Birthday Cakes

I caught so caught up with getting ready to go away to Vancouver that I never posted the recipe for the cake I made for my father-in-law's birthday the day before we left. We enjoyed every last bite of it because hubby and I knew it'd be the last cake we'd get to have for 90 days (that means we'll be celebrating hubby's birthday 2 days late when we get off our exercise regime).

For dinner I made sweet and sour chicken and served it over brown rice and had roasted asparagus on the side. It tasted a lot better than it looks in the picture. I basically sauteed some onion and bell peppers, added in some pineapple chunks, cooked chicken tenders and used a store bought sweet and sour marinade. My favorite way to eat asparagus is when it is oven roasted. I turn the oven to 400 to 450 degrees and spread the asparagus spears on a baking sheet. Drizzle them with a little olive oil and some fresh rosemary, salt and pepper. Turn with your hands to coat. Roast in the oven for about 30 to 40 minutes or until the asparagus have shrunk to about half their size.


For dessert, I made a chocolate cake out of the cookbook my mom gave my sister and I for Christmas two years ago. She compiled all the favorite recipes she uses from when we were growing up plus some new ones she found and gave them to us in printed and disc format. It is one of the best gifts I've ever gotten! Normally I make it with the frosting listed, but this time I used the peanut butter frosting recipe from my mom's book instead and it was delicious. Unfortunately, I ran out of flour so I didn't have enough to flour the pans so that the cake would be released, so it wasn't the prettiest cake I've ever made, but boy was it moist!!! Oh yeah, they ate some of it before I got home so I wasn't able to get the best picture of it either.

MOIST CHOCOLATE CAKE
Serves 12

2 c. all-purpose flour
1 t. salt
1 t. baking powder
2 t. baking soda
¾ c. unsweetened cocoa
2 c. sugar
1 c. vegetable oil
1 c. hot coffee
1 c. milk
2 eggs
1 t. vanilla
Frosting:
1 c. milk
5 T. all-purpose flour
½ c. butter, softened
½ c. shortening
1 c. sugar
1 t. vanilla

Sift together dry ingredients in a mixing bowl. Add oil, coffee and milk; mix at medium speed for 2 minutes. Add eggs and vanilla; beat 2 more minutes (batter will be thin). Pour into two greased and floured 9” round cake pans. Bake at 325 for 25-30 minutes. Cool cakes 15 minutes before removing from pan. Meanwhile, for icing combine the milk and flour in a saucepan; cook until thick. Cover and refrigerate. In a mixing bowl beat butter, shortening, sugar and vanilla until creamy. Add chilled milk/flour mix and beat for 10 minutes. Frost cooled cake. Note: The frosting is very rich so I always put jam or some other filling in center of cake.

PEANUT BUTTER FROSTING
4 T. unsalted butter, softened
½ c. creamy peanut butter
1 c. powder sugar, sifted
1 T. milk

In medium bowl, with mixer on medium, beat butter and peanut butter until well blended. Add sugar and beat until combined. Add milk and bat until frosting is smooth and fluffy.

From My Bookshelf

While I was in Vancouver I read two more books that I thought I'd post a review on here.

This was by the same lady who wrote "The Immortal" that I did a review on earlier. It is about three women who become trapped in an elevator during a hurricane in the Tampa Bay area. They are all somehow connected to the same man...one is his wife, one is the woman he's having an affair with (she thinks she's dating a widower), and the other is the cleaning lady for his office. They call an elevator repairman who risks his life to come out and rescue them. While reading it, I forgot that it was by a Christian author and thus was just reading it for the story. However, at the end I noticed the study questions again and realized how it really is a picture of Christ coming in the midst of terrible storms in our lives and bringing us salvation. We need to be willing to reach out take his hand, and make the leap. If we don't we won't be saved. I highly recommend this book and will be looking for another Angela Hunt book to read in the future.

The other book I read was one that I found on the new release stand in the library and the cover caught my attention. It's sort of a spoof on the realty tv shows like The Bachelor/Bachelorette and Desperate Housewives. It's an easy read and just a fun book. No deep thoughts here really. There might be a few bad words, but I don't really recall any. I'd recommend it as a good beach read or just a light hearted read.

Memorial Day Weekend

Alright, so I'm a little behind, but what do you expect when one is busy doing this all weekend?

Afterall, it is as they say, you gotta make hay while the sun shines. Oh, and by the way, before you go thinking that's me on the tractor, let me just say no it's not. My job is to drive the truck and trailer while hubby and his parents pick up the bales. How'd I get the best job out of the deal? It's easy...it's called allergies! You see, there is something that comes out in the fields at night (a bug or pollen or something) that makes me incredibly itchy and I spend all my time scratching instead of picking up bales which isn't too productive, so I've been assigned driving duties.

This is how we spent a lot of our Memorial Day weekend. Between this and the diet & exercise regime that hubby and I are on, we didn't have any time for a bbq so our weekend wasn't too relaxful. Any extra time I may have had was spent preparing all our food for this week (that's one downside to the workout regime is that the food prep takes FOREVER) and still trying to put together my craft room and pack things away before my parents come to town in a week.

I did want to pause, though, and share one of my favorite patriotic songs and give a shoutout to those members of my family who have served to preserve our freedom.

Artist: Lee Greenwood Title: Proud To Be An American

If tomorrow all the things were gone,
I’d worked for all my life.
And I had to start again,
with just my children and my wife.

I’d thank my lucky stars,
to be livin here today.
‘Cause the flag still stands for freedom,
and they can’t take that away.

And I’m proud to be an American,
where at least I know I’m free.
And I wont forget the men who died,
who gave that right to me.

And I gladly stand up,
next to you and defend her still today.
‘Cause there ain’t no doubt I love this land,
God bless the USA.

From the lakes of Minnesota,
to the hills of Tennessee.
Across the plains of Texas,
From sea to shining sea.

From Detroit down to Houston,
and New York to L.A.
Well there's pride in every American heart,
and its time we stand and say.

That I’m proud to be an American,
where at least I know I’m free.
And I wont forget the men who died,
who gave that right to me.

And I gladly stand up,
next to you and defend her still today.
'Cause there ain’t no doubt I love this land,
God bless the USA.

And I’m proud to be and American,
where at least I know I’m free.
And I wont forget the men who died,
who gave that right to me.

And I gladly stand up,
next to you and defend her still today.
‘Cause there ain’t no doubt I love this land,
God bless the USA.

Thank you to following:
1. My father-in-law for his past service in the Army
2. My brother-in-law, Bennett Eggar, for his current service in the Air Force
3. My uncle, Scott Vriesman, for his current service in the Coast Guard (he was involved with the real perfect storm and got to meet George Clooney when the movie came out and had a full page picture in People magazine and couldn't have cared less!)
4. My husband's great uncle for his service in the Army at Omaha Beach on D-day. He was one of the few to make it home. His story is incredible and I may tell it here someday.

Steven Curtis Chapman

Please keep the Chapman family in your prayers. Yesterday, their 5 year old adopted daughter from China was accidentally struck and killed by their teenage son as he was parking his SUV in their driveway.

This family has been such an encouragement to me, and I pray that God minister to them, comfort them, and encourage them during this difficult time, especially their son.

My Daredevil Husband

Here's the video of my hubby on the zipline. He gave me permission to use this because you can't really see his face, but if you feel like commenting, please don't use his name still.

Photos from British Columbia

Canada Place Totem Poles in Stanley Park
Hiking to Nairn Falls
One view of Nairn Falls
Ziplining - the helmet doesn't make for a good hairdo!

I'm trying to post a movie also, but I can't get blogger to accept it right now, so I'm trying to convert it to another format. Once I do, I'll get that up.

British Columbia

Well, I can finally say that I've been to Canada! Hubby and I drove across the border and we were disappointed that you don't get a stamp in your passport when you drive across. What's the point of needing a passport if you don't get a stamp?

We had a lot of fun! The first few days I hung out in Vancouver and shopped (I should say WINDOW shopped) in the Kitsilano neighborhood. I loved this area and actually bought a few silver findings in this really cool bead store. I checked out some thrift stores in search of a springy-looking trench coat and found some that I loved, but they were still out of my budget, so the hunt continues. We ate at some awesome restaurants in Gastown and other areas. We had been warned that Vancouver was pretty pricey, but it didn't shock us too much because things are pretty pricey where we live and were actually about the same. It's such an easy city to drive in, so I also explored some ritzy neighborhoods while hubs was in the conference (which was held at Canada Place).

It rained for the three days we were in Vancouver, but the weather was still pretty warm, so it didn't really dampen our spirits. Before heading out of town on Wednesday to head north to Whistler, we drove through Stanley Park to see all the totem poles. We were going to take the horsedrawn carriage ride, but decided that'd be better done on a nicer day.

We then stayed a few days in Pemberton which is about 20 minutes north of Whistler. Whistler is where all the skiing and sliding events are going to be held for the 2010 Olympics. We got to see the bobsled track (one of my favorite winter events) which was pretty neat. The town is designed to be walked, not driven. It reminded me a lot of Breckenridge/Aspen/Vail. While in the area, we hiked to Nairn Falls, took a zipline tour, ate more good food, and relaxed around the hotel and caught up on our reading. If you're ever in the area, we highly recommend staying at the Pemberton Valley Lodge. It has it's own little kitchenette which we took full advantage of to help save a few dollars.

I'll post some photos of the trip in another post. I'll also post a video of my husband ziplining (and yes, I did ask his permission prior to posting!). He's quite the daredevil. Oh, while talking about ziplining, I should say that it was my idea to go, but that didn't mean I was excited about it. You see, I'm terrified of heights and have never really believed that those little harnesses will actually hold me. Our tour was Friday morning, but I made our reservations on Wednesday and everytime I thought of it between then, my palms would break out in a cold sweat. But, I'm proud to report that I went off each zipline with no hesitations whatsoever and was loving it each time! The longest line we did was 1100' and about 60' high!

On our flight back home, we had a layover in Denver, so my parents drove up from Colorado Springs and we had dinner with them. So, I got to see all my family besides my brother because he was busy working at his new job as a park ranger.

My Visit with My Sister

No, that's not my sister! That's a monk fish...pretty cool, huh? I flew out to Seattle a day early to spend time with Chelsea and her family. I got to see where they live (on McChord AFB) and experience Pikes Place Market (the place where the toss the fish and have amazing floral stands at CHEAP prices). Plus, we ate here - one of my favorite restaurants that we don't have near us. I can't wait until they come visit me in a month!

I can't get over how big Braden is getting. He no longer looks like an infant, but a little boy!

And the Winner is...

I had fun getting to read everyone's comments when I came back. I learned that I have some readers out there who found my blog via other blogs I read. How exciting! Thanks for the feedback on the topics you enjoy reading about; now I know what to write about more.

And the winner is: TIMALEE! Congratulations! How neat seeing how you too got married in CO, moved to the East Coast, and lived with your in-laws.

Now, I'm sure you're all wondering what she won. Well, here you go:

A really cute cupcake plate and a great cookbook full of different cupcake recipes. I'm also going to throw in some edible marker pens (for writing on food/frosting), some cute cupcake liners, and a few other baking items.

Hope you enjoy the gift, Timalee. Send me an e-mail at brie14(at)juno(dot)com with your address and I'll get it off to you over the weekend.

Back in person, but not in mind

Well, hubby and I made it back from our trip yesterday. We took the red eye in from Seattle with a stopover in Denver. My parents drove up from Colorado Springs so we got to have dinner with them which was nice. We didn't get home until 5:30am or so and I was up until 1:30am getting things ready for the new diet/fitness program hubs and I are starting. So, needless to say, I'm exhausted!

I'll be drawing a name tonight for the winner of the cupcake giveaway and post the name sometime tomorrow. I'll also post photos (and a video!) from our Vancouver trip...we had a blast!!!

My 1st Ever Giveaway!

I'm going to be gone next week and won't be able to blog, so to add a little excitement while I'm away, I thought I'd host my first ever blog giveaway!

Plus, I just installed a hit counter, so I want to see how many people actually read this thing and that will help me determine how much time and effort I should put in to making it more interesting.

My first giveaway was inspired by some items I came across the other day that I have never used and probably never will. However, they are very charming and I know somebody else would love them very much.

The only info I'm going to give you is this:

So, if you want to be included in the drawing, leave a comment telling me how you found my blog and/or what topics you'd enjoy reading about more, and I'll enter your name in the drawing. If you want to be entered twice, leave a link to a post on your blog, telling people about this giveaway.

The drawing will be open until midnight EST on Sunday, May 18th.

Blog Privacy

I was reading The Homespun Heart this morning and came across this post:

"Just a quick note about blog privacy. Each of us have different comfort levels with what information we share on our blog. Some of us real names, some use code names, some of us give out our city and state or address and church name, some of us are more vague.

I've noticed through personal experience and reading other blogs, that sometimes when we know the other person in real-life, we can get more relaxed about what we share even in the comments. And, this can be an opportunity to share information that the blog owner would have preferred not to share.

I just want to offer a friendly reminder for not only my own blog, but the whole blog community. Please do not include city or town names, church names or last names of friends or family in comments. This puts the blog owner in an uncomfortable position of having to delete your comment or let their info remain on the comment. If there is any doubt in your mind about including a word or name in your comment, please do leave it out.

This is not directed at anyone personally, so please don't be offended. I just want us to be consciously respectful of one another and the information we share on our blogs."

I too have experienced this. My husband has asked that if I blog, I don't reveal his name, our last name, or where we live due to some people who would like to dig up any "dirt" they can on him to try to get him out of politics. So, I ask that you please respect this and do not reveal any of the above information if you know me. If you accidentally do in your comments, I apologize, but I will have to delete them in order to respect my husband's request.

National Day of Prayer

Today is the National Day of Prayer.

The song by Casting Crowns called "What If His People Prayed" popped into my head and I thought it was a good reminder of the impact that believers can make in our world, if we just take the time to pray.

If you want to hear the song, scroll to the bottom of my blog and click on it in my playlist.

Another thing I was reminded of was the verse that tells us to "love our enemies and pray for those who persecute us" (my memory is failing to recall the reference right now). In a life (especially when one's life is a life of politics), it's very easy to criticize those who attack us or have different views from us; what they're really needing is not our criticism, but our prayers that their hearts would be changed and their eyes opened to the grace of God. If we don't show them love even when they're unlovable, who will? After all, isn't that what Christ did for us?

Vancouver, BC

Have any of you been to Vancouver and/or Whistler, British Columbia?

My husband and I are going there the 10th through the 18th and I was curious if you had any recommendations of things we should do.

We're flying in to Seattle to visit my sister, her husband, and my cute little nephew (can't wait!) for lunch and then driving up to Vancouver. I'll be exploring by myself for a few days in Vancouver while hubby is in the conference, and then we're driving up to Whistler (where all the skiing for the 2010 Olympics will be held) for the next few days.

If you have any suggestions, send them my way please.

Needless to say, I won't be able to blog during those days most likely, but I'll try to post some photos when we return.

For Such A Time As This

I thought I had originally posted asking for prayer for my boss and his wife who were going through a difficult time, but I guess not. They were separated for about a month and a half (completely blindsided my boss) and during this time, I had the opportunity to share many scripture verses and prayers and thoughts with my boss.

I'm pleased to report that reconciliation occurred this past week and they are back together.

My overarching prayer that the Lord would use this situation to draw both of them into a saving knowledge of Him doesn't seem to be answered as of this point. But, seeds were planted and hopefully somebody will come along and harvest them someday.

I'm reminded again of my theme verse for this blog: "And who knows whether you have not attained royalty for such a time as this." Basically, if the only reason I'm at this job was/is to minister to my boss and his wife, than so be it. After all, working for eternal rewards is much more rewarding than building up one's resume.

How I Spent My Weekend

Ahhh! What a relaxing weekend we had. Neither hubby or I really felt like doing anything productive, so we took it easy and had a wonderful time.

I read these books:

This book was really good and easy to get in to. Here's the summary: Who is Asher Genzano? A fanatic? A religious zealot? A raving lunatic? Or is he what he says he is--a 2000-year-old man cursed with immortality and on a holy mission to prevent a global cataclysm? Claudia Fischer's search for answers leads her into the past where myth, history, and prophecy intertwine in ancient legends of the Wandering Jew, biblical warnings about the Antichrist, and eyewitness accounts of the Crucifixion, the Inquisition, the Holocaust. What Claudia learns challenges everything she believes . . . about life, love, and God.

Okay, so this one was WAY below my reading level, but I read the "Christy Miller" series while I was a teenager and loved them, so when I saw that Robin Jones Gunn started a new series with those characters, of course I have to read those too!

I also worked on finishing up my craft room. Here are a few pictures of the bulletin board I made and my version of a window mistreatment that I read about on The Nester. Once the room is all finished, I'll post the before and after photos. It's quite the transformation!

CVS shopping was also on the agenda. I'm trying to learn their ECB system, and I was pretty excited with the deals I got this week. I'll try to do all the math and take a photo tonight and post more on those tomorrow.

Sunday after church we went and got our backs and necks adjusted and a massage done. That evening we had our traditional Sunday evening homemade pizza (my hubs is the best pizza maker in the whole world) and watched Charlie Wilson's War (well, I feel asleep halfway through), the Yankees game, and Desperate Housewives.

What a relaxing way to end/start our weeks!

Bloom Swap

I participated in my first Sisters' Shoebox Swap that was hosted by Monica and Carrie. I had a lot of fun putting my a box together for my swap partner, Amy. She doesn't have a blog yet, so here are the photos of what I sent her:

Seeds & Signs for her garden:
A bracelet I made:
A journal, mini notecards, and paper flower stickers:
a lilac scented candle:
soap & bath fizzies:
lemonade mix with gummy worms:
flower magnets:

Here is the package I got from Amy. I think my favorite things were the notepads, votive holder and gift tags. The soaps she made also smell yummy!

Gift bags & tags:
hot plate, handmade soaps, bath gel:
a purse that her mom made:
magnetic note pad & teacup votive holder:

Thanks Amy...you made my first swap experience an enjoyable one. Happy Spring!

Girls Weekend

My dear friend Katie and I met up in NYC on April 12th for a belated celebration of our birthdays. We were born a few days apart and normally get together the end of January/beginning of February to celebrate. She lives in DC and we realized that with the price of gas, it's cheaper for us to meet in NYC instead of her driving to my home, or vice versa. Go figure!

This year we decided to grab breakfast at a restaurant near Central Park. The food was delicious! I had their Wah-za waffle which was a Belgian waffle with fresh pineapple and blueberries baked in the batter, fresh bananas on top of that covered with blueberry yogurt that was caramelized a la creme' brulee style and more fresh blueberries on top of that! It was sooo good, but very sweet and I could only eat about half. Their fresh-squeezed orange juice was endless and it was the best orange juice I have ever had. It tasted like they squeezed tangerines in with the oranges...yum! They also gave us a free sample of their melon-strawberry-raspberry smoothie and boy was it good too. I ordered a side of bacon and they brought me out a plate with about 12 strips on it! I highly recommend this place if you're ever in NYC. The prices were about $40/each (including tax, tip, side, orange juice & entree), but it filled me up from noon to 7pm. The only downside was that the tables are VERY close together and it's noisy, but that's typical for most NYC restaurants.

After our delicious meal, we went and saw this:

It wasn't my favorite Broadway show, and according to Katie it was different from the movie (I wouldn't know because Mary Poppins was never one of my favorite Disney movies so I haven't watched it in well over 20 years), but it was still so fun to see the way the stage moves all over the place and hear the songs that everyone knows.

Unfortunately, I had to catch a train back home right after the play because my hubby was being awarded the "Leader of the Year" award and I didn't want to miss seeing that (I was so stinkin' proud of him!!!) so I missed out on shopping time. I guess there's always next year.

Hope you had as much fun as I did, Katie!

Believe and Not Doubt

As I was talking with my hubby a few minutes ago and we were discussing some bills that were due that we don't know where the money is going to come from, this passage popped into my head:

James 1:2-12

"Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything. If any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to him. But when he asks, he must believe and not doubt, because he who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind. That man should not think he will receive anything from the Lord; he is a double-minded man, unstable in all he does.

The brother in humble circumstances ought to take pride in his high position. But the one who is rich should take pride in his low position, because he will pass away like a wild flower. For the sun rises with scorching heat and withers the plant; its blossom falls and its beauty is destroyed. In the same way, the rich man will fade away even while he goes about his business.

Blessed is the man who perseveres under trial, because when he has stood the test, he will receive the crown of life that God has promised to those who love him."

I know this passage speaks in regards to asking for wisdom, but I think it applies to all of our prayers. What stuck me is this. How many times when I'm praying am I really focusing, TRULY BELIEVING, that God is listening and going to answer my prayers? Last night we were praying about our financial situation and we mentioned that God has all the money in the world at His disposal; thus, He is more than capable to provide for all our needs. Our job is to not doubt.

I must confess I'm not doing to good in the not doubting area. It's actually more that I'm just ignoring it by not stressing about it and hoping it will just eventually go away. We're trying to solve it with human effort. And, while I believe God will bless my husband as he works earnestly to grow his business and gain new clients and will help us both to be better stewards of our funds (especially me in regards to not shopping so much...even if I do just buy a few things on clearance. A few dollars here and there adds up.) the blessings He has in store for us are even greater than we can begin to imagine or ever achieve on our own.

All He requires of us is that we believe and not doubt.

7 Bridges & Pumpkin Centerpieces

Monica left a comment on my answers to the meme regarding where 7 Bridges is located and asking for a photo of the centerpieces from our wedding. So, here you go.

7 BRIDGES:

I first learned about 7 Bridges when my 6th grade class from ECA took a field trip there the last few weeks of school; my family has hiked it many times since. It is so picturesque and a good workout with plenty of great places to stop and have a picnic or play in the river along the way. If any of you are ever in Colorado Springs, and enjoy a good hike, I highly recommend it.

To get there, you drive past Helen Hunt Falls heading up towards Gold Camp Road. Once you go around the hairpin turn by the falls, you'll follow the road until you come to a gravel parking lot. To the west side of the parking lot you'll see what looks like a dirt road, not a trail head. Head down this road for about 1/2 mile or so (this is the boring part of the "hike") until you're about to make a 90 degree turn to the left. At this point, you'll see the beginning of a trail to your right (no trail sign that I recall) and you'll follow it up and to your right for about 50 yards and you'll see the first bridge (2 planks is all this one is). Once you cross over that, you'll head up the small hill and turn left and you'll be at the second bridge. They become a little more spaced out after that. My favorite bridge is 3 or 4. It has a bunch of planks laid horizontally and 2 planks vertically to kind of make a railroad bridge and there are lots of rocks in the river that you can climb on. This is where we normally stop and have a picnic. All in all I think the hike is about 5 miles roundtrip - uphill going, but downhill on the way back. We've taken people of all different ages and fitness abilities on this trail because as I said, there are plenty of places to stop and rest if need be.

PUMPKIN CENTERPIECES:
Now, for the pumpkin centerpieces from our wedding. I'll post the picture now, and then as fall rolls around, I'll post more pictures of the crafty type things I did. I made our invitations, favors, guest book, thank you cards, centerpieces, table cards, place cards, and decor and I had so much fun. I also did all this for my friend's wedding in January, so if I can find some pictures of here things, I'll post them in the summer time because they're beach themed (she got married in Costa Rica so it didn't matter that it was January).

First off, I have to give a big THANK YOU again to my cousin, Casey, because she came out and helped me glue all the leaves on to these pumpkins. What a huge help! The fun part was figuring out how to mail everything to Colorado for the wedding because I could only fit about 5 pumpkins in a box. Thank goodness we got lots of free ones at work!

For the centerpieces, I copied an idea I saw at Michael's and modified it a little. While real pumpkins would have been pretty, they weren't too practical as far as being able to make in advance, or ship to Colorado for that matter. So, I used the styrofoam-like ones that you can find in craft stores for carving around Halloween. I had thought about just doing intricate carvings in them with the table number in them, but then I read that they're flammable, and I didn't feel like buying 21 LED lights, so I nixed that idea. So, here is what we did:

We used 21 white pumpkins, 15 bags of leaves (the cheapest place to buy these was Walmart for $1/bag of 20+), a few bottles of some gold dimensional fabric/foam paint, tacky glue, and green acrylic paint.

Casey applied about 12 leaves to each pumpkin (3 columns of about 4 leaves each) and I painted the stems green. Here is a picture of them once they're finished to this point:

Next, I used the gold paint to add "veins" and curlyques to fill in the blank space.

I then made a template of a pumpkin leaf and cut out 21 leaves on green cardstock. Using a copper/gold paint pen, I added a table number to both sides of the leaf. Next, we wrapped copper wire around a pencil to make the trendils that stick off the top of pumpkins near the stem and leaves. The wire was poked through the leaf and then stuck in to the pumpkin to hold it on.

To give a little height to them on the table, we spray painted candle holders we found at the dollar store antique copper. Unfortunately, it was very windy when the time for our wedding rolled around and the pumpkins were so light so they kept blowing off the candle holders, so my uncle (who took my decor vision and made it a reality...thanks Uncle Scott!) just put them on the table without the candle holders (if we had a hot glue gun or duct tape that might have worked, but we were short on time) and they still looked nice. Here is a photo of the final product before the wind blew it over:

Now, if only I could figure out what to do with 20 of them. Maybe I could sell them on Ebay!?

Homebaked Goodness

Last night I thought I'd make hubby some treats for when he got home. He LOVES cookies so I decided to make some white chocolate-macadamia nut cookies. He also enjoys having banana bread for his mid-morning snack, so some of that was on the menu also (I'll share that recipe soon).

For Christmas we received the Southern Living cookbook and it's filled with wonderful recipes. It also holds my new all-time favorite chocolate chip cookie recipe. It's so easy to modify with different flavored chips or nuts or whatever.

(Photo courtesy of: http://www.myrecipes.com)

3/4 cup butter
3/4 cup granulated sugar
3/4 cup firmly packed dark brown sugar
2 large eggs
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla
2 1/4 cups plus 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
3/4 teaspoon salt
1 (12-ounce) package semisweet chocolate morsels (or any flavor you like)
1 1/2 cups chopped nuts, any variety (optional)

1. Beat butter and sugars at medium speed with an electric mixer until creamy.
2. Add eggs and vanilla, beating until blended.
3. Combine flour, soda, and salt in a small bowl; gradually add to butter mixture, beating well. Stir in morsels.
4. Drop by tablespoonfuls onto lightly greased baking sheets. Bake at 350° for 8 to 14 minutes or until desired degree of doneness. Remove to wire racks to cool completely.

DIFFERENT VARIATIONS:
Peanut Butter-Chocolate Chip Cookies: Decrease salt to 1/2 teaspoon. Add 1 cup creamy peanut butter with butter and sugars. Increase flour to 2 1/2 cups plus 2 tablespoons. Proceed as directed. (Dough will look a little moist.)

Oatmeal-Raisin Chocolate Chip Cookies: Reduce flour to 2 cups. Add 1 cup uncooked quick-cooking oats to dry ingredients and 1 cup raisins with morsels. Proceed as directed.

Pecan-Chocolate Chip Cookies: Add 1 1/2 cups chopped, toasted pecans with morsels. Proceed as directed. (I used walnuts instead because that's what I had on hand and they were yummy!)

Almond-Toffee Chocolate Chip Cookies: Reduce morsels to 1 cup. Add 1/2 cup slivered toasted almonds and 1 cup almond toffee bits. Proceed as directed.

Chunky Cherry-Double Chip Cookies: Microwave 1 tablespoon water and 1/2 cup dried cherries in a glass bowl at HIGH 30 seconds, stirring once. Let stand 10 minutes. Substitute 1 (12-ounce) package semisweet chocolate chunks for morsels. Add 1 cup white chocolate morsels, 1/3 cup slivered toasted almonds, and cherries with chocolate chunks. Proceed as directed.

Yield: Makes about 5 dozen (I don't even get 4 dozen and my cookies are about 2.5 - 3" diameter once they're baked.)

Susan Hefilfinger, Mandeville, Louisiana , Southern Living, APRIL 2005

Tagged

Monica tagged me to complete this meme - here goes:

A One-Word Meme (which is really more like a one-phrase meme):

You’re feeling: joyful because my hubby got home safely this morning from Colorado
To your left: vaseline, a box of Kleenex, a bag of peach tea, and my work phone & headset
On your mind: what I need to do to finish setting up my craft room
Last meal included: Kashi "Go Lean Crunch", banana, skim milk, and orange juice
You sometimes find it hard to: relax and go with the flow when my plans get changed
The weather: is glorious...I love the sunshine and wish I had a window in my office
Something you have a collection of: dirty clothes? j/k! I don't really collect stuff, but I guess you could say 20 pumpkin centerpieces from our wedding or silver photo frames
A smell that cheers you up: Mexican food
A smell that can ruin your mood: fresh manure

How long since you last shaved: 3 days
The current state of your hair: in the process of growing it out again, but as far as style it's curly and twisted and pinned up off my neck
The largest item on your desk/workspace (not computer): photo printer
Your skill with chopsticks: I confess that I eat my Asian food with a fork, knife, and spoon, that way my food actually ends up in my mouth and not on the floor
Which section you head for first in a bookstore: usually the travel books or the craft books
Something you’re craving: a tan and a more fit physique
Your general thoughts on the presidential race: I enjoy politics a lot (makes sense seeing how I'm a political wife myself) and I find the whole process interesting, but at the same time scary about the perspective candidates. I agree with Monica in terms of praying for a revival in our nation.
How many times have you been hospitalized this year: none...I've actually never been hospitalized unless you count the time I passed out in the delivery room when I was the labor coach for a friend and they wheeled me to the ER for an hour. Don't worry, though, I was back in time to see that baby be born!

Favorite place to go for a quiet moment: anyplace I can put my feet up and read a good book or hiking at 7 Bridges in Colorado Springs
You’ve always secretly thought you’d be a good: first lady or home-ec teacher
Something that freaks you out a little: bird poop...I really, really dislike it a lot
Something you’ve eaten too much of lately: Twizzlers - I sure wish the vending machine guy would stop loading them in the machine!
You have never: gotten a tatoo
You never want to: jump out of an airplane

Now - I will tag Beth, Heather and Emily.

(P.S. Emily's son, Ayden, is the one who I was the labor coach for...he turned 5 yesterday...hard to believe!)

Back to the Farm I go

Well, everyone besides me is going to be out of town these next four days (and in my home state of Colorado...no fair!) so I get the privileged duty of feeding all the animals again. This time my charges include: 6 Black Angus heifers (yes, that is the proper term for a full-grown, female cow), 2 of whom are still pregnant, 7 calves, 2 cats, and a large Great Pyrenees. This morning hubby gave me the new run-down on how to feed because we have some hungry mommas with all that nursing they're doing.

I just want to share that out of the 4 heifers who've already given birth this year, 3 of them have had twins! This might not sound unusual to most of you, but you see, cows normally only have one baby per delivery and the chances of twins are about 1 in 1000. I see it as a blessing in disguise because we only keep the females for the purpose of having more cows and the rest we sell at market or convert in to...cover your ears if you're a vegetarian...DINNER! So, the fact that we've had 3 sets of twins and only 2 females born so far is a huge blessing because we have double the number of cows we were expecting and a large number are destined to be sold.

In addition to keeping the animals alive, I'm also hoping to accomplish the following while everyone is gone:

1. Finish painting the trim in my craft room (hubby's old room)

2. Refinish the built-in oak dresser in my craft room

3. Laundry

4. Sort through our closets for clothes to give to the clothing drive at church

5. Finish cleaning out my car (inside and out) now that I got it back from the shop..woohoo!

6. Finish moving hubby's clothes from his old room to our new room*

7. Bake some banana bread

8. Grocery shop

9. Workout

10. Beading projects

11. Finish my book I've been trying to read for 4 weeks

Whew...that's a long list, but I've been procrastinating on a lot of it and I need to bite the bullet and get it done.

Now, as for that (*) I placed after number 6. Does anybody have good suggestions on how to covertly get rid of a certain someone's clothes that he doesn't wear? He has a TON of clothes (more than I do!), but only wears about 1/4 of them. He tells me that he wears them all, especially when he works on the farm, but I'm telling you people, some of these clothes he hasn't worn the entire 5-1/2 years I've known him!!! If you have any good suggestions I'd love to hear them.

Hope your weekends are as eventfully as mine's promising to be!

Blackberries, Strawberries & Wine...Oh My!

Let me just say this...YUM!!!

Today was another birthday party at work and because I'm trying to be healthy, I decided to make a fruit based dessert instead of the plain ol' cupcake.

I took a box of angel food cake mix and used that to make 18 cupcakes and 1 9" loaf pan. To go with that, I found this recipe here (I also borrowed their picture because the guys at work ate it too quickly to snap my own):


3 c. fresh blackberries
3 c. fresh sliced strawberries
1 c. dry red wine (I used an Australian Cabernet-Merlot blend)
9 T. sugar (I only used 7)
9 grinds of black pepper

Place the washed berries in a large bowl. Mix together the remaining ingredients and pour on top of the berries. Cover and refrigerate for 20 minutes to meld the flavors together (I let mine soak overnight). Serve the berries on top of the angel food cake with a dollop of whipped cream. Makes 12 generous servings.

I am not a big fan of red wine, and the pepper sounded really wierd to me, but I think I'm going to make all of my berries for shortcakes and pound cakes like this from now on it was that good!

A Blessing in Disguise

Well, yesterday after work I was on my way to the gym to continue in my fitness challenge. I had just turned into the parking lot entrance when all of a sudden, my car died. It just stopped. No warning whatsoever. Thankfully, I was far enough over to the right that cars were still able to get around on the other side of me or I would have really been in a pickle.

I tried restarting it a few times, and it would turn on and start up, but the moment you went to push the gas, it would sputter out and die again. I called hubby even though I knew he wouldn't be able to help because he was in Indianapolis for the day on business. I tried calling the in-laws, but they weren't home, nor did they answer their cell (which is no surprise because they're notorious for carrying their phone, but always having it turned off!).

So, what do I do now? It was really frustrating being so close to my gym, but not being able to go in and workout. I mean, I can't just leave my car parked in the middle of the driveway while I go off on a run! Thus, my best option was to get out, put the car in neutral, and try to push it, high heels and all, in to one of the parking spots on my right. Any normal person would have probably just walked over to the army recruiting office and asked one of the strong men to come help, or walk across the lawn to the mechanic shop next door, but I'm not a normal person. I'm STUBBORN to the core and I wanted to prove to myself that I was capable of pushing my own car in high heels. I was doing pretty good and about half way there when a man pulled in the driveway and finished pushing it in for me.

Until I figured out how I was going to get home (my options were looking like: 1. walk the 10 miles carrying my laptop, purse, and gym bag; 2. wait until the in-laws finally get home or decided to turn on their cell; 3. wait until hubby gets home at midnight to come get me) I decided my time would be better spent going in and getting my workout done. At least that way I could cross one thing of my long list of to-dos for the evening - grocery shop, bake a cake for somebody's birthday at work, work from home for my boss, clean our room before hubs came home, return the movies, etc.

Thankfully, 2 hours later my father-in-law had gotten the message and came to pick me up. He thinks it's a problem with the fuel pump so we left the car there and he and hubby will look at it today.

So, what were the blessings in disguise?

1. My car could have died in the middle of the very busy intersection I just went through instead of in the parking lot of my gym.

2. I had something to do with my time while waiting...got to love working up a sweat!

3. The room didn't get cleaned, but I did get my "homeless car" cleaned out. Hubby calls it that because for the past month (perhaps three months) my four-seater car has only fit a driver because it's served as my own personal PODS until I find room to store it at the in-laws. I was able to narrow a lot of it down to junk that needed to be tossed, and the rest I was able to consolidated in to half of my trunk until I get the car back home.

Yes, the Lord was watching over me. Thank you, God, for the blessings.

These Shoes Are Made For Walking

I was taking inventory of my shoes the other day and realized all I have are high heels (and lots of them), a dirty pair of faux suede clogs, flip flops, and running shoes. None of these would do for walking around NYC in spring time while still looking fashionable and most importantly COMFORTABLE. So, off to Target I went and came home with these:

Never would I have thought I'd buy something that looks so "tacky", but in real life they're actually pretty cute and very comfortable once you break them in for a few days with moleskin on your heels. Now, if only my trousers were hemmed so they wouldn't drag on the ground I'd be all set for my day in the city on Saturday.

Happy Anniversary!

Hubby and I celebrated our 6 month anniversary yesterday. It's hard to believe that it's already been that long...we've had such a great time and are thoroughly enjoying married life. We decided to go to church on Saturday night so that Sunday we could sleep in and recoop even more from the early morning we had on Saturday driving home from LaGuardia. I snuck out early, though, to head to my favorite grocery store to pick up a few items to make him a delicious breakfast.

We had homemade cherry-cheese danishes, scrambled eggs, bacon, and fresh pineapple (thanks to my $1.99/pineapple find at the veggie store on Saturday). Not the most healthy breakfast, but we had planned on just eating that and a healthy dinner mid-afternoon, so I didn't feel quite so bad. I found the recipe for the danishes here, but modified it by cutting the amount of sugar to 1/3 cup in each place it called for it and using reduced fat cream cheese and crescent rolls. The whole meal was delicious!

For dinner we had home "grown" t-bone steaks (got to love being married to a rancher...you never have to buy beef!), roasted veggies (zucchini, onions, mushrooms, sweet red, yellow, and orange peppers) with olive oil and basil and oregano, baked potatoes with sea salt (Mom, yours were better), and my mandarin orange salad. For dessert I was going to make an angel food cake with raspberries, strawberries, blackberries and almonds, but our company brought a chocolate banana creme pie, so we enjoyed that instead...yum! Thankfully the rest of the meal was pretty low-cal and low-fat, so the pie didn't do our diets in too much.

This morning as I was heating up some leftover danishes for hubby, I spilled the beans that the original version of them is 395 calories each! I'm sure the version I made aren't much less than 350 and that my friends is why they are a once or twice a year occurence! I must admit, though, that I had to resist the urge to pack a leftover danish for my mid-morning snack at work and instead feel much better knowing I brought healthy food to work, and I get to begin week 2 of my 24 week fitness challenge today...woohoo!!

He's Home!

Well, hubby made it home safely to LaGuardia on Saturday morning. I only got lost in downtown Manhattan for about 10 minutes so that wasn't too bad. I'm not brave enough yet to drive in NYC traffic during the actual day, 5:30am is stressful enough for me!

I was supposed to do day 6 of cardio for the week, but it never happened. After a very healthy breakfast of Dunkin Donuts on the way home (yeah, I blew my diet for the day, but isn't everybody allowed one cheat day?) hubs and I went back to sleep until 12:30pm. Then I found out that he needed me to notarize a bunch of things this weekend, and my notary stuff was at work. So, I got to make the 40 minute roundtrip trek to to work on a day off...yuck! But, I made up for it with some shopping on the way home.

First, I stopped by this fabulous fabric store to pick up some fabric to cover the bulletin board I'm making for my craft room. When I see all the gorgeous fabric it makes me drool and wish even more so that I knew how to sew. But, for now, I'll settle for being pretty handy with a staple gun!

Next, it was off to the Home Depot to pick up the paint I need to finish the trim and doors in my craft room. I'm also going to repaint some built-in oak varnished drawers the same color. Has anybody had any luck with painting over varnish? I'm trying to avoid having to strip the varnish. From what I read online, most people are saying that you can clean it with an ammonia and water based cleaner (i.e. Windex) because that "strips" the varnish and then sand it and put a coat of primer on and you should be good to go. Hopefully this works.

Finally, I stopped by the produce store to fill up on the veggies and fruits for the week. I love this store because I can walk away with four bags of groceries stuffed to the max for less than $15! Looks like we'll be trying to fill up on veggies and fruits to keep our grocery budget down.

Missing You

Dear Hubby,

I miss you a lot! Please come home safely from Texas and Colorado. I'm even willing to drive all the way to LaGuardia airport to pick you up at 6am tomorrow if you don't make the Philly flight that gets in at 5am. I just want you home my cute little "U.M." (he, he, he...inside family joke!).

Love,

Your Wifey

P.S. I lost a lb over the past few days so you might not recognize me...j/k!

My New Best Friend

It was pure delight when the FedEx man finally arrived at work yesterday. I had been waiting all morning for the delivery and kept checking the tracking number to see if my package had arrived yet. I was shocked at 1:45pm when I learned my package had been delivered and signed for at 1:30pm, but nobody bothered to bring me my new best friend. Didn't they know that I had been patiently (okay, not so much perhaps) waiting and waiting for this all morning!? After finally hunting down my special delivery, it was nothing but pure smiles as I discovered my new best friend:

Now, in all seriousness, my hubby is still my best friend and always will be, but this is my new WORKOUT best friend. You see, on Monday I started this women's fitness challenge and without some music to groove to, the six times a week cardio sessions and thrice weekly strength training sessions are going to become BORING, causing me to quit long before the 24 week program is over.

Well, yesterday I gave it a whirl and let me tell you, this little thing is magic! It made the hour and a half at the gym fly by and I actually can't wait to get to the gym today so I can listen to more of my favorite tunes.

Oh, when I said this "little" thing, I wasn't joking. The whole thing weighs less than 0.3 ounces and is only 1" x 1.5" big with a little clip that attaches to my pants or shirt. But, don't let its size fool you...this thing can hold up to 250 songs. Plus, it comes in one of my favorite colors for clothes...teal! All this for the bargain price of less than $50. We sure have come a long way from the days of walkmans, or carrying big boom boxes on your shoulder for that matter!

Thanks hubs for my new best friend!! Don't worry, though, I'll always love you more. Now you'll just have a more fit wifey!