A Recipe! A Recipe!

I don't know about you but I love muffins! I like 'em big! I like 'em little! I like 'em sweet! I like 'em savory! I just plain like them.

In the past, being the supremely lazy cook that I am but still wanting a good muffin, I would buy box mixes.

There are some good ones (Jiffy), there are some great ones (Betty Crocker), and there are some HORRID ones (Martha White).

One evening, I needed a bread of some sort to go with dinner. We had recently already eaten rolls, garlic breadsticks, and corn bread (oh, I have the BEST recipe for that! I must remember to share it!!!). Heck, one night we had regualr sandwich bread with butter and honey on it (my kids love that!). I don't like to repeat  any dinner items until at least a week or so has gone by, and on this particular night I wanted a good, moist, yet crumbly muffin!

 I looked on pinterest but nothing stood out. Then I looked in an old cookbook I have had for years. Okay, five and a half years anyway. There it was. The Muffin. Calling out my name. Why hadn't I noticed it before? It clearly had all the ingredients in it that I usually have on hand.

The only ingredient I didn't have was fresh or frozen raspberries. I had a frozen berry medley, but not plain old raspberries.

Well, you know what they say; "Necessity is the mother of all invention", so we forged ahead and decided to give it a go anyway.

I am so glad we did!!! These were super yummy, super moist, and super crumbly!

Make them. Right this instant!!!

Berry Streusel Muffins
Muffin Batter:
1/2 cup butter, melted
1/2 cup milk
1 egg, beaten
1 1/2 cups flour
1/2 cup sugar
2 tsp. baking powder
1 cup fresh or frozen berries

Streusel Topping: Prepare this and set aside
1/4 cup chopped pecans (I actually omitted this because some in our family are allergic to nuts and some are just plain picky! It turned out just fine without the nuts! Leave the other ingredient amounts the same)
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup flour
2 Tbsp. melted butter

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Line a muffin tin with liners (this recipe makes 12).

In a large bowl combine flour, sugar and baking powder. In a small bowl combine egg, milk and butter until blended. Stir wet mixture into dry mixture just until moistened.

Spoon half of the batter into the muffin cups. Drop a few berries on top of the batter in the cups. Top with remaining batter. (Note: Try to keep your berries away from the edges of the muffins because they stick to the liners when baking. Found out the hard way. You're welcome!).

Top with struesel topping and bake 25-30 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Remove from pan. Enjoy!

I have resorted to doubling this recipe so that we have left-over muffins for breakfast the next day.
Mmm-mmmm!!!! I am getting hungry just thinking about eating these yummy-yummies!

I need to mix up a huge batch of just the dry ingredients and divide it into baggies so that I can trick myself into pretending that I am using a "convenient" box mix.

Happy Thursday!

Wednesday's Whimsy

               After boasting about how I productive I am since I started seeing stuff on pinterest,

and vowing to myself to be a better blogger, I fell flat on my face!

I just tried logging on to my blog and I couldn't remember my password!

 Now, that's when you know you aren't logging on enough!!!

The thing is, I have been very productive! I just haven't taken the time to sit

down and document it.

 To my kids in the future: Sorry! We did do stuff this summer.

We didn't just sit at home in our cave-like abode and twiddle our thumbs for

 2 and a half months, though some days felt like that, I'm sure.

More on our summer fun later. On to the business at hand.

Now that half my kids are back in school, I am feeling the need to purge the

mountains of stuff junk that is taking up the precious little space in our house. The

 people around here only seem to get larger, their stuff gets larger and we are near

to bursting at the seams.

"Seams"?

 Haha! How ironic that this post is about sewing. To my horror, I have amassed

hoarded four (big!!!) boxes of fabric.

 Big pieces, little pieces. Denim, muslin, silk, tulle, calico, you name it!

 I just can't force myself to throw it away. 

Even a 4x4 inch square or strip. I just know that I'll use it for something, someday!

It's an illness, really!

It's become epidemic. So I decided to drag out my boxes, sort through the pieces,

and either make something, donate the larger pieces, and/or cut the fabric

 into quilting squares.

You should see the pile of denim jeans I have! I'll probably be able to

make several denim blankets! Our scout troop is having a fundraising

breakfast/5k run/auction that I may be able to donate something homemade to.

Whatever I end up doing or making, the fabric has got to be whittled down!

First Project:

 I saw a cute tote bag on pinterest and decided that it wold be perfect for

some of my skinnier fabric scraps. You know, the edges of the fabric you have left

over after cutting out a pattern? I have loads of those!!! And you know I'm not

throwing those suckers away!!!

The original bag on pinterest had 6 rows of fabric and no initial.

You could really do whatever you wanted to. In fact, you can

leave off the flowers and tie a cute bow in coordinating ribbon around one of the

 handles. That's what is so fun about making your own things. They are YOU!!!

I took an old tote bag to use as a pattern. I layed it down on a big piece of muslin and cut the muslin to size. Mine was about 18"x15" (very big!). Sew both sides together, but

 leave the top and bottom open for easier ruffle placement.

For the ruffles; I cut them 2-1/2"x 30". I did a very tight zigzag along both long edges

to keep fraying in check. You could leave the edges raw (a really cute look!)

or you could cut your ruffle piece

 5"x30" and fold it over for a more finished edge. It's up to you!

Use a ruler to mark your bag lightly with a pencil (you can use a fabric pencil but I was too

lazy to dig through my sewing box-which really was right in front of me, so I just used a

 regular old pencil. The ruffles cover the marks anyways!) where you want your first row

of ruffles to be. My lowest row was about 4 inches from the bottom.

After sewing a basting stitch lengthwise about 3/4" from one edge of the fabric, 

pull the thread to make a long ruffle (do this with all the strips).

Pin your first ruffle to the bag, following the marks you've made.

Use a fairly close stitch to attach the ruffle in place.

Using your pencil and ruler again, mark 1 1/2" from the top of the ruffle you've just sewn on.

 Pin the next ruffle with the top along the marks you've just made.

Repeat this until you've attached all you ruffles.

Sew the bottom of the bag closed and attach your handles.

Embellish as desired. If you want to sew on a fabric letter or name,

use Heat'nBond for easier placement. It works really well if you're nervous about

having your letter(s) lay flat. I, again, was too lazy to dig mine out. Plus my letter

didn't have any crazy angles, so it was easy to pin in place and zigzag on.

I love this bag so much I am making a few more. Believe me, I have plenty of fabric!!!

Your kids are back in school (or almost, anyways) so go make something!!!

On A Roll

These days I feel like I am on a creative roll. I have tried many new recipes and organized a few spaces in my house. I am feeling quite accomplished. Never mind that I still have 2,307 more square feet that needs cleaning and organizing. I'll just focus on the positive--which is soooo not like me. Normally I am a big complainy-pants!!!

But not today! I won't complain about the piles of dirty cups my kids generate in a short 14 hour time span, day after day. Nor will I complain about the wet towels that are mysteriously piled up in the laundry room. You shan't hear a word about how my kids do only one of two things;

A. whine incessantly the phrase "I'm booooooored".
B. watch Netflix non-stop ALL DAY LONG, and if they are not watching it, they are fighting or doing letter "A".

Nope-ity nope. I'm not complaining. I'm not sick to my teeth of having kids milling about. I'm okay with the fact that I can't even use the bathroom without hearing someone scream bloody murder in the next room. At least I don't have to help anyone with their homework or wake everyone up for school. It's all good.

I have a couple projects to show here. The first one was devised to combat letter "A".


We really bummed our kids out when we bought our house and didn't order a pool put in. I mean they were really bummed out. You'd think after 5 and a half years they'd give up the dream, but they don't. They are constantly bringing it up.

 "Why don't we have a pool?"
"Why don't we put in a pool?"
"We should put in a pool."

News flash: We won't be putting in a pool. Ever. Ever. Ever. I'm too lazy to take care of it.

But we did do  the next best thing, we built them a "Backyard Water Park". We even call it "Our Waterpark" to trick them into thinking it is amazing and to draw attention from the fact that we didn't buy season passes to Wet 'N Wild like we did last year. Do you think they'll notice

Here is my main man. He is so sweet. Saturday morning when we woke up I told him I wasn't going to make him do any projects for me. It was Father's Day weekend, after all. When he asked me if we had any errands to run, I said "Only Home Depot". If it would have been any other weekend we would've gone to Lowe's, but that store is too 'girly' for my man. He hates it, so Home Depot it was.

And a project we did. Though I didn't make him do it. He wanted to do it. Pinky swear.
Luckily we bought extra pvc because we had to revise our plans a bit after we hooked it up to the hose and found out just how much water pressure we actually have, and how much we needed.

The kids have had a lot of fun playing in it. We are going to try putting a slip and slide under it to see if that increases the "illusion" of fun. Our own "Desert Racer". It really didn't cost much and was easy to put together.

Each piece is 2.5 feet except the two top pieces that the kids walk under. Those are 3 feet. We drilled 3 to 4 holes in all the upper sections (originally we had drilled 5-6 holes but we didn't have enough water pressure to push the water through the whole thing). We bought 3/4 inch pvc but 1/2 probably would have been better. We needed 3 "elbows" and  9 "T's" as well as a hose connector piece that screws directly to our garden hose. I didn't keep track of the cost, but I estimate that it cost us about $25 total (the shower curtain was $10 of that total).

To make it festive and bright just like "Wet 'N Wild" I bought the fun  noodles and cut them to fit over the bottom legs (there are no holes drilled there). I also got a plastic shower curtain and cut it to fit the one side, and hung 4 sponges on the other end.

My hubby is taking it to his cub scout activity: Bicycle Rodeo. After the boys do their activities they will be able to drive their bikes through the "Bicycle Car Wash". It should be fun!

We just need to get a few bags of sand to place on the bottom because it does like to tip over if the kids push into one of the sides. Totally worth the time and effort!!!

Next up is actually two projects in one room.

I have been wrestling with where to place my ironing board for years....YEARS I tell you!!! It has mostly resided in the skinny spot between my washing machine and the wall. It was an okay spot for it, except it was hard to get out sometimes because I have some little pictures on the wall in the laundry room and they would either get knocked off the wall and fall into that skinny space or I would scrape my finger on the nail that is holding up one of the little pictures.

Big pain in the rear! So I decided to hang that old ironing board behind the laundry room door. I bought the utility hooks at Wal Mart for about $2 each. I hung it up really high so the hooks wouldn't interfere with the door when it is opened. A bonus is that my swiffer mop has a ring at the end that fits perfectly over one of the hooks.

Why the heck haven't I done this sooner?!?!?!

Now I need a new ironing board cover. I've had that bad boy for coming up on 20 years (I got it from my sis in law as a bridal shower gift and our anniversary is in September).

The second project is also in the picture. I saw an idea on Pinterest where someone used an over-the-door shoe holder to put all their cleaning supplies (spray bottles, etc) in. I decided to use it for hair stuff. With four daughters we do ALOT of hair. We have had a bucket full of accessories and sprays in the laundry room that is constantly getting knocked over and left out. It drives me CRAZY!!!!!

Here is my handy solution. I was feeling all proud of myself so I showed my friend Amy Rae when she was over this morning. When she saw it she said, "Girl! I already did that in Grace's room!!!" Stole my thunder right there, that did.

But I didn't mind too much. Amy Rae is one of my most fabulous friends, and if I did something that she has already done in her house, then I am on the right track!

Next up, our dining room light fixture. I like the fixture but hate the polished silver color, so I painted it. As soon as I get my hubby to hang it back up, I'll post a pic!

:)

Summer of Pinterest

Yes, I am going to talk about Pinterest again.

Last week I found myself starting every sentence with, "I found this cute idea/recipe/project idea on Pinterest".

I freely admit that from here on out, probably zero percent of my ideas won't come from Pinterest (does that sentence even make any sense?).

A few weeks ago I was chatting with a friend about the inspiration you can glean from it and she said, "I find myself getting inspired and excited, "pinning" this and "pinning" that, and then I realize that after an hour and a half on the computer, I haven't actually made anything."

I determined that I would actually make the stuff I've pinned. Well, some of it, anyway. I've pinned ALOT. And I do mean ALOT!!!

I declare this the "Summer of Pinterest"!!!

And now I am going to share with you a couple recipes that I made for dinner last night. One of the recipes is straight off of someone else's blog (I'll give you the link below) and the other recipe is inspired by a recipe found on Pinterest. It's actually a conglomeration of no less than three recipes that I combined to make one tasty dish! Without further ado:

Here is the recipe for my made-up concoction. There was much discussion over dinner at what to call it-- "fa-quitos" or "ta-jitas" (it's a mix-up of fajitas and taquitos, if you haven't guessed). Being the supreme ruler of the household I finally decided that I'd call it:

"Buffalo Ranch Chicken Taquitos"

Now, I'm not very scientific when I'm cooking. I rarely measure anything. I just throw it in the pot. And I substitute like crazy (Darn! I'm all out of vanilla extract so I'll just use rum extract instead! just kidding...sort of)

But I'll try to give as much direction as possible to all you "Rule Followers" out there (middle children). For all you "Rule Breakers" (first children, or is it last children? I can never remember) feel free to change and substitute as you see fit. Or as the ingredients in your refrigerator dictate. Coincidentally, I am a "middle child", but I have "first child tendencies" because of the age difference between my elder siblings and I.  They moved out while I was still young and I was the oldest of the seven left at home for YEARS!!! So I am forever breaking rules and then berating myself for not following said rules. It's a constant battle in my head, which probably explains alot if you know me.

Back to the recipe: I like a recipe that can go along way, and by that I mean feed my whole family (7 people) for not a lot of money. I think this one fits the bill nicely in that I only used 4 chicken breasts but there was still plenty of food for second helpings--plus leftovers for lunch today! You might be wondering why there were any leftovers at all. Maybe this recipe is not so good, but rest assured--my family liked it. Well, most of them, anyway--but the ones that didn't, don't like anything! Not even hamburgers and hotdogs so they don't count!

Back to the recipe, again. You need:

4 chicken breasts
sliced onions
sliced bell peppers (we used red and yellow)
cream cheese (softened)
hot sauce (not salsa--I'm talking the skinny bottle of hot sauce that you use for buffalo hot wings)
bottled ranch dressing
shredded cheese (your choice)
sour cream (if desired)
tortillas
spray oil
cooking oil

Now, this does not seem like a lot of ingredients, but the taquitos/fajitas were bigger than I thought they'd be and are very filling! I was able to get 10 fa-quitos out of this. Some of my kids only had a half. Some of had one and a half, though!

1. In about a tbsp of hot oil in a skillet, cook chicken breasts. Don't worry about cutting them up, though you can if you want to. I find that the chicken is more tender when I leave intact.

2. When cooked through, remove chicken to a large-ish bowl. Add another tbsp of oil plus the onions and bell pepper strips to the same skillet. Saute.

3. While the onions and peppers are sauteeing, shred the chicken. Add the desired amount of hot sauce. It can get a little spicy but the ranch will tone it down. Add as much as you want. Me---I added about 3 tbsps.

4. Add a few squirts of ranch dressing. You want it to be creamy but not swimming!!! Mix it all up.

5. When onions and peppers are done (Don't over cook them! You still want them to have a little bite!) remove from the heat.

6. Spray a good amount of cooking spray on a baking sheet.

7. To make each taquito/fajita:
    Spread cream cheese on tortilla (you choose how much cream cheese you want)
    Add some of the chicken/hot sauce/ranch mixture (I used a couple tbsps. You can put more but you'll have less fa-quitos)
    Add a few sauteed onions and pepper strips
    Top with a little bit of shredded cheese (I used co-jack)

8. Roll up taquitos style, and place seam-side down on prepared cookie sheet.

9. Spray with cooking oil (you can also brush with olive oil if you prefer).

10. Bake for 8-9 minutes at 425 degrees. Watch closely toward the end, or the edges might get more brown than you want.

11. Serve with ranch or sour cream on top. Pico de Gallo also make s a nice addition.

I also served it with spanish rice. I am going to be upfront with you: I looooooove spanish rice. I just have never known how to make it right. For almost 20 years I have been trying (and failing) to recreate that authentic mexican restaurant rice. As I was perusing Pinterest yesterday I decided to search it and see if there was a recipe that stood out to me. Lo, and behold, there it was. Right there under my nose. I had all the ingredients on hand so I set out to make it and I was elated, ELATED I tell you, to finally find a recipe that rivals my favorite mexican food joint. Here is the recipe:

Picture disclaimer: this does not look like much food, but my plates are

ginormous! They make any meal look puny!

Spanish Rice

2 tbsp oil, divided
1 cup uncooked rice
1 onion, chopped
1/2 green bell pepper, chopped (I actually used red and orange instead because that's what I had)
1 clove garlic (I used dehydrated, minced)
2 cups chicken broth
1 10oz can diced tomatoes with green chiles, drained
2 tsps chili powder
1/2 tsp cumin
1 tsp salt
shredded cheese and sliced green onions (optional)

1. In a deep skillet over medium heat, heat 1 tbsp oil. Saute onion, bell pepper, and garlic until tender. Remove from skillet and set aside.

2. Add remaining 1 tbsp oil to skillet and add uncooked rice. Swirl to coat and saute until golden brown.

3. Add onion mixture back to the skillet along with the broth and tomatoes. Season with chili powder, cumin and salt. Cover and simmer for 30 minutes or until all liquid is absorbed.

4. Top with shredded cheese, if desired and sliced green onions. I topped mine with fresh Pico de Gallo.

This rice was seriously yummy!!!

Here is a bonus recipe for Pico de Gallo. I love fresh pico. I make it all the time. I hardly ever buy store bought salsa. I just make a fresh batch of pico every week or so. It stays quite nicely in the fridge for several days. My 5 year old loves it with his cheese crisps. I love it with chips.

It turns out a little differently every time because I just use what I have on hand, and I season it to taste.  Actually I season to everyone else's taste because almost every time I make it, I have a crowd of people standing around "testing" it as I go along.

"It needs more garlic" or "It needs more red pepper" is frequently heard.

If you have any mixture of the following, you can make it too:

Pico de Gallo

chopped tomatoes (if you have a slap-chop or other type of food chopper, you can use that to get your tomato pieces the size you want. If it gets foamy, don't worry...it'll settle down eventually)
diced onions (I like using red, but yellow and white work nicely)
chopped green onions (I like using these for their color, but if you are using fresh cilantro you may not need the green onions)
garlic, minced (I use dehydrated minced)
bell pepper, finely chopped
cilantro (sometimes I use dried, sometimes I use fresh--though fresh is best)
diced green chiles (Whenever I open a can of these I seldom use the whole can, so I just pop the extra chiles in an ice cube tray and pull a cube or two out of the freezer whenever I need them)
crushed red pepper (to taste)
salt and pepper (to taste)
lime juice (if desired)

Stir all the ingredients together and--Voila! You will amaze one and all!!!

Good luck and here is the link to the original Spanish Rice.

Pinterest is waiting....

I signed up for Pinterest a looooong time ago. Once I was signed up I didn't do a thing with it! I felt I was too busy to give it the attention it deserved. Plus, I knew it would suck away my precious time which is always running in short supply. To quote--sort of-- my Grandma Allen, I needed another online distraction to keep me from doing the things I SHOULD be doing "like I needed a hole in the head".

So I left it alone.

Pinterest was sad.

I could feel it beckoning me. Occasionally I would pop on and look at other people's pins, but I wouldn't pin anything myself.

I refused to give in completely.

I've often asked me why I did this to myself and Pinterest, and the answer is.... I DON'T KNOW WHY!!!!

With the advent of summer coming on I was feeling very stagnant in the creativity department. The thought of having 5 kids home with me ALL DAY long was depressing me. I needed a jolt of I-don't-know-what to get me excited. Or at least get me un-depressed. I needed ideas of things to make, things to cook, ways to organize the chaos we call home.

So I heeded the call of Pinterest. I'm not ashamed to admit I did it. Some people look down on Pinterest. They think it's a waste of time.

But I know better. I've learned of new ways to be thrifty, crafty, and more fun as a mom.

I've already made the "Best. Dang. Biscuits. I've. Ever. Eaten. In. My. Life.....Ever."

I found a new pizza dough recipe that is far superior to anything I've made. And my dough wasn't too bad before. But now it's better!

I made my own toothpaste and my teeth have never felt cleaner. They are much brighter, too! Seriously....homemade toothpaste?!?!?! Fo' Sho'!

I found ideas on how to make a backyard water park for my kids that we are drawing up plans for. More on that to come, I'm sure!

I think Pinterest has done more to bring back the Homemaker than anything else has in a long time, and by Homemaker I don't just mean women. Men, too!

Anything that can inspire you to create, be more self-reliant and inspire you to make your home the best it can be is AWESOME!!!

Is Pinterest paying me to say all this? No. I've already been well-paid.

If you haven't signed up yet, do it! You won't regret it.

Here's the link to the biscuits. You will be amazed by their fluffy goodness!
http://www.extremepersonalmeasures.com/2011/07/7-up-biscuits.html

Why the heck...part two

Lately I am feeling quite accomplished when it comes to my to-do list.

 Now, I'm not sayin' there wasn't a billion things on my list, but after my latest spurt of energy there is now only 999,999,999 (is that nine hundred ninety nine million, nine hundred ninety nine thousand, nine hundred ninety nine? I was never very good in math!)

Either way, there is alot left to do.

A few months ago (okay--it was like eight months ago) a friend of mine moved. That was sad.

She was one of my daughters teachers at church. That made it even sadder.

 She was also in the group of ladies that help me govern the giggly young women at church. That made me most sad.

She has beautiful taste in home decor. That made me happy.

She had a bunch of stuff that she didn't want to have to move. That made me even happier.

One of the items was this broken piece of metal. That made me the happiest because I just knew I could do something with it. I didn't know what, but I was for sure going to try! It couldn't be that hard to learn to weld, right?

This poor misbegotten orphaned metal has been languishing in the laundry room, gathering dust, waiting for it's second life. I had finally given up learning to weld. At least for now...I still have mad, mad ideas whirling around in my head! but back to the matter at hand.




Prepare to be amazed at my faux-finishing skills. The item to be fixed: a metal scrolly-thingy (like my use of technical terms?) with a sunburst in the middle.

Can you guess what I used to fix the broken sunburst?

I bet you still can't guess what I used.

Okay, I'll tell you....cardboard!

Yep! Cardboard. I cut a piece in the desired shape, bent it like the other other pieces, painted it and hot glued it and voila!

And here it is, hanging above my door!

Not too shabby, eh?

What are you waiting for! Go fix that broken piece of metal you no doubt have floating around the dark recesses of your house!

And thanks April! Miss you! 

Why the heck haven't I done this sooner?

Do you ever find yourself saying, "Why the heck haven't I done this sooner?" I find that I am always thinking about doing a project, or trying a new recipe, or cleaning product, or restaurant, (etc, etc.) and then not doing said thing!

Sometimes I don't do whatever it is because I don't have time, but most of the time it is due to laziness. Hey, just keeping it real! Everyday I have a few hours of quiet time that I could be using to get things done but instead am currently spending that time watching old episodes of 'Doc Martin' on hulu. He is so maddening and helpless all at the same time. I just want things to work out for him and Louisa, but they probably never will because he is so clueless. Louisa is so beautiful and smart but why does she keep thinking things are going to change? I guess there are no better prospects in town for her....

Sorry! I digress from the subject at hand. Back to my lack of get-her-done-ness! Awhile back my friend gave me some homemade kitchen cleaners. I have LOVED using the all-purpose spray. It has a fresh minty smell that is so much better than the smell of Pine-sol. And it gives my cheap formica countertops a nice sheen. My friend told me she'd help me make more, but I haven't gotten around to making that happen. You know--because of Doc Martin and all.

Recently I was browsing one of my favorite entertaining websites, "Hostess With The Mostess", when I came across a recipe for counter-top spray and window cleaner. I was so excited. I went right and bought more vinegar so that I could try them out.

And that's just what I did. It took seconds to put together, and it smells so good! On the website you can even download free labels for the spray, though I'll probably make my own.

 Okay, I'll think about making my own, and then never do it, but one can hope!

Anyway, you should try this out. It smells great, it goes together so quickly, I am sure it is so much better for the environment--not to mention the asthmatics in your household--and it is cheap!

Here is the recipe:
3/4 cup water
3/4 cup vinegar
1/2 tsp dishsoap
10 drops essential oil (orange)
10 drops essential oil (peppermint)
(you can experiment with other oil scents and/or combinations but I have to say that I think the peppermint probably masks the very slight vinegar smell the best)

Mix thoroughly and pour in a spray bottle. Shake well before each use.

Here is the link to the original recipe.

It was so easy. I could have saved myself from buying that bottle of windex a few weeks ago. Why the heck didn't I do this sooner?

Enjoy!

I feel like life is just zooming by. Sometimes at the end of the day when my husband asks me what I did during the day, I draw a blank. It's not that I didn't do anything. It just passed so quickly that I can't remember.

Usually I have vacuumed but by the end of the day there are crumbs and bits of paper everywhere.

After spending an hour doing the dishes and getting the kitchen sparkling, there are 2 meals and an afternoon's worth of dishes stacked up like sky-scrapers.

If I've dusted, it doesn't matter. That is a forgotten chore. Nobody but me notices that. Well, me and one of my little piano students that likes to point out when my piano is dirty.

Forget about getting anyone to notice when the bathroom is clean.

I feel like I'm wasting valuable time cleaning, but if I were to stop doing it, the place would be unlivable.

I recently decided that it was high time to cut back on the drudgery and free up some time for something that I actually want to do.

I decided to start making the older girls do their own laundry. It all started one night in family home evening when we, as parents, were taking the opportunity to express, in a loving way, that we were tired of the kids always asking their siblings to things for them that they were perfectly capable of doing themselves (ie; getting them a drink/snack, fetching the remote/ipod/computer, taking their laundry upstairs with them, etc.) It was becoming an epidemic.

Curtis pointed out to them that sometimes we, the parents, ask them to do things for us because we need their help in that moment, not because we are lazy. And they should not confuse helping out the family with household chores with us just wanting to give them something to do.

Hannah decided to pipe up in that moment, "Sometimes mom asks us to do so much and she just doesn't realize how tired we are."

Oh no, she didn't!!!

I wasn't feeling very "loving" at this point. There have been so many instances in the past that Curtis has said to me, "The girls need to do more around the house," to which I almost always reply, "They work so hard on their schoolwork. They get up so early for seminary. The least I can do for them is make sure their laundry is done. At least I thought I was doing them a service.

My eyes have been opened ladies. I'm doing them no favors. So, I announced that I would no longer be providing this free service anymore and they were to do their own laundry, and only on the weekends when the electricity rate is cheaper, so they must budget out the their clothing wisely.

I also informed them that if they repeatedly washed clothes that had not been worn but accidentally were put in the dirty clothes due to negligently not putting them away in the first place, they were going to forfeit their allowance for that month. You know--to help pay for the extra electricity, water, and laundry soap that they had used.

It was a shock to them at first, but they soon got used to the idea. And only one daughter has forfeited her allowance. They can be taught!

And me? It has been wonderful! I no longer have towering piles of laundry all over the place all week long.

You should try it.

Wow, I know it's been alittle while since I signed in to my blog, but holy moley! Things have really changed on my dashboard. I'm not sure what the heck is going on at this point, but I'll try my best to make a sensible post.

So my little baby defies me at every turn with growing up and all. I keep threatening to ground her, but she continues to age. Drat! She turned 16 a few months ago and has now entered the "dating scene". THAT is a trip, let me tell you. The first time I let a boy pick her up and drive her away--just the two of them--was freaky!

After a few times fo her going on a date, I've gotten used to the idea. Sort of! Then, yesterday she used the term "romantic evening" to describe going to prom.

Talk about making my eye twitch. Hearing my daughter refer to any night out with the opposite sex as a "romantic evening" is enough to put me over the edge.

Anyway, I suppose I'll go ahead and post pictures of her and her prom date. Actually it's "dates". She has been to two different proms with two different boys in the last 3 weeks.

Prom #1 Hallie and Jacob

Prom #2 Hallie and Adam

I am so proud of my beautiful daughter. She really good at alot things,

especially growing up. A little too good if you ask me!

I can't believe...

I can't believe I haven't posted in 2 months!
I can't believe we're half way through February.
Where on earth has the time gone?

I have some major catching up to do. I've been mostly posting on f/b. It's faster and easier, but this is where I should be putting all my real thoughts, not just sound-bites. This is the journal. This is the chronicle of my family. Some day when my kids look back at our life they are going to wonder what we did for the last two months. Why are there no pictures? Where are the funny stories?

I'm gonna do better.

I have alot to say.

I have alot to tell.

Except not right now.

This is all.

Happy Day!

Salt Dough Ornaments

I have been a mom for long time now.

Sometimes that particular realization hits me up side the head, as if I had somehow forgotten.

In my convoluted mind I just experienced my first pregnancy a half dozen years ago (it's been 16), and I just sent my first child to kindergarten maybe, maybe, three years ago (oh, snap, it's been 12). Recently while remembering the year Curtis had surgery (heehee--a nose job), I at first thought it had been 4 years ago, then I remembered that I had been pregnant with Grace at the time (9 years ago).

Daily I am reminded that time is indeed passing, even though I feel that the yucky "stages" of being a mom drag on and on and on!!! And on!!! Last week I made a late-night trip to the store because we were almost out of diapers. Let's be clear here--I remember being so excited to buy them at the impending birth of each child. I would happily start stockpiling packs of diapers, wondering at the new little human that would be occupying them. Those days are loooong gone! I am so sick of diapers! I am sick of buying them. I am sick of changing them. And I am sick of having a diaper pail full of dirty ones on our back porch.

I have been buying diapers for almost 16 years straight (I had a blissful stretch of 2-years-diaper-free, two different times in the last decade and a half).

As I placed the huge box of diapers in the shopping cart I said to Hallie, "I hope this is the last big box of diapers I ever have to buy!" This may be a little premature for me wish for, but every day I am getting closer to realizing my dream. Little Violet is wanting to sit on the potty more and more and has even began to tinkle a little while sitting. Yay, Viley!!!

Back to the matter at hand:

"What does this have to do with Salt Dough Ornaments," you ask?

Nothing really.

Except that I am realizing that my babies are growing up. I know that right now is my time to have fun with them. Every year that they gain, I lose the chance to see them experience a particular activity at that particular age. A ten year old doesn't have the same joy and reaction that a five year old does when creating a holiday craft. Sure they like doing it, but it's different with a younger child. They are soooooo proud of themselves. It is delicious to watch first-hand.

Five year old hands are amazing. They belong to a baby, it seems, and yet they can do things a much older child can do. I am amazed daily at what my five-year-old's hands can do!

The other day I decided that I would have Zane make salt-dough ornaments while the older kids were at school. This is the last holiday season I have with him before he starts school. I'm getting teary just thinking about it. I need to have all the fun with him that I can.

I remembered that we were having play group over here last Tuesday and I thought it would be a fun activity for the little friends, too. So that's what we did.

And you should, too! Plan ahead. These need to bake for 2 hours and your little person might be a wee bit impatient. Maybe you can make them in the morning and then have them baking during (sacred and much revered) nap time. I always love a good blackmail scheme, "If you don't take a nap, you can't paint afterwards!"

For one or two small ornaments use these measurements:

1 tbsp. salt

2 tbsp. flour

1 tbsp. water

For more ornaments (about 9; depending on size) use these measurements:

1/2 cup salt

1 cup flour

1/2 cup water
Stir ingredients together in a small bowl. Remove from bowl and knead with your hands until smooth, or better yet, let the little hands knead the dough.

Spread a little flour on waxed paper and roll out dough and cut with cookie cutters into desired shape. Or you can mold it into any shape you want without rolling it out. Just remember that the thicker it is, it may not cook all the way through. Peel shape off the waxed paper and place on a baking sheet. (tip:I did this activity twice. The first time, I placed the shapes directly on the baking sheet. After they were baked, some of them came right off and others needed to be pried off with a spatula. I was afraid they would break, though they didn't. The second time, I lined the baking sheet with heavy duty foil and was able to peel them right off after they baked.)

Once the shapes are on the baking sheet, use a toothpick to open a little hole in the dough big enough for a ribbon to fit through. Just poke it in and twist it in a circular motion to open it up.

Bake at 25o degrees for 2 hours. Remove from oven and baking sheet and place on a wire rack to cool.

When completely cool, paint as desired. (tip: squirt a little dish soap in the paint and mix it in to make the paint washable)

The kids had so much fun with this activity. I remember making them when I was a child for Family Home Evening. My mom even still has a few of them that she hangs on her tree every year.

I don't even want to think about how many years ago that was! Surely it's only been a dozen or so :)

Enjoy your holidays, make lots of crafts, and create lots of memories!

Zane is 5!

So.

Zane is 5.

He turned five two weeks ago.

Why, oh, why haven't I posted this sooner?

I can't (or refuse, perhaps?) to answer that question.

However, I am able to say that he is the awesomest boy ever.

I love how he sings the "Maisy" song.

And the MarioParty music (on the wii) while he's playing.

He does it with a kind of nasally slur and a lisp.

It's not very musical to the ears, but cute nonetheless.

He makes funny observations.

I never knew he was paying attention to the speakers in sacrament until last week. While conducting, the first counselor announced that after the first speaker the congregation would sing "a rest hymn". Zane turned to me with a worried look on his face and asked, "Who are they going to arrest?"

I love the little man he is turning into.

We are constantly telling him to let the ladies into the car and house first. He gets mad and says, "No! Boys first!" I guess he's afraid of a lifetime of always being last.

Then, the other night I sat down to play Parcheesi with him and he surprised me by saying, "Ladies get to roll the dice first!"

Oh, how I adore him! Whatever will I do when he goes to kindergarten next year? I miss him already.

Love you buddy!

The Thankful Tree

In our front yard we have a tree that has been nothing but trouble since we moved into this house 5 years ago. I don't know if there is a huge rock right below it deep underground that is impeding the roots or what, but it has never been a great tree.


Every spring, with great pomp and confidence, I declare "This will the year the tree fills in". And at the end of every fall I conceded that it has not been a good year for the old tree. "But just wait 'til next year. Next year it will be glorious," is invariably added.

This year was no exception. It actually seemed like it was perking up around the end of July. I was so excited to finally be able to have an excuse to trim our front yard tree! Excited, that is, until we had that blast of hotness come and fry us to smithereens all August long.

That was the end for old ScraggleBritches. It fried up overnight with hardly a whimper. And so it has sat, dried-up, fried-up, and dead since then. Until last month when I decided I would harvest it's dead limbs for projects. "That old tree will finally be able to bring some joy," I announced.

"We are going to make a 'Halloween Tree' I told my family when they saw me enter the house with a huge, dead branch. We painted it black and added colored balls tied up with ribbons. The final touch was the pair of owls, keeping a keen eye on all our meals, threatening to swoop down and eat up the remains of our plates.


I apologize, this is not the greatest picture. But it was really fun to have around.

So fun in fact, that I decided to harvest another branch, complete with dried up leaves for effect, to make a "Thankful Tree".

Last night for Family Home Evening we decorated the tree. We really should have done it a few weeks ago. Then we could have been adding leaves to it all month, but do you think I'm that organized? Hey, I'm barely keeping my family running these days.



What I did:
*Cut off a dead branch from old ScraggleBritches
*Cut out some leaves (finally a use for all the ugly scrapbook paper that manufacturers sneak into packs that have the cute paper visible)
*Punch holes and attached ribbon, jute or twine to each leaf
*Stick dead branch into a pot, pitcher, planter, etc. Make sure it is stable.

What my kids did:
*Wrote things they are thankful for on the back of each leaf
*Tied the leaves onto the branches









"I am thankful for my parents" Quite possibly my favorite :)



"I am thankful for music and happiness" Cheesy, but I love it too!


I'm thankful for the Thankful Tree. I really wish we would have done it sooner. I hate that we have to replace it with something else next week.

I really need to organize myself better next year. Heck! I need to organize myself better this year. Starting with getting a new tree to replace Old Stumpy out front.

Franken-Pinkie

About 2 weeks ago Curtis was having way too much fun at work. He was in the middle of a rousing game of football during recess with some 8th grade boys when he hurt his pinkie trying to catch a ball. It turns out he broke said pinkie.

Seriously, what kind of adult breaks his finger during recess?

It was kind of funny at first. But then it turned into a real pain-in-the-you-know-what. He had a pretty bad fracture. The bone had broken and then twisted. Ouch!

These pictures were taken on Saturday, 10 days after the "incident".

One day last week Curtis said, "My finger feels like it's just hanging there," to which I replied, "That's because it is just hanging there!"

After a week and a half waiting for the worker's comp paperwork to go through her finally had surgery this week.

He did great. He has two pins in his finger, hence the "Franken-Pinkie" moniker.

Today he back to work (finally!!!!). He has been driving me crazy! (He missed 1 day the first week, then last week he developed a sinus infection so he was home for three days and now this week he has been home two days.) But the poor thing has conference in Tucson Thursday and Friday, so he's leaving tonight.

I'll kind of miss the old fella. I've gotten used to having him around.

Hallie's Sweet 16

My life is flashing before my eyes and it's majorly freaking me out!!!

When you first have a baby, all the experienced parents say, "Your children will be grown up before you know it!"

Some days the truth of that statement is kind of a nice thing! There are stages I don't really like, IE: diapers, spitting up, not sleeping through the night, two-year-old temper tantrums, the dishonesty and lying a kid tries out for a few years between age 4 and 7. I could go on and on.

On the other hand, there are stages that I want to last forever, IE: cuddling a sleepy baby, the sweet smell of a pink baby after bath-time, the chubby hugs of a two-year-old, the adoration of a 4-year-old, the funny, kind of grown-up things a seven-year-old says. I could go on and on here, too.

One thing a parent is never prepared for is the impending adult-hood of their sweet-smelling, cuddling, temper-tantrum throwing, child.

Hallie is one-step closer to the day when she will no longer need us to make her important decisions for her. Okay, we don't make all of her decisions for her, but we do help her make some decisions.

Yesterday was her birthday. *sniff*

She's sixteen, which means I am officially old enough to have a sixteen-year-old child. Never mind the fact that, technically speaking, I've been old enough to have a child that age for well on a decade (you know-if I had a baby when I was 12. Hey! It happens!)

Anyways, enough about me, the feeble, dried-up old prune of a lady.

I hope Hallie had a good day. We sure love her. And we appreciate her more than we could ever express to her.

She made us parents, something we desperately longed to be for two and a half years before she came.

And someday (waaaay far away in the future!!!) she'll make us grandparents. Waaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!!!!!

At least we'll have a sleepy, sweet-smelling baby to cuddle with without the sleepless nights and gross diapers.

Happy Halloween!!!

I'm a little worn out today. Last week was a big week. It was so big I had to shelve my "BIG" project that I teased you about in the last post. I was going strong on it, full steam ahead when ---well, life happened.

Why does that always seem to happen? Hopefully I'll complete it this week.

Some of the things that went on last week:

~Curtis broke his pinky finger (actually he broke it at the end of the previous week).

~I helped my girl's throw a Before-Dance Party at our house. We had pizza and snacks, games and 17 teenagers that Saturday night. Then a few other parents helped us drive them all to the dance. Talk about crazy-fast talking, loud laughter and hormone over-load!

~I had to cancel several days of piano lessons to drive Grace to the school's football games where she was cheerleading. She was so cute. And she has the perfect voice for cheerleading. That girl can rattle windows with her vocal chords.

~I was (a little bit) in charge of a Tri-Ward Youth Halloween Party/Dance. That took alot of planning and calling to various people in other wards. Every ward had assignments and things they were in charge of--I just had to make sure all those assignments were ready to happen. Consequently- amid all the phone calls I had to make, my phone's battery wouldn't hold a charge for more than, like, 27 seconds, so as soon as I heard the phone start it's tell-tale "I am dying, get to other phone" beeps, I would race up the stairs before it had a chance to die completely, which meant that I, being in the exemplary physical shape that I am, was huffing and heaving and gasping on the telephone. Sorry if you were on the receiving end of one of those conversations!

~I was (a little bit) in charge of our Ward's Trunk-or-Treat on Saturday. Again, every auxilliary had assignments--I just had to make sure it all kept going. We had a carnival, chili cook-off and the Young Men did a Haunted House. It was fun. Exhausting, but fun!

Come to think of it--I don't know how I ended up in charge. I might, just might, have taken charge at the relief of others. I need to keep my mouth shut next time there is a planning meeting for some function or other.

I probably won't be able to, though. I can't help it.

Anyways, back to my crazy week.

~I threw a family dinner/birthday party for my mom here yesterday after church. It was fun and I was thankful that my family all made the looooooong drive to our house.

Today I'm pooped. I need to go to the store and get more candy for tonight.

Ugh. I just want to curl up on the couch for the whole day and watch hgtv. Maybe I can do that most of the day. Actually, Curtis can stop at the store on his way home from work and pick up the candy.

That's what I'm gonna do! Yay Me!


Consequently, I did end up decorating for the Halloween. Just not ALL of our decorations made it up. And I added a few new ones. I actually took pictures for a "how-to post" for 2 different Halloween kid's crafts. They just didn't seem to make it up on the old blog. Hmmmm....I wonder why?

However--since I posted last year's pictures this year, I can post this year's pictures next year!!!

My kids should look pretty much the same, right?

Happy Halloween!!!

Looking Back: Last year is sooo last year!

I am working on something big. I mean big! I mean really big!!!

As a result of said "big-ness" I haven't even decorated for Halloween.

"What?!?!?!", you say? Yeah, you heard me correctly. My "big" thing takes precedence. Once you see it(Hopefully next week. Fingers are duly crossed), you'll realize why I didn't want to drag out the same old decorations we've been using for more than a decade. To make my blog feel more festive I am posting last year's craft. Boy my kids have grown in just a year. Makes me a little sad. But I'll get over it when I finish my "big" project!

So excited!!!

Waaaay back in 1999 I was a different mother.I had two little girls that I vowed to do crafts with EVERYDAY!!! For Halloween That year we made bats out of toilet paper rolls (I had learned of the craft when I had been a preschool teacher with Phx. Parks and Rec).
I love those little bats. Every year I hang them up. Two for Hallie and two for Hannah. My other kids, okay, namely Grace, because let's face it, Zane is still clueless when it comes to this kind of stuff, has asked countless times to make bats of her own that will be immortalized by being hung every Halloween.
This past Saturday I finally relented. I declared it "Bat Making Day", errr, "Bat Making Afternoon", okay, "Bat Making Hour!!!" Hooray!
Here is a tutorial for you. Feel free to make any changes to any step. Grace did.

What you need: 1 toilet paper roll per bat (we made 6 bats: that's about 10 minutes worth of toilet paper in this house)

black paint (tip: squirt a little dish soap in you paint and mix it up to make your paint washable)

glue (tip: glue sticks don't work so good. Good ole Elmer's did the trick)

scissors

black card stock or construction paper

stapler

white paper (to cut out eyes) or googly eyes (couldn't find ours)

Step 1: paint the toilet paper rolls completely. Let dry.
Step 2: Cut out wings from black paper. I cut out one large set of wings but Grace preferred to cut out 2 separate wings. Personally I think 1 large wing is better. Don't tell Grace I said that.)

Step 3: Gently press one side of dried toilet paper roll together and cut out a notch on top to make the ears (see picture above), be careful not to fully make a crease in the roll.

Step 4: Press the bottom together and cut out a half-moon shape. It's okay if you make a crease in the roll here. You'll see why.
Step 5: Staple the bottom together to create the lower half of the body and the feet. (P.S. that's why the crease didn't matter here. Re-cap: Crease on top=bad. Crease on bottom=okay.) Okay? Okay.

Step 6: Glue wings to back of body. Zane originally opted for the glue stick and it didn't work. So we used Elmer's instead.
Step 7: Wow. This is alot of steps. Don't worry, we're almost done. Make the eyes with the white paper, or glue on cute googly eyes (Where the heck did I put those?)

Step 8: Take a picture of your little monsters and their creations.

We hung ours with string in the doorway. Hang yours wherever the heck you want to. In the picture below you can see one of the originals from 1999, with upside-down wings and all. Hey, I had to let 4 year old Hallie do some part of it on her own. It's stuck to the wall right next to the pumpkin picture from 2006 and Scarecrow from 2004. Yes, I hang out the same old stuff every year, adding as we go. The kids love seeing their old stuff that they made way back when.



You know, the good ole days.



And sometimes I catch a glimpse of the mom I used to be.





Happy Wednesday!