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Sunday, February 28, 2010

Recipe of the Week: Sunshine Kisses

These cookies are in my top three for favorite cookies. They are just delicious. How do I  know? Because not only does my family love them, but whenever I make them and serve them to friends...I get FLOODED with recipe requests. The best part is they are so easy to make, that you can have these yummy treats often. This recipe comes from a 1996 Pampered Chef cook book. I've been making them for over 14 years now.

Here is what you will need:

Just 6 simple ingrediants!:

cookies:
1 package lemon cake mix
1 egg, slightly beaten
1/3. cup vegetable oil
2 T. water

glaze:
1 lemon
1 cup powdered sugar

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Combine cake mix, eggs, oil and water using a hand mixer or stationary mixer with the paddle attachment (as shown below)


(within a few minutes, you will have a dry, crumbly dough)

Using a small cookie scoop drop rounded dough onto cookie sheet or stone 2 inches apart. If dough is crumbly, press into the scoop before dropping onto sheet/stone.



After you have dropped cookie dough on the sheet/stone, take the palm of your hand and lightly press the dough until it is slightly flattened.

Bake 13 minutes or until cookies look like this....
Do not over bake. To keep cookies moist and chewy you want them just starting to turn golden on the edges. If you use a stone, like I do...I let the first batch go for 13 minutes and 10 minutes for each subsequent batch to avoid over baking. Cool completely before glazing.

Next step is to make the glaze:
Using a microplane or zester, remove 2 t. zest from lemon. Remove just the yellow, avoiding the bitter white pith. Put the zest into a small bowl.

Next, juice the lemon and measure 4 T. of the juice into bowl with zest. Then add 1 cup powdered sugar. Wisk well.
Once you have a smooth glaze, pour into a small sandwhich baggie letting the glaze settle into the point of one corner of the bag.
Holding the bag over the cookies, snip a tiny hole in the corner of the bag. The glaze will start pouring out the hole ...so quickly start zip zagging over each cookie as seen below to create a drizzled effect.
Let glaze dry completly...then enjoy the yummy lemon goodness of these melt in your mouth Sunshine Kisses!

Saturday, February 27, 2010

Pre-Op Blessing

Yesterday Kevin had his first surgery. For the past 10 years he has had a small lipoma the size of a ping pong ball at the very top of his inside leg. A lipoma is a "fat deposit" and can happen to the thinnest of people. It has been looked at on a yearly basis and we've been told that as long as it doesn't hurt, or bother him that there was no reason to remove it. He's had a yearly ultra sound on it to be sure that it is benign (it is) and other than that we decided that since no one saw it except Kevin and I and because it was not bothering him...we would let it be.

In the last year however, it has doubled in size and became as large as a small to medium lemon. It has been bothering Kevin quite a bit and some nights it has throbbed with pain. So he went to see a surgeon and the decision was made to remove it. His surgeon, Dr. Meyers; told us that the surgery would be done on an outpatient basis and that if he had it done on a Friday he could most likely go back to work Monday.

So yesterday was the big day. Kevin and I were both feeling a little nervous as this was his first surgery. Although it was considered a minor surgery, anytime you are put under general anesthisia there is reason for concern. Right before the surgery, I was sitting next to Kevin in the pre-op room and he had been completely prepared for surgery. His IV was in, his blue surgical bonnet was on and we were just sitting there holding hands and waiting. Dr. Meyer came in and spoke to us briefly about the surgery, the recovery etc and then said,
"I want to let you know that I am a Christian and I like to pray with my patients before I operate. Would that be O.K. with you?"
At that moment, I nearly burst into tears. What a wonderful blessing to know that Kevin's surgeon was looking to the Lord to guide his hand in surgery. Of course we readily agreed to pray. The three of us joined hands and Dr. Meyer lifted up the most beautiful prayer. Instantly a feeling of peace and calm came over both Kevin and I.

After the prayer, Dr. Meyer gave me a big smile and a reassuring hand on the shoulder telling me the surgery would take 30-45 minutes and that I should wait in the hospital waiting room. He told me he would personally come out and talk to me right after the surgery. Within moments after that, Kevin was wheeled off to surgery.

As I sat in the waiting room for Kevin, I thanked God for providing us with a godly man to operate on Kevin. Thirty minutes later, Dr. Meyer came out as promised to greet me and let me know that the surgery was a success and he was able to remove all of the piloma with ease; and that he was 99% sure it was benign but that he would send it off to pathology to be on the safe side.

Once again, Kevin and I are amazed at the power of prayer in our lives. Several people from our church, family and  friends had been praying for Kevin's surgery for several days prior. Kevin's surgery ended up being a very positive experience and he is recovering well now.

Saturday, February 20, 2010

3-D Easter Egg ornaments

On Valentine's Day Kevin and I came out of our movie (our theatres are part of the out door mall) and decided to walk around a bit. I noticed that Pottery Barn had their windows decorated in Spring and I asked Kevin if he would mind going in and looking around. He loves Pottery Barn as much as I do, so of course he said yes and lead the way. Once inside we found the most gorgeous spring and Easter decor imaginable. They had several dining room table's set up, all set with fabulous linens, dishes and centerpieces. Of course Kevin and I are oohing and ahhing at the gorgeous things. The one thing that captured my attention more than anything else was the centerpiece on one of the tables that looked very similar to the look I've created in the picture above. I priced out the vase, the flowers, the branches, the table runner....price tag a whopping $200 for the look. What I was most interested in was the 3-D egg oraments that were hanging from the flowers and branches. They were $19 for 6, which is again...ridiculously expensive. So I picked one up, examined the egg and told Kevin "I can make this for free"

Once home I pulled out my large box of paper scraps that have been accumulating for years from being an avid  scrap booker and gathered the rest of the supplies that I thought I would need and went to work. I was very excited when I realized that not only did I have everything I needed to make the 3-D eggs, but that they were easy and fun to make! Below is a tutorial on how to make the 3-D eggs for all of my crafty friends out there.
Here is a close up of one the egg that I will be showing you how to make.

First thing to do is to make a pattern of an egg. You can free hand draw it or find a picture of an egg to trace. You can make it any size you want, mine is approximately 3 inches tall. Cut your pattern out of a light weight chip board. For my Stampin Up! friends, I used the white cardboard insert that you get inside when you order any of the card stock.


Next, pick out a piece of patterned card stock. If you are using scraps, make sure you have enough to trace and cut out 3 eggs. You want to trace the egg on the opposite side of the print. In this case I have a piece of double sided card stock. It is printed on the front and a solid color on the back. I will trace the egg on the solid side as I want the print side to show. The reason for this, is so you can cut around the trace marks and not have to worry about your pencil marks showing.


Trace your egg pattern using a pencil.
Cut out your egg just outside the pencil marks.

Fold the egg in half with the side you want showing on the inside. Be sure to get a clean, sharp crease. (you may use a bone folder if you would like)
Using your favorite adhesive, (I recommend a firm holding tape runner) run adhesive around the edges of one half of your folded egg. Be sure to get as close to the edges as possible.
Take two halves and press them together at the seams until they are glued together.
above is a view of the glued halves from the back
...and from the front.
Next, trim any excess paper that may be overlapping (I found that even though my eggs were cut exactly the same size, because the folds are all slightly off...a little trimming is necessary)

Measure out 7 inches of ribbon.

Take the third cut out egg and after you have folded it in half, making a crease; and lay it pattern size down. Take the cut ribbon, fold in half and tape the ends down centering it over the fold.
Next, take a bead or other item to tie to a ribbon. I used brads from Stampin Up! that are silver like flowers. Instead of putting a brad through the flower center, I used ribbon for my project.
Take the end of the ribbon spool, cut the end to a diagonal point and feed through the center of your bead. Tie the end into a knot and cut the ribbon on an angle approximately 1/4 inch below the knot you tied. Then, cut the ribbon from the spool approximately 1 inch above the bead.
Take another piece of scotch tape and tape the end of the ribbon to the bottom edge of the egg centered on the fold.
Next take more of the adhesive runner and run the adhesive all the way around the egg's edge and along the inside fold on either side.
Taking the egg with ribbon taped to top and bottom that you should adheared adhesive too, hold it up to the other two eggs that you have already adheared together and match up the seams and press together, forming your 3-D egg. Once again, trim any exess paper after the entire egg is adheared together.
The final step is to put glitter on the edges of all the egg edges. Once again, I use Stampin Up! products for this. I use the two way glue, and stampin glitter.
Take the glue, and run a thin strip of it around the edges of the egg. For best results, do one edge at a time or the glue will dry before you can get the glitter on it.
Sprinkle the glitter over the wet glue and shake off the excess into a tray.
That's it! Your egg is done!

Regarding the rest of the centerpiece. I purchased the vase, flowers and branches at Michaels and the eggs  that are filled inside the vase and the table runner at Home Goods. Total cost for everything was $45. I little bit better than Pottery Barn's cost of $200 I 'd say!

Thursday, February 18, 2010

Promoted!

For those of you who read the latest family update I posted a few weeks back, then you know that there has been some changes regarding Kevin's job. First of all the location. When we moved here, he was placed at a military base that is 20 miles from our home. Now he is at a base 60 miles from our home. At first, we thought the commute was going to be over an hour and a half.  It WAS that the first few days when during the orientation meetings of the base he was going in at 8 and leaving at 5. Now that he is back to his normal 7-4 schedule Monday-Thursday with every other Friday off...he finds that his commute only takes an hour. In fact, he likes this commute better than commuting to the other base. It took him 45 minutes to get from our house to the base that is only 20 miles away because he had to drive several miles ON THE BASE as the office was several miles beyond the gate. The speed limit in the base is 15 miles per hour. With the new base, he goes through the gate and his office is right inside the gate. So even though though it is 60 miles from our home it only takes 15 minutes more than the base that was only 20 miles from our home. Kevin truly does not mind commuting an hour each way and never complains about it. Good news regarding the change of location is that after several repeated attempts to get paid mileage citing that we would not have moved so far away if we had known that his base location was going to be changed...his request was finally approved and he is being paid mileage now. He is getting enough to pay for all the gas for his car for commuting purposes now, which is significant!

I also mentioned in my earlier post that at the time of the base change that Kevin had been approached by his boss Pete to apply for another contract that would pay more, be a more permanent assignment AND require us to move 2 hours away to another highly desirable area in our state. Kevin had the first interview and it went well. Without going into details, it has turned out that the position is not available to Kevin at this time however.

Then came a phone call from Kevin's boss last night (at home) He asked Kevin to meet him first thing this morning for a meeting about "more changes" He assured Kevin that everything was fine and that they would discuss in the morning. Of course Kevin and I are wondering all night what these "changes" might mean. Another position? Another location? WHAT?

As it turns out, the news this morning could not have been better. Kevin received a significant promotion! The team of 21 employees on the 4-6 year contract that Kevin is on has been currently managed by his  boss Pete. However as it turns out Pete has been called to other responsibilities (a promotion for him) and the decision is to break the 21 into two teams and promote two people from the 21 to be Area Managers. This contract is for the retro fitting and improvements to several military bases all over our state. For several bases in our Southern part of the state, Kevin was promoted today as one of the Area Managers! Another employee was chosen to manage the northern part of the state. He will still report to Pete, however now instead of Pete managing the entire team of 21 it will be split between the two new Area Managers. Although I don't have all the details in regards to Kevin's new job responsibilities, from what I understand he will still be involoved in the construction management and architecture side of things to some extent, with his main focus being managing the southern team. This promotion means so much for Kevin. First of all, more money. Secondly, it means job security. Pete told Kevin that as a manager on the contract he is no longer at any risk for lay offs that might occur when and if the contract is down sized or changed in any fashion. (for example...when the contract started 6 months ago there were 25 hired...they layed off 4 last month when the location was changed) Job security can not be under rated! For our family it also means not having to re locate again. We really love it here in our city and for the time being, Kevin does not mind the hour a day each way commute. We have considered the possibiility of looking at areas that are in between both bases as it looks like he will be at the current base for at least a year now and then will be back at the base that is only 20 miles away for a significant amount of time. This would give him a 20 minute commute to either base, vs 45 minutes to an hour. We have to consider the cost of living in this area though compared to where we are now among other factors. Our lease is up on the house we are in right now in July. So if we should decide to make that move we could in fact do it before Kyle starts his Freshman year in High School. We will see. For the time being, we plan on staying where we are and for that I am glad.  Other than living in San Luis Obispo, CA.. I can honestly say that living where we do is my favorite place we have lived. I love it here as does Kevin. We love our church, our new friends and our community as a whole. We could not be happier about Kevin's big promotion, and I just wanted to share the good news!

Sunday, February 14, 2010

Happy Valentine's Day!

Here are my two guys this morning right after we got home from church. They both got some Valentine Candy and Kyle got a shirt from his favorite new clothing store C 2 8. Kevin gave me a beautiful card and a box of chocolates. The best part of the day though was not the candy, gift or cards however. It was the joy of being together and remembering the love we share. We invited Kyle to come along with us on our Valentine Date as we hated to leave him alone by himself, but he INSISTED we go on our own...so Kev and I took off soon after church and a home made lunch to make it to a matinee. We went to see a wonderful, wholesome romantic comedy called "When in Rome." After wards we walked around the outdoor mall of our city enjoying the fabulous spring like day in the high 70's...Kev in shorts and I in short sleeves and sandals. This is one of the things we continue to LOVE about living where we do. It certainly does NOT feel like winter here! We then went and ordered appetizers at "The Yard House" and finished our meal with frozen yogurt and gelato at a wonderful gelato place we love at the same outdoor mall. We had a wonderful time together and enjoyed being out together just the two of us. The best part of the day however was coming home to find Kyle outdoors at the park playing basketball with two of the neighborhood boys. After being holed up inside for months (see recent family update for more info) we had encouraged him to take his basket ball over to the park and just start shooting hoops and see if any kids might join in. He took our advice, and ended up playing hoops today for over an hour. Later we'll top off the day by "skyping" Kate who we have been missing quite a bit. We look so forward to having her home in less than a month for her spring break.

Happy Valentine's Day!!!!!
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Saturday, February 13, 2010

Recipe of the Week: Spicy Peanut and Chicken Wraps

Here is a recipe that I posted before, about a year ago on my old blog http://www.joyfulnoise4.blogspot.com/. I decided to post it again, as I understand that the word about my blog is getting out like wild fire through the women in my church who are looking for new recipes! If you are new to my blog, you might want to take a peak at http://www.joyfulnoise4.blogspot.com/ which is my other blog that I wrote before this one. I don't post on it any more, but there are several recipes there as well as lots of other fun things to look at. Back, to these yummy wraps....this has got to be one of my favorite lunches and it could not be easier to make. Everything that is in it has been purchased at Trader Joes, but if you live where there is not a Trader Joes, you can easily substitute these items with other brands. If you are lucky enough to live near a Trader Joes (my favorite grocery store) then here is what you will need:

1 package Lavash bread (I like the whole wheat)
1 container "Just Chicken" which is white chicken breast strips (unseasoned and grilled)
1 package shredded carrots
1 package salted peanuts
1 bag organic spinach leaves (I make an exception to my rule about "no bagged lettuce" & buy spinach in bags instead of in a bundle..have you ever tried to clean a bundle of fresh spinach?? (dirt, grit etc) OR any lettuce you like if you are not a fan of spinach
1 jar Asian Style Spicy Peanut Vinaigrette or as I call it "heaven in a bottle"

Step one: Take out a piece of the lavash bread and lay it on a cutting board. Spread a generous amount of the dressing on the bread.
 
Sprinkle out some spinach leaves and lay desired amount of chicken strips on top, followed with shredded carrots and chopped peanuts. Generously pour more of the dressing over the top. The dressing has the perfect "kick" and a wonderful peanutty flavor.
Roll as shown above, until you have a long "burrito" style wrap. Seam will be face side down.
Tuck in the sides as seen below. *Tip* Be sure to fill the whole middle section of your lavish bread to about 1/4 inch of the edge. This way you won't have too much bread without filling at the ends.
Slice on a diagonal and serve. I like to dip mine in more of the dressing! Enjoy!

Friday, February 12, 2010

Hand Stamped Cards

Here are the cards I made at stamp club last night. Julie (my stamp club's Stampin Up! Demonstrator) always does such a great job designing the cards we make. I LOVE the color schemes, the attention to detail, the border on the "friends" card and the layered matting on the "happiness always" card. I also love the punched/cut out flowers and ribbons.


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Dad's birthday party scrap book pages

As I mentioned in my last family update, I've been doing a lot of scrap booking so far this year. So far I've been working on the 2009 book. The next few posts are some of what I've been working on. This is my Dad's 65th Birthday party which was held the night before his wedding.


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