Weekend Fun

We decided to cook out this weekend, and Baby Girl came over to join us...and of course brought the new grandpup Dakota. 

Our lil pup is like a grouchy teenager who has forgotten how to play...and wasnt so sure about this thing that invaded his yard...

 Billy checking Dakota out...

 Ok...as of right now I like you...lets play!!!

The boys took over the grill...

 ...and did a fabulous job cooking up our feast. We had beef hot dogs, brats, crook neck squash, chicken, and fish wrapped in foil with bell peppers and onion.

 Baby Girl and I enjoyed...doing nothing. :)



July 2012 Card Class - #2

This card I think was my favorite of the night. I usally find the simple ones to be the cards I like best...not because they are easiest to make, but because they are just clean and beautiful.

I love how a simple detail can bring a piece to life...like the "dew" on the leaves, just a couple drops of crystal effects makes a fun touch. Also added a lil bit of dazzling details around the flower centerpiece...because we all know glitter makes everything better. :)

The stamp set used is the Reason to Smile set and the greeting was stamped with white craft ink and embossed with white powder...I love embossing for a finished look.

Kitty Escape

We had the weirdest thing happen with our 3 kitties. The 2 boys were afraid of our lil girl, and not being nice. I couldnt figure out how after 6 years together they were now having issues. Then The Hubs got home from work and I told him they were being weird, and he tells me when he got up at 3am to go to work there was scratching at the door....Miss Lily was outside...OUTSIDE?!?! My kitties are indoor kitties, so I couldnt figure out what had happened. But some detective work tracked down how she had gotten out...and she had been out for 6 hours!! I was so thankful she had come home...and then so puzzled why the boys didnt like her. Then I realized the way they were smelling everywhere she went...she must smell different from her night out in the wild.

Here is Simon hiding under the tent on the cat tree...look how huge his eyes were, he was really freaked out and hid all day. Charlie on the other hand was not liking her at all, and was letting her know this. I knew of course he would have to come around sooner or later...after all she cleans his face every single day.

Awww, look here, he must finally be accepting her...well at least a little bit...he is keeping his feet on the ground, but still had to have his daily face cleaning.

Freezer Burritos

I LOVE the once a month mom website. It is full of so many yummy recipes, they do your menu planning and even have your grocery list all ready for you. I dont do a full month, I usually spend a couple days preparing by choosing which recipes I do want to make over the weekend and then adjust my shopping list accordingly.

Last weekend I made their Freezer Bean Burritos...They were fast and easy to make, froze beautifully, and best of all tasted so good!!

I first started my rice cooker with:

2 scoops of white rice

14oz vegetable broth plus enough water to equal 4 scoops of liquid (I like a 1-2 ratio to cook my rice in)

14.5oz can of Diced Tomatoes

1/2TBL of taco Seasoning

1/2 an onion diced up

4 cloves of garlic (minced)

I pulled out 1 cup of the rice mixture and to this I added:
1 can of refried beans

1 can of black beans

1 can of corn

1/2 cup of shredded cheese

I mixed this all up and then made my burritos...

I wrapped them up in foil...

I made 10 burritos and put 3-4 of them into a gallon size freezer bag. To cook just thaw and pop into the oven for 10 minutes at 350. I unwrapped after the 10 minutes and cooked an additional 5 to crisp it up a bit.

With my leftover rice I added a can of pineapple for a yummy side dish.

Random Questions

How about some random get to know you questions...a bunch of things you probably didnt want to know lol.

1. What is the color of your toothbrush?
Being the germaphobe that I am, I change it too often to know what color I have right now.

2. Name one person who made you smile today.
The Hubs

3. What were you doing at 8 am this morning?
At work…actually working lol

4. What were you doing 45 minutes ago?
Eating lunch

5. What is your favorite candy bar?
Ooo, cant pick just one…I love a lot of different candy bars, Payday, Butterfinger, Twix, Milky Way…oh great now I need one!!

6. Have you ever been to a strip club?
No…not sure I could either, was embarrassed enough with girls night out watching Magic Mike lol

7. What is the last thing you said aloud?
Since I am at work sitting alone in my office it probably was “one moment” to whomever I answered the phone to before I transferred them

8. What is your favorite ice cream?
Mint Chocolate Chip

9. What was the last thing you had to drink?
Water

10. Do you like your wallet?
Don’t own a wallet.

11. What was the last thing you ate?
Polenta pie with rice and black beans

12. Have you bought any new clothing items this week?
Umm, no…probably not even this year yet lol

13. The last sporting event you watched?
Went to our first Diamondbacks baseball game a couple months ago.

14. What is your favorite flavor of popcorn?
Butter…and lots please!

15. Who is the last person you sent a text message to?
My daughter

16. Ever go camping?
Yes...I am not very good at it, but I am a good sport about it.

17. Do you take vitamins daily?
I wish I could remember to…

18. Do you go to church every Sunday?
I don’t currently go to church, but when I do it is on Saturday.

19. Do you have a tan?
Haha…no…super white.

20. Do you prefer Chinese food over pizza?
Depends on my mood, but am in love with Panda Express right now.

21. Do you drink your soda with a straw?
I am a straw fanatic and use one to drink everything!

22. What did your last text message say?
Cool Thanks

23. What are you doing tomorrow?
It is The Hubs birthday so I am spending it with him

24. Favorite color?
Red

25. Look to your left; what do you see?
A file cabinet

Your turn...Feel free to post with your own answers on your blog and then leave a comment here with a link so I can read about you. :)

Seized Soap

So what is seized soap...that is when the soap seizes in the pot before you can get it poured in the mold. There are various reasons for this to happen, for me the biggest reason is because of the fragrance oil...and most likely it is a floral scented fragrance oil.

This is our gardenia soap...makes a beautifully scented white soap.

This is the batch that seized on me. :(



It is still a safe and useable bar of soap...just not so attractive. When it seizes you just try to salvage the batch by throwing it in your mold and banging the mold on the counter best you can to get the soap settled...hoping to not find air pockets when you cut the loaf.

Here you can see the comparison. Sadly I dont have a bunch of gardenia lovers in my family...so what to do with 12 bars of these wonky looking soaps??!!

July 2012 Card Class - #1

I havent been able to make card class the last 2 months...oh how I have missed it.

Here is card #1 of the month...a fun double pocket card that holds 2 bookmarks.

At first glance I thought this card looked hard to put together, but it was actually quite easy for me...but then to be honest my card class teacher was also kind enough to have the paper already scored for us. :)

So for you to make this yourself I have included a video tutorial from Patty's Stamping Stop of how to score your paper.

This makes a great card to pair with a book or jounal.

Stamps/Punches Used:

Blossom Petals Builder Punch (one of the petals to make the leaves)

Blossom Punch

Elegant Butterfly Punch

Scallop Circle Punch

Scallop Edge Border Punch

Both stamps used are from the Petite Pairs stamp set

Scouffins

What is a "Scouffin" you ask? Well it is a cross between a scone and a muffin.

Now why would you make that you ask?? Well it wasn't on purpose. I had 2 recipes planned for the day...strawberry scones and blueberry lime muffins. Somewhere along the way my recipes got switched on the counter. As I was adding the wet ingredients I realized I hadnt put in the sugar and wondered how I missed that when adding the dry ingredients...this should have been my first clue that something was wrong...but I paid no attention and instead mixed away....as I tried to plop these onto the pan I thought hmmm shouldnt these be stiffer on the pan....second warning not heeded....

Check out the flattened scones...oh yes something is wrong, so I checked my recipe(s) and discovered what I had done, so the remainder of the batch went into muffin tins.

I have to say the end result...pretty darn tasty!!

So here are the orginal recipes...Apricot Yogurt Scones and Blackberry Lime muffins.

And here is the recipe I ended up with...

First off I didnt think I would like apricot so I subbed fresh strawberries.

This was used from the scone recipe...

1-1/4 cup fresh strawberries diced up

2 cups gluten free flour

1 TBL baking powder

1/4 cup honey

1 tsp cinnamon

1/2 tsp salt

5 TBL butter

1 egg

1 tsp vanilla

Here are the items I accidently switched from the muffin recipe...

1/3 cup buttermilk

1/2 cup sugar

1/4 oil

Put in muffin tins was a better option for obvious reasons, baked at 400 for 17 minutes or so.

Luckily not a total disaster, just a fun edible disaster. :)

So tell me...you have done something similar...right?? lol

 

Making Jam

I have been wanting to make jam for a while now...My oldest daughter and sis-in-law make jam...wonderful tasty jam...well who knew the "family recipe"...is the Sure-Jell recipe, lol.

Lucky for me Fry's has strawberries on sale this week for .88 cents a thingy...I'll be honest, I am not savvy in the kitchen...and may not even belong in the kitchen. I dont know if strawberries are sold in pints or quarts, so I just bought four "thingys" of them. Washed them up and measured my sugar...yeah thats a lot of sugar!!!

I dont like chunks in my jam so I pulled out my "food processor"...umm I found out I dont have a food processor, I have a shredder thingy (I am not kidding when I say I dont know my way around a kitchen)...look at my stringy strawberries...this will not work...

So into my vitamix it all went!!

Oh yeah, this is more to my liking. I mixed it with the sugar and boiled the Sure-Jell and poured into jelly jars.

Look at my gorgeous jam!! I made 5 jars of strawberry and 6 jars of strawberry blueberry.

By the way I made freezer jam, thought I would start easy instead of diving into the cooked kind...I will wait and see how this turns out...hopefully it gels right and is a success...I will know in a couple days.

What is your favorite flavor of jam?

Farmers Market Bounty

I love summer because it means farmers market season and freshly grown fruits and veggies. Our local market started last week, and tonight was our first trip of the season. Not gonna lie...I was a little disappointed. There were a lot of jewelry booths, and the few veggie booths were tucked over in the corner...so The Hubs and I beelined it over to them, but it was slim pickens. :(

I found a couple squashes that werent gigantic. (I learned long ago huge squash are just full of seeds.) Also found some garlic and the local bakery was there with their fabulous bread. The yummiest find was a local cafe I wasnt aware of that had some wonderful hummus and crackers...cant wait to make a visit to that cafe some afternoon!!

So what fabulous bounties are you finding...and what are you making with your yummy finds?

Great Balls of Soap!!

I got a new toy...um... I mean soap mold. :)

A fun sphere mold that Brambleberry just released....

So of course I had to start playing right away. I made a rainbow assortment...Here is a size comparison to one of our bar soaps...

Of course I had to play further and I made an eye ball soap for my grandson...what do you think about eyeball soaps for halloween time??

SmartTarts and Tea

Today is my birthday!! I had a no gift rule...but apparently my family cannot listen...but I have to say I love what they gave me!! :)

I have a couple of loves/obsessions, one being SmartTarts (as the guy at the gas station calls them...Smarties/Sweet Tarts...SmartTarts!!) I LOVE jumbo SmartTarts, horrible habit I know...but I guess I could have worse habits. :)

Baby Girl gave me a big bag of them...all individually wrapped of course because that is just her style. lol

My next love is tea. I love tea iced or hot, herbal or plain. My favorite right now is Pu-Erh tea, and my favorite brand is Rishi...mostly because I am a packaging snob and I love their tins.

So The Hubs gave me a tea maker and some tea....

Having a little trouble with the directions of how to use it....

Obviously there are 3 steps to it...just not sure what those steps are. LOL

But I winged it and now have some yummy Chamomile tea brewing to enjoy later.



New Wainscot

The dining room is coming along with the addition of the beautiful wainscot.

The wainscot was personally made for us by Cousin Al. Al had had some hickory trees on his property in Georgia that he had milled, and when he heard we put in hickory cabinets, he generously made us wainscot himself out of it, and then shipped them off to us. 

It is absolutely gorgeous!!!

Up next is the counters and flooring...any ideas on counter top materials and colors?