Friday, February 26, 2010

Being Crafty

I have this container that holds a lot of my scrapbooking letters, chip board and such and it's made of plastic and held together with snaps. Every time I load it up and take it to scrapbook night at church I invision it popping open and spilling it's contents across the parking lot.

My good friend Stephanie suggested that I make a tote bag to carry it in. I have a sewing machine, have made some simple valances in the past, but I really don't sew, but I'm willing to learn to make anything.

A trip to Joann's and about 5 phone calls to Stephanie later, I had my supplies.
Here are a few photos of Stephanie and I making the bag.
She measured and cut.
I sewed.....most of it.
Quilting the fabrics together

My not so straight lines!

Measuring the box
Stephanie Measuring fabric
Stephanie cutting fabric
The assembled bag with the container in it....
and without
Stephanie sewed the trim on the edge for me
The container tied with yarn to keep it from popping open
Stuffed full of goodies
I put the handles on at home, with no help! Yea for me!
All ready to go scrappin' tonight!!!
A BIG thank you to Stephanie for all of your help, time, patience and lunch!

Tuesday, February 23, 2010

A NAIL BITER

THEY DID IT!!!

Introducing the 2009/2010 Newburgh Youth Basketball Champions!

It was a close game the whole night. We'd score, they'd score and then we'd score again. There were moments when I had my doubts, and moments that I dared invision our victory. A nail biter for sure! But in the end, they pulled through and won the game, the Championship!
Well done boys!! And well done Coach Dennis!!

Monday, February 22, 2010

Almost Southern Banana Pudding

While we were living in North Carolina, Ann, a dear, sweet friend of mine showed up at my front door with a beautiful silver and glass serving dish filled with old fashioned Southern Banana Pudding. My taste buds had never tasted anything so delishious! We finished the desert and when I gave back her serving dish I complimented the desert and asked for the recipe. A few days later Ann gave me the recipe. It had been her mothers, I'm guessing from about the 1950's.

Two years went by and while looking through my recipes for a desert to make for my parents visit I came across Ann's mothers recipe. I was a bit intimidated by the recipe as it made the filling, a custard, from scratch. So I waited for my mom to come and help me make it. It turned out wonderful!!

My family wanted me to make it again, but without mom here to help I decided that I would modify the recipe and make it a little easier.

If you want to treat your family to a fantastic desert that they'll think you spent a lot of time on here's the recipe. shhhh, you don't have to tell them how easy it really was to make!

Start with:
1 Box Nilla Waffers any brand will work
1 small box of Vanilla instant pudding
1 small box of Banana instant pudding (Jello brand makes this, but my store was out)
3 cups of cold milk
3 ripe bananas

Empty both packages of pudding mix into mixing bowl
Add 3 cups of cold milk
Wisk together 2 minutes until pudding thickens
Set aside, pudding will continue to thicken
Put 12 Nilla Waffer cookies into a sandwich bag and crush

Place crushed cookies into the bottom of a deep serving bowl
Stand up cookies to create a cookie border
Chop first banana into slices
Layer on top of crushed cookies
Spoon half of the pudding mixture onto bananas
Top with a layer of cookies
Slice 2nd banana and create a banana layer
Spoon the rest of the pudding over bananas
Top with another cookie layer and
Stand up cookies and create a cookie border
Slice 3rd banana and layer over cookies ~ Set bowl aside
Topping:
We are going to make a meringue topping
You will need:
3 eggs
1/2 cup sugar
Preheat oven to 350 degrees


Separate the eggs whites from the yokes. Be careful not to get any yoke in the whites or meringue will not turn out.
Using a mixer on High Speed, mix egg whites until they become full and frothy.
Add a little bit of sugar and continue mixing.
Add a little more, until the stiff peaks can be formed.
Top your desert and create meringue peaks
Place into a 350 degree preheated oven for 4 - 7 minutes until peaks brown.

Serve now if you like crunchy cookies, or if your kids can't wait.
Chill and serve in a few hours or next day if you like soft cookies.
Enjoy!

Guess who couldn't wait!



Wednesday, February 17, 2010

Snowflakes

I'm tired of snow! But it seems it wants to stick around a little longer. The weather man said that last February most of our days were between 40 and 70 degrees. These days I'm happy if it hits 35. Well, if I have to deal with the cold and look at the snow, I might as well enjoy the fine art of snowflake photography. Here are some beautiful photos of snowflakes that I found online.
For more photos and information check out this LINK





Saturday, February 13, 2010

Happy Valentines Day!

Me and my sweetheart, wish you and yours a very happy Valentines Day!



Photo by Isaiah

Thursday, February 11, 2010

Can I brag on my kids?


Shoe box Diorama
Isaiah's class had to create a diorama depicting an ecosystem theme. He choose Prairie.
We went to Hobby Lobby and got the animals, green scrub bushes and grass powder/glue stuff to sprinkle on the bottom of the box. We stopped along the road to get some "prairie grass".
Dennis and I had to leave to go to bible study and when we got home Isaiah had created this!
I was so proud of how it tuned out! He took it to school, gave his speech and got an A+ Then a few days later, he came home from school and told me the class voted on all the projects and he won first place in his class.

Last Friday was Evan's special day. In the mail was his drivers license!!!!
He was so excited.
My boy is growing up way too fast!
He's already 16. Two more years of high school and then we'll have to send him off to college.
sigh....


Ok, this is totally off the subject of bragging about my kids, but I wanted to post it anyway.
I was looking through a Country Living at Home magazine one day last week. I found this beautiful living room. (scanned in, sorry it's a little wonky looking)
I had one of those deja vu moments.
The bookshelves, the fireplace, the windows, the transoms, the door....all very similar to my living room.
Not the colors or the professional decor, but the bones of the room.
wider view
Anyway, that's all. Thanks for reading my ramblings.

Tuesday, February 9, 2010

Snowy Day Project

We are snowed in today. Well, not really, but the boys school was cancelled due to the winter storm that hit us last night. We've shoveled the drive and walks, we've made snow forts, attempted a snowman and been sledding.
We are now inside warming up with hot chocolate and lunch.

I found this fun oragami project online that we are trying right now. I thought I would share with you, in case you find yourself in the same situation as us today!


Pics from today....

Evan clearing the sidewalk

Logan taking a skateboard apart to make a snowboard. It didn't work so well.
Tigger catching snowballs

Logan sledding down our little hill on the trash can lid. What can I say, we're being resourceful!
Isaiah, all bundled up.
See the lid, it works!
Some good old fashioned brotherly love
Which led to this...poor Isaiah
Snowball fight!!
I got pelted in the back with Logan's snowball when taking a pic of Isaiah hiding behind the tree.
The trash can lid also doubles as a shield!

So were your kids out of school today? What did you do to fill the time?