orange poppy seed bread

3 c. sifted flour
2 1/2 c. sugar
1 1/2 tsp salt
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
3 eggs
1 1/2 c milk
1 1/8 c. vegetable oil
1 1/2 tsp poppy seeds
1 1/2 tsp vanilla
1 1/2 tsp almond extract
1 1/2 tsp butter melted

1 recipe for orange glaze

grease and lightly flour 2 9X5 loaf pans. in a large bowl mix all ingredients except orange glaze, then beat for 2 minutes. pour into pans bake at 350 for 1 hour. pour glaze over hot bread in pans. let cool before removing from pans.

glaze
3/4 c. sugar
1/4 c. orange juice
1/2 tsp vanilla
1/2 tsp almond extract
1/2 tsp melted butter

in a small bowl combine all ingredients together. pour over hot bread.

valentine topiary

Valentine Topiary... but wouldn't it be cute small in a group of three in spring colors. My mind is going crazy after I saw this cute idea on the idea room blog. Hers is cute and pink and she shows other ways to display them too. She also show's a better tutorial.. but this gives you the main idea.

3" felt circles folded in fourths and pinned to a 3" styrofoam ball.

I used a pencil instead of a dowel for the smaller one, and I wrapped the dowel and pencil with floral tape rather than paint them. I like the look of both!

The possibilities are endless!

STAYCATION WAS A HIT!!!

when the kids got home from school Thursday this is who greeted them... MR. Magic HAPPY
and Me with a plate of cookies, music was blasting from the door downstairs and the sign below read:
THEY WERE SO EXCITED! Nick had been home all day and it was just KILLING him that I wouldn't tell him what was going on... by the time I cranked the music (knowing the kids would be home soon)... Nick was standing on the front porch tapping his toe waiting for the other kids to come....

when they finally came to the door they read the sign... opened the door and ta - da...

I had set up the tent in our unfinished basement and laid out their beds, a dvd player, a lounge area, games, treats... you name it.

We watched "Cloudy With A Chance Of Meatballs"... it was pretty cute! Perfect flic for the staycation we thought. Andy particularly enjoyed the tent... so much so that he was banned from movie watching... but not before he left the kids a little stinky present....

The second days itinerary included... dining in the Staycation hotel Cafe'. Breakfast was all you can eat blueberry muffins, juice, milk, waffles with strawberry syrup and whipcream, bacon, and fruit. I filled a basket full of things they could do on their other free-time adventures... like Bubble gum (with the instructions to chew, pop, snap, chomp all you want), MP3 player to sing to as loud as you want, balls to juggle, toys to squirt in the bathtub, notebooks to write songs, plays, or journal about the staycation, art supplies to be creative with, magazines to read, and more. We went swimming at the local pool. We were suppose to have done a nature walk to look for animal tracks (but got too tired from all the rest of the fun.) The one thing that I very much enjoyed was spending time alone with each of them. They each got to think of something to do with just me for 1 hour. I loved it! So did they.

*oh and I did get one letter to management saying that he gave the "Staycation Cafe' breakfast" a 5 star rating but the sleeping conditions could use some improvement. :)

getting creative might not seem hard for me... it's the carrying something like that out and being happy about doing it that is sometimes a challenge. Not this time. We all had a blast... the kids were very gracious and kind to me saying about 100 times how much fun they had and can we please do it again..... Sadie keep saying "It just means so much to us Mom."

NOW IT'S MONDAY>>>THEY'RE STILL HERE AND I HAVE A HEADACHE...DIET COKE HERE I COME.

Inspiration and Uplift

what good is a NEW YEAR without some UPLIFT... this is the best book I've read about exercise in a REALLY LONG TIME.... YOU HAVE TO READ IT!!!!

and saw this on Studio 5 ... think it looks fun! Look on this blog: JesseKate Designs blog for the whole STAYCATION HOTEL inspiration

Gnocchi

This isn't a photo of mine... but this is what's for dinner at my house. just thought I would share, yet another way to use up leftover mashed potatoes. I know, it is probably not the optimal way to make gnocchi (because there is already butter and milk added to the potatoes...which might make them more dense...) BUT I'm doing it anyway. I have some pesto too.... so I'm tossing the little dumplings in pesto, olive oil, little parm, chicken stock and serving it with roasted chicken tenders. While in my search for these, I found a great little tutorial about these here and then found a website from Idaho Potatoes that had all sorts of yummy leftover mashed potato recipes.. check it out. It might be fun to use prosciutto that you bake in muffin tins like a cup to make them into crisp bowls to serve this little concoction in.... wish I had some.

shutterfly promo

go here for a great gift idea... use the promo code janbook for a free 8x8 photo book.

I'm going to make this...

I found this quilt here and I love it.. the tutorial makes it look pretty easy. I have been wanting something for the boys beds and I love this. It will be fun to see what different colors will do to it. I like the shades of blue and green and I think my boys will too, but I'm always a sucker for red. I would really like to get some inspiration for decor in the boys room. I am always at a loss of where to start. If any of you have great sites for inspiration in a boys room (keeping in mind that they vary in age from 2 to 11....so dump trucks to sports) please feel free to share.

ANDY or as i call him BEANS

sO, THIS Is WHat 2010 bRINGs FOr mE... THe reaLIZAtiOn THat i Am geTTING old AND mY bABy IS gRoWINg uP waY TOO faST!!!
hE IS cuTE aND fUN AND loVES to LAuGH AND TAlk AND knoWS HE Is thE cENTer oF OUR WORLD

thIS wINTER hE HAS bEEN my rED cHInnED BoY, AND hE IS sELDom SEen WIthOUt A bRUISE On hIS fOREheAD.

hE'S all BOY!

ANDY D. 20 MONTHS OLD