Update

The purpose of this post is to simply let you know why I haven't posted in a while.  A couple of weeks ago, my family suffered a tragic loss.  My dad passed away suddenly at 46.  We are still in shock and coping as best we can.  The funeral was last week at his church and the show of love and support from his congregation was overwhelming.  Monday, we flew to our home state of Illinois to hold a small visitation for our family and burial.  We just arrived home today in Orlando.

Dad and I sometime in the early 90's

While this is a horrible time for our family, I can assure you that life will go on and we will get through this.  I simply ask for prayers and love for us during this time.  I promise you I will go back to my goofy self, posting all kinds of fun stuff when the time is right.  But for now...we grieve, we remember, we heal.

Cookie Time!

Not sure if I mentioned this already, but we live in a cookie house.  Some homes have cakes, brownies, or Little Debbies, but ours...we have cookies.  So I was having a cookie craving and went to the cupboard to gather my ingredients and then...*gasp!*...we have no...chocolate chips?!  WHAT?!  When did this travesty occur?  How could I have been so unprepared?!

Ok, so maybe I'm being a little dramatic.  But hey, when you want a cookie, it can feel like a matter of life or death!  What to do...well I have about a thousand cake mixes up there that I will probably never use, so I seriously considered making a cake.  Ugh, but then there's the whole thing where you have to let it cool and frost it and even then...it's just not a cookie!

Did you know you can make cookies from a cake mix?  So yeah...say good bye to my cake mixes and hello to tasty cookie goodness!  It's surprisingly easy and requires only two extra ingredients.  Like with cookies, you can mix in additional things like chocolate chips, raisins, etc.


Cake Mix Cookies
1 pkg cake mix (average size...not family size)
2 large eggs
1/3 cup vegetable oil

1.  Preheat oven to 350.  Mix all ingredients well.

2.  Spoon onto baking sheet.  Bake for 8-10 minutes.

3.  Allow to cool.  Frost if you like.

Organization I

Have you ever spent an entire day cleaning your house only to sit down at the end of the day and feel like you haven't accomplished anything?  I had one of those days.  I think I figured out what the problem is.  We have entirely too much crap.  Seriously.  It's just out of control.  See, my darling boyfriend is a pack rat.  He has kept some of the strangest things over the years...and he's attached to every single one of them.  Only in the last year or so since we found out we were expecting did he start to release his death-grip on his old crap.  

Before

My goal, to eliminate this problem (and hopefully make our next move a little easier) is to go through each problem area in our house and purge it of all the junk.  We agreed to start moving all said junk to the garage and have a garage sale to hopefully make a little change.  

Anyway...so that's the master plan.  Since I came upon this idea late in the day (but me being me, couldn't just wait until tomorrow to start), I chose to start small.  I have a cabinet on my side of the bedroom where I keep a few books and things.  It was a royal mess.  Just...ugh.  Thinking back to how it was, I'm so ashamed...but I will post pics anyway.  Yeah, I know...it's nasty...don't judge me.  

After emptying it out completely, I divided everything into categories:  reading material, stored decorations, gifts, stockpiled toiletries, keepsakes, stuff that goes somewhere else, and trash.  I ended up throwing a lot away and filling a laundry basket with stuff that didn't belong.  I put my toiletry items in those totes I bought at a garage sale for $1 and organized everything else.  I think it turned out beautifully and didn't cost me but the $1 I spent on those totes!  I also found that arranging books from tallest to shortest and keeping the bindings flush that it looks much cleaner.

After

Sunday at the Farmer's Market

Every Sunday, Lake Eola in downtown Orlando, fills its sidewalks with tents full of yummy goodies and handmade items.  The sunshine and the fountain make the day a perfect day for a stroll through the market.  If you ever find yourself in the area, I recommend you check it out.  They have fresh, organic produce, kettle corn, orchids, handmade cutting boards, aprons, baby outfits...they also have a bar set up where you can get beer and wine (or all you can drink mimosas for $10!).  There are also a handful of food vendors with everything from your traditional foods (funnel cakes, hot dogs) to empanadas!  And that is just the beginning...there is much more!  They are dog and baby friendly, so the whole family can come!

Fun with Finger Paint

Since this is Aaron's first official Father's Day, I wanted to do something special for him.  Now, I'm not working, so I can't go out and get him the grill he drools over every time we go to Home Depot (yawn).  I asked him what he wanted and got the usual response of, "Dear, I don't need anything."  *Sigh*  Typical man...and they say WE'RE hard to figure out!  But let's just not go there...

So I asked myself...what do you get the man who doesn't want anything?  I suppose it should really be from Ayden, so maybe something Ayden can have a hand in?  He's only 7 months old, so there's not a lot he can do besides drool.  So I went to my trusty Pinterest board in search of inspiration.  Eureka!  I saw a pin I had about edible homemade finger paints...and another for art made from letter stickers creating sort of a negative image on a painting (sounds weird...you'll see what I mean).

So I made the finger paints...way easier than I expected.  I made three colors of which I thought would look cute together.  I took an 8x10 piece of canvas panel and, using letter stickers, added 'I love you'.  Canvas panel has the texture of canvas but it's not wrapped around a frame.  It's flat, so I figured it'd be easier to frame and if we didn't add a frame, I wouldn't have to worry about painting the edges.

Once the paints had cooled and the letters were affixed to the boards, I let Ayden have at it.  It took a bit of coaxing and showing him how it's done before he dove in.  I found that, at least for his age, it was easier to pour some paint on the panel and let him swirl it around.

Once the paint has dried (I let mine sit overnight), you can carefully peel the letters off, revealing the white beneath.  Some of the paint bled under on mine, but I think it actually looks pretty cool that way.

A tasty masterpiece

If you want to spend a little extra time and effort on this, you can paint the panel a solid color that you like and let your kids paint a different color over it...I personally prefer the white, though.

An additional word of caution...food coloring stains...so cover everything!  Also...have a bath ready to go for when your kids are finished...mind went directly into the sink to get suds up so we didn't mess up the rest of the house!

Ayden getting clean in the sink...he found Nemo!

Recipe for finger paints:

2 tbsp sugar

1/3 cup flour

1 cup water

1.  Add all ingredients to a saucepan.  Whisk until smooth.

2.  Heat to medium low and stir continuously until thickened. 

3.  Separate into cups and use food coloring to reach your desired color.  Let cool!

Company's Coming French Toast

Like most of you, when I have a house guest, I like to roll out the red carpet and make them feel welcome in my home.  I try to make sure their sheets are fresh, extra towels are in the bathroom, and that they always have a full belly.  This weekend, my sister came to visit and I made her this french toast because it's her favorite.  It's looks fancy, tastes amazing, and is surprisingly easy to make.

Pepperidge Farm Swirl Bread

The first secret to making 'fancy french toast' is the bread.  I cheat.  I totally cheat.  I don't go out and get gourmet brioche or anything like that.  I certainly don't make my own...seriously, what do I look like, Betty Crocker?  Plus, I have company over...the last thing I want to do is spend all day in the kitchen!  I get Pepperidge Farm Swirl Bread.  Publix has them on sale once and a while for buy one get one free...so I grab a couple of loaves and stick them in the freezer.  You can thaw two slices at a time (about 5 seconds in the microwave or a few minutes on the counter) or you can thaw the whole loaf (about 20 seconds in the microwave or about 30 minutes on the counter).  It give the french toast amazing flavor AND it looks pretty...and everyone will think you're a genius when they taste it!  

To make the french toast, you need to make the 'batter' which is basically a custard.  You can make it the night before if you like.    I adapted the recipe from one that Alton Brown uses.  His is great and all, but I don't usually have half and half in my house.  

Company's Coming French Toast

1 cup milk

2 tablespoons melted butter

3 eggs

2 tbsp honey (warmed in microwave for 20 seconds)

1/4 tsp salt

8 slices of swirl bread

Additional butter for griddle.

1. Preheat griddle to medium high heat and the oven to 350.  Mix the first 5 ingredients together with a whisk until smooth. 

2.  Coat griddle with butter (or use nonstick cooking spray...but the butter tastes better!).

3.  Dip bread in the custard mixture...give it a good dunk on each side.

4.  Lay carefully on the griddle and let cook on each side for 3 minutes.  Remove to the oven rack for 5 minutes.

5.  Serve hot with your choice of toppings.

Garage Sale Finds

Now before you turn your nose up in the air and say, "I don't want to buy someone else's junk," hear me out!  Aaron and I regularly make a Saturday morning of driving around looking at garage sales for things that we can use or fix up and repurpose.  Surprisingly...it's a lot of fun.  Believe it or not, we've furnished our entire living room (minus the couches and the television) from garage sales. I've also gotten quite a few home decor items that are perfectly good and in style...you'd never know that I got them in someone's driveway.  The only difference is...I paid pennies on the dollar!  Jealous?

Anyway...I thought that I'd share some of my finds today with you...just in case you're a skeptic.  

What I got:

4 rectangular collapsible storage totes

1 kids hat from the Gap

1 Boppy pillow with case

1 St Louis Cardinals Teddy Bear 

How much did I spend today?  Bet you wouldn't guess...only $4!  The totes were $1 since they had some minor damage to the seams on the bottom...nothing I can't fix.  The Boppy pillow was $2 and came with the cover (regularly $39.99).  The hat ($12.95 at Gap.com) and bear were $0.50 each.  So...aside from the minor stitches that are needed on the totes and the washing I gave everything else...great stuff for a steal!   I even had some change left over to buy lemonade.

I will actually say one thing about second hand stuffed animals...I wouldn't give one to my child unless it's made to be washable.  The bear I bought will go to my Dad's house where he and his two dogs are big Cardinal's fans!

If you're interested in garage saleing in your area, check out the Yard Sale Treasure Map app on your smart phone.  You can access it on the go or plan your route at home and print it out.  

***If buying used baby/children items, ALWAYS check the recall list first!  When in doubt, opt out!***

Happy National Donut Day!

Did you know that June 1st is National Donut Day?  Me either...until Dunkin Donuts sent me an email stating that on this hallowed day, I can get a free donut with a drink purchase.  Yay!  To celebrate this special occasion, I made you all a 'Happy Donut Day' Card on Punchbowl.com!

Speaking of Punchbowl.com...if you haven't checked it out, you really should.  They are AWESOME!  Now, I'm not much for sending snail mail anything anymore, so this website is PERFECT for me.  You can plan an entire event...create invites, a potluck list, have guest polls, and even send thank you notes after the party!  They also, obviously, have a greeting card function as well.  I've personally used it to plan our Gender Reveal party and Ayden's baptism.  If you're like me and have family members who aren't so internet savvy, they do have an option to print out the invite...so you can do the mailing the old fashioned way with stamps (yes, they still make those!).

Click here to see card!

New Layout!

Hi all!  It was recently brought to my attention that in the 'dynamic view' it is difficult to locate the subscription options.  So...ta-da!  Easier to find 'stuff' over on the right.  >>>>>

Thanks for reading!