Pinterest Pre-vacation

Since I went back to the outside working world about 20 months ago, my children have been primarily  responsible for keeping up the house.  They have done well enough that we usually eat dinner on time and we can move around the house without killing ourselves either the physically or the microbiologically.  (Actually, they do a great job!)

I usually pull alternate Saturday breakfasts oppposite Gordon (he makes the AWFUL"ELY" GOOD WAFFLES) and Sunday dinner.  Well, we are out of eggs this week (I usually make Farmer's Breakfast - you know hash browns, onions, sausage and/or bacon, eggs and cheese).  Since I was on Pinterest, I garnered a recipe for breakfast this morning.
 http://kitchengirljo.blogspot.com/2009/07/easy-cheese-danish.html

Mine doesn't look this nice, but I was doing it at 10:30pm or so last night.  Of course, because I wasn't necessarily prepared to do this, I had to tweak it.  (We're also out of milk, grrr!)  I made the half filling recommendation.  With no milk in the house, I improvised for the liquid and used lemon juice (from the bottle) instead.

This recipe is another hit!  It was easy and delicious.  I would like to try a different filling next time - say, apple or cherry or strawberry - maybe add some sliced almonds on top.

BEFORE

AFTER

Also, last night prior to going to bed, I made a concoction of 1/2 c of distilled white vinegar - warmed up in the microwave for 30 seconds and 1/2 c of Dawn dish detergent.  I squirted this concoction in my shower.  When I got around to cleaning the concoction off this morning (fairly early), it took a very little bit of elbow grease because the detergent part had dried on the walls.  The "after" picture is taken from looking THROUGH the glass shower door (and you can see the bubbles from the detergent as well as the reflection of the jar from the "before").  Next time, I will probably change the ratio to 2/3 c distilled white vinegar and 1/3 c Dawn dish detergent.









The sheets from the linen closet

The other project I tackled this morning was the linen closet.  Now, you must understand that my 3B is VERY organized.  She is my go to person for organization.  But the linen closet seems to escape her.










  I found this idea on Pinterest of putting sheets together.  http://www.imperfecthomemaking.com/2011/09/4-ways-to-fold-bedsheets.html



And this what I accomplished...They are all folded and those that have matches are matched together.  My folds don't look quite as neat, but this is one of the most ingenious ideas EVER!  Also, I realized that some of these sheets are from our college days.  Don't ask me why we still have them.  (We do have lots of white sheets for theater reasons.)

I have done some other projects this morning, but they aren't ready to show off.  My girls have been busy keeping up with 7 children. 

This is quite the vacation.  I'm enjoying it.  Hopefully you are too. 

STAY TUNED....

Buffalo Chicken Bites from Pinterest

Okay this was the first completed project from my vacation. http://sweetpeaskitchen.com/2011/09/24/buffalo-chicken-bites/

Gordon doesn't like macaroni and cheese and that is what my 4B had planned for dinner. So I thought I would help her out and fix an additional something.  I didn't really care for them, but Gordon REALLY liked them and my girls liked them as well.  But I didn't follow the recipe that was given at the website because I didn't have all the ingredients and this wasn't a planned vacation excursion.  This was a spur of the moment excursion.  So this is what I substituted:

-I used canned chicken for the cooked shredded chicken (partly because 3B was complaining that we had SOOoooOOO much canned chicken in storage).  I opened the three little cans and one of the large ones.
-For the hot sauce, I substituted Sriacha sauce.  I used 1/4 cup for most of it. Since Gordon likes his food hotter than the rest of us, I added another 1/4 cup to his portion which equalled about 1/5 of the recipes.
-I LOVE cream cheese, so I used all 8 oz and it was the Fat Free version of cream cheese.
-I probably came close on the amount of shredded cheddar cheese I was suppose to use.
-I didn't have any mature enough green onions, so I went out to my garden and retrieved some chives - which I generally like better anyway.  (Though, we are big fans of cutting off the tops of green onions and leaving the bulbs in water to regrow - which we learned from Pinterest.:o))
-I did use white flour.
-I think I had one egg left, so I pulled out some powdered egg whites and mixed them in with the "juices" the chicken was packed in.
-I don't think anyone in my family particularly likes corn flakes, so we seldom have them in our home, but Special K Protein Plus is a constant (because of Thrive! which you'll learn more about in weeks to come OR you could read a really old post).  We just smooshed these up and used them in the place of the corn flakes.

We did bake them on the parchment paper (I can't remember which Pinterest project I originally bought that for, but glad we had it hanging around the house) at 350 degrees F for approximately 25 minutes.  They held their shape fairly well.

As I said before, my family quite liked them.  So I hope you give them a whirl either from the original recipe or from my out of the pantry renovation.

Stay tuned...for more of Pauline's Pinterest Vacation

P.S.  I have four children:  one son and three daughters.  They are all my babies, so the oldest (at 19!) is sometimes nicknamed 1B on down to the youngest called affectionately 4B (at 12! and not really a baby anymore).

Let the vacation begin - sorta

My oldest daughter is with her daddy in Cartersville to pursue her driver's license.  We're hoping she does well as this will be her last chance to do this until after her return from Alaska.   (BTW, she passed!)

What that means for me is - I got off work early today and decided to start my vacation a bit premature.  I decided to make a big list of all the projects I want to do.  I have begun one project, but you'll have to wait to see.

(I've decided Blogger is not very intuitive - at least for an old person like me - another project to add to my list, to learn how to use this.)

I also received four books today from Amazon.  (Remember, if you have one of the Kroger family stores near you BUY GIFT CARDS and use them like cash - usually you get two points for every $1 spent and sometimes you get four points for $1 spent - I'll relay that story soon.)  They are:

Create Your Own Hand-Printed Cloth by Rayna Gillman
Shibori for Textile Artists by Janice Gunner
Decorative Fusion Knots by J.D. (he also has a YouTube channel - Tying It All Together)
Organice Body Care Recipes by Stephanie Tourles

I'll give a review on them over the vacation time hopefully.  We'll have to see what Pinterest has in store, if I have enough time to pursue book reviews as well as Pinterest reviews.









I've also begun to gather my ingredients/materials for my projects.  Gordon had to go to Lowe's on the way home from the driver's test to get one of them.  The lye for the Castile soap.  The books were part of the gathering and I have fabric on the way from Fashion Fabrics Club out of Denver.  I went to Joann's, Michael's, Hobby Lobby, the Herb & Vitamin Store in Hiram, and of course, Walmart and Krogers to obtain my supplies.  I haven't been able to find activated charcoal - though at Walmart the pharmacy tech gave me something in a pill form.  (That is not what I was expecting.)

So stay tune....

Pinterest Vacation

Next week, I'm going to be home alone for the first time in almost 15 years.  Son is at Philmont and the rest of the family is going to Hulaco camp in Alabama.  So, I'm taking a Pinterest vacation - well mostly.





Most of you know what Pinterest is all about - repinning and liking other people's posts.  I usually don't repin unless I've tried the suggestion and it has worked for me.  This next week, I've geared up to try all sorts of pins - mainly cooking and craft ideas.  I'll be trying bread in the crock pot, various pickles, DIY mascara, different methods of dyeing, fabric flower making, card making.  I may even try some of the educational suggestions even though my kiddos aren't at home and probably beyond the level of several of the suggestions I've seen.  I may even try to exercise (horrors of horrors!) some of the suggestions.

I need to make sure I have my shopping list complete.  So stay tuned - and see what is in store for Pauline's Pinterest Vacation.  (Do you think it would make a good movie? ;-))

If you are not part of Pinterest and would be interested, let me know.  I'll try to send you an invite.


www.philmontscoutranch.com
hulacocamp.org
www.pinterest.com
artisanbreadinfive.com

What Works for Me - First

I've decided to create a weekly "What Works for Me" segment of my blog.  There are certain products (for lack of a better word) that make my life easier and I thought I would like to share them with others.

The first "product" I would like to share is the Gospel of Jesus Christ.  I have been a participant of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints my entire life.  I was baptized at eight, not because of tradition (though that helped) but because I knew the commitment I was making was right.  Over the years, I have learned line upon line (and had to back track a few times to learn again) that the Gospel is true.  I know that accepting Jesus Christ into my life makes my life better and makes me a better person.  On those days that I don't make a conscious effort to have Him in life, I have REALLY bad days. 

How do I bring Christ into my life?  Prayer is first.  I try every morning to pray to my Heavenly Father in the name of His Son.  I talk to Him.  Sometimes, I plead.  I remember to give thanks.  He answers - sometimes through thoughts that come to me, sometimes through a calm feeling of peace, sometimes a rebuke for not living His commandments, sometimes a voice speaks clearly to my mind.  And yes, sometimes, there is nothing a all - but as was stated to Oliver Cowdery, in Doctrine and Covenants 9:9, "But if it be not right you shall have not such feelings, but you shall have a stupor of though that shall cause you to forget the thing which is wrong;..."  And I try to pray throughout the day - not a formal prayer, but little conversations.  Mostly, these little prayers are to give thanks for protection or helping me to not make a mistake or to find whatever I'm looking for.

Second is scripture reading.  Reading the scriptures are the words of God to us.  They are guidance that He has prepared for us over the ages.  Literally, the wisdom of the ages.  Sometimes, they seem to apply to my daily life.  Sometimes, they seem to apply to the world at large.  Sometime, I just don't get what is being conveyed to me.  And sometimes, I seem to get the joke.  I'm humbled to know that the words have been prepared and preserved so that I might benefit from them (if I choose to use them).

Third is repentance.  Through prayer and scripture reading, I learn where I need to improve my life.  It's not easy, but it's worth it.  I am constantly reminded of the words of King Benjamin, "For the natural man is an enemy to God, and has been from the fall of Adam, and will be, forever and ever, unless he yields to the enticings of the Holy Spirit, and putteth off the natural man and becometh a saint through the atonement of Christ the Lord, and becometh as a child, submissive, meeking, humble, patient, full of love, willing to submit to all things which the Lord seeth fit to inflict upon him, even as a child doth submit to his father." (Mosiah 3:19)  I see this in myself and see it in others.

Fourth is family.  For seventeen years I was fortunate enough to stay home with my children.  As the children have matured, we have had to make adjustments to our schedules and our DMO.  But we still do what we can to be together.  We have family prayer almost every morning and evening.  We have family scripture reading almost every evening.  We have family home evening weekly.  We have family meeting weekly.  We have family dinner nightly.  We attend church together at least weekly.  My husband and I have a weekly date most times.  Now that we travel together to work, we have companion study almost each morning, which usually consists of reading from the Ensign.  Sports didn't work for our family.  Theater did.  We are fortunate to home school.  We work together to make our house a home.

The Gospel permeates my life.  I'm not perfect at living the Gospel, yet.  It is constant work, but as Christ said, "Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart:  and ye shall find rest unto your souls."  (Matthew 11:29)  This is true.  When I'm consciously living the Gospel, I have peace.  That doesn't mean my problems have disappeared (though sometimes that has miraculously happened through His grace), but they are easier to bear and solutions are presented.

I know the answer to the ills of our world.  It is each person having faith in Jesus Christ, repenting and making a commitment to Him that would heal us all.  His promises are sure.  I have seen the promises fulfilled in my own life.  I invite you as Moroni of old, "And when ye shall receive these things, I would exhort you that ye would ask God, the Eternal Father, in the name of Christ, if these things are not true; and if ye shall ask with a sincere heart, with real intent, having faith in Christ, he will manifest the truth of it unto you, by the power of the Holy Ghost.  And by the power of the Holy Ghost ye may know the truth of all things."  (Moroni 10:4-5)

www.lds.org
http://www.youtube.com/user/mormonmessages?feature=results_main

P.S.  I'm asking in advance for all readers to forgive my blogger inadequacies.  I'm learning and I will get better.

Yes, It's been awhile - my new toy

Yes, it's been awhile since I last posted. Just busy, busy, busy. And it will just get busier.

My newest toy, my Silhouette SD. Boy, is it slick!! I've had it since July and been learning how to use it along with MDS and Inkscape. I never thought I would get into graphic design (though this is cheating graphic design). I'm so enthralled with my Silhouette SD, I have gifted my Cuttlebug and DS and one DD are selling die cuts and punches on ebay.

My next step is to post my cutting designs on this blog. So, stay tuned. I'll try to post a pic of one of the designs I did today. (Just hope all the technology communicates properly and I know what I'm doing.) Ha! I did it. I took the pic with my Blackberry (new - for me - Blackberry 6 OS), emailed it to myself and then uploaded it.

Anyway this is one of my designs. There has been a learning curve with all the programs, but with a lot of help from videos and yahoo groups, I'm getting the hang of all of them. My big leap today was designing in Inkscape (which by the way is a FREE illustrator program and I LOVE IT!) learning that to go from concept to final image I had to go through several PATH steps (thanks to Carolyn at CuttingTimes), i.e. Path>Object to Path, then >Stroke to Path, then >Union after using the Bezier tool to "draw" swirly lines.

I chose the Silhouette SD over other cutters for several reasons: primarily price. It's a great little machine for $180 or so. It takes up so little space is another reason. No cartridges and I can design my own designs or import others. (Yes, I can import SU! images as jpegs, trace them and cut them out, which is WAY COOL!! The first time I did that I thought I had died and gone to heaven.) It doesn't have the cutting real estate that some other cutters have and it doesn't have a lot of pressure to cut heavier materials. But I figured that for my first machine and understanding it limitations, it would be the machine for me. It does cut through SU! cardstock which is a real plus for as that is my favorite cardstock (though sometimes it does take two cuts to get the job done.) And the final selling point that came out just prior to my purchase is I should be able to cut fabric on it. I haven't tried that yet. Actually, right now, it is working away at one of SU!'s Delicate Doilies stamps. (That was a bit of nightmare to clean up the nodes, but we'll see how it does.) It is noisy but youngest DD and I think it sounds like a funky orchestra (and hey! it does sound better than some music out there;o).) (Oops! The doily looking image is what I just cut - still learning how to upload and insert pics.) It's an okay cut, but it needs some work.

So, stay tuned for more adventures in Pauline's digital world!

My Digital Studio

This is just a quick post. I've been reading about a lot of digital programs out there, scrapbooking and die cutting. I just have to put in a quick plug for My Digitial Studio by Stampin' Up! is fun.

I initially had a problem with it as we upgraded our computer and MDS wasn't compatible with the upgrade. But SU! tech support sent me an email and I did what she said, and VOILA! It works like a dream!

I haven't had much experience with digital card and scrapbooking programs. In fact, I purchased this back in November when SU! ran a great deal on it. I didn't have time to play to learn how to use it and didn't take much time to explore youtube (imagine that?) to find help. But in May, we were taking a road trip so I watched the vids that are at mydigitalstudio.net and played for a couple of hours while on the road with the program. I have to say I was very pleased with the scrapbook pages I created. Granted they are very simple (and yes, once I get my act more together I'll post some) but they look good. Since then, I've made quite a few cards and I am VERY happy with the results.

Unless you're very much into making your own elements and very graphics savvy, I would say this program is a good buy. I LOVE IT!!! And the people on the mydigitialstudio.net are very helpful to find more sophisticated ways to use the program. I really can't say enough good things about this program and I've really just touched the tip of the iceberg.

Hoping to post some pics soon.