Look What I Found!

Fruit Roll ups are a REALLY big deal over here. I NEVER buy them...only as a special treat. So when I brought these home Cubby really wanted them all to himself. He hid them away in a drawer the big kids would never think to look in....he checks on them every now and then and counts them to make sure they are all there. It's all working good as long as he doesn't find the hiding spot I have for my special treats :)

$19.99

$19.99 is what I spent on this outfit!!!! I may wear it to my cousin's wedding in a few weeks. Yep! In case you don't know the Treatgirl very well, I'm a HUGE bargain hunter! I've been looking around for a dress for my cousin's wedding...April is SUCH a hard month...it can be 75 and sunny, or 40 degrees and rainy...and I HATE to be cold....so when I stumbled across this Norma Kamali dress at my Walmart on clearance for $15 I snatched it up. It's a thin jersey material, so I'm thinking even with the long sleeves if it's warmer I'll still be okay.

And do you remember the shoes I got from my Goodwill last week??? Who would have thought they'd go perfect with my dress from Walmart this week?! I love it for me!

Favorite Friday

Happy Friday Bloggy friends! Just because I haven't posted about any treasures I've found at my Goodwill lately, doesn't mean I haven't been there and scored. I'm almost embarrassed to admit I sometimes stop 2 or 3 times a week!!!! Look what I found the other day when I wasn't even looking.......These super amazing pumps from Black Market White House. I llloove the peek-a-boo toe and lace overlay...it's hard to see, but there are pretty black jewels along the opening too... Of course I did't "NEED" them, but for $7.99 I couldn't just leave them there!!




And on the next shelf over were these cutie patooties from Nine West. For REALS! Aren't they hot???? Can you see the gold heel???? I thought with a cute skirt or pair of skinny jeans this summer.....and again, I didn't NEED them...but for a whopping $4.99 I WAS NOT leaving them there!!!

Oh, and Yes, I painted my toes just to take these pictures :) I looooovve Essie nailpolish and now they have it at my Walmart. This is Peach Daiquiri if you'd like to get your toes into flip flop shape too! Have a happy weekend!!!

Spring????

Spring?? REALLY???? It says so on my calendar....but not out my window! We had another dusting of snow overnight....Spring, Please hurry!!!

Favorite Friday

THE.BEST.DINNER.ROLLS.EVVVVEEERRRR!!!!!!!!!!! Okay, if my dear little friend Marzipanmom doesn't stop over at her little blog I'm going to turn into a loaf of bread!! She made these a week or two ago and they are on her blog, click HERE to check it out.....along with a video, which was super duper helpful for me, because I don't have much self confidence yet...and to watch the video was really helpful. TRY THESE!!! I made a big batch of wedding soup today too......but I think 6 or 7 of these rolls may just be my dinner!

Happy St. Patty's Day

Happy St. Patrick's Day to my bloggy friends!!!!! I've always loved to celebrate this holiday....especially in college with all of the green beer :)....but these days it really reminds me that spring is almost here and everything will be turning green soon. My mother in law was all Irish...her family came from County Cork, so in a way my kiddos do have a wee bit of Irish heritage. I've always dreamed of a trip to Ireland...hopefully someday.

It's been a tradition around here to surprise them with a box of Lucky Charms for breakfast...Cubby likes to dig around and load his bowl up with extra, extra marshmallows.



I also treated them to Shamrock sugar cookies....well, kinda for me too :) Enjoy this day.....Erin Go Braugh!!

Irish Soda Bread

I've been wanting to try my real life friend Marzipanmom's Irish Soda bread recipe for a while now...so, with St. Patrick's Day tomorrow I decided to give it a try. Click HERE to see the post on her blog and get the recipe...I'm so happy with the way it turned out...but I have to confess I didn't use currants...I substituted raisins. I also added extra orange zest.....yummmm...and as marzipan suggests, it is great toasted with butter!!!

Favorite Friday

My Vanilla Cupcake Yankee Candle is my true favorite this week....I always have a candle going over here....but I'm happiest when it's a Yankee. Chip got me this one for Valentine's Day and I just love the scent (SHOCKER) and it's warm glow....don't save your candles for a special occassion......enjoy them every day!

Mini Muffin Emergency

I have to confess...mini muffins are a staple in my house. The older kids get on the bus at 6:40 a.m. and try as I might...I CAN'T get them downstairs early enough for a waffle or bowl of cereal in the morning....so I feel at least a little better if I throw a bottle of juice and some mini muffins at them as they run past me on their way out the door. Cubby doesn't like to eat breakfast before he goes to school either....he has never liked to eat right when he wakes up. His teacher has snack time about 10am every morning, which is right up his alley. So, he takes them in his back pack for "snack".

The problem is there are 5 pouches of muffins in each box, a box is $3.25. I calculated that I was spending 50-60 dollars a month on MINI MUFFINS!!!!!! It was driving me CRAZY!!!! Especially when they would grab a pouch after school or at night....I was spending big bucks on those muffins to have the convenience in the morning...not for just as a snack any old time. I got to the point where I was hiding them so I was the only one who could hand them out....



Enough of the insantiy!!! I know some of you will say I'm crazy....but I decided to try and bake them myself. I bought this pouch of mix for 88 cents....and baked up a batch yesterday. Well, actually I made two pouches....



This is how they turned out. I was so happy! The pouch says they are ready to bake in 3 minutes. Yes, they are! I had the pan, why not try??



I packaged them up in snack bags I already had....so I'm feeling pretty good over here right now. But the best was when I handed them out this morning and T. wanted to know why I opened up all of the bags of mini muffins and put them in our snack bags??? PER.FECT!!! After I told them I baked them myself....they all agreed they tasted better too!!!!!!!! Granted they weren't from scratch, but for 88 cents a pouch the treatgirl is thrilled :)

My Knitting Bag

I was a flight attendent on a Portland, Maine overnight about 20 years ago when I bought this bag at L.L.Bean. I would have never thought all these years later I would be using it every day as my knitting bag. I have several boat totes from Bean's...a lot of them are over 25 years old, (YIKES!) that I got when I was in college...one, most recently last fall that I had monogrammed with our school logo to take to sporting events....I've always got stuff to carry! Anywhoo....I came across this bag when I was shopping one afternoon and knew I had to have it because it was different than the boat totes I had...it has all of these great pockets. Soon after I got home it became my knitting bag. I can't even imagine all of the miles it has traveled, or how many projects it has held...the countless football, soccer, karate and lacrosse practices it has been to. Visits to the hospital, the community pool and vacations. But mostly it sits next to a big comfy chair in my great room...one of my favorite spots to knit.

It hardly looks like it has been used....these bags hold up FOR.EVER!!!!! There are three little pockets on the one side for candy, post-it notes, a sharpie, my cell phone and keys. And one bigger pocket on the other side that I slip my patterns into. I have the keychains from the boy's football season dangling on it...it actually has a zipper top that I can honestly say I have NEVER used!

But here's a peek of what I keep inside....



This is a knitting needle organizer that my mom made for me when I was in high school....



Notice the pink and kelly green??? I was REALLY into them way back then....all that "preppy" stuff...Funny thing is, I still kinda am :( I prefer bamboo needles and I have quite a collection....



I have NO idea how I started using this little Barbie purse CindyLou got when she was 3 years old....



I think she was ready to part with it and I couldn't bear to put it in the Goodwill bag, so I started keeping all of my little neccessities for knitting in it.....darning needles, tape measure, scissors, stitch holders, cable needles etc...

What a wonderful hobby knitting has been for me. I have been knitting since I was probably 10 or 11 years old. I wasn't allowed to watch t.v. unless I was doing something "constructive". My mom had always knit and I watched her since I was little....I kinda taught myself and she would help me when I got stuck. There was an adorable little knitting shop in the town near where I grew up and I would spend hours in there. She would always make me use my own money to buy my yarn, then when I finished the project she would pay me my money back.....kinda like insurance to make sure I would finish!

There have been periods when I wasn't knitting....and times where I just can't stop. But pretty much it has been a favorite past time of mine for over 35 years! I wish to this day I would have taken a picture of everything I've made and put it in a notebook...oh well. And I can't even remember how many people I've taught to knit over the years. Knitting has really become more "cool" since I started, and the yarn section at Joanne's and Michael's is pretty good...very tempting to grab more yarn to keep busy!! My day ususally includes at least a few minutes of knitting...it keeps me happy.

Chicken Tortilla Bake

It was T's turn to cook dinner....a project for his Food Lab class in eighth grade. Cindy Lou had to do it last year, and we all enjoyed it. T really likes to cook and help in the kitchen...he makes a mean omelete, so he was looking forward to his night.

He chose a recipe I got from Kraftfoods.com. They need to clear it with their teacher...including foods from all of the food groups...getting bonus points for making a dessert.

He did a great job!!! I helped a little by defrosting the chicken and cutting it up for him....I knew he would think that part was really gross....so if you'd like to try it here we go....

What you need:

1/2 cup Miracle Whip Dressing
1/2 cup flour
3 cups milk
1 pkg. 8 oz. Shredded Cheddar Cheese, divided
1 1/2 lb. boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cooked, cut into bite-sized pieces
1/2 cup salsa
16 flour tortillas (6 inch)

Make it:

HEAT oven to 375 degrees

MIX dressing and flour in medium saucepan with whisk until well blended. Gradually stir in milk. Bring to boil on medium heat, stirring constantly; cook and stir until thickened. Add 1 cup cheese; cook until melted, stirring constantly. Reserve 1 cup sauce.

STIR chicken and salsa into remaining sauce; spoon 1/3 cup down center of each tortilla. Roll up.Place 8 roll-ups, seam side down, in each of 2 13x9" baking dishes sprayed with cooking spray. Top with reserved sauce and remaining cheese.

BAKE 25 minutes, or until heated through.






He also made a salad and homemade chocolate chip cookies for dessert. It was great!!!! I'm thinking he needs to take a turn every month!

Favorite Friday

Looooooove my Jane's!! My dad got me hooked on Jane's years ago....he's the king of popcorn and we loaded it up with Jane's Krazy salt. Since then I've gotten just as addicted to her pepper. They are all natural seasonings that you can add to meat, poultry, fish and veggies....even eggs, soups, stuffing...you name it. I put them right on the table at dinner now. I don't generally season everything I eat, but I like having them there just in case :)

Performing Surgery

Pup has been a member of our family since Cubby was born. Over the years she has been everywhere with us....vacations, holidays, portraits taken at Target, first days of school and football games...sleepovers, Walmart. She has been Cub's best friend and has her own voice. She calls me "Aunt Pam", and I make her a Halloween costume every year too! We celebrate her birthday...whenever Cub decides....usually several times a year. There is the perfect "Pup-size" birthday cake at Walmart. When she was about 2 years old I decided I better find her an identical back up on ebay unless we lost her forever....after months of searching I found her! We've lost her a few times, but she's always come home. He knows when she needs a bath, because she starts "smelling like a french fry." A fews ago she told me she needed a bit more fluff because she was having a hard time keeping her head up. We decided she needed surgery.



So we gathered up our supplies.....



...and Cub handed over the perfect amount of fluff...until she was perfect again!



With a lot of hugs from Cubby she is well on her way to recovery.

Almond Pound Cake

I've had this recipe kicking around for a while now...and finally pulled it out last weekend while Hubs was away....it turned out super yummy...and I keep taking little slivers of it all day long!!



Just one more excuse to use my favorite new cake stand :) I love it for me!! Can you believe Nordic Bundt pans are in two out of three American homes?? Well dig yours out and try this scrumptious recipe...you won't be dissappointed.

Ingredients:

1 cup butter
1 8-oz. package cream cheese
6 eggs
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. salt
2 1/4 cups sugar
1 tsp. almond extract
1 recipe almond glaze( see recipe below)

Preparation:

1. Allow the butter, cream cheese, and eggs to stand at room temperature for 30 mins. Meanwhile, grease and lightly flour 10" bundt pan; set aside. Combine flour, baking powder, and salt. Set aside. Preheat oven to 325 degrees.

2. In large mixing bowl beat butter and cream cheese with an electric mixer on medium to high speed for 30 seconds or until softened. Gradually add sugar, beating on medium to high speed about 5 minutes or until very light and fluffy. Add almond extract. Add eggs, 1 at a time, beating on low to medium speed for 1 minute after each addition and scraping the bowl often. Gradually add flour mixture, beating on low speed just until combined. Spoon batter into prepared pan.

3. Bake about 75 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. Cool in pan on wire rack 15 minutes. Remove from pan. Cool thoroughly on wire rack about 2 hours. Top cake with glaze. Let stand 30 minutes to allow glaze to set.

Almond Glaze:

In small mixing bowl beat together 1 1/2 cups powdered sugar, 3 oz. softened cream cheese, 1/2 tsp. almond extract and 1-2 Tbsp milk....I needed a little more....to make the consistency of a glaze.