A few of my favorite things...

I just thought I would share a few of my favorite (random) things today...

I threw this little hair baby together this afternoon. Loving it!

And I am seriously loving these (not just lately, but always and forever)

No, this is not my photo. But I did make this last night for supper. It was by far one of the most difficult things I have ever made, but totally worth it! Here is the recipe, give it a try and let me know what you think. (side note, I substituted Apple Cider for the chardonnay since I don't drink it and it worked great!)

 

Bought this Monday night for the little man, and can't wait to put it on him for some photos Sunday! 

 And last, but certainly far from the least, my favorite photo of the week:

aren't those the most beautiful eyes??!

Grace's Skirt

I don't have a girl, but girl clothes are WAY more fun to play around with. My solution: make clothes for other girl's I know. We have family pictures in a couple of weeks with my family, and Grace, my niece needed something khaki for her bottoms. I had seen this awesome tutorial for a "Circle Skirt" on here and thought, "I can make that." And so I did. I experimented first with a different fabric to work out the kinks before doing the real thing. Here was my process:

 First I cut out my pattern. See the link I posted for the formula and size measurements. I used a cereal box so that it would be nice and sturdy.

 Next I cut out my fabric. I used a lightweight corduroy. It should come out as a full "donut." The picture on the right is folded in half.

I forgot a picture of the next step, but you need to finish off the inside edge, either with a serger or a zig-zag stitch.

Then you put the elastic on around the inside. The elastic will be smaller than the inside of the skirt so you will need to stretch the elastic as you go.

 Finally, hem the bottom. I just folded mine about a quarter inch as I went along.

 

The finished product!

I am going to do the khaki corduroy skirt one of these days, but it should be super easy now that I have all of the kinks figured out. See this link for more in-depth directions and measurements. There are also directions on how to make this for yourself, in an adult size! Have fun, and thanks for reading :)

Do I dare try...

I am going to attempt to follow a meal plan for this week in an effort to have a few good meals. I have made out my grocery list so I don't forget anything, and I am going to try a few new recipes and a tasty treat. Pictures will be taken of each meal to showcase my mad culinary skills (hahaha)
Here is the menu:
Monday: Hamburgers (nothing too exciting but something the hubby has been requesting for weeks)
Tuesday: Belgian Beef and Beer Stew. MMMMM. I have made this one other time, and it is the best stew recipe I have ever had. I will post the recipe with the photos.
Wednesday: Roasted Breast of Chicken with Pinot Noir Sauce with Roasted Butternut Squash Risotto with Sugared Walnuts. I am very excited about this day! I have not made either one these recipes, but found them this month in my Cooking Light magazine. I may have taken on a bit too much trying to do them both at the same time, but we're going to try it. If I am super motivated this may get switched with Tuesday's menu.
Thursday: probably PB&J for the little man and I as hubby will be at class. The special treat will probably make it's debut this evening though. I will for the first time attempt homemade caramel apples. I will not use pre-wrapped caramels, instead I will follow a recipe for my own. Pray for me ;) This will happen after little man is sound asleep and out of my hair.
Friday: I imagine this will be an evening of relaxing and left-overs. An evening spent with my wonderful boys.

Here's to a week of trying new things...

Applesauce

 Last Friday the girls and I made some applesauce. It was a great day of hanging out, chatting like we girls do best, and getting some free, yummy applesauce at the end of it. I also got to play with my new camera a little bit, and got some fun photos of the process.

 

 I love playing around with my new camera, but still have so much to learn. I can't wait to start taking some classes and learning all that it can do. Thanks for reading!

Cake Balls

A friend of mine had a milestone birthday last week, the big 3-0. We had a great big shindig with tons of food, drinks, a party bus, and a visit to the casino. It was a wonderful night. The week leading up to the party began preparations. A couple of the girls and I made the most wonderful substitute for the classic birthday cake. Cake Balls! We had no idea what we were in for when we started this process. Here is how it is done:

Start with a fully baked cooled cake (flavor of your choice).  Break it into a bowl, and either with a fork or your hands crumble it into teeny-tiny pieces.

 Once the cake is completely crumbled up, mix the cake with 2/3-a whole can of frosting. (There are also other options of mix-ins. We also used a couple different kinds of coffee creamer for a few different flavors.) We did yellow cake with chocolate frosting (birthday girl's favorite combo, strawberry cake with vanilla coffee creamer, and chocolate cake with hazelnut coffee creamer. The mixture needs to be sticky enough so that you can roll it into balls.

 The next step is rolling the mixture into balls. Make sure not to make them so large, they should be bite size. Put them onto a cookie sheet and into the freezer for about an hour so they stiffen up enough to dip without falling apart.

 Dipping is the next part of the process. We used almond bark and chocolate chips (with added shortening) for the coating. We found the best method to be rolling the ball in the coating, and then scooping it out with a fork and tapping the excess off.

 Not all of them turned out perfect, but they tasted amazing! Make sure you have plenty of time for the entire process, and have fun!

 Here's the birthday girl holding her "cake". She looked fabulous!

 All my favorite girlfriends together for one great night!

The freezer project...

So I looked in my freezer today and this is what I found:

 A complete disaster! I had no idea what half of the stuff in there was. So I decided to start cleaning it out. Wow, I was in for a surprise. This was a quick project, and very rewarding. Here are the results...

I love finishing a project like this, so rewarding! (Now I just need to really make an effort of not filling it up again)

I think this will be a week long project for the rest of this week.Cleaning much used areas that have been over-run. Here is a preview of tomorrow:

The kitchen table (yikes!)

There is sunshine in your smile...

I have the most beautiful son. Every morning when I wake up and I see his beautiful face I see the sunshine in his smile. He makes me laugh. He makes me so happy. He is my life. I also have the most wonderful husband. On the mornings I wake up early enough to his beautiful face I see the sunshine in his smile. He is so good to me, and I will live my life trying to be so good to him. My life is wonderful, I couldn't ask for more. I love to cook, sew, craft, bake, and take pictures. These are all things I am working on perfecting, one project at a time. Please feel free to join me on this adventure as I log my progress doing the things I love.