Monday, November 13, 2006
My month long Scrapbooking Project
Have you ever thought about assigning yourself a scrapbooking project? Starting on December 1st though the 31st I'm going to assign myself a task. I will take at least one picture a day and journal about it. This will be a day in my life for a month and it will all go in my own scrapbook...my book of Me. I got this idea from Simple Scrapbooks on line newsletter. Once I read the article, I knew that this was the project for me! Now for me to choose my background color and embellishments, I want to stay in a color theme throughout the entire month for this project. December would be the perfect month for me to do this too! I have a lot going on, not just Christmas, but Girl Scouts, the OSC Holiday luncheon, 2 Christmas parties (that is as of now, could be more), Hannah's pre-op appointment and surgery, My Dad's birthday, my parents anniversary, my brother-in-law Henry turns 29 this year, then of course there's New Years Eve. Yup, I'd say there re a lot of reasons for me to take pictures every single day in December! Won't you join me on this little challenge?
How Safe is your Kitchen?
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!
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!
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.
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