Around here

School is almost out for the year! Less than a week for Claire and two more weeks for Anaya. I'm really looking forward to summer. We've already signed Claire up for swim lessons and we got a family swim pass so that we can go to the pool, without having to stay long enough to make it worth the daily price. The Ice Cream man already knows our cul-de-sace and the one across from ours will buy Ice Cream and makes at least one trip through Friday, Saturday & Sunday.

We actually planted our vegetable garden this year. I ended up buying two tomato plants at the Farmer's Market but everything else is from seed. I'm so excited to see what will actually grow. I still need to plant the garden beans, but I'll probably get that done this weekend.



Anaya got Claire hooked on the Scooby-Doo, Mystery Incorporated cartoon, possibly not the most appropriate cartoon for a 4 year old, but not terrible. Then I checked out Seasons 1 & 2 of the original Scooby Doo from the library.

I joined a gym in April and have been faithfully going 4 times per week. Sometimes after my workout I treat myself to a Candy Bar Craving Smoothie, so yummy and it will fill me up until 3 or 4 in the afternoon!

Anaya is playing softball again. She has games twice a week in the evening, but we haven't gone to any yet. Once Claire is out of school so we don't have to worry as much about getting her to bed on time, we'll probably make the trek out there to see at least a couple of games.

Project Life 2013: Week 18

Week 18: April 29 - May 5

Just a story, not related to the week of PL that I'm posting pictures about: This past Saturday, Project Life kits arrived at my local Hobby Lobby as soon as I knew they were there, I dragged the kids to there in hopes of getting a signed one. As were standing there and I am debating which kit to get (there weren't any signed ones), Anaya asks me, "So, why are you into Project Life all the sudden?" At which point I had to explain that it wasn't "all the sudden" it was just that this is the first time we've been able to buy it in a store!


This is how I plan out a project life spread. I pull out a drawing tablet (6x8") and I write a list of events that happened during the week that I KNOW I want to include. Then I sit down at my computer somewhere between Sunday night and the following Sunday night and select which pictures I want to include. Then I draw out the spread in my little 6x8 inch drawing tablet. I draw out any inserts that I'll use, mark where each picture goes and sometimes find another related picture to fill in a hole. I verify that I got all of the events - sometimes if I only have pictures from something on my phone, I'll forget. Then I drag all of my pictures into photoshop. All at once and then I wait for it to actually open them all in photoshop. Since I know at this point what sizes I need to crop each picture, it is easy to go through do any color correcting/lightening/darkening and cropping that needs to be done. I also add any text that I want on the pictures at this point. Then I upload and order them (I use my local grocery store) and then I forget about it all until I get the email saying to pick them up. Since I have my sketch, it is easy to sit down with the pictures, my kit and my drawing tablet and stick the pictures in the slots.


This week was crazy weather week. In the 80s on Tuesday, snowing and in the 30s on Thursday (IN MAY!). When I got home from work, Claire was insistent that we needed to go outside in the snow. We went out and I attempted to cover my garden with a sheet, then Claire said too cold, go inside.


On Saturday we went to a birthday party for the son of a friend. He had it at Pump It Up an inflatables play place. Claire cried for 20-30 minutes of the 2 hr party. Then we took Hudson's 6 month pictures on Sunday. He's such a big boy! And then one of our cats, Reeses, snuggled herself into a wicker basket that we use for dirty towels and I took pictures...then Claire had to get in the pictures too.

Friendship Bread: Sour Dough Variation

I read the book, Friendship Bread, a couple of months ago. Then I asked my mom for a starter, I've had one before but I got rid of it because I was done with baking every 10 days. Anyways, now I have one again and I have been experimenting with different recipes. I've gotten a lot of them from Friendship Bread Kitchen.

When it was time to bake the bread last Thursday, I decided to try the Rustic Sour Dough variation. Something a little different that wasn't a sweet bread. And it turned out delicious. I didn't think it really tasted like sour dough bread, but it was good. I read the comments and left the sugar out of the actual bread, so the only sweetness was from the starter.



I divided my dough into three pans because I was worried about overflowing the pans. But I ended up with pretty short loaves, they definitely rose, but if I'd only made two loaves, I could've used it for sandwiches.

Menu Monday

This Week

Monday - Leftovers
Tuesday - Chicken Stir-Fry
Wednesday - Breakfast Casserole
Thursday - Beef Stuffed Shells
Friday - Sausage & Peppers w/ Spaghetti
Saturday - Visiting the In-Laws
Sunday - Chicken Enchiladas

I have been pretty bad about menu-planning. I *sometimes* end up making a plan, but not early enough in the week to make it worthwhile.

Project Life 2013 : Weeks 8 and 9

Week 8: February 18-24



What happened this week?
Snow. Lots of snow. On Thursday we got over 10 inches of snow, my work was closed Thursday (and I stayed home Friday too), the schools were closed Thursday and Friday. Since there was so much snow we also spent almost three entire days at our house, only going outside to play in the snow & to shovel. Oh, and Justin had the flu (I think) most of the week as well, so I had actually ended up taking Tuesday afternoon off to stay home with Claire because he was not up to it.



Anything special about the layout:
All of the pictures this week were taken with my big camera. One insert for more snow pictures.

Week 9: February 25 - March 3



What happened this week?
On Tuesday, we had ANOTHER snow storm come through and drop almost 10 more inches of snow on us! Claire had two more snow days but I only had one snow day this week. On Saturday, the local Mahaffie Farmstead had horse drawn sleigh rides and since Claire loved haw rides in the fall, I decided to take her to ride the sleigh. She loved it. And my nephew turned 4 months old.

Anything special about the layout:
No phone pics this week either. I actually need to replace the picture that was just of the sleigh because I was looking at the site's webpage and they have a picture of us on the sleigh and they gave me a copy of it!

What to see more: Project Life 2013

I also linking up on The Mom Creative's Project Life Tuesday! Go there to check out other project lifers.

Project Life 2013 : Weeks 6 and 7

Week 6: February 4-10



What happened this week?
Claire finished her swim lessons. On Saturday, I took Claire to an neat little kids "museum" Wonderscope. She had a lot of fun pretend playing in the farm to market room and with the wind tubes & scarves. My sister-in-law had her baby shower on Saturday afternoon. Then on Sunday after lunch with my parents, I took Claire to the mall to ride the carousel.



Anything special about the layout:
3 phone pics, 9 good camera pics. I included an insert with a note from Claire's school on one side and her certificate for completing swim lessons on the other side. The LaLaLoopsy card is actually Claire's Valentine for school. I wanted to include it in Week 7, but I really wanted to see both sides, so I just let it show through to this week. Almost all of the pictures are from the weekend. I think only the swim pictures are from during the week..

Week 7: February 11-17



What happened this week?
Claire's Valentine's party at school - I didn't actually go to the party, so all I'm including for Valentine's day is an extra card that she "wrote" on and a picture of a temporary tattoo that I put on my wrist. We had a teeny tiny amount of snow on Friday night (not even an inch) but Claire was insistent on Saturday morning that we needed to have a snowball fight. So she found enough snow to scrape together a "ball" and threw it at me. It was Anaya's weekend with us so I included a couple pictures of her, but it's hard to include her since she's 13 and therefore doesn't want to hangout with family as much. We also hung out with some friends of mine from college (eating dinner + drinking wine + playing board games), they have a daughter about Claire's age and I have a picture of them to include in that white space, I just forgot to order it.

Anything special about the layout:
4 phone pics, 7 good camera pics. Nothing terribly different this week. Almost all of these pictures pictures are also from the weekend. I just haven't been doing anything during the week, so I tend to not pick up my camera as much.

What to see more: Project Life 2013

I also linking up on The Mom Creative's Project Life Tuesday! Go there to check out other project lifers.

Project Life 2013 : Weeks 4 and 5

Week 4: January 21-27



What happened this week?
Claire continued swim lessons. A girls shopping trip with my mom & sister-in-law. 3 month pictures of my nephew. Just a fairly basic week.

Week 5: January 28 = February 3



What happened this week?
More swimming lessons. Claire had her 4 yr check up (text blurred out). Claire's homework for speech therapy was M and N starting sounds, we did most of it in the bathtub spelling out the words with her foam letters. We got our fish tank + 9 fish & 2 aquatic frogs. 3 of the fish (neon tetras) died within 48 hours of being put in the tank, the other fish are all still alive over a month later. One of the frogs died, one of them is still alive. It was Superbowl Sunday and I included a funny story about Anaya being oblivious that happened during the Superbowl.

Anything special about the layout(s):
Not really. Week 4, I had 4 phone pics & 8 good camera pics. Week 5, I had 2 phone pics & 9 good camera pics. I like the one in week 5 of Claire looking at the fish tank that I cut in half to fit in the middle row pockets + journaled on one side of the picture. Since the picture wasn't originally solid enough on one side to journal on I added a gradient layer that was black to transparent to make the side where I journalled a little darker but not be super obvious by having an opaque journal block.

What to see more: Project Life 2013

I also linking up on The Mom Creative's Project Life Tuesday! Go there to check out other project lifers.

around here...

We've been playing in the snow...a lot. We experienced Blizzard of Oz and got about 10 inches of snow - it's been almost 2 yrs since we've truly had a snow storm. This lead to a four day weekend! Which was nice, but I'm ready to get back to real life and Blizzard of Oz part 2 is on the way tomorrow!

I'm working on catching up with Project Life. Posting 2 weeks & Ordering 3 weeks worth of pictures.

We're looking into some different programs for Claire to be involved in with the school next year.

I'm reading lots of silly chick-lit. Currently reading Friendship Bread, and just finished I've Got Your Number (it's was predictable and unrealistic, but cute).

After hearing so many people talk about them, I watched Season 1 of Downton Abbey and Season 1 & 2 of Arrested Development. I really liked Season 1 of Downton Abbey, but I haven't been able to get into Season 2, I've watched the first 2 episodes and I just don't care that much. Arrested Development is funny, love that it is all on Netflix, so I just watch 3 or so episodes before bed. Thanks to our lovely public library, Justin has been catching up on all the episodes of Star Wars: The Clone Wars.

Claire is obsessed with LaLaLoopsy's and I think they are taking over my house.

Of the 9 fish and two dwarf frogs that I bought for our new fish tank, 6 fish and 1 frog are still alive AND they have been for over two weeks!!! I didn't know it, and the pet store people didn't tell me, but Neon Tetras are good "starter" fish, so the three fish that died were all Neon Tetras, although two of them are still with us. Then I had two frogs, one was bigger than the other and the smaller one just died. Not sure why... but now whenever I don't see the big one move for a day I start freaking out that he is dead.

Recipe : PB Spreads

These cookies are based on Pioneer Woman's Spreads. This is probably my second favorite re-incarnation of these. My favorite way to make them is to make the cookie base the way she says to (only with salted butter, instead of margarine & salt) and then sprinkle dark chocolate & mint chips on them. However, Justin is not a huge fan of mint which means I ate WAAAAY too many of them so this batch was specifically for Justin.



Ingredients:
1 cup Brown Sugar
1/2 cup Salted Butter (softened)
1/2 cup Creamy Peanut Butter
1 whole Egg
2 cups Flour
1 teaspoon Vanilla
6 ounces, weight ( To 8 Ounces) Chocolate Chips

Directions:
Cream Butter & Peanut Butter. Add Brown Sugar and mix well, then add egg and vanilla and mix well again. Add the flour and mix it until it is all combined, scrapping sides as necessary.

Dump the dough in the middle of a large ungreased cookie sheet. Spread it out so that it is about 1/4 inch thick. I used a combination of my hands and an offset spatula to spread it out.

Bake at 350 degrees for 15-20 minutes. Sprinkle Chocolate Chips over the top and put back in the oven for a minute or two. Then using an offset spatula, spread the chocolate over the cookie based until the entire cookie covered.

Let them cool on the cookie sheet for a while and then cut into squares (I use a pizza cutter). The longer they sit the more the chocolate with firm up. It will probably take a couple of hours before the chocolate is firm enough to put them away in a container where they will be stacked...assuming that you manage to not eat all of them between the time they get done and they time you can put them away.

Menu Monday (on Tuesday, again)

I actually had the menu made since Sunday (I worked on it during the superbowl), but then I didn't get a chance to type it up until tonight.

Last Week

Monday - Chili-Stuffing Bake
Tuesday - Lawnmower Taco Casserole
Wednesday - Garlicky-Chicken Noodle Bake
Thursday - Leftovers
Friday - Cheddar Brats, Fries
Saturday - Chinese Take-Out
Sunday - Leftovers

The Chili-Stuffing bake was sooo good. The recipe was on the back of a box of cornbread stuffing mix - of course I didn't follow the actual recipe because I was using leftover chili. The Garlicky-Chicken Noodle bake was from my Make-Ahead and Freeze cookbook. I made the casserole on Wednesday and ended up putting it in two casserole dishes, one that we had that night and one that went in the freezer for another time.

This Week

Monday - Deli Meat Sandwiches
Tuesday - Breakfast Scramble
Wednesday - Homemade Pizza (Pepperoni & Sausage)
Thursday - Freezer Burritos
Friday - Homemade Mac & Cheese
Saturday - Pan-fried Cube Steak
Sunday - Leftovers