Homemade Vanilla Syrup for Pancakes or Milkshakes
A couple of years ago I was rockin’ my ratty yoga pants on a Saturday morning. I was feeling so darn accomplished for being coherent enough (aka fully caffeinated) at 7 a.m. to make pancakes for my children. Let’s face it, Saturday morning cartoons were not created for kids. They were created so parents could sleep in past 7 a.m. So, anyway, I’m up and mixing the pancake batter when I realize we don’t have any pancake syrup. Zip. Zilch. Nada. Well. That was a major downer. They say necessity is the mother of invention. In my case, necessity is the mother of “Google it.” So, I pulled up a…
Happy Halloween
Happy Halloween all you Ghouls and Goblins! Tonight we will be celebrating Halloween with all of our neighbors. Our street does a community dinner followed by the main event – trick or treating, of course! Since this is our first Halloween in Georgia we are excited to celebrate here. We’ve had some fun this week getting in the Halloween spirit. We carved some pumpkins… Trust me, this was just a glamour picture. Once he figured out that you have to actually touch the slimy pumpkin to get the guts out, he let me do the dirty work. So nice of him. We ended up with a ghost and a scary…
Fall Vignette
Do you go crazy with holiday or seasonal decorations? Me? Not so much. I love looking at everyone else’s decorations though and I admire the beautiful spaces they create. Let’s face it…my kitchen table most often resembles a lego factory. Or a toy construction site. Or a Littlest Pet Shop playground. Or a Rescue Bot battleground. You get the point. It requires actual effort to use the table for something crazy like eating. I decided to take a moment the other day to take a couple of quick snaps of our kitchen eating area while the kids were at school. You’ll see the paper pumpkins that I talked about last…
Homemade Hamburger Buns
My entry into the world of bread making has really just begun, but already I find myself falling down the rabbit hole. What type of bread can I make next? Will it taste better than store-bought? Uh…just stop me before I start planting my own wheat, okay? Thanks. One of the bread items I still buy are hamburger buns. My dad visited me recently and brought me hamburger from his farm in Oregon. How cool is that? And yes, it did stay frozen on the airplane. Since I have some yummy meat filling up my freezer, I decided this was a good time to try making hamburger buns. I looked…
Paper Pumpkins
Hello, hello! Earlier this week I briefly showed you a mini-paper pumpkin I made before I decided that my fingers were too big to make more of those pint-sized spheres of cuteness. I do adore it though! That little craft was based on a pumpkin tutorial I used last year to make a whole patch of paper pumpkins using 8.5 x 11 sheets of paper. Seriously, I got addicted and was worried I wouldn’t be able to stop. Can you blame me? The pumpkins mainly survived being packed in a box and trucked clear across the country. They were a little mushed when I unpacked them and some of the tape…
Bracing for Achilles Tendonitis
I should probably issue a disclaimer. This post is not going to be pretty or home-related. There are pictures of my feet. I’m so sorry. There is a happy ending though, so there’s that. If you’ve ever read the “about me” page on this blog (it’s riveting), you’ll see I mentioned something about running, but not being a runner. I do it 3 days a week because it happens to be the most efficient and effective way for me to exercise and I do like how it makes me feel – after. The during part isn’t my most favorite part. Image Credit: Someecards.com What came next really chapped my hide. Last…
Savory White Chicken Chili
There was a day a week or so ago when the temperature felt almost chilly in Atlanta. I even put on my favorite leather boots. I was in my short sleeves and it got a little warm later in the day, especially while hiking back up the hill from the bus stop, but let’s not focus on that. The calendar says it is fall, so I’m running with it. I decided it was time for soup. It’s been so hot all summer that I haven’t made soup in ages. This is a good one too! I like this Savory White Chicken Chili recipe because it is filling, but still healthy and…
Harvest Activities in Georgia
Hello, hello! We have spent the past 4 days enjoying a long Columbus Day Weekend with a visit from the grandparents! My kids have been ecstatic to get some special time with grandma and grandpa! One of our traditions with this set of grandparents is to visit a pumpkin patch. I was worried that we’d miss out on that this year, but they were so gracious to fly out here during the month of October! On Saturday we headed out of the city to Washington Farms. Earlier this year we purchased the best strawberries to make freezer jam with there, but this was our first time partaking in all of…
Spider Hair Clips using Hand-Curled Fabric Ribbon
I see a lot of blog tutorials about crafts, decorating and cooking. A lot of it is eye candy because I look and file it away in my sub-conscious for later. I’ve concluded two things. 1) There are so many, incredibly talented people out there. I am in awe. Seriously, DIYers rock! 2) I don’t have the time, money or patience to recreate 99% of the things I read. So, when I saw a recent tutorial on how to curl fabric ribbon and make spider hair clips. BAM! I was on it! Of course, I had to finish cooking dinner and wait two days to go to the craft store, but seriously,…
