... how I spent my St Pat's weekend!

Spent the weekend with the hubby and my BEST GIRL!!!

She arrive kinda late on Saturday - we had a yummy dinner of left over BBQ beef, smoked bratwurst, macaroni and cheese,  sauteed asparagus & mushrooms, and cesar salad - she ate it all up except the  mac & cheese.  (weirdo)

Eating ice cream ~ with green sprinkles ~  of course  =D 

We cleaned out the crabitat and set it back up all new fun and exciting - the are so happy with their new digs! round all crawled night and most of the day and looks like they are up for another all nighter! 

happy crabby land

We stayed up WAAAAYYYY  to late ~ like midnight!!!   but thanks to the mantle clock in the living room that is stuck on 4:50 & the light blocking thermal drapes the little monster ~ eeerrr, darling was fooled and let us all sleep till 9:00 am!!!

 ZZZzzzzzzzz......  =D   

We had a delicious breakfast - bacon, fried apples with cinnamon and candied ginger YUM!   with scramble eggs and ice cream =)  yup, I am the cool aunt - we eat ice cream for breakfast AND after dinner... we might have, on occasion had ice cream with lunch as well... perhaps.  8)

round 2 - note to self she is a 2 egg kinda girl 

With full bellies we started on a little sewing lesson ~  made a super cute Barbie  outfit.  Ok, I made the skirt last weekend & we worked on the tank top together.  I have not sewn in a looonnng time and she she has done on a little for girl scouts and once in kindergarten (with real needles she tells me - I  do not believe it!?)  We used fabric scraps from well loved, beyond repairable clothing. 

I was so excited when I found Miss B. Couture - she is AWESOME!  thorough, simple directions - very cute outfits - we want to make them all!!! 

just getting started ~ thanks to http://www.missbcouture.com 

almost done ~ just needs some velcro fastener sew on the back 

Sew cute - right?

While we worked on our sewing she helped me make this amazing crock pot beef stew ~  we totally cheated used one of those McCormick beef stew packs, 3 lbs of chuck roast beef chunks (browned in a bit of olive oil)  1 1/2 cups water...   cooked for a hour on high.

Then we added 5 cups of these pretty little assortedbaby  potatoes & some fresh/frozen rosemary (Mmmmm  smells like summer).

Finally,1 1/2 cups halved baby onions, 2 cups halved baby portabella mushrooms, and a 1/2 cups baby carrots  ....  generooouuuusssss pour of cabernet sauvignon - because as I told my young assistant - wine makes almost everything taste better.   We let that cook on low for a few more hours...  =D

We went off to meet up with mom, dad and the little brother - to return her and do some thrift shopping!!!  They got all the good finds...  and yes another Barbie (with blond & pink hair) I think she is addicted - but it makes me happy to see a 10 yr old acting like a 10 year old - yup, enjoy being a kid!

Back to my Home Sweet Home and OMG - pretty sure this is the BEST beef stew ever!  YUM!  =D

....  this girl ready for bed  - NOT ready for Monday  =/

King Cake =D

Happy Mardi Gras Y'all!!!

.
Stuck here at home in the frozen Midwest I could not resist making King Cake Mam Papaul's Mardi Gras King Cake Mix with Praline Filling, you can find them at World Market (probably a bunch more place this time of year) ...  

King cakes are a  sweetbread ring shaped cake filed with cream cheese, fruit or in this case praline decorated with purple (justice yellow (power) and green (faith)  colored sugar  with a little toy baby hidden beneath the cake - the person who finds the baby brings the next cake or hosts the next party. 

I have to say a bit more labor intensive than I recall.--- chalking it up to being old and out of shape  w   I totally need dough hooks for my stand mixer --- but TOTALLY worth it!

The mix comes with just about everything you need - just add hot water, butter and an egg,  and nuts are optional, but I highly recommend them  ---  I used walnuts, pecans would be great too =D

I made 2 small cakes so I could bring one to work and leave at home for the hubby. 

They turned out fairly well -- LOL ok so,  one fairly respectable mini king cake and a blog for Rob -ha!!   I am quite certain I should have flipped them so the pinched side was on the bottom  - but oh well  -  nothing icing and colorful sugar cannot hide  =)  

A medallion from the the Krewe of Iris parade  (far too  many years ago)  Named for the Goddess of the Rainbow and Messenger to the Gods, the lovely krewe wears full-length masks and white gloves -awesome! 

girls Christmas lunch get together at the office...

Today at work we girls had our Christmas lunch -  I had a HUGE Italian salad - lettuce, cucumber, tomato, onion, pepperoni, bacon, provolone and blue cheese dressing - it was Delicious!   everyone else had the amazing meatball & mozzarella sandwich on garlic bread - ya it is amazing.

The girls are great ...  whenever stuff annoys me I stop to remind myself how lucky I am to work with such lovely people!

I got them all a box of German boozy cherry chocolates, a jar of my AMAZING coffee vanilla liqueur, cute little Christmas trees soaps I got a a little soap shop in Kenosha, Wisconsin - wrapped them up in a plain brown paper bag and tied on a glittery Merry Christmas ornaments with some culling ribbon  - yea, I am all about the bow!   sorry -no photos as I wrapped them in the car on my way to work - just call me mayhem  - lol...   no no, I have plenty of time at the stoplights...  1 hour to drive 16 miles - insanity - right?   ha ha hoo hoo hee hee =D


I LOVE all my gifts - seriously!!!  

festive stuff - a jingly charm bracelet charm,  snowman pin and this ornament -   love love love it...  it is a origami crane hanging inside a glass figural glass bauble, with  white sequins, pink metallic stands and a pink confetti piece that says "celebrate" with pink and silver bow topped with a tiny pink candy cane - love it

cute Vera Bradley organizer   cute and so light weight - I totally  NEED help with organizing & lightening my load  with all my traveling  - home, work, home away for home, visiting family .  where is my home again!?  

viva la vera

a box of amazing sugar free chocolates - YUM!!!

I have been sO missing candy with my new restricted diet  (Dr's orders - no wheat or refined sugar - you know they put that stuff in like everything <sigh>  had they told me no coffee - surely I would have run out of the office screaming) - I did not know such a thing existed! wonderful - gonna savor those...

gotta take off these bells and take care of my sick hubby  -  ear infection, fever, maybe pneumonia...  poor kid...     Hope you all are taking extra time to appreciate life -relax and enjoy some time with friends and family♥

... adventure in soap "making" - happened this weekend

A few weeks ago I picked up a soap making kit at Goodwill - contained a book on actual soap making, a mold, glycerin melt soap and other soap making stuff for $2.99 and a 2 lb brick of coconut oil melt & pour soap for $1.99

The book that came with the kit is very good  thoroughly covers actual soap making - and clearly lets one know that is for the detail oriented, rule following type - which I am not but I DO like fancy soaps and getting a little crafty once in a while - so melt & pour is ideal for me - the book didn't have much on melt & pour - probably because it is so freaking easy!!!  you can read about it here ->  An introduction to Melt and Pour soapmaking.....   

I went a bit basic on my recipes & used what seemed like a good combination - here are some more involved & complex Recipes: Melt and Pour Soap to feed the creativity...  If you are wanting to make your soap therapeutic, as I did check this out  -> Medicinal Properties of Herbs   the book was helpful to - I recommend a book of you can find a good one second hand...  if you have any books on herbal remedies or natural cures - you might find ideas fro additives in there as well.  I was not able to find any particularly good & thorough websites on melt and pour - but I will be on the the lookout for a blog or 2 on the subject!

so with ideas in my mind, I gathered all the necessities  and started my makeshift double boiler.  I cut the soap into 1/2 - 1 inch chunks and melted it in my 'double boiler"  (a pot in a larger pot)   - -that's one more another thing to add to my wish list = small double boiler!

My first batch -  Soothing Lavender Oatmeal Rosemary.  I used about 4 oz of the creamy coconut oil melt & pour soap base, added about 1 teaspoon oatmeal, 1/2 teaspoon lavender flowers, a generous pinch of fresh rosemary - ground and add to melted soap - pour into mold. 

 * I do not recommend using oatmeal on you first try - maybe needs water added?   It took a bit more mix in it & it was kinda chunky..   not the prettiest soap - but i'm it smells lovely. 

**  If using your coffee grinder like I did - add about 1/4 cup instant white rice and grind it up to clean out the coffee residue  - this also allegedly sharpens the blades - IDK sure doesn't hurt)

#FMSPHOTOADAY "happened this weekend" 

Second batch - (soon to be famous) Coffee Cinnamon Clove Scrubby!! loosely based one this COFFEE SCRUBBY SOAP recipe...Nom nom nom  =)  again I used about 4 oz of creamy coconut oil melt & pour soap and took 2 tablespoons coffee beams, 7 cloves and a dash of cinnamon - grind and add to melted soap and pour into mold....    so pretty!  I can not wait to try this ...  and luckily I do not have to - another wonderful about melt & pour - no cure time needed  - that sure was $5 well spent =)

oh, my! something about cranberries just popped into my head... would it be wrong to add cranberry to soap and what about adding nuts to the cranberry sauce??? 

red, white and blue

Here is the wreath I made over the weekend using the clamp wreath frame I salvaged from this years Christmas wreath picked out 6 or 7 red white and blue flower bunches and the yellow wired ribbon from the summer decorations box 

- cost $0 to make -yaY! 

I used wire cutters I cut the bunches apart and made bundles or 3 or 4 stems
clipped then in and wrapped t ribbon around the wreath to cover the clips
and used the rest of the ribbon to make a little bow.... 

I would have loved to have more ribbon but I am happy with it =)