It’s the little things…

…that make my day.

First off, I apologize for my long absence!  But I hope to have some time soon.  Today I was working in the kitchen on a few things, with my trust laptop on the windowsill for recipes. 

Now, when I am working in the house I need some good white noise, not a radio, but the tv or a movie.  Since my kitchen has no tv or is even in sight of a tv, this is pretty much impossible when I am baking.

Then today I stared at the laptop a little longer.

Why in the world couldn’t I pop a dvd into this machine?!  Now I get to look at my recipe, bake some bread, and watch/listen to “The Holiday” all at the same time!

 

And watch my handy husband move and re-assemble our playground in the back yard. :)

Hope you’re having a great Saturday!

A Little More than a Little Lime

Last Monday Adam and I celebrated St. Patti’s day a couple days early with some friends.  I volunteered to bring dessert because of my calendar.

Yes, my calendar.  This year I couldn’t find any calendars with pretty scenery that I liked.  And then I found one with huge, gorgeous pictures of cakes with fantastic recipes.  So March’s recipe was a lime bundt cake and lime icing.

Thus, the cake:

It turned out pretty well.  The cake baked fine and the icing was the right consistency.  It just had too much lime.  It wasn’t awful, but it was tart.  I don’t really think that a cake should be described with the adjective “tart.”

It wasn’t THAT long ago

I finally started dumping pictures from my camera’s memory disk to my computer today.  While I was sorting months of pictures, I found my Valentine’s Day sugar cookies. 

I had found a recipe for chocolate sugar cookies and decided to try them for Adam’s sake.  They worked great, except for I couldn’t tell when they got that hint of golden brown, so the first batch was plenty crispy.

(Varieties are a combination of vanilla and chocolate sugar cookies and almond and chocolate butter cream frosting)

Black Friday and a little more Thanksgiving

Yes, I ventured out to the stores yesterday.  Got up at 4 am and was at the first store by 5:30.  And really it wasn’t bad.  It was much busier than normal, but just like a normal day at mall in the Twin Cities.  I was in and out of Target in less than 1/2 an hour.  8 stores later, it was 11:30 and I was on my way home.  I was at the mall for a little bit.   

Came home and promptly slept for 3 1/2 hours!  Then I neatly set out everything as above.  With post-its of original price and sale price, for effect. :)  We’re now in the process of deciding what actually needs to stay.  I got a little sale-happy!  I mean, a $140 queen-sized down comforter for only $19.99???  It can’t be passed up!

………………………………………………..

With the constant changing of Adam’s work schedule for Thanksgiving, I never planned a meal.  We had planned to go see a movie and eat a bunch of popcorn. 

He ended up having the entire day off and I started to feel bad about not having a big turkey dinner ready.  We ended up going to Village Inn for a turkey feast before the movie.  It was actually pretty good.

But I still felt bad.  So yesterday I pulled out a turkey and stuffing casserole from the freezer, mixed up a green bean casserole and whipped up a pumpkin pie, with homemade whipped cream.  Oh, and I made biscuits.

It was nice, low key “Thanksgiving.”

Retreat and Recharge

Today my team at work is heading to Atlanta for the week!  We’ll be joining 12,000 of other church leaders at Catalyst.  I’m super excited to see what God has in store for us.

And for some reason I thought I wouldn’t have enough to do before leaving.  So I made these treat bags for everyone!

I used the new “Vintage Labels” set again to make the sweet backgrounds and then found the perfect sentiments in “A Day at the Beach.”

I really love the new Spring Moss ink.  Covers great!

Of course a treat bag is not complete without the treats!  What did I make?  Well, they’re called Chocolate Hazelnut Crinkles.  When taste testing, I literally just stopped and thought, “This may be the best cookie the I have ever made.  This may even be the best cookie that I have ever eaten!” 

Seriously, just try them.  (From “Betty Crocker’s Cookies and Bars” magazine at the grocery store.  Really, 90% of my best desserts have come from these magazines.)

Hope that you all have a great week and I *hope* to share some pics from my trip when I get home.

Patti

 

Supplies
Stamps:	A Day at the Beach, Vintage Labels
Paper:	Spring Rain and White Cardstock
Ink:	Dark Chocolate, Enchanted Evening and Spring Moss
Ribbon:	Dark Chocolate Grosgrain, Enchanted Evening Saddle Stitch
Other:	Labels Four Die (Spellbinders
	all PTI unless otherwise noted

Trying some new tricks / Disaster Area

I need to send out a couple cards this week and ended up trying a few new tricks.  The card below completely created itself...over three days! 

I started with the Melon Berry background.  Got stuck.  Decided to do the sentiment that hangs off the side of the card.  Did the stamping, handwriting and drew the border.  Once I added the ribbon I got stuck.  I tried everything I own on that spot to make it look finished.

The pearl?  Accident.   I went to the craft store on Main Street yesterday to pick up another set of Nesties.  While I was getting rung up I saw these pearls and thought they should find a home in my stash.  So when I got home, there was the unfinished card on my scrap table.  Hmmm....I wonder if one of  those pearls would fit there?  Like I said.  The card made itself. :)

**  Please don't mention the crooked "P"s.  I will just have to be happy with it.  lol!

Embellished envelopes?  Not usually my thing since I mail all of my cards.  But since this and the next card were getting mailed together in another envelope, why not?

This card was an accident.  I really just wanted to play with Tags for Spring (PTI) and ended up making the whole circle embellishment.  It looked just too pretty so I remembered the birthday card I needed to make anyway.

This is one of the few times that I have "fussy cut" with those butterflies.  Won't be trying that again any time soon, unless I get some better scissors.

Envelope for this card?  Yes, it was made.  No, you don't get to see it.  It's okay, but it wasn't worth my time to take a picture, edit and post.

Life Update:  We're heading to Iowa this weekend so see some of Adam's family.   We haven't been there since May 2007, so we've got lots of visiting to do.  It'll be a fun, but jam packed weekend.  Melody is getting left at a boarding kennel for the first time.  I'm going to cry, and I don't care who laughs at me!!  Mel, on the other hand, will love it.  Four 1/2hour walks each day, play time with other dogs.  She'll be exhausted when we pick her up on Sunday!

I made a cake earlier today.  Now I must go clean my kitchen before Adam gets home.  When I bake, it looks like...wait.  I'm going to take a picture.

Now, before I show you these, just know that usually it is worse.  But I show it to you in hopes that anyone else who suffers from being a messy baker will not feel so alone!

We start here.  Why did I not throw the butter wrappers away when I unwrapped the butter?  Why did I not put the vanilla away in the cabinet above, which is open?  Adam doesn't ask these questions anymore.  As long as what I made tastes good, he's happy.

The other side of the stove.  Opened powdered sugar and pecans, dirty dishes from today and last night when we were in a rush to get out the door.

A bowl of soaking dishes (I made an attempt at clean up!), a sink of clean dishes that I washed last night (I do wash dishes), and the finished cake.  Wait!  I see a piece missing.  I didn't know Melody knew how to use a knife.  ;)

The prep space.  Relatively clean for me.

So Mom, now instead of my room, I mess up the kitchen.  Nothing really changes, does it?  Okay, off to clean.  Have a good night!   

Thursday Already??

  Man this week flew by! 

I got my box from PTI this week and was just overwhelmed with crafty ideas!  Below are just sneaks of two new items I added to my Etsy Shop.  Check it out!

Since I haven't posted in awhile here are a few pics from last weekend.

These are my fabulous Red Velvet cupcakes that I made for my family's visit over Valentine's Day.  They are just crazy red.  Love it.  Yes, I did add frosting, but you can't see the color when it's covered up with frosting, so I posted this pic.  (oh, and maybe I forgot to take a pic of the frosting too!)  They taste not bad, the frosting is yummy, but I'd make them again just to see that red!  Got this recipe from Pinch My Salt. 

Below is a pic that some of you in older generations will get a laugh out of.  This is my sister and I last Saturday "bonding."  Okay, so I don't really claim that, but she did let me say hi to her friend she was chatting with on the web cam and watch the YouTube videos with her.  It's amazing how amusing the sock-puppet version of Indian Jones is!

 

Oh, and there was another lady on the chair with us.  She doesn't need much space!

Maybe I'll have something interesting to share later this weekend, maybe not.  Life has become fairly boring and routine, but that's okay.  We've been out of town almost half of the weekends between June and January.  So it's nice to just be home. 

Have a great weekend!

Snow Day!

Finally we got a "snow" day!  After bitter cold temps for the past couple days, my school district finally decided to close!  I'm guessing that after being the ONLY school district open within ~100 miles to be open, they got enough gruff from parents.  And boy do I need the time!  Flake Out Fest is TOMORROW and I have way to much to still do.

Stop over to Felicity Avenue to check out some new things I've posted.

And here's a pic of an AMAZING chocolate cake that I made from small group this week.  If you know me, you know that I do not like chocolate cake with chocolate frosting.  Maybe I've just been eating the wrong stuff. :)  I got the recipe from Pioneer Woman.

Best part about this cake?  From start to finish, including frosting, it takes less than an hour!  While it's baking (for only 20min!) you make the frosting and then pour it on the HOT cake.  No waiting three stupid hours to frost the cake.  Love it!!

Have a great weekend!  

As promised...

Here is my "crafted-up" pound cake:

Aren't I just the greatest Secret Santa? ;) Really, I just hope it brings a smile to her face, and I had fun making it! Just a few measurements, (and then some tissue paper to make up for any imperfections) ribbon and tag. I used my new Vintage Cream ink from PTI. I LOVE it because it actually shows up on dark colors. Can't wait until they come out with white!!

In other news, our weekend was fairly uneventful, but relaxing. We took the pound cakes from this post to church on Saturday and then went to the Pizza Ranch for dinner. You'll rarely find them in a town of any size. But they are in small towns all over the midwest. Best pizza/chicken buffet. Yum!

Today I've spend ALL day, literally ALL day on this computer working on some Christmas presents. But they are going to be awesome! I did take some time to make some dinner and decided to give Mel the empty egg carton to play with. The "destroyer" had a blast! I love cheap toys. When she started to eat it we had to take it away, but it did give us a good laugh.

Supplies

Stamps: Holiday Treats & Snowfall - PTI

Ink: Pure Poppy & Vintage Cream - PTI

Paper: Rive Avocado & Vintage Cream - PTI

Ribbon: Pure Poppy Satin - PTI

Back in the Kitchen

I've been so consumed with building Felicity Avenue that it has been too long since I've done some good baking. Today I was checking my blogs and found this fabulous recipe from Sophistimom. Cream cheese pound cake. It peaked my interest for two reasons:

1. I hate pound cake. Good reason, huh? No really, I've never been a fan of it, especialy that Sara Lee stuff that some people try to use instead of shortcake. But I love Sophistimom's recipies. So by her good name I wanted to give it a chance.

2. I have been wanting to buy a petite loaf pan for a long time.

~AND~

I had to make some thing for a bake sale at church.

So I went to the craft store on main street (which has a great baking section!) and got my new petite loaf pan. (Excuse the messy pan, didn't feel like doing the dishes yet.) When I was checking out the lady asked if I had any liners. Liners for a loaf pan?! Awesome!! So for less than $12 I was off to the grocery store and home to make some goodies.

Here is the finished product:

Great lighting, huh? :) In one word, FANTASTIC! Baked perfectly in 24 minutes. With a double batch I ended up with 27 petite loaves. One for us, one for my Secret Santa at work and 25 for church. I would still be baking right now if I was making cookies for the bake sale. Scoop x12, bake, turn pan, bake, transfer to cooling rack. Repeat. x10. Yuck. Needless to say, I am thrilled with my baking adventure!

To top it all off, I got this 25 pack of holiday ziplock bags at the dollar store. Not quite up to my crafty standards, but it's a bake sale. The rest of the entries were made and packaged by high schoolers, so...don't want mine to overshadow their work. I will "craft-up" the loaf for my Secret Santa. Check back later this weekend.

And the best part of my weekend?????

Adam is home ALL weekend!!!!

A new experiment...and lots of food pics

So I finally pulled it out of the package. I bought some brown adhesive vinyl in January. I took it out the package yesterday. I've been scared of it. Scared to mess it up. I have my Silhouette sitting here, just begging me to give it some vinyl.

(For those of you who are wondering what I am talking about, the Silhouette is a digital cutter that hooks up to computer and cuts what I tell it to cut. Amazing! The vinyl is just like you would buy pre-cut from Uppercase Living or other companies for home decor, but this is just a big roll so that I can cut out my own words and images.)

So last night it called to me and I heeded the call. Afterwards, I wondered why I decided to do small letter, the hardest, first, but it worked, so now I am less scared of the bigger words. Below is my first creation:

I just love it! Adam doesn't get the parentheses, but then he's a guy. Next I am working on a larger phrase or verse for our living room wall. Then the list goes on from there, but since I only have so much vinyl and funds are diverted elsewhere for now, we'll see how far I get.

Now for some catch up. Today is food day. I apologize for any malfunctions caused by drool on the keyboard. ;) I take no credit for any of these recipes. I just claim to know how to read and multi-task.

This is my first attempt a Chicken Alfredo that I got from this blog. The sauce was actually really easy. A little bland, but I probably should have added a little more salt. The chicken was phenomenal though! The mixture of spices just worked.

So not my best picture, but definitely my best apple crisp. The "crisp" was really just fantastic. Now don't think I give myself any credit. It was just a good recipe from Sophistimom. I did not try the caramel sauce, so if you make it, let me know how it turns out.

My mom's chili recipe. Yum. I used to make this back in college every year for all of our friends, I'd have to triple the recipe. Now it's just one batch, but between a couple dinners many lunches and a ton in the freezer, we get it done. This is a pic of Adam's bowl, minus the cheese and onions. I like mine with black olives, rice, sour cream and cheese. I mixture that causes Adam's nose to turn up! Just a combo of ways I have eaten chili and people's homes in the past.

Last, but certainly not least, this is Tanya's Potato Parmesan Soup. Potatoes, cream, cheese, bacon, green onions. And easy! I made this when I was talking on the phone to my friend, Tiffany. The hardest thing I had to do was some math (I had bought 1/2 pints, the recipe called for cups, couldn't remember conversions). We have another 1/2 of the recipe sitting in our freezer too!

Tomorrow I will post pics of my other crafty projects. Then maybe a life update too. Off to re-organize my craft space.

Solo Saturday

These are flowers that we got from my parents in memory of Aaron.

 

Harvest is Here!  Adam has officially left me for the fall. :)  Okay, so it's only soybeans right now, so he'll be home around 7pm, but once the corn starts coming in, who knows!  So today is my first day of solitude.  Got up at 9:30, with no alarm clock.  Sat on the computer for awhile, cleaned up some messes, made chili and am working on some cinnamon rolls.  The recipe said to mix with an stand mixer and a dough hook, neither of which I have.  So I kneaded it by hand and am waiting for it to rise.  The dough seems a little dense, so I'm not sure what will happen.

When I was taking this picture off of my memory card for the pic of the day, I noticed that I have a lot of projects to share.  I'll share one or two a day until I am caught up.

 

 

 

So these are "my" famous pumpkin cookies.  They are not really mine (from a cookbook) so I can't give the recipe, but every time I make them and eat one freshly frosted, I swoon.  They are my FAVORITE cookie. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Some applesauce that I made a few weeks ago.  We made this at the Y with the preschoolers and it was so easy (and fairly brainless) that I decided to make it for Adam.  It smelled wonderful when it was cooking; it tasted okay.  Probably will find a different recipe next time.

 

 

 

 

 

 

That's all for today.  Need to go check on those cinnamon rolls.

Tuesday Ramblings

Well, here we are on Tuesday.  As promised, here is my picture of the day.  A little blurry, but this is one of my favorite candles I got at the White Candle Barn last year.  I bought this and four other large candles when I was out of town, forgetting that I had to lug them on the plane the next day!

As I was looking at the pics on my memory card, I realized that I have lots of projects that I haven't showed you yet.  I'll get to that on Thursday, well maybe Friday. ;)  Went to small group tonight.  It was good, but really deep, theological stuff.  Good to have some people to muddle through it with.  Made these peanut butter cookies today for youth group tomorrow.  They taste fine enough, but they don't look as nice and I didn't end up with as many cookies as I had hoped.  Oh well, it's not their last meal.  What else, hmmm...

When I have to ask that question it means one of two things: 1. I don't have anything to write about; or 2. I feel like I have too much to write about.  Kinda the latter.  I have missed blogging about certain events, which isn't really a big deal, but I like to have things "documented."  My online scrapbook.

Goodnight!

Care Packages

Well, I sent these out a couple weeks ago, but then I was waiting for them to arrive and then I was feeling sick-ish.  So here they are...

My little sister started college this year, WOW!  So I decided to send her a "Welcome to School" package.  Snail mail becomes much more exciting when you move into a little shoebox  called a "dorm room."  Thought that since I am baking, might as well bake more and send out a few more packages.  One girl has been friends with Kristi since kindergarten, and her family has been friends with ours since then too.  She's been my redheaded buddy.  The two aren't real close anymore, but time to let go of old grudges, right?  Then I sent one to a guy friend of her's from sixth grade.  I met him when I helped with Kristi's reading class that year, then through church activities.  This kid is WAY motivated.  Not only is he a college freshman, but he's the director of an indoor park/activities venue and runs his own DJ company.  I don't think the term "slacker" applies here.  The last is another guy that Kristi has known since jr high.  He was in band with her, though I can't for the life of me remember what he played!  Drums??  I think that's right.  Anywho, I got to know him because he worked at the same child care center that Kristi and I did.  Nice kid.  He actually sent me a HANDWRITTEN thank you note for the care package.  He's going to school for something very complicated and brainy. 

Now for the package.

You may remember these chocolate chip and chocolate chip/caramel cookies and s'mores bars that I made for youth group.  Well, when I bake, I BAKE.  So the kids got these too.  Thank goodness because the brown sugar oatmeal cookies I had started with were WAY smaller than I was expecting and really not that good!                                         

  Then I made these milk cartons that I found from the 3D Design Challenge blog. (I have gotten a few good ideas from this new challenge site.)  Milk and Cookies, get it???  Yeah, so I didn't plan that, but don't tell anyone. ;) 

 

Inside, I added Hershey's Nuggets that I wrapped with these awesome labels.  I used those inkjet address label and the Holiday Treats clear stamp set from Papertrey Ink, they are made to just fit these labels and chocolates.  I LOVE these labels and want to get another set.                    

Here is what it looked like in the Tupperware (before the GOOD cookies and bars):                                                                                                  

Then the cards, which unfortunately turned out a little to "Christmas-y."  I was going for the green-red-apple-school thing, but with no apple well, you can see:

These little glass beads I found at a local scrapbook store and have yet to find enough uses for them, but they're cute!

Well, I was on a crafty roll with these packages, so why not design my own shipping labels?! lol  I used a free digital kit from Shabby Princess and a digital template from Glitz that I won (!!) from Noel Culbertson via her blog.                       

The lady at the post office told me  that in order to send cookies, I need to bring some in so that the staff can make sure they are "safe."  Lol, I love post offices.  Well, not Woodbury, they are cranky.

So those are my care packages.  It was a feat but I loved it.  There was something very satisfying about looking at this stack of finished boxes.  Anyone need me to make some care packages?  Oh, just wait until my next post, I'm going to show you my new crafty love.....!!!!!