Why I love Facebook

I love Facebook.  Yes, there are times that I get aggravated about what they are doing or how things are changing but for the most part I find it a great engine to rekindle friendships, keep in touch with family and share things in your life.  I have a high school friend that I have rekindled with on Facebook.  Well rekindled is a bit of an exaggeration.  We were really not that good of friends in high school.  I mean she knew who I was, and we exchanged hellos in the halls and I certainly knew who she was!  Dawn and I were not really friends.  We never hung out and in fact (she doesn't even know this) She was actually one of my "enemies".  You see there was this boy that I really liked and I had asked to go to the Sadie Hawkins dance with me and he turned me down.  Why?  Well because he was waiting with hopeful anticipation that Dawn would ask him.  That automatically turned her into the enemy.  She never did ask him, and as far as I know they never went out.  Now fast forward 20 years and add a social network and the spark of a friendship started.  We became friends on Facebook, as most people do when they are requested and you know who they are, but something else started also.  We began emailing back and forth to each other.  Sharing things going on in our lives.  We ere both going through some rough spots in our lives,and had a common denominator of being married to a not so nice person and shared in the struggles divorce brings to our kids.  We email, chat when we are both online and have become rather good friends.  We never saw each other or met for lunches or shopping trips, but none the less, I considered her a close friend.  We lived 2 hours away from each other so seeing each other was difficult but in spite of that our friendship grew.  We both moved on and are now at happy places in our lives.  She has remarried,and invited me to both her bachelorette party and wedding, which we could not go to either since I was out of town, but I thought about her on those special days and wished for her to be happy.  We finally got together a few weeks ago for a cookie exchange I was hosting at my house.  I was so glad she was able to come!  We had just then exchanged phone numbers,to keep in touch a little more and hopefully build on this foundation of friendship we have.  So you see I love Facebook for that reason alone.  it has brought another great woman into my life and has shown me you don't have to see the person in order to have a strong friendship.  I am very thankful for the friendship Dawn and I have and I hope that it continues to grow!

Dawn and I at the Cookie Exchange in November

At our cookie exchange she brought these wonderful "Bun" Candies.  The are absolutely out of this world and she gave me permission to share the recipe, so here it is.

Bun Candy 

One cup of powedered sugar for one oz of cream cheese

add flavoring of choice: maple, vanilla or peppermint

Roll the filling dough into a log and refrigerate for at least 2 hours.

Slice into disks.

For peppermint patties, dip in semi sweet melted chocolate

For "buns" place small amount of meltede chocolate onto pan, add disk on top and coat top with melted milk chocolate with peanuts. 

Keep refrigerated.  

Spread small amount of chocolate onto wax paper

Slice the cream filling mixture and place a slice on top of the chocolate

Place peanuts on top 

Top with enough Chocolate to cover.  These are so good!

Thanks for the recipe Dawn, and more importantly your friendship!!

Trip full of Memories.

We went to Disney this past weekend.  Well, for 4 days.  It was 4 glorious days that I get to spend with my youngest, Kendall, and its all about her and me.  I love this trip,almost more than any other trip I take all year.  This is an annual trip we have begun taking the past few years while Harry goes down for a trade show Kendall and I head to Disney and do...Absolutely whatever we want! 

All of y time there can be devoted to her and what she wants.  It is an incredible bonding time for us.  WE laugh, giggle, ride rides, shop, eat, and just are mother and daughter, with no one else around.  She holds my hand (willingly), she hugs me in public, we both go and can't wait to get characters autographs and we are just silly without the worry of anyone being around, or for her anyone seeing her act like an 11 year old who still likes her mom.

Its one of those trip where she can be herself and we can be goofy together.

WE both get to be kids again.

I want to remember every part of these times we have to save them in my memories.

This night we ended up getting off and getting right back in line 4 times for Thunder Mountain Railroad!!  She was so excited that we kept on doing it.  Sometimes it's good to stop and let the little things make us happy and just bask in it for a while.  Such a small thing but its all she talks about when she is asked about what she did and how the trip was.  Such a small thing to make her and me so happy!!  Such a great kid

I said No to the "kitchen Sink" sundae.  It was 8 scoops of ice cream and an entire can of whipped cream along with every topping this diner had but I did say yes to the 3 scooper!

I said yes to almost anything she asked for...What a great feeling!

She still likes to hang with mom and I am so happy she does, but I know the day will come and she would rather spend time with her friends than with me.  Thats why this trip is so special to me.

We even talked Harry into dressing like us for a night at Downtown Disney for dinner.  She was thrilled!!

I got to be a kid again for a few days too.  This place brings it out in everyone.

We had a blast!!

Stove Top Potpourri

I love the holidays for so many reasons...one of them is the smell.  You just can't beat the smells of Christmas.  Cookies, breads, cinnamon, spices.  all of them together make great fragrances.  I made this on top my stove today and had it going all day.  The house smelled wonderful!!  It's so easy and you don't have to think about it again.  thats another thing I love about this.

Heres what you'll need:

1 Orange
1 bag fresh cranberries
3-4 cinnamon sticks
1/4 cup whole cloves.


Slice the orange, peel and all, throw that along with the other ingredients into a big stock pot and add water to about the half way point.  I did add more water late in the day to help keep it going.

It smells like christmas!!  Enjoy!

Stationery card

This Years Christmas Card!

Snowflake Banner Holiday Card

Create holiday photo cards that create smiles.

View the entire collection of cards.

Witches Hats

These are super cute and super easy.  Mix and make your favorite brownie recipe then cut into pieces.  Next take a fudge stripped cookie and place it upside down on the brownie, attaching it with a little frosting.  Next do the same thing with a Hershey Kiss and then pipe an outline of the kiss with frosting tinted to your favorite Witches hat color.  Then you have a witches hat treat to serve to your little goblins on halloween.

High Heel Cupcakes

Ok so I have been MIA.   MIA for quite a while.  I have no excuse, I mean I have some, but no good one.  My sister pointed it out to me today, and I thought if people were really reading this then maybe I need to get my butt in gear and get back on that blog writing horse.

I have not been doing to much baking lately.  I got some tests done from the doctor and found out my body is very sensitive (not allergic) to many of the foods that I have been eating and will tolerate, even wants, food that I have been avoiding.  Go figure!  Chicken and broccoli are a big no no for me right now.  My body does not like it and therefore the only meat I can eat is Turkey or salmon.  No red meat, chicken, tuna,etc.  So eggs and turkey are my new best friends in the protein department.  Also broccoli.  I have that about 3--4 times per week.  But no more.  My body does not like that or strawberries, grapes,carrots, cabbage, or beans.  BUT it does like bananas, apples and cauliflower, all of which I have been avoiding because of the high sugar and carb content.  Go figure.  So for the next 6 months I am avoiding all the foods my body doesn't like and trying to eat those it does like.

But what about my love of baking?  Well I got creative tonight, and I have to say as a side note I have incredible will power.  With that thought, I baked these cute High Heel Cupcakes tonight to try and see how they looked.  They turned out great!

They were pretty easy, just time consuming.  So here goes

High Heel Cupcakes

Bake cupcakes according to box directions and let cool

get graham crackers and cut them at an angle to create the "inside" of the shoes

Then dip these pieces in melted chocolate.  

Let them dry on a piece of waxed paper.

Now you want to coordinate your cupcake holders, chocolate and frosting to all match to make the type of shoes you want.  I tried the "Zebra" type of high heel.

While they are drying, frost your cupcakes.  In order to get the zebra look on mine I first frosted with white frosting then I just added some dark chocolate frosting to a ziplock bag and snipped the end and made lines across.  You then dip the entire frosted part into a bowl of white sugar to give the frosted look.  

Step 1 frost cupcakes

Step 2 add your zebra lines

Step 3 dip in sugar.

Now cut a small part of the cupcake away to get it read for the assembly.  I used a biscuit cutter and just pushed it in about an inch and used a knife to cut the rest away.

Fill in cupcake with piped frosting. Now its time to assemble.  On a plate take one of the dipped graham crackers and a round cookie. Pipe a line of frosting on all side except the wide end of the cracker and dip into the sugar to give it the same look as the top of the cupcake.   I used the pirouette cookies because I couldn't find the Oreo straws which were black and I thought would look much better but I used what I could find.  Anyway, take the straw cookie and cut it in half and at an angle on one end.  dip the aneled end into melted chocolate to "glue" it to the graham cracker.  slide the graham crackers into the cupcake where you cut out a piece of the cake.  Make sure you put the wide end into the cupcake and the narrow end goes out.

With a straw or toothpick put a dot of melted chocolate on a M&M and attach to heel to make a design.

There you go.  High Heel Cupcakes.

Now the possibilities are endless for this.  Red shoes, black shoes pink ones, you just need to get the appropriate decorating sugar.  Silver and blue would be pretty to.  I loved these....I hope you do to!

I Got T-Shirts!

My blog T-shirts have come in!  I just love them!!

 They are like this in black and I also have white ones with black lettering. 

This is the white

A closer look.

This is the back of them at the neckline.

 They are awesome!  Let me know if your interested in one.

Salted Carmel Frosting

Its fall.  I'll say it again, I love fall and all the changes it brings.  this year especially we have been super busy...per my MIA status this past week.  But I did manage to bake an amazing Pumpkin Slices cake with a new frosting.  It was super good.  I saw a recipe online for salted carmel frosting and wanted to make that, but I didn't have the ingredients to make it all, so instead I improvised and the result was an amazing frosting that was super easy, and amazingly good!  Mrs Richardson puts out a Carmel butterscotch Ice Cream topping.  Now at Christmas time this is what I use to make turtles, it's smooth and doesn't harden like traditional carmel does.  So I had this on hand so I used it instead of what the recipe wanted me to do.  So here is my version of Salted Carmel Frosting...

Salted Carmel Frosting

2 Sticks of Butter

 1 8oz Cream Cheese

3-4 Cups Powdered Sugar

1t Vanilla

1t Sea Salt

1 Cup Mrs Richardsons Carmel Butterscotch  Ice Cream Topping

Blend butter and cream cheese together until smooth, add vanilla and 2 cups of the powdered sugar, blend until combined and smooth.  Add the cup of carmel topping and the rest of the powdered sugar and sea salt.  Blend until desired consistency.  You can add more Powdered sugar if you want a thicker frosting, less if you want a thinner consistency.  There you have it.  

This was amazing on my pumpkin slices cake.

The cake is just as good!!

Pumpkin Slices Cake

4 Eggs

1c Veg Oil
2c Sugar

1-15oz Can Pumpkin

2c Flour

2t Baking Powder

1t Soda
1 t Salt
2 t Cinnamon
1 t Pumpkin Pie spice


 Mix all ingredients together and place in a 11x15 pan and bake for 25-30 minutes at a 350 degree oven.  I halved this recipe to get a 9x13 pan in the picture.

Happy birthday to me!!

Today is my birthday.  I am 43 years old.  I remember when my mom turned 41, why I remember that one so vividly I have no clue, but I remember how old she looked, and how much she looked like a "mom".  I don't mind about looking like a "mom" , but I don't believe I look 43 or as old as my mom looked.  I think a lot of it has to do with our environment and how we dress, wear our hair, etc.  I also know it has a lot to do with lifestyle.  Reflecting back a decade ago, I am a totally different person.  10 years ago, I had just lost my mom to ovarian cancer two months before.  Was still in shock and very sad about it.  it was my first birthday without her.  I was in a marriage that was not fulfilling in many ways, and honestly I was eating myself into an early grave.  I was topping the scale at 289 pounds, and not exercising or doing any type of activity and was eating as much processed food that I could.  No vegetables, no fruit, Diet Coke daily, actually multiple ones, and just in general not taking care of myself because I didn't really care.  I had just given birth the year before to Kendall and that gave me my excuse to eat what I wanted and it just continued on with my moms illness and death. I was miserable!

Me at my heaviest, the Christmas after my mom died.

Fast forward 10years.  I'm in a happy fulfilling relationship with a man who really cares and loves me, I have an incredible family and friend base who cheer me on with anything I chose to do.  I have a sister who at my heaviest weight still loved me and did things with me even though I am sure it was hard for her to see me deteriorating away like I was.  We have talked about my weight issue since I have lost it and we both agree that my mom would be healthier now if she was around also because of the healthy way we both live now.  Now, I am over 120 pounds lighter, I eat healthy, exercise regularly, and I pride myself on eating tons and tons of fresh fruits and veggies.  I was a self proclaimed veggie hater 10 years ago, now I eat vegetables I never thought I would.  My treat now is to "splurge" on having a banana with Peanut Butter.  I still reward myself now and then, I am defiantly having cake for my birthday, but nothing like I used to eat on a daily basis.  I don't drink Diet coke anymore, water only, with an occasional drink or two here or there.  I have crossed many things off of my bucket list.  I have flown by myself.  I have traveled a lot more, driven by myself on trips, something I would not or believed I could not do in my previous life.  I am a different person....and I like that person I have become, so I'm not sad or depressed about having another birthday and getting a year older, because frankly I have never felt better, been in better health, and looked better than I do now!

Me a lifetime from the above picture.

Avocado Salad Dressing

We saw the kids this weekend and my step daughter was asking me about some healthier choices for salad dressings for her salads.  Like hummus or avocados etc.  I thought I would try whipping up an avocado salad dressing she could make and that was super healthy for her too.  Here is what I came up with and it is so good!!  A little spicy and so delish!

Avocado Salad Dressing

1 and 1/2 Avocado

2 T Garlic 

2T White Wine Vinegar

1/4 C Olive Oil

1/2 Cup of Water (more if you want to change the consistency of the dressing.  I like mine a little thicker so I only used 1/2 cup)

Handful of fresh Cilantro

Handful Fresh Parsley

1/4 of a Jalapeño Pepper

Salt and Pepper to taste

Peel and core avocados and place in blender.  

Add remaining ingredients except water. 

 Blend ingredients, slowly add in Olive oil and, lastly, add in the water to the desired consistency.

So Yummy on a Salad!

Also great as a sandwich spread.

Healthy Pumpkin Crisp

My birthday is this week, Friday to be exact.  I figured It would be ok to do what I enjoy doing this week, soooo I baked yesterday.  I love the way my house smells when I bake in the fall.  That is probably because it is usually baking with pumpkin and cinnamon and I love the smell it gives off, the smell of fall!  So today I found a recipe for pumpkin crisp.  It seemed to be a great recipe but I knew I could make it healthier and have it still taste good.  Well I did and it was amazing!!

Healthier Pumpkin Crisp

1 can Pumpkin (15oz)

1/2 can Reduced Fat Evaporated Milk

1 Container Honey Flavored Greek Yogurt

1 T Cinnamon

1t Vanilla Extract

1t Pumpkin Pie Spice

2/3 Cup Splenda Brown Sugar

Crumble Topping

1/2 C Spelt Flour

3/4 C Oatmeal

1/2 C Splenda Brown Sugar

1 t Cinnamon 

1/2 C Chopped Pecans

1/4 C Melted Butter

Pre heat oven to 425 degrees

Combine first 7 ingredients and mix together put into un-greased 8x8 pan. Combine the crumble topping but do not put on top yet!  Bake for 15 mins then turn oven down to 350 degrees and sprinkle crumble on top and bake for 50-60 mins.  Cool completely

Do not over mix. The batter will be runny 

Doesn't this look good?  And its not to bad health wise.  No eggs, low sugar, and gluten free!!

Acorn Kisses

Summer is over!  Yes Labor Day has come and gone.  Summer is officially over.  I personally am ready for it to be over.  I adore Fall and all of the changes it brings.  Cooler weather, the colors of the leaves changing, and the decorating for a new season.  I have been ready for it since the kids went back to school.  
We had a race this past Labor Day weekend, but it was completely rained out and we did nothing but sit at the track and watch it rain.  Thank you Hurricane Isaac!  It is now postponed till next weekend.  However we still baked, cooked and got everything ready for the Nationals (the race), and I had decided to "fall it up " a bit.  I made these adorable Acorn Kisses as a special treat.

They are so simple and so cute.  All you will need is;

Acorn Kisses

Hershey Kisses (any flavor will do as long as they are the Chocolate color)

Mini Nutter Butter Cookies

Mini Semi Sweet Chocolate Chips

Thats it!

First melt about 1/4 cup of the mini chocolate chips in the microwave and stir till smooth.  Nuke them 30 seconds, stir and repeat till it is smooth.  This is going to be your "glue" that holds everything together.

Put a SMALL amount of the melted chocolate on one side of the cookie

Next put the Kiss onto of the chocolate and hold it there a few seconds

Then do the same thing with a mini chip.  Use a toothpick to put a very small amount of chocolate onto of the other side of the cookie and place a mini chip on top to create the "stem" of the acorn.

There you have it...Acorn Kisses.  I tried separating the cookies and using them whole and I liked the whole ones better.  They looked more "real"

 This was just one item I made for this weekend among many other goodies for the weekend, including cookies, brownies, bars, and a very special Turbo cookie.

These were so cute!!  I loved them.