{this moment}

{this moment}

inspired by Soule Mama

Hanging with Big Papa

Today I....

• nearly had a heart attack
• got finger printed
• got knocked to the ground

Today I am grateful...

• that the guy behind us knew how to swerve
• that I didn't get put behind bars or see more of that inmate that was wearing only a towel
• that I didn't get hurt (more than turf burn)

Today I learned that...

• sometimes it is safer to run the yellow (especially when the guy behind you is tailgating and pulling four cords or wood)
• dealing with a home invasion can last a really long time (going on a year and half)
• I haven't forgotten how to play soccer but my body can't do what my brain remembers doing 10 years and one baby ago!

Pancake Review

After several questions about my pancakes I decided to write a little follow up.  This recipe is not touchy at all!

• You can mix and match any whole grains from both recipes or with whatever you have on hand; just make sure the total "flour" amount equals between 1 and 1.25 cups.  i. e. Corn meal or ground oats make a good replacement for Malt-o-Meal
• If you don't have lemon juice vinegar works for making the buttermilk.
• You can cook these at waffles!!  I would lean a little more towards 1.25 cups on your flour if you are going to try.  
• Have fun!  And please let me know any variations you try.  My latest has coconut flour, almond meal, rice flour and cornmeal.  It was soooo yummy!

Please let me know if you have any other questions!

My daughter having leftover pancakes for
dinner along with oven roasted potatoes!

Chewy Lemon Lavender Snowdrop Cookies

The Great Blogger Cookie Swap is here!  I have received all of my cookies, check out my first two here, the last box came on Saturday. And they were delish!! They were a lovey chocolate and mint (peppermint?) cookie from Jenny at Jenny Creates.

Jenny's lovely cookies which my husband demolished.

I was so nervous and excited to pick out a recipe to send to three lovely ladies.  I wanted to have a unique cookie and it needed to be one that would travel across the country well.   

I found both of these with my Chewy Lemon Lavender Snowdrop Cookies.  Using the chewy lemon snowdrop cookie recipe from sophistimom as a base I dove into my first great cookie adventure. 

Brown Paper Packages Tied up with Strings!

The Lushers' packaging was so pretty I almost didn't open it!

Yay!!!! A few days ago I received my first and my second cookie exchange cookies in the mail!  How exciting to get something so yummy from someone so far away.  That was one of best reasons for signing up for the the great food blogger cookie swap! Check back on Monday the 12th for the link up and my recipe.

{this moment}

{this moment}

inspired by Soule Mama

My sleeping babies!

What happens when.....

you fall back to sleep on the couch in the morning and your 2 year old doesn't.

What to do with a sick 2 year old

Sung to the tune of Drunken Sailor.  What to do with a sick 2 year old... put her in some beans!

Speaking of Pirates!

Pondering the Perfect Pancake

Camping pancakes! Had to squeeze my lemons to make buttermilk.

I love pancakes!  I don't know many people who don't.  Well my dad doesn't but that is because of the stickiness of the syrup.  What I don't love is the heaviness in my stomach and the sugar rush I get from eating a few of these lovely breakfast circles.  The worst part is when you want pancakes and you are out of your favorite mix!!!  This one happened and sent me on the search for a replacement.  While I was at it I thought it might be nice to have one that had less sugar and more whole grains.  My search led me to many ideas but nothing I really liked so I took some elements of a few and made my own with some fun variations!

One is whole grain and one is gluten free.  I am still working on a dairy free version.  But for now most people should be able to enjoy these pancakes.

Mom Hazards

Today I had a rock in my bra for 2 hours and didn't even notice until it fell out when I was changing.....it wasn't exactly a small one either.

Toddlerhood with a Gemini

Day started with my girl cuddling in bed with me, peering into my face to see if I was awake. 
Getting tucked in with blankies and nose kisses. Then hiding under the covers from the ghosts..lots of them. Then we got up and momma got dressed and then it was Aili's turn. And the biggest meltdown in the world happened because I took her jammies off! Twenty minutes later with a cat, chocolate milk and tv for distraction it finally ended.

So I guess I need to figure out a better morning schedule...do you think that will work?

Good and Tasty Tuesday: Oven "Fried" Sweet Potato

   The mornings are cooler but the sun is shining.  I have to scold and remind myself to get out and enjoy it when I can.  This time of year can be so beautiful but it also can be the beginning of Winter Beth (coined by Tia Soph).

Molly sleeping on Daddy's pillow.

I need to follow after my animals and lay in the sun patches on the ground, on the porch or just be outside watching the little ones play!  But as I was saying the mornings are cooler and fall is here so here is a very quick easy and satisfying fall dish.

{this moment}

Inspired by Soule Mama

Go Pack Go! (*a bookmark buster)

*Bookmark buster is a series in which I will try to tackle all the patterns, recipes, crafts and decorations in my book marks!

We are going camping this weekend! Finally....now that summer is over oh well.  We are headed to John Day, OR for my family's annual hunting trip.  This is a trip I made with my family from infant to preteen.  At the age 13 or so I decided I was too cool to miss school.  Now I am trying to show my daughter what is is like to go.  The biggest thing I missed was all the family that gathers there just to hang out.  My dad's aunts and uncles and their offspring, many of which that have their own little ones now.  I am hoping to get some great pictures of camp life and will share them with you next week when I get back.

But for now I want to share with you the great fleece pants I am making for her so she will be toasty warm when the sun goes down.
I used the pattern and tutorial from Make it and Love it. Super tute!  So easy to follow and just look at the results!

Good and Tasty Tuesday: Vegetarian and Gluten Free!

I love making new dishes from leftovers!

Onion, cauliflower, black beans and left over brown rice.

Guest Post: Ask5for5

Guest Blogger: Sarah Lenssen from #Ask5for5
Family photos by Mike Fiechtner Photography

Thank you, Just So Parenting and nearly 150 other bloggers from around the world for allowing me to share a story with you today, during Social Media Week.

{this moment}

This moment is inspired by Soule Mama

oh no not more pictures!

Good and Tasty Tuesday: Tomatoes & Tuna

Yay! Yummy food!  Most times it is a pain throwing together something for lunch since it is just me eating it most of the time.  But you do get bored of the same old thing so it is nice to have fresh(er) ingredients in the house to do something new!

I took a couple of tomatoes (that I am suppose to be canning) and a jar of my newly canned tuna and magic happened.  Just a quick concoction to satisfy those taste buds!

Here I am

I really am alive!  I promise.  I have been away and back and away and just plain out of it.  No real good excuses just blah.  So after gentle prodding from a friend I promise I will be back tomorrow with a new Good and Tasty Tuesday.  And I will also be posting later this week what has been keeping me busy (when I am actually doing anything).  Thank you all for reading and commenting. Here is a cute picture of my daughter to make you forget my absence.

Christmas time at the coast we spotted the rare Pacific Sea Monster!

Yarn (or my other addiction)

While running around to every single store in town that has yarn (there are 4) I discovered a few things about myself and my stash and my yarn stores. BTW I was looking for enough yarn to make this for a friend.

1. The local yarn shop is not fully stocked in the middle of summer and only has dark and light but no medium grays.
2. You get what you pay for also applies to circular needles, I chose the >$6 pair and they are already catching on one side. 
3. Even annoying catching circular needles are faster than double pointed needles.
4. Just when you think their can't be anything new in yarn you find this on  the shelf.
   
   
   
   
   http://www.sugarncream.com/product.php?LGC=sugarncreamscents  That is right scented yarn!! It comes in 7 scents.  I actually carried the lavender one around with me while I looked at everything else.  But I couldn't bring myself to buy it when I could just put lavender in with my yarn at home.
5. Yarns I bought several years ago might not be made out of wool like I remembered them being....
6. Sometimes good things come to those who wait...I found the medium gray I was looking for at the last store on sale for $2 less than all the other stores.
7. I can get myself into trouble just looking at yarn.  Oh the ideas in my head.

So do you have a great yarn shop in you home town?  And would you buy vanilla or lavender scented yarn?

{this moment}

Brand new daddy! 

9 years ago

• I didn't have a bachelor's degree or my master's. 
• I didn't know that women's football existed.
• I didn't know what it would feel like to own a house.
• I didn't know that I would add many to the list I call siblings.
• I didn't know that I would gain a set of parents.
• I didn't know that I would be more than happy to take my daughter with us on our anniversary dinner and be thrilled to buy her panties and socks after.
• I didn't know that my husband and daughter would be my whole world.
• I didn't know that my finance would be the best dad in the world.
• I didn't know that becoming parents would make us better people and better husband and wife.
• I didn't know that 9 years with the man I love would fly by with the good and not so good, but always with love.
• I didn't know that I would be so excited to see what the next 9 years brings us.
• I love you babe!

Good and Tasty Tuesday: Mother Hubbard Style

I was looking for something tasty for lunch this last week and realized it was way past time to go grocery shopping.  I have a really hard time with lunch most of the time because I really want it to taste good but rarely have great stuff around for it.  Or so I thought.  So looking around my sparse cupboards I began to throw together something different that wouldn't leave me wanting.  In the end I threw together tuna, mandarin oranges, almonds, oil, vinegar, basil, oregano, and black pepper.  YUM YUM YUM.  My only complaint was that while it tasted really good it wasn't quite enough.  Next time I will try it with cooked rice or over a mixed bed of lettuce!  

Sorry for the short post I have been a little busy and life a little hectic lately.  It all started with a late evening phone call and ended with this....

My new niece and the Auntie she gets to share a birthday with for the rest of her life!

But more on that later!

{this moment}

Inpired by Soule Mama

Well this is your problem right here....

Let me go ahead and just fix that for you.

Good and Tasty Tuesday: Cold Tuna Casserole

This is one of the many dishes I was introduced to when I joined my husband's family for dinner.  It is a great summer dish as it is served cold.  It is a really well rounded dish and one that I go back for seconds and thirds on.  It is also has several of my daughter's favorite foods in it so that is definitely another plus!  And of course as always amounts can be adjusted to preference of taste.

Cold Tuna Casserole

{this moment}

What happens when you leave toddler alone in her bedroom too long!

Good and Tasty Tuesday: Egg noodles with Sausage, Onion and Peppers

This is one of our favorite quick and easy and yummy meals.

 Egg noodles with Sausage, Onion and Peppers
2 cups  Egg Noodles
1         Turkey Kielbasa
2         Onions
2         Bell Peppers (any color)  

Cook noodles according to package.  Saute everything else together until cooked to desired texture.  Scoop sausage mixture over noodles and enjoy.

Good and Tasty Tuesday: Chicken with Lemon and Pepper

I am really beginning to enjoy the thinking ahead and planning for Good and Tasty Tuesday!  I would like to thank Stay at Home Babe for giving me the extra push to write on my blog regularly.  And as my husband pointed out I am a lot like her that is why I really love her blog!

So for today's recipe I have chosen a really simple and delicious meal.  It was given to me orally by one of my MIL best friends and a great customer, Teresa B.   Oh boy did it turn out just as juicy and yummy as she said it would.

Chicken with Lemon and Pepper

Today...

my two year old ask for a bowl of peanut butter and I gave it to her.  I figured it was better than a bowl of ice cream!

Yay we are back from visiting the grandparents!  Good and Tasty Tuesday will return tomorrow stay tuned!

{this moment}

Inspired by Soule Mama 
{this moment} - A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember.

Making friends at the fountain!

Good and Tasty Tuesday: Not so good

So for dinner tonight our main course was ice cream.  Just one of those days.  It happens and I try not to feel to guilty.  Aili got peanut butter and jelly so that is a step up...on white bread so a small step back down.  There were carrots on her plate and I am pretty sure she didn't touch them.  Any way I hope everyone else had a healthier Tuesday than we did!
I will leave you with my favorite recipe for Homemade Graham crackers and Goldfish crackers.  I love both of these recipes and the blog they came from Savory Seasonings.
I made the the goldfish with a sharp cheddar and it was amazing.  The grahams I have made several times and the first 3 times I forgot an ingredient each time and they still turned out wonderful.  The first time I left out the baking soda so they were a crisper cracker which went perfectly with the homemade marshmallows for smores. The second time I left out the salt which did not affect the end result.  And the third I forgot the sugar so it was subtle sweet wheaty cracker.  When I finally got my brain together made it with all the ingredients it quickly became a favorite of all in the house.

{this moment}

Inspired by Soule Mama 
{this moment} - A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember.

Good and Tasty Tuesday: Ooddles of Noodles

As the weather here has taken a turn towards summer my feelings toward cooking has change.  I am loving our new little grill and with it the ability to cook outside again.  But there are days that doing much more than boiling water is beyond my abilities.  So as the temps crept into the 90's today I brought out a favorite taught to us by my amazing sis in law, Katy.
Cold Somen Noodles!! This wonderfully simple meal is the best for days you just can't even think about eating something warm.  Until now it has just been a very simple meal of cold somen noodles (a Japanese wheat noodle) and Memmi sauce.  Today I decided to add to it so it fit better in the good (healthy) category.

As you can see I added broccoli and carrots!

{this moment}

Inspired by Soule Mama
{this moment} - A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember.

Good and Tasty Tuesday: Comfort Food

It was a cool and rainy day here so I decided that it was time to make my husband favorite soup.  Spicy Peanut Soup with Chicken from Epicurious.  Of course I don't follow the recipe haven't since the first time I made it.
Now don't worry about it being too spicy I am the biggest wimp when it comes to spicy foods.  I will warn you though it will get hotter the longer it sits.  I like to make in my giant stock pot and we live off it it for a few days.  In winter time we even just leave it out on the stove so we can dip in whenever we are hungry. It can be made vegetarian and/or gluten free.  You can also make it healthier by sticking to the chicken breast and using olive oil instead of butter. We have also added beans.  I personally love the taste of chicken thighs in the soup.
This soup also has a fond memory instilled with it.  It was with this dish we discovered our daughter loves spicy food.  It was also the food in which we accidentally introduced peanuts to her.  Luckily she was not allergic!

{this moment}

Inspired by Soule Mama
{this moment} - A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember.

Tia and Aili enjoying the rose tree.

Aili had a good time with the organic strawberries.

Sorry I couldn't help but add a few words.  This is some of my wonderful family here in Oregon.  My daughter enjoying an outing with Tia.  We were all very happy to discover this farm and their berries!

Good and Tasty Tuesday: Markdown Meals

I am joining Stay at Home Babe on Tuesdays for her Good and Tasty link up!  I love it and her.  So just forget that I am a day late.  That is the procrastinator in me you will get used to it.
So my meal today is inspired by a very good purchase, turkey burger for just $1.20 a pound.  I couldn't resist and then I got home and wasn't sure what I was going to do with it. I had been wanting to try making my own chicken nuggets with broccoli a recipe I had received in my email from one of the parent websites (sorry I can not remember which one).
Since I had no chicken or the recipe I decided to make up my own! Check it out after the break!

Cupcakes Everywhere!

Things I learned while making almost 200 cupcakes in a week:

Milk shake cupcakes for a soda
 shoppe wedding.  My first paying gig!

1. you can never have too many mixing bowls.
2. it is a workout mixing colors into fondant (was even sore the next day).
3. you can get sick of the smell of sugar.
4. seventy-two cupcakes doesn't look like 72 cupcakes.
5. I hate my cupcake pans.
6. I love cupcake wrappers that fit all the way inside the cupcake pan.
7. And no matter what where you put them a 2 year old can find way to put her finger in at least one cupcake.

Growing Up

All kids do, grow up I mean.  My daughter will be two at the end of May.  I know it is cliche to say but where did the time go.  I barely remember the baby who was lifting her head up on day two and never stopped talking.  I was looking through the pictures a few days ago and was so surprised to see this child I barely remember.  She is definitely becoming her own little person.  And the learning curve right now is amazing.  Today she demonstrated the concepts of "me" and wait".  We ask her to wait all the time, so it is not that surprising to hear her yelling it at me as she runs after me.  But it was a bit shocking to have her look at me and ask for something by pointing at herself and saying ME!  It is pure joy and fear when you realize how smart your child already is before the age of two.

This is not who I want to be.

The problem is I don't know who I want to be.  I love reading blogs but it becomes overwhelming when reading all these things that sound so cool.  I want to do it all and be all.  Then I get up in the morning and can't even clean out the sink.  Life can be overwhelming if you let it.  There are so many excuses; too tired, the kid is sick, the husband is sick, the kid wants held.
Now is the time for no more excuses.  So I will start of list of things I am going to do every day.  Even if it is only for 5 minutes.

• Exercise
• Knitting
• Writing (blog or journal)
• Read
• Get outside (walk or yard work or play with Aili or get the mail)
• Sewing
• Practice cake decorating
• Take pictures!  I am going to join other bloggers in a photo day project.
• and last but no least remove unwanted/needed items from my home.

If I take myself literally doing all these things will take 45 minutes of my day.  I can take 45 minutes of my day to make myself feel productive.  So here is the start!  Today I begin to become the person I want to be.

Seperation Anixety or Just Plain Bad Luck

The first time I went to a movie after Aili was born she cried the entire time I was gone.  She was with her daddy and had bad gas at that time in her life.

The first time we left her at home with auntie and uncle she cried the entire 15 minutes we were gone.

The first night I went away and left her with daddy she threw up all night long (bad stomach bug which we all ended participating in).

My thoughts are to a future wedding in Hawaii where I will be going for a week by myself while she stays at home with dad.  What is going to happen then?

New Routines

New year new routines.  The last few years I have refused to make resolutions.  To me resolutions are grand ideas/plans that always fail, are often negative and don't make you happy in the end.  So this year with inspiration from others I have started a new routine.  First I took The Inspired Room's five minute morning routine and made it my own. 

1. Make Bed

2. Get dressed, making sure I do it right with a bra and shoes.  Thanks to  Fly Lady and mother in law I can do this comfortably.  Jean bought me my first pair of Sketchers Shape Ups!

3. Have something warm to drink.  Not a coffee drinker but tea lately has been working for me or hot chocolate yum!

4. Empty dishwasher.

5. Empty other dishwasher.

So far these have been working for me especially since my hubby has been loading the dishwashers at night.  We have been doing this for almost a week and we have caught up on our dishes.  There were not enough dishes to even run one drawer of the dishwasher last night!!

Now I am starting the Fly Lady program with my sisters.  She is all about the baby steps.  Today I shined my sink and I will be doing the 27 Fling Boogie later.  But my favorite thing about her is her mantras "You are never behind you are just starting out" and "Your house didn't get dirty in a day so don't expect it to be clean in one".  With my sisters and a little help from Fly Lady I am hoping that my house will become my home and I will never again have to frantically clean when company is coming over. 

Now this is all for inside the house check out the new blog for outside Sister Seedlings.