The Drama of the Nonfat Dry Milk...

Not to be confused
with the
"Stories of the
Sweetened
Condensed Milk"

or
"Tales of the
Evaporated
Milk".
(I will save those for another telling...)
No this little ditty is of the same genre, mystery, but this one is a serial (not to be confused as a cereal!) because it is continued every year on Thanksgiving day.

The treasured recipe for delicious dinner rolls is found in its special book, the ingredients carefully prepared and measured. And just as the yeast is being prepared to start its journey to bring life to the rolls that are integral to every family get together, it is discovered that one critical ingredient has yet to be found and measured...

That elusive nonfat dry milk! Where does it go to hide? We all know that no one will actually make it into a glass of milk to drink, and no other recipe we prepare uses it. Yet every Thanksgiving when it is time to prepare this favorite roll recipe, the nonfat dry milk is no where to be found. And every year an emergency trip to the market has to be made in spite of all those long lists and other trips previously made. How lucky we are this year to finally have a teen age son who was willing to run out and acquire this essential item with enthusiasm (and the reward of one bottle of Dr. Pepper). Quite honestly when I noticed and then mentioned to Dave that we would have to make that special trip, we both sighed heavily and rolled our eyes, "not again" was the thought that we both shared. How many times does this scenario have to be played before we can figure out how to prepare for this event completely? That my friends is the mystery, I am hoping that the telling of this drama will place it more completely in my conscience so that it does not have to bear repeating, but unfortunately, I know myself a little too well. Alas, it is my belief that we will yet again have an installment in this unfortunate series, and that it will be just as amusing as this year's episode was.

In spite of all that transpired, the rolls were delicious, and the homemade blackberry jam was thrilled to have such a spectacular ride into the gullets of my guests.

;)

B-

Oh my goodness!!!

Such a week since getting home, so much to catch up on!

We have been very busy with work at Cornish Heritage Farms too, loads of amazing art coming down the road, it just keeps getting better!

I wish I could have gotten a better picture of this project, but it is from the Thomas Kinkade Christmas pack! This paper is so pretty, and it makes cardmmaking a snap. This card was inspired by my wishing for it to snow more very soon. It has been unseasonably warm for the last couple of weeks, and I am ready for winter!!!

I loved hearing what you all have for your holiday meals! Dave and I have finalized our menu, and I am hungry already thinking about it.

Cheese and cracker plate
Fresh veggie plate
Fresh turkey
Spring Mix salad with gorgonzola cheese, comice pears and toasted pecans with vinagrette
Fresh green bean casserole
Broccoli
Whipped maple syrup yams with cinnamon and pecans
Mashed potatoes
Homemade rolls
Blackberry/apple jam
Homemade Apple pie

I have been doing a bunch of prep for Thanksgiving so there is less to do on that day. I am so happy when I get to cook for everyone, so fun!!! I have a fresh twenty pound turkey in the fridge, I have made the blackberry/apple jam, the yams are boiled and will be whipped with maple syrup, sourcream and cinnamon, the pecans were toasted with maple syrup, garlic powder and cracked black pepper for my yummy salad, and my list for finishing the shopping tomorrow is made and will be done early so that I don't have to deal with last minute crowds!

I hope that all of you have a wonderful Thanksgiving, and that you can eat yourselves silly as well!

B-

Good times in Vancouver

Thanks Christina for a great time!!!
A few of the pictures from our outing at Granville Island, a gorgeous Vancouver day!

Cool November morning

It is a beautiful morning here today! Much needed moisture has arrived and the mountains are covered, while the benches and valleys received a cool, cleansing few days of down pour.

With the rain comes the mud, and the doggy boys are on limited license when it comes to getting play time in the back yard. This weather gives me more creative juice, and I am trying my best to make little projects here and there. I really love my job doing as the Marketing Director for Cornish Heritage Farms, but it has decreased my creative time substantially!

I am so excited though because we have products coming out that are so amazing! Tomorrow we are having another Saturday Evening Post release that is going to be a classic.
I just need a few more minutes in every day, LOL! (who doesn't?)

I am getting the laundry finished up and organizing the things that I need to get into my bag for my trip tomorrow. I can't wait to get to Vancouver!
A little get away is going to do me a lot of good, and I hope to get home next week renewed and ready to take it all back on again!

Thanksgiving is just around the corner, and the menu is already in negotiations with the family members that will be attending! What are your favorite must have dishes?

See you in a few days, and don't have too much fun without me!

B-

Classic

I finally got to spend some time in my craft room last night, so very happy! I was able to make a card using one of the stamps that is releasing tomorrow...

GM 1955 classic Corvette!

I used some of the Rummage Bin sets to give it more of a collaged look, it gave it some depth and interest! I stamped on CHF "Scrapblock" paper with Tsukineko ultrafine in black and matted on black Prism Cardstock. The fun stripe is by SEI.

This was a fun card to make, and one that I know my Dad will love! (even with a bow, LOL!)

I am trying to get all my little duckies in a row so that getting on my way to Vancouver will be a piece of cake! So excited!

B-

I got to use my camera today, for reals!

Forgive me for sharing so many of the pics from today, but these kids are SOOOOOOOOOOOO cute!!!!

They were so well behaved, and we had so much fun taking their pictures! We even had a little snowball throwing for good measure!

I have so much to learn when I am behind the lens, but at least I know my way around photoshop!These brushes are by Sande Krieger and can be found at 2 peas in the digital scrapbooking section, here is a link for those of you who would like:

Joyeux Noel

I could follow these two around for days and not get enough of them, my spoon isn't big enough!

Thanks to Jill for inviting me over and sharing her sweeties!

B-

A little digi play this evening!

I played in the digi challenge at 2 Peas last week, they were RAKing a few of the participants who shared their work, and I received one of the gift cards. WOOT!

So I splurged it all on one little kit that Rhonna did called "a camping we will go".

I did a little re-color on a few of the elements and used elements from a couple of pcLayers kits to complete the look that I was going for, very fun!

The colors of fall are always so rich, it is just so inspiring for me!

Hope you are finding your creative groove too!

B-

Yay, a snow day!

So fun to wake up this morning to a snow storm!

It is so beautiful!!!!



There was about 3 inches on the ground at about 6:00 am, and it kept accumulating through most of the day! By the time the storm had finished in the mid-afternoon, there was over 8 inches of freshies!!!


Doesn't that look comfortable?

;)


I love how much fun the boy-zois
had running and chasing through all of it, so cute!!!

It is so fun having a better camera to take pics too, it is so much faster! I can actually catch the boys in action, impossible before!

By tomorrow, it will be mostly melted, but for today it is a wonderful blanket of fresh white fun!

B-

A new Method Playground post

This challenge is one that came from me. I love to play with my paper, maybe that much is apparent by now, LOL! So this challenge came from my penchant to put pleats into my paper and use it as an embellishment on my page somehow. I have had a few projects published with this technique too, and I hope that it gains in popularity! It is a terrific way to get texture, to create matching "ribbon" like elements that match your other papers without the expense of real ribbon and just plain old cool looking!

Go check it out and play if you have some time!

In other not so interesting news, we are having a very typical fall Monday with no drama and a storm front moving in. Usually that gets me excited for the coming winter, but my knee has been extra grumpy the last few months, so it means that I either need to go to the gym or the orthopede. Gym seems like the better place to start, LOL! Couldn't be too much tennis that is getting the darn thing so worked up, could it? ;)

I gave up my running because of the impact, but couldn't give up the tennis. Got to stay sane somehow! (what else can you hit hard that comes back for more?)

Speaking of hitting hard, I got pounded in the kidney this morning...

Really glad that I got my back to it before it got me in gut, that would have hurt even more! There will be one nice big bruise there for the next week! :0) Badge of honor! (or stupidity, not sure which yet)

So snow will be flying here tomorrow, very exciting! Voting will be interesting, have to get out and get it done early. Carpool in the afternoon will be even more so, the first few storms are hard because people forget how to deal.

Just a little over a week until I head to Canda too! Got to start getting ready for my good times there! Woot!

And then Thanksgiving is here!

Getting a little ahead of myself here, just need to take it one day at a time...

;)

B-

Pumpkin bars!

Happy November first all!

A few of you have been angling for the pumpkin bar recipe that I have been devouring all month! Dave makes these for us, and the recipe came from one of the local tv stations (can't remember which one). A great dessert to serve to a crowd, and they also stay nice for a few days if you aren't going to eat them all at once. Yummy with a cup of tea, coffee or cocoa for a light snack ;)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

In a large mixing bowl combine the wet ingredients:

4 eggs

1 3/4 cups of sugar

1 cup of Canola oil

1 27 ounce can of pumpkin

Combine in a separate bowl the dry ingredients:

2 1/2 cups flour

4 teaspoons baking powder

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon cloves

1/2 teaspoon nutmeg

slowly combine dry ingredients into the wet mix.

Grease large pan with cooking spray. Pour into pan and gently spread, bake for about 25 minutes. Check center with toothpick for doneness.

Let cool and then frost with cream chees icing.

Cream cheese icing:

1 8 ounce pack of cream cheese at room temperature

1/4 cup of butter at room temperature

2 1/2 cups of powdered sugar.

Enjoy!

B-

Sketch Challenge at Cornish Heritage Farms

Julia created this wonderful sketch for this week's sketch challenge!
I didn't have two smaller pictures, so I used a larger one for my take on it.

Today has been a crazy day, a constant go from dawn until dusk, those kind of days just wipe me out! The fun part is that the kids are over at the church right now volunteering for the little kids Halloween carnival, super cute!! Tyler even made a couple dozen cupcakes all by himself for this!

I am really excited, the Creative blog for CHF has been so well received! It makes me sigh a big breath of relief! That has been a large undertaking, but it looks great and I love having a place to showcase the design teams constantly exceptional projects!!!!

Off to a quiet evening to decompress...

B-

Something fun to share, and I almost forgot...

Yeah, sorry two posts in one day, a little overkill dontcha think?!!!

I forgot to share on Monday a fun link that I am so excited about!

Go visit the Queen and Co. blog! The super talented and wonderfully sweet Leah LaMontagne invited me to share a layout I had made with their fabulous felt.

Thanks for letting me ramble, LOL!
B-

Fall Harvest

It is a Saturday Evening Post release day at CHF, and I love this line! The nostalgia is so thick for this line of art for me! I just loved looking at the art at my Grandparents house and waited with anticipation every week for the next intriguing and inspiring issue!

I had a little time to make a card for this release, I just love the colors of Autumn, and this card reminds me of apple cider, crisp mornings and falling leaves.

Prism smooth cardstock with Adirondack in ginger and espresso rolled on the edges of the stamp gives it a nice vintage look with not a lot of effort. A little ribbon and a crocheted flower and it looks done to me!

Have a wonderful fall day, and be sure to visit the new CHF creative blog, lots to look at there!

Best!

B-

What is better than 120 brand new colored pencils?

Seriously? 120 brand new Prismacolor Premier, unsharpened colored pencils that are now mine!

And what could be better than that? I got them with a 50% off coupon when Jo-ann's had a coupon that I just couldn't turn down! They smell so good, and I get to sharpen them one at a time all by myself, WOOT!

I have always loved coloring, even as a little girl, I would lay down layers of colors and shading. Trying new combinations and stroke weight was something I could do for hours in my grandparents homes while life swirled on around me. I would get lost in the colors and that fabulous crayola smell!

This wonderful bucket of goodness takes me right back to being a kid again, and the thrill of layering and shading has me so excited! I have so many stamps that I can't wait to get inky and then color with these bad boys!

On a different note, I have a happy link to share!

Cornish Heritage Farms has a creative blog! I have been spending a lot of time working on it, and I am thrilled that it is up and running! Stop by tomorrow if you have a minute, I think you will find a lot of reasons to visit often ;)

B-

Tug of war anyone?

The babies have had a very busy and creatively destructive week. I really thought that the new bones would slow them down for a bit on the search and destroy program, but that isn't how it worked out. While Dave and I were out for a quiet dinner together at the Porcupine (a favorite local restaurant that is doing an Oktoberfest menu!) the boys got into my make-up bag and chomped it all. When we got home I panicked when I saw red spots on Novak's leg...

They play so hard that little dings and cuts are quite common and require cleaning but aren't devastating.

But this was big globs of red and set me to quite a panic. Then Tyler said, "Mom, I told you that they got into your make-up". Oh, right. Are you kidding me, this is not what I quite had in mind when I visualized that they had made a new mess. Not someone who wears makeup everyday, this was not news that had me upset, it just amazes me what they find to get into trouble with. The make-up bag was left unharmed, just the bits and baubles were strewn around and chewed on. Such goofy boys!



I have unintentionally mislead you with the idea that there is a new baby in the mix. Sorry about that, the layout was just one that I had made telling the story of the adjustment at home, bad timing on sharing it.

So the boys like the tug-of-war with nasty bits of rope that they have chewed off of a big hunk of rope that their dad gave them. The piece that they are holding here is about 15 inches long, and

totally slobbery and gross. Of course that makes it even more fun! They brought it to Laurel and

she got bamboozled into a game with them, and I was lucky to catch a bit of it! They are huge, but she is tough, and they were all pulling each other around the yard with that slimy bit of rope!

Good entertainment!

So if you made it this far in this post, you must be a saint! We really do have other interesting things going on in our lives, but this just felt like a
nice day to tell a longer story.

Hope you have a little creative chaos in your life too...
B-

The babies...

Are seriously going to be the death of me, LOL!

They are so energetic and curious that nothing is safe from them! The latest victims are pizza boxes that were not put in the recycling bin, a cute plastic halloween cup from a group of 6 that my mom gave us to help celebrate the season, a ceramic skeleton decoration that was knocked off the entry way table, a chapstick (tasted too minty so was chomped just enough to be rendered unusable) the beanie baby bats were all slobbery after they were pulled off of their hanging places on the entertainment center, a few apples from the bowl in the center of the kitchen island and a "gift" left in the dining room. ugh.

It ends up being funny later, but when you walk in on the result of their efforts, not so much.

So to reward them for their hard work I went to the butcher at our market and bought them new bones. This always keeps them out of trouble for a few days, the chewing keeps them from working on something else and the enthusiasm for this work tires them out quickly and they rest better, thus leaving less of a destructive wake. Good times!

In spite of all of this, we just adore the "boy-zois" and can't imagine how quiet (and clean) it would be with out them!

Anyone want to dogsit for us when we have to travel?

B-

Late night Monday

Having a hard time packing it in tonight, tired, but rest is not coming easily, so I thought why not get a little blog post up?

A new Method Playground goes up tomorrow, so I might as well share the layout that I did for the challenge of mega-dimension! I really tried hard to stack it up, and there are some parts of the layout that stick up over an inch away from the background!

(That is bumpy even for me, LOL!)

While I am enjoying my insmonia, the tivo is keeping me company. I have some new fav shows that are making the tivo cut, Fringe is one of them. Have you seen this show yet? Kind of an X-Files type of show. Loads of great effects and some really out of the box writing, good stuff! Of course the other members of the tivo team are Chuck, Heroes, My Name is Earl, The Office and Desperate Housewives.

So, anyone else up crocheting and watching tivo? ;)

B-

Happy 19th Birthday Tyler!!!

What a day, Tyler celebrated his big day by bossing us around and kicking his feet up! We watched a "Chuck" marathon, thanks to aunt Rox and uncle Bret! Then the new Indiana Jones movie and now the baseball game. I told you he had his feet up, LOL!

His request for a birthday "cake" was pie...

Pumpkin today and Apple tomorrow.

Speaking of apple, a layout I made after his graduation earlier this year telling the tale of how is getting ready to move on in his life.

So not ready.

Another big moment today, he finished his mission paperwork and will be turning it in tomorrow. Proud and and sad all in one moment. It really was just yesterday that we celebrated his first birthday with a costume party with family and neighbors and he was dressed like a little jail bird. (Very funny when he was in his crib for a nap!)

B-

What is UEA?

UEA weekend is here, and as a family, we are ready to have a long rest! When we moved to Utah 12 years ago we had this break in the school year in the fall that we just didn't understand. What is this UEA weekend about? What does it mean? The acronym is for Utah Education Association. The school teachers have a convention and union meetings, and yes, they take Thursday and Friday off to do these meetings. This means that kids that are tired, and parents that are tired of their tired kids, get a break! And right about now it is really appreciated! As for the teachers, you know they are even more grateful for a respite than the rest of us, LOL! We have sleeping in to do, fall pictures to take, and lots of television to watch!

So if you had an extra four quiet days to your family what would you do?

B-

Snowy October Sunday

We have had a busy week, not much time to create, but we did get the halloween decorations out! I made this while in Colorado at the Scrap Pink crop. The joke for the first two days was that all I had been able to get done was one card. While this was true in measurement of projects, the other intangibles that I had accomplished were substantial!

The project was made with Pink Paislee papers and Making Memories velvet rub-ons, very fun to play with!

We are off to the parents house for the afternoon, for dinner and a visit.

B-

New Method Playground challenge!

This challenge was given by Paloma, and I enjoyed it so much that I made two projects! The challenge was to get out that basket of rub-ons and use them! Create a project that uses up a bunch of those gorgeous rub-ons that are collecting dust! On the first one I used a bunch from Fancy Pants and My Mind's Eye that I loved, just had never had the perfect project for (sound familiar?) So this time I planned the perfect project and let them be the star!
The second project was where I pushed my self even more and used just kraft and black. The Basic Grey rub-ons were leftover from a set I had already cut open and had left languishing and waiting for some love. This project really speaks to me because it helped me find a story that needed to be told, and to do it in a different and very memorable way. (It is a disney page!)
If you can find some time to play, leave a link at the Method Playground blog and you might win a RAK.

Beautiful day here in Utah, I really should be out with the camera snapping a few pics, the colors are so phenomenal!

So excited, I just got plans made to go to Vancouver B.C. in November, and I can't wait! I love visiting with Christina, Terry, Kodi and LuLu!!! My family pretends to miss me, but they will start making their "list of movies to watch while mom is gone" now.

Funny to see what dad lets them get away with while I am away...

(That is okay, I let them get away with a few things while he is gone too. ssssshhh don't tell him)


B-

Quick Card Challenge Chicks

This Monday's challenge was a quick card!

I would have thought that this would have been hard for me because I do like my techniques, layers and "stuff", but this little card was actually really quick!
I stamped the little monster from the "Lil Guy" set by Kim Hughes in Adrirondack "pool", "stream", and "denim". Then just used a square punch to punch the two sizes of squares. The sentiment is from the Rummage Bin "Round and Round" set. To get the varigated look, just apply ink in the lightest color in the middle of the stamp and then apply the two darker colors on the edges.

Julia
Joanne
Kristine
Julie
Dawn
Jen
Kim
Alli
Michele
Val
Lisa Silver
Carole
Sherrie

Hope you find some time to play!!!
B-

We have a winner!

Congrats linda patti tpatt!!!

Send me an email with your information and I will get stamps sent out to you.

Thanks to everyone who stopped by and helped me celebrate, your kind comments and wonderful support are so appreciated! It is really exciting to be starting my fourth year, it really doesn't seem like it could have been that long since I first started! I need to do a project about time flying I guess, LOL!

I took a little time to do a digi on thursday night while watching the VP debate. The picture is of Laurel in her jammies during the middle of the day wearing her Skull Candies, Facebooking, and drinking a GI-normous diet coke from the Sevs.

And then a card I made using a bunch of my favorite products.

The Cornish Heritage Farms Houndstooth backgrounder stamped with a very light versamagic onto Jenni Bowlin paper, and Pink Paislee fussy cut and a Daisy D's jounaling label with a Mona Lisa Moment sentiment. I loved World Card Making day yesterday, I got a few fun things done and it was great to hang out on some of the boards visiting with other stampers and cardmakers!

How was your WCMD? Did you get lots done or spend time with favorite crafting friends whooping the day up? Or maybe you had the chance to get away to a favorite store for a few minutes to peruse the wide variety of products that are available for our creative play? How ever it was spent for you, I hope that it was wonderful!

I am going to spend a little time with the fam before another hectic week of school and work interfere, hope you can do the same!

B-

Happy World Card Making Day!!!!

I am so excited that it is finally here! I have been working on this for months, planning and organizing, so watching it all blossom is so exciting!!!

A few fun things to check out for some great inspiration.

Scrapbook and Cards Today blog has a fabulous post with cards from some amazing card designers with instructions! This card was the one that I did, and if you are interested in how it gets put together, go visit! Leave a comment with them as well, and you might win a wonderful goodie package!

I am also hosting a "Make it Sparkle" challenge at Two Peas for Stamptoberfest

That goes on all week, so you have plenty of time to play if you are interested. This card has the Starry night and Wood Grain backgrounders and the Vintage Signage from the Rummage Bin, and of course LOTS of glitter!

And last but definitely not least is the celebration we have going on at Cornish Heritage Farms where we have chats with designers, challenges and give aways going on this afternoon!

This little card has all three of the challenges combined on project. The challenges are "Let it snow" "Use an non-traditional color combination" and "Sparkle". The give aways are good ones, so I hope you have time to play!!!

I had intended to post a winner to my Blog-a-versary post, but Tyler had his wisdom teeth out yesterday, so I got a little behind in my life! The good news is that I don't have time to do it right now either, so there is still time to post to that to have a chance to win!

I hope that you catch the spirit of the day the way I have, World Card Making Day is such a wonderful premise because it is about giving! Making something from your heart and giving it away! It doesn't get much better than that!

B-

My dog sings...

We have very special puppies, they both have very fun, interesting and unique personalities! A few weeks ago we learned that Novak likes to sing with Laurel when she plays on the piano. Some notes evoke more emotion than others and a board sweep turns Novak into Sarah Brightman, so for your viewing and listening pleasure, I present Novak...

Yes, he does kiss me and bonk me on the nose pretty hard in his enthusiasm, so it could probably qualify for America's funniest Home videos because someone suffers some pain, LOL! And this is the sofa that is the "snack, resting place and perch" as you may well notice. Even just a month ago it had been intact and unnoticed. It was when Novak found his love for music that the boy-zois then noticed the exceptional qualities of this furniture...

Oh well.

And good news for Kelly Bee! You were randomly selected to receive the copy of "Papercrafting 3 Ways" for the World Card Making Day give away, CONGRATS!!! Thanks to all of you who posted for that, it is something that I am very excited about!

So who is interested to watch the VP debate this evening? I know I am. Well, we have to because Laurel needs the extra credit for her Government class, and there is literally nothing else on. But this time around I am actually intrigued. I find myself to be one of those people that is actually on the fence with both candidates for a lot of reasons, and I think this debate will be quite informative.

I will be selecting a winner from my Blog-a-Versary post tomorrow, so if you haven't posted, there is still time! I will probably be throwing a few other goodies in there because of the craft room situation, if that is okay ;o)

B-