Corner cupboard treasures

I was putting away some items in my corner cupboard and saw these treasures that I had not pull out for a while.

I was at a gift store in Indianapolis and saw these little hand blown hearts of many different colors.

I just had to have them.  They had so many to choose from.

The green glass is Lake Erie Sea Glass from a vacation near Cleveland.  I am always facinated by it.

These are butter pats.  They are a great thing to collect because there are so many designs and usually they cost no more than $10.00.  The hunt is always the most fun.  Here is a nice history about butter pats. 

Logo

I put together this logo for a friend who is the head of the Allen County Water and Sewer District.  They will use it for letterhead, business cards, door logo maybe even the wall. 

Three

Last Friday night our (great) nieces and nephew came to visit for a while.

Bedtime came and it took a while to fall asleep but they finally made it.

Sleeping children are so sweet to look at. 

Too Cute

I had to get a new flash drive for the digital imaging class.  I found this guy at Office Depot and he was too cute for words.  I even loved his little USB tag on the chain.  He can hold 4 GB's.

Cookies-Oatmeal Chocolate Chip

I took an oatmeal cookie recipe and added my own twist to it.

Oatmeal-Chocolate Chip

3/4 melted butter

1 cup packed brown sugar

1/2 cup granulated sugar

1 egg

1/4 cup water

1 tsp vanilla

1 cup whole wheat flour

1 tsp salt

1 tsp cinnamon

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp cloves

3 cups quick cooking oatmeal

1/2 bag mini semi-sweet chocolate chips

Heat oven to 350 degrees.  Mix thoroughly melted butter, sugars, egg, water and vanilla.  Stir in remaining ingredients.

Spray cookie pans with canola oil.  Drop by rounded teaspoonfuls 1 inch apart onto baking sheet.  Bake 13 minutes, let cool 1 minute and take off and put on cooling rack.  Store in tightly covered container.  ~ Approximately 5 dozen cookies.

The family gave the recipe a thumbs up.

Sam took the crumbs, put them in a bowl with ice cream and chocolate syrup. 

Relief on Tag Board

In my 3D Design class the assignment is to choose a picture and do a relief of it.

Here are my tools.  A self sealing cutting mat, a bone folder, an 18 inch metal ruler with cork on the back, pencil and exacto knife.

The relief has to cover the whole length of the tag board.  I chose this parrot because I decided I could use dimension with his tail feather and wings.

I am partially done and don't think it looks bad for my first try. 

Later I will share the finished product. 

I shot these by my front window, natural lighting makes such a difference!

(Later on this evening)

No more natural lighting, but here is my finished product. 

It turned out ok-at least no pencil lines are showing.  That was very important. 

We will see what she says about it. 

A New Semester

I am two weeks into the new semester.  Two art classes this time, Digital Design and 3-D Design.  I am really going to learn the ins and outs of Adobe Photoshop and also my DSLR Camera.  I have already learned about Camera Raw which was a totally foreign term to me.  I cannot use the auto setting on my camera now, but have to manually adjust my settings and then fix it in Photoshop.  I was getting frustrated because I cannot find enough light and we cannot use flash because it takes away from the shadows.  Then the light lit up above my head and BAZINGA-I can make it brighter in Photoshop.  I just have to wrap my mind around this and hope I become fast, because auto just does the thinking for you. 

The project for 3-D design that is due on Monday is taking a design and on the 2-D paper and cutting with an exacto knife and folding to make the design 3 Dimensional.  I will share pictures of that tomorrow.

This little bear is probably 16 years old.  As always in the process of organizing, cleaning and purging I found him.  My Mom made a whole bunch of these to sell somewhere and of course she let us choose a favorite.  I can see why I took this little guy as his fabric had little red hearts.  When I found him one of his arms were loose and bow tie was in disarray.  I fixed his arm and gave him a new bow tie.  The bathroom always has bright lights and I liked the reflection in the faucets.  It still wasn't bright enough so I adjusted it in photoshop.  He makes me smile. 

I love this plaque that was given to me by my niece and nephew brought from either England or Scotland.  I really enjoy things that are pottery and painted.  It is sitting where you can see it when you come in the front door. 

I made it brighter and used a filter to achieve the look I wanted.

New Recipe-Chicken Spinach Parmesan

This is the picture from the book, even though I had some spinach I didn't use it.  I wanted the family to eat it. This recipe was very tasty and so fast.  It was a great recipe to use for after work.

The recipe is for one chicken breast so just increase it by how many chicken breasts you have.  .

Chicken-spinach Parm

1 T. Olive Oil

1 boneless, skinless chicken breast

1 T. Italian-seasoned bread crumbs

1 tsp Parmesan, grated

Salt and pepper to taste

1 small clove garlic, crushed

1/4 c marinara sauce

3 handfuls baby spinach leaves

Heat the oil in a nonstick skillet over medium heat.

As the oil is heating, pound the chicken to 1/2 inch thickness, then sprinkle with bread crumbs, cheese, salt and pepper, pressing so the crumbs stick.

Place in the pan with the garlic and saute for 2 to 3 minutes per side.

Top with hot marinara.  Add the spinach, turning frequently with tongs until it wilts (about 6 minutes.)

I also made whole wheat penne pasta and put marinara sauce on it too.  I then had some breadsticks and frozen peas. 

Book Review-Heaven is for Real

This book was a very quick and easy read, approximately 3 hours.  It was written by Todd Burpo who is a Wesleyan Church Pastor in Nebraska.  His son who was not quite 4 at the time had his appendix burst and then abcess.  The little boy, Colton was very, very sick by the time the doctors operated.  They were sceptical that he would even make it through the surgery.  At the time of the surgery both parents were in separate rooms, the mother talking on the phone and praying and the father, praying and raging at God.    Colton did make it through the surgery.  A few months later Colton started to reveal what happened to him while he was in surgery.  He went out of his body and met Jesus and many other people he had not met before.  He would describe what Heaven was like, what Jesus looked like and many other interesting facts.  He also revealed what his mother and father were doing while he was in surgery, something he could not have known and they had not shared.  There were many things in this book to make you think about.  I enjoyed it immensley.

Mandarin Orange Salad

I took this recipe to my sisters house for Christmas.  It had a nice flavor and was really easy to transport.
She asked me for the recipe, and I am happy to be of service.

Mandarin Orange Salad

1/4 cup sliced almonds toasted

1/4 head iceberg lettuce

1/4 head romaine lettuce

1 cup chopped celery

1/4 tsp. onion powder

1/8 tsp. pepper

1/2 tsp salt

2 T. sugar

1/4 c. canola oil

1/8 tsp. red pepper sauce

1 T. parsley

11 oz. can mandarin oranges, drained

tear lettuce into bite size pieces, wash, dry and place into a plastic zip lock bag along with the celery. 

In a container place the onion powder, pepper, salt sugar, canola oil, red pepper sauce and parsley, cover tightly and shake.

Place the mandarine oranges in a separate container and the toasted almonds in a separate container.

5 minutes before serving put dressing, mandarin oranges and almonds in the bag and shake until coated.

Place in a serving bowl and serve immediately.   

Decoration organizing

The tree came down this weekend.

I bet many feel the same way-that it looks so bare.

But it is nice to get the floor swept and things all cleaned up.

I found these great decoration organizers, called Snapware. 

I have a small container like this and it was so handy that when I found these at K-mart I snatched up all they had, which was 4.

It has these cardboard dividers that you can make into smaller or bigger dividers.

Each container has two layers that snap together.

Then it has a lid that snaps on with a handle for easy carrying. 

They worked as well as I thought they would. 

memories

My Dad would have been 87 today.

He has been gone almost 17 years and I can't picture him as an elderly person.

As you can tell he had a great laugh, and I really miss that.

Happy Birfday Dad.

We're thinking of you.

Two More Recipes

More recipes from The Men's Health Big Book of Food and Nutrition.
Banana-Blueberry Smoothie

3/4 cup part-skim ricotta cheese

1/4 cup 1% milk

1/2 cup blueberries

1/2 banana

2 tsp vanilla whey powder protein

6 ice cubes

1. combine ricotta, milk, blueberries, banana and protein powder in a blender.

2. Then add, ice and puree until smooth.

I have had this the past two mornings and just love it.  It's nice and smooth and thick but not too sweet. 

Canoodling Turkey Soup

4 oz. whole wheat noodles

1 T. canola oil

1/2 cup chopped onion

1/2 cup chopped carrot

1/2 cup chopped celery

1 tsp. dried sage

1 lb ground turkey breast

32 oz. fat free chicken broth

4 cups water

1 T. balsamic vinegar

salt to taste

6 oz. baby spinach leaves.

pepper to taste

1.  Cook the noodles according to the package directions.  Drain and set aside.

2. Meanwhile in a pot over medium heat, warm the oil.

3.Add the onion, carrot, and the celery along with the sage to the pot.  Cook, stirring occasionally, for 5 minutes or until the vegetables start to soften.

4. Add the turkey, cook breaking up the turkey with the back of the spoon, until the turkey is no longer pink.

5.  Add the broth, water, vinegar and salt.  Simmer for about 5 minutes or until hot.  Do not boil. 

6.  Stir in the spinach and noodles.

7. Remove from heat and let rest for 5 minutes.

Serves 6

I had first used low sodium chicken broth and had to add salt anyways.  I do not like the dish to be bland and with the turkey breast it was.    After the salt was added this had a really nice, and tasty broth.  

I hope you try and like these! [

How many

Can you see.

They like to join us watching tv.

The excitement is just too much.

Meat Loaf tonight

The Mens Health cookbook offered a meatloaf recipe that was fantastic.  I didn't take a picture because it looked like any other meatloaf.  Here is the recipe though:

Mom's Meatloaf

1/2 cup ketchup

1/4 cup packed dark brown sugar

2 T. lemon juice

1 tsp. mustard powder

2 pounds lean ground beef

2-3 slices of whole grain bread pulled into tiny pieces

3/4 tsp onion powder

1 egg

1.  preheat oven to 400 degrees

2. cover the inside bottom and sides of a 9 X 13 pan with foil

3. In a small bowl. mix together the ketchup, brown sugar, lemon juice and mustard powder.  Set aside.

4. In a large bowl mix together the ground beef, bread, onion, egg and 1/2 of the ketchup mixture.

Dump into the prepared pan and mound like a loaf.  Bake for 1 hour.

5.  Coat the top with the remaining ketchup mixture and bake for 10 additional minutes.

The texture was really smooth. I don't know if it had anything to do with the lemon juice, because I have never used it in meatloaf, but I would definitely use this recipe again. 

Along with it we had the previous nights muffins, a baked potato and a salad with peas, carrots, celery and a little shredded cheese.  A nice comfortable meal.   





Oatmeal Muffins

It was back to work today after 11 heavenly days off.  I came home to make supper, with 3 hungry men wondering what it was going to be.  One thing this year I wanted to do was make more thoughtful, healthier meals, so here is what I came up with.

Chicken Thighs and Legs with the skin removed and with Shake and Bake on each.

Baked in a foil lined 9 X 15 pan.

Frozen Peas (my favorite)

multigrain pasta bowties with a little butter and garlic pepper seasoning

oatmeal muffins

I thought I would share this recipe.

It turned out really well and is just slightly sweet.

Oatmeal Muffins

1 cup quick oats

1 cup buttermilk (I always keep the dried buttermilk on hand)

1 egg

1/2 cup packed brown sugar

1/2 cup canola oil

1/2 cup whole wheat flour

1/2 cup white flour

1 tsp. baking powder

1/2 tsp. salt

1/2 tsp. baking soda

3/4 cup craisins (any dried fruit will do that you have on hand)

Made 15 muffins

Mix all ingredients and spoon into muffin papers 2/3 full.  Bake at 400 degrees for 10 to 12 minutes.

If you try these let me know what you think.

Happy New Year

A new start.

Wishing everyone a healthy and prosperous New Year.

The baby stamp is Baby Jane from Sweet Stamps.

A front came through today and it is now windy and cold.  There were even tiny little white caps on the pond. 

family sign

I found this while Christmas shopping.  I liked the message and the colors. 

Sebastian

I finished up a painting I had started earlier in the year.

Getting Ready for the New Year

I found this book at Barnes and Noble bookstore yesterday.  I thought it might jumpstart our way to healthy eating for the new year.  I have no big resoulutions, just always trying to lose some pounds and cook healthy for my family.  This book had easy to read font, large, colorful photos, LOTS of good tips.  We will see how it goes. 

Here is my new clean address book.  My old one was looking pretty dingy.

The new purse calendar.

I am all ready for 2012!

Bring it on!

Gifts

Here are a few treasures that I received this year.

I love this big fat bird from my niece Angie.  He is sitting under a table in the foyer right now.  When it turns warm he will probably make his way near some flowers.

We were given this beautiful ornament.  I thought it was too pretty to put away so it went on the cross wall.

This is a bookmark.  I am enjoying it in the little glass vase on my bedside table.

Kevin made this box in shop class.  I think he did a great job and am so glad that I received it.

It is right now holding new Detroit Lions key chain from Sam. (Go Lions!)

Also from my niece some Polish Pottery.  My coffee will be so tasty in that mug.  The little woman will be holding cinnamon sugar.  My sister Linda gave to me the Noah's Ark Santa.  Every inch has something interesting to see.  I especially like the cats in the doorway of the ark.

When we were in Detroit I picked up a couple Christmas Gifts from Tom to me.  I wanted something with color to put on the fireplace mantle.  This nice vase is a Pewabic Pottery.

This large plate is just the right color to go with the window valances and it will also be on the mantle after the decorations come down.  Also Pewabic Pottery.

Tom saw me admiring this bottle.  It has coconut pieces floating throughout and it is so pretty.

I love coconut rum in my diet coke. 

Christmas Week

Taken before we opened our gifts to each other on Christmas Eve.  I always like to get a picture of them in front of the Christmas Tree for their scrapbooks. 

I get this week off between Christmas and New Years every year because USF is closed.  I so look forward to it.  It is so nice to wake up and know I don't have to get ready for work.  I can leisurely drink my coffee and think about what I want to do today.  On my "to do" list was to watch The Help.  Sam loves to watch movies and he will always watch them with me, so he joined me with this movie.  I had read the book and equally enjoyed the movie.  We went to the mall today and went to Barnes and Noble, ate at Cheddars, went to Phils Hobby Shop, Target-they have some of the best Christmas paper and I wanted to get some for half price.  There was not a roll left and it's only two days after Christmas!  Sam and I plan to go see the Twilight movie that's out, and he has it planned that we will go out to eat, watch a movie and play monopoly till the ball drops on New Years Eve. 

The only bad thing about this week is that 3 out of 4 of us are battling a rotten cold. 

Book Review-Dewey the Library Cat

This book was given to my by my friend Leah last year.  I needed to pick up something light since all I had been looking at for 5 months were text books.  Oh my gosh, I fell in love with it.  It was a two day read. 

Dewey Readmore Books started out as just a tiny dirty kitten that was put into the book return slot at the Spencer Iowa Public Library on one of the coldest days of the year.  This book is more than a story about a cat, its about a town and a family.  It was just a feel good, heartwarming story.  Dewey lived a good long life, he touched many people at the library and around the world.  It was amazing how his story snowballed to world wide fame from tiny Spencer Iowa. 

From the reviews on the back of the book there was one from W.P. Kinsella, author of Shoeless Joe-and yes I recognized the name from Field of Dreams-another Iowa setting.  "I loved this heartwarming story, with a five-hankey ending, that is not just about an extraordinary cat, but of the resilience and humanity of the people of Iowa."

Final Photography Project

Classes ended for the fall semester on December 14th for me.We had to show our final project. It was supposed to be a photo story. I chose the topic of porches. I decided that you could tell a lot about the inhabitants of the house by their porch. I walked up and down the streets of our historic west central neighborhood in Fort Wayne because the have some fabulous old houses with neat porches. It was a very sunny cool fall afternoon.  I walked and took pictures from 2:00 to 3:30 in the afternoon, when most people weren't home.  I didn't want to have to explain myself. The sun was my friend that day and offered great shadows. I took 3 rolls of 36 exposure film and had to choose 5 images.

This one I chose for the humor value.  I loved their gnome standing sentry at the front door.  Also the plaque on the door had a funny Halloween face on it.  The house had four mailboxes so it had been made into apartments.  So I wondered who was the person who added the interest on the front porch.

This one I chose especially for the easy chair.  Also if you look closely a couple of walls have a diamond pattern painted design.  I have been told this is kind of a party house.

I liked this one because it was so different from the others.  It was pretty no nonsense with old kitchen chairs, discarded cardboard boxes and empty beer bottles.  To me it seemed liked a definite mans house with not a touch of a woman at all. 

This was a fabulous, patriotic porch, with pretty wicker furniture but they needed to keep something in with their extra gate.  It could be a child or a pet. 

I chose this for the shadows, the flag and the built in bench.  The broken pumpkins were to feed the squirrels.  I saw many eating from pumpkins like these along the streets.  For being a small porch it had a lot of personality right down to its seasonal wreath on the door. 

Christmas Goodies

I love, love, love this cutout recipe.  It was given to us for a wedding gift and I have used it every year (31).  It needs no refrigeration, is just the right texture and consistency every time.  The flavor is out of this world.  I make, cutout and bake and the rest of the family decorates.

Someone got a little crazy with the red hots. 

I use lots of dipping chocolate on my peanut butter balls.  They are not beautiful but they are sooo goood.

Here is some monkey bread.  I used Pillsbury Grands Biscuits and cut them into fourths.  Melted margarine and rolled them to coat, poured the rest of the ingredients into a bag.  Added the buscuits and SHOOK IT UP.  Put them into a bunt pan and Whala...this is what cha get.  It was oh so good too. 

I also made some Cinnamon Sticks...thank you Suzy Smith.  Chocolate Chip cookie recipe but instead used mini Reese Peanut Butter Cups.  Haystacks, Waffle Pretzels with kisses and pecans on top.  We are just rolling around this house right now.

This Morning

Little bit of ice on the pond, little bit of snow and a little bit of pink in the sky.

How serene!