Cold Feet

This is my footwear choice for today. Obviously I forgot to check the forecast before I got dressed:

Hopefully the SNOW will hold off until I get home and can put on some socks and slippers.

On a much happier (and warmer) note...we're having our wonderful new (and soon to be moving out of state...boo!) friends over for dinner tonight. Can't wait!

What's on the menu?

Chicken with Grapes and Couscous

Roasted Asparagus

Spinach Salad with Toasted Pecans, Craisins, Apples & Goat Cheese
Chocolate Cake with Peanut Butter Filling and Chocolate Ganache

It's going to be an AWESOME night! And tomorrow is even more fun because hubby and I are travelling to Havre de Grace, MD for the first time to hang out with another great girlfriend and met her new man. Fun times!

No-Frost Cupcakes

Monday night I was craving chocolate and cheesecake so I combined the two and made my mom's "No-Frost Cupcakes". She didn't have much luck making them in Colorado because of the altitude, but I had no problem with them here on the East Coast.

They definitely hit the spot! And, I have enough of the cream cheese filling left to make a tray of brownies later in the week. Hubby LOVES brownies with cream cheese.

NO-FROST CUPCAKES
(I got 16 cupcakes with half the filling leftover for another use)

FILLING:
8 oz. cream cheese, softened
1 egg
1/3 c. sugar
1/8 t. salt
6 oz. chocolate chips

CUPCAKES:
½ t. salt
¼ c. cocoa
1-1/2 c. flour
1 t. baking soda
1 c. sugar
1/3 c. oil
1 c. water
1 T. vinegar
1 t. vanilla

Preheat oven to 350. Blend all the filling ingredients together, except the chocolate chips, until well combined. Stir in the chocolate chips and set aside. In a large bowl sift together ½ t. salt, cocoa, flour and baking soda; set aside. In a separate bowl, mix together sugar, oil, water, vinegar, and vanilla. Stir into dry ingredients. Place cupcake liners in pan and fill about 1/3 full. Press 1 t. of cream cheese mixture into center. Bake at 350 for about 25 minutes.

Spring Mantlescape

Spring has finally sprung here in the Northeast and I couldn't be happier!

This past weekend was gorgeous and I took full advantage of the opportunity to spend time outside collecting loose moss, moss-covered rocks, leafing branches and brown "pokey balls" as I like to call them (if anyone knows what they really are, please let me know).

Back at the house I arranged them with some other things I already had to bring a touch of spring to the mantle.

My sister sent me this white cabinet for Christmas and I LOVE it!

This cute little bunny and the wire dress form I picked up a year or two ago at the Christmas Tree Shops. No money in the budget this year for decor items, so it was fun shopping the house and the abundant natural decorating supplies God so richly blessed us with outside. Hopefully the moss will stay fresh for awhile, if not, there's plenty more where it came from!

Happy Spring!

I'm linking this up to Kimba's DIY day. Hop over here to check out more projects.

A Fabulous Day!

I hope you all are having the same glorious weather we're having here. I think the mid to upper 70s is my absolute favorite temp. Hubby and I needed some cheering up today because we found out that our good friends from church (who we just really got to know the beginning of this month) are moving in a couple weeks...to Lexington, KY :( We are so sad!

I think God sent us this glorious weather today to lift our spirits. I spent some time collecting different brown and green themed nature items to make a mantlescape this weekend for spring so hopefully I'll have something to post from that this Tuesday.

Oh, and I made the Pioneer Woman's pizza dough last night for dinner. It is GOOD! If you haven't tried it yet and you regularly make pizza at home, I suggest giving it a whirl. It's super easy to put together and good tasting too.

Off to enjoy more gorgeous weather and get ready for dinner with friends.

Don't Forget the Sour Cream!

This past Sunday our pastor and his wife had us over for dinner. She cooked a delicious meal of steak with carmelized onions and a gruyere' cheese sauce, salad with walnuts, craisins and prosciutto, and olive bread. It was so tasty!

Their children are so sweet and we loved having the opportunity to get to know our pastor and his wife on a deeper level. We're also really looking forward to the new invitation to be on the leadership team. It's a great group of people and we can't wait for more time fellowshiping and serving together.

Our contribution to the dinner was dessert. I was told they loved chocolate and that fruit was a bonus. Not having a ton of free time, I recalled a box mix cake recipe I made a couple years ago that was super moist and was served with berries. Perfect!

The cake tasted really good, but it was a little drier than I had remembered. When hubby and I were talking about this in the car on the way home, he asked me what was in it and I started listing off the ingredients only to realize I had completely forgotten to add the sour cream! That totally explains why it wasn't as moist as I remembered. So, if you decide to make this cake, please make sure to add the sour cream.

TRIPLE CHOCOLATE BLISS CAKE
(recipe courtesy of Kraft Foods)

CAKE:
1 box chocolate cake mix (not the kind with pudding in the mix)
1 box (4 serving size) chocolate instant pudding
4 eggs
1/2 cup oil
1/2 cup water
8 oz. sour cream

TOPPING:
3 cups cool whip, thawed (I just used one 8 oz. tub...not quite three cups, but plenty)
8 oz. semi-sweet chocolate chips
Assorted berries

Preheat oven to 350. Grease and flour a Bundt pan. Mix all the ingredients for the cake together (don't forget the sour cream!) on low until moistened, about 30 sec. Mix on medium speed for two minutes. Pour into prepared pan and bake for 50 minutes to 1 hour. Let cool in pan for 10-15 minutes and then invert on to rack to finish cooling.

In microwave safe bowl, combine cool whip and chocolate chips. Microwave on high about 1 minute and then stir together until chocolate is melted. Pour over cake (I didn't use the full amount that it made). Garnish with berries and enjoy!

What A Relief

So I finally bit the bullet and called my doctor to schedule a test for Celiac disease. The stomach issues are flaring up again (though not nearly as bad as before thank goodness) and we had read in a few different sources that unchecked Celiac disease can lead to difficulty getting pregnant (at this time we're pretty much willing to try anything to finally be with child).

I was waiting to hear back from his office about whether they'd mail me a script or if I needed to go in to see the doctor prior to my May appt with him. Well, the nurse just called back to let me know the good news that he actually checked me for Celiac disease back in November and it was NEGATIVE! Wahoo!

I know I still need to seriously limit my intake of gluten in order to feel my best, but that is much easier to deal with than having to read the labels on everything from toothpaste and lipstick to tortillas and baked beans for the rest of my life.

However, I am supposed to go in this Friday for a breath test which would let him know if it's a lactose issue or anything else like that. I really hope that's a negative because I really can't fathom a life without cow's milk products, especially cheese enchiladas. That may kill me before the lactose does!

Spring has FINALLY Arrived!!

Yesterday as I was walking out the door for work I let out a squeal of delight when I saw this waiting for me at the end of the walk:

CROCUSES!!

These are some of my favorite spring flowers and it took everything in me to hang on to the tray of brownies in my hand and place them safely in the car before grabbing my camera to take a document this momentous occassion.

Aahhh. Spring. It's nice to see you again.

Chocolate Mint Brownies

Today is my boss’s birthday and being that it’s the month of St. Patrick’s Day, I figured it fitting to have a “green” type of dessert.

I remembered times visiting my grandma around Christmas and the delicious brownies she’d make with a green mint layer. I thought these would be perfect. Sure enough…the boss devoured three within 5 minutes! I’m keeping how many calories he consumed to myself, though. Wouldn’t want to spoil his birthday.

CHOCOLATE MINT BROWNIES
Makes: 5-6 dozen (I have no clue how because I only got 28)

BROWNIES:
1 cup flour
1 stick butter, softened
½ t salt
4 eggs
1 t vanilla
1 can (16 oz) Hershey syrup
1 c sugar

FILLING:
2 c powdered sugar
1 stick butter, softened
1 T water
½ t mint (or peppermint) extract
3 drops green food coloring

TOPPING:
1 package (10 oz) mint chocolate chips (see “Notes”)
1 stick butter

Combine the first 7 ingredients in a large mixing bowl. Beat at medium speed for 3 minutes. Pour batter into a greased 13 x 9 pan. Bake at 350 for 30 minutes (top of brownies will still appear wet).

Combine filling ingredients in a medium mixing bowl: beat until creamy. Spread over cooled brownies. Refrigerate until set.

For topping, melt chocolate chips and butter over low heat in a small saucepan. Let cool for 30 minutes or until lukewarm, stirring occasionally. Spread over filling. Chill thoroughly before cutting. Store in the refrigerator.

NOTES: If you can’t find mint chocolate chips, simply add ½ t mint or peppermint extract to the plain chocolate chips. The topping called for 9 T of butter, but I only used 8. Also, I used “Promise” butter sticks and based the below calorie number on that.

According to my grandma, these get more moist by the day and they’re the greatest brownie you’ll ever eat. I haven’t had one yet today…I’m waiting until I get home with hubby…but I liked the spatula after making each layer last night and it sure was yummy!

CALORIES: When cut into 28 pieces, each serving contains about 255 calories.

Another Fabulous (but unproductive) Weekend

Hubs & I had the BEST time Friday night! We had dinner at the home of some new friends from church, and I knew she and I would get along as soon as she served us PW's lasagna. As the 5 hours of laughs rolled on, we discovered just how scary it is how similar our husbands are. Definitely think we have found some new quality, and hopefully life-long, friends. We're looking forward to many more nights of laughter in the future.

Saturday we made a trek out to PA to tour a modular home factory. It's amazing how fast those homes are built (6 days in the factory; about 3-6 months from start to finish) and how well-made they are. We're hoping to meet with a builder this week to see if our lot is conducive to modular home building and then to get pricing. It's so exciting! On the way home from that we stopped by some family friends of hub's family and had a great conversation and meal with them. It was a long day (left house by 10am and didn't get back until after 9pm), but a very fun one.

Sunday was another awesome morning with everyone at church (can I just say again how much we're LOVING our new church family!) and then a fun-filled afternoon 4-wheeling around the property. We got a little lot of mud on us, but that's half the fun. Can't wait until it dries out and we can go exploring in the woods instead of just the fields.

Hope you all had great weekends too.

This week my goals are to tackle my house. Our busy lives lately have resulted in one messy bedroom and bathroom, PILES of paperwork to be filed (and tax forms to be located so we can file those), and a couple baskets of clean laundry that have been waiting to be put away for a couple weeks now. We've banned TV during the week, so hopefully we'll get back to being productive around this joint!

Cream Puffs

Tonight hubby and I are having dinner at the house of some new friends from church. We're super excited to have the opportunity to really connect with other young Christian couples in our area.

We are bringing the customary hostess gift of wine (that's what it is in this part of the country...what do you normally bring for a hostess gift?) and also some dessert.

I didn't feel like running out to the store last night, so I decided to use what I had on hand and came up with the idea to make my mom's cream puffs. I haven't had these babies for a long time and remember them being so good. Hopefully they'll taste just as delicious as they look.

Though they look fancy, cream puffs are super easy to make. If you haven't ever made them, try them now...you won't be disappointed.

ALMOND CREAM PUFFS

Makes about 12 puffs

PUFFS:
1 c. water
½ c. butter or margarine (I use Promise)
¼ t. salt
1 c. all-purpose flour
4 eggs

FILLING:
1 pkg. vanilla instant pudding
1-1/4 c. milk (I use skim)
1 cup heavy whipping cream, whipped (I only had a tub of light Cool Whip on hand)
1 t. almond extract

GLAZE:
1 c. semisweet chocolate chips
2 T. butter
1 T. milk
1 T. light corn syrup (this is what gives it a nice glossy sheen)

Preheat oven to 400. In saucepan over medium heat, heat water, butter and salt until butter melts and mixture boils. Remove from heat. With wooden spoon, vigorously stir in flour all at once until mixture forms a ball and leaves side of saucepan. Add eggs to flour mixture, one at a time, beating (or stirring hard) after each addition until mixture is smooth and satiny. Cool slightly. Drop by heaping tablespoon (I used an ice cream scoop) onto lightly greased and floured cookie sheet. Bake for 30-35 minutes or until puffed and golden. Cool on wire rack.

Prepare pudding using 1¼ c. milk. Fold in one cup of heavy whipping cream, whipped (or 2/3 tub of cool whip), and 1 t. almond extract. Fill puffs once they are cooled.

In microwave melt chocolate chips with butter (about 30 seconds and then stir and reheat in 10 second intervals if necessary). Add milk and corn syrup; stir until smooth. Drizzle over filled puffs.

Store in fridge until ready to serve.
 

NOTE: Instead of using chocolate, you could just cover them with sifted powder sugar, or put the sugar on top of the choclate once it hardens before serving. I had left over chocolate and dipped a banana in it and froze it for a future treat.

 

Allergen-Free Baking

I was watching Martha the other day and she had this guest on who wrote a book all about allergen-free baking. Personally, we don't have any allergies in our family, though, I do think I have developed a small gluten-intolerance if I eat too much of it.

Despite the fact we have no allergies, I still am dying to get my hands on this book and try out some of her tricks because they look delicious and sound so healthy for you.

She even did a blind taste test on some people in the audience with egg-free cookies. One cookie had eggs and the other used a mix of flaxmeal and water to replace the egg. The taste testers chose the egg-free cookie!

If you have allergies or intolerances, or you want to experiment with healhier baked goods, check out this book:

Thank God I'm a (converted) Country Girl

Those of you who knew me growing up are probably just as shocked as I am that I am THRILLED over the fact that as of last night at 5pm, hubby and I are now the proud owners of 94 acres of farm and woodland! Despite the fact I always said I wanted to marry a city-rancher kinda guy, I grew up in the middle of a subdivision in Colorado and never imagined myself actually living on 94 acres with no neighbors, but I'm looking forward to it. Still not sure I'll really get into the whole feeding the cows early every morning, but that's what my hubs is for; I'll just make sure to have a hearty breakfast ready for him when he's done.

This land really is an awesome piece because when you're on it you feel like you're in the middle of nowhere, yet it's only 5 minutes from where we live now which is smack dab in the middle of a Northeastern "bedroom" community. I think we just bought the last piece of land in town...most residents don't even know there still is farmland in town.

It's nerve-wrecking and exciting at the same time. It's scary not knowing exactly where the money for a third monthly mortgage will come from (until we sell off our "flip" house we bought a couple years ago and we convert the other mortgage back to hubs parents), but we prayed over this land numerous times asking the Lord to provide if it'd be His will for us to own it. He's come through so far and I'm sure He'll continue to do so.

We have our application in the works for farmland preservation and once that comes through it should be paid in full in a little over a year. What an awesome opportunity for our future family and for ministry. Church bonfire anyone?

This weekend is one of our first meetings with the modular home builder we're hoping to use for the "guest" house that we plan to build first. Our hope is to build a 3-stall garage with a 1400-1500 sq. ft 2-bed, 2-bath "ranch" on top. Hubby & I will live there until we can off-load the other two mortgages and then use that money to build our main house. We'd then love to loan out the guest house to family, friends, missionaries, etc. who are looking for an affordable (most likely free) place to stay short-term.

I'm still shocked that I'm wanting to stay living in the state where we reside given it's incredibly high property taxes, but the fact that we're getting plugged into a great church and had this awesome opportunity for a little slice of heaven is changing things...plus it allows hubby to stay in politics (providing he wins his second re-election this November).

Ya, I think I can gladly say, "Thank God I'm a country girl!" 

DIY Day: Duck Hooded Towel & Washcloth Puppet

Click here to see more projects

The birthday boy opened his gift the other day and loved it! Based on how small he is, I think he'll get many years of use out of this hooded towel.

To make the hooded towel, I used a tutorial I found on Infarrantly Creative. I actually came across it while doing a google search and thought it was the best tutorial of the search results. I chose a yellow towel because the birthday boy LOVES yellow and he LOVES bathtime, so I decided to turn it into a duck hooded towel by sewing on an orange fleece beak and some white and black fleece to make eyes. I think it turned out very cute.

To give him even more fun in the bath, I made a duck washcloth puppet to accompany it. I followed some instructions I found here doing another google search.

These were so easy to make, even for a novice sewer (what's the proper word...I don't want to call myself a name of where waste goes) like me. Can't wait to find new sewing projects to expand my skills.

Happy Birthday, Caleb!

Happy Birthday, Caleb! How is it even possible that you are one already?! I only got a chance to meet you when you were 3 months old. This living on different coasts really stinks, but I do cherish all the times I get to hear your sweet sounds on the phone. Please come visit your Aunt Brie before you get too much older.

I loved this picture we used on your birth announcement. You are such a happy-go-lucky little guy. Your big brother, Braden, wasn’t too sure about you at first, but you guys have grown to be best buds. And, Grandma, well, you know she loves you.

I think I startled you the first time I met you!

I know that sometimes it seems like we give Braden all the attention, but I promise you buddy that next time I see you we’re going to have some special “Aunt Bee” and “Kayo” time.

Hope you have a fabulous birthday and enjoy the duck hooded towel and wash cloth puppet I made you for your gift. I hear bath time is your absolute favorite activity and that you go crazy for the color yellow.

I love you, Caleb!

Edit Those Photos

Hubby & I hadn’t had a photo taken of us for awhile so I figured the perfect time would be last Thursday when we went out on the town.

Unfortunately, when I downloaded the photo it was not so great.

The color was washed out. You can see all the junk from two families sharing one living room, my face is a weird orange color, and don’t even get me started on how I’m standing. 

Enter my photo editing program. I prefer to use this one from work, but this works just as great too for free.

A crop here (to remove the junk), some cloning there (to get rid of the humidifier), some red eye removal, some airbrushing (to attempt to correct my funky orange skin) and a little brightening and contrast and this is what you end up with:

Still not the best photo we’ve ever taken, but much better than it started out. I still have to fix the orange skin issue. Must be I need to get a different foundation for winter. Weird how it looks fine in the mirror, but in photos I look like I’m addicted to spray on tans even though I’ve never had one in my life. Promise.

Before:

After:

Latest Jewelry Creation

I have some sad news to announce. I’m no longer going to be selling jewelry unless I have a specific request for something. It was too expensive to be able to afford quality materials for the few number of pieces I was selling. I just don’t have the time to devote to it right now so I’m in the process of using up the things I like and trying to sell off the rest of my supplies. I’m eventually going to be switching my focus back to my first crafting love which is making cards and graphic design and my new love of sewing (which is much more budget friendly than quality jewelry). Hopefully once things calm down on the home front and at work I’ll be able to find time to devote to Divine Creations and make it a success.

For now, though, here’s the latest thing I made:

 

I am in LOVE with these earrings. They hang so beautifully and look so feminine. They have sterling silver ear wires, ivory Czech glass pearls and silver-plated dangles held together with silver-plated jump rings. It was so fun to actually see what I had pictured in my head turn out in real life.

I do have supplies to make two more pairs, so if you would like one, leave me a comment with a way to contact you or e-mail me at divinecreations4u (at) gmail (dot) com. They are $15 each (they’re a little time consuming to make) including shipping within the lower 48 states. These go just as great with jeans as they do with a little black dress.

Stay tuned for a few more pieces I’ll be posting here at discount as well in the near future.

February Birthdays

We had two birthdays at work this week. Last year I brought in one cake for both guys. This year I brought in something smaller on each of their separate days.

This year I’m not always doing cake, but whatever dessert floats my boat at the time. Due to a serious lack of sleep Saturday night, I made it easy on myself Sunday and made Blondie Bars for the Monday birthday.

For the other birthday I made a new cookie recipe my mom sent me in 2008. It actually came from my brother’s friend’s mom when my brother was making cookies for his girlfriend. Follow that? My mom thought it was just so cute how Brock & his friend where exchanging recipes.

Growing up, every Valentine’s Day we’d make the same heart-shaped cookies with pink frosting and a conversation heart on top and then drive around to deliver them to all our friends. Supposedly this new recipe is a better version of that one.

I waited to make them until now because I’m a tightwad and didn’t want to spend $3 on a bag of conversation hearts so I waited until they went on sale after the holiday hubby also wanted to bring some to deliver to the lady’s who work in the Mayor’s office at town hall and the meeting around Valentine’s Day was cancelled due to a snowstorm and the next one was last night. I’m all about killing two birds with one stone.

So, yes, the birthday boy at work was a little embarrassed today when I showed up with cookies that said “heart throb” and “sugar lips” and “I want you”, but I think he quickly got over it when he tasted how delicious they were.

I know it’s a little late for this year, but here’s the recipe for next year:

VALENTINE’S DAY COOKIES

1/2 c. shortening
1 c. sugar
2 well beaten eggs
2 T. light cream
1 T. vanilla
3 1/2 c. cake flour
2 teaspoons baking powder

Stir together flour and baking powder.  In separate bowl cream together shortening, eggs, sugar, cream and vanilla. Add sifted ingredients to creamed mixture.  Shape into ball, wrap in saran wrap and chill overnight.

Dust board or counter top with enough powder sugar to keep dough from sticking.  Roll out until dough is about 1/2 inch thick. Dip cookie cutter in powder sugar before cutting each cookie (to keep from sticking).  Place cookies on lightly greased cookie sheet.

Bake at 375 degrees for 8 minutes or until slightly golden brown on the outside. Cool completely before icing.

For Icing combine the following:
1 lb. powder sugar
1/4 lb. butter (1 stick), softened
1/8 t. salt
1 t. vanilla
3-4 T. milk (mixing in one tablespoon at a time until desired consistency)
food coloring (optional)

NOTE: I should have stopped after 3 T of milk, but silly me kept going. I think that’s why my frosting has the white swirls in it. I found the best way to ice the cookies was to hold them by the side and dip them in the frosting. Then kind of shake them to get it to settle down smoothly and put the sprinkles or conversation hearts on right way. Let sit out on the counter a few hours until the frosting hardens and then store covered.

Today Definitely Qualifies

I'm normally not one to say, "I need a drink!", but today definitely qualifies as a day where I may need to utter that saying more than once.

CRAZY insane today at work. I'm sure it's going to stay this way for at least a couple weeks.

I think I may need to buy stock in Jose Cuervo because my consumption of strawberry margaritas will hit an all time high in the coming days. Not really. Well, maybe just one.

What's your favorite way to unwind? Mine would be a frozen strawberry margarita, delicious chicken enchiladas and my favorite tv shows.

My Tiresome, but Fun Weekend

It all started Thursday with an awesome night at with my hubby to celebrate my 29th. Dinner at my favorite Mexican joint was just as yummy as I remembered. I even got a birthday cheesecake complete with candle and song from our waiter and guacamole maker. It was a lot of fun! After that it was off to Lincoln Center to see South Pacific. I had heard of this musical but didn't know the story line at all. Let me just say, I LOVED it! The only problem is that now I can't decide if I rank it before or after My Fair Lady in terms of my favorite musical of all time.

Friday night hubby and I were planning to go to a garden expo. My hubby LOVES gardening (thank goodness because I don't have a green thumb at all) and lately has really gotten in growing things from seeds in a little greenhouse. For Valentine's Day I bought him a magazine all about that subject and some packets of seeds. He was in heaven. When I heard about the garden expo I thought it'd be right up his alley. But, it was over an hour away and by the time I got home from work we were both pooped so we decided to pig out on cheesecake from The Cheesecake Factory (red velvet for me; caramel pecan turtle for him) while watching our tivoed olympics instead.

Saturday was another fun, but long day. In the morning I scrambled to finish up my nephew's birthday gift so I could get it in the mail in time for his 1st birthday (where has the time gone little Caleb?) this coming weekend (pictures to follow tomorrow) and then in the afternoon hubby and I met up with some of his clients to tour a home expo. We were expecting there to be different presenters with classes and diy tips as well as tables of vendors, but it ended up being just vendors. Don't really understand why you have to pay to go and pick up information from people when you could have found it for free on the internet. Guess we know not to go next time. But, we did meet a few perspective modular home builders that we're looking into for the guest house on the land.

Saturday evening one of hubby's college buddies hosted us for a delicious homecooked dinner and UFC fight night so it was back to the city we went. Only problem is that on the fights didn't start until 10pm EST time and hubby and I had to be up at 6:30am the next morning to head off to church. But, it was such a great time that it was worth getting only 3 hours of sleep!

Sunday was a fantastic day because the church plant we volunteer with and attend officially launched! It's so exciting to see how God is already working in this body and the friendships we're already forming with the people there. We can't wait to grow more with this body of believers. After church we made some delicious homemade pizza and crashed for a few hours before getting up to take hubby to the airport for a business trip.

It was an exhausting but very fun weekend. Now if I could just get caught up on my sleep....

A Belated Birthday Celebration

Tonight hubby is taking me out to celebrate my 29th birthday. We put it off a couple weeks because we were finishing up our FBD experiment.

I've been looking forward to this night for weeks! I'm leaving work at 3pm and we're heading to NYC for dinner at Rosa Mexicano - Budin de Pollo has been calling my name for M.O.N.T.H.S. After that, it's off to see South Pacific. I don't know much about this show, but I've been told by my sister and a couple friends that I should love it. Either way it will be a great night out.

Thanks hubby, for an awesome birthday gift!

I Thought People Were Joking

I finally bit the dust and jumped on the band wagon known as the 30 Day Shred.

Oh.my.goodness! Jillian Michaels really is the TOUGH! I've done P90X, but this is hard. Level 1 kicked my butt last night. Perhaps it's because I haven't worked out in over three weeks, but my muscles are definitely making themselves known today.

I love it!

Have you done the 30 Day Shred? What did you think?

Finished with my Experiment

Yesterday was the last day of my Flat Belly Diet experiment. I'm very happy with the results both in terms of  my size 4 jeans fitting like they should again and my GI issues are not acting up nearly as much as they used to (as long as I carefully watch my diet).

If you want to see my final measurements for proof that it actually works (even without exercise), check out my latest post on my Journey to a Size 4 blog.

Hubby & I are going to stay committed to the program as much as possible because we feel great on it and love the results (he lost at least 10 pounds - from where I don't know because he was trim to start). I'll make a "regular" meal about once a week and we'll try to eat out only once every other week or special occasions, but for the most part we're going to stick with it.

In other news, it's been CRAZY lately (thus the lack of blogging). I'm still working on the giveaway and hope to have something shortly. I'm also finishing up my nephew's birthday gift and will post that soon as well. I made some flop Valentine's cookies over the weekend - I'll spare you the details of those. And, I'm trying to watch all the Olympics I can but I'm a day behind so I try to avoid the news at all costs to avoid spoiling any events. But, wasn't that so sad about the Georgian luge guy? Heartbreaking. This Thursday hubby's taking me to a Broadway show and dinner at my favorite Mexican restaurant for a belated birthday celebration. Friday we're supposed to close on the land. Never a dull moment in our house!

I'll try to be back soon with more consistent posting again.

Bought the Farm (almost)

I think I mentioned briefly that hubby and I are trying to purchase 94 acres of farm, woods and wetlands located around the corner from where he grew up, but connected to the hay fields that we currently hay. This property was bought by a commercial developer who subdivided it into 8 building lots. Hubby & I want to buy it all and put it in farmland preservation and then build a guest house over the garage that we’ll live in while we build the main house. Once the main house is built, we’ll give the guest house to his parents to use when they’re not out travelling and enjoying retirement or loan it out to people like missionaries and stuff who need a free temporary place to stay.

We got the good news a couple weeks ago that the bank approved the financing and we got news this past week that it looks like the investor for the down payment is going to come through. The Lord is good and provides in perfect time! It’s going to be a struggle to pay three mortgages each month until the farmland preservation goes through in about a year, but once we get that, it should completely pay for the 94 acres with enough left over to pretty much pay for the guest house.

Eventually we’d like to sell the other house we purchased a couple years ago, but we have to put the kitchen back in that before that’s likely. We’ve also talked with hubby’s parents about subdividing their 5 acre farm and selling that (the third mortgage we pay each month). In addition we can continue to lease the 94 acres to the farmer who currently raises corn and soybeans on it, or the hunters who hunt deer on it, and we’d use all this money to pay the mortgage until the farmland preservation comes through and/or build the main house.

It’s big dreams right now, but we know if this is where the Lord wants us, He’ll provide in due time.

Here are some pictures from a couple Saturdays ago when hubby & I were out walking the land and praying over it.

*HURRY* Excellent Valentine's Gift Idea

One of my friend's just posted in their Facebook status update that they got $100 worth of gift certificates from restaurant.com for $6.60. Seems that TODAY ONLY restaurant.com is giving everyone 80% off their entire purchase if they enter coupon code HEART at checkout.

I had to check this out myself and sure enough I just bought $145 worth of certificates for $13.90! This will be excellent gifts for hubby, my in-laws and my parents for Valentine's Day this Sunday.

Check it out now because it's TODAY ONLY! And, don't forget to enter HEART at checkout to get the deal!

Bananas Foster

When my brother & his girlfriend were visiting, hubby made us a delicious treat of one of his favorite desserts of all times – bananas foster. (Obviously this was before we started our FBD experiment!)

The handsome chef playing with fire after adding all the rum to his bananas.

He used some puff pastry dough that I had in the freezer and cut it into rectangles before baking. When they were done, we split them in half, placed a scoop of vanilla ice cream on top and then topped with the delicious bananas foster. It was heaven on a plate.

 

The only thing hubby said he’d do differently next time would be to add a little less rum because it was a little strong tasting.

BANANAS FOSTER
from Southern Living

1/4 cup butter
1/3 cup firmly packed dark brown sugar
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
4 bananas, quartered
1/3 cup banana liqueur (if you don’t have, recipe says to double the rum)
1/3 cup dark rum
1 pint vanilla ice cream

Melt butter in a large skillet over medium-high heat; add brown sugar and next 3 ingredients. Cook, stirring constantly, about 2 minutes or until bananas are tender. Remove from heat. Pour rum into a small long-handled saucepan; heat just until warm. Remove from heat. Ignite with a long match and pour over bananas. Baste bananas with sauce until flames die down. Server over ice cream. Serves: 4

NOTE: We didn’t have banana liqueur and so we had to double the rum. I think next time I’ll make sure to get the banana liqueur.

Me vs. Toaster Oven

Yesterday I made delicious banana pancakes with walnut-honey "syrup" for breakfast. This morning I was heating up the leftovers in the toaster oven while trying to get the rest of our meals packed for the day.

I got in a little bit of a rush and instead of grabbing an oven mitt to pull the tray out, I figured I'd just reach in and grab the pancakes with my hands.

Have I mentioned before that I'm a klutz? I mean there was the time where I fried my fingers with my flat iron or the more recent event of flushing the handle down the toilet at work, but I'm still not 100% convinced that I'm a klutz.

Well, the toaster oven won the battle of hand versus hot burner coils. Never have I seen skin react so instantaneously to a burn. I'll spare you the details, but it was bad. It doesn't cover a huge area...just the middle knuckle on my left hand...but the size of the bandage would make you think I burned my whole hand. Have you ever tried to get a band-aid to stick to the back of a knuckle? It's nearly impossible...especially when one has to do a lot of typing for their blog job.

Here's a photo of the lovely patch I'll be sporting the next couple days until it heals.

I have to admit, though, that the 2nd Skin I picked up at the drugstore on my way to work eliminates all pain from the burn.

Lessons learned:

1. Always use an oven mitt to pull the tray out of the toaster oven instead of reaching to the back with your bare hand.
2. 2nd Skin is a necessary product to have on hand
3. A wound on a knuckle is very hard to keep covered
4. Banana pancakes still taste delicious once they've cooled off while one tends to their burn