I like pancakes, and I like cinnamon rolls, so when I saw a recipe for Cinnamon Roll Pancakes I thought this was a recipe that was worth trying out. Yum! I found the recipe for these pancakes from Recipe Girl. We tried them out a couple of weeks ago for Sunday breakfast and they were pretty good. There were a couple of things that didn't work very well for me, though. I tried her recipe exactly, but my pancakes came out super thin and I ended up with twice as much of the cinnamon filling as I needed. So, the next weekend I played around with it using good old Bisquick for my pancakes and halved the amount of filling. They were just as yummy, but with less mess and less waste.
Here's my version:
CINNAMON FILLING:
1/4 cup butter
slightly less than 1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 tablespoon cinnamon
CREAM CHEESE GLAZE:
4 Tablespoons butter, softened
2 ounces cream cheese, softened
3/4 cup powdered sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
PANCAKE BATTER:
2 cups Bisquick
1 cup milk
2 eggs
Mix together Cinnamon filling ingredients and spoon into piping bag or sandwich bag. I cut a hole in my bag, folded over the end, and kept it closed with a clothespin. Set aside.
Mix together ingredients for Cream Cheese Glaze. Set aside.
Mix together pancake ingredients. Spoon batter onto hot griddle. Wait about 30 seconds and then pipe the Cinnamon Filling in a spiral onto each pancake. Wait till bubbles appear and then flip. I warn you that this will be messy on your griddle. The butter and sugar will cook and smear all over the place, but it makes this yummy, crunchy, sweet coating on the pancakes. Yum! When that side is finished, remove the pancakes and spoon some Cream Cheese Glaze over. You do NOT need syrup with these pancakes.
These were really yummy, messy, but yummy! If you're in the mood for something sweet, I recommend you check out Recipe Girl's site and try out her recipe. She has some awesome pictures of the cooking in action so you can get an idea of what these are supposed to look like.
Well, I've got a lot to do today. Still trying to finish up the laundry room and I realized I have several cakes and other projects to finish up this week before we start school on Monday.
Till next time...
God's love and blessings! :o)
Tuesday, August 30, 2011
Monday, August 29, 2011
Misc. Monday-New Roof
Wow, I'm going on three weeks in a row of consistent blogging. Yay me! Although we will be starting school up next week, so my consistency will probably take a nose dive then.
A week or so ago we realized that the summer was quickly getting away from us and there were still several projects on our to-do list that really need to get done before winter hits. The most important of which was the new roof. So, last weekend we tackled that. Viktor, one of the teens from church, came over along with Angel's boyfriend, Tyler. We are SOOO grateful for their help.
I got this shot of the shingles while Mike was cleaning things up and getting ready. They aren't in too bad a shape, but they are definitely starting to show some wear and tear.
My silly husband is holding up the moon!
Once everything was cleaned up on the roof, a roll of paper was nailed down over the shingles. This is so the asphalt on the shingles doesn't rub the metal and cause it to rust.
We had all of our supplies stored in the building across the creek, so Angel and Tyler had to carry them over to us one-by-one.
Thankfully we have a deck on the second floor, so we were able to hand the metal sheets up to the roof from there.
Once the trim was put up, each sheet just needed to be screwed down. Once we got the hang of it, it went pretty quick. We finished just in time--about 30 minutes before the rain started!
Here it is all finished. Boy, this makes it look easy and quick! Actually, it really wasn't that difficult. The store provided us with a manual that wasn't too technical to figure out, but there was a lot of going up and down stairs, lifting, and kneeling, which Mike and I were both feeling the next day.
We can check that project off the list! Now, with a metal roof, we won't have to shovel the snow off of it, and we shouldn't get any ice dams. YAY! Now I'm off to finish the next project on the list-painting the laundry room. :o)
Till next time...
God's love and blessings!
A week or so ago we realized that the summer was quickly getting away from us and there were still several projects on our to-do list that really need to get done before winter hits. The most important of which was the new roof. So, last weekend we tackled that. Viktor, one of the teens from church, came over along with Angel's boyfriend, Tyler. We are SOOO grateful for their help.
I got this shot of the shingles while Mike was cleaning things up and getting ready. They aren't in too bad a shape, but they are definitely starting to show some wear and tear.
My silly husband is holding up the moon!
Once everything was cleaned up on the roof, a roll of paper was nailed down over the shingles. This is so the asphalt on the shingles doesn't rub the metal and cause it to rust.
We had all of our supplies stored in the building across the creek, so Angel and Tyler had to carry them over to us one-by-one.
Thankfully we have a deck on the second floor, so we were able to hand the metal sheets up to the roof from there.
Once the trim was put up, each sheet just needed to be screwed down. Once we got the hang of it, it went pretty quick. We finished just in time--about 30 minutes before the rain started!
Here it is all finished. Boy, this makes it look easy and quick! Actually, it really wasn't that difficult. The store provided us with a manual that wasn't too technical to figure out, but there was a lot of going up and down stairs, lifting, and kneeling, which Mike and I were both feeling the next day.
We can check that project off the list! Now, with a metal roof, we won't have to shovel the snow off of it, and we shouldn't get any ice dams. YAY! Now I'm off to finish the next project on the list-painting the laundry room. :o)
Till next time...
God's love and blessings!
Friday, August 26, 2011
Family Friday-23rd Anniversary
Yup, that's us. :o) Twenty-three years ago today I said "I do" to the most wonderful man in the world. God made him just for me and I'm so grateful. We've been all over the world, both together and apart and life has always been good--crazy at times, but always good! I love you, honey!
For some reason every time I think "23 years", it reminds me of a line in a Dr. Seuss book. Here's my new version:
"Why, for twenty-three year's he's put up with me now!
I MUST show him how much I love him!
...But HOW?"
I MUST show him how much I love him!
...But HOW?"
Well, I'm off here to make a yummy dinner and dessert for tonight.
Till later...
God's love and blessings!
Thursday, August 25, 2011
Through the House Thursday-Upstairs Bath
Last week I showed you the kid's bathroom downstairs, now some before and afters of the upstairs/master bathroom. One of the previous owners was quite the handyman (woman?) and built the cabinet in this bathroom from scratch. Although I love the amount of storage, I did not like the wood used to make the cabinet. The bathroom was very dark and the wood was very rough. They even had dark wood on the ceiling.
We had an issue with mold on one of the walls so since it had to be replaced, we decided it was time to give this room a facelift. We took the doors off and Mike used them as templates to cut and router some new doors. We painted everything and got some new hardware. We also replaced the fan/vent that didn't work very well and the ugly light fixture.
After: painting the ceiling actually made it look worse because every knothole and crack became visible. I am in the process of filling all those spaces with joint compound and will repaint it later.
Before: I love the amount of storage and display area on this cabinet
After: It's hard to tell in these photos, but the walls are sage green and the cabinets and ceiling are cream.
New light fixture-much prettier than the exposed-bulb one we had before.
A view of the behind the door, the only place we have to hang towels in this room besides the one over the toilet.
There's still some work to do in here. I really don't like the color of the counter top, but unfortunately, it is actually built into the side cabinet (it makes one of the shelves inside it). So replacing it would be difficult. We might try some special paint they have for counters later. We want to replace the faucet, frame out the mirror and make some art work for the space. But, these things will have to wait till time and money allow.
What do you think? Looking at these pictures, I like the contrast of the wood against my shells in the before pictures, but in real life, the bathroom is so much brighter and clean looking now.
Well, tomorrow is our anniversary and I don't want to think about having to clean house, so Michelle and I are going to spend this afternoon cleaning things up and putting things away.
Till next time...
God's love and blessings!
We had an issue with mold on one of the walls so since it had to be replaced, we decided it was time to give this room a facelift. We took the doors off and Mike used them as templates to cut and router some new doors. We painted everything and got some new hardware. We also replaced the fan/vent that didn't work very well and the ugly light fixture.
Before: the new wall is supposed to be mold inhibitive
After: painting the ceiling actually made it look worse because every knothole and crack became visible. I am in the process of filling all those spaces with joint compound and will repaint it later.
Before: I love the amount of storage and display area on this cabinet
After: It's hard to tell in these photos, but the walls are sage green and the cabinets and ceiling are cream.
New light fixture-much prettier than the exposed-bulb one we had before.
A view of the behind the door, the only place we have to hang towels in this room besides the one over the toilet.
There's still some work to do in here. I really don't like the color of the counter top, but unfortunately, it is actually built into the side cabinet (it makes one of the shelves inside it). So replacing it would be difficult. We might try some special paint they have for counters later. We want to replace the faucet, frame out the mirror and make some art work for the space. But, these things will have to wait till time and money allow.
What do you think? Looking at these pictures, I like the contrast of the wood against my shells in the before pictures, but in real life, the bathroom is so much brighter and clean looking now.
Well, tomorrow is our anniversary and I don't want to think about having to clean house, so Michelle and I are going to spend this afternoon cleaning things up and putting things away.
Till next time...
God's love and blessings!
Tuesday, August 23, 2011
Wednesday's Walk-My flower garden
Last year, Mike helped me rip up some of the sod near our house so that I could put in a larger flower garden. I was hoping that if I placed the garden a little closer to the house it would be less likely to become a deer buffet station. It has worked somewhat, I have had a few deer casualties, but not as many as I did last year in the smaller bed.
This is what the bed looked like this May. The greenery that you see is the tulips and pansies coming up. I think those are the only plants we've actually purchased for this garden. The rest were transplanted from other parts of the property or given to me from friends.
Here's another shot at the end of May. The tulips have bloomed and the peonies were coming up. I am definitely getting some more tulips this fall to fill this in more. It's such a fun burst of color after the many months of white. You can also see where I was in the process of removing the rocks next to the garage to make room for more plants. You can also see the lattice fence Mike put up for me to help hide the gas tank. I think I will find a vine to plant on it next year.
Here's the bed in June. Some of the daisies came up quite huge this year, but I didn't get a picture when the whole plant was in bloom along with the peonies. :o( The purple flowers are chives that were given to me for the vegetable garden, but they had taken over so I transplanted some of them here. The greenery next to the garage are phlox plants that I found in our woods. I transplanted 5 tiny plants last spring into the smaller bed but after a year they had multiplied and I transplanted 9 large ones into this bed.
I almost forgot to take a picture in July. I moved my pots of herbs here to fill in some of the sparse areas. I transplanted more daisies, but they are pretty small right now so there's a lot of empty space in there. The phlox bloomed nicely this year, but I think next year they will probably take over this bed.
Here's what it looks like right now. Yes, that's a lawn mower and tractor in the background. Mike had both of them out and because of the roofing things in the storage building, couldn't get them back in right away. You can also just see my office window under the deck. That's where I sit and watch the birds at our bird feeders and get to enjoy seeing these flowers-another benefit to moving the bed closer to the house. :o)
I think it's funny that I got Coco and Princess in several of these and didn't even realize it till I sat down here to write this. Next year I think I may try and take pictures on a weekly basis and use them in a garden journal to help me make plans for the year after that. I did think ahead this year and put a golf tee where each of my tulips are so that this fall I will know where not to dig to plant some more.
If you click on the pictures, you can see them much larger and see more of the details.
Well, that's it for our walk this week. Till next time...
God's love and blessings!
This is what the bed looked like this May. The greenery that you see is the tulips and pansies coming up. I think those are the only plants we've actually purchased for this garden. The rest were transplanted from other parts of the property or given to me from friends.
Here's another shot at the end of May. The tulips have bloomed and the peonies were coming up. I am definitely getting some more tulips this fall to fill this in more. It's such a fun burst of color after the many months of white. You can also see where I was in the process of removing the rocks next to the garage to make room for more plants. You can also see the lattice fence Mike put up for me to help hide the gas tank. I think I will find a vine to plant on it next year.
Here's the bed in June. Some of the daisies came up quite huge this year, but I didn't get a picture when the whole plant was in bloom along with the peonies. :o( The purple flowers are chives that were given to me for the vegetable garden, but they had taken over so I transplanted some of them here. The greenery next to the garage are phlox plants that I found in our woods. I transplanted 5 tiny plants last spring into the smaller bed but after a year they had multiplied and I transplanted 9 large ones into this bed.
I almost forgot to take a picture in July. I moved my pots of herbs here to fill in some of the sparse areas. I transplanted more daisies, but they are pretty small right now so there's a lot of empty space in there. The phlox bloomed nicely this year, but I think next year they will probably take over this bed.
Here's what it looks like right now. Yes, that's a lawn mower and tractor in the background. Mike had both of them out and because of the roofing things in the storage building, couldn't get them back in right away. You can also just see my office window under the deck. That's where I sit and watch the birds at our bird feeders and get to enjoy seeing these flowers-another benefit to moving the bed closer to the house. :o)
I think it's funny that I got Coco and Princess in several of these and didn't even realize it till I sat down here to write this. Next year I think I may try and take pictures on a weekly basis and use them in a garden journal to help me make plans for the year after that. I did think ahead this year and put a golf tee where each of my tulips are so that this fall I will know where not to dig to plant some more.
If you click on the pictures, you can see them much larger and see more of the details.
Well, that's it for our walk this week. Till next time...
God's love and blessings!
Tasty Tuesday-Easy Ice Cream
I wanted to share a recipe I tried a couple of weeks ago for easy ice cream. I first saw the recipe on this blog and had to try it out. It was super yummy. The cool thing is you don't need an ice cream maker to make it, just a couple of ingredients and about 6 hours to let it freeze.
Amanda has some amazing sounding flavors on her site, like Cinnamon Bun, Nutella Peanut Butter Chip, and Hazelnut Mocha Fudge Swirl. However, I wanted to make a Butter Pecan Ice cream, so I checked out the Eagle Brand website since sweetened condensed milk is one of the two major ingredients in this. Sure enough they have a recipe on there so I gave it a try. It was super yummy, and super easy. I wasn't very good at waiting the 6 hours to let it freeze. I kept sneaking tastes of it throughout the day. Yum! Even not frozen, I think the Butter Pecan would make an excellent topping on apple pie.
Here's the recipe from the Eagle Brand website, but I recommend checking out Amanda's blog for more ideas.
Hope you get a chance to enjoy this before summer is over, not that ice cream isn't delicious any time of year, but there's something about summer and ice cream that just go together.
Till next time
God's love and blessings
Amanda has some amazing sounding flavors on her site, like Cinnamon Bun, Nutella Peanut Butter Chip, and Hazelnut Mocha Fudge Swirl. However, I wanted to make a Butter Pecan Ice cream, so I checked out the Eagle Brand website since sweetened condensed milk is one of the two major ingredients in this. Sure enough they have a recipe on there so I gave it a try. It was super yummy, and super easy. I wasn't very good at waiting the 6 hours to let it freeze. I kept sneaking tastes of it throughout the day. Yum! Even not frozen, I think the Butter Pecan would make an excellent topping on apple pie.
Here's the recipe from the Eagle Brand website, but I recommend checking out Amanda's blog for more ideas.
Ingredients
- 2 cups heavy cream
- 1 (14 oz.) Eagle Brand® Sweetened Condensed Milk
- 1 to 1 1/2 cups chopped pecans, toasted*
- 3 tablespoons butter, melted
- 1 teaspoon maple extract
Instructions
- WHIP heavy cream until stiff peaks in large bowl. Combine sweetened condensed milk, pecans, butter and maple extract in large bowl. Mix well. Fold in whipped cream.
- POUR into 9x5-inch loaf pan or 2-quart container; cover. Freeze 6 hours or until firm. Store in freezer.
- *To toast nuts: Place nuts in dry nonstick skillet. Cook over medium heat, shaking pan until nuts are lightly browned. To avoid over browning remove from pan immediately.
Till next time
God's love and blessings
Monday, August 22, 2011
Misc. Monday-Grantsburg Parade
The town that Mike works in was having their Agricultural Fair this past weekend and the Legion chapter that he is in was leading the parade, so Michelle and I went with him to watch and just enjoy the beautiful day. I absolutely LOVE living here where most of the summer is in the upper 70's. So nice to be outside.
Anyway here are a few of the shots that I got of the parade. I have to say that I've seen Mike in his dress blue uniform more now than I think I ever did when he was active duty. Here he is calling cadence for the guys as they are marching.
That handsome one there in the dress blues, yeah, he's mine. ;o)
Michelle loved the horses and the princesses. Oh, and the candy. This was the first local parade that she remembers and she was so excited to go home with a bagful of candy--and a frisbee, and chapstick and a couple of cheese sticks from the local dairy. All in all, she hauled in quite a loot. :o)
After the parade was over, Michelle and I had to wait for Mike to return, so we walked down by the pond and took a couple of pictures. Wish I could have gotten closer to the water, but I needed some knee high rain boots to get through the marshy area, and I didn't have my long lens with me so this is the best I got.
I did get a cute shot of a very happy girl. As she said, "this was the best day ever!"
Till next time...
God's love and blessings!
Anyway here are a few of the shots that I got of the parade. I have to say that I've seen Mike in his dress blue uniform more now than I think I ever did when he was active duty. Here he is calling cadence for the guys as they are marching.
That handsome one there in the dress blues, yeah, he's mine. ;o)
Can you tell this was a parade for the Agricultural Fair? There really weren't any floats, except the ones the princesses from the different school districts were on. Most of the parade was tractors and horses with a few cars advertising local businesses or churches. I think this was one of my favorites.
Michelle loved the horses and the princesses. Oh, and the candy. This was the first local parade that she remembers and she was so excited to go home with a bagful of candy--and a frisbee, and chapstick and a couple of cheese sticks from the local dairy. All in all, she hauled in quite a loot. :o)
After the parade was over, Michelle and I had to wait for Mike to return, so we walked down by the pond and took a couple of pictures. Wish I could have gotten closer to the water, but I needed some knee high rain boots to get through the marshy area, and I didn't have my long lens with me so this is the best I got.
Till next time...
God's love and blessings!
Friday, August 19, 2011
Family Friday
It's Friday again so time for some updates on us. I didn't get pictures of Michelle and her friends before bed last Friday, but I did get some Saturday before the girls went home. They had a fun picnic in our canopy, played on the zipline, and made me a great sidewalk mural. Don't they look like they could all be sisters?
Mike put up this zipline behind the house. It's about 200 ft long, but unfortunately, it doesn't work as well as he'd hoped. We haven't figured out a way to make it high or tight enough for anyone heavier than Michelle to zip down it. But, Michelle enjoys it anyway. She's decided she likes it much better on her belly than riding like a swing. She pretends she's flying, swimming, or walking on the moon. It's quite funny to watch.
As you can see, there is an area where the line is high enough that you need a tow if you're a short person. :o) Once you get part way up the hill though, it's pretty low and easy enough to give yourself a running start.
Here they are making me a beautiful mural on the back patio. I'm glad I got these pictures because we had a down pour about 30 minutes after I took the girls home and the mural was gone. :o(
And these pictures are for Grandma to see her little man. She hurt her back this week and can't come visit, so I decided to post these for her. This is what Coco looked like about a week ago. Pretty sad, huh? He was getting so many burrs on him and his hair was in such a tangled mess!
Here he is now. That's much better. I asked that they trim him short this time. It was actually a bit too short, but it's already grown out nicely. I'm sure he's much cooler now and I don't have to spend an hour or so brushing him out at night. That's a win-win situation. :o)
Angel seems to like her job and must be doing pretty well. She worked the store on her own for several hours last night and did a fine job. She came home pretty tired though. We just signed her up for a couple of elective classes over at the school and fine tuned the rest of her schedule for this year. I'm still working on organizing our time, but I should be ready for the first of September when we start.
That's about it for us. I would appreciate any prayers for us this weekend as we're hoping to put a new metal roof on the house, and working on that roof scares me to death! Hopefully this will help with the snow build up and ice dams in the future though.
Hope y'all enjoy your weekend.
Till next time
God's love and blessings
Mike put up this zipline behind the house. It's about 200 ft long, but unfortunately, it doesn't work as well as he'd hoped. We haven't figured out a way to make it high or tight enough for anyone heavier than Michelle to zip down it. But, Michelle enjoys it anyway. She's decided she likes it much better on her belly than riding like a swing. She pretends she's flying, swimming, or walking on the moon. It's quite funny to watch.
As you can see, there is an area where the line is high enough that you need a tow if you're a short person. :o) Once you get part way up the hill though, it's pretty low and easy enough to give yourself a running start.
Here they are making me a beautiful mural on the back patio. I'm glad I got these pictures because we had a down pour about 30 minutes after I took the girls home and the mural was gone. :o(
And these pictures are for Grandma to see her little man. She hurt her back this week and can't come visit, so I decided to post these for her. This is what Coco looked like about a week ago. Pretty sad, huh? He was getting so many burrs on him and his hair was in such a tangled mess!
Here he is now. That's much better. I asked that they trim him short this time. It was actually a bit too short, but it's already grown out nicely. I'm sure he's much cooler now and I don't have to spend an hour or so brushing him out at night. That's a win-win situation. :o)
Angel seems to like her job and must be doing pretty well. She worked the store on her own for several hours last night and did a fine job. She came home pretty tired though. We just signed her up for a couple of elective classes over at the school and fine tuned the rest of her schedule for this year. I'm still working on organizing our time, but I should be ready for the first of September when we start.
That's about it for us. I would appreciate any prayers for us this weekend as we're hoping to put a new metal roof on the house, and working on that roof scares me to death! Hopefully this will help with the snow build up and ice dams in the future though.
Hope y'all enjoy your weekend.
Till next time
God's love and blessings
Thursday, August 18, 2011
Through the House on Thursday-Kid's bathroom
One of the benefits of being retired from the military and owning our own house is that we get to make changes and renovations whenever we want (read "can afford"). So I will use Thursdays as a day to take you through our house to see how I organize things and what kind of changes we are making.
This week I'm going to show you a quick update I did to the girl's bathroom. We originally painted the room blue and had a cute teddy bear shower curtain. That was pretty much all the decorating we had in there. It's a tiny room and we were on a tight budget. A little while ago, Angel found a pretty bathroom set at Walmart. She loved it because it was her favorite shades of blue and brown and had elegant flourishes on it. We were even more thrilled with it when we opened the shower curtain and found it had scripture verses printed on it. How cool is that? Angel took one of the left-over cream color paints we had, watered it down and sponged it over the walls to help tone down the blue that was in there. It looks good, but I think we need to repaint the ceiling cream or put up some trim molding to separate the two different blues.
Anyway, on to the recent updates to the room. Stampin' Up! has a line of wall decals called Decor' Elements and I found these butterfly and flourish ones in a chocolate color. I thought they would fit perfectly in there. Thankfully, the bathroom walls don't have that orange peel texture that the rest of our walls have, so these would work.
They were super easy to put up. I simply cut out the different pictures, taped them to the wall to see where I wanted them, peeled off the backing paper and then used my Pampered Chef stone scraper to smooth the decals onto the wall. Hopefully, when it's time to change this room around they will be as easy to remove as they were to put up. :o) I liked how they came out, but I would definitely change two things about them if I could. 1) I should have ordered the smaller size butterflies as these are really too large for such a small space 2) The chocolate color is really too dark of a brown, it's almost black, but they only come in chocolate or white and I didn't think the white would match with all the cream accents on the bathroom accessories. Come to think of it though, the toilet and sink are white and eventually, we're going to get a cabinet for over the toilet and it will probably be white, so the white butterflies would have matched fine. Oh well, maybe I'll change it around later, we'll see.
Look, that's two posts in a row with me in a picture! ;o)
I think I will close here. I just realized Michelle's birthday is coming up fast and I need to get some invitations made and the party planned.
Till next time
God's love and blessings
This week I'm going to show you a quick update I did to the girl's bathroom. We originally painted the room blue and had a cute teddy bear shower curtain. That was pretty much all the decorating we had in there. It's a tiny room and we were on a tight budget. A little while ago, Angel found a pretty bathroom set at Walmart. She loved it because it was her favorite shades of blue and brown and had elegant flourishes on it. We were even more thrilled with it when we opened the shower curtain and found it had scripture verses printed on it. How cool is that? Angel took one of the left-over cream color paints we had, watered it down and sponged it over the walls to help tone down the blue that was in there. It looks good, but I think we need to repaint the ceiling cream or put up some trim molding to separate the two different blues.
Anyway, on to the recent updates to the room. Stampin' Up! has a line of wall decals called Decor' Elements and I found these butterfly and flourish ones in a chocolate color. I thought they would fit perfectly in there. Thankfully, the bathroom walls don't have that orange peel texture that the rest of our walls have, so these would work.
They were super easy to put up. I simply cut out the different pictures, taped them to the wall to see where I wanted them, peeled off the backing paper and then used my Pampered Chef stone scraper to smooth the decals onto the wall. Hopefully, when it's time to change this room around they will be as easy to remove as they were to put up. :o) I liked how they came out, but I would definitely change two things about them if I could. 1) I should have ordered the smaller size butterflies as these are really too large for such a small space 2) The chocolate color is really too dark of a brown, it's almost black, but they only come in chocolate or white and I didn't think the white would match with all the cream accents on the bathroom accessories. Come to think of it though, the toilet and sink are white and eventually, we're going to get a cabinet for over the toilet and it will probably be white, so the white butterflies would have matched fine. Oh well, maybe I'll change it around later, we'll see.
Look, that's two posts in a row with me in a picture! ;o)
I think I will close here. I just realized Michelle's birthday is coming up fast and I need to get some invitations made and the party planned.
Till next time
God's love and blessings
Tuesday, August 16, 2011
Wednesday's Walk
So what have we seen outside this week? Blackberries, baskets and baskets of blackberries! When we moved here, one of the things I was quite excited about was the raspberry canes I found near one of the buildings. As it turned out, there are raspberry, blackberry, and black cap canes all over our property. The first year we were here the girls and I explored around and began picking and freezing whatever we could. I learned to make jam and syrup and other yummy desserts with them.
This year we didn't get very many raspberries. Most of the those canes we have are near the creek and last year's rains overflowed the creek and knocked a lot of them down. There are new ones growing this year, but they are biennial, which means they grow one year and produce fruit the next. So, Lord willing, next year we will have more raspberries.
The blackberries, on the other hand, have more than made up for the lack of raspberries. Last year I filled 2 gallon ziplock bags with all three types of berries. So far this year, I have 4 bags filled in the freezer and there is still another week or more of picking to do! Yum!
Here I am in my berry picking gear. (Can you believe I actually got in front of the camera?! Well, sort of.) I will probably soon be known around here as "the Hat Lady" as I seldom go out in the yard without it. It helps keep the sun out of my eyes, but more than that, it keeps the bugs from bugging me. Sure, they still fly all around me, but unless they are right in front of my face, I don't notice them, so I can spend more time picking berries than swatting bugs.
Look closely at the underside of this leaf. This is one way to tell the difference between a blackberry and other cane bushes. Blackberries have thorns all the way up the leaves, and they're backwards. This means that often times you reach in to pick a berry without any problem, but then you find yourself stuck in the bush. This is also why I have on boots, a long sleeve shirt, and a glove on my left hand. Those things hurt!
Here's a couple of shots of the berries. I go out each morning and pick until my basket is full and then I try to quit and resume where I left off the next day, but it's so hard to quit when I lift my head and see more berries just a step or two away. It's like a treasure hunt-"berried" treasure. :o) I have been especially grateful this last week of picking for the cooler weather we've had. It makes picking the berries much more enjoyable.
Well, I guess I better close here. I brought the girl's school books for this year in from the garage and need to spend some time sorting through and planning our year. How about you? Have you had an opportunity to get out and enjoy the summer? I hope so.
God's love and blessings.
This year we didn't get very many raspberries. Most of the those canes we have are near the creek and last year's rains overflowed the creek and knocked a lot of them down. There are new ones growing this year, but they are biennial, which means they grow one year and produce fruit the next. So, Lord willing, next year we will have more raspberries.
The blackberries, on the other hand, have more than made up for the lack of raspberries. Last year I filled 2 gallon ziplock bags with all three types of berries. So far this year, I have 4 bags filled in the freezer and there is still another week or more of picking to do! Yum!
Here I am in my berry picking gear. (Can you believe I actually got in front of the camera?! Well, sort of.) I will probably soon be known around here as "the Hat Lady" as I seldom go out in the yard without it. It helps keep the sun out of my eyes, but more than that, it keeps the bugs from bugging me. Sure, they still fly all around me, but unless they are right in front of my face, I don't notice them, so I can spend more time picking berries than swatting bugs.
Look closely at the underside of this leaf. This is one way to tell the difference between a blackberry and other cane bushes. Blackberries have thorns all the way up the leaves, and they're backwards. This means that often times you reach in to pick a berry without any problem, but then you find yourself stuck in the bush. This is also why I have on boots, a long sleeve shirt, and a glove on my left hand. Those things hurt!
Here's a couple of shots of the berries. I go out each morning and pick until my basket is full and then I try to quit and resume where I left off the next day, but it's so hard to quit when I lift my head and see more berries just a step or two away. It's like a treasure hunt-"berried" treasure. :o) I have been especially grateful this last week of picking for the cooler weather we've had. It makes picking the berries much more enjoyable.
Well, I guess I better close here. I brought the girl's school books for this year in from the garage and need to spend some time sorting through and planning our year. How about you? Have you had an opportunity to get out and enjoy the summer? I hope so.
God's love and blessings.
Monday, August 15, 2011
Tasty Tuesday-A Passion for Baking
I came up with a topic for Tuesdays-Tasty Tuesday. Sounds like a great place for me to share fun recipes that we've had over the years. Unfortunately, because of copyright laws, today I can't share a recipe with you, but I will show you where to get it.
The girls and I love to go to the library, there's always something fun to read. I, personally, never head to the "fiction" section, but straight to the "how-to" section. Cook books, gardening, crafts, those are the books I like to read. On our last visit I found a new baking book. I was looking for new cake flavors to try and this one looked promising.
The girls and I love to go to the library, there's always something fun to read. I, personally, never head to the "fiction" section, but straight to the "how-to" section. Cook books, gardening, crafts, those are the books I like to read. On our last visit I found a new baking book. I was looking for new cake flavors to try and this one looked promising.
a passion for Baking
by Marcy Goldman
So, my advice is head on over to your nearest library and see if they have this book. If you're looking at any of the libraries near us, they probably don't because I have it. I promise to finish it soon and get it turned in on time. :o) They do have it on Amazon for sale, and I noticed that Marcy has her own website and blog where you can get some of her recipes for free. I think this book would be a great gift for a new bride or someone going off to college (that has access to an oven). As I mentioned before, even with 20+ years of baking under my belt (does it show?) I've really learned quite a lot from this book. Come to think of it, it would make a great anniversary gift for a certain someone later on this month (hint, hint, Honey ;o).
So what new recipes have you tried lately? I'd love to hear from you.
God's love and blessings
by Marcy Goldman
This is one of those library books that I may have to go out and purchase for myself. It has some wonderfully yummy looking recipes in it that I can't wait to try, but this is not an ordinary cook book. The first chapter, Baking Secrets, is full of tips and hints to wonderful baking. I consider myself an experienced baker so I almost skipped over this chapter completely, but some of the pictures and subtitles drew me in and I decided it was worth a thorough reading. Wow! I've learned quite a lot in that one chapter. Then, Marcy adds lots of tidbits of information with each of the recipes to help you customize the recipe for your own. I am now in the process of reading this cook book from cover to cover.
Since I have a LOT of blackberries right now, I decided to try the Fresh Blackberry Streusel-Topped Muffins last Saturday. They were delicious! Most of the muffin recipes I've tried end up kind of dry-especially any left-overs, but these were quite moist, with a wonderful, crunchy topping. I just finished off the last one with my lunch today and it was still moist and delicious. :o)
Since I have a LOT of blackberries right now, I decided to try the Fresh Blackberry Streusel-Topped Muffins last Saturday. They were delicious! Most of the muffin recipes I've tried end up kind of dry-especially any left-overs, but these were quite moist, with a wonderful, crunchy topping. I just finished off the last one with my lunch today and it was still moist and delicious. :o)
So, my advice is head on over to your nearest library and see if they have this book. If you're looking at any of the libraries near us, they probably don't because I have it. I promise to finish it soon and get it turned in on time. :o) They do have it on Amazon for sale, and I noticed that Marcy has her own website and blog where you can get some of her recipes for free. I think this book would be a great gift for a new bride or someone going off to college (that has access to an oven). As I mentioned before, even with 20+ years of baking under my belt (does it show?) I've really learned quite a lot from this book. Come to think of it, it would make a great anniversary gift for a certain someone later on this month (hint, hint, Honey ;o).
So what new recipes have you tried lately? I'd love to hear from you.
God's love and blessings
Misc. Monday-Simple Pleasures
Last week the ladies of our church got together for a fellowship meal. After a busy year, it was a nice evening of fellowship and a great time to reconnect with each other. I hope this next year we are able to find a way to do this more often.
Our Pastor's wife showed us a passage in the Bible that I know I've read before, but because it starts with a command to the rich, I have glossed over it. I Timothy 6:17 says "Command those who are rich in this present world not to be arrogant nor to put their hope in wealth, which is so uncertain, but to put their hope in God, who richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment." As I mentioned, the first part says that this is a command to the rich, and now that I think about it, I am rich. My bank account may not say that, but compared to 95% of the people in this world, I am well off, and once you count in the many non-money related things in my life (health, family, talent, etc.) I am truly rich.
So this passage is for me, and actually it's for everyone, because the next part says for us not to put our hope in wealth which is so uncertain, but to put our hope in God. With our economy right now, I don't think I need to expound much on the uncertainty of wealth, but I will say that God is VERY certain. He is never changing, never has, never will. We can ALWAYS count on him and rely on him.
These things I know, and have not doubted (well, not usually, anyway), but it's the last part of the verse that I had never noticed before. It says to "put their hope in God, who richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment." Do you see that? He doesn't just provide what we need to survive, but He provides that we might enjoy life. This was what our Pastor's wife brought up for us to think about. This isn't saying that our life should be a big party and we never do any work, but that God provided enjoyment and joy for us while we are working for Him. It could be something as simple as beautiful music to listen to while doing housework or a nice 74 degree day to do your gardening in. What are some other simple pleasures in life that God provides just for our enjoyment, things that we so often overlook in our day-to-day busyness, things that we should remember to be thankful for? Here's a brief list of some of the simple pleasures in my life this week:
temperatures in the 70s
eating muffins and drinking tea on the deck
listening to birds outside my window
having an office with an awesome view
hugs from my munchkin
free blackberries on our property
sleeping with the windows open
taking a nap
having two working vehicles
free flowers all over our property
This list could go on and on. How about you? What simple pleasures has God granted to you and have you remembered to take pleasure in them and thank Him for them?
Our Pastor's wife showed us a passage in the Bible that I know I've read before, but because it starts with a command to the rich, I have glossed over it. I Timothy 6:17 says "Command those who are rich in this present world not to be arrogant nor to put their hope in wealth, which is so uncertain, but to put their hope in God, who richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment." As I mentioned, the first part says that this is a command to the rich, and now that I think about it, I am rich. My bank account may not say that, but compared to 95% of the people in this world, I am well off, and once you count in the many non-money related things in my life (health, family, talent, etc.) I am truly rich.
So this passage is for me, and actually it's for everyone, because the next part says for us not to put our hope in wealth which is so uncertain, but to put our hope in God. With our economy right now, I don't think I need to expound much on the uncertainty of wealth, but I will say that God is VERY certain. He is never changing, never has, never will. We can ALWAYS count on him and rely on him.
These things I know, and have not doubted (well, not usually, anyway), but it's the last part of the verse that I had never noticed before. It says to "put their hope in God, who richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment." Do you see that? He doesn't just provide what we need to survive, but He provides that we might enjoy life. This was what our Pastor's wife brought up for us to think about. This isn't saying that our life should be a big party and we never do any work, but that God provided enjoyment and joy for us while we are working for Him. It could be something as simple as beautiful music to listen to while doing housework or a nice 74 degree day to do your gardening in. What are some other simple pleasures in life that God provides just for our enjoyment, things that we so often overlook in our day-to-day busyness, things that we should remember to be thankful for? Here's a brief list of some of the simple pleasures in my life this week:
temperatures in the 70s
eating muffins and drinking tea on the deck
listening to birds outside my window
having an office with an awesome view
hugs from my munchkin
free blackberries on our property
sleeping with the windows open
taking a nap
having two working vehicles
free flowers all over our property
This list could go on and on. How about you? What simple pleasures has God granted to you and have you remembered to take pleasure in them and thank Him for them?
Friday, August 12, 2011
Family Friday
I think I might change things up a bit here and try and post a bit more often. I thought it might be fun to have a theme for each day of the week and post something for it. As you can see, Friday I will focus on the family and what we've been up to. Monday will probably be miscellaneous things, Wednesday we'll take a walk outside, and Thursday we'll go through the house. Still trying to come up with a topic for Tuesday.
So, what have we been up to? Right now, Michelle is enjoying a sleepover with two of her friends. They're in the room watching Strawberry Shortcake and munching on popcorn. :o) I'll see if I can sneak in there a little later and get some pictures of them. She has spent most of her summer playing with her toys and "flying" on her zipline. I think we're going to start school up at the beginning of September, so she still has a couple of weeks left of freedom. She made us laugh yesterday when she said she was so excited that it was almost Saturday because she gets to sleep in on Saturday. She sleeps in EVERY day. :o)
Angel just got a job at Subway here in Frederic. Mike got her a scooter at the beginning of summer which we thought would be perfect for her to ride back and forth to work. It's only 2 1/2 miles from here and she can go through the housing neighborhoods when she gets off at night instead of taking the main road. Her first night at work, she called us to say she was hiding at a nearby church waiting for a bear to leave the road! Good thinking 'cause that scooter would not be able to outrun a bear. A truck went by a minute or so later and she was able to make it home safe and sound. Living here is never dull!
As far as I know, Nick is doing well in the Air Force. He is currently in Oklahoma and he was just promoted to Airman First Class. :o) We are so proud of him.
Mike recently went to Osh Kosh with a few of the guys from church for an airshow. Other than getting rained on the first day, I think they had a really good time. Here are a few of the pictures he brought home with him.
I'm so proud of him. I didn't even have to remind him to make sure he was IN some of the pictures! (By the way, I have no idea what kind of plane that is, Mike will have to comment on this to let us know.)
There were two crashes while they were there and thankfully, no one was injured. I believe this was the first one. I think Mike said the plane came in too fast and ended up going off the end of the runway where his landing gear collapsed on him. You can see the pilot getting out of the cockpit here. I guess the guys were pretty close when this one happened.
Woo hoo, look another one with my handsome man in it! :o) (Yep, still don't know what kind of plane he's in front of.)
I've been to a lot of airshows in my life, but you can tell that this trip was all guys. We never wiggled our way up this close to the show itself when we went. I know I have a good lens on the camera, but you can see the pilots in these planes! That's pretty close, and I imagine it was REALLY loud! Yep, boys and their toys. :o)
As for me, I've been busy with the usual things, housework, gardening, picking berries (I will post more on that next week) and fun, crafty stuff, but I've also been busy making cakes. I seem to have at least one to do each week, and I love that most of the time I get to try out new techniques and designs. I've been doing so many, and getting so many requests, that Mike and I are looking into the idea of starting an official bakery. I'm excited, nervous, happy and scared all at the same time. I really would LOVE to make my hobby an official business, but our government does not make this easy. Right now I'm in the middle of reading hundreds of pages of the Wisconsin Food Code to figure out exactly what we have to do for this. We already have a building on our property that we could use. It has a room that's insulated, heated and air conditioned. However, it has no plumbing and only a sub-floor. We would have to make sure the well is good, put in a septic system, a bathroom and the floor. Then, of course, we would need ovens, fridge, and all the other equipment. I have two main concerns about doing this-time and money. It's going to take money to get it going, but I'm also worried about how much time it will take . I'm already pretty busy with my "hobby" and I've never advertised anything-it's all word-of-mouth. I want to be able to make enough to pay any bills the business may have, but I don't want it to take away from my responsibilities as a wife and mom. I will definitely need to learn to say "no" when needed.
Well, I guess that about does it for us. Next week I will have to remember to get some pictures of us to post on here. Let me know if you can think of a topic idea for Tuesday. I guess I better go see if those girls are planning on getting any sleep tonight.
Enjoy your weekend!
God's love and blessings
So, what have we been up to? Right now, Michelle is enjoying a sleepover with two of her friends. They're in the room watching Strawberry Shortcake and munching on popcorn. :o) I'll see if I can sneak in there a little later and get some pictures of them. She has spent most of her summer playing with her toys and "flying" on her zipline. I think we're going to start school up at the beginning of September, so she still has a couple of weeks left of freedom. She made us laugh yesterday when she said she was so excited that it was almost Saturday because she gets to sleep in on Saturday. She sleeps in EVERY day. :o)
Angel just got a job at Subway here in Frederic. Mike got her a scooter at the beginning of summer which we thought would be perfect for her to ride back and forth to work. It's only 2 1/2 miles from here and she can go through the housing neighborhoods when she gets off at night instead of taking the main road. Her first night at work, she called us to say she was hiding at a nearby church waiting for a bear to leave the road! Good thinking 'cause that scooter would not be able to outrun a bear. A truck went by a minute or so later and she was able to make it home safe and sound. Living here is never dull!
As far as I know, Nick is doing well in the Air Force. He is currently in Oklahoma and he was just promoted to Airman First Class. :o) We are so proud of him.
Mike recently went to Osh Kosh with a few of the guys from church for an airshow. Other than getting rained on the first day, I think they had a really good time. Here are a few of the pictures he brought home with him.
I'm so proud of him. I didn't even have to remind him to make sure he was IN some of the pictures! (By the way, I have no idea what kind of plane that is, Mike will have to comment on this to let us know.)
There were two crashes while they were there and thankfully, no one was injured. I believe this was the first one. I think Mike said the plane came in too fast and ended up going off the end of the runway where his landing gear collapsed on him. You can see the pilot getting out of the cockpit here. I guess the guys were pretty close when this one happened.
Woo hoo, look another one with my handsome man in it! :o) (Yep, still don't know what kind of plane he's in front of.)
I've been to a lot of airshows in my life, but you can tell that this trip was all guys. We never wiggled our way up this close to the show itself when we went. I know I have a good lens on the camera, but you can see the pilots in these planes! That's pretty close, and I imagine it was REALLY loud! Yep, boys and their toys. :o)
As for me, I've been busy with the usual things, housework, gardening, picking berries (I will post more on that next week) and fun, crafty stuff, but I've also been busy making cakes. I seem to have at least one to do each week, and I love that most of the time I get to try out new techniques and designs. I've been doing so many, and getting so many requests, that Mike and I are looking into the idea of starting an official bakery. I'm excited, nervous, happy and scared all at the same time. I really would LOVE to make my hobby an official business, but our government does not make this easy. Right now I'm in the middle of reading hundreds of pages of the Wisconsin Food Code to figure out exactly what we have to do for this. We already have a building on our property that we could use. It has a room that's insulated, heated and air conditioned. However, it has no plumbing and only a sub-floor. We would have to make sure the well is good, put in a septic system, a bathroom and the floor. Then, of course, we would need ovens, fridge, and all the other equipment. I have two main concerns about doing this-time and money. It's going to take money to get it going, but I'm also worried about how much time it will take . I'm already pretty busy with my "hobby" and I've never advertised anything-it's all word-of-mouth. I want to be able to make enough to pay any bills the business may have, but I don't want it to take away from my responsibilities as a wife and mom. I will definitely need to learn to say "no" when needed.
Well, I guess that about does it for us. Next week I will have to remember to get some pictures of us to post on here. Let me know if you can think of a topic idea for Tuesday. I guess I better go see if those girls are planning on getting any sleep tonight.
Enjoy your weekend!
God's love and blessings
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)