Flowers

This week Jon offered to go to the grocery store, so I let him even though I like to be the one who goes. When he came home he said "you have to let me go to the grocery store sometimes so I can surprise you with these!"

I absolutely LOVE flowers especially during these long gray winter months, they just totally make a room brighter and more comfortable. And my wonderful husband knows this and likes to buy me flowers because they make me happy.

He spoils me rotten...

Garlic

When Jon and I came back from our vacation we expected to find our house just as we left it but it wasn't...

We found this!

One of my baby garlic cloves decided to start growing while we were gone. But I didn't mind. Today I moved it into it's new home where it can hopefully thrive and give me some grandbaby garlics.

Sabriel

I was suppose to read this book a few years ago when I took a Children Fantasy Literature class at the U. I never got past the 2nd chapter until Jon and I went on vacation last week.

Now there is a reason why I never got past the second chapter until now. When I started reading the book, I had in mind that it would be "Children's Fantasy story" like Harry Potter or the Chronicles or Narnia but it isn't. And since it was not what I was expecting I had a hard time reading it. (I also was suppose to finish it in one night because it was a May term class and we had to read one book a night in order to keep up with the readings)

The story is about good vs evil and the main character is our Heron, it all very good stuff and the making of a good story, its just the content that bothers me. The "good" are humans and the "bad" are dead things/creatures (I imagine zombies/vampires/ghosts/etc). Now it is a well written book and very interesting (I actually read the whole thing and I kinda want to read more of the books in the series). But I would not give it to my children to read. It may be written for a lower reading level but the content of the story is for a much more mature audience.

I wont go into detail about what happens in the story because I believe you should read it for yourself. But I will say that I really liked and I even though it was 500 pages I managed to finish it really fast - so fast that I had to go find another book to read for the rest of the cruise. So it's a good entertaining type of story, doesn't take much thought and keeps you occupied for a few hours. And if you don't mind reading about zombies then this is a good book to read.

The end.

Oreo Truffles

This recipe is very popular and I know many people already know it but I just ate like half the batch I made so I figured since they were so good they are worth writing about.

All you need is a package of Oreo Cookies, Cream cheese and Almond Bark. If you want you can add flavors to make different kinds of truffles but I just use Cool Mint Oreos because those are my favorite.

Smash up the oreo cookies. I put my oreos in a bag and use a hammer to smash them up because I think it's more fun but you could also use a blender. Add the cream cheese and mush together until they create a brown paste.

Form "paste" into bite size balls. I put mine on a cookie sheet so I can stick them in the freezer because I think it's easier to dip them when they are hard.

Melt Almond bark. I like to use a double boiler for this because I'm really good at burning everything I make.

Now dip the balls into the almond bark. I use 2 spoons to roll them around to get them covered.

Let the almond bark harden. And Enjoy!

Dad's Granola

A few years ago my mom started making my dad homemade granola and when I was still living at home I started eating that granola. I fell in love with it and now need it every morning to start my day off right. I've kept the tradition going by making granola for my dad and I. Since I make granola about every two weeks I have the recipe memorized and it's going to be hard for me to write down because it changes every week depending on how I am feeling and what ingredients I have available.

The first place I will start is what my recipe is based off of. I got this recipe out of a cook book I inherited from my mom and I think is the recipe she used to make her granola from.

The recipe is called Crunchy Granola and it is from More-with-Less Cookbook

Ingredients

Mix together
1/2 to 1c Coconut
4c rolled oats
1c sunflower seed
1c wheat germ
1/4 to 1/2c sesame seed
1c peanuts or chopped walnuts

Bring to a boil
1c honey or brown sugar
1/2 c oil
1T cinnamon

Pour honey mixture over dry ingredients. Mix together. Spread on cookie sheet. Bake about 30min at 325. Cool and break into chunks.


Now this is the recipe that I base my recipe off of. I don't use sesame seeds and I add pecans and almonds to the mix. I also only use honey and sometimes instead of using cinnamon I use vanilla. (again this just depends on what I feel like making that day)
I mixed all the ingredients together and then make a little "bowl" so that the boiled mixture goes to the middle of the bowl instead of the sides.

Bring the oil, honey and vanilla to a boil and let them bubble up and get big. But be careful so you don't burn them. I usually only let it boil up for about a minute. Then pour into dry ingredients, mix and spread onto cookie sheet.

Bake until it's a nice brown color. Let cool, add some raisins or bananas and enjoy! It turns out pretty good and it so packed full of good stuff that you don't need much to fill up for the morning.

CRUISE

This past week Jon and I got to spend our time cruising through the Caribbean.  I had such an fun time that I wanted to share my experiences with you without making you sit through a slide show of my pictures and making you listen to my long boring stories. So feel free to browse through the pictures or read the stories which ever you would like.

West Palm Beach, Florida

Our Cruise Ship embarked out of Ft Lauderdale, Fl but it was cheaper to fly into West Palm Beach and stay an extra night. So we started our vacation early by flying into West Palm Beach on Saturday. Jon got us a great rate at a Holiday Inn near West Palm Beach Airport so we stayed there.  

I love trying new restaurants so for dinner on Saturday night we decided to get out of our hotel and explore. We ended up going to West Palm Beach City Place. Which we came to find out is a very happening place on a Saturday night. Parking wasn’t free but the parking garage attendant said that if we spend $100 or more they will take off an hour of your parking time or the Cheesecake Factory will vouch no matter how much you spend.

So we decided to go to The Cheesecake Factory. It’s not anything new to us but we haven’t been there in over a year and we love cheesecake plus with free parking, we figured it was the best deal. Even though we are on vacation we didn’t want to break the bank. Another plus was that the wait was only 30 min and we got to sit outside and in enjoy the warm weather.

Determined to try sometime different, I got an Eggplant Sandwich. Jon was grossed out but I thought it was really good.

Jon got his usual Sun Dried Tomatoes Fettuccini Alfredo.

And of course we got cheesecake. We spilt Carmel Macadamia Nut Cheesecake.

After dinner we walked around the City Place– Which is almost like a Mall, just outside and covering a couple blocks. There was a Band playing on a courtyard stage and a water show going on. Great music, entertainment and nice weather – a good choice for going out on a Saturday night.

EMBARKATION DAY

Sunday afternoon we arrived at the port thinking that we would be able to check-in and be on the ship in a short amount of time. But when the bus dropped us off the area was packed. There were people standing in line all around the perimeter of the parking lot. Now there were 2 cruise ships right next to each other so we thought that maybe both ships were really busy and each had a really long line but when we walked towards our cruise ship and started to follow the line all the way to the back we realized that there was only one line and it was for our cruise ship. There had to be at least 2,000 people in the line – no joke. We waited for over an hour just to get close to the check-in area.

As we were standing in line we heard a couple of rumors as to why it was taking so long to get everyone checked in. Apparently the cruise before us was a “Rock ‘n Roll” Theme cruise and the people who were on the ship were a little hard core. So when the ship was pulling into port that morning they were stopped and searched for drugs before anyone could leave. This delayed the turning over of the ship and everything went behind schedule. And that is why we had to wait in the hot sun for over an hour. I even got sun burnt just standing there. So moral of the story… don’t do drugs. J

TWO DAYS AT SEA

Once we were on the ship, everything was great. Our room was perfect - we were located on one of top floors with a balcony. I spent most of those days reading outside in the privacy and quiet of our balcony. The top deck was a little too crazy for me – everyone was fighting over sun bathing chairs and it was super windy so I stayed on our balcony.

ST THOMAS

Our first port of call was one of the US Virgin Islands, St Thomas. Jon and I didn’t plan any excursions for this island because all we really wanted to do was go lay on a beach somewhere and swim. We got a map, picked a beach and decided that we could probably walk there. We set out and soon we realized that the map didn’t match up with the streets and the streets didn’t have signs telling us which streets they were. We kinda got lost… and at one point a local stopped his car and told us to turn around because we were heading into a bad neighborhood. So we gave up on heading to the beach we had picked out. We walked into a tourist looking shop and the clerk told us a good beach we could get to easily and were we could pick up a bus. The buses were only a dollar and in a short amount of time we were sitting on a white sandy beach soaking up the sun. The beach was perfect. There were maybe 5 other people there and it was huge. So we basically had our own private beach for about 5 hours, just enough time for us to get burnt and really thirsty.

 ST MAARTEN

Last summer Jon was looking at pictures you wouldn’t believe are not photoshoped and saw one of people standing on a beach with a huge plane flying almost directly over their heads. cracked.com That beach is Maho Beach and it is located on St Maarten. When Jon found out that we would be going to St Maarten he was so excited because he really wanted to see that beach in person. So we made it our goal to get there and see the planes landing.

When we got off the ship and got a map we found out that it was 6 miles away. That was a little too far to walk in the short amount of time that we had and knowing us, we would probably get lost again. So we stopped and talked to a guy who was advertising taxis, the taxis was more than we wanted to spend and we told him that so he told us that he really wanted us to enjoy his island so he gave us information on where we could catch a bus. As we were waiting for the bus we met a Father/son duo who were heading to the same beach and helped us get there. The “bus” was just a van and it took us about 45 min to get to the beach. Who knew that for such a small island that traffic would be bad?

The beach was awesome. Not only did it have beautiful blue water and a white sandy beach but there were nice waves (Jon likes waves) and the planes were really cool to see flying right over your head.

SEA SICK

Friday was another day at sea. But this time the weather was really bad. I think they said the winds were about 50 to 60mph. In any case the water was rough, it was windy and I got sea sick. The boat was rocking really bad… and it was a really big boat so you know it towards the end of the day I managed to get up and get ready for the evening show and dinner but they ended up canceling the show because it was too rocky. Thankfully I have wonderful husband who wants to take care of me and he went and got me some motion sickness medicine which helped me feel well enough to go to dinner.

BAHAMAS

Our last port of call was to Nassau, Bahamas. The Bahamas are a very beautiful place and I was excited to go lay out on a beach again without being sea sick. From the boat we could see a couple of beaches that looked really nice so we decided to walk to them, they were close and we couldn’t get lost. But when we got to the beach, they were crappy. Full of rocks and no place you could swim… People were still laying out but it wasn’t a place that we wanted to stay at. So we decided to walk to Paradise Island. A guy Jon met at St Maarten said that is where we should go when we go to the Bahamas. It was about a 1.5 mile walk and when we got to that beach the weather was turning cold. So we ended up staying at the beach for about 30 min before heading back to our boat.

 HEADING HOME

Once we left the ship on Sunday morning we rented another car and spent the afternoon driving around Florida. We had practically the whole day because we had to be out of our room at 7:30am and our flight didn't leave until 6:00pm. So we drove to West Palm Beach and hung out by the ocean. We found a Starbucks so we could hop on the Internet and see if we could find something to do... We didn't find much so we walked around a really nice neighborhood near the ocean and than drove around and looked at all the huge (probably expensive) homes along the ocean shore.


We continued to drive around and we stumbled along the City Centre place again. Since we knew there were a ton of restaurants around that area we decided to check that out again. Parking was a lot easier since it was a Sunday afternoon. And it was free!


The restaurant we decided to try out is called Cheeburger Cheeburger (cheeburger.com) It was awesome! You could pick practically any topping you would like your burger and order it! And they also have a ton of flavors for their shakes too!

I couldn't wait for the picture to be taken before taking a bite out of mine

After lunch we walked around a bit and than headed to the airport


Jon was really tired and tried taking a nap at the airport... what a weirdo :-)

Cheese Ball

My cheese ball recipe came from one of my sister-in-laws and I don’t know where she got it from but it’s a really good cheese ball so I thought I would share it with you.

I am making it tonight to bring to Lauren’s Baby shower. Even though I didn't make it a head of time, this is a great recipe because not only is it really easy to make but it is something you can make a head of time.

Ingredients

Worcestershire  Sauce
Garlic Powder
Lawery’s Seasoning
Cream Cheese
Cheddar Cheese
Chopped Onion
Chopper Green Pepper
Corned beef (I use a small package of Carl Buddig Corn Beef)

Mush all the ingredients together and shape into a ball. Sprinkle the edges with cheese or Almonds.(I chose cheese this time) Serve with Club crackers.

Super easy isn’t it?

Chicago Nails

I don’t get my nails done often but when I do I go to Chicago Nails in Sunray Shopping Center. My mom took me there for the first time when I was in high school and since then I have been going back there whenever I want to get my nails done. The ladies there do a great job and they are pretty reasonably priced, only about $20 for a full pedicure. If I go to my hair salon it is $30 just for a quick pedicure and not the full treatment. So I think this is a way better deal.

Now I will have to warn you that not all the ladies working there speak English well and they will probably start talking to their co-workers and you won’t understand them but if you don’t mind that, than this is the place to go.

Anjelah Johnson describes this place perfectly.

I usually only get a pedicure when I go because I am horrible about letting figure nail polish stay on my figure nails and so I can’t justify spending $20 on something that’s only going to last me a few days. Plus the pedicures there are great.

They start off by sitting you in a massaging chair. They give you the remote for the chair so you can pick your settings. Then they soak your feet in warm bubbly water. Once your feet are somewhat wet they scrub them down and get rid of your calluses. Then comes the massage. They massage your feet and your legs up to your knees, rubbing lotion in – which, by the way is awesome, it somehow makes my skin softer than any lotion I own. Once your muscles are all relaxed they clip and file your nails and paint them any color you would like. Voila! I now have beautiful feet that I am ready to show off at the beach!

Lauren's Baby Blanket

I really like making blankets so I use any excuse I can find to make a blanket. As I mentioned before Micah and Lauren are having a baby soon and I am going to their baby shower on Thursday. So with that said I decided to make them a baby blanket.

Since they don't know what they are having yet I choose colors that would work for both a boy or girl. My husband did a great job helping me pick out the fabric. He chose the circle fabric.

I only had a few hours to spend making this blanket so I made it into a simple block pattern. I used the same steps I used to make Tina's blanket. I cut the fabric into strips, sewed them together, cut it into strips again and sewed those together.

For the backing I found this really soft fabric.

Sewed that on and the blanket is done!

Baby Boxes

I wanted to make a few more homemade gifts for the baby showers I have to go to this week so I decided to make some "boxes" They are basically stuffed boxes, soft enough so that they wont hurt anyone. They are also easy for the babies to grab onto and hold. I've made them before for my nieces and nephews and they all love them so I thought maybe the new babies might like them too.

You don't need much fabric so I went to the remnants section and found some cute baby pattern fabric.

After washing the fabric, I cut out 5 inch squares. You need 6 squares for each box, I'm making 6 boxes so I cut out 36 squares.

Sew the squares together so they make a T or a cross. (4 down and 2 on each side)

Then sew the sides together to make the cube.

Leave just enough space so you can flip the pattern side out and stuff it.

The stuffing I used is made for stuff animals and projects like this. It is also machine-washable which is important because babies are messy. :-) I believe they do sell stuffing that is in the shape of a cube. So if you want them to look more like cubes you could use those. I like the "rounded" look of my boxes so I just used regular stuffing.

Once I stuffed each box, I took a needle and thread and sewed up the hole.