New Job!

So life has been crazy lately!   I have hardly had a chance to breathe let alone blog.  Friday morning I got a call informing me of a teacher passing.  This teacher worked in the school I was laid off from.  They wanted to know if I would come up there and take over his class on MONDAY.  There was no doubt in my mind that I would like to do it, but so many things that I now had to figure out.  Who would watch my child, how I was going to start planning for a classroom in the middle of the year?  It is now an hour drive from my house in good weather so I spend about 12 hours a day away from my son.  There are a lot of changes that aren't exactly easy ones.  I spent my first week with the students and can already tell it is going to be a good end of the year.  Now...it is just time to figure out where they left off in the curriculum (not an easy task) and where to go from there. 



All of my wonderful projects I got started the week before this news are still sitting in my basement waiting to be finished.  It was like a pregnancy nesting experience.  Getting all of my creativity/ built up ideas out before I had to take care of all 26 of my children.  Tehe.  Maybe hubby will help me finish them today?!?!

My First Dutch Apple Pie

I made my first dutch apple pie yesterday!  It is totally different than a regular apple pie because it requires only a crust on the bottom.  Instead of a crust on top you create a streusel like topping that consists of crumbs of flour, sugar and butter.  This is by far my favorite part of the whole pie and is what makes the dutch apple my favorite pie of all times! I could just eat the topping by itself!  

Needless to say, the pie turned out delicious.  Although I made a huge mess while making it, I was able to clean it up and have the pie in the oven before hubby came home.  No evidence, tehe. I was excited/ nervous to make the pie by myself for the first time.  My mom has been the best cook/ baker for my whole life and I never had any real urge to be the same...until I became a mom/wife myself.  She has been such an inspiration to me.  I know that I can do it if I keep trying.  A few months back O and I were visiting her and she out of the blue asked me if I wanted her to teach me how to make a pie.  I didn't exactly jump off the couch, but I knew that it would mean a lot to me in the future.  Soo...she taught me everything, most of which I was able to remember in my first solo pie making experience yesterday. My Mom and Dad, along with my father in law, made it possible for me to actually make my own pies at home.  Between the three of them I am set with rolling pins, pie sheets, pie dishes and pie carrying cases (Christmas presents). You better believe I was excited about finding new places to put all these new kitchen items and.....I couldn't wait to organize it all!  Did I tell you how much I like to keep things organized/ clean?  

Well I bet you want to see a picture? Maybe even after a few more tries and less mess making I will actually make a step by step blog for this delicious pie. 

It was a little runny at first and I know what I did and what I can do now to avoid that.  I read up and you can toss the apples in some flour before putting it in the pie.  

It was delicious nonetheless and even better the second day.  Hubby was in heaven! 

I Love Getting Packages In The Mail!!!

 * These are Hemp Add-Ins for More Absorbency by CDI 3-pack (6 layers) purchased from thefuzzibunzstore.com

Just got some new hemp inserts for little O's diapers.  He is such a heavy wetter so I am excited to have MORE of these.  They are so great.  They create less bulk than microfiber inserts.  

Let's back up a bit...I am a cloth diapering Momma!  I cannot wait to blog and explain all about our cloth diapers/ O's stash, amazing diaper accessories, our diapering experiences, organization and washing routines. I just couldn't help but get ahead of myself and show you a picture of these brand spankin' new inserts!

Crock Pot Hobo Meatball Stew

I received a Taste of Home crock pot cookbook for Christmas from my parents.  As I said before, I am a crockin' fool so I was  excited to put it to use!  Today was my first time making any of the recipes.  

 * I placed all of the peels from the veggies in the trash bag in the top right.  Soon we will be putting all of those sorts of things in our compost pile.  Hubby has big plans for one in our backyard!  Maybe in the spring you will even see a blog about it!

 1 pound of ground beef
1  1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper
1 large onion cut into chunks
4 potatoes cut into chunks
4 carrots cut into chunks
1/2 cup ketchup
1 cup water
1  1/2 tsp cider vinegar
1/2 tsp dried basil
3/4 cup frozen peas

 Mix ground beef with salt and pepper.

 Roll into 1 inch balls.

 Brown all sides in skillet on medium heat.  I tried to brown most of the meatball but did not want to brown it too much because it will cook through in your crock pot.

 Place onions, potatoes, carrots and meatballs in your crock pot. Mix ketchup, vinegar and water together and pour over other ingredients.  Add additional salt and pepper if you like.

 Cover and cook on high for 5 hours. Add peas about 15 minutes before serving.  

Hubby says  "It was stellar!"  He had nothing but good things to say about it.  Meatballs were perfect and there was not a thing that he would like me to change about this dish.  Score!


PS. Getting closer to the finishing of our bedroom Wall Plaques.  Will blog about it soon!

Decorative Menu Board

I was so excited when the idea came about of creating a two week menu for my family.  I have been a crockin' fool for a while now and am LOVING it!  
I am the type of person that needs to have everything well thought out and organized.  Don't get me wrong...I can fly by the seat of my pants at times, but when it comes to planning meals ahead of time, I get excited.

My husband and I tend to grocery shop every two weeks, so a few months back I decided to start creating a menu and grocery list the day before we go shopping. This gives me time to research new recipes, choose which days are good for certain meals and write down the ingredients that are needed for those two weeks. Sometimes menu planning takes me over an hour to do and I still love it!  I am a teacher, so I guess it makes sense.  I am used to PLANNING!

I used to type out the menu (It was kind of a joke/ something I liked but thought my hubby would hate.  It turned out that he LOVED the idea!) all cute and stick it on the refrigerator but then I realized that I was just wasting paper! I also came to the realization that because I was spending so much time creating it, it deserved a pretty home!

Here ya go:

Find yourself a frame (8x10 works great).  I got this frame for $2.50 at Walmart.  I may find a more ornate one and spray paint (my best friend these days) it some awesome color, but I had to have this done NOW and I didn't want to spend much.

Choose the color/ type of paper you would like to use.  This is damask paper from the scrap booking section at hobby lobby. I created my template on the computer and printed it onto this awesome paper. I then used my paper cutter to size this sheet down to an 8x10.

I added a piece of yellow paper behind this sheet to bring out that cool damask pattern!

  Place it back in your frame!

Display it somewhere in your kitchen.  Use dry erase markers to complete your menu for the week! Please excuse the horrible handwriting!  I have terrible handwriting and couldn't find my small dry erase markers (and I say my husband has 100 excuses for things).

Old Window Picture Frames

This has been such a perfect weekend! Such mild weather in January in Michigan is crazy!  With my husbands help, I was able to get so many of my DIY crafty projects started and some completed. I was also able to spend some good quality time with family and of course my little man O! This is my first blog EVER and after this weekend I have so much to talk about...So get ready!!!

OLD WINDOW PROJECT

After an entire month I am happy to say that my old window project is finally finished....almost!  I ordered the rest of the pictures I needed for the frames today. The plain white matte paper will soon find its mate!

Here's how I did it...

My husband and I found a post for old 6 pane windows on Craigslist. We visited the gentleman and bought 5 windows for 25 dollars! 

These windows were very old and dirty so I washed them in our wash basin with OxiClean. I sprayed them with mold spray to ensure that I wasn't bringing mold into our home. Some of the paint was chipping off so I briefly sanded them with an electric hand sander and then wiped/ vacuumed the dust off of them.  

Using white primer and a paint brush, I lightly painted over the entire surface that would be visible. I then used a razor blade to remove the paint from the glass.

I used eye hooks, wire, tape and white matte to hang the pictures in each "frame."

This window was so cool I couldn't resist.  I loved the dimensions as well as the handle.  We were only going to hang one window in the hallway...Oops!

Now...what to do with the rest of those windows!?!?

Thanks for bearing with me on my FIRST EVER blog. 

      Keep your eyes peeled for other projects I am working on:

• Menu Frame
• Floral Wall Plaques
• Marigold Candlesticks