Dilly Dabbler

2010-02-05T08:43:00.001-07:00

My new blog is HERE. I won't be blogging on this any more.

Paper Snowflakes

2009-12-05T18:46:00.007-07:00

Wednesday night we made snowflakes out of paper to tape to our front window. I had forgotten how to make them, but I found THIS tutorial. I had the kids use little scissors to make their own little shapes after I had already folded it. It was almost like opening a Christmas present when you unwrapped the paper! Every snowflake was different. Which made for a great conversation on being unique. Plus--This is one decoration I won't have to take down in 3 weeks! Awesome!

Quick Question...And I'm trying to blog again!

2009-12-05T16:41:00.002-07:00

One of the reasons I stopped posting on this blog was because I had things that I wanted people to be able to print off, but I wasn't sure how to do that. Does anyone know of a way to do that with blogs? I'll keep searching.

I have so many things I'd like to post, but now that we're in to Christmas stuff, I think I'll just start there rather than try to catch up.

Planning on writing one tonight.

Cracker Whacker/ HooDoo

2009-06-25T08:19:00.004-06:00

If you need a fun summer game that is great for all ages, this one is for you! We played this at a family reunion on my side of the family, and it was great. So great, in fact, that when we were asked to do an activity for the family reunion on my husband's side, we knew just the thing.

We called it "HooDoo" after driving to Bryce Canyon and learning about their "HooDoos", someone in the family said that they didn't want to get hit in the "HooDoo's" during our family reunion game! :) So, the name stuck. We were also calling it Cracker Whacker because it's fun to say. Whatever you call it, it's good old fashioned fun!

To start, all you need are saltine crackers thread with dental floss, and swimming noodles cut into 3rds (I think).

Everyone playing needs to tie a cracker (or safety pin) to their pants. Then on "go", everyone tries to break each other's crackers. You are still in the game as long as some part of the cracker is still on the dental floss. The winner is the one with the most cracker still remaining.

We divided the game into two groups. 10 and under and 10 and older, mostly because there were about 50 people there. The video clip below is of the 10 and under group. They had such a good time!

As a family, we played this on Family Home Evening and it worked, even with only four players! We played with two crackers instead of one to make the game longer. This will definitely be a favorite summer game for years to come!

Garden Inspiration

2009-06-22T09:39:00.005-06:00

My Dad has an amazing garden this year. I pulled up their street and was greeted by beautiful, green rows of vegetables. They have peas, corn, different types of squash, soy beans, black beans, cherry tomatoes, large tomatoes, different varieties of pumpkins for the grandkids, brussel sprouts, onions, peppers, and zucchini. (I'm sure I am forgetting some!)

My Dad's wife, Georgie Ann, is one of the most ambitious women I have ever known. She will be canning most of what she doesn't use. She cans just about everything from salsa to fruit juice, and is always kind enough to share the bounty! They also have fruit trees in the backyard, so she is busy, busy during the harvesting season.

This little piece of land has become such a treasure to me. Before my Dad started taking care of this garden, it belonged to my Grandparents. (My Grandpa says he gets more compliments on it, now that my Dad is taking care of it! :) I learned many lessons in this garden while growing up, many of which I hope to pass on to my children.

I tried to label what he has growing here, but I think I did a poor job. I think what I labeled as beans is actually peppers, now that I look at it. Oh, well. You get the idea. It is so attractive without a weed in sight, which is a testament to my Dad's dedication.

A little slice of heaven.

What a Couple of Weeks Can Do

2009-06-22T08:06:00.003-06:00

It's amazing the growth from my garden in just a matter of about 2 weeks!

Father's Day Ideas

2009-06-17T17:13:00.003-06:00

Father's Day is coming up this Sunday, and I love all the little craft blogs that have amazing ideas on ways to celebrate. Here are a couple of the ideas I loved:

My Step-Mom suggested a great idea for my Dad. She said that every Father's Day Sunday, the LDS ward that they live in hands out mini breads to all of the father's. Since they will be out of town this weekend, my dad was a little bummed that he wouldn't be getting the bread, so my sister and I are each making a couple of different kinds. I made Pumpkin Chocolate Chip and Lemon PoppySeed. (They were box mixes...I won't tell if you won't!)

So, as I was looking for ideas on how to gift the bread, my friend over at My Muddled Mind posted a cute idea and I totally copied it! (See how I am...) Go check it out HERE.

I baked the bread in disposable mini-loaf pans (3x5 size) from Walmart. They were 5 for $1.50. Each box made 3 loaves of quick bread. (side note: Any of the boxed muffin mixes can be made into quick breads and usually have the recipe to do that on the back) Then, I made these little cards (should have made them smaller) and punched a hole at the top and bottom of the card.

Next I wrapped the bread in plastic wrap and then again in waxed paper and folded the top of the waxed paper.

Then I tied twine through the holes and around the bread to hold the waxed paper in place. I put them in a basket and I'm ready to go!

And...for the card! I saw this cute idea for an origami shirt and tie at AlphaMom. Her instructions were awesome and it was a breeze to make. In fact, I made three!

I hope you have a great Father's Day! I will be out of town this weekend starting tomorrow, so I'll have more posts ready for you on Monday.

For Baby

2009-06-16T22:28:00.000-06:00

I had my eye on THIS bag for months. It was strategically placed at the top of my favorites list under "This Is The Diaper Bag I Want!". Then, I realized that we didn't have $175 just laying around for me to spend on a bag for diapers. It sounds silly now that it's written out like that, but I think I shed a couple of tears about it. I'm over it now, though. I've just made myself the cutest bag with accessories included!

There were a couple of easy tutorials that I used for the following. The first one is a diaper clutch. This is perfect for keeping one diaper and portable wipees together. I should have made the pattern a little larger so I could keep a couple of diapers in there at a time. It would be great to store in the car or for the times when you just want one diaper with the wipees and you don't want to take your entire diaper bag apart to find them. Find this tutorial HERE.

I found this wallet tutorial last weekend. Now that I've made it, I want to try again and make it perfect because I made a lot of mistakes and didn't follow the directions and did my own thing for most of it. Re-reading the directions, I was like, "Oh, that would have made sense, I should have done that." So...follow the instructions! If I make another one, I will use a snap instead of velcro. I would also put a little elastic piece in the middle to hold a pen. That would have been a cute easy thing. It would be nice to have a little zipper pocket in the back for change, too. (Man, I guess I need to make another one!) Anyway- That tutorial is HERE.

And I made this adorable diaper bag. But, I'm thinking of starting a little business on the side making all types of bags from these large diaper bags to scripture cases, etc. Leave a comment if you are interested in having one. I need feedback, so let me know what you think!

Here's everything together! I get so many compliments on it, and I love carrying something other than the bag I got from the hospital. No more coveting the Bumble Bags!
(ok, that's a lie...I would still love one of those...)

Cute as a Cupcake!

2009-06-16T22:27:00.002-06:00

We made cupcakes tonight. The ones you bake in an ice cream cone. They were delicious! You should try it!

Gardening Posts

2009-06-15T23:06:00.003-06:00

Training Up the Peas

2009-06-15T22:10:00.005-06:00

There are so many possibilities for building vertical frames to use in your garden. This is really the only thing that I have personally tried--mainly because it seemed like the easiest way. We built this last year and it is holding up extremely well, but if I were to make something again I would use metal or steel. Possibly some sort of strong wood would work also, but there is always the worry of the wood splitting. The plastic is working well for us now, though. We'll see how many years we can get out of it.

All you need to build this for your garden is PVC pipe, found at your local hardware store. We used three long leg pieces (the sides are about 6 1/2' and the top is about 4 1/2') and two elbow pieces for the sides. We hammered each side into the dirt on opposite sides of the garden box. Because it's plastic, and very lightweight, we were able to move the frame to the other side of the garden this year so that we could rotate plants.

These pictures were taken on June 4th of this year, and already I need new pictures of my garden. With all of this rain we've been having, I am finding that my garden is flourishing more than ever. These are peas that have been trained up the frame using a heavy string. You can tell when the peas are ready to be tied up to the frame by the cute little tendrils they get on the ends of the vines. They curl up and attach to anything they can get to, so I actually don't have to tie all of them up. They do the job for me, for the most part! The ones I did tie to the string, I just cut up some old nylons into strips and tied a loose knot. (you can buy knee highs at Walmart for 25 cents)

You would not believe how tall they've grown since I tied them! They are half way up the string now, and there are about 8 extra pea plants that have sprouted. (I love the late sprouters!)

My Dad has an amazing garden, and all he did for his peas was put two trellises on either side of the row of peas and they kind of just make their way up the trellis. I will try that one day, for sure!

For me, this will work because my cucumber plants are close enough to be trained up the same frame next to the peas. Last year I trained my green beans up with the peas, and that worked great!

As a side note, my giant Dill's Atlantic Giant Pumpkin plant is doing amazingly well. I tried last year with little success. It has always been my dream to grow giant pumpkins for everyone to admire on Halloween. Someday... Anyway, I had some advice from some seasoned farmers. They said to place rotting matter into the base of the soil before planting the seedling. I put about 3 rotting bananas in, and have since stuck a couple of bananas in the soil next to the plant about every other week. It is growing so much better than last year!

My aunt also told me that she would pour about half a cup of milk in the soil every other week, and her pumpkins grew well doing that. I think I'll try that as well.

I'll take more pictures of my garden and post them soon!

Yummy Strawberry Dessert

2009-06-12T17:12:00.002-06:00

This recipe is so yummy and perfect for your next barbecue.
Go HERE to get it!

Strawberry Daiquiri

2009-06-12T16:57:00.003-06:00

My husband and I went on a fun little cruise last year along the California coast and in to Mexico; just the two of us. I had such a great time! We were gone 4 days, went to some fun places, went snorkeling in Catalina, bartering in Ensenada, boogie boarding in San Diego, and drank our fair share of virgin strawberry daiquiris. I seriously came home craving them.

I fooled around with a couple of ideas on how to make a virgin strawberry daiquiri, and I think I have a pretty good recipe goin' on. It's really sweet, but it suits my taste buds! If it is too sweet for you, you can add fresh strawberries with a little bit of sugar instead of the jam. I've done that before, as well. I really just play around with this recipe every time I make it.

Here you go:
Ingredients:

1/2 cup strawberry freezer jam
6-8 ice cubes
1/8 cup lime juice
1/4 cup pineapple juice (optional)

Mix all ingredients in a blender. Add more jam to make it sweeter, more pineapple juice or lime juice if it's too thick or you can add a little bit of water.

It's yummy enough to make me feel like I'm back on Catalina Island every time I take a sip. Enjoy!

Strawberry Recipes

2009-06-10T17:15:00.002-06:00

Today I found THIS site that has tons of easy strawberry recipes for you to enjoy!

Strawberry Honey Butter

2009-06-09T21:31:00.002-06:00

This recipe is seriously so good! And, like most of my recipes--super easy! You take a stick of butter at room temperature, add about 1/2 cup of that yummy strawberry freezer jam (I have also used raspberry jam) and whip with a mixer until blended. (Look at the picture to the right-- It should look like this. If it is runny, add more butter, if it is too thick, add a little more jam. You can't mess this up!)

Then, if you'd like, add a tablespoon or two of honey. (It's good without it, as well) That's it! Now go slather those homemade rolls with some of this sweet butter and enjoy! It is also fantastic on scones. Heck, it would probably even be good on cardboard. It's that good!

Strawberry Angel Food cake filling

2009-06-08T21:13:00.002-06:00

On many special occasions, this is the dessert of choice in my husbands' family! It's so simple. Take an angel food cake, whipping cream or cool whip and some strawberry freezer jam. Mix equal parts of strawberry jam and whipping cream together.

Cut the angel food cake in half and add filling to the inside.

Then, put the top back on the cake and frost the outside of the cake with the filling. Drizzle with strawberry jam and add strawberries to the top. This makes a great summer dish that is so tasty and pretty, too!

Strawberry Freezer Jam

2009-06-08T20:42:00.003-06:00

When I married my husband, I realized that one of the items on the dinner table every Sunday was homemade strawberry jam. The jam HAD to be on the table and family members would point out when it wasn't there. It was almost more important than the salt and pepper, really. I didn't grow up having homemade jam, so it wasn't special to me--until I tasted it. Can I just say- There is nothing like homemade strawberry freezer jam. And, do you want to know the best part? It's so easy! I made 5 batches of jam today in under 2 hours. Amazing!

Here are the ingredients in the picture to the left. Strawberries (about 2 pounds per batch), sugar, lemon juice, and Pectin. (I prefer the "liquid pectin") Some people use a blender to chop the strawberries, and that is great if you have a powerful blender. I don't, so I use a mini-food processor that cost about $7 at Walmart.

Here's my mini-food processor, below. Cut the stems off the strawberries, and then cut the strawberries in half. Blend the strawberries to your liking. Some like chunks of berries, others like it completely blended. I'm a completely blended type of girl. Measure out 2 cups of the blended berries. I just keep adding the crushed berries from the processor little by little until I have enough for one batch. *Only do one batch at a time, or it won't work--trust me, I've tried before!*

Mix the 2 cups of strawberries with 4 cups of sugar. (I know, it's a lot! Why do you think it's so good?!) Let it stand for about 10 minutes, then add two Tablespoons of lemon juice and one package of pectin. Stir for three minutes. Then, pour into individual containers.

I made 5 batches of jam and came out with 7 containers full. I used about 9 pounds of strawberries, so the recipe ended up taking a little more than 2 pounds of strawberries per batch. Refrigerate the jam until set, then freeze for up to 1 year.

Stwah-Bewwies

2009-06-05T19:21:00.009-06:00

Strawberry season is here! (or as my two year old calls them, "Stwah-Bewwies") I found this great little website last year called "PICK YOUR OWN" that lists all the local farmer's markets and produce stands in different areas in the country. It also lists the farms that have stands where you can "pick your own" produce. We found one in our area and went today with my brother and sister. It was a perfect day for it--overcast, not too sunny--not too cold. Perfect!

Here's my daughter and my sister picking some luscious strawberries. Mmm. (on the left)

(On the right) My brother, sister, and two oldest kids enjoying the garden.

Right off the vine, they are divine!

Do you think he was loving this? He was a little bit too excited!

We so enjoyed our time there. They had areas marked off with orange flags to tell us where the ripe strawberries were, which was awesome! We had just missed their asparagus cutting--dang it! They gave us a calendar as we left that had all of the dates their other produce would be ready to harvest. It was a great afternoon. I wish we could have spent more time here, it was so beautiful! I have a feeling we will be here A LOT this year.

So, next week I'm going to call "Strawberry Week". I will show you how I make strawberry freezer jam and feature other strawberry recipes. I will also give you ideas of how to use your strawberry jam. It's not just for peanut butter sandwiches any more, folks!

For The Love of Cupcakes!

2009-06-03T08:33:00.007-06:00

Cupcakes are in order for any celebration at our house. Monthly ( sometimes weekly!) we'll whip out a batch of cupcakes and decorate them to our heart's content. Here is a little collections of a few cupcakes that we've made:

Our next cupcake project will be these. Now, here is my challenge to everyone out there reading: Make the "Ice Cream Cone cupcakes" with your friends, children, or for yourself! Email your pictures to ericandbrandilynn@yahoo.com and one lucky person will be chosen at random to win all the fixin's to make these "Yellow Jacket" cupcakes! Entries must be in by 12AM on June 15th.

Have fun with this!

*Photos sent will be posted on this blog, unless you request otherwise*

Just To Make You Smile Today...

2009-06-02T23:21:00.002-06:00

Homemade Rolls

2009-06-01T10:21:00.004-06:00

Homemade rolls are one of life's greatest pleasures! Let me walk you through the steps of how to make delicious rolls from the how to make the dough to different ways to shape the dough.

Here'stherecipe or see below:

Potato Rolls

Ingredients:

2 packages of yeast ( 4 and 1/2 teaspoons)
1/2 cup warm water
1 cup mashed potatoes (you can use instant potatoes)
2 cups milk, scalded
8 cups flour
1/2 cup shortening
3 eggs
2/3 cup sugar
2 teaspoons salt

Soften the yeast in the 1/2 cup of warm water. In a bowl, mix together softened yeast, potatoes, milk, shortening, eggs, sugar, salt and 4 cups of the flour. Mix together with a mixmaster until smooth. Add the remaining flour 1 cup at a time and knead well until mixed. You may need to add a little more flour to make a dough that you can handle, but not more than 1/2 a cup more. Turn the dough into a greased bowl and let it raise until double. Divide the dough into thirds and roll out in a circle onto a floured board. Brush with melted butter and cut into 16th. Roll them up as you would croissants. Place rolls on a greased pan and let raise for about 1 hour or until doubled in size. Bake at 350 for about 15-20 minutes.

Makes 48 rolls

1. So, the first thing I always start with is the mashed potatoes. I have used both mashed potatoes from scratch and instant potatoes in this recipe and I honestly cannot tell a difference in taste. What I'm getting at is--Use Instant! I even use the microwave directions, so it only takes me about 5 minutes.

2. The next thing I do, is pour the warm water into my mixer, along with the yeast, and let it sit for 5 minutes or so to activate. (the water should be foamy and bubbly looking--if it's not, you may need to proof your yeast to make sure it's still good.)

3. While the yeast is activating, I pour the milk in to a microwaveable container and microwave it for about 2-3 minutes to scald it. I was taught that you know the milk is scalded when tiny bubbles form around the outside of the pan or dish, so I cook it until I see that.

4. Now add the potatoes, scalded milk, shortening, sugar, salt, eggs, and 4 cups of the flour and mix until smooth. (I figure you don't need pictures of that...pretty self explanatory.)

5. Next add the rest of the flour. I usually add about 1/4 to 1/2 cup more flour to make the dough workable. You still want the dough to be a little sticky. Stickier dough makes fluffier rolls--trust me! Keep in mind that you will be rolling these out on a floured board, which will add even more flour. The dough will stick to your hands a little, but not much.

6. Take a large bowl and spray it with non-stick cooking spray. Put the dough in the bowl and let it rise until double in size. I made the dough before church, which is 3 hours, and I knew that the dough would be long done before I got home. I put the bowl in the fridge, which will slow the rising down. When I got home, it was perfect and ready to be rolled out!

7. Now for my favorite part, shaping the rolls! There are so many possibilities. First, flour your surface. Divide your dough in to three large balls. To smooth out the top, I pull the edges of the dough out and under, so that the imperfections are on the bottom.

8. Roll the dough out into a large circle. (and here's the best part!) Melt a stick of butter and pour a third of it onto the dough and spread it around evenly. Then, cut the dough (with a pizza cutter) into 16ths.

** To roll your dough into a "butterhorn" shape: Take the triangle by the short edge and roll it all the way up. This is the easiest way for me. I usually make my rolls this shape.

**To roll your dough into a "rosette" shape: (I still cut the dough into 16ths) Roll the dough into a long rope about 12 inches long. Then, tie it in a loose knot.

Then, tuck the top end of the knot under. Finish by tucking the other end up and into the middle of the knot, creating a rose type shape. Brush with butter.

**To make "clover" shaped rolls: (I still divide it into 16ths) Divide each roll in to 3 balls. Spread the top of the ball out and tuck edges under. Put three balls into a muffin tin. (sorry the pic is so hard to see, but you get the idea.)

9. Let the rolls rise until double (about 1 hour) Cook at 350 degrees. Watch the rolls to see how long they need to cook. My oven cooks them in 12 minutes, but my mother in laws oven takes 20. They should be golden brown. Brush with butter.

(One thing I should add--I have made these for Thanksgiving two years in a row. Both times I made the rolls and shaped them the day before, and then froze them before letting them rise. Then in the morning, I pulled them out of the freezer and let them rise all day while the other dishes were being made. They were ready to bake in a few hours, and were fresh and warm out of the oven for dinner!)

Here are the butterhorn rolls. Perfect!

Here are the Rosettes (on the left) and Clovers (on the right)

Every time I make these, I wonder why I don't make them more often. They are so easy! Enjoy them!

Word Games

2009-05-29T21:54:00.005-06:00

One of Hayden's "chores" for the day is to practice his handwriting. I looked for a few ways to make this fun for him and I came up with a few good ideas. The first idea came when we were playing one of my all time favorite games- "Scattergories". Inside the game there is a die with the letters of the alphabet on it. We have Hayden roll the die and whatever letter it lands on, he has to write that letter, lower case and upper case.

Before he was learning how to write, we used to roll it and have him say a word that started with that letter or say the letter sound. Before that, it was just used to identify what each letter was. What a wonderful little thing this has been. He actually looks forward to writing his letters!

Another idea, if you don't have the Scattergories die is to write all of the letters down on separate pieces of paper and put them inside a paper bag. Then have the child draw out a letter and do the same ideas as above.

To print the lined drawing paper that they use in school, I go to THIS site.

My Daily Cleaning Schedule

2009-05-28T19:29:00.005-06:00

When I started this stay at home mom stuff with my first child, I realized that I had so much time on my hands! I went from working 45 hours a week managing a clothing store, to being at home raising this cute little round ball of energy. I had so much time on my hands, in fact, that I really got nothing done. Are any of you like me? The more I have to do, the more I get done. The less I have to do, the lazier I am. We'll say that the cleaning and laundry got put on the back burner and I spent my time lounging about, going to every park in the city, long walks, and a nap everyday! (Now that was the life!)

So, like I said, nothing was getting done around the house and I realized that, "Oh, yeah...that's my job." The house doesn't clean itself, and dinner doesn't just appear. (Let me know if you find some way for those things to happen, though!)

I got down to business. I wrote down every chore that needed to be done every week. Then, I broke the chores up into manageable chunks that needed to be done daily, and to my amazement I still had time to lounge about and go to the park and my house was sparkly clean all of the time. (Ok, maybe not...but close!)

Do I follow the schedule exactly every day? No. But it helps me stay on top of my home so that I don't spend a huge chunk of time cleaning EVERYTHING at once. Although that does happen sometimes...

Here's the schedule:

Let me explain a few of the jobs. I make sure that I do at least two loads of laundry a day. It's the first thing I do in the morning--Put a load of laundry in the washing machine. It's also the last thing I do before bed. You'll notice that the last chore every day is "Wash clothes worn today". I take the PJ's from the night before and the clothes that every one wore that day and I wash them and put them in the dryer before bed. This has made it so much easier to stay on top of the laundry. Then, in the morning after I put a load in the washer, I take out the clothes from the dryer and fold them and put them away.

There are also things that I didn't list-obviously-because the list would be HUGE! I just figure that I know that I do the dishes every day and I clean up the play room every day. Things like that.

One tip that I learned from FLY LADY is to always go to bed with your sink sparkling and clear of any dishes. This habit, alone, helps me to start the day off right. Who wants to wake up to a sink full of dishes to be washed? Definitely not me!

Look over the list and feel free to copy it or make one of your own. This list has been one of my life savers, and now I hope it will benefit you!

Happy Cleaning!

Customized Candy Bar Wrappers

2009-05-27T21:06:00.003-06:00

When Eric and I got married, we thought it would be so cute to make personalized favors to hand out at the reception. We wrapped mini Hershey's candy bars with our engagement picture and on the back of the candy bar it said,

"Here's some candy!
Love, Eric and Brandi

How cheesy is that?! We thought we were really funny back then! :)

So, anyway, I was thinking about those the other day and how easy and cute it would be to make them for different occasions and with different sizes of candy bars. I have started making a few.

The one below is one that I made for my step sister, Krystle, who just returned from an LDS mission.

Here are the other ones that I tried: (feel free to print these wrappers if you'd like! Just click on the layout and copy the picture. Save the picture to your computer and then open it in Word or any other program that you print from. Then resize to fit the candy bar size of your choice. Wrap the paper around the candy bar and tape on the back.)

Here are the sizes that the pages need to be printed:

Extra Large candy bars need to be sized to be 6 3/4 inches wide by 8 3/4 inches tall.
Regular size candy bars are sized 5 inches wide by 5 1/2 inches tall.
Small gum packets are 2 3/4 inches wide by 2 3/4 inches tall.

1) Happy Birthday: Printed to fit an extra large Symphony bar.

2 and 3) Blank Wrapper and "Summer" Wrapper

4) Valentines/ I love you: What's better than chocolate?

5) Small gum packages: "Good Luck" (for a football team) and "Thank you!"

I know it's a horrible picture, but these are so cute! (so try to imagine great picture quality!--Heidi, Help!!) I think it would be so fun to make these as party favors, reception favors, or anything where you need a treat for a large group.

I hope you enjoy these! They are so much fun to do. If you have an occasion coming up and would like me to design one for you and send you the file, leave me your email address.
Thanks!

Mmmmm....

2009-05-27T21:02:00.001-06:00

You know you want this recipe!
Click "BOWTIE FESTIVAL" on the side bar link under "What's Cookin".
You won't regret it.

My Blogger Template

2009-05-26T22:43:00.001-06:00

I have been getting a lot of people asking how I made my template for my blog, so I thought a little tutorial might be nice.

1) First of all, you need to get a photobucket account if you don't have one already. It's free, so no worries there. This is where I download the free scrap booking paper and then add it to my blog. Go to www.photobucket.com to sign up.

2) Next, you need to decide what type of paper/style you want your blog to have. The best site that I have found for free scrap booking kits is Shabby Princess. Go to www.shabbyprincess.com to view the free kits. Of course, there are other sites, but this has been my favorite.

3) Download the kit of your choice and save it to a file. I have a separate file for the Shabby Princess kits in My Documents, so I always know where they are and I can change my templates at any time.

4) This is where your photobucket account comes in. Go to www.photobucket.com and download the papers that you are planning on using on your blog.

5) Open a new tab on your Internet (so you can easily go between the two sites quickly) and go to your blog site and log in.

6) Go to "Customize" on your blog's dashboard. Then click on "Layout". Then click on "Edit HTML"

7) Then go to "Pick New Template" and choose the Minima template.

8) Where it says:
body {
background:#ffffff
Replace "background:#ffffff" with background-image:url(URL);background-repeat:repeat-xy;);background-repeat:repeat-xy;

Go to photobucket and click on the paper that you want on the border of your blog. (mine is blue with a red damask design.) Once you click on it, there is an option for a "Direct Link". Copy and paste that link into where it says URL.

9) Next, Underneath where it says:
#outer-wrapper {
Copy and paste the following:
background-image:
url(URL);background-repeat:repeat;

Go to Photobucket again and choose the paper that you want in the middle. (Mine is plain blue) It should be something only one color so that people can still read your blog.Click on it and copy the "Direct Link". Highlight URL and paste the "Direct Link" inside the parenthesis.

Change the width to say: 935px;

10)Underneath the #main-wrapper { :
Change it all to say:

#main-wrapper {
width: 635px;
float: left;
margin:15px auto;
padding:0px;
float: right;

11) Underneath #side-bar wrapper { :
Change it to say:

width: 220px;
width: 250px;
margin:15px auto;
padding:0px;
float: left;

12) As far as the Header goes, I just made mine in Photoshop. I'd be happy to help you do that as well. Just let me know.

Keep in mind that I played with this HTML stuff FOREVER. I hope that I got all the information in and that it is easy to understand. Please let me know if something is confusing. I'd be happy to help. If you like the look of someone's blog, you can always right click and go to "view Source" and it will show that blog's HTML codes so you can compare it to yours to see what you want to change.

Leave me a comment with your blog address after you change stuff so that I can take a look!

Good luck!

Shish-Kabobs

2009-05-24T23:16:00.001-06:00

My husband and I have been saying for the past month how much we both wanted to make shish-ka-bobs for dinner. When the Kraft food and family magazine (subscribe here!) came in the mail this week, I was inspired! They have three delicious ideas to try the next time you want to grill kabobs:

Some useful tips for grilling kabobs:

Make sure to soak your wooden kabob skewers in water for at least 20 minutes (longer is better) before grilling to avoid the sticks breaking and burning over the heat. I put mine in a 9x13 baking dish to soak so that they could all soak at the same time.
While it is appealing to have a variety of meat and vegetables on one skewer, keep in mind that different meats and vegetables all have different cooking times. One thing that we tried was having all of the one vegetable on the same skewer and all of the meat on another. This made it so that our vegetables weren't burned and our meat wasn't over or under-cooked.
Don't stick the meat so close together on the skewer. Leave a little bit of space in between each piece so that the meat can be cooked evenly.
Marinading is always best! This prevents the meat from being too dry. McCormick (our favorite is Garlic, Herb and Wine) does some great powder marinade mixes that just require you to add water and vinegar to the mix. We placed the meat in a gallon size ziplock bag along with the marinade and kept them in the refridgerator for at least 30 minutes.

Here's what we put on our skewers: (pictures to come soon!)

Chicken (my favorite was marinaded in teriyaki sauce)
Stew meat
Red and Green bell peppers
Red and Yellow onions
Mushrooms
Pineapple (MY FAVORITE!!)

What I WILL try next time:

Meatballs
Small red potatoes
Possibly some other types of fruit (peaches?!)
Cherry Tomatoes

My husband put the leftover kabobs in a large ziplock bag and took them to work for lunch the next day. He thought everything was SO much better the second time. All those flavors marinading together overnight. Mmmm. Unfortunately, he ate ALL of the leftovers, so I didn't get to try the next day goodness. Dang.

We do have some leftover pineapple, and I was thinking it would be fun to make fruit kabobs for breakfast. Place some bananas, strawberries, and pineapple (maybe some mandarin oranges, etc.) on a skewer and pour a glaze on top.

Here's a good glaze to try:

1 c. sugar

1 c. orange juice

4 tbsp. lemon juice

1 tsp. grated orange rind

Dash salt

I'll let you know how that recipe turns out!

Here are my kids putting their favorite foods on to the skewers.

Happy Kabob Grilling! And have a GREAT Memorial Day!

Easy, Inexpensive Teacher Gift

2009-05-23T19:35:00.001-06:00

My five year old graduated from Preschool this past Friday. When I asked him what he wanted to give his teacher, he said he wanted to give her a card that said,

"Well, we had some good times. I'll sure miss this place. But, guess I'm done here!" :)
He's such a funny kid.

We decided to make his teacher something out of a Pringles can.

Here's how you do it:

We used the extra large can of Pringles, but this will work with any size.
Take off the plastic lid (not the sealed portion) and cut a small hole in the center
Take pipe cleaners of any color and cut them in half.
Curl some of them around your finger, and leave some of them straight
One by one, put the pipe cleaners in the hole of the plastic lid

Bend the ends of the pipe cleaners on the underside of the lid so that there are no pointy edges sticking straight out. (they will puncture the sealing of the chips)
Place the lid back on the can.
Next glue scrap booking card stock around the Pringles can (it took 2 sheets of 8.5x11 paper for me--I also used a glue gun to glue the paper in place.)
Then tie raffia around it with the tag attached and add any embellishments you would like. (I added a tin star found at a local craft store, but a wooden star, or sticker would work also.)

There you have it! I think it turned out super cute!

Below are the templates I used to create this. Feel free to print them off and size them to what you need. The tag below was printed at 2x3".

*NOTE: To print, you can click on these pictures to enlarge them, then right click on the picture and save the picture in your documents. Then open WORD or Adobe Photoshop or whatever you use to print things off. Open the document that you saved, click the picture and scale it down to the size you need. Then print!*

I printed two of this sheet on 8.5x11 cardstock, but I ended up cutting off about an inch off of the end, so that the paper would fit around the can.

Super easy!! Let those teachers know we appreciate all of their hard work!

Chore Charts

2009-05-22T13:32:00.001-06:00

My kids were so excited when they saw these finished chore charts customized just for them! I have three children ages 5, 2 and newborn; so with the exception of the newborn, the other two can certainly help out around the house. I really have tried about 5 different chore charts and none of them have had the effect that these ones have.

There are three pockets: Daily Chores, Weekly Chores, and Completed. Then, there are 3x2 cards with pictures and writing that describe what the chores are. They fit nicely in the pockets, and for some reason, the kids think it's so fun to move them into the "Done" or "Completed" pocket.
My 2 year olds daily chores are simple: Get dressed, clean up bedroom, brush teeth, take a bath, clean up her own toys around the house, help set the table, water the plants. (Funny thing: I asked her to water the plants yesterday and I caught her outside with her watering can--only she was watering the dandelions!!--I need to show her which flowers, I guess!) Her only weekly chore is to help me in the garden.

My 5 year old has a little more responsibility. His daily chores are: Get dressed, brush teeth, make bed and clean room, clean up toy room and toys around the house, set the table for dinner, unload the dishwasher, and feed the chickens and gather their eggs. His weekly chores are: Dust the living room, vacuum one room (whichever room I need him to), and help me in the garden.

I like that they know their weekly chores in advance and they can finish them at any time during the week, just as long as they finish them! They also know that their "Daily Chores" pocket needs to be empty by the end of the day if they want to play with friends the next day.

Below are the templates for the chore charts. One for a girl and one for a boy. To assemble them, I laminated everything and then cut these two papers right above the striped line. Once it's cut, put the piece with the words on it on top of the other piece and sew (unless you can think of an easier way) the outside corners together. Then, sew on each side of the "Done" pocket, to create 3 pockets. (look at the first three pictures at the top of this post to see what I mean)

The Parenting Breakthrough by Merrilee Browne Boyack is a great resource for helping kids learn how to do chores and be independent. She has even put a list of what a child's responsibilities should be at each age. I highly recommend this!
Feel free to copy either of the chore charts. I truly feel like children need to feel that they have responsibilities that they are capable of completing by themselves. It fosters self esteem and helps them learn to be responsible. I want to raise confident, responsible children who are well adjusted and not afraid of hard work. Almost daily, my son asks, "Why do I have to do this?" and I answer, "Because you're part of a family, and a family works together." I hope he'll thank me one day!

How I Plot my Garden

2009-05-21T09:00:00.001-06:00

Perhaps one of my fondest childhood memories was having a garden. I loved the miracle of planting a tiny seed and watching it grow. It was amazing to me that from a tiny seed, you could feed a family.

When we bought this house, I was thrilled that there was a garden area in the corner! The very next spring I started planting. I planted pumpkins, peas, carrots and onions. I made cute little garden markers and laminated them and was so excited to see my garden flourish. It didn't. So, I tried again the next year, a little hap heartedly I might add, (I was still crushed from my first year's failure) with still no luck. Then a neighbor told me that his brother had great results using the Square Foot Gardeni ng Method by Mel Bartholomew. (Here is the book)This is such a great book! Especially for beginning gardeners. The book totally spells it out for you; from how big to make your garden, to how to plot it, what to plant, and even what to put into your soil to make your plants grow to their potential. Last year, I had my first successful garden!

There are many reasons why I love to garden, but one of the main reasons is that it is hard work that requires the whole family to help out. I can see why my parents chose to do a garden. It taught us to work hard, work together, and the very important lesson of reaping what you sow. These lessons are important for me to teach to my children, and it is the main reason I will keep a garden every year for the rest of my life.

Onto how I plot my garden:

Here is a picture of what my garden looks like today. My husband built me this raised garden bed last year, and this year he divided it into squares for me. He hammered in a nail every 12 inches and then tied twine to each nail that was across from the other. Easy as that!

Here's what's planted:
Here is how I decided where I would plant the vegetables and what I would plant. I just drew a simple grid on lined paper. The Square foot gardening book talks about how many of each vegetable can fit in each square, and that's how I draw it out.

Here was my rough draft from this year.

Here was 2008's plot:

Hayden thought this plotting stuff looked fun, so he made his own! I think this is the cutest thing I've ever seen.

This week, I'm trying to talk my husband into building me two 4x4 raised beds. I think it would be so awesome to have a salsa garden and a strawberry patch. We LOVE to make freezer jam, and fresh strawberries from the garden would just be the sweetest thing. We shall see what this weekend brings...

Swiss Chicken Casserole Recipe

2009-05-19T22:28:00.001-06:00

Click here for a link to this recipe
or
Print this recipe card

Swedish Meatballs

2009-05-19T22:16:00.000-06:00

Click here for a link to the recipe

(notice that I change the recipe slightly)
The link calls for you to cook your meatballs in a skillet. I take the easier route and broil them on a cookie sheet for about 10 minutes. I also add 4 oz. of low fat cream cheese to the sauce and it makes this recipe irresistible!
print this recipe card:

Fried Rice

2009-05-19T22:02:00.000-06:00

Printer friendly version
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print your own cute recipe card below.

Easy Parmesan-Garlic Chicken Recipe

2009-05-19T21:48:00.000-06:00

Here's a link to the recipe
or
Print out this recipe card

Garlic Lime Chicken Recipe

2009-05-19T21:47:00.001-06:00

Lovin' From the Oven

2009-05-19T18:54:00.002-06:00

I have always LOVED cookie dough. It used to be that I never made cookies. Just the dough. And we ate that happily because on the rare occasion I did bake the dough, the cookies turned out flat and everyone that would walk into the kitchen to see them would scrunch up their nose at the sight of them. They were really that gross looking.

Well my friends, the days of cookie dough but no cookies are over. I have perfected the art of chocolate cookies. Just ask my loved ones and they will tell you that they really are perfect! Of course I've had some mentors, one of which is Eric's talented mother. When the Grandkids are over, the chocolate chip cookies HAVE to be made! They just have to be. My husband's brother has also perfected the art, and when people ask him, "How come your cookies are so much better than mine?" He answers, "Yours aren't made with love." (hehe!) And that is true. Love is a very important ingredient that many overlook.

Now, I'm starting this blog off with a bang, because I'm going to let you in on my secrets! Shhh...

OK, I will only give them to you if you will give me all of the credit when you make them.

I use this recipe.
Instead of butter, I use butter flavored Crisco.
Then, I add an extra 1/4 cup of flour and 2 tsp. water
(read on for more secrets) Here's my son cracking the eggs that are fresh from our chicken coop.
(the coop will be explained in a later post)

Here's another secret: I dip the balls of cookie dough in sugar before placing them on the pan. It makes them beautiful. (I only have a point and shoot camera, so pretend that the picture quality is awesome)

Here's where the love comes in: I *lovingly* place 3 extra chocolate chips on top of the dough before I bake them.

And bake them for 2 minutes less than the cooking time says.

That's it folks. They are yummy, yummy! Watch your family devour these in minutes.
I should pretty much be your favorite blog now.