A Proverbs 31 Kind of Day

This pasted weekend, our home was a host site for "Adventure Weekend."  They (the pre-teen ministry) bills it as a weekend discipleship for 5-6 graders.  Now that I look at the title; I've come to learn that it's code for:  an adventure for the parents!  We're obviously slow learners, because this was our second time to host the weekend!  But with our son being a 6th grader, we decided it was the "right" thing to do!  Well, let me tell you, I have that feeling out of my system!  OK -- just kidding!  We all know I'm a strings-attached kind of mom!  This year we had 11 6th grade boys and 2 leaders!  That's a baker's dozen that descended into our home for Friday and Saturday! The Mr. and I took our littlest cherub out of school early on Friday and met my mom 1/2 way -- that'd be in Oklahoma!  My sweet cherub had her Mimi to herself the entire weekend  . . . and that's another story!  You should have SEEN the tears we had ...

This morning I was watching "The Today Show" when a commercial came on advertising Sesame Street Live !  OH!!!!  I remembered taking our little cherubs to those shows -- how fun it was -- and how expensive it was too!  But I thought more about how fun it was -- and how cute they were (my cherubs, that is) -- and then again, how expensive it was!  But then I remembered what we used to do!  That's what I want to share with you!  I prefer not to think of myself cheap -- 'cause I don't really think I am.  What I do know is that we only have so much money, and I can cut corners here in order to have "full corners" someplace else.  Life is about a little give and take, don't you think!  Back to what I used to do.  Both of my cherubs L.O.V.E.D balloons.  Not just any balloon  --- yes, the plain ones were fun, but the shiny Mylar character ones were GREAT!  One time my son got a a mylar Elmo balloon from his Mimi....

Is there such truth to that?  "Kitchen work made easy?"  I may be a slow learner -- but once I get it, I'm there!  It dawned on my some time ago and I had this little conversation with myself.  "Self, why are you always chopping onion everyday?  I mean, Every Day!  Wouldn't it make sense to chop like a whole onion at one time and put it in a container with a lid so that it's done and it won't smell in the fridge?"  "Self, you are SO smart!  What a great idea!  It makes the same mess whether you chop a bit of onion or a whole onion.  So, knock yourself out and go wild -- chop the whole darn thing!" "OK -- let's see what I can put this onion in.  No, not that -- or that.  Oh, I need it to be something that will be 'the onion bowl' so that whenever I see it in the fridge, I know that's what it is -- and I don't have to always open the thing to say, 'oh!  that's the chopped onion!'" "Girl --...

Made ya look, didn't I?  You were thinking the sugary orange, yellow and white stuff!  Well, as much as I love that stuff -- I think I like this even better!  This is what my sister-in-law's looked like!  Cute! A couple of years ago, my sister-in-law had some "Candied Popcorn" that she got as a gift.  She's a teacher . . .need I say more?  Anyway, we all enjoyed it!  I kept thinking, "how would you make this stuff?!"  It was so good and crunchy and different! Guess what!  I have something similar!  It's not exact and if when I make it again, I'll make a minor adjustment or two, but over-all, this first batch has the potential of being gone before the kids even get home from school! The ingredients are simple and you've probably got them in your cabinet right now!  Try mixing up this little concoction and see what happens!  Wouldn't this be fun for a party, school treats, or holiday gifts?  Oh, the possibilit...

We were out of school the other day.  While one cherub was away playing with a friend, the other was at home.  She looked through her cookbooks, found a recipe, gathered her apron and we started baking!  We had a great time trying a new recipe.  Later that day, a friend came to play and they feasted on tea and cheese biscuits!  Cheese Biscuits Only a Princess Cookbook would have such royal ingredients!  Place the butter, cheese, and Worcestershire sauce in a mixing bowl and mix together well.  It will be start looking like the above picture.  Then add your flour, salt, and cayenne pepper.  The mixture was WAY TOO crumbly and wouldn't hold together to roll out.  So we added a few tablespoons of cream (milk would do).  Start with 2 Tablespoons and mix well.  You want your dough to hold together, sort of like a pie crust.  If you think you need a bit more liquid, add it.  I would recommend addin...

The other day, after making all of the decorated sugar cookies, my little cherub asked if she could have the left-over icing.  She had a plan . . .  . . .she wanted to practice with the icing!  I showed her how to twist the bag and hold it tight as she squeezed out the icing.  She started practicing on a piece of paper; writing and drawing scribbles and swirls.  She worked long . . .filling up the entire piece of paper with her creativity!  I think this is only the beginning! Here was my lesson:  I was so ready to clean things up.  I had worked several hours on the cookies and when you frost cookies, your kitchen has the potential of looking like an F1 tornado swirled through. But she wanted to "extend" the mess by using the left-over frosting for a craft project, as she called it!  Much to my dismay, I gave in and gave her a bag to use.   . . .and guess what happened!  There are 3 things...

My littlest cherub went for the homemade Valentine treat this year!  I was glad to help her do something different.  As you know, I'm not real found of the little Valentine cards that kids 'get' to sign and pass to their friends!  She decided on marshmallow pops!  This is a very easy treat to make.  The throw together relatively quick and they are cute when wrapped individually.  I always make extra and give her a little surprise in her lunch box!  After all, what are moms for? In case you're wondering why am I still talking about Valentine's Day -- which is so "yesterday!" -- this is a great treat for any reason! Marshmallow Pops Jet-puffed marshmallows, regular size small sucker sticks (found at your local craft store) almond bark, white or chocolate sprinkles cellophane bags ribbon  Place your stick in the center of the marshmallow, pushing all the way down, but not through the marshmallow.  If you'r...

So, here it is, VALENTINE'S Day!  Whew!  I've made it through waking the kids up singing a happy love song, giving them their little Valentine's treat AND a school party!  It's been a rather un-eventful day!  HA!  These were the darling cookies that I baked earlier last week and froze so that I could have them all cooled when it was time to frost!  I spent hours yesterday in the kitchen making frosting and tinting frosting and cleaning up my mess . . .well, sort of!  More hours of putting a layer of frosting on . . . waiting.  Another layer of frosting . . . waiting!  Another . . .well, you get the picture!  I saw this idea on a couple of other site!  It's kind of like giving out thank you's -- as soon as you start, there is someone that you leave out!  I'm not trying to short-change any of the creative minds, but if I got this idea from you -- Thanks!  I know I saw it on Sugar Sweet Belle's site!  For the pictu...

While catching up on some of the blogs I read, I saw this recipe for very cute Valentine candy.  Leigh Ann  at Your Homebased Mom posted this very cute looking bark recipe and don't you know, I had to give it a try!  If you don't make bark candy, then really you're missing out on one of the easiest treat there is!  It practically makes itself and it's perfect for a little treat to give to friends, teachers, or yourself!  After all, you work hard too! When I saw this recipe, I started thinking of ALL the things you could do with this recipe -- and it's great for about any holiday you want to celebrate!  I'm not sure what Leigh Ann calls this -- so I'll call it . . .oh, I can't come up with a cute name right now!  Maybe by the end of posting there will be something clever . . .and then again, maybe not! Candy Bark 1 lb. white chocolate almond bark* 1 1/2 cups pretzels, broken* 1 cup candy* 14 oreos, broken* Holiday colored sprinkles ...

Remember yesterday, we made little cutie pies?  Remember I had some leftover pie dough scraps?  Well, here's what we did!  We made a little pie in a jar!  That's right!  We (as in my sweet girly cherub and I) took the leftover dough, smushed it together and rolled it out again to the right pie dough thickness.  I tore pieces off and we began to smush it into the jar; pressing together the seams.  We lined the jar almost all the way to the top.  Since we weren't making a "2 crust" pie, I didn't worry about saving extra for the top.  We then filled it with the yummy, ooey-gooey filling and baked it for 40 minutes!  It was YUMMY!  When I first saw this idea, it said this was a "single serving" pie -- yeah, it can be, but it really is a lot of dessert!  Not that I wouldn't have any trouble eating it . . .it just wouldn't be in one sitting!  Last night, all 4 of us enjoyed this dessert and we were satisfied (yeah, I keep te...

These snow days can be dangerous!  It's so fun to get in the kitchen and try something new . . . as in, "eat" something new!  After all, one must sample the creation, right?  Today, I finished cutting out the sugar cookies and baking them off.  Once they cooled, I popped them in the freezer so that they would be out of the way until I was ready to frost them this weekend!  I think my cherubs will love a decorated cookie in their lunch box on Monday!  Especially my boy . . .when he pulls out his treat at the lunch table and it says, " love you ! " in big white letters!  Knowing him, he will "accidentally" drop it so that it crumbles and no one will ever see my love and admiration for him!  Oh, to be in 6th grade!  How embarrassing . . .to have a mom who loves you AND who makes you homemade cookies!  While I had the heart-shaped cookie cutter out, I grabbed the refrigerated pie crust that I've had stashed in my, well, "refrigerator...

Do you remember when you where in elementary school and you would make your Valentine card box out of an empty tissue box?  We all had the same size box.  We could either wrap the box in red or white paper.  We could use a dolli or two and you had to cut your hearts out of construction paper.  There wasn't much "personalizing" back then.  It was done in class so that we could each stuff our little Valentine cards into the "X" opening on top. Now days there is no decorating the little tissue boxes during class!  Oh no!  It's all out "Valentine War!"  Kids are sent home with the note to make a box at home and bring to school!  You know what that means!  Mommas across the country are pulling out their hot glue guns and getting crafty!  We are no longer reduced to a small, square tissue box . . .the world is now our canvas for the coveted prized of best decorated Valentine box! The thought of this stressed me out when my little c...

Medieval historians know of King Arthur and his chivalry during the 5th and 6th century.  For me, I'm not into Medieval history.  I don't know what Arthur was "King" of, but I will tell you that I know Arthur is King of Cinnamon Rolls!  I received this mix for Christmas from Ben's mom.  I followed the easy directions -- adding just a few extra ingredients, mixing a bit, and kneading a little; roll it out and fill it with gooey cinnamon goodness, let it rise and bake.  Covered it with the abundant amount of tasty frosting and we couldn't wait to sink our teeth into these treats!  We were not disappointed at all!  Matter of fact, I've tried several cinnamon roll recipes and I do believe I have found my weapon!  You can order this on the King Arthur website!  www.kingarthurflour.com   While you're on the website, take a look around at the recipes; it'll make you hungry! The ingredients are simple The do...

A thumbs up for the great snow!  We're ready to play in the snow! Our trek to the neighborhood school to sled. What would the boy do -- start a snowball fight! Her little hill was perfect! How fast can he go!  This rocks! After a fun time in the cold umm, I mean snow, we headed back to make snow ice cream.  While I don't have the "snow ice cream bowl" from when we were kids, we still made some of the yummy treat!  This isn't my picture,  but isn't the bowl cute! Snow Ice Cream 1 giant bowl of clean snow sugar vanilla milk, evaporated milk, 1/2 and 1/2, or heave cream Take a smaller bowl, but large enough to stir around in.  Fill smaller bowl about 1/3 full of snow.  Sprinkle in some sugar, maybe 1/2 a cup or so, and a couple of tsp. of vanilla.  Stir until well incorporated.  Add a bit of your milk liquid that you have on hand.  Stir until well mixed.  Taste.  Do you like it...