Baking the Blues away...

There's no school today, I don't feel like going anywhere with ice all around, and the sky is a dull grey... ughhh. The weather is actually better today than it has been all week but because the wind drifted the snow over some of the roads up in the hills the buses can't run. We didn't find that out until Jeremy tried to open the school doors and they were locked, we really need to listen to the radio or something. Since we don't have school on Fridays here it's going to be a long weekend.

To beat the blues I figure nothing says "happy" like spiking a somewhat healthy recipe with chocolate and giving the kids a sugar coma. Sure makes me happy!

Here's the recipe in case you need a little sanity with school closures or just want a really easy muffin recipe.

~Chocolate Chip Banana Muffins~

1/2 c. softened butter (one stick)

1 c. sugar

3 mashed ripe bananas

2 eggs

2 cups flour

1 tsp. baking soda

chocolate chips (I use a half bag for one batch or a whole bag for double)

Mix ingredients in the order given. Fill greased muffin tins 2/3 full. Bake at 350* for 15-20 min. Check with a toothpick until pick comes clean. Makes about 18 regular muffins.

I'm blushing...

Girlymom from The Red Door awarded me with a blog award! She's so sweet and the mom of 4 adorable little girls. I thought I had it hard with 3 heads of hair to fix in the morning but she wins! I can't believe little ol' scatter brained me- an excellent blog award. That really puts the preasure on to actually blog things that are excellent. My original post today wasn't going to be so excellent so let me see if I can turn it around.

Well hummm, not much happening today so this is what I have to offer in the way of excellence. Yesterday night I went to my very first quilting class. I knowwhat you're thinking- I want to knit, I'm learning to quilt, I won't drive because there's a few inches of snow and it might be slick outside- am I 90 already?? I really really dislike quilting so I'm going to give it another shot and actually try and learn how to do it for real. Then I can have the right to say wether I hate it or not. I'll let you know in 7 weeks. I did find a great site with every block under the sun, in case some of you actually like to quilt that is.

I found these labor and delivery socks on Etsy and they made me laugh out loud. I'm not sure if I would actually wear a pair or not but you have to admit, they're funny! I bet I could freezer stencil a pair...

Girlymom, thanks for making me feel "cool" today. You are definitely "E" for excellent ;o)!!

You've got questions...

I've got some answers! Blogger doesn't let me email answers to comments so I thought I would share them here for the good of all.

1. Cinnamon rolls- How very very rude of me to show my yummy cinnamon rolls and not share the recipe. It's my favorite roll recipe from Cody's aunt Dianne. These are super easy, back in the days when I couldn't get anything to rise to save my life I would make this dough and it would work every time. Makes great rolls too. Love it!
To be fair- I make the dough according to directions but I dump as much butter, cinnamon, and sugar as I want. I usually use a cream cheese frosting recipe for the top but last time I was out of cream cheese and did a simple glaze. Still good either way.

Never Fail Rolls
2 Tbl. Dry yeast
½ cup sugar
¼ cup warm water
2 tsp. salt
2 cups warm water
2 eggs, beaten
½ cup butter, melted
6 cups flour

Mix yeast with ¼ cup warm water. In separate bowl (kitchen aid) combine 2 cups warm water, sugar, salt, and eggs and mix. Add yeast. Add flour to other ingredients and beat vigorously to a soft dough. Let rise ½ hour. Place in fridge for 2 or more hours. Dough can stay in fridge up to 2-3 days. Roll out with quite a bit of flour. Cut into desired shape and dip in butter. Arrange on cookie sheet. Let rise 1-2 hours. Bake at 425 for 12-15 min.

*For Cinnamon Rolls*
Add a ½ tsp. lemon in the dough (optional).

1/3 cup butter, melted
1 cup brown sugar
½ cup raisins (optional in my opinion-yuck!)
2 tsp. cinnamon

Roll into a rectangle and spread melted butter over dough. Sprinkle with brown sugar, cinnamon, and raisins. Roll like a jelly roll and cut with a string 1” wide. Place on
buttered cookie sheet ½ inch apart. Let rise 1 hr. then bake at 350 for 15 minutes.

Aunt Val's Cream Cheese Frosting
1 pkg. cream cheese (8 oz.)
1 cube butter softened
1 tsp. vanilla
2 c. powdered sugar

Beat cream cheese and butter together until fluffy and smooth. Add vanilla and powdered sugar and beat the tar out of it until creamy. Add to cooled rolls (or it will melt).

2. Digital scrapbooking- the program I use is just Adobe Photoshop Elements. I'm stuck in the days of yore with my dial-up Internet and disposable digital camera and my photoshop is the same way. I use 2.0. I'm still learning and I'm hoping to get a higher version this spring, but since I'm very cheap and I still can't spring for high speed- 2.0 suites me just fine. I think it's pretty easy once you get the hang of it. Jessica Sprague has some great tutorials for little tricks you can do with photoshop on her blog. Most of her things are tailored for a higher version but I can do most of them with my version as well.

3. Hairbows- I recommend Suave Professionals curl enhancing spray gel extra hold in the teal green bottle. I fix my girls' hair wet, spritz a few squirts of the spray gel, style, then hairspray. If their hair holds up well the bow will stay too. The spray gel works wonders for fly-aways and Kaci's curls and keeps their hair tidier for longer. I also prefer alligator clips with textured ribbon strip glued inside to french clips or plastic clippies. They just stay better in my girls' fine hair. There is a way to make hair bows with a strong magnet on the alligator clip but I haven't tried it yet. Not much help here but any suggestions are welcome!

I think that's it, if there's something you want to know and I haven't covered it let me know and I can do another long winded addition. I'm just not a ton of help in these areas, I'm sort of a Jill of all trades. How does that saying go? Something like I can do a million different things but I've mastered none of them- yeah, that's pretty much me in a nutshell. Have a great rest of the weekend!

Made in China

I forgot to post this the other day and I can't forget it so here goes. Wednesday I was letting the kids know that I was going to have a check-up to check on the baby and informing them who was going to be babysat where so I didn't have any tantrums Thursday morning. Mary came up to me in the cutest excited voice and said-

Mary "Are we going to go to China?"

Me "No, you're going to grandma's and I'm going to the doctors."

Mary "So we're not going to China?"

Me "Nope, why do we need to go to China?"

Mary "To go pick up the baby silly mom!"

The kids only watch educational cartoons and apparently on Arthur the other day Binky and his family went to China to pick up a baby they adopted, Mae Lin. Mary thinks all babies come from China now and our baby is going to be Mae Lin to. So stinking cute!

The Fifth Bean...

"This bean is not your or-di-nar-y bean" sing it with me! This song from Veggie Tales Lord of the Beans has been stuck in my head since my appointment yesterday. The fifth bean, definitely not your ordinary bean. Isn't it cute! I know it's only really cute when you can see the little limbs and you know what you're looking at but trust me- it's cute. We had our check-up yesterday and every thing's finer than frog hair. I forgot the scale there is about 5 lbs heavy (not just for me) so if you take off the extra 5 I've only gained 1 1/2 lbs so far. Last time I gained 10 before my first appointment, this is much better!

The baby is measuring right where I thought it would since I had a very strange month in Nov.
It's measuring a little on the small side. Since I'm due for another 9 lb baby I'll take it on the smaller side. Technically my due date should be pushed back by 3 or 4 days but my super excellent Dr. decided to leave it at the 22nd of August. That will be such a blessing when I'm laying on my side like a bloated hippo and dying of heat stroke and swelling- when you are 9 months pregnant in the middle of summer every day earlier counts!

Dr. Hibbert did try and fool me into thinking I was having twins- very funny, ha ha. He also let me know that I'm a "gran multip" which means I've had a bazillion kids so I'm higher risk. Nice. So that's the Womb Watch report. Tune in next month for the next update.

When it's cold outside...

this is lunch! No biggest loser here, more like biggest gainer.

Girls gone wild...

Or at least as wild as we get on our girls night out scrapbooking. Tired women hopped up on chocolate and wielding sharp objects until the wee hours of the morning can get pretty wild! I gorged myself on a half a big bag of peanut m&m's and gummy bears with a season of Friends on in the background and stayed out until 4 a.m. . I managed to get 2 1/2 layouts done which is awesome for me. I'm going to try to get 52 done this year which is one a week and so far I'm caught up ;o). Here's hoping I stay on track.




Sorry for the cruddy pictures, my house at night is just terrible for lighting and my camera is the digital equivalent to a disposable I swear- this is why I'm not in all those purdy picture books ;p.

Just bows

Earlier this week I got the itch for making hair bows. It was a crazy itch because I decided Ashy needed, make that HAD TO HAVE, a bow for her hair 10 minutes before we had to leave for school. I managed to get the bow made, hot-glued and heat sealed, and hair sprayed in place just in time. When I got home I had a pile of dishes to do and a pile of ribbon and bow stuff every where so instead of doing my dishes I made a bunch of bows and put them in a dish- that still counts right? I still need to make some that are normal colors but I just used what I had on hand.

I started my lounge pants from a t-shirt that I was going to do forever ago and it's looking good so far so I'll share that in a day or so. Have to get cracking before I need to make them maternity pants.

Tonight I'm actually going to scrapbook. For real. With paper. And actual pictures. Out of my house with some friends. This weekend is looking good! Hopefully I'll have some fun things to share and not just sit and eat mint musketeers, a butterfinger, and gummy bears in that order ;o).

Happy Birthday Jim!

I can't believe my little boy, okay he was never little at over 9 lbs at birth and over 22" long, but my only boy is now officially 8. I feel sooo old. He had a great birthday and baptism yesterday and a Big Thanks goes to everyone who called, came, and wished him well. We had a family party for him Saturday and then the big shindig with everything else Sunday so he had two days of birthday fun. Lucky boy!

Spring sprucing

I filled the empty space in my living room with the picture frames I altered last night. I just covered the matted part with patterned paper but it was just the pick me up those frames needed. My living room feels a little more like spring to me while it's snowing and raining outside which makes me happy. I tried to match the things on the bookshelf with the papers in the frames. I might have to move a few things around but so far this it.

Shameless repost

I can't handle it so please forgive me.
~FAMILY~
I tried to be incognito and subtle but let's just face it- I stink at it! Dear, dear family... I didn't make the digital page below for anything scrapbook related and I may or may not save it because it's just practice, I would like you to focus on the picture within the picture ;o). If that's not helping you out you may direct your attention to the bald little peanut to the left, no he's not a new baby hamster (although maybe the kids would have been more excited that way). Boy I love you guys and even though you never comment I know you're here in bloggy "spirit". I'm so glad you put up with me!

For everyone else, I sent a mass e-mail today to my family with just the page and labeled it "Our Family Picture 2008". I got lots of compliments but no one noticed the extra family member. That's what I get for having a child "herd" I suppose ;p . Thanks for all the digital love, I'm sicker than sick and it was nice to read!

ETA: Okay, pregnancy brain has set in. I had no idea the floating peanut is on the right even though I put him there. He's on the right. Right??

My Big Bad digital self-

For posterity purposes, and because I'm so proud of myself for trying my first digital announcement, I thought I'd add a picture of the last few digital things I've been playing with. I'm by far not the best at digital, I'm at the kindergarden digital level I swear, and I still can't really do anything with it but it's fun to play and I'm definitely learning what NOT to do ;o).

I'm also going to do something scrappy later for our living room. I'll post a picture when Cody comes home with my prints. I have a big empty space on the little wall in our living room and heaven forbid my wall look bare for my family Sunday!

Bad Mommy Moment

Do you ever use a certain word around your kids that you know you shouldn't but it's become such a part of your language that you almost forget you even use it. I have a word like that. I don't curse, I'm a lady after all ;o), but I do find that I repeat a certain potty word over and over without even realizing it. I use it for anything that I don't like- food, clothing, bills, you name it and I call it the "C" word. Yes (shield your eyes my wholesome friends) I say Crap. I don't just say it apparently, I must chant it because even I noticed I say it at least 5 times a day. I was trying to stop but I'm going to try even harder after today's conversation with Ashlyn.

Ash- "I don't know why I get these owies on my hand." as she's washing her hands before school.

Me- "It's probably because your hands are dry, are you using the lotion in your backpack at school?"

Ash- "Jeremy told me it's bath stuff."

Me- "What's bath stuff."

Ash- "That crap I use, Jeremy told me it's bath stuff."

Me- "The what? The crass?"

Ash- "You know- the crap, the crap I use in my backpack."

Oh, what a proud day for me. My sweet adorable dress and knee high wearing 5 yr. old is freely using the word like she says pink or cereal. Hopefully I nipped it in the bud before she uses it in school. Shame on me!

A few good things...

I'm still a little under the weather but I'm still on the right side of the grass so everything's super. My grandma popped in for a visit and all Jeremy's announcements are sent so now that my day has peaked I think I'm getting bored. I could be doing so many things right now but I'm surfing the internet instead with my feet on the heating vent getting my toes nice and toasty. It's always dangerous to surf while bored because then you find cute things to buy or make.


Like this cute Penelope quilt from Pottery Barn. I love love love the birds. I would love to make one like it for my brand new niece but her mom quilts so much better than I do I would be embarrassed. Still a cute idea though.




Or this shirt. This is a buy thing. I love this sellers prints- although it looks like the shop is a little sparse right now. This shirt is gone, they have it in maternity but I wanted the regular one. There was another print I loved that I don't see right now. I could probably freezer paper a shirt like this but it wouldn't be as intricate and well heck, it's a lot easier to buy one.

Or this shirt. This is a make thing. I ripped it out of an ad and think it would be so cute to applique my nieces shirts for their birthdays with their first initial layered like that. Ashlyn would love it. Oh the possibilities with fabrics and colors- yeah this idea is a keeper.

Or this Stampin' Up spiral punch. I just have to have it. I just don't have enough surface area for all the dust to collect on my current scrapbook supplies so I think I need one more thing, just one more.

And I forgot to post this sweet gift. It was a thank you gift when no thank you was necessary but I love it and really appreciate it- Thank You! You know how terrified I am of any scroll saw!

I hate new years resolutions mostly because I never know what to resolve to do so I have never done it but in the theme of "good things" I'm going to try to do a few things better this year. This year I'm going to try to start my all about me album I bought 2 yrs ago before it gets vintage. I'm also going to try to find the bottom of my clean socks basket. I would love for everyone to just have folded socks everyday instead of finding them a pair in the morning, but alas sock folding just plain sucks and I never do it. This year I'm going to try to find one thing a month to perfect and work on.

So there you have it, a few of my favorite finds today and a few semi-promises to do something this year. Have a great Friday!

Happy New Year!

So I'm a day late but I hope you had a happy new year anyway. Sorry I've been MIA lately. I've been feeling a little under the weather this week and so is Mary and Jeremy. I had to pick Jeremy up from school today so we've started the new year with a bang. Hopefully no one will get the flu type sickies.

Not much happening here, just cleaning the house from the holiday tornado. I did work on Jeremy's baptism announcements, I can't believe he's turning 8. It got me in the mood to scrapbook so I might actually have to do something creative before January's up. We'll see, I usually like to wait until my supplies become so old before I use them that they're vintage. I think we need a girls night! Have a great Wednesday.