says this bread is a" first bread bakers dream".  It was super simple to make and delicious too.

Last Sunday I made Egg Harbor Bread 

What else can I say?  Again, so good. (I had to take a taste!)

This Sunday - English Muffin Bread!

A "Manly" Baby Vest

I've finally had the chance to write a post about the knitting that took place around here during our winter break.  

This is one of my all time favorites so far.

I came across The Pebble on Ravelry.  I immediately fell in love with it. I put it in my queue and have been hoping to have a reason to knit it.  I couldn't wait, so I knit it anyway!  I'll keep it and maybe some day someone I know and love will have a baby boy I can give it to!

It was a super simple knit until I came to the last stitches to complete it.  I need to do a Kitchener stitch to sew the shoulder seam together.  Oh my! Have you ever seen the Kitchener stitch???  It's scary!

Here is a video of it being done.  

Scary, right???

Half way done

Isn't it cute???  It's manly too, wouldn't you say?  

It's almost complete.  Just need to get the courage to do the scary stitch I mean Kitchener stitch and add the buttons.  


Oh the buttons!  I can't wait to make a trip to pick those out.  There are so many cute ones at the craft store.  It will probably be another choice dilemma for me.  I can just see it now, standing there with a pile of super cute buttons and not being able to make a choice.  That's me people.  That's me . . . . . 

I can Breath Again

**Fixed! YAY!


**something is wrong with my profile, not sure whats going on.  Hope to fix it soon.




I've finally completed this component of my Montessori training and am enjoying a bit of a break before I begin the next and final section.  Not much has happened in the past week except for the usual things that occur each day, school, reading, knitting, cooking, baking, and a birthday for my oldest boy.  He's 9!  It's strange each time my kidlets have a birthday, it feels as though they were just born but also as though they have always been here.


We celebrated his birthday together at home except for a quick trip to the store for him to pick out a few gifts.  I would have gone and picked out a bunch of surprises but unfortunately it's done nothing but snow here, school keeps getting canceled and I ran out of time to go shopping ALONE. Luckily I had ordered a Harry Potter Lego set that came in the mail and I must say it's super awesome.  I love it


After shopping we came home and he played with is new toys. The Husband made a cake. Chocolate cake with chocolate frosting, which the birthday boy requested.  I made chocolate chip pancakes which is what he wanted when asked what he would like for his birthday dinner.  (The same as last year)  It was a chocolate overload.   I honestly thought Id get sick once I started to eat the cake.  Poor kid didn't even finish his cake.  I think he was feeling the same, which I honestly didn't think was possible. All he ever wants to eat is junk!

My 9 year old boy!  He once was a baby you know.

He's a great kid who is a joy.  He brings a smile to my face with his humor, when he tells me about a book he is reading, or when he spontaneously breaks out in dance.


Happy 9th Birthday J!

As for

We skipped it this week because of the chocolate cake and chocolate chip pancakes on Saturday.


And for Meatless Mondays

This week we made vegetable quesadillas.  Boy were the kids upset.  A actually cried crocodile tears because I put vegetable in them.  J was, well,  pissed and C really didn't care.  He actual likes vegetables most of the time.


Anyway not as successful as regular cheese quesadillas which they love.


The recipe I used is from this cookbook:

No pictures because honestly I was  little pissed myself that they were so upset about some tasty veggies in their quesidiallas.  


I mean really!


I'm glad to be back.  I've missed this space.