Saturday, October 17, 2009

Sunset Coffee


This is the sunset taken from my Grandfather's street in Arizona. If such a lovely sunset is the norm, I can understand living out there. In the meantime, I don't care for the lack of water and the extreme dry heat. I like to visit the sauna....don't think I'd like to live there.

On the other hand, I'm not looking forward to more winter. Is there a place in the US where it's 72 all the time?


Today I am bringing you a perfect cup of coffee, thanks to the wonderful Alton Brown on Food Network.

Now I'm going to share with you. Of course you start with fresh beans. If you have to buy your beans in the store, make sure they have the little air valve, then you know they were packed fresh. Apparently beans give off air and will explode a bag if not for the little valve that lets the bad air out, but keeps air out too, so the beans can stay fresh longer.

Next make sure you have a thermal coffee carafe, a coffee grinder, a funnel, and a gold-mesh filter. Heat your water to 190-205 degrees. Grind your beans in a bean grinder for 15 seconds. Add 2 TBSP of ground coffee for every 6 oz. of water, put the measured grounds in the filter, place the filter in the funnel on top of the carafe. Once the water reaches temperature, generally prior to a full boil, pour into the filter and let it seep down to the carafe. When it's all done, it only takes a few more minutes than your coffee maker and it's so delicious!

So, thank you Mr. Brown for this yummy coffee that I never knew existed!



Ahhh, onto the giveaways at Confessions of a Pagan Soccer Mom. These runes are so lovely, I had to angle for another entry. They are hand crafted by Marie Segal at Art From My Heart! So go visit Mr.s B's page and see what she's giving away today...as with every day there is more than just the one item.


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Friday, October 16, 2009

Schema This!



I'm hard pressed to find a topic right now as I'm fighting yet another wave of depression. With that comes that evil voice that constantly tears down any little bit of self esteem you have.

My husband told me I was sexy because of my attitude, and all I heard was "You don't look good." When I think of writing, the voice says, "No one wants to read it anyway." I made the ultimate mistake of posting on Facebook last night something asking people what their favorite memory was...and no one answered. Oh the evil voice delighted in that!!!

In schema therapy I did learn to identify that voice, and hopefully lesson it's power over me. So today, I'm going on with my life. I have done a load of laundry, I am baking pumpkin cookies and loving my husband and boys. And I'm writing in my blog, and if you don't care or don't want to read it...well that's your choice. I have to do it anyway or I'll never break though.

Depression is a serious issue, and while I have done therapy to get a handle on it, I'm far from cured. But if you do have issues with depression, please get help. And if the therapist you find doesn't mesh with you, keep looking.



This is me and Ivan at the library's Wild Rumpus yesterday evening.


And this is my Wild Thing. While the movie may have scared him, the book still fascinates him. I can't wait to actually see the movie all the way through.

Today we woke up not so early and had breakfast at Crankers. And deciding to be a little wild went to see the 1st showing in Mt. Pleasant. Well it was too loud for Ivan so Chris took him out and got a refund and proceeded to wait for CW and me. CW then started in with, "I want to go with Daddy." "Those guys are scary!" "I don't want to watch this!" So we left and got passes to return. That means on Sunday Chris and I will take turns watching the movie and watching the kids.

The pumpkin cookies are from a recipe on AllRecipes.com. Click here to go to the original recipe. I've found it tastes better without the frosting, although if you made a real cream cheese frosting that might be better. And add more cinnamon, and nutmeg, cloves and ginger.

Peace and Good Night.

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Wednesday, October 14, 2009

Quiche




Tonight for dinner I was inspired by a young lady that lives in my park. She said she wanted to bake a pie. And I thought, YES!!! A quiche for dinner.

I must also thank the Andersons as they bought me the recipe book, the mixer and even the stove! Yes, they are wonderful people.

Years ago my husband moved to Alma with his fiance. Well after awhile he realized that he didn't want to marry her and she didn't want to follow the rules of her grandparents - the Andersons. So she left. Well Chris didn't have anywhere else to go so they let him stay. They really "adopted" him.

Fast forward some years and they have accepted all of us as part of the family. My son calls them Grandma & Grandpa and I couldn't imagine not spending Sunday without visiting their home.



This is me rolling the dough for the quiche. It is really surprisingly easy to make the whole thing. There's the crust. I used my King Arthur cookbook for the recipe and my Kitchen Aid mixer for mixing.

Spinach and onion on the bottom, then cheddar cheese and finally the egg mixture.

My lovely son as seen in the next picture, took the shot of me rolling the dough. He's very talented, considering he's not even 4!



And finally Ivan is just fully worn out from all the work and fresh air. We took a walk in the woods today for his home visit.



I have to plug Confessions of a Soccer Mom again. I was going to step out of the giveaways, but there are the COOLEST items today. 1st up is a 6" wire wand with beads and crystals created by Marie Segal. 2nd up are the cutest earbobs by M. Augusta Woodland. And the final giveaway today is a tarot bag with 2 spell candles and some unique natural divination incense by The Witches Britches.

Go check it out, but hurry!
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Tuesday, October 13, 2009

Oh Happy Day!

I am having a wonderful day that did start too early, but I've been a productive housewife and a busy lady all around.

My bass guitar is sold and the guy came and picked it up, saving me the shipping and he was a nice guy.

Last night I won Sense and Sensibility and Sea Monsters from Mrs. B's blog Confessions of a Pagan Soccer Mom.

I fixed my comments, so if you are just a tad patient, they do work. I noticed it can take a few seconds to load.

Finally, I styled my blog all by myself! Ok, with help from the links you'll find on the right...especially www.bloggerbuster.com.

I'm tired, but I'm so very proud of myself and that just doesn't happen nearly often enough.

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Monday, October 12, 2009

Please stand by

I just found out that my comments aren't working. I'm trying to get it resolved.  I'm also going to get a blog makeover real soon.

I did want to let you know about a special give-away today.  Sense and Sensibility and Sea Monsters.


I'm dying to read this book so I only hope I win this time. It's the only way I'll get to read it before x-mas. WAIT!!! Let me check with my library...Nope. One place has it but won't lend it out. Ok - gotta win this one.

Yes I know I'm pretty unorganized today. It was all errands and it doesn't feel like I accomplished anything more than taking out the trash. So I will cut this short and get back when I fix my problems.
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Sunday, October 11, 2009

Need Help


I'm going to purchase a picture to use as a logo for this blog. But while I stumbled upon an artist I love, I'm stuck between 3 pictures. Now pass this along, I want as many votes as I can get.


#1 Big Beauty Bedtime with Copy Cat









#2 Big Beautiful Fairytale Princess









#3 Melancholy Mermaid







Ok people, get the word out. I can only get one, and I want it to be the right one.
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