New banner

I figured it was time to change the banner on top. My grand daughter is over a year old now and I needed to include my grandson. So here is the new and improved banner with them both!

xoxo

I did it myself!

Doesn't it feel good when you figure out something that has been puzzling you for a long, long time. Well yesterday I finally did it! I figured out how to make my about me page and it worked! Such a good feeling inside kinda like hot chocolate with whip cream in the shape of a heart. (wish I had one right now). Anyway I am thrilled to have this off my "to do" list. Oh I guess I should show a picture of what I accomplished, oh why not just send you to the site... here it is.  I will be updating the page as I get better at this html thing. This has taken me a while and practice and searching the web to figure it out. I'm sure there are lots of people who will laugh because they already knew how to do this, but I just really wanted to learn and now I have that wonderful feeling of accomplishment.
On another note I was at a yard sale yesterday, the only one I saw open, probably due to the fact that it was raining here in Southern California, anyway I started looking through all the "stuff" at the sale and there was alot of old VHS videos, cheap plastic storage keepers and a bunch of cheap kitchen gadgets - some that had seen better days.
Well as I turned the corner in the kitchen I found a Wedgwood dinner plate on a plastic stand in perfect condition tags still on the back. Of course I got it and I put it up in my store and already several people have been looking at it. I sure didn't expect to find any treasures yesterday with all the rain pouring here, I almost fell in a huge puddle of water getting out of my car to get this wonderful plate.

So if you need a replacement or just love this plate to add to a collection, I might have it for you.

xoxo

when life was so easy

Remember when life was so easy... all you had to do was share a moment (and some candy) with your uncle. How fast they grow! and then they are adults with adult ideas and problems. Boy I wish time could stand still and we could always be this happy...

Here's my favorite picture from our trip to visit great grandma in Colorado. I've entered it in a contest over at

I would be so pleased if you could stop by the contest page and vote for my pic!
Thanks to all!

Sunday Creative

The Sunday Creative! Each week, on Sunday, they offer a  creative prompt; just one word that you can use as kindle for your creative fire in a project!
The reason I joined like it says: to continue to foster creativity, stretch my creative muscles, and grow in this creative community!
Check out the others at The Sunday Creative!


Come follow the fun of learning and expanding ourselves...
November 15, 2010, 

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

This week's prompt:

Lonely

                               *~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Lonely:  1. lone; solitary; without company, companionless. 2. remote from  places of human habitation. 3. standing apart; isolated.

I took this picture of my son because he wouldn't let me get one of his face, you know that 15 year old attitude!
xoxo

No words, just peaceful pictures...

 

 

 

xoxo

my newest try at eating better

Okay for the past few months I have been really trying to eat better, you know, no more of the "white foods" (sugar, flour, bread, anything white) Well I have been making smoothies everyday. Recently I have been adding different veges to them. I have become very adventuress at adding things I would never have added before. Like cauliflower, cucumber, squash, kale, cabbage and lettuce.

The next one I will be trying is green beans. How brave is that. I haven't become brave enough to add other things yet, but I'm working through that. But I just went to the Clean House yard sale this weekend and the only thing I bought was a book! I sure am excited to get this book. It is "Virgin Coconut Oil" by Brian and Marianita Shilhavy. I was very surprised that I had never heard of this book before, but I was pleasantly surprised that I was already doing most of what this book said. I have changed my vegetable oil to coconut oil now. I still use olive oil too. Has anyone read this book and found it to be beneficial for an ailment? I'm just curious how others use the coconut oil. Leave me a comment about how you use the oil, I would love to hear from you.

xoxo

ps... I found two new blogs I'm loving... alicias homemaking and happy foody. I found some really good ideas from them.
* * * * * Update* * * * *
I cut back on all my food intake for the past week and since I posted this I have lost 4 pounds. I have been trying to eat only raw foods. Well I still have a bit to go to get back into my size I have worn for the majority of my life! I still have a few lb's to get off these old thighs. But now I think that I can get there and stay that size.

Yard/Tag/Garage Sale Mapping

For quite some time now I have had a cork board with a city map glued to it, then on Friday I would take pushpins and put them in the map where each yard sale was. This made it pretty easy to find all the sales and be able to make a trail of where I wanted to go. It took me about an hour to get all the addresses and then push in the pins, then if a pin fell out I would have to figure out which sale it was. Also this is pretty bulky and cumbersome while driving or if I have someone with me they have to maneuver this board around and worry if they drop the pin box.
For a while now I have been looking online to find some app that I could use to do this a lot faster I found one but it only worked on the Penny Saver ads and there was no way to ad in extra addresses. But while I was on another blog today I think I found the best app ever! It's called Yard Sale Treasure Map.
I was testing it and it seems to work exactly like I would have created it. {if I was that smart} It is linked with your local Craigslist garage sale info {it includes the ad from Craigslist, so you'll know what items you might really want to look for} A super plus is you can add in other addresses from the local newspaper, or you can delete an address you don't want. It will map out your route and then you print it out. How cool is that!!!
There is also a How To @ About.com, so if you get confused or just need extra help go to that link.
This also works when you travel, all you do is put in the address you'll be starting from and it will map the rest. Now I can't wait for Friday to test this!
The next time I have a yard sale and I list it on Craigslist I will be putting the map and the How To links in my ad so that others will be able to use it too.

xoxo

Yo Yo's all around me!

Today I don't know what got into me {maybe it's the free time with NO ONE home today} Yeah!... I started making yo yo's. I have oodles of fabric from the quilt I made for my grand baby and the two other quilts I'm making for my friend who is having a baby {Girl}. So I must be out of my mind to think I have time to make anything else, BUT, I started making yo yo's for a couple of bibs I'll make to go along with the gift. They will at least match. Our local Joann store is having a great sale right now so I might pop over and get the terry cloth to make the bibs with.
Here's my great find for the week....

And now for my crafty and frugal friends, I was at Goodwill last week when they had a half price day and as I was digging through the bags of clothes and other misc items,  I found a bag of fabric. This fabric had the tags on it, they looked like someone had used them to go to different stores to show the new fabric for the next season. They were all fat quarters size or bigger. So after looking through and finding several I could use on the quilts I'm making I decided to get them all. {I ended up using 6 different fabrics from this great find} So up to the register I went and asked the price. The wonderful lady {who I'm sure does not sew} said $5, well I hemmed and hawed and offered her $4 and she said sure! Oh yeah I also got the bag too!

I know the gray looks glossy in the picture but it isn't, it is just a canvas bag, great for grocery shopping. I was so excited to get this deal!
So if there is anyone who sews and uses fat quarters, we all know that they cost at full price $1.99 and on sale $.99 plus tax (7.75%) I got 111 pieces of fabric. so even if I got them all for $.99 I saved $113 easy and if it was full price I would have saved over $200. Best thing is there is no sales tax at Goodwill.

xoxo

Cake Bites are done!

Okay now that the cake bites have frozen really hard, it's time to dip them
With a double boiler (or a pot with a metal pan on top) boil the water and melt your candy/almond bark.
I bought the Wilton's candy melts, available at pretty much any craft/baking store in lots of colors. I got white because I have some food color gels that I was trying to see if we could achieve the right fushia color we need. It didn't come out the right color but I will have to work on that. I used a fork and spatula to dip in and roll around.

At first the candy mix was going on the bites really nice, no drips, no mess, but then when the melted coating got too melted and hot it doesn't stay put on your pop as well, it got  gloppy and grainy. So I learned it's best to let it be a bit cooler. I also read the package and that was what it said. The cake even started to crumble off and go into the candy. Well here are the bad ones...

So the lesson here is to keep the candy at a constant heat and be quick about dipping. I didn't do any decorations.
Here is a site that will amaze you and possibly make you feel bad about yourself, be sure to check out Bakerella's blog.
Let them set up in the fridge.
Okay so as I'm now sitting here eating these watching my thighs expand, I was talking to my friend who wants to have these at her daughters baby shower and we decided to make cupcake pops. This blog makes them look sooooooo easy. I think I might have to practice before the shower! 

xoxo

"Celebrating Teens" Photo Challenge

At I heart faces they are having another contest for

Celebrating Teens” Photo Challenge

I was trying all day to get a good picture of my son who by the way was 15. He kept turning around so that I couldn't take the picture, so like a good mom I decided to just take a picture of his back. This turned out to be my favorite picture of the day.

xoxo
 

Cake Bites Cont......

Okay I forgot to take a picture of the cake when I was crumbing it and before I made the balls. I am kinda bad at this for blog land people. I will try harder from now on. So I'll just go ahead and just describe what I did....

    The next step is to crumb your cake. I had just cleaned the kitchen and put all the dishes away from dinner so I used two forks to just start making crumbs of the cake, you want to make it into very fine crumbs with no lumps. I did this in sections. You can just use your hands to do this if it seems easier to you.
    Now we need frosting. These cake bites can be made with canned frosting or homemade. I made cream cheese frosting from scratch.  Here's the recipe I used:

3/4 cup unsalted butter, softened

2 1/2 cups confectioners' sugar
1/4 cup cream
2 tsp. vanilla extract

6 oz cream cheese

Cream butter and cream cheese with mixer on low speed. Using a spatula, scrape down the sides of the bowl. Add the confectioners sugar and mix on low speed, about 30 seconds. Drizzle in the extract. Mix for another 30 seconds, or until smooth.
I have to say I just added the ingredients without measuring (I'm that kind of cook) so these are not super accurate measurements, I'm one of those taste as you go bakers.

    Add your frosting to your cake crumbs (in a large bowl).
Add the frosting a bit at a time until you had a consistency that would roll into a ball, but not too mushy. Mine was a bit on the mushy side but I put it in the fridge for about 1/2 an hour to stiffen it a bit.

   (Okay don't laugh at my lopsided balls - my family laughed and made comments on what they looked like, but not one of them disliked the taste, remember these are the first batch and only a test)
    Roll all that mushy cake into balls. I made mine smaller than a ping-pong ball. I just kept thinking I wanted them small enough to just pop into my mouth. I used a Tupperware container to line up the balls, then put waxed paper on top and made another row, then I put the cover on and put the whole thing into the freezer. 
Well the cake bites are in the freezer right now and I'm on my way out the door to go to Michael's to get the Almond Bark to make the coating for the bites! I'll make the next post and tell you how they turn out.


xoxo

Cake Pops {Bites}

While looking around the internet at some really talented people who are baking wonderful tiny desserts, I found this really cute idea to try.

I'm really mad at myself because today at a yard sale I passed up a tartlet pan (for a quarter ` that is 25 cents!) that I didn't think I needed. Well now that I've been asked to make cake bites for a baby shower, I of course need that pan. Oh well such is life.
There are so many different methods of making these. So I spent a whole afternoon researching just how to make these adorable little treats.
So I'm starting a trial batch of the cake bites tonight. I'll let you know how things went.

Later that night...
Here's an overview of the way I'm making the cake bites
Bake a 13x9 cake.
You can bake any type of cake you like. Boxed mix or from scratch. I decided to use a mix, just because I had it handy and this is only a trial. I am going to make these and bring a few to my neighbor who just got home from the hospital, as a happy little gift to feel better. I'm cooking this tonight so it has plenty of time to cool before I crumble it tomorrow. 
Okay here is the pan of chocolate cake mix I mixed up. I think next time I will be making it from scratch. just to test the difference.

Alright now one last tap on the counter to get the bubbles out and into the oven. Tomorrow I will show the crumbled up cake and the frosting mixed in, with more directions. See you then.
xoxo

♥ it's all about babies ♥

Over at i ♥ faces this week's photo challenge theme is "All About Babies"

Okay so here is my entry of my granddaughter. She was 2 months old here. I LOVE photographing newborns... so I was thrilled when I saw this challenge.
She is actually laying on top of my daughter because we couldn't get her to be happy any other way.

Check out more babies at their site

xoxo

Organic

My good friend has an organic house cleaning business and today I was at her house, when I just happen to open a jar of her cleanser, just to smell it. I was so surprised that it smelled so good and it felt good too. Okay so does it really clean? I just had to try it and it cleaned good too. I just might have her come clean my shower (I hate cleaning it) She has a very nice web page too, If you live in Simi Valley or Conejo she's the one to clean your home with an organic touch. I had to give her a plug. I really am proud of her for starting up this cleaning service and making her own organic cleaning products.

xoxo

Key West Vacation

I just stumbled across this slide show I made a couple of years ago, forgot that I had it. This was long before the oil spill that is now creeping towards Key West. Hopefully they (BP) will get it to stop gushing oil into the ocean in the next couple of days so that these beautiful places won't be ruined by people's greed.

xoxo

Pumpkin Ravioli

I have to say it... I am not much of a cook. I would rather do something artsy before I cooked. But I did have the cooking bug bite me yesterday, I was on a mission to make Pumpkin Ravioli. I found some Rachael Ray Everyday magazines last weekend at a yard sale and I saw this recipe for Pumpkin Ravioli, let me tell you it is hard to find canned pumpkin in May! I went to 5 stores before I found it, everyone had the pumpkin pie stuff, I just wanted plain ole pumpkin. Here is the recipe I used. It turned out perfect and the family seemed to like it too. I made a cream sauce to dip it in just in case it was a bit dry, but it tasted good both ways.

Anyway that is the extent of my culinary expertise. If you like pumpkin and ravioli you'll like this. Enjoy!

xoxo

"Flower Power" Chair

While I was at a yard sale yesterday I found a really cute child's chair with horrible fabric on it. The lady wanted $3.00 but she took $2.00. Then when I put it in the car I remembered I had just bought some adorable fabric to use on the car seat, but now I changed my mind and decided to use this fabric on this new chair. Of course I was so excited to start this project that I didn't remember to take a "before" picture of the chair. But I did take a picture of the old material 

And yes it was very faded material. This took me about six hours to recover. It had about a million staples in it. {so now I have a really sore spot on my hand where I used the tool to dig out the staples} This took a while to do but felt so good when it was done and it was very easy to do too. There are even little rocking feet on the bottom.

Okay so here is the finished product.....

I love the way it turned out, now I can't wait for the Dormouse to start sitting in it.  Sorry I didn't get a picture of the before, I think it might have been more dramatic to see it before I changed the fabric.

xoxo


I'll be linking this post with these sites:

 

 

 

xoxo