Remember the Little Ways…

Brain Dump

I’m working on a quilt project.  Shhh.. it’s a suprise for…. I’m not even posting who yet.  Just in case he decides to pop in.  All the blocks are done and I’m going to finish the top tomorrow.  

I also sign up for a nine patch a day quilt a long.  WHAT was I thinking?  I’m already behind.  Lots of squares cut, but nothing sewn.  I’m not giving up though, it just may be smaller.  One of these days I’ll have my machine set up all the time in a nice craft room so things like that will be “easier”.  rIIIiiight.

My living room and kitchen are a wreck though.  And we’re having the missionaries over on Monday.  SO that MIGHT take precidence.

It’s Eagle project season again at our house.  I will be patient… I will be patient…

Have you heard about the guy who set a goal to go to every Starbucks in the world?  He’s been traveling all over the place drinking lattes.  He’s hit a stumbling block though as Starbucks keeps closing stores.  He might not be able to achieve his goal!  Somehow I’m having a hard time feeling sympathy for him. 

I watched the semi-finals of the National Spelling Bee today.  I heard words I have NEVER heard before in my life and I think the oldest participant was 14.  The oldest finalist is 13!!  Spelling mystifies me (I use a dictionary a LOT!).  The finals are on now.  The words are even crazier.  I mean “fackeltanz”??  I’d be so doomed.

I want to go back to elementary school!

So long as I could go to this woman’s art class.  Gail Bartel over at that artist woman is a 3rd grade art teacher. Her blog is full of craft and art project tutorials she’s either already taught in class or getting ready to teach. Step by step directions, complete with pictures, for all sorts of cool things to do.  She breaks it down and makes it easy. 

I can’t wait to try this tutorial on Glue Batik.  Oh the possibilities!! 

If you have children, go check it out.  There’s so much to do your children will never utter the words “Mo-om, I’m bored!” this summer. 

If you don’t have children, go check it out and have some fun yourself.  I know I will.

It’s a CELEBRATION!!

May 15th – the BEST holiday ever!  Today is National Chocolate Chip Day

(YES! I love these people!) 

But what to make?!  Traditional Chocolate Chip Cookies?  Oh, SO good.  Especially right out of the oven. 

Or Chocolate Chocolate Chip Muffins.  Oh, MY GOODNESS.  I cheat (Shhh…) .  I make them from a mix and they are SO YUMMY!

Maybe Magic Bars.  They’re SO quick and easy with the extra KICK of Butterscotch…

MMMMmmmmm.

Oh… but you can’t forget Chocolate Chip Pie… Oh, NO.  If you haven’t had this pie.  You MUST make this pie.  It’s like having a chocolate chip cookie in a pie.  Please, eat it warm.  It’s really the only way.   I am absolutely going to make this pie today.  It will be a fitting tribute to the Chocolate Chip. 

But I KNOW there are thousands of ways to enjoy chocolate chips.   What would you consider an appropriate way to honor the venerable chocolate chip?

First Strike

The sun had set and our weather radio went off.  I suppose if your smart and have a severe thunderstorm warning you head inside.  Naaaaahhh!  Kevin and I like to watch the light show.   It was quite a show.

 

I even managed to get lucky. 

 

 

My very first lightening strike.  YES!!

What Does Spring Taste Like?

Strawberries are one the most wonderful gifts we have ever been given.  Fresh out of the box with nothing else added they taste like sunshine, spring and happiness bursting in each sweet bite. 

But that’s just the beginning!  There’s strawberry shortcake (which I prefer with pound cake as the base), strawberry smoothies, strawberry jam, chocolate covered strawberries (YUM!), strawberry cheesecake, strawberry pie…the possibilities are astounding.

K. and I went and picked 30+ lbs. of these delightful berries yesterday.  I’ve already made 6 pints of jam and frozen some of the berries for other things in the year.  We had shortcake for dessert last night.  And I still have some in the fridge to have fun with now (YES!).

So what are your favorite strawberry recipes?  I’d love to try some of them.

Move Over Rachel Ray!

I like recipes that are:

1. easy
2. so tasty everyone in the family loves it!
3. can be made on a budget (or at least MUCH cheaper than a restaurant)
4. amazingly quick (30 minutes… 45 on the outside)

 

But we have a problem in our house.  When it’s time for dinner there is no time to take a picture.  We’re hungry, it’s time to eat, if I whip out the camera at that moment it simply wouldn’t be pretty.  So, you’ll have to use your imagination.

First, if you haven’t checked out the freezer in Wal-mart’s Fish & Seafood section your in for a treat.  Maybe I’m a tad slow (wait I’ve said I had to be smart to get a picture of the dog… oh well), but it was just a few months ago that I discovered the frozen individual portions of fish in this freezer.  You can defrost as much as you need and it’s just a little cheaper than buying it “fresh”.  I bought Salmon and Talapia, but I wanted a new recipe for the Salmon. 

I found this recipe for Maple Glazed Salmon over on Recipezaar.com.  The sauce is simple to make and requires very few ingredients.  I give K. a break and don’t put any scallions or almonds anywhere near the finished dish (she hates onions & nuts) and it turns out pretty even without them.  The glaze is sweet, but the ginger gives it some tang.  This would be a great entree when you have guests as well.   Easy to get everything ready then, when the time was right, put it in the oven.  I’m dying to try it on the grill with a cedar plank.

I had NO idea what I was going to do with the Talapia.  A short google search later and I had this recipe for Broiled Talapia Parmassan.  This dish takes about 30 minutes so make sure you know what side dishes you’re going to make.   I didn’t have celery salt on hand so I added a bit of table salt and it still tasted fantastic.   The toasty parmessan topping compliments the fish really well.

Another night I wanted to make breakfast for dinner – Chocolate Chip Pancakes.  Yum!  (Look in the cabinet) Ack!  I’m out of pancake mix.  But wait…. yep.  You guessed it.  Even though I’m crazy enough (or is it lazy enough) that I haven’t made pancakes from scratch in decades I googled for a recipe and found a FABULOUS recipe for Good Old Fashioned Pancakes.  They were so LIGHT and FLUFFY I thought they were going to float away. The flavor was just slightly buttery (even before I buttered them), and the texture held up well to the addition of the chocolate chips.  I didn’t change anything about the recipe – except to make more.  And I discovered not only were they cheaper than the mix but just as simple and quick to make.  (doh!)  In fact.  I think we’re going to have some for dinner tonight.

Is your mouth watering yet?  Don’t know what your having for dinner?  Google it.  Then let me know what you find (so I can come over (of course!).

Everything old is new again.

Did you ever feel as if you had stepped through a time warp and you were back where you started? 

Kevin started his new job today.  There’s a uniform, it’s just business casual (he’s definitely happy about that!).  There’s  insurance, benefits, some things the same, some things different.  It just feels wierd.  Good wierd.  But wierd. 

Then me.  Now that we know we won’t be moving (YEAH!) we can look more towards me.  The kids are getting older and moving out.  How do I achieve the goals that I see forming in my head?  I’ve mentioned it before – it’s exciting and scary at the same time.  My worry with Graphic design is that the market is saturated.  So I’m entertaining another field as well.  And should I get a job while working on it OR just go to school full time? 

See?  It’s like we were young and just starting out  – only we have 3 children, a mortgage, missions to pay for, college coming up – Hmm…ok… Maybe not.

He’s cute, He’s funny AND He can sing!

Hugh Jackman… Oh, My!

 

 

Some Sun, Some Fun and a Little Speed for Good Measure

All in the last 3 days!

 

 

 

 

 

Spring Break has been GREAT!