Pinterest

  Tonight I want to direct you to the website Pinterest.  It is so fun and can become such a time-suck.  Enjoy!

I am working on a post that I am thinking a lot about and that is why I am cutting this short tonight!

Best Broccoli Cheese Soup Ever

I made this recipe out of my most recent Food Network Mag (p 108), and it is awesome.  That magazine is totally worth having!  This soup was awesome.  Delicious.  I will be making this many times!  I'm posting it how I made it as I left some things out, and I know it tastes good this way.  Besides, who really likes celery in their soup?


2 C chicken broth
2 C half and half
1.5 lb russet potatoes, peeled and chopped
1 bay leaf
freshly ground salt and pepper
2 c chopped broccoli florets
2 1/2 c sharp cheddar cheese, shredded

Put chicken stock, half and half, potatoes, bay leaf, 2 c water, 1 t salt, and 1/4 t pepper in large pot and bring to a boil.  Simmer until potatoes are tender, about 10 minutes.  Meanwhile, cook broccoli in microwave or steam on stove (about 4 minutes).  Drain water from broccoli.  When potatoes are tender, remove bay leaf and puree potatoes and broth in blender until smooth.  Return soup to pot and bring to a simmer again.  Mix in broccoli and cheese and stir until melted.  Would be good with croutons!

Please, please be careful while you are pureeing in the blender.  The top flew off of my blender and covered my arm in liquid that had just been boiling on the stove.  If you do burn yourself, put flour on the burn right away and leave it on for at least 10 minutes.  It takes away the sting and keeps it from blistering!

Definitely a great comfort food!

Not the Best Day

Today was one of those very, very long days.  LB has a bit of a cold so he was more clingy than usual, Pnut must have been tired because she cried over everything, and Pilly was relatively good.  I was so thankful when they all went to bed though!  I also tried to make a brisket for supper, which I had prepared 2 days in advance, and discovered that I bought the wrong type of brisket (corned beef) so it tasted pretty gross.  We ate leftovers instead. 

It was not the best day, but I know we have it so much better than so many so I'm just hoping tomorrow goes better!

I still have stuff that I need to list on etsy, but I just haven't had time.  I have been having to lay down with the girls because they are sleeping in our room at nap time and will just play if I'm not in there.  They would prefer if I weren't.  That is most of my free time so I need to manage it better!

And now I am going to bed!  I have done well getting up early to exercise and do my quiet time 2 days in a row now and don't want to break the streak by staying up too late!

Advice Needed

This morning I discovered that when I washed some coats yesterday, I didn't get everything out of the pockets as I had thought.  A blue pen exploded all over the inside of our dryer.  I was able to get most of it out with nail polish remover and then washing it with soapy water.  I sent some white rag towels through, and they came out with a little blue on them.  Does anyone know what to do for this?  I wasn't able to get anymore off with the nail polish remover earlier, but I could try again now that it has been used.  All suggestions are greatly appreciated!

Java Gets a Haircut

Java got a haircut, and he is much cuter now.  We are much better friends when he has short hair.

And his nutty friend was hanging out so I took some pictures of him too.  He likes the camera.

Buttermilk Dressing

I love homemade salad dressing, and I"ve wanted to try out a buttermilk dressing since I ate the Bibb and Blue salad at Macaroni Grill.  I found a recipe, and it was really good, especially after it had sat in the fridge for a day or two.  Here it is! 

Small garlic clove, smashed

salt

3 T sour cream

3 T mayo

1 T white wine vinegar

1/4 c buttermilk

freshly ground pepper

Sprinkle garlic with a little salt and smash to a paste (good luck).  In a bowl, whisk together the garlic, sour cream, mayonnaise and vinegar. Whisk in the buttermilk and season with pepper.

To make it into blue cheese dressing, add 2 oz crumbled blue cheese.

I made a salad out of blue cheese, lettuce, walnuts, and this dressing.  Really delicious!

Lather and Lotions Feature

Lather and Lotions is a really neat shop on etsy where you can get supplies to make soap, bath salts, and fun bath and body stuff!  They also blog at www.howdoimakesoap.com where they give lots of helpful instructions and ideas. 

They have some really neat soap molds.  One of my favorites is the hibiscus mold.  Isn't it so pretty?

They also have lots of fragrances to choose from.  The one I most want to try currently is the spiced pumpkin fragrance, although they used to have lemongrass, which is one of my favorites!

They also have some really neat bath salts called African Pearls, which I believe can just be put in the bath.  I think they are so beautiful!

This is such a fun shop, especially if you want to make some fun gifts for your friends!

No Thinking Post

I'm tired tonight, and I do have stuff I need to write about, but tonight I am doing a picture post.  First I will share with you Pilly's outfit for church yesterday:

Very nice choice, Pilly.

Friday, we went to Cherry Crest for the last time this year as our boomerang pass ran out.  I got some fun pictures!

Don't worry, LB only ate about five fistfuls of sand.

Reflections on Our Day

We had our first co-op today, which the girls enjoyed very much.  I was not sure how they were going to do when we got there as there really were quite a few people, very few of whom they know, and they were in an unfamiliar environment.  They dismissed us from the gym where we had all gathered for a first-day hello, and Pilly had to leave first with the preschool.  I walked her to the back of the room, she was very hesitant, but she followed the rest of the kids right out and never even looked back.  Pnut just smiled and waved and left.  She has a friend from Sunday School with her (as does Pilly but it is different when you are bigger).  Co-op is three hours long.  Three very long hours as I have nothing to do.  Since LB is under one, I do not have to help monitor any classes or clean so we just hung out in the nursery pretty much the whole time.  LB did not take a nap, which is no good.  He was a mess this evening.  I think next time I am going to try to have him ready for nap as soon as we get there so that he sleeps at least some.  I did meet some of the other moms, although I really am very bad about talking to people; I just let them talk around me.  I end up feeling like I know people very well and they end up not knowing me at all!  Hopefully next time I will talk more.  In my mind, I do a lot of talking:)  The girls both enjoyed their time!  Pnut was telling us things she learned about the sun, and she seems really excited about choir.  She isn't as thrilled with gym...she prefers to just run around rather than play organized games.  Pilly learned about owls, which she seemed to like.  She also claims to have taken a nap, but she said that she watched VeggieTales, which was on when they were napping.  Both of them were very tired this evening and went to bed quite nicely at 7.  I don't know what we would do with Pnut if she were in school all day.  She would practically have to go to bed when she got home!

One of the things I really appreciate about homeschooling is the ability to set your own schedule and make school work for you, not wrap your life around the school schedule.  I have noticed (more like slap yourself in the forehead duh) that when I am tired or getting impatient things just do not go well.  I was a little tired this morning for some reason so we just did reading and then came up and I laid down for 15 minutes since I knew I wasn't going to get to this afternoon.  Reading went well, but I didn't want to test us too far beyond that.  And that is great because the girls are learning well as we are able to maintain a good attitude about it!

Last year I was doing Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons with Pnut, and we ended up stopping around lesson 50 because she wasn't enjoying it anymore.  I was thinking that I wouldn't do it with Pilly probably and just do kindergarten curriculum with her, but as I am teaching Pnut, I am realizing how much that book helped us out already.  She can already read quite a few words (if she wants to), but it did a great job of teaching how to blend sounds and taught her some things that she is just doing unconsciously that I believe are really helping her out.  So I think I probably will do it with Pilly.  She will turn 5 in January of 2013 so she will have 8 months until she will start kindergarten and will probably be ready to be doing something.  If it gives her a bit of a head start and makes my job easier in the long run, I am all for it!

Those are just some of the thoughts that are running through my head right now.  I also have 2 recipes to share and 2 more shops to feature, but that is not happening tonight!  I am ready for a warm bath and some relaxing in this nice, crisp weather!

Little Police-Girls

Do you ever just lose track of days completely?  It is no wonder that the girls really don't know the days of the week very well; their mother can't even keep track of what day it is!  We are working on it in school, though, so hopefully once they know, they can keep me on track!  Thankfully, I did remember that we had Cooking Club today (probably because Cheryl emailed yesterday), which in turn helped me remember that tomorrow is our first day of homeschool co-op...although I doubt that I would have forgotten that as it is our first time so I'm a little nervous!  New things always make me nervous, no matter how beneficial or fun they may be!  I am trying to gather all of the things that are on the girls' supply lists for their classes.  I'll probably finish that up tomorrow though, there really isn't that much.

In school, we are learning about the police.  Last unit we learned about firefighters.  The girls made hats and badges, and they did wear their badges to the playground yesterday.  We saw a real policeman at the playground yesterday; he was looking for a missing old man.  Pnut was especially excited to see him.  Of course, that did not involve talking to him.  But she enjoyed just knowing that he was a policeman. 

I am still listing items in our etsy shop, which is probably going to take a few days.  There is quite a bit of new stuff, and it is best to stagger it over several days if possible.  I'm also enjoying Pinterest!  It is so inspiring!  Now there are even more things I want to try:)  I am getting some good ideas for Christmas, which is always great!

So I need to go do some of those things now.  Have a lovely evening!

Baby Expo

Well it came in a mad flurry of last minute activity and went out very slowly.  Very slowly.  However, it was a much, much better experience than we had last time at a craft show!  We were much better prepared, and next time, we will be pretty much totally ready and will just have to gather things up!  We had a more professional looking stand and were better organized.

We tried some new things for setting up, some of which we liked and some that we didn't.

The diaper cakes, cards, and wall decorations all were displayed very well.  People loved the cards that Randa made, and that was actually one of the two sales we had (both of which were her items).

This wasn't good.  We eventually pulled one of the blankets out and draped it over the corner of the table so people could see how big they are.  The kimonos garnered quite a bit of attention.  We are thinking of somehow displaying them with hangers next time.

People looked at these, but I don't think they were displayed to their benefit.  I think we need to come up with more hanging capabilities, which is hard in a 10 x 8 space!

People loved the hair bows when they noticed them so we probably need to display them in a more prominent place. 

Randa also sold a set of the pink butterfly clips, which I think are so cute!  It is hard to see in the picture, but the body is a curled ribbon.  Very, very sweet!

So it was again a good learning experience, and we did hand out at least 100 business cards, which is definitely a plus for getting our name known.  I have seen an increase in shop views and hopefully that will continue.  It wasn't as well attended as we had hoped it was going to be, but it was their first year.  I think they will do better if they get more vendors.  Some of the vendors who had paid for booths didn't show up, which hurt them as well.  Overall, we had a positive experience and are thankful for what we learned from it.  We are going to try to find some local craft shows to attend, take notes of how things go and what is for sale, and get some better ideas for displaying our items before we do another one.  We are looking for more local ones as well, as this was 1.5 hours away, which adds up in gas!

Farragio

I know you are probably wanting to know about the craft show, which I plan to post about tomorrow.  Tonight I am featuring Farragio.  She makes, totes, handbags, and other accessories that are so useful in every day life.  I think this is a great shop to think about purchasing from for Christmas!  I love this black and white shoulder bag!

And I think her fabric choices are fabulous:

And I think this is a brilliant use for an old wine bottle:

Definitely take the time to check her out!

Joel's Etsy Store!

Today was my birthday, and I got to spend it with Joel as he took off work since 150 roads were closed all over the county.  As he drives a truck all over the county, he didn't think it would be good to go out!  We had a fun day together, and we got to enjoy LB all by himself a little.  LB slept through the whole night last night!  I slept seven hours straight.  It has been 8.5 months since I have gotten that much sleep all at once!  Very exciting.  So now we are on night 2, which I am hoping goes well.  The real test will be tomorrow when the girls are home again.

I finished another stocking so I am right on schedule to get everything done for the Baby Expo.  I am very excited!  We really hope it goes well.

Joel opened his etsy store last night, Bronze Age Antiques.  He loves to find fun stuff at yard sales and thrift stores, and he is getting way too much to keep in our house so he finally opened his etsy store!  Yay!  I hope it all sells.  Quickly.  You look like you need an owl wall hanging!

A Narrative

Hello.

My name is Trouble.  I am also known as the Cutest Baby in the World.

Today, I have been busy practicing walking.

I have successfully taken 2 steps several times.

My mom is not excited.  She would like to take this opportunity to point out that I am not 9 months old yet.

I don't care about such details.  I have places to go!

Covington Creek Candle Company

Covington Creek Candle Company is a lovely company that makes beautiful candles, soaps, and other gifts.  I am most excited about the lemongrass scented candle.  Lemongrass is one of my absolute favorite smells!

Isn't the container just beautiful too?! 

Sally says that she can help her prices stay low by making the drive to pick up her supplies instead of having them shipped to her house, which saves quite a bit of money.  It is wonderful that she then passes on the savings to the customer! 

She also has some lovely bath soaps and lotions and other pretties to pamper your body!

This is definitely a shop worth checking out, especially as Christmas approaches!

A Preview of Our Week

We have such a busy week coming up.  Tomorrow, Randa and her kids are coming to work everything out for the Baby Expo, which is next Sunday (!), I thought I had another week until Carolyn kindly pointed out to me that I was not right in my thinking:).  Wednesday I am cleaning for my mom, and then I will be leaving the girls at her house to stay for two nights so that I can do the dreaded deed....I will be making LB sleep in the girls' room and teaching him to sleep through the night.  For a while, he was doing alright and was only getting up once a night.  But for some time now he has been getting up 2-3, sometimes 4 times a night.  He does not need to eat that many times, and it really makes me very tired.  So we will be working on that for 2 nights, and I will probably be sleeping when he sleeps during the day.  We also will be fitting in school sometime too.  I'm sending it with the girls to my mom's, but if it doesn't get done there, it won't be a big deal. 

We had friends over last night so that Joel and John could play the new Madden together.  It was really nice to have Mel here because I was able to sit on the floor and do all the prep work for the projects I would like to complete while I talked to her.  Cutting out fabric is my least favorite part of a project so it is great to have everything done!  I didn't get to sew anything tonight as I was prepping school for the week.

I'm kind of excited that it is supposed to be cool and rainy this week...I'm ready for some fall weather!  I would prefer cool and dry so we can go to the playground, but it will be nice to stay inside with no pressure to go anywhere for a bit:)

Precious Elaine Boutique

I'm taking part in an etsy cross-promotion team, and tonight I wanted to feature the Precious Elaine Boutique.  She sells cute baby and children's things and also various other things.  I love these bows:

I've not seen ones like this before.  I love, love, love this color blue! 

She has several different dresses and skirts, but this is my favorite:

She has lots of cute things in her shop that would make great gifts.  You can also check her out and "like" her on facebook here:  https://www.facebook.com/preciouselaineboutique.  Super cute!