Mmmmminty

Last night as I was cuddling with my husband watching some tv. After a long day and even longer weekend of him begin gone. I was hit with the over whelming craving for something mint. Chocolaty mint to be exact. After consulting my dear husband as to him desire, I set off to make some brownies. 

This recipe I got from my mother, who got it from her mother and I have no idea where it came from before that. But it's amazing. You might notice in the picture that the brownie seems small. Well it is, but trust me if you did a normal size slice you will find yourself possibly outmatched in richness. Besides you can always go back for more- which I do.

These are called Mint Sticks, and they are fantastic. A slight resemblance to Andres mints, which indecently are also fantastic. 

Here is the much awaited recipe. 

2 sq unsweetened chocolate (or 6T cocoa+2T oil/shortening)

1/2 C margarine, melted

1 C sugar

2 eggs

1/2 C flour (optional 1/2C shredded almonds)

1/2t peppermint flavoring or 3 drops oil of peppermint

Combine eggs, margarine and sugar well. Add chocolate and peppermint, stir till blended. Add flour, Mix well. Pour into a greased 9" square pan. Bake at 350* 25-30 min.  

Frosting

2T margarine

1T milk or cream

Blend well

Add 1C powder sugar, shifted

and 1t peppermint flavoring  or drop of oil of peppermint 

After brownies are cooled. Frost when firm

Spread: 1 square of Chocolate, unsweetened (or 3T cocoa+1T oil)

with 1T margannine Melt and mix. 

Spread the mixture over the frosting on the brownies.

Refrigerate and cut into "sticks" of 48 pieces. size should be 3/4x 2 1/4 

These are so very addicting (granted if you are not fond of mint or chocolate you will be able to withstand their tempting powers) you will be sneaking pieces with out your children seeing you. Like a drug addict.  

Diy cloth doubler

I recently made the switch to cloth diapers. After many attempts at potty training boy number one I wanted to make boy number two easier. And I had read different studies about how using cloth diapers make the transition easier. That and the initial up front cost is steep, you can quickly get your months worth out of them. I got my diapers from Sunbaby diapers, worked out to about five bucks per diaper. And they are great, but the need a little extra for the night time. After reading a few blogs I decided to make a doubler. 

It's really very simple. You need microfiber cloths ( I got these from Walmart six of them for Five bucks.) You will also need some scrap fabric. The fabric I used was from the flannel receiving blankets I have never really used. They are much too small for the size of baby we tend to have in this house. 

You will take the micro cloths and fold them into thirds, laying them down on to the flannel, with the loose side against the flannel. Pin them into place and cut to size. 

Then all you need to do is sew them together. Sewing down the center first. You can just do 5 individual lines, or you can sew so you have one line. Sew down the center then with your needle down and your foot up rotate the fabric clockwise. And sew again, when ever you get to a corner simple pivot and keep going. You will end up with two sets of loose strings instead of ten. 

Be sure to keep the flannel side next to your baby. The microfiber will dry their butt up. I did these four in 30 min or so, not the best quality sewing but I figure they won't see the light of day much, and if all they are going to do is catch poop why spend a lot of time and energy making them look amazing? 

Shhhhh... It's a family secret....

Every Christmas and July I make what I like to call my "Christmas Birthday bread" and I might add a few more days in there so that I can make it more. My father made this every Christmas for as long as I can remember. And my parents had these at there wedding. 

My brother recently got married and they had more of a brunch then a lunch so I made several batches of this bread. Five to be exact and each batch can be rolled out into four loves. I did eight so they were smaller loaves. The picture below is the cream cheese mixture for inside the roll. As you can see their wedding colors are purple and blue.

Here is the recipe for the bread:

Cream Cheese Braids

1c. sour cream

1/2 c. sugar

1 tea Salt

1/2 c. melted butter

2 pkgs dry yeast

1/2 c. warm water

2 eggs, beaten

4 c. plain flour

-cream cheese filling

-glaze (optional)

Heat sour cream over low heat, stir in sugar, salt and butter; cool to lukewarm. Sprinkle yeast over warm water in large bowl, stirring until yeast is dissolves. add sour cream mixture, eggs, and flour. Mix well, cover tightly and refrigerate overnight. 

The next day pull out the bread and then make the cream cheese mixture. Once the mixture is done start with the dough. Divide dough into 4 equal parts; roll out each part on a well floured board into a 12x8 in rectangle. Spread the mixture on the rectangle and then roll up jelly roll fashion, beginning at the long sides. pinch edges together and fold ends under slightly. Place the rolls seam side down on greased baking sheets, slit each roll at 1in intervals about 2/3 of the way through  dough to resemble a braid. Cover and allow to raise till double (about an hour) bake at 375* for 12-15 min, until it's slightly golden brown. 

Cream Cheese filling

2 oz cream cheese (softened)

3/4 c. sugar

1 egg beaten

1/8 (pinch) teaspoon salt

2 teaspoon vanilla

Combine the cream cheese and sugar until well blended, mix in rest and mix well.

Here is the finished product.This is a beloved family tradition for me, and I hope that it can hold the same place for you as well! Happy baking! 

DIY coffee table

Well, we are in a small apartment and which makes having space almost impossible. And while I have a wonderful coffee table that I adore I don't really have the space for it. We will soon have a crawling baby and I wanted the extra space for that coming moment.
The coffee table I have is large, sturdy and very helpful. The top pulls apart to reveal a compartment to stash things. I enjoy it enough I don't wanna get rid of it, so when my little brother got married and they needed a coffee table I thought perfect they can use it!
So I told my brother and his new wife that they could take the coffee table, paint it stain it, they were just not allowed to get rid of it.
So I set out to make myself a new one. I had recently found some old spools in my parents back houses. So I got one and spray painted it. In the future I will do a base coat. I painted it grey, and it's a darker dull grey, where I would have loved a brighter crisp grey. Oh well live an learn. Also another freebie for you, buy the nicer spray paint it's worth the cost.
After I finished the spray painting, minus the top and bottom, I brought it home to my place (I was painting it at my parents place) I covered it with some batting and fabric, using a staple gun I secured the batting and fabric to the table, and tada!
I have a wonderful stable and small coffee table. All for about 10-15 bucks! Score!

Matchy Matchy!

Why buy, when you can DIY? I love being a mother of my two boys. I look forward to the tree forts, the canal searching, bug catching and over all boy-ness, and guess what? I will be right there in the thick of it. Lord be with our little girls, if we have any. I grew up as a tom-boy. I never enjoyed the barbie dolls and teapartys, honestly I avoided them at all cost. I was out in the dirt and mud, climbing trees, chasing animals. That was my childhood, so to have boys is like a chance to relive that all over. And I'm stoked.
One thing that I do not like about having baby boys, the femininity that we have infused into all things boy. I'm sorry when I dress my little 7 month old and still get the questions, "Boy? Or Girl?" Really? There is something wrong here.
So, I have the cute pastel bed sheets, because that is all they had at the store. Well recently I was wondering how hard it would be to make some sheets. I wanted to make a little super hero themed room. You can not have a super hero themed room with pastel sheets. That little super hero would be made fun of by all the other more manly super hero's that have non-pastel sheets.
So off to the internet I went. The tutorial was easy. I had this "ReaLLY?!?!?  That's It?!??!" Moment and Off the the store I went.
I picked out three types. I made a matching set for the boys room that has little whales on it. Its Fun, there were other ones that I liked more for little boys, but none of them were cheap enough for my "experiment." There other set that I got was one super man and one batman. I am going to make them for Christmas. Pretty excited about that.
Well, I cut the first set up, sewed, hemmed and sewed on elastic in one night, took me maybe an hour or two, not long at all. I was pretty excited.
And honestly? It was so very easy, I'm ashamed I did not try this two years ago with my first child. Granted, fabric in the little town I lived in was an easy double of what it is here, and why should I go buy fabric, when I was given sheets?
But I have made them, they are fun, they were easy and if you have access to a sewing machine and the basic sewing skills from your jr high home ec class- your golden!
For the how to Check out http://www.luvinthemommyhood.com/2010/05/crib-toddler-bed-sheet-tutorial-with.html

Here is the fun fabric! 

after I had added the corners and the hem

Now with the elastic 

Here is the toddler bed in use

and the crib sheet! 

To Die for Cookies

I have a love for all things sweet. But something that I adore, cookies! I love cookies, especially since a dear friend of mine, introduced me to chocolate chip cookies with chocolate AND white chocolate chips. Mmmm, so very very good.
I'll admit it I eat more then my far share of cookies. Usually using my go to recipe in Betty Crocker cookbook. But move over Betty, there's a new recipe in town. It will be my go too now! Sorry
I was at my parents tonight and there was a storm (so it was cooler then the triple digits have allowed it to be) and I voice out loud that I would be making cookies that night. My father upon hearing me said "make them here!" you can see where I get my sweet tooth from!
It goes with out saying, but I made cookies at my parents place- bringing some home with me in a washed out butter tub. They are thick and chewy and fantastic!
Here is the amazing recipe
3/4 c. Unsalted butter, softened
3/4 c. Brown sugar
1/4 c. Sugar
1 egg
2 tsp. vanilla
2 c. Flour
2 tsp. cornstarch
1 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
1 c. Chocolate chips
Mix them together, but be careful not to over mix them. If you do, don't worry too much about it, just stick them in the fridge to cool down.
And bake at 350* for 8-10 min
Pull out, cool and prepare treat some bliss! Enjoy!
Thank you to Apple A Day! This was so Amazing!
http://kelseysappleaday.blogspot.com/2011/08/best-ever-chewy-chocolate-chip-cookies.html

Apartment Sized fire pit

I'm a bit of a pyro. But I promise I only burn responsibly, most of the time anyways. And being a pyro I love fires, there is something so relaxing and fascinating about some simple contained flames.
Before we moved I was planning on putting a fire pit in our back yard, we worked with youth and I thought it would be so fun to have a fire with them late a night. Something I could put our kid to bed grab the baby mounter and go out to hang out. Well plans changed, but my desire for a fire pit did not.
Sadly though we live in an apartment complex and have a small balcony, I think my land lords would frown upon me digging a pit in the grassy area near by. So I gave up my fire pit dream, and filed it away for "when I have a house."
But that was before I found a how to make your own grill, and it struck me, if you can make a grill- why not a fire pit? So I set out to do just that.
Bit, low and behold, another pit fall. Do you know how pricey ceramic pots are? It was another buzz kill. I had hope to make a fire pit for cheap, if I wanted to spend upwards of 30 bucks I would buy one.
So I waited.
And my waiting finally paid off, I was shopping and found a whole bunch of pots for cheap, I picked up a nice sized one in black, with vines across the sides, for get this 12 bucks. Yep that's right 12 bucks. Score!
So the rest of it is easy, you only need sand and of course the burning objects.
I placed a piece of cardboard on the bottom along with a piece of newspaper, to keep the sand in the pot. Then thanks to a local sand pit, filled it to about three inches from the top with sand, for frrrrrrreeeeeeeee!
Then I got newspaper from my parents place along with the kindling from the floor of their wood chopping area.
I'm thinking my landlords will still not be thrilled, but don't worry too much I'll always do as Smokey says "burn responsibly."

And Lacey shorts!

After I finished the shirt project I still had lace. What to do, what to do? Where did all this lace come from well, I had gotten a dress that had lace on it, adjusting it to a cute white summer dress. Still needs a few tweaks, but over all it works. But it gave me lots of left over lace! Yah! So I decided to lengthen some shorts that I have.
This project is so easy it's crazy. You start at one edge, my shorts have a little slit so I started sewing at the slit. You simply sew the lace on one leg, trim and see on lace on the other leg.
In a matter of moments you have a cute pair of shorts, that are longer then the "see my butt?" shorts. Those are so great.

Lacey shirt

I recently acquired some shirts from my sister. They are cute, a little tight, but cute. So today I sat down to do something about that. Honestly the one shirt I started with would have been fine, but (and I swear I am not making this up)  the shirt must have been cut on the bias. It feels as if it is twisting around on my torso. I figured by adding some fabric to it I could give my skin some much needed space, and thus doing away with the annoying twisting feeling.
So, taking the shirt you cut one side off and the seam (I did one at a time, to help make it easier) lay your lace (or other fabric choice) on your fabric. And sew up one side. I did my lace edge showing, but you can hide it if you would like. Once you are done with one side repeat with the other side. And you have a fun shirt, with a little sex appeal and the bonus of a little more breathing room!

To Die for Brownies

I have yet to met a healthy brownie that I like. But there are plenty of non healthy but very tasty. Very worth all the calories you will intake for it I'm sure!
I was told this by a friend who found it on Pinterest. So I do not have the original baker or it, but I am NOT the creator. Just to get that outa the way.
This has everything, and it's amazing. You will need to make a batch of cookie dough. Smoosh it into a 9-13 grease baking dish. Then grabbing a bag of oreos place them over the cookie dough.
 I have a empty place, not from eating them, well kinda, the cookies were alittle worse for wear, so I had a hard time coming up with enough to finish off this layer. In retrospect I could have just dumped the crumbs on the end and called it good. But you would not have had the equal parts of frosting. And the Frosting was the best part, in my opinion. 

You will then cover your cookie dough and oreos in brownie mix. Bake at 400* for 20-25 min.

And you will pull out this amazing trifecta of deliciousness! I loved the little circles formed by the oreos. Be sure to serve with some ice cream to help with the richness of it. Unless of course your amazing and can handle all that chocolate like a pro. 

The only thing that I feel could be an improvement on this recipe is to do it with mint. I'm a sucker for mint. mmm, can you just imagine? cookie dough with mint chocolate chips, mint oreos, and mint brownies. And pair it with mint chip ice cream... oh goodness That would be to Die for! 

No Oven Please Pizza

Summer is hot. There is just no way around it. But I have started on the wonderful mission to do away with my oven, at least in Summer season. There are some things I have yet to figure out. One is my Christmas, Birthday bread, more on that later.

So, hot season is here, but one thing that will strike regardless of season, is the desire for Pizza. And how could pizza get better? To be  able to cook it without the oven.

Enter Six Sisters Stuff to the rescue...again. They are brilliant. 

And it is so unbelievably simple, it's almost painful! You can buy the pizza dough from the can and the supplies you like for your type of pizza. Before you smoosh the dough into the crockpot bottom make sure that you spray that sucker down. If you do you can pop the pizza out easy, if you do not...well...you were warned.

After you place your dough, and your toppings cover and cook for 2 hours on high. Then uncover and let cook for 30 min.

The crust was a little tougher then I normally like, but it was very tasty. Even my husband liked it and he is sworn to be honest in what he thinks of what I try. If it involves cooking I will listen, if It involves clothing...enh, not so much sweetie.

Thank you Six Sister's Stuff, keep them coming!

kid friendly jello shots

I have a major trip coming up. And hoping to save as much money as possible. I saw on pinterest a recipe to make your own fruit snacks. Thank you very much Six Sister's Stuff. You are quickly becoming my favorite site to check out! And I was amazed at how simple it really was to make.

You need a box of the jello mix, any flavor you like- but get the small style. 3oz. You will also need 2 packages of non-flavored gelatin. They will be .25 each.

 In a small sauce pan you will heat over medium heat 1/3 cup of water.  Sprinkle the jello and gelatin over the  water and wait till it dissolves.
Once dissolved you pour into some holds that you have.  

My molds are from my wedding. So they are very pretty, not really something too kid friendly, but a 2 year old will not care. They are a bit sticky, but tasty. Thank you very much Six Sister's Stuff. This will be a recipe that I will use again and again. 

Sock Bun, easy way.

Wow, it's been awhile. I have a feeling that blogging with be one of those things done more in the cold season, when I am locked in doors more often, then the summer when being outside is just too big a temptation! 
But here we are. And today I though I would share my take on the sock buns that you have seen on Pinterest. There are two main ways I have see, both starting with the sock, toe cut off and rolled on it's self to form a doughnut. 
The first way is to take your hair in a high pony tail. Then taking the sock and starting at the end of your pony tail you roll the hair around it. This was tricky. I have thin hair and while long it's not nearly enough to wrap around the sock evenly. And I usually end up with the white sock showing. Not attractive.
Then next option while easier tends to leave you with a tuft that looks as if it hovers above you head. you take the sock to the base of the pony tail. And then finding the center of your pony tail you spread your hair out evenly around the sock to cover it. Typically secured with another elastic. Then you have to figure out what o do with the left over pieces.
This is what I have done. And I really like it. 

Above is the supplies. Those twisting bobby pins are amazing. I bought the two longer ones for about six bucks and the three shorter ones for about seven. They claim to do the work of 20 pins and they do. they work very well. 

To start you will need to make a pony tail. It doesn't matter where you put it. I have done super high on my head, and at the nape of my neck. It all works.  

Slip the sock (again, it is a sock with the toe cut off and then rolled onto itself forming a doughnut) to the base of your pony tail. 

Then tease, tease and tease.  

Picking a spot to start you will begin to wrap the hair around the sock...

 Keep wrapping....

 Once you have the spaces secured you will then use the twist pins to secure. I have found that if you use a looser knit sock you can twist right into the sock. Making your bun a little more secure.

And This is the finished product. You can add hair accessories to your hearts desire. I would just not go toooo over board. After all the nice thing about this look is the simplicity. Enjoy!

Midnight lighting

This morning was rough. Two needy children and a tired mommy, can lead to bad things. Thankfully when I find myself with one of those days I find some time to create.
Nothing can change a mood like making something.
So this morning, after I put one child down for a nap and and gave the other some food. I sat and made some lovely lights for my patio.
For this project you need some old cleaned out wine bottles. You can leave leave the labels on or take them off. Then using some thicker gauged wire you will need to wrap (the tighter the better) around the neck just under the lip of the bottle, make sure you leave a loop in order to hang your bottles up. Or you could also leave them as stand alone lamps. After you have prepared your lamps holder you will need to gently force in some lights. I like to collect lights after Christmas, cheap and lots available.
Here's a trick for getting the lights in the bottles. If you have four bottles form four groups of lights on your one string. Take the middle of one group fold in half and start to feed into the bottles. Make sure you leave some space between bottles so you can hang them up.
I'm hoping that my husband will be able to bring some large clear bottles so that I can make some bedside lamps!

Tasty Tattors

I don't do this often, partly because why try to make my own recipe when there are so many left untried? And partly because I hate to waste food, but if it was a waste due to my "experimenting" then it's really annoying.
But this was an experiment that went well.  I modified it from a good friends own experiment.
So You take some red potatoes. And cut those suckers up. Toss them in a bowl with lemon pepper. Spray a baking dish down. And depending on your size of family you are feeding will tell you what size dish to use and how many tators to use. I did half a bag, or 8. And then an 8x8 pan.
after that you will sprinkle (generously) Parmesan cheese over them suckers. Place in the oven at 400* for 30 min, or until they are tender and easily cut.
I have no idea how long that was, I was not actually home to check them. But when I got home they were nice and tender. After you pull them out you can sprinkle some or alot of cheese over the top. Let the potatoes melt the cheese with their heat. Or to speed it up use the oven.
Enjoy! let me know what you think of the recipe that I made up! 

Where has this been?!?!

I enjoy cupcakes, but frosting cupcakes is a bit annoying. Instead of one big mess on one cake lets have 24 little messes on 24 little cakes. That's why with my son's 2nd birthday coming up, a party to do, and cupcakes to make, when I found this wonderful idea on Pinterest, I decided to give it a whirl. And it was a trip that I do not regret! 

I started with devil's food cake mix and five mins before they are done cooking you place a marsh mellow on each cupcake. It worked brilliantly, my only tip is to be ready with a non-melt-able spoon. The marshmellows get hot and kinda get a mind of their own. Slipping of the cupcake tops and taking a trip. So I just used the spoon to coax it back into place then pressed down gently on top. Keeps them in place.
They were very tasty and I am looking forward to all the different combinations that I can make. Think of all the flavors that they now have out there, of cakes and marshmellows!  

Used them for my son's birthday as privously stated. It saved me long hours, okay slight exaggeration, but still saved me alot of time. Big hit at the party, other then I didn't let them sit out long enough to dry, they became very sticky, but still good.  

Thinking that doing a square cake would be fun! Think yellow cake mix, chocolate chips over the cake and then the marshmellows. Sounds divine to me! 

http://tonispilsbury.com/skip-frosting-cupcakes/

Tasty Lemon Bars

We have all seen the latest craze on Pinterest, right? If you are still in the dark check out the picture below. 

Yes, know you remember! Its the pictures of the two ingredient recipes. And you look at them and think, "Can it really be that simple?" Well I have been slowly trying some of these that I come across. This one I was pretty excited about. I love Angel Food cake, use to request it for my birthday cake. The best part is the crust, mmm. And I like fruit things. How could these two items result in anything but delicious-ness?
This Recipe comes from "Living Practical" (see site link at the bottom of post.)

You mix the two things together. When I first started I didn't think they would mix well, or that there would be enough moist for all that mix. But some how it mixed. Kinda foamed out almost, very interesting to see. 

Pour the mixture into a baking dish and bake it. 350* for about 20 min. 

This was my "helper" while I was trying to cook this desert (I was also trying to warm up the house with out turning on the heat.) No he wasn't sick, he's just a goof. And thought that I needed a speed bump in my tiny kitchen. 

You cook the dish till it's a light golden brown, once you take it out you can sprinkle powder sugar over it. I really enjoyed eating it, more pieces then I should eat at one time. And my bible study group enjoyed it to. I have to say that keeping two items around that you can throw together quickly, brilliance. But of course you should always test drive the recipe, after all, you wouldn't wanna take credit for a nasty dish. 

http://livingpractically.blogspot.com/2011/04/two-ingredient-lemon-bars.html#comment-form

Quick and Easy rice

I'm very much in love with my crockpots. Yes I have two. I have a larger one for roast and larger meals and then I have a smaller one that I use for stews and smaller meals. Don't be judging. I have found them both to be useful in their separate posts and they have gotten alot of use over the years.
But if you were to ask me if I am satisfied with two crockpots, the answer would be no. I love coming home from church to a meal that is cooked, hot and ready to eat. One that required very little effort on my part. But the thing that drives me crazy is having to wait 15 more min to be able to eat. The meal is ready, the table is ready, the rice is not. I would like to add to my stash of crockpots a rice cooker. But until then I was thinking I had no choice but to do it the old fashion way, or did I?

So I tried en experiment and this secret I will share with you. Before I leave in the morning I set the rice out and let it soak in water while we are gone. Cuts the cooking process down, alot. So the same amount of rice that cooks in 15 mins now takes about five.
Rice is easy to make what ever amount to rice you have you want twice the water. I like to keep it simple, 1 cup rice and 2 cup water. I leave them mingling in my small sauce pan. Then when I get home I turn that sucker all the way up to a boil, reduce to a simmer. With a lid on, partway. Helps to cook it faster and keep it nice moist.
So in alot less time I can have the same result. This will tied me over till I can either find a good deal on a rice cooker, or I get sick of still having to wait when we get home. I do after all have children and in them are my genes. My genes that can make life unbearable for others if I have not been feed. 

Sweet and Sour Meatballs, Crockpot style

Another day, another dinner. I would love to say that it's getting warmer but lately it's been a little crazy on the weather. Monday as a 91* heat wave, yesterday and today are cold. Now myself, I'm not a fan of the heat, but I'm REALLY not a fan of the cold. Not so for my husband and as I found out my son. Monday was not pleasant, not for the heat. I can deal with the heat, what was not pleasant was the grumpy-indecisive-whiny son I had that day. So with that in mind I am on a quest. A Crockpot Quest. I'm looking to find easy, simple and TASTY recipes that I can cook in my crockpot. I am also looking for ways to make some of my "staple" recipes work in a crockpot.
So made a recipe from Betty Crocker Cookbook. Its Creamy Chicken Soup. Just kidding, from the title you know what I made.

Now you can make your own meatballs. But for the work I will gladly go to Winco and spend the $2 for pre-made meatballs, my time is worth $2. So here is the recipe from the book...

meatballs

1/2 cup packed brown sugar

1 tablespoon cornstarch

1 can (13 oz) pineapple chunks (un-drained)

1/3 cup vinegar

1 tablespoon soy sauce

1 small green pepper- I don't always do the pepper

So you cook the meatballs, drain the fat then mix brown sugar and cornstarch in skillet, stir in pineapple (juice and all) vinegar and soy sauce. Heat to boiling, stirring constantly. Reduce heat and Add meat balls. Cover and simmer, stirring occasionally. 10 min. Stir in green pepper. Cover and simmer until crisp- tender, 5 min.
So that is the Betty Crocker recipe. And now for the Mollie twist.
I mixed everything in the crockpot then added the meatballs -frozen, straight from the freezer. And I left it cooking on low for 5 hours.
When we got home from church the meat balls where ready to eat and in barely anytime at all the rice was ready too. Want my secret to quick cooking rice? Check out the rice post.
There is something about meat. It will almost always hit the spot. And the crockpot made the pineapple nice and tender, even my husband could eat it. (Insert Gasp here.)

Ah Fedora! In Fantastic neon!

I met a great friend today and we went walking at the mall. We are looking forward to when it's warmer so we can walk outside. Exercise is much more enjoyable outside, at least in my opinion. And then you also avoid the impulse buying tick.
I am normally quite good about the window shopping and not buying. But today, today I was weak. So I scummed to the buying bug. And I do not regret the purchase.
We walked by the children's place "sales" signs everywhere. In we went. I found two adorable little boy fedoras. So Cute. But more then I wanted to spend. What's that you said? Hats on sale for four bucks?!? Why yes, I do believe I will buy these two hats. And off I went to find one for me. Yes, I know that I have a small head. And with all the cute hats I was more thankful for my small head then I have been in awhile. I thought I could be thankful for having a small head when I had my two boys. Turns out "big" heads are more dominate. What's the point in having a small head? So I can buy and wear cute kid fedoras. But they were very girly. I wanted just a basic one. The best I could find was the one below. But for four bucks, how could I say no?

I got home, and upon studding it I realized that I can simply seam rip the bright yellow trim off the rim. I also took off the bow. I plan on gluing the bow to a barrette. Then I use it on hat and hair and...

This is the finished product. I really like it much better with out the trim around the brim. I now have a great hat that I can wrap ribbons around to change it. Attach flowers, barrettes, I also found out that I can use my headbands around it. The possibilities are endless! So excited! 

These are another purchase that I made. They are bright pink flats, but the picture doesn't do them any justice. They are Bright BRIGHT neon Pink. I just had to share my lovely shoe find.
The whole point of this is that if your patient, I waited alllll winter long to get these hats, it will pay off. And the other point is that with a little bit of work you can take something ho-hum to Hum-Yes! I'm looking forward to long fun times with my fedora and the shoes... the shoes are pretty distracting. 

EggyMcMuffins

I finally finished scrubbing the muffin tin from my latest endeavor. And as I sit to write about it,  I wondered if it was worth it. I hope my hubby will appreciate my work. I've actually made this before, and for some reason the eggs came out easier the first time. As always-almost anyways- I can thank Pinterest for this make ahead meal. And I took some artistic license with it. The recipe calls to have one egg per muffin space. I cracked a dozen eggs into a bowl and then mixed the eggs with pre-cooked sausage. I scooped the mixture out and into the tins. Cooked at 350* for 20 min. I cooked them and sliced eggs. I also cooked a can of the biscuits. I then had to put everything on hold. 

Baby boy was awake and demanding my attention. Once I had him feed and happy he sat in his high chair and watched me finish the project. I cut the biscuits, place the cheese on, and the egg finishing with the top of the biscuits.
I wrap them in tinfoil and toss them in the freezer-which was annoying side story. I had to clean out the freezer and re-organize before I could get the mcmuffins in to freeze. 

I now have a great little meal to feed to my husband. I love having meals like this set aside, when you have two young children you never know how much sleep you will get in a night. Last night was lacking. 

http://www.macheesmo.com/2010/03/breakfast-sandwiches/