Convenience and Relief

It's been a very rough 24-hours and all I can say is THANK GOODNESS for Bob Evans homemade chicken soup and Vernors (super strong ginger soda). I think I got food poisoning or something because....OY! Just when you feel like you can't hang on to life anymore, when all hope is lost and you just want to go find a remote cave and lay there until the merciful beasts devour you alive - along comes the relief of Bob Evans and Vernors. Nothing tastes better when you're sick! And the chicken noodle is made with real, homemade noodles and there are huge chunks of chicken. I now have strength and I think I can make it. Whew.

Sorry it's a little blurry - I didn't feel like doing a very good job.

Conflicted

It's cold, gray, and dreary outside. I SHOULD be getting my tight work-out pants on that reveal my belly fat like nothing you've ever seen, and my work-out top that sucks it all back in (sort of) where it needs to be, and on my way to burning the extra 10,000 calories I consumed at dinner last night. But what I WANT to do is sit here in my warm, bright, cheerful house with a cup of dreamy cocoa (an extra 3,000 calories) and read my new book and laugh the day away. However, what I HAVE to do is clean out my closets, clean the basement (a.k.a. my craft dungeon), pay bills, and do laundry since it hasn't been done for 15 days. GROSS. I'm tired just thinking about it all.

Do you see why I'm conflicted?! I'm not complaining, though. How nice to have options. It's times like this where I'll probably putter around doing odd jobs so as to APPEAR like I've done something today, you know, for the 'ol conscience - but none of my big to-do list will get touched. WHY?! Why can't I be organized and motivated and responsible and clean?! I guess I better go get some cocoa and think about it...

Happy Veteran's Day, by the way! I love those Veterans!

Cute Brooch

Alright - I swear I'm going to make a hundred of these brooches! Think of the COLOR possibilities! What a great holiday gift! They are so easy and I'm pretty sure they're not geeky. Are they? Maybe I am a geek.

You can pin these to a purse, a hat, a scarf, your sweater/jacket, baby clips,etc. AND! (as Design Gal said below) you can pin these to a present as a bow and it's part of the gift! Thanks Design Gal!

I didn't find any cute felt, I don't have time or patience to make some, so I used fleece instead and it worked fine. (plus it was 40% off yesterday, so that makes sense, right?)

So if you missed the tutorial link, it's HERE. And you really should watch the video link HERE because Betz White shows you how to clip the back leaf and attach the pin correctly.






















I experimented a little here and I really like the look of the blanket stitch on the leaves. Great! Now my plain leaves look lame. If you'd like a fun tutorial on that, go HERE.

Cute Brooch Tutorial

I've been hunting high and low for a cute, simple, easy-to-make brooch and THIS IS IT! I found this cute blog with an excellent tutorial, so go check it out!





















Here is another SUPER cute brooch tutorial! I can't wait to get started!!!

A New Arrival!

It's HERE and it's BEAUTIFUL!!! I've been privileged to witness the birth of my friend Kadie's Etsy store and it's pretty special. I held her hand, told her to breathe, and I'm totally just kidding. But go check out her store.

Kadie is an amazing artist, among other things, and her store is full of gorgeous HAND MADE jewelry. I'm partial because she's my friend, but I'm also partial because I've seen her work. She's pretty darn picky on what goes into her jewelry - it's ALL glass beads or real metal - no plastic. Honestly - these are going to make some great Holiday gifts because her prices are awesome, it's hand made (my favorite part), and it's NOT going to disappoint! And if you want something custom-made, contact her and she can do anything. Right, Kadie?

here's a small taste...

Great Book!

I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE this book, "The Last Lecture", and I can't wait to read it to my kids. It's short, sweet, and LOADED with some incredible truths about life that I needed reminding of. The author, Randy Pausch, a married father of three little kids and a university professor, was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer and given 3-6 months to live. The way he handled this news, and everything else in his life for that matter, is completely remarkable. You have to read this. I think it's so well written, too, each segment being a short chapter on something specific, so I could easily read a chapter to my kids and I really think they'll love the stories. The book makes you want to dream BIG!

We read this for our Book Club meeting this month and discussed it at my house last night and since the book is full of "childhood dreams", we all talked about ours and how to make them happen. I remembered that one of my childhood dreams has always to be in a symphony orchestra!!! I want to be in a long, black dress, playing the violin, getting lost in the music in a sea of other talented musicians. Kinda nerdy, I know, but it's still a dream. The only hang-up is that I don't play the violin...guess I should learn, eh? Or I could pick up my clarinet - they have those in an orchestra! Nah - not as cool as a violin. This guy, Randy, would figure out a way to do it so I guess I could, too. Also, I was going to grow up to be Crystal Gayle - the country singer with hair down to her feet - I always wanted hair down to my feet. I don't think hair that long is pretty now, but that was my dream!















So I know you're reading this and I want to know some of YOUR big childhood dreams - and don't skip out on me.


HERE is the link to the You Tube video of Randy's Lecture.

Cooking 101 - Roasted Brussels Sprouts

I'm embarrassed to say that I've never tried Brussels sprouts before yesterday. AHHH!! What on earth is WRONG with me?! Anyway - I got a taste of what I was missing out on and I swear I could eat these every day and not tire of them! And - these little guys are SO CUTE!!! They're like little tiny heads of lettuce! (but so much more flavorful in my opinion)





Roasted Brussels Sprouts

1 10-16 oz. package Brussels Sprouts
5-6 slices Turkey Bacon, cut into pieces
1/4 c. chopped nuts
Olive oil

Wash and cut the stems off of the Brussels sprouts, then slice them in half.
In a large skillet, cook turkey bacon with nuts until it's firm and a little crispy; remove from pan.
Add Brussels sprouts to the pan with a drop or two of olive oil. Cover and let cook for about 10 minutes, stirring occasionally.
Add bacon bits and nuts to the pan, mix together, add salt to taste. That's it!

Kadie's Buttermilk Syrup

There are no words...you just have to try it, especially with the whole grain pancakes I just posted. The first time I tried this syrup with those pancakes, I got all cross-eyed and couldn't speak - just groan. It was amazing! Thanks, Kadie - now I have MORE laps to run today...BUT IT WAS WORTH IT!!

**Note: I doubled this recipe and it pretty much boiled out of my huge stock pot. If you don't have a gigantic stock pot, I don't suggest doubling the recipe. However, because I made a big batch, I just keep a jar of the syrup in the fridge and it keeps nicely.

KADIE'S BUTTERMILK SYRUP:

3 cups sugar

1 1/2 cups buttermilk

4 T karos syrup

2 sticks butter

2 t baking soda

Mix all together in a large pan, boil for 5 minutes. Then remove from heat and add 4 t vanilla

AMAZING Whole Grain Buttermilk Pancakes

I don't have a picture because WE AT THEM ALL - but if you're looking for a GOOD pancake recipe, look no further. I made these this morning and I sent the kiddies off to school in full confidence that they won't be getting hungry for another five hours!! These bad boys are so filling and good!

**I always double this recipe because my kids are big pancake fans and always want more

Dry Ingredients:

2/3 c. whole wheat flour
1/3 c. flour
1/4 c. oat flour (or quick oats)
2 T. wheat germ
1 -2 T. ground flax seed
2 t. sugar
1 t. baking powder
1/2 t. baking soda
1/2 t. salt

Wet Ingredients:

1 c. buttermilk (+ more if needed)
1/4 c. milk
2 eggs
1 T. oil
1/4 t. vanilla

In a large bowl, combine dry ingredients; in a separate bowl, combine wet ingredients. Mix everything together and let sit for a minute. If mixture is too thick, add more buttermilk.

Ladle onto hot griddle, flip after pancakes get bubbly and lightly browned on the edges.

Shotgun Wedding!

Okay - visualize this with me, girls - it's Thursday night, 10:30 p.m., I'm getting ready to go to bed when I get a phone call from my girl Denise (she is our Relief Society President). She asked if it's possible to put together a wedding by Saturday for a couple in our ward (church). (that's 1 1/2 days, folks) She let me know that they don't have any money, it can be something very simple, but something to make the day special. The reason for the haste: The groom, fresh from Marine Corps boot camp, is shipping out on Tuesday for some more military training, so the poor couple wanted to get married before he left in order for her to join him when he's done.

Now this is where most people would panic but I got a surge of electricity through me because this could be FUN! I told Denise that it is ABSOLUTELY possible and this bride better like Fall colors because that's what she's getting! Naturally, I enlisted my girl Kadie and the three of us set to work on making a game plan. Also, there weren't going to be very many in attendance, so that also made this party quite easy.

Here's what we came up with in a couple of hours on Friday:

Food:
Dinner In a Pumpkin (SO good - you have to try this before Fall is over!)
Pumpkin Pie Cheesecake Bars
Chocolate Eclair Dessert
Fruit Trays
Sparkling Cider
French Bread
(Thanks, Jen, for assigning everything out - and thanks ladies, wherever you are, for making, baking, and shaking for us!)

Decor:
Fall, Fall, Fall
Pumpkins
White lights
Dim lighting with lamps
Platters, cake stands, ANYTHING
Whatever we have at home - and between Kadie and I, we stripped our homes of every piece of decor and made the place quite cozy!

(honestly, people, we had to turn a seriously ugly room into something sort of pretty...big task but manageable...)


So here's our ugly gym - and all of our junk.


















Hard workin' ladies - Kadie and Denise









More junk...








Our centerpiece: Floral pumpkins

I spent about $60 on some clearance fall foliage and we clipped everything apart into piles. From there, Kadie and Denise stuffed the flowers into a pumpkin with the top cut off. We didn't have time to clean out the guts - we just stuffed! Normally, I'm sure you'd want to clean out the seeds and such.









They did great, eh?! I also had a bunch of these berry garlands that we encircled around the base of each pumpkin, along with acorns from my back yard. (I paid my kids $1.00 to gather as many as they could...haha!)



And here's our finished table. That tiny little cake in the back is all I had time for! Everybody we knew was either watching kids or baking themselves, so that left NOBODY to do a cake - which is fine. I found a cute little cake at the store, added some flowers, and that's what they got.








And, yes, those are paper plates you're seeing in the corner but don't judge me! We had no budget for cute plates! (besides, they match the decor...)








With a little bit of magic and floral tape, I put together a cake top and a couple of boutonnieres for the men. I'll give a tutorial on that when I get some time. (Heaven only knows that I've got plenty of leftover scraps.)

(The cake top is wet because I had to wash off the frosting...but you get the idea.)







All in all, I spent about $100, maybe $150 (I lost count, actually) on pumpkins, foliage, and a little food.

We all spent roughly 9 hours total on Saturday from 10:00 a.m. until 7:00 p.m. - unloading junk, decorating, ironing table cloths (you rock Denise), decorating, decorating, getting dressed quickly, serving food during the wedding, and then disassembling everything, cleaning the kitchen, then re-loading our vehicles so we could go home. We rock.



Was it worth it, you might ask? You bet it was. The groom, who is a sweet young man in our ward, had no idea it was possible to make the gym look so nice! He was SO very thankful and hugged all of us who worked so hard. We later learned that the couple had no expectations of a nice wedding since it was such late notice.

Great things can happen when we get the girls together! Not pictured are many, many other people who contributed to this event - thanks everyone!