It's Monday, the beginning of yet another busy week for yours truly. Can you believe it, we leave this coming Saturday (the 18th) for Boston. I was just there in July...but then again I didn't visit with any family either.
My daughter and I watched a show on HGTV called "Kitchen Crimes". We were both seriously grossed out! One million germs (and counting) on the kitchen counters...eeeew! Makes me wonder what their bathrooms were like. Seeing the dog stealing food from off of the kitchen counter about put me over the edge. It also made me think about our cat. What IS she doing while we're sleeping?
I have my spray bottle (it contains water and bleach) in hand and wipe down my kitchen counter tops every morning, heaven knows my cat was probably walking all over it while we were sleeping. What I use is not an expensive cleaner and it doesn't take very much bleach, about 2 or so good drops per cup. Spray it on and let it stand on the counter tops for 2 minutes then wipe it down. There you have it, germs that can make you and your family very ill are gone! Food poisoning is fast becoming more common that you think. I've suffered food poisoning a few times since being married. Most of it was at the hands of a beloved family member (no not my husband) and once from a fast food restaurant. It all has to do with how clean your food preparation area is, properly storing said food and the #1 thing...you and anyone else that helps you in the kitchen has washed their hands with soap and warm water.
Food storage is another thing you really need to pay close attention to. Don't let meat defrost on the counter tops, that's just inviting trouble. Put it on a plate on a lower shelf in your refrigerator. Why a lower shelf? In case some of the blood/meat juice drips off of the plate you don't want it to contaminate other food items in the refrigerator. After your meal, promptly store all leftovers in containers and either freeze or refrigerate them. If possible label with the date and what is inside of the container. Keep leftovers in your refrigerator for no more than 3 days. I like to freeze my leftovers. I use those handy plastic boxes from Glad, I label them (I prefer not to have a surprise as to what I'm defrosting for dinner) and there you have it!
Pay close attention to how cold your refrigerator temperature is, is it cold enough? What about those expiration dates on things such as eggs? They are there for a reason, salmonella can set in, so dispose of them if they are past the date. You wouldn't think of pouring yourself or your children a glass of milk from a carton of expired milk, so why would you you use expired eggs?
The Holidays are upon us now, and it's time to think about food safety. No one wants food poisoning for Thanksgiving...most of all me!
Monday, November 13, 2006
Sunday, November 12, 2006
Saturday Afternoon
So there it was, Saturday afternoon. After getting through what seemed to be a mountain of laundry (or what I lovingly call Mount Washmore). I was thinking about making dinner. I really didn't want to go though the hassle of making another batch of pasta dough. I looked in the refrigerator and found that package of won-ton skins I had bought to make pot stickers. I had seen a cooking show earlier in the day that talked about using those for making raviolis. So what the heck, I decided to give it a try. They made a very delicate ravioli. So I'd say yes, by all means use those packaged won-ton skins...they work very well! Our son Andrew, being the always hungry growing boy that he is gobbled them right up!
The kids mad an attempt at building a snow fort in the fluffy dry snow. When they came in for the day, they were exhausted but happy. My DH of course had to go to work for a few hours, while I was a house potato. Yup, I stayed inside and piddled around doing this and that. I'd have to say that it was a fairly productive day for all of us.
The kids mad an attempt at building a snow fort in the fluffy dry snow. When they came in for the day, they were exhausted but happy. My DH of course had to go to work for a few hours, while I was a house potato. Yup, I stayed inside and piddled around doing this and that. I'd have to say that it was a fairly productive day for all of us.
Friday, November 10, 2006
If this was a School Day it would be a Snow Day
So here it is a few hours later...for me it feels more like 2 O'clock in the afternoon rather than the actual time 8:20 in the morning, eek! I've managed to rearrange the pantry, have a Ragout simmering on the stove and a batch of chocolate chip cookies baking in the oven. I've washed down the kitchen, dried and put away all of the hand washed items, and am ready for a spot of tea. So what have my husband and children been doing all that time while I've done all of that work? They've been in a blissful slumber in their beds. My husband is off from work, the kids have yet another day off from school. If this was a school day it would be a snow day, no doubt about it!
I hear the humming of the snow plows outside. One side of our street has been plowed, now for the other side to be done. The snow is still falling ever so softly, it looks like the light and fluffy kind of snow not at all the wet kind needed to successfully build a snowman, but it's snow that the kids can play in none the less.
I'm using my silicone baking mat for the first time. I have always used parchment paper for lining my baking sheets but I've decided to test drive one of those a silicone mats. Hey the price was right...got it at Hobby Lobby with that 50% off all Wilton products Internet coupon a few weeks back. Depending upon how this goes, I just might break down and purchase a sil-pat brand mat for my larger baking pans. I've always heard good things about them and now I'm beginning to wonder why It took me so long to get one. Maybe it's the price, maybe? Heck of course it was! But I think that I'm now ready to do the switch. I'm tired of being a slave to parchment paper...at $4.95 to $5.95 a roll (depending upon where you can find it to buy) it's rather pricey! I will continue to use it for cakes and cheesecakes but I think that it's time to make the big jump. Hey maybe if I'm lucky I'll get some gift certificates from Williams-Sonoma for Christmas :) Now I've gone and switched over to silicone oven mitts and pot holders a few months ago. I especially love using them when I am draining large pots into the sink. No more worrying about the oven mit getting wet with hot pasta water and burning my hands!
I hear the humming of the snow plows outside. One side of our street has been plowed, now for the other side to be done. The snow is still falling ever so softly, it looks like the light and fluffy kind of snow not at all the wet kind needed to successfully build a snowman, but it's snow that the kids can play in none the less.
I'm using my silicone baking mat for the first time. I have always used parchment paper for lining my baking sheets but I've decided to test drive one of those a silicone mats. Hey the price was right...got it at Hobby Lobby with that 50% off all Wilton products Internet coupon a few weeks back. Depending upon how this goes, I just might break down and purchase a sil-pat brand mat for my larger baking pans. I've always heard good things about them and now I'm beginning to wonder why It took me so long to get one. Maybe it's the price, maybe? Heck of course it was! But I think that I'm now ready to do the switch. I'm tired of being a slave to parchment paper...at $4.95 to $5.95 a roll (depending upon where you can find it to buy) it's rather pricey! I will continue to use it for cakes and cheesecakes but I think that it's time to make the big jump. Hey maybe if I'm lucky I'll get some gift certificates from Williams-Sonoma for Christmas :) Now I've gone and switched over to silicone oven mitts and pot holders a few months ago. I especially love using them when I am draining large pots into the sink. No more worrying about the oven mit getting wet with hot pasta water and burning my hands!
Scrapbooking in Chronological Order
One of the main reason that I stopped using strap hinge style scrapbook albums is because of the way it forces you to scrap in chronological order the other was scrapbooking on 2 sides of one piece of paper, oh how that drove me bonkers, LOL! Any way, sure we like to have our scrapbooks arranged in that order but heck scrapping in order? To me, that just never made any sense at all. I'm all over the place when I scrapbook. One day I might be in the mood to do layouts based on our vacation to Hawaii, another day it could be about Christmas Ornaments or my daughter's birthday party. I'm all over the place when it comes to scrapbooking and I wouldn't change a thing about the way I scrap!
On the suggestion of a friend I tried having a separate Christmas album. One where you keep all of the Christmas layouts from years past. Well I would have only 1 or two layouts from Christmas and it made my family album seem off kilter or as most people would refer to as being off balance. So I put them back in. Now I could possibly see myself making a Christmas album, if we were vacationing somewhere over Christmas break and I had tons of layouts to go into said album. Other than that, I would just put those 2 or 4 pages into the album to round out the year.
Lets talk about the need for some of us to make a 2 page spread of everything, did you know that It's really not necessary to do that? Some scrappers think that it gives the book harmony to make these pages. The other thing is the 1 page spread..making one then making another page that faces opposite of it in the same or very similar colors because that is supposed to make the page flow. In case you're wondering, I did a lot of that when I used strap hinge albums but then I stopped. It was like one day I said to myself...why am I doing this? Then the next thing was...Why am I continuing to use these albums that make me feel so frustrated? A couple of my girlfriends back in Virginia tried to use the "Oh Sandie, all of your albums won't look the same on the shelf if you switch to using post bound top loading albums". Like somehow all that mattered was that the albums have some sort of uniform look to them while on the book shelf...that to me is just plain nuts! Since I switched over to using post bound albums back in 2001, I have had this sense of freedom in creating or should I say jumping around in creating layouts for my many albums.
I create from within from what I feel. If one page is muted tones of blues and greens, the next page could very well be bright pink and orange with a touch of yellow and lime green. No matter what pages goes next to what it's going to be beautiful. This is something that you are creating from your heart, for your families enjoyment, heck for that matter your own enjoyment!
The other day I worked on a layout of my daughter Hannah's birthday, by the way her birthday was back in July. Before that I did a layout on baby rabbits, those pictures were taken in June, then there's the layout with roses and that was from February. The pictures are going to be there waiting for you no matter what. When I first started scrapbooking back in 1999 I was very behind. I had been married 9 years, had 2 babies and have been through several moves across the USA. By June 2000 I had actually been caught up, I had quite a few albums done. Now by October 2000 I was living in yet another new state and was very much behind behind on all of the pictures we took over the summer months (and I only get more behind from there). What I am trying to say is, don't be in such a hurry to get caught up. Sometimes it's better to wait on scrapping some events. I've done that with our Hawaiian vacation pictures, I couldn't find the right papers or embellishments that I wanted to work with so I held off on scrapping some of those photos. But whatever your reasons are on waiting to scrap certain events do make sure to take notes and keep them with your pictures! That way you can come back to them and have the information you need for your journaling.
Whatever you do, enjoy the ride. Scrapbooking should be a fun and enjoyable hobby. Once it begins to feel like a chore it's time to put it away for while. Don't worry your pictures will still be there waiting for you once you're ready to work on them again.
On the suggestion of a friend I tried having a separate Christmas album. One where you keep all of the Christmas layouts from years past. Well I would have only 1 or two layouts from Christmas and it made my family album seem off kilter or as most people would refer to as being off balance. So I put them back in. Now I could possibly see myself making a Christmas album, if we were vacationing somewhere over Christmas break and I had tons of layouts to go into said album. Other than that, I would just put those 2 or 4 pages into the album to round out the year.
Lets talk about the need for some of us to make a 2 page spread of everything, did you know that It's really not necessary to do that? Some scrappers think that it gives the book harmony to make these pages. The other thing is the 1 page spread..making one then making another page that faces opposite of it in the same or very similar colors because that is supposed to make the page flow. In case you're wondering, I did a lot of that when I used strap hinge albums but then I stopped. It was like one day I said to myself...why am I doing this? Then the next thing was...Why am I continuing to use these albums that make me feel so frustrated? A couple of my girlfriends back in Virginia tried to use the "Oh Sandie, all of your albums won't look the same on the shelf if you switch to using post bound top loading albums". Like somehow all that mattered was that the albums have some sort of uniform look to them while on the book shelf...that to me is just plain nuts! Since I switched over to using post bound albums back in 2001, I have had this sense of freedom in creating or should I say jumping around in creating layouts for my many albums.
I create from within from what I feel. If one page is muted tones of blues and greens, the next page could very well be bright pink and orange with a touch of yellow and lime green. No matter what pages goes next to what it's going to be beautiful. This is something that you are creating from your heart, for your families enjoyment, heck for that matter your own enjoyment!
The other day I worked on a layout of my daughter Hannah's birthday, by the way her birthday was back in July. Before that I did a layout on baby rabbits, those pictures were taken in June, then there's the layout with roses and that was from February. The pictures are going to be there waiting for you no matter what. When I first started scrapbooking back in 1999 I was very behind. I had been married 9 years, had 2 babies and have been through several moves across the USA. By June 2000 I had actually been caught up, I had quite a few albums done. Now by October 2000 I was living in yet another new state and was very much behind behind on all of the pictures we took over the summer months (and I only get more behind from there). What I am trying to say is, don't be in such a hurry to get caught up. Sometimes it's better to wait on scrapping some events. I've done that with our Hawaiian vacation pictures, I couldn't find the right papers or embellishments that I wanted to work with so I held off on scrapping some of those photos. But whatever your reasons are on waiting to scrap certain events do make sure to take notes and keep them with your pictures! That way you can come back to them and have the information you need for your journaling.
Whatever you do, enjoy the ride. Scrapbooking should be a fun and enjoyable hobby. Once it begins to feel like a chore it's time to put it away for while. Don't worry your pictures will still be there waiting for you once you're ready to work on them again.
Winter Wonderland
Looking out the window this morning I am delighted to see a nice white blanket of snow coating everything. It looks so calm and peaceful, the snow glistening with the moonlight. Maybe the snow will stay with us long enough for me to get some pictures outside with the kids. Looks like it's time to pull out the sled and maybe even build a snowman or even have a snowball fight.
Thursday, November 09, 2006
Pasta Milano -- Recipes from WCPO.com, the Web site of WCPO-TV in Cincinnati, Ohio
I found this little gem of a recipe and HAD to share it with you all, Enjoy!
Ps- I'd stick with making the sauce from scratch versus buying a jar sauce, the flavor is sooooo much better when you make it from scratch!
Pasta Milano -- Recipes from WCPO.com, the Web site of WCPO-TV in Cincinnati, Ohio: "Macaroni Grill's Pasta Milano
Recipe by: Macaroni Grill
Web produced by: Mark Sickmiller
7/24/2006 12:53:08 PM
Butter, 1 tbl.
Mushrooms, Sliced, 1/2 cup
Sliced grilled chicken, 3 wt oz
Sun Dried Tomatoes, 1 oz
Roasted Garlic Alfredo Sauce, 3/4 cup
Grated Parmesan Cheese, 2 tbsp
Bow Tie Pasta, cooked, 8 wt oz (dry weight)
Italian Parsley Sprig, 1 sprig
In a sauté pan, melt the butter and sauté the mushrooms until tender, about 30 seconds.
Add the sliced chicken and sun-dried tomatoes and sauté with mushrooms until heated.
Add the roasted garlic Alfredo sauce and 1 tbls of the Parmesan. Heat and stir well until the cheese has melted.
Place the bowtie pasta in the pan with the Alfredo mixture and mix well.
Place all on a plate and garnish with remaining Parmesan cheese and Italian parsley.
To save time, use the pre-cooked sliced chicken that can be found in the deli isle at your grocery store and a pre-made, jarred Alfredo sauce.
For better flavor, use freshly grated parmesan cheese. "
Ps- I'd stick with making the sauce from scratch versus buying a jar sauce, the flavor is sooooo much better when you make it from scratch!
Pasta Milano -- Recipes from WCPO.com, the Web site of WCPO-TV in Cincinnati, Ohio: "Macaroni Grill's Pasta Milano
Recipe by: Macaroni Grill
Web produced by: Mark Sickmiller
7/24/2006 12:53:08 PM
Butter, 1 tbl.
Mushrooms, Sliced, 1/2 cup
Sliced grilled chicken, 3 wt oz
Sun Dried Tomatoes, 1 oz
Roasted Garlic Alfredo Sauce, 3/4 cup
Grated Parmesan Cheese, 2 tbsp
Bow Tie Pasta, cooked, 8 wt oz (dry weight)
Italian Parsley Sprig, 1 sprig
In a sauté pan, melt the butter and sauté the mushrooms until tender, about 30 seconds.
Add the sliced chicken and sun-dried tomatoes and sauté with mushrooms until heated.
Add the roasted garlic Alfredo sauce and 1 tbls of the Parmesan. Heat and stir well until the cheese has melted.
Place the bowtie pasta in the pan with the Alfredo mixture and mix well.
Place all on a plate and garnish with remaining Parmesan cheese and Italian parsley.
To save time, use the pre-cooked sliced chicken that can be found in the deli isle at your grocery store and a pre-made, jarred Alfredo sauce.
For better flavor, use freshly grated parmesan cheese. "
Cooking and Creating
By the way I'm feeling you would think that it was a beautiful sunny day...but alas, it's been snow flurries ever since 5:30 am. My husbands office Thanksgiving party went well. That cheesecake went fast today! There were many wonderful things...roast turkey and ham, the dreamiest garlic mashed potatoes ever, salads of every kind imaginable (and they all looked great). It was quite the spread that the group put on.
Now here I am back home and I'm in the mood to make spaghetti sauce...from scratch. I am so in the mood to chop onions, peel and shred carrots, chop up celery, yellow and zucchini squash. Yes it all goes into my spaghetti sauce, heck the sauce is a meal in it's self, LOL! Later on this afternoon I'm going to pull out that pasta machine and make some more homemade noodles and cheese raviolis. I'm also in the mood to make Alfredo Sauce from scratch.
While at the commissary I bought some stocking stuffers. I love this time of year, it's when the specialty imported foods are brought in (m'm m'm). The Stollen from Germany the Brussadella (Italian bread cake) from Italy are just a few of my favorites!
Now here I am back home and I'm in the mood to make spaghetti sauce...from scratch. I am so in the mood to chop onions, peel and shred carrots, chop up celery, yellow and zucchini squash. Yes it all goes into my spaghetti sauce, heck the sauce is a meal in it's self, LOL! Later on this afternoon I'm going to pull out that pasta machine and make some more homemade noodles and cheese raviolis. I'm also in the mood to make Alfredo Sauce from scratch.
While at the commissary I bought some stocking stuffers. I love this time of year, it's when the specialty imported foods are brought in (m'm m'm). The Stollen from Germany the Brussadella (Italian bread cake) from Italy are just a few of my favorites!
What Scrapbooking item are you?
What scrapbooking item are you?
You are a pair of SCISSORS!You're cutting edge, baby! You cut through life with ease, always keeping others on the edge. You have the power to simplify things by just cutting them out. But scissors beware - you may cut some of the important things out of your life without realizing it, in your need to keep trim!
Take this quiz!
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I had to laugh when I saw the results of my answers...try it and see how it makes you laugh!
Kicking it Out!
Kicking out what you wonder? As you know, I've been kicking out clutter on a pretty regular basis this past month or so. The yesterday I kicked out (made) a great cheesecake yesterday for my husbands' office lunch party (that's today). This morning (this for me is remarkable) I have managed to finish up the twenty that's "20" 8x8 scrapbook pages that I started yesterday afternoon...uh huh! Oh yeah! I've got to print out a few more pictures for the album and I'm done!
As if you couldn't tell, I'm feeling pretty good about my latest accomplishments in scrapbooking. As one scrapbooker to another we all go through ruts or non-creative periods. I wouldn't say that I was in a rut but more like a funk. I get that way when I can't find the papers or embellishments that I'm needing to finish off a particular layout. It's frustrating to say the least. But with this new Scrapbooking Store in town (Scrapping Ladies 2)...that is sooooooooo going to change! I popped in there yesterday with my daughter Hannah on the way to her orthodontic appointment. Hannah found some papers that she "needed" and I bought some chipboard book plates (Yes, I've become addicted to chipboard). I think that I need to get a job working in that store!
As if you couldn't tell, I'm feeling pretty good about my latest accomplishments in scrapbooking. As one scrapbooker to another we all go through ruts or non-creative periods. I wouldn't say that I was in a rut but more like a funk. I get that way when I can't find the papers or embellishments that I'm needing to finish off a particular layout. It's frustrating to say the least. But with this new Scrapbooking Store in town (Scrapping Ladies 2)...that is sooooooooo going to change! I popped in there yesterday with my daughter Hannah on the way to her orthodontic appointment. Hannah found some papers that she "needed" and I bought some chipboard book plates (Yes, I've become addicted to chipboard). I think that I need to get a job working in that store!
Wednesday, November 08, 2006
I love Walgreens Photo Center!
Alright this is an all time record in photo processing for me. I uploaded my photos and placed my order with Walgreens.com for 56 prints. Are you ready…I received e-mail notification in 7 minutes that my order was ready for pick up! WOW! Talk about speedy fast! I’m doing the happy dance! I know that there’s no way that I could ever print out 56 quality photos in 7 minutes on my little Cannon Photo Printer, at best it prints one quality photo per minute.
Finding Inspiration in everyday things
Now matter where I turn there is something to capture my attention, something to draw inspiration from... Be it the 7 foot Sunflowers that are drying in the sun in my neighbors flower bed or the Lavender plants in my own flower bed that have gone to seed. There are very few trees left with leaves and I suspect that they (the leaves) will soon be gone. For me, I draw a lot of my color inspiration from nature. I can remember the first time that I got into color, it was with the brilliant colors of Autumn when we were living in Maine. Nothing compares to the colors of the leaves on the trees in New England. It's something with the crisp Autumn air and the soil that brings such brilliant colors to those leaves. Summer time in Virginia was amazing! Flowers were everywhere! The dazzling variety of plant life that grows in abundance in someplace as humid as Yorktown Virgina. I had flowers in every color of the rainbow. For my blues, greens, shades of tan I think back upon my visits to the Ocean...the Pacific, the Atlantic, and the Caribbean. Tropical breezes, how the water felt lapping up around my ankles while walking in the water, seeing children happily playing in the water or building sandcastles on the beach.
Now how about seeing the colors of Christmas? The romantic hues of gold, silver and of course bright red cranberries and the deep forest green of an evergreen tree.
Today's inspiration is from my neighbors Sunflowers. They're so tall with the flower heads bending over from the weight of the seeds. The beautiful shades of dark gold, brown and a weathered green call to me...I love it! I've been watching the little birds come to the flowers and pick of the seeds.
My wish for you is to look out of your window and find something that inspires you!
Now how about seeing the colors of Christmas? The romantic hues of gold, silver and of course bright red cranberries and the deep forest green of an evergreen tree.
Today's inspiration is from my neighbors Sunflowers. They're so tall with the flower heads bending over from the weight of the seeds. The beautiful shades of dark gold, brown and a weathered green call to me...I love it! I've been watching the little birds come to the flowers and pick of the seeds.
My wish for you is to look out of your window and find something that inspires you!
Tuesday, November 07, 2006
Hannah's 11th Birthday ...layout
Here's my latest layout, journaling and all. I had these pictures printed up last week and I just went with the colors I was feeling. I love every aspect of this layout, it just has preteen girls written all over it! The colors and bright and vibrant like their individual personalities. From the doodlebug rub-on's the the Bazzill chipboard letter "f" to the Prima flowers and the making memories clear birthday frame. This was just plain FUN to make! I just know that my daughter will be thrilled when she sees this layout today:)
Spain
Our trip to Spain did provide us with some nice pictures, too bad that was about the only nice thing about the trip. It's a good thing that the camera doesn't capture smell because the town was smelling like rotting meat and garbage ...that doesn't paint a pretty picture. Then the fact that we were not able to find a place to eat lunch because every store and shop closed for siesta (that was rather funny). Then there was the nightmare of the 4 of us being dropped off on the highway by the bus driver because he missed our stop and was unwilling to correct his mistake and take us back there. Wearing our backpacks, the kids (who by the way were real troopers), my husband and I and were walking down the highway in Spain, nice! These pictures are from the little town Of Rota, which is right on the coast.Saturday, November 04, 2006
Rumor has it...
That there is a new Scrapbooking Store in town. I've herd from a few different sources that the Scrappin' Ladies from Sioux Falls have opened a store out in Rapid City. I must go and seek out this new place. Ive also gotten wind of a new Stamping Store having been opened out here. This is exactly what I would have hoped for! So sometime this next week I will go out in search of these stores. I'm so curious to see what they have, I sure hope that it's a wider variety of merchandise that what we already have out here. Because if it's much of the same I will be highly disappointed.
I learned yesterday that 3 families that we know have orders to move, 2 of them are going to Florida and the other Hawaii. Needless to say, I would be doing the happy dance if we had assignments like those! All 3 families are going off to wonderful assignments! I wish them all the joy and happiness a military assignment could bring. At least they will all be warm :)
After being broken for almost a week, the vertical blinds in the dining room are fixed. The maintenance guy did say that they are on their last leg though. We've been here for 3 years, and who knows how long thy were here before that. These places are like apartments, high occupant turn over. There are so many things that can and do go wrong with place like this for as many reasons as there are stars in the sky. But once someone moves in and has set their sights on truly fixing those problems and are not satisfied with just getting by with a patch job...well that's when real improvements start to occur. There still are quite a few problems with this house BUT I've also managed to fix quite a few of them as well.
Things that have been replaced or repaired since moving here
NEW Air Conditioning Unit
NEW Water Heater
New Stove
NEW Refrigerator
NEW lighting fixture in dining room
NEW Ceiling Fan with light in BOTH of the kids bedrooms
New and totally replaced Deck this took some real work but it was replaced!
New Windows in master bedroom and daughters bedroom the old ones had to be replaced because of cracks.
Hole in the sub-flooring in living room fixed (I proved that I was not imagining a hole there once the carpet was peeled back)
Leaking windows fixed- water would pour in like a waterfall under the sill when it rained- it was pretty scary when that happened.
Replaced light fixture in the utility closet aka My Scrapbook Nook. Lets just say that the naked light bulb thing was not working for me, LOL!
The toilet that would flush on it's own- fixed!
Warped steps on front porch replaced/fixed.
and I have the water heater purged every 6 months to keep the marbles from forming because of the hard water mineral deposits.
I hope to leave this house in better condition than when the keys were given to us to live in it. I don't want the new tenants to have to worry about the stove blowing up on them of having a water heater that sounds like a metal can of marbles is being shaken next to their heads when they are trying to sleep.
I learned yesterday that 3 families that we know have orders to move, 2 of them are going to Florida and the other Hawaii. Needless to say, I would be doing the happy dance if we had assignments like those! All 3 families are going off to wonderful assignments! I wish them all the joy and happiness a military assignment could bring. At least they will all be warm :)
After being broken for almost a week, the vertical blinds in the dining room are fixed. The maintenance guy did say that they are on their last leg though. We've been here for 3 years, and who knows how long thy were here before that. These places are like apartments, high occupant turn over. There are so many things that can and do go wrong with place like this for as many reasons as there are stars in the sky. But once someone moves in and has set their sights on truly fixing those problems and are not satisfied with just getting by with a patch job...well that's when real improvements start to occur. There still are quite a few problems with this house BUT I've also managed to fix quite a few of them as well.
Things that have been replaced or repaired since moving here
NEW Air Conditioning Unit
NEW Water Heater
New Stove
NEW Refrigerator
NEW lighting fixture in dining room
NEW Ceiling Fan with light in BOTH of the kids bedrooms
New and totally replaced Deck this took some real work but it was replaced!
New Windows in master bedroom and daughters bedroom the old ones had to be replaced because of cracks.
Hole in the sub-flooring in living room fixed (I proved that I was not imagining a hole there once the carpet was peeled back)
Leaking windows fixed- water would pour in like a waterfall under the sill when it rained- it was pretty scary when that happened.
Replaced light fixture in the utility closet aka My Scrapbook Nook. Lets just say that the naked light bulb thing was not working for me, LOL!
The toilet that would flush on it's own- fixed!
Warped steps on front porch replaced/fixed.
and I have the water heater purged every 6 months to keep the marbles from forming because of the hard water mineral deposits.
I hope to leave this house in better condition than when the keys were given to us to live in it. I don't want the new tenants to have to worry about the stove blowing up on them of having a water heater that sounds like a metal can of marbles is being shaken next to their heads when they are trying to sleep.
Friday, November 03, 2006
Recycling...do you do it?
Even though I was raised a military brat and have lived in many parts of the world, I spent the majority of my growing up years in California. As you know we recycle out there. I remember when the ecology groups came on the scene in the 1970's and started teaching us about the earth and how we would run out of space if we didn't start to do something about the garbage situation. So for me, it was easy to get into the habit of recycling. I recycle just about everything that I can; be it glass, jars & bottles, plastic bottles, packaging from my bacon and what not and most of all those bags we get from the stores (those plastic bags are a #2 plastic and are recyclable), news paper, cardboard aluminum and steel cans too! As a family of 4 we put out 1 bag of garbage a week, scary huh? Now we put out between 3 or 4 bags of recycling material every week. My neighbors across the street are a family of 4, and each week they fill up 2 large sized garbage cans , I've seen them have as many as 3 filled to overflowing cans out on the curb. That right there is a crying a shame! But some people have got the wrong idea about it, there are those that think that recycling is messy and dirty not to mention it's too time consuming for them to be bothered to do it. All I have to say is, rinse your cans out and it won't be. The worse one yet is when they get an attitude about recycling, one like "you can't make me do it". I have one girlfriend who is not about to recycle for anything on this planet and she too is one that puts out 2 big garbage cans stuffed to capacity out on the curb each week.
Some areas of the country don't have the same attitudes about recycling. Take Abilene Texas for example. When we lived there I had to hunt for those recycling kiosks because there was not any curb side recycling program established there (and we lived there for 7 years). Those recycling kiosks were getting further and further away from my home too, but yet I managed to hunt them down! Once a week I would drag all of my recyclables out to the other side of town with my babies in tow no less. Now my children are 11 and 14 year old and recycling is second nature to them.
Won't you think about recycling?
Some areas of the country don't have the same attitudes about recycling. Take Abilene Texas for example. When we lived there I had to hunt for those recycling kiosks because there was not any curb side recycling program established there (and we lived there for 7 years). Those recycling kiosks were getting further and further away from my home too, but yet I managed to hunt them down! Once a week I would drag all of my recyclables out to the other side of town with my babies in tow no less. Now my children are 11 and 14 year old and recycling is second nature to them.
Won't you think about recycling?
Homemade Pasta
The Pasta Class that I had the other night was seriously awesome! Yes I would consider it well worth the price that I paid for it. So now the hunt was on for Semolina Flour. Now even though we have 2 Safeway grocery stores in town, nether one had any nor would they be getting any back in stock until at least Tuesday or Wednesday (and even that was iffy). So I thought about it today and it dawned on me that our local Health Food Store should carry that kind of product. So I called and guess what...they have it! I took Hannah with me and I went downtown and picked up 2 packages. I plan on making noodles and using that pasta machine that my Mother gave to me last year. Hannah is excited about getting to play with the pasta machine. The one that I have is the Marcato Atlas 150 (it's made in Italy). I remember watching my mother make homemade spaghetti noodles using that machine. One of the many fond memories from my childhood. Now to me, this is one seriously FUN kitchen toy! I have the ravioli attachment for my Kitchen-aid stand mixer, I found it on clearance over at Herberger's earlier this year and let me tell you it was CHEAP! The retail price on the Kitchen-Aid Ravioli maker is $125, now believe me when I say that there's no way did I would ever pay anything near that! I got mine for under $30, no joke! It was seriously marked down and yes it was brand new in the box, never been used and everything was there (even the warranty information card). I can hardly wait to use these toys today...and I'll have my camera in hand snapping pictures as I go along. OH now for me to see how many eggs I have on hand as each reipe take 4 or 5 eggs. The pasta recipes are simple...
Basic Pasta Recipe
2 cups all purpose flour
4 eggs
this recipe is used for noodles like Fettucini, Angel Hair, Linguine and Spaghetti
Beat eggs lightly with a fork. Place flour o kneading surface and make a well in the middle of it. blending gradually in with the flour by puling off all of well. Mix until thick paste is formed, then incorporate the remaining flour to form a rough ball of dough. Knead for 10 minutes (do not skip this part, it's the most important part). Wrap dough ball in plastic wrap and refrigerate at least 20 minutes as the dough now need to rest and become firm.
Now the other
Basic Pasta recipe
1 cup Semolina Flour
2 cups all purpose flour
4 large eggs
1 1/2 teaspoon E.V.O.O. (extra virgin olive oil)
pinch of salt
same directions. This kind of pasta using the semolina flour for those stronger boodles such as Ravioli, Lasagna, Tortellini, Manicotti, and those large shells that you stuff with ricotta cheese. Just thinking about this is making me hungry for pasta!
Oh if the dough is crumbling, add 1 table spoon of ice water at a time while kneading until it is a smooth dough ball.
Basic Pasta Recipe
2 cups all purpose flour
4 eggs
this recipe is used for noodles like Fettucini, Angel Hair, Linguine and Spaghetti
Beat eggs lightly with a fork. Place flour o kneading surface and make a well in the middle of it. blending gradually in with the flour by puling off all of well. Mix until thick paste is formed, then incorporate the remaining flour to form a rough ball of dough. Knead for 10 minutes (do not skip this part, it's the most important part). Wrap dough ball in plastic wrap and refrigerate at least 20 minutes as the dough now need to rest and become firm.
Now the other
Basic Pasta recipe
1 cup Semolina Flour
2 cups all purpose flour
4 large eggs
1 1/2 teaspoon E.V.O.O. (extra virgin olive oil)
pinch of salt
same directions. This kind of pasta using the semolina flour for those stronger boodles such as Ravioli, Lasagna, Tortellini, Manicotti, and those large shells that you stuff with ricotta cheese. Just thinking about this is making me hungry for pasta!
Oh if the dough is crumbling, add 1 table spoon of ice water at a time while kneading until it is a smooth dough ball.
Thursday, November 02, 2006
25 most common design mistakes
Last night I taped one of those shows that tell you about common design mistakes. The one last night was called "The 25 most common design mistakes in the home". Oh my gosh this was wonderful! I took a laundry basket into my living room and started pulling things out of that room and putting them into the basket. Lets just say that my living room is horribly small and I just have way too much stuff crammed in there to let the room feel "comfortable". Oh my gosh 20 minutes later ( I had to dust as I did this) and WOW it's amazing! I'm doing the happy dance!
I have to make it through the winter and spring in this house. I can't do that when I feel like I'm living in a sardine can. I would say cracker box, but alas the cracker box is larger than the sardine can, LOL! hate to pack up my knick knacks but I have to if I am to maintain a level of sanity here. I hate it when I start the feel the walls coming down on top of me. I went though my scrapbook nook last night and put everything away and organized it. Talk about tidy! I need to get in there today and finish up the rest of those calender pages...they are adorable! Journaling is what I need to get done...I have to make the time to get it done!
But back to the show...I have to say that I found it to be very informative. I do feel that I have been making some of those mistakes, not all but some. So now I've made it my mission to correct those mistakes. Once I start doing that, I will feel better about our living space.
I have to make it through the winter and spring in this house. I can't do that when I feel like I'm living in a sardine can. I would say cracker box, but alas the cracker box is larger than the sardine can, LOL! hate to pack up my knick knacks but I have to if I am to maintain a level of sanity here. I hate it when I start the feel the walls coming down on top of me. I went though my scrapbook nook last night and put everything away and organized it. Talk about tidy! I need to get in there today and finish up the rest of those calender pages...they are adorable! Journaling is what I need to get done...I have to make the time to get it done!
But back to the show...I have to say that I found it to be very informative. I do feel that I have been making some of those mistakes, not all but some. So now I've made it my mission to correct those mistakes. Once I start doing that, I will feel better about our living space.
Oh Happy Day!
It's official, we have a surgery date! Hannah will be having her surgery on December 20th! We have been working towards this goal since February! I'm excited, Hannah's excited and now it's a count down until the surgery date! So what type of surgery is Otoplasty? It's surgery to correct her ear shape and to put the folds into her ears. I can hardly believ that it's really going to happen. I felt this huge wave of relief wash over me when I was in the doctor's office. And to think that I was at my wits end with the folks over at Tricare (our health insurance company). Please keep us in your prayers that all goes well with this surgery.
Wednesday, November 01, 2006
Halloween
I survived Halloween! I was able to astonish my entire family by being able to pull off making my son's Halloween costume. Andrew finally broke down and told us that he really wanted to be a Jedi. But like true Andrew fashion he didn't tell us this until 4:15 pm Sunday. I went shopping for the "stuff" to make this costume early on Monday morning after taking the kids to school. Hannah had wanted to be a bag of jellybeans, but alas this was not going to happen. The jelly beans were to be balloons. We needed a lot of small balloons to be inflated and lets face it folks, I'm not one to blow up balloons, LOL! So out of necessity, our "plan b" was hatched. Hannah wore the "Laura Ingalls" costume that my mother had made oh so many years ago (back when I was a girl). The picture you see is of my children yesterday. Hannah braced the cold weather for a couple of picture snaps with mom :-)
So sewing for 2 days, getting a husband off for a TDy and going to a cooking class (this one was awesome) and getting 2 kids to various doctor appointments I'm beat! I need a vacation, somewhere tropical and warm would be optimal.
It was very cold on Halloween night. This is our 4th Halloween here and the weather was the clearest it's ever been. No snow, no wind, but just plain freaking cold! With the wind-chill it started off being 17 then went down to 12, brrrrr city! This has to the be the first time we've ever had bags of candy left over. Trick or Treating' time was from 5:30 to 7:30 pm here on the base and usually we are bombarded with nonstop kid action at the front door, but not this year.
Monday, October 30, 2006
A Blustery Day indeed!
Okay, so I've been up for a hour now. The wind is blowing a 40 mph with gusts (more like howling) at a whopping 50 mph, the wind chill making the 29 degree temperature feel like 12 degrees (brrr). It's not so much the snow or rain that gets you feeling cold, it's the wind driving it into the fibers of your coat, hat and sweater that make you feel cold right down to the bone! Now the odd thing is, for the past 2 days it was down right warm! After church yesterday we were all wearing shorts and t-shirts. Yup, there's nothing like the bizarre South Dakota weather to keep you hopping.
So I'm there in bed awake at a little past 4 am listening to the wind howl and it dawned on me...I had turned the heater OFF the other day because it had gotten so warm in the house, YIKES! I got up here and it wasn't too bad, it had only gotten down to 65 degrees. So with the heater now on, it'll be nice and cozy for when the rest of my family gets up.
Are you wondering where I was yesterday? I spent the greater part of my afternoon in My Scrapbook Nook. I was able to get a couple more layouts done. I found that I needed a certain color card stock, but wait...that color isn't made (I checked my Bazzill and Stampin Up swatches). So how do I get something that isn't made? I made it myself! So with a piece of Romanza (a pale pink Bazzill card stock) and a Pixie Pink classic ink pad (the dye ink not the pigment ink) by Stampin Up, from there I created my own color. It made a little bit of an inky mess on the fingers, but I got what I set out to do...a lovely shade of pink card stock! So I let it dry thoroughly over night and I'll work on it a little later this morning. Actually I was already tinkering around in there but needed some Java to get me going. I'll be posting the layouts here and on my web shots page very soon!
The cat is all over me for some attention and I don't dare turn on the lights in the dining room or the birds will start chirping like mad. I need some more coffee! While I'm sitting hear typing away I can hear the wind howling it IS giving me the heebie jeebies! You can hear things banging against the house or bouncing down the street. I think that I will be driving my children to school today! Besides, I have errands to do in town, might was well get them done earlier instead of later.
It's now time for me to wake everyone up....
So I'm there in bed awake at a little past 4 am listening to the wind howl and it dawned on me...I had turned the heater OFF the other day because it had gotten so warm in the house, YIKES! I got up here and it wasn't too bad, it had only gotten down to 65 degrees. So with the heater now on, it'll be nice and cozy for when the rest of my family gets up.
Are you wondering where I was yesterday? I spent the greater part of my afternoon in My Scrapbook Nook. I was able to get a couple more layouts done. I found that I needed a certain color card stock, but wait...that color isn't made (I checked my Bazzill and Stampin Up swatches). So how do I get something that isn't made? I made it myself! So with a piece of Romanza (a pale pink Bazzill card stock) and a Pixie Pink classic ink pad (the dye ink not the pigment ink) by Stampin Up, from there I created my own color. It made a little bit of an inky mess on the fingers, but I got what I set out to do...a lovely shade of pink card stock! So I let it dry thoroughly over night and I'll work on it a little later this morning. Actually I was already tinkering around in there but needed some Java to get me going. I'll be posting the layouts here and on my web shots page very soon!
The cat is all over me for some attention and I don't dare turn on the lights in the dining room or the birds will start chirping like mad. I need some more coffee! While I'm sitting hear typing away I can hear the wind howling it IS giving me the heebie jeebies! You can hear things banging against the house or bouncing down the street. I think that I will be driving my children to school today! Besides, I have errands to do in town, might was well get them done earlier instead of later.
It's now time for me to wake everyone up....
Saturday, October 28, 2006
2006 OSC Charity Auction
Last night was amazing! From the way the tables were set up to the food being served to the home like casual atmosphere. Our theme for the evening was "Round up at the Ellsworth Corral". The dress was western. From the center pieces being real cowboy boots with flowers sticking up out of them (the flowers were in mini these galvanized buckets), it set the tone for room! Everyone looked great!
Now for the things that were above and beyond what we expected...We had many many contributors to our auction. Many of the wonderful businesses throughout the Black Hills area donated items for our auction. I want to give a whole hearted THANK YOU to all of them, for without them and the buyers...well we would not have had the best year EVER in our Ellsworth OSC history!
The 34th Bomb Squadron Beer Bonanza netted a whopping $330 That was a lot of beer too!
The Stained Glass Window donated by my friend Kathy and her husband (and hand made by Kathy too) netted $300 This window is amazing! I ran into the couple who bought it and lets just say that they were giddy with excitement about their purchase :-)
The Taste of South Dakota Wine Basket donated by the 28th Operation Support Group netted $440. These were bottles of wine made right here in South Dakota. Someone is going to have a very good collection of wine in their home :-)
The progressive dinner party hosted by the top brass of our base got an astounding $2,000! That right there is an all time record! With a 2nd dinner party of the same getting $1,400. This is a dinner for up to 16 guests.
Now don't got thinking that the military is not to be out done, we have members of our local community doing the same! This is a dinner party for up to 20 guests in private Back Hills residence. This is the fist time for members of the local community to offer such a wonderful event...this got an amazing high bid of $1,800!
Saloon in a suitcase received the high bid of $425, amazing! This was donated by the 28th Mission Support Squadron. I loved this idea!
A very popular package from "My Girl Friends Kitchen" went for $280, and trust me I say it's worth every penny! It had four $50 gift certificates and time in their kitchen...oh yeah!
My new to OSC friend Liz W made this phenomenal looking Log Cake! Complete with marzipan mushrooms and cacti! This was her first time donating to something like this, it went for $85! And yes I took pictures of this amazing looking cake!
My friend Georgia and her Famous Egg Nog (this stuff is reeeeeeally good). One Gallon of her Egg Nog went for $120 and then she offered to make a 2nd gallon and it went for $125! Way to go Georgia on offering to make a 2nd gallon!
Do you want to talk cheesecakes? My Raspberry mini chocolate chip cheesecake went for $55, My Death by Chocolate Cheesecake turned into a little bidding war between two tables and ended up going for $135.
I found out later on that evening that no dessert has ever gone for more that $65, so we made some dessert auction records last night. It has given myself and the others so much joy to have been able through our cooking and baking to bring in that kind of money for our OSC Scholarship program :-) We were all hugging and jumping up and down later on talking out our biggest fears with our goodies being up for auction. I can tell you all, the friendships I have made through OSC these past couple of years have been wonderful! These are the kinds of friends that you keep for the rest of your lives!
We made an Ellsworth OSC record with our auction proceeds...at last count we made over $20,600! When I saw Jill (our Scholarship program chairperson) after the total was announced on live speaker she was in tears. Yes it (the total) was that amazing, especially since we almost doubled last years proceeds!
So are you wondering what we came home with from the auction? I was high bidder on an oak Coin Display Case for my husband (for his military coins, not money coins) and my husband (got to love this man) was high bidder on a beautiful Pearl Necklace and earrings set :-) Can you say Merry Christmas? I can, and in at least 10 different languages after last night! It was such a wonderful evening! I wish that you all could have been there!
Now for the things that were above and beyond what we expected...We had many many contributors to our auction. Many of the wonderful businesses throughout the Black Hills area donated items for our auction. I want to give a whole hearted THANK YOU to all of them, for without them and the buyers...well we would not have had the best year EVER in our Ellsworth OSC history!
The 34th Bomb Squadron Beer Bonanza netted a whopping $330 That was a lot of beer too!
The Stained Glass Window donated by my friend Kathy and her husband (and hand made by Kathy too) netted $300 This window is amazing! I ran into the couple who bought it and lets just say that they were giddy with excitement about their purchase :-)
The Taste of South Dakota Wine Basket donated by the 28th Operation Support Group netted $440. These were bottles of wine made right here in South Dakota. Someone is going to have a very good collection of wine in their home :-)
The progressive dinner party hosted by the top brass of our base got an astounding $2,000! That right there is an all time record! With a 2nd dinner party of the same getting $1,400. This is a dinner for up to 16 guests.
Now don't got thinking that the military is not to be out done, we have members of our local community doing the same! This is a dinner party for up to 20 guests in private Back Hills residence. This is the fist time for members of the local community to offer such a wonderful event...this got an amazing high bid of $1,800!
Saloon in a suitcase received the high bid of $425, amazing! This was donated by the 28th Mission Support Squadron. I loved this idea!
A very popular package from "My Girl Friends Kitchen" went for $280, and trust me I say it's worth every penny! It had four $50 gift certificates and time in their kitchen...oh yeah!
My new to OSC friend Liz W made this phenomenal looking Log Cake! Complete with marzipan mushrooms and cacti! This was her first time donating to something like this, it went for $85! And yes I took pictures of this amazing looking cake!
My friend Georgia and her Famous Egg Nog (this stuff is reeeeeeally good). One Gallon of her Egg Nog went for $120 and then she offered to make a 2nd gallon and it went for $125! Way to go Georgia on offering to make a 2nd gallon!
Do you want to talk cheesecakes? My Raspberry mini chocolate chip cheesecake went for $55, My Death by Chocolate Cheesecake turned into a little bidding war between two tables and ended up going for $135.
I found out later on that evening that no dessert has ever gone for more that $65, so we made some dessert auction records last night. It has given myself and the others so much joy to have been able through our cooking and baking to bring in that kind of money for our OSC Scholarship program :-) We were all hugging and jumping up and down later on talking out our biggest fears with our goodies being up for auction. I can tell you all, the friendships I have made through OSC these past couple of years have been wonderful! These are the kinds of friends that you keep for the rest of your lives!
We made an Ellsworth OSC record with our auction proceeds...at last count we made over $20,600! When I saw Jill (our Scholarship program chairperson) after the total was announced on live speaker she was in tears. Yes it (the total) was that amazing, especially since we almost doubled last years proceeds!
So are you wondering what we came home with from the auction? I was high bidder on an oak Coin Display Case for my husband (for his military coins, not money coins) and my husband (got to love this man) was high bidder on a beautiful Pearl Necklace and earrings set :-) Can you say Merry Christmas? I can, and in at least 10 different languages after last night! It was such a wonderful evening! I wish that you all could have been there!
Friday, October 27, 2006
Yahooooo it' Friday!
Okay, so I'm rather excited about it being Friday. You would be too if it were me. The OSC Auction is today! The silent auction kicks off at 4:30 pm and the live auction starts at 7:15 pm. I am all over this auction! I'm excited about all of the goodies we've gotten donated! This year my husband is able to go to the auction with me, last year he was TDy in another state so I had to e-mail him pictures of the different items up for auction. Since I'm the OSC Historian, I'll be all over the place taking pictures of everything and everyone. I look forward to getting these pictures into the OSC albums.
Talk about having a creative burst last night. I got a couple more layouts done and now am working on one from Halloween last year and pumpkin carving pictures from this year! I'm not a speedy scrapbooker by any means. But when I get into a project I really get into it! I dive right in and get to working on the different aspects of it. And here's something that will really grab you...I even have the journaling done on these pages, yes I really do! Now that right there IS an accomplishment!
My special Raspberry cheesecake is done and is beautiful! I checked all over the Internet and nowhere did I find my recipe. Now I did happen to find dozens of other kinds of Raspberry cheesecake recipes but not the recipe that I use, heh heh heh! Then there's my Death by Chocolate cheesecake...nowhere did I find that recipe either and trust me I searched for quite a while! So I do feel that I am giving everyone something very special, something that they can't find anywhere else:-) I'll be sure to take a picture of who ever wins my cheesecake and take note as to how much they pay for it too!
What are you reading? When was the last time you picked up and interesting book? A week or so ago I went into my local bookstore. I had every intention to buy the book The Devil wears Prada, but then something else caught my eye. I love mysteries and when I saw the Agatha Christie novels on display well I went right over to them. So I put back the other book and bought my first Agatha Christie novel...The ABC Murders. Oh my gosh I can't put this book down! I like her characters and her style of writing. I've gone back and have bought a couple more of her novels. Hey at $12 for a hard bound book, that's not too shabby of a price if you ask me! So as it is, I'm adding to our small library...one book at a time.
Talk about having a creative burst last night. I got a couple more layouts done and now am working on one from Halloween last year and pumpkin carving pictures from this year! I'm not a speedy scrapbooker by any means. But when I get into a project I really get into it! I dive right in and get to working on the different aspects of it. And here's something that will really grab you...I even have the journaling done on these pages, yes I really do! Now that right there IS an accomplishment!
My special Raspberry cheesecake is done and is beautiful! I checked all over the Internet and nowhere did I find my recipe. Now I did happen to find dozens of other kinds of Raspberry cheesecake recipes but not the recipe that I use, heh heh heh! Then there's my Death by Chocolate cheesecake...nowhere did I find that recipe either and trust me I searched for quite a while! So I do feel that I am giving everyone something very special, something that they can't find anywhere else:-) I'll be sure to take a picture of who ever wins my cheesecake and take note as to how much they pay for it too!
What are you reading? When was the last time you picked up and interesting book? A week or so ago I went into my local bookstore. I had every intention to buy the book The Devil wears Prada, but then something else caught my eye. I love mysteries and when I saw the Agatha Christie novels on display well I went right over to them. So I put back the other book and bought my first Agatha Christie novel...The ABC Murders. Oh my gosh I can't put this book down! I like her characters and her style of writing. I've gone back and have bought a couple more of her novels. Hey at $12 for a hard bound book, that's not too shabby of a price if you ask me! So as it is, I'm adding to our small library...one book at a time.
Thursday, October 26, 2006
It's Thursday
Here I am, ready for yet another round of making gourmet cheesecakes. I'm ready to get cooking, I'm just waiting for my ingredients to get to room temperature then I can begin cooking.
I found last night's garnishes class to be rather disappointing. The young man (key word here is "young") admits to all of us taking this class that he doesn't know how to cook. The really sad part was how he tell us his story about how his life long dream of becoming a golf pro didn't pan out so he became a sales rep for Wusthof knives. That he got the job because his dad has worked for the company for over 25 years. I was bored to tears! So basically I sat though a 2 hour sales pitch, ugh! He had us cut 1 stalk of celery, 1 tomato and 1 onion so we could get a feel for the knives...insert a picture of me rolling my eyes here. After chopping the celery, I was ready to take my $60 paring knife (and it's a cool paring knife too) and my 10% discount card and go home. I really and truly thought that we were going to be learning how to garnish fruits and vegetables. I was very disappointed with the fact that I knew more about the knifes and how they were made than this young man did.
I've got another month page done for my calendar project...only 10 more to go, LOL! I'm going to be working on them some more today. I've got all of the pictures printed now for me to get some more ideas bubbling though my head. The hard part is using that Karen Foster month paper...ugh! Its not ugly paper by any means, it's just that I'm having a hard time wrapping my head around it at the moment.
I've got to call the orthodontist to get Hannah in. She is not wearing that OG appliance and we are facing the ugly truth that she finds it horribly uncomfortable. So I'm making an appointment for her to get the Herbst appliance put back in, ugh!
Okay it's back to the grind for me. I need to get some domestic work done around my abode befor I get started on my day of baking and scrapbooking.
I found last night's garnishes class to be rather disappointing. The young man (key word here is "young") admits to all of us taking this class that he doesn't know how to cook. The really sad part was how he tell us his story about how his life long dream of becoming a golf pro didn't pan out so he became a sales rep for Wusthof knives. That he got the job because his dad has worked for the company for over 25 years. I was bored to tears! So basically I sat though a 2 hour sales pitch, ugh! He had us cut 1 stalk of celery, 1 tomato and 1 onion so we could get a feel for the knives...insert a picture of me rolling my eyes here. After chopping the celery, I was ready to take my $60 paring knife (and it's a cool paring knife too) and my 10% discount card and go home. I really and truly thought that we were going to be learning how to garnish fruits and vegetables. I was very disappointed with the fact that I knew more about the knifes and how they were made than this young man did.
I've got another month page done for my calendar project...only 10 more to go, LOL! I'm going to be working on them some more today. I've got all of the pictures printed now for me to get some more ideas bubbling though my head. The hard part is using that Karen Foster month paper...ugh! Its not ugly paper by any means, it's just that I'm having a hard time wrapping my head around it at the moment.
I've got to call the orthodontist to get Hannah in. She is not wearing that OG appliance and we are facing the ugly truth that she finds it horribly uncomfortable. So I'm making an appointment for her to get the Herbst appliance put back in, ugh!
Okay it's back to the grind for me. I need to get some domestic work done around my abode befor I get started on my day of baking and scrapbooking.
Wednesday, October 25, 2006
Sandie the Cheesecake Lady
I got a pretty early start today as I was up and dressed by 5am. I was doodling around in the kitchen and then it hit me, I didn't hear my husband getting up. I realize that it's now 6:25 am and the kids weren't coming upstairs for breakfast. I go down to see what's going on or apparently what's not going on. Everyone is still sound to sleep in their beds. I case you are wondering, yes I drove the kid to school.
So now I'm on the tail end of making my death by chocolate cheesecake. It's done baking and is now in the oven hanging out for another hour until the next part of the cool down phase. Tomorrow I bake the raspberry cheesecake. Either Thursday night or Friday morning I will assemble My Sandie's Death By Chocolate Cheesecake. I sure hope that these cheesecakes get some serious bidders!
Now for me to enjoy a mug of hot tea then go to my Scrapbook Nook to work on some more layouts! I've got to finish up my 12x12 calendar project, I'm on the home stretch! :-)
So now I'm on the tail end of making my death by chocolate cheesecake. It's done baking and is now in the oven hanging out for another hour until the next part of the cool down phase. Tomorrow I bake the raspberry cheesecake. Either Thursday night or Friday morning I will assemble My Sandie's Death By Chocolate Cheesecake. I sure hope that these cheesecakes get some serious bidders!
Now for me to enjoy a mug of hot tea then go to my Scrapbook Nook to work on some more layouts! I've got to finish up my 12x12 calendar project, I'm on the home stretch! :-)
Tuesday, October 24, 2006
Photo Developing
Which company do you go through for your photo processing needs? Ive tried many and let me tell you I am not one to wait around the mail box for my pictures. I've been very pleased with the quality of photo's done by Walgreen's. But wait, the one that I usually go to has some serious road construction happening on both sides of it. Talk about a bear to gt in and out f that parking lot! Now the new one on LaCrosse is open, so I gave them a try today. I uploaded my photo's to the Walgreen's site and I can not believe how quickly I received the e-mail letting me know that they were ready for pick up...it was 15 minutes! WOW! I had 101 pictures printed today and they all look beautiful! Now for me to get to working on some terrific layouts!
Don't let the Turkeys get you down
That's from a book (I bought it in the 80's) of drawings by Sandra Boyington, I just adore her cartoon animal drawings. This saying has stuck with me through the years and has meaning for me. As I find myself becoming more and more frustrated with our medical coverage. I know that most HMO's are there to make it difficult to for the majority of us. I suppose that they are hoping that we will give up from sheer frustration. Well when I'm mad, I'm like a little pit bull! I'm not going to give up this fight! Our insurance will pay for our daughters surgery and this surgeon WILL be preforming the operation!
My husband is my pillar of strength. Without him, I sometimes wonder where I would be in this life of mine. I was really bummed out yesterday and cried my eyes out when I was told that I'm going to have to start this entire process over again of getting the referral and the authorization. When you think that I started all of this back in April 2006, and now it's 7 months later. It's mind boggling to think that it takes that long to get something done when one has medical insurance. What happens when you don't have medical insurance? Do they kick you to the curb or what?
My husband is my pillar of strength. Without him, I sometimes wonder where I would be in this life of mine. I was really bummed out yesterday and cried my eyes out when I was told that I'm going to have to start this entire process over again of getting the referral and the authorization. When you think that I started all of this back in April 2006, and now it's 7 months later. It's mind boggling to think that it takes that long to get something done when one has medical insurance. What happens when you don't have medical insurance? Do they kick you to the curb or what?
Monday, October 23, 2006
reaching ones breaking point
Our military health care system is not the best. Today I about broke down in tears while on the phone (I held them back for later) while I was trying to get a referral date pushed back because the civilian doctor made us wait 4 full months until he would see my daughter because I was using our military insurance versus paying directly out of pocket for this appointment (nice huh). I spoke with a young woman who was condescending and rude. It boils down to this 1- she talked down to me like I was an idiot and didn't understand procedure and 2-like it was my fault that my daughter couldn't get seen any earlier. If only she had taken the time to ask about our situation and was actually taking an active interest in helping someone versus telling me that I'm going to have to start this entire process all over again...UGH! I had to practically pull teeth without Novocaine to get this appointment with this particular doctor! What an ordeal this has been, I'm wondering if in the end that it's even worth it to go through all of this crap!
An Afternoon Tea Party
Have you ever experienced a true British Afternoon Tea? My daughter and I went to this wonderful little hole in this wall Tea Shop this past Saturday with a friend and her daughter for Afternoon Tea. We had our reservations for 4 people @ 4pm. It was truly delightful! We started off with these charming little finger sandwiches; there were 3 different kinds, cucumber, ham and chicken salad. And each was served on a different type of bread (no crusts allowed here). The 2nd course was as delightful as the first. There were several different types of scones, blueberry, raspberry with white chocolate, cranberry orange and apple cinnamon. Light and flaky, served with clotted cream (a fancy type of butter to you and I). Then on to desserts...WOoooooooooooooooo Wheeeeeeeeeee! The types and the amount of desserts brought out to our little party of 4 was mind boggling! My favorite were the fruit tarts, loved them! The girls were crazy for the different types of cheesecakes (and who wouldn't be). The tea that was served was divine! We had Earl Gray and I've never had a better pot of Earl Gray than the one I had at Bully Blends in downtown Rapid City! My friend and I went through at least 2 pots (could have turned into 3 pots easy) by ourselves. I'm seriously sold on this place! Will I go back? In a heart beat! The service was excellent, the food was top notch and they even sell the tea and scones to go! So I can pop in and pick some up the next time I am in that part of town!
a new week a busy week
So here it is a new week. WOW, do I have a lot going on! As I look at my outlook calendar I see that just about every date from now until the Halloween has something on it. An appointment or function for me to attend, ugh! November is starting off with a bang...2 crack of dawn appointments for my son. That's what happens when your child enters high school and all of his classes tend to be rather important. So there you have it, the reason for the 7am dental and orthodontic appointments.
I awoke to the cat knocking over my water bottle from the night stand, then as soon as I turned on the light the phone rang. Nothing quite like waking up to one startling thing only to be startled again with something else. So with my adrenaline pumping I've decided to get some of this afternoon's cooking out of the way.
Now for getting creative...I am so ready to get working on some more layouts. I've got another design idea in my head and I want to work on it asap! Anyone else ever get like that? Come on, I'm sire that I'm not the only one, LOL!
So with a load on laundry in the washing machine, the chicken sausage cute up and ready, a pan of chocolate chunk brownies in the oven I'm ready to get working in my scrapbook nook!
I awoke to the cat knocking over my water bottle from the night stand, then as soon as I turned on the light the phone rang. Nothing quite like waking up to one startling thing only to be startled again with something else. So with my adrenaline pumping I've decided to get some of this afternoon's cooking out of the way.
Now for getting creative...I am so ready to get working on some more layouts. I've got another design idea in my head and I want to work on it asap! Anyone else ever get like that? Come on, I'm sire that I'm not the only one, LOL!
So with a load on laundry in the washing machine, the chicken sausage cute up and ready, a pan of chocolate chunk brownies in the oven I'm ready to get working in my scrapbook nook!
Saturday, October 21, 2006
The Joys of Parenthood
There's nothing quite like the joys of parenthood...well okay there are quite a few "other" joys but being a parent has it good moments and not so good moments. Take this morning for example. I love the fact that our son is now volunteering and being more involved in school and extracurricular activities. But didn't he just do a community service project last Saturday? I know he did! It was picking up trash along the highway. So he signs up for distributing coats for the needy, to do it at 9am over in front of K-mart. So I scrape off the snow from the kid mobile, defrost and heat up the car so it's toasty warm for us...and we get there 10 minutes before 9 am and guess what....no one's there. So we wait and wait and wait some more. We waited over 30 minutes and no one shows up. All I have to say is NICE! So no one could call us to let us know that it was cancelled?
Andrew will be going to go door to door collecting coats for the needy today. His JRROTC class has a contest going on to see which flight brings in the most coats. I think that a pizza party goes to the winning flight :-) We'll bring in more coats on Monday, he's already brought in 2 so far. I like that he thinks that this a a very good cause...Coats for Kids, a very good cause indeed!
Andrew will be going to go door to door collecting coats for the needy today. His JRROTC class has a contest going on to see which flight brings in the most coats. I think that a pizza party goes to the winning flight :-) We'll bring in more coats on Monday, he's already brought in 2 so far. I like that he thinks that this a a very good cause...Coats for Kids, a very good cause indeed!
Friday, October 20, 2006
The Rainbow in my Cupboards
I have such a love of color, all colors in fact! That's why Fiesta ware pottery is so right for me! So here's a little peek into my cupboards. You'll see some Longaberger Pottery and lots and lots of Fiesta Ware Pottery in every color of the rainbow! Plain white while it looks professional and makes a great presentation when serving larger platters of food...well folks it just isn't "Me". I'm a rainbow kind of gal (always have been). Sure I have the traditional sets of dishes where they are all the same color and pattern, but are they ever boring! Here you see my every day pottery. I need to sit down and draw up a layout and write about my Fiesta Ware collection and how I came to be so interested in it.
The crazy weather here
It's hard to tell if it's raining or if it's snowing. One moment it looks like rain the other like snow then back again. This South Dakota weather is going to drive me batty! So here we go again with the crazy weather. I pulled the kid mobile (aka my minivan) into the drive way (just like we're supposed to when it snows). Now do my neighbors? NOooooooooooo. So, if it happens to snow a great deal tonight, the snow plow will avoid the street in front of our house tomorrow because my neighbors were too darn lazy to move their vehicles.{sigh} I'm not saying that these neighbors are bad people, I'm just saying that they don't know how to be good/considerate neighbors.
A girlfriend of mine (whose husband is currently deployed) called me up to see if I could run her into town to pick up her kid mobile at the dealership (it was in for servicing). I said sure no problem! So of course the rain turns to snow while I'm out and about...figures. I sure am glad that I have traction control on this minivan of mine! The roads near the base were starting to ice up.
So what's for dinner? Pizza rolls look good...especially when I have a pile of scrapbooking layouts ready to work on :-) Yup yesterday was Chef Sandie day and today is Scrapbooking Sandie Day. You know me, I trade one talent for another. I can't do it all...HEYl at least I can admit it, LOL!
A girlfriend of mine (whose husband is currently deployed) called me up to see if I could run her into town to pick up her kid mobile at the dealership (it was in for servicing). I said sure no problem! So of course the rain turns to snow while I'm out and about...figures. I sure am glad that I have traction control on this minivan of mine! The roads near the base were starting to ice up.
So what's for dinner? Pizza rolls look good...especially when I have a pile of scrapbooking layouts ready to work on :-) Yup yesterday was Chef Sandie day and today is Scrapbooking Sandie Day. You know me, I trade one talent for another. I can't do it all...HEYl at least I can admit it, LOL!
Lunch with Friends
Yesterday was a blast! I didn’t get any scrapbooking done BUT I had a great time with my friends! My friend Kim can just light up a room with her smile, Theresa has an infectious laugh, and Christine just exudes this warmth that is beyond anything. We all chatted about past assignments, friends’ family, cooking, scrapbooking and everything in-between. It was a great afternoon spent with friends! I ended up making Pasta e Fagioli (here’s the recipe I used http://www.foodnetwork.com/food/recipes/recipe/0,1977,FOOD_9936_29041,00.html) and serving it with herbed Foccaisa(an Italian bread) and New York Cheesecake for dessert.
Having lunch with friends, being able to talk about life in general is so wonderful. I have a feeling that these ladies and I will be doing this more than once a month!
Scrapbook Thursday
It’s Thursday the 19th, the day for my Scrapbooking group to get together for a crop here at my house. I can’t begin to tell you how much I look forward to this one special day of the month. Its one day that I can set aside the entire day and devote it entirely to scrapbooking. I’m going to finish up the layouts for the OSC Bingo at Tiffany’s event. I’m still waiting on one picture, it’s one where there’s a group of us dressed up as Holly Golightly. Maybe Theresa has had better luck at getting this photo that I have. I REALLY want to get a hold of this photo so I can add it into the OSC scrapbook.
The house is picked up and things are set out for the scrapbooking group. I know that some of the ladies are going to be a little late as they are at bible study or are carting around children because their school got out early today. None the less I’m going to have a fantastic day! I think that I’m leaving towards making an Italian soup versus Fettuccine Alfredo. I have some wonderful rustic Italian bread to go with the soup too. It’s a perfect day for scrapbooking and a soup lunch! And for dessert, a nice slice of my wonderfully creamy New York Cheesecake!
Andrew
Here's my son Andrew, he made the rank of Airman about 2 weeks ago. I've been meaning to put his picture up here for you all to get a peek at him. He's trying so hard not to crack a smile. He's in the Air Force ROTC program at his high school and is loving every moment of it! His big brown eyes are so full of happiness. He actually came to be and "asked" me to take his picture. Now that right there folks does not happen very often. One of my children asking me to take a picture of them? Oh yeah, I'm going to RUN with the camera to snap that smile!Wednesday, October 18, 2006
I love my Veggies
Here's something silly and fun at the same time...these are the newest thing I wear around the house. They are Veggies clogs. The silly thing is that they are made out of (of all things) this super lightweight foam. It's like walking on clouds! I got mine at Scheels and I know that these clogs are put out by many different companies. I just love these silly looking shoes! Mine are purple and I'm thinking about going back and getting a pair in hot pink.
Friendship...another one of God's blessings
I have to say that I have been given the gift of many wonderful friendships since marrying my husband and moving all over the
So now for the scoop on us moving; as it stands now, we are NOT on the spring moving cycle, but now have been moved over to the summer moving cycle. That’s VERY good news! Now the kids can finish out the school year with their friends and not be the new kids that start in the middle of the year. I can finish out my year as Girl Scout leader for my daughter’s troop. Finish out my year as OSC Historian. Finish out my year in so many ventures. A huge weight has been lifted off of my shoulders and I am very happy about it!
Tuesday, October 17, 2006
Cooking... one of my many blessings from God
I must have been a Chef in a former life. I enjoy cooking, much more so than any of my friends seem to. I’m not happy unless I’m creating some sort of wonderful meal for my family to sit down and enjoy. Tonight is my Rustic Breads class. Let’s just say that my family is as eager for me to take this class and I am J Now here’s the funny thing, when I’m really into a Scrapbooking project, my culinary skills get sidelined. Last nights dinner was chicken strips and crinkle fries, need I say more? Yes I am laughing as I write this because it is rather funny how I tend to trade one talent for another (my poor familyJ).
I realize that I have been blessed by the Lord by being given a talent that neither my mother nor sisters was given, a blessing for which I give thanks to the Lord every day! I grew up with seeing the women role models in my life (my mother and paternal grandmother) viewing cooking as a necessary daily chore. Cooking was not anything either one of them enjoyed, not in the least! There were moments I’m sure when they reveled in the compliments that a meal or dessert would bring upon them but that was usually during holidays like Easter, Thanksgiving and Christmas. My mother realized my passion for cooking while I was in college. I loved to cook Italian; it was like a little slice of heaven to me. For reasons unknown to me, my mother always seemed to be afraid to try new things, to try new recipes. Oh my gosh if that woman knows how she has scarred me for life from ever being able to eat fried sliced potatoes and fried hamburger patties. To this day I can’t even touch ground beef, no joke! Ask my family, they’ll tell you that I do not eat ground beef…EVER! I can’t stand the stuff! It’s so funny when I go home to see my parents, I take over the kitchen. I cook and cook and they just gobble it up like there’s no tomorrow J
From my visit with my mother-in-law I found out that she also views cooking as a chore. I think that they just need and appreciative audience, you know… people who enjoy eatting good foodJ why bother to cook an elaborate meal when there’s no one to appreciate all the hard work you’ve gone through?
Kitchen tool, oh how I adore working with quality kitchen tools! My pots and pans are out of this world! I switched over to Calphalon in 2005 and have not regretted the decision. I knew that I wanted something that was anodized. I liked the design of the lids, they way that they fit and how they didn't have a lip that went to the inside of the pot or pan that would trap the condensation from cooking and have it drip into the pot or pan when lifting the lid. I wanted something durable. I had been using Pampered Chef non-stick pans for a while and they wear out in a few short years. My other pots and pans set is Revere Ware with the copper bottom which I’ve had since 1990. Okay, so the other thing is the Handles, they were of major importance too because I wanted metal handles! No plastic knobs here! I wanted a pan/pot that could go from the stove top to the oven. I couldn’t do that with ANY the pots and pans that I had. So now I watch for Calphalon to be on sale, and trust me there’s always a sale on some where J One of my most favorite pieces of cookware has to be my 5 quart Chili Pot, I love this versatile pot! I use it like as a dutch oven…works great all of the time!
Sunday, October 15, 2006
Happy Sunday!
Ahhh Sunday, a day of rest. Yeah right, more like a day to get some last minute washing done, figure out what's for Monday night's dinner since I'll have Girl Scouts here until 5 pm doing science stuff. Did I mention test drive this stuff for the polymer class I'm teaching...eek!
It's a job that's been over due for quite some time now...I HAD to go through my over flowing box of paper scraps, sort them by color and put them into their proper baggies. My word I certainly do have a great deal of paper scraps. I bet if I offered to sell them I could make a small fortune! I can only imagine who many boxes it's going to take to pack up My Scrapbook Nook. Holy Catfish Batman, the movers are going to love the fact that I'm packing that room myself!
About moving, we heard something but nothing is written in stone. So it looks like a couple more weeks until we will know 100% for sure where we are going next...ugh! This waiting is driving me bonkers! I hate running around last minute trying to figure out what needs to be done and when it needs to be done by. I and not a last minute kind of gal, heavens knows that I like to get things done before the deadline. So once I know more I'll be able to say exactly where we are going to be stationed next.
I've got to get on making my Halloween cards this week and get them in the mail. I love Halloween, it's such a silly holiday but hey if there's chocolate involved I'm all over it!
It's a job that's been over due for quite some time now...I HAD to go through my over flowing box of paper scraps, sort them by color and put them into their proper baggies. My word I certainly do have a great deal of paper scraps. I bet if I offered to sell them I could make a small fortune! I can only imagine who many boxes it's going to take to pack up My Scrapbook Nook. Holy Catfish Batman, the movers are going to love the fact that I'm packing that room myself!
About moving, we heard something but nothing is written in stone. So it looks like a couple more weeks until we will know 100% for sure where we are going next...ugh! This waiting is driving me bonkers! I hate running around last minute trying to figure out what needs to be done and when it needs to be done by. I and not a last minute kind of gal, heavens knows that I like to get things done before the deadline. So once I know more I'll be able to say exactly where we are going to be stationed next.
I've got to get on making my Halloween cards this week and get them in the mail. I love Halloween, it's such a silly holiday but hey if there's chocolate involved I'm all over it!
Saturday, October 14, 2006
Cranberry Orange Scones
I love cooking; I take great delight in trying out new recipes. Today’s recipe was Cranberry Orange Scones. I got this recipe from Ina Garten’s cooking show “The Barefoot Contessa”. These are light, flaky and seriously irresistible! Now for me to bag these up and bring some over to some girlfriends who have husbands that are away on deployment. Aren’t they going to be surprised! One of these delicious scones, a cup of tea (or two) a good book…just what lazy Saturday afternoons are all about J.
Friday, October 13, 2006
Waiting on Pins and Needles
We've been waiting for a while now to find out when and where we will be moving to. Being married to my Career Air Force husband, well we move a little more than most folks do. We just celebrated our 3 year anniversary here at Ellsworth AFB, SD at the end of last month. For us, that's a signal that we will be moving in the near future. Actually we thought that we'd be moving this past summer, but much to our disappointment, that opportunity fell through. So here we are again, riding on the roller coaster of life. Wondering if we can still get that assignment that my husband was really wanting to get back in June. I hope and pray that it all works out, that he gets this assignment. But moving brings on another set of worries and hopes. Moving is stressful, not just the packing up of every single thing your own in this world, but then there's the added stress of where we will live, the kinds of schools that are in our new area, looking for a church, dentist, orthodontist, eye doctor and lets not even think about something as trivial as finding a new hairdresser for myself and the kids.
Please keep my family in your prayers as we are waiting to hear the news of where we will be moving to next and also finding out when we will be moving!
Please keep my family in your prayers as we are waiting to hear the news of where we will be moving to next and also finding out when we will be moving!
The Cheesecake Lady
After taking a class on how to make a variety of cheesecakes with a pasty chef last year I have to say that I've never in my life found more enjoyment in making a dessert. In my small circle of friends I have a few different names, one being the Scrapbook Lady and the other being the Cheesecake Lady.
I can make the most scrumptious desserts a fork has ever been stuck into! I have gained so much confidence in my dessert making just from the few hours I spent in the company of that Pastry Chef. I highly recommend to anyone looking to improve their culinary skills to look up restaurants and cooking stores that have real honest to goodness chefs teaching cooking classes. I've signed up for 3 cooking classes this month and I can hardly wait for the class date! The breads class is going to be remarkable! Focaccia, ciabatta and other rustic breads are going to be prepared. I'll get these chef's secret recipes for these awesome items! There's a Pasta class at the end of the month, I'm going to make real ravioli! I have the pasta machines from Italy, got one from my Mother last summer and the other was one that I bought on clearance from Herberger's last year that is an attachment for my Kitchen-Aid mixer. Cooking good food is one of my passions. My 3rd class is the Knife Skills class being given my Wusthof-Trident (LOVE those knifes).We will learn about the art of creating beautiful garnishes out of vegetables and fruits...thinking about it makes me smile!
So back to cheesecakes...I'm making 3 different ones for the OSC Auction at the end of the month. The lovely pink Raspberry cheesecake it's tart ans sweet at the same time, a classic New York Cheesecake so rich and creamy and my very own Death by Chocolate cheesecake with 7 different kinds of chocolate going into it. I treasure the recipes from my cheesecake class to much that I won't even give my closest friends a peak at these cheesecake recipes!
I can make the most scrumptious desserts a fork has ever been stuck into! I have gained so much confidence in my dessert making just from the few hours I spent in the company of that Pastry Chef. I highly recommend to anyone looking to improve their culinary skills to look up restaurants and cooking stores that have real honest to goodness chefs teaching cooking classes. I've signed up for 3 cooking classes this month and I can hardly wait for the class date! The breads class is going to be remarkable! Focaccia, ciabatta and other rustic breads are going to be prepared. I'll get these chef's secret recipes for these awesome items! There's a Pasta class at the end of the month, I'm going to make real ravioli! I have the pasta machines from Italy, got one from my Mother last summer and the other was one that I bought on clearance from Herberger's last year that is an attachment for my Kitchen-Aid mixer. Cooking good food is one of my passions. My 3rd class is the Knife Skills class being given my Wusthof-Trident (LOVE those knifes).We will learn about the art of creating beautiful garnishes out of vegetables and fruits...thinking about it makes me smile!
So back to cheesecakes...I'm making 3 different ones for the OSC Auction at the end of the month. The lovely pink Raspberry cheesecake it's tart ans sweet at the same time, a classic New York Cheesecake so rich and creamy and my very own Death by Chocolate cheesecake with 7 different kinds of chocolate going into it. I treasure the recipes from my cheesecake class to much that I won't even give my closest friends a peak at these cheesecake recipes!
Obsessive Compulsive Disorder
Some days I wonder if I have OCD, I'm constantly rearranging things in my Kitchen and in my Scrapbook Nook. Heck even the closets take a hit every now and again. I feel as if I am continually looking for the perfect solution to having an organized home. But lets face facts here people, this family of mine is being crammed into a 1400 sq foot house which is pretty tough when you know that we came from a 2700 sq foot house...of course it's going to feel small! Try as I might I am in a constant state of flux, always trying to make this place feel "larger" than it really is. We took this house for a few different reasons...
1-close to good schools for the kids
2-close to Lucien's work
3-central heat and air conditioning (there are only a handful of homes here on base for officers that have central a/c).
4-the security of living on base while my DH is away on long deployments
5-the fact that we won't have to sell a house when we move, what a huge relief that IS!
We are currently waiting to hear when and where we will be moving to for our next assignment. Maybe I won't have to feel like rearranging the scrapbook nook again because I'll be packing it up soon...who knows!
1-close to good schools for the kids
2-close to Lucien's work
3-central heat and air conditioning (there are only a handful of homes here on base for officers that have central a/c).
4-the security of living on base while my DH is away on long deployments
5-the fact that we won't have to sell a house when we move, what a huge relief that IS!
We are currently waiting to hear when and where we will be moving to for our next assignment. Maybe I won't have to feel like rearranging the scrapbook nook again because I'll be packing it up soon...who knows!
Thursday, October 12, 2006
A day to think about others
For the most part today is a day that I will have to myself. I'll be leaving for the gym as soon as I toss in a load of clothes in the washing machine. Then it's back here to work on a scrapbook layout or two. I want to make some cards to send to my girlfriends whose husbands are currently on deployment. I know how rough it can be when you're doing the single parent thing and you live no where near your family. But how nice would it be to get a pretty card in the mail from a friend telling you how much you are thought of and how happy it is that you and she are friends? I know that I have never received such a card, but just because I haven't doesn't mean that I won't make and send cards like this. I just think that I "think" differently about things then my girlfriends do. Everyone gets so wrapped up in their day to day lives that they have no room in their brains to think about anyone else then their own immediate family. So here I am thinking about how receiving a pretty card in the mail from a friend will make their day!
Retired Sizzix Alphabet Sets
As I was scanning the alphabet sets yesterday I saw that Sizzix has retired some of them. Yes I was a little dismayed at first, but then again they were either sets that I already owned or ones that I didn't care for in the first place. So here goes...this is what information I have for you...
Sizzlets Alphabet dies
Pep Squad- retired
Monkey Tails-
Script- retired
Slim Jim- on clearance
Girls are Weird- retired
Classic-
Fruit Smoothie- retired
Funky Brush-retired
Nouveau-retired
Graffiti- on clearance
Wet Paint- retired
Stencil-
Skooshy-
Round Table- retired
Round-a-Bout-on clearance
Rat-a-Tat-
Notepad-
Boxed Brush-on clearance
Bozo- on clearance
Cherish-
Aphrodite-on clearance
Azure-
Big Top-
Alphabars
Alpha clips-
Classic Stencil-on clearance
Doodle Block-
Doodle Dots-
Doodle Tag-
Pigeon Toed Charms-
Vowel Play- on clearance
Ransom- on clearance
To me it seems as if once those Alphabet Sets are put on clearance as soon as they sell out they are retired.
Sizzlets Alphabet dies
Pep Squad- retired
Monkey Tails-
Script- retired
Slim Jim- on clearance
Girls are Weird- retired
Classic-
Fruit Smoothie- retired
Funky Brush-retired
Nouveau-retired
Graffiti- on clearance
Wet Paint- retired
Stencil-
Skooshy-
Round Table- retired
Round-a-Bout-on clearance
Rat-a-Tat-
Notepad-
Boxed Brush-on clearance
Bozo- on clearance
Cherish-
Aphrodite-on clearance
Azure-
Big Top-
Alphabars
Alpha clips-
Classic Stencil-on clearance
Doodle Block-
Doodle Dots-
Doodle Tag-
Pigeon Toed Charms-
Vowel Play- on clearance
Ransom- on clearance
To me it seems as if once those Alphabet Sets are put on clearance as soon as they sell out they are retired.
First Snow of the Season
Yesterday we had the first snow of the season. Everything was covered in ice and snow. Usually (well since we have lived here at least) the first snow of the season doesn't arrive until Halloween...that's the way it's been for the past 3 years anyway. So imagine our surprise when we awoke to snow this early in the month.
I did end up taking the kids to school...Andrew was in his ROTC dress uniform and Hannah had a big ole piece of poster board and a long skinny dowel to take to school. I just didn't see either child fairing well while waiting for the school bus in the wind and snow.
Two plants bit the dust, yup they were doing so well too...such is life on the prairie. The extreme cold weather was such a surprise.
I did end up taking the kids to school...Andrew was in his ROTC dress uniform and Hannah had a big ole piece of poster board and a long skinny dowel to take to school. I just didn't see either child fairing well while waiting for the school bus in the wind and snow.
Two plants bit the dust, yup they were doing so well too...such is life on the prairie. The extreme cold weather was such a surprise.
Tuesday, October 10, 2006
Great deals @ Sizzix.com!
I can not begin to tell you how much I look forward to the Sizzix.com Tuesday Teasers! Today I was able to get some seriously good deals on the Doodle Bug Tag Alphabars upper case, lower case and numbers sets. I have wanted these since they came out on the market but just could not make myself pay full retail or even 25% off (funny huh?). Today though I could NOT resist the price and who could? While supplies last its $30 for the uppercase and $30 for the lowercase PLUS the number sets was a whopping $19.50…wholly cow! Then there’s the Rat-a-Tat set which retails for $150.00 on sale for the remarkable price of $45. Merry Christmas to me! My gosh, I most certainly saved myself a bundle! Now for me to patiently wait until they arrive J
Monday, October 09, 2006
Day #3 of a 4 day weekend
Believe it or not but I’ve managed to say sane while my family has been around me for 3 straight days. Hannah and I went to Hobby Lobby with our list of things that she needed:
3 packages of straight train tracks
1 large sheet of white poster board
1 skinny dowel to use as a pointer for her class project
Then of course there were those items that we purchsed that were not on the list such as a scrapbook page kit for Hannah to make with her girl scout pictures, the 3-d embellishments for that layout I’m planning for when we all went snow skiing at Terry Peak. Or how about those Western embellsihments for that western themed going away party for the Curran’s back in May. I’m itching to get into my scrapbook nook and get working on some more stuff!
Friday, October 06, 2006
Every day is a new day
I'm sure that you've all heard that saying before right? Well it's true. Every day is a new day, a day in which to start afresh (yes afresh is a real word). I've been keeping up with my friend Gina's blog and it's breaking my heart. She lost one of her boys to a terrible skateboarding accident not quite 2 weeks ago. Her unwavering faith in the Lord and the support of her family and friends are helping her to get over this huge loss. So for all of you mothers out there...go hug your children, tell them how much you love them, tell them that they mean the world to you!
As for me, I'm dedicating this day to scrapbooking...I'm making layouts about my family! I have a Calender project to make for a friends website. I'm amazed at all of the product that comes with the kit. It's a Frances Meyer 12x12 calender and it's pretty cool! I've seen all of the monthly papers and have actually bought some of them for other projects. But this big calender is one that you make actual layouts for and at the end of every month you take that page off and put it in your album...how seriously cool is that? So I've got to sit here for a while at my computer desk and "fish" through a years worth of photo's. So while I am doing that, I might was well search for photo's of the year for a separate layout...one that I've been putting off completing since CKU-Masters in August.
Sorry about the tiny pictures in yesterdays post, but my blog spot wasn't letting me add pictures from my computer the regular way. But I did want to show you all some pictures of my personal favorite things that I use in My Scrapbook Nook.
Okay so now for me to crack the whip and actually work on my 2 projects...I really dislike being trapped to work at my computer for hours at a time. But I've been putting it off for long enough. Time for me to get to work!
As for me, I'm dedicating this day to scrapbooking...I'm making layouts about my family! I have a Calender project to make for a friends website. I'm amazed at all of the product that comes with the kit. It's a Frances Meyer 12x12 calender and it's pretty cool! I've seen all of the monthly papers and have actually bought some of them for other projects. But this big calender is one that you make actual layouts for and at the end of every month you take that page off and put it in your album...how seriously cool is that? So I've got to sit here for a while at my computer desk and "fish" through a years worth of photo's. So while I am doing that, I might was well search for photo's of the year for a separate layout...one that I've been putting off completing since CKU-Masters in August.
Sorry about the tiny pictures in yesterdays post, but my blog spot wasn't letting me add pictures from my computer the regular way. But I did want to show you all some pictures of my personal favorite things that I use in My Scrapbook Nook.
Okay so now for me to crack the whip and actually work on my 2 projects...I really dislike being trapped to work at my computer for hours at a time. But I've been putting it off for long enough. Time for me to get to work!
Thursday, October 05, 2006
My Favorite Scrapbooking Tools
When it comes to scrapbooking we all have our favorite tools and things we like to work with. For me, these are things that through my own discovery or through being introduced to them through friends and scrapbooking events and magazines ads that I have feel in love with. I'm going to show you some of my most favorite scrapbooking toys...
The Clickit Tool Set- I love how this set comes in a nifty box and everything you need is right there. There's all sorts of interchangable tips that come in this great package! There are 6 different hole punching tips, eyelet tips, hole piecing tool, lacing tip, a cleaning tool. I tell ya, this is one awesome tool! It's a slient setter which is spring loaded. My husband gets rather cranky when I'm having one of my "creative moment" at 2 or 3 am, so this tool for me is fantastic! It's manufactured by Karen Foster.
The Crop-a-Dile- This little gem is fantastic for punching holes thorugh chipboard! I like to make little books from chipboard, but I have to say that I was banging it out with my hammer...ugh! This tool is fantastic as it has a stop gauge. Actually there's a part of that tool that is like a ruler, you can gauge how far into the paper, cardsrtock or chipboard you want to go. Say for instance you only want to go in a half inch in from the edge of the chipboard...this haelps you be precise in your measurements. LOVE IT! It's easy to use.
scrapbookwithmeo squeeze too! Manufacurted by We R Memory Keepers.
QuicKutz- Oh my gosh what is not to like about this handy dandy tool? I like it even more now that I have a 2nd hand tool! My new hand tool has the extended handle and it's seriously much more easy to use. There are so many different fonts of various sizes to choose from. Thenof course there are all of those adorable dies to choose form as well!
by scrapbookwithme
Sizzix & Ellison Design- These were the fisrt dies I had ever bought for myself. Then the Sizzlets line came out...thin and they went in these nifty storage containers. Oodles of fonts to choose from in various sizes. Better yet, there are adapters for other brands of dies such as Zippimate dies and QuicKutz dies so you can use them with your sizzix machine.
Fiskars 12 inch Rotary Cutter- I bought my first one back in 2000, oh how I loved it! Then I bought the new improved one in 2004, I love it too! I have them both out for crops! I don't scrap without them!
by scrapbookwithme
Cutterpede Paper Trimmers- These are the first items that I tuck into my crop bag when traveling. Their compact size makes them great to take to crops or to use in small scrapbooking spaces.There are even decorative edge blades such as wavy, scallop and zipzag that you can use with these trimmers.
by scrapbookwithme
Cutter Bee Scissors- I remember when these first came out...the scrapbooking stores couldnt keep them on the shelves! Talk about one sharp pair of scissors! And they stayed sharp too! Having that plastic covere protects the tip, which is ultra sharp and pointy! I have all 3 kinds for scrapbooking plus the kids Cutter Bee Scissors! I love them and so does my daughter Hannah!
by scrapbookwithme
The Clickit Tool Set- I love how this set comes in a nifty box and everything you need is right there. There's all sorts of interchangable tips that come in this great package! There are 6 different hole punching tips, eyelet tips, hole piecing tool, lacing tip, a cleaning tool. I tell ya, this is one awesome tool! It's a slient setter which is spring loaded. My husband gets rather cranky when I'm having one of my "creative moment" at 2 or 3 am, so this tool for me is fantastic! It's manufactured by Karen Foster.
The Crop-a-Dile- This little gem is fantastic for punching holes thorugh chipboard! I like to make little books from chipboard, but I have to say that I was banging it out with my hammer...ugh! This tool is fantastic as it has a stop gauge. Actually there's a part of that tool that is like a ruler, you can gauge how far into the paper, cardsrtock or chipboard you want to go. Say for instance you only want to go in a half inch in from the edge of the chipboard...this haelps you be precise in your measurements. LOVE IT! It's easy to use.
scrapbookwithmeo squeeze too! Manufacurted by We R Memory Keepers.
QuicKutz- Oh my gosh what is not to like about this handy dandy tool? I like it even more now that I have a 2nd hand tool! My new hand tool has the extended handle and it's seriously much more easy to use. There are so many different fonts of various sizes to choose from. Thenof course there are all of those adorable dies to choose form as well!
by scrapbookwithme
Sizzix & Ellison Design- These were the fisrt dies I had ever bought for myself. Then the Sizzlets line came out...thin and they went in these nifty storage containers. Oodles of fonts to choose from in various sizes. Better yet, there are adapters for other brands of dies such as Zippimate dies and QuicKutz dies so you can use them with your sizzix machine.
Fiskars 12 inch Rotary Cutter- I bought my first one back in 2000, oh how I loved it! Then I bought the new improved one in 2004, I love it too! I have them both out for crops! I don't scrap without them!
by scrapbookwithme
Cutterpede Paper Trimmers- These are the first items that I tuck into my crop bag when traveling. Their compact size makes them great to take to crops or to use in small scrapbooking spaces.There are even decorative edge blades such as wavy, scallop and zipzag that you can use with these trimmers.
by scrapbookwithme
Cutter Bee Scissors- I remember when these first came out...the scrapbooking stores couldnt keep them on the shelves! Talk about one sharp pair of scissors! And they stayed sharp too! Having that plastic covere protects the tip, which is ultra sharp and pointy! I have all 3 kinds for scrapbooking plus the kids Cutter Bee Scissors! I love them and so does my daughter Hannah!
by scrapbookwithme
Magazines
I admit it, I'm a magazine reading junkie! I love to read periodicals there's nothing more to it. To get fresh ideas and information every month, what's not to like? On another site that I frequent, we listed out magazine subscriptions...wow we have something like 22 or more magazines coming to this house of ours. Granted some are bi-monthly subscriptions. The catch is, we read them all! I have interests that are all over the page, from cooking to natural history, from science to paper crafting. What you read says something about yourself.
Wednesday, October 04, 2006
It's Wednesday!
I was chatting with a friend on Monday trying to make lunch plans with her and while I was looking at my October schedule, all I could say is WOW! I can hardly believe how busy I am going to be. I have stuff going on all of the time! You name it I have it going on. I have one benefit though, I am hosting the OSC Scrapbooking Crop at my house on the 19th, so there is my dedicated day to "Scrapbooking". I have so many sketches done up and plans for layouts, it's just getting the time these days to dedicate to making these projects that is hard. At least I do have a Scrapbook Nook where I can have things hanging out until I can get back to complete them.
About my itchiness and my sutures...the stitches have been removed and I'm now on a different medication to control my itchies! I thought that I was going to lose my ever loving mind this morning...yes it was that bad! I'm feeling better now, but wow was it ever intense! The nice doctor told me that it was going to hurt when he removed my stitches, I felt a slight tugging sensation but no pain. My rash is going away too! Maybe I'll be able to get some scrapbooking done this afternoon...after I have a nice big mug of hot tea (it's rather nippy outside right now).
As for the OSC charity auction...I am not going to be making any scrapbooks for it, instead I am making 3 different cheesecakes! I've had some requests to make my cheesecakes for this event and I am more than happy to fulfill those requests!
About my itchiness and my sutures...the stitches have been removed and I'm now on a different medication to control my itchies! I thought that I was going to lose my ever loving mind this morning...yes it was that bad! I'm feeling better now, but wow was it ever intense! The nice doctor told me that it was going to hurt when he removed my stitches, I felt a slight tugging sensation but no pain. My rash is going away too! Maybe I'll be able to get some scrapbooking done this afternoon...after I have a nice big mug of hot tea (it's rather nippy outside right now).
As for the OSC charity auction...I am not going to be making any scrapbooks for it, instead I am making 3 different cheesecakes! I've had some requests to make my cheesecakes for this event and I am more than happy to fulfill those requests!
Tuesday, October 03, 2006
Wow it's October!
It's October! Oh my gosh how the time does fly! I was constantly busy while my mother-in-law was here. She got off on Saturday and is back home in Massachusetts.
Sunday afternoon my husband and I went for a drive up in the Black Hills in our little red Miata. We went to see the fall colors. I took many pictures but have yet to get them on to our computer (I'm doing that right now while I'm typing). Now granted the colors are not the ones that we would typically see when viewing the fall foliage in places such as New England. But it was pretty none the less. It was nice to get out and drive around in the Black Hills in the little car. There were many other folks doing the same, out for a Sunday drive to see the fall foliage.
I'm currently having an allergic reaction to the adhesive and the plastic parts of the band-aids that cover my stitches. I've got welts and rashes that are so intensely itchy. I awoke the other night feeling as if I had fire ants crawling on me...yes the itching was that bad! Hopefully I can get in to see the doctor today and get this taken care of.
Sunday afternoon my husband and I went for a drive up in the Black Hills in our little red Miata. We went to see the fall colors. I took many pictures but have yet to get them on to our computer (I'm doing that right now while I'm typing). Now granted the colors are not the ones that we would typically see when viewing the fall foliage in places such as New England. But it was pretty none the less. It was nice to get out and drive around in the Black Hills in the little car. There were many other folks doing the same, out for a Sunday drive to see the fall foliage.
I'm currently having an allergic reaction to the adhesive and the plastic parts of the band-aids that cover my stitches. I've got welts and rashes that are so intensely itchy. I awoke the other night feeling as if I had fire ants crawling on me...yes the itching was that bad! Hopefully I can get in to see the doctor today and get this taken care of.
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