My Favorite Things

I know Oprah always likes to share some of her favorie things, but honestly, I can't afford what Oprah likes. I will share some of my favorite things with you though. These are the top 10 (not family and friends) things that enrich my life and make me enjoy it more.

1. The Chiropractor. I love the chiro. I really liked the guy in Cherry Point. So, anyone in CP who thinks they'd like to get their back cracked by a professional, Russell Davis is the man. I miss that place. I'm working on a new place here, but it takes time for these things.

2. Normal Mormon Husband Blog. I can always count on a laugh from there. And his Twilight spoofs make me roll on the floor. I don't know if it is Mormon humor or what, but I get it. When he writes, I get it. (Unless its about sports. That's still funny, but I don't always get it!)

3. The Poineer Woman. Ahhh, the stuff she cooks, the stories she tells..... it makes me happy and it makes me laugh. Aparently I'm all about the laughing right now, because that's what my favorite things seem to have in common.

4. Curves. I love Curves. They do not offer babysitting, so I don't go now, but I DID go 3 days a week up till the day Delaney was born. And I went back a week after she came home. I love Curves. I love that it is fast. I love that it is really simple and easy. I absolutely love that it makes me feel great and works most of your body. I completely endorse Cruves fo no reason other than I think it is great and I wish I had no children at home just so I could go there!

5. 5 Guys Burgers. I thought that In n Out was the epitome of tasty burger. Then their burgers suddenly were not as tasty. I do not know why. Once here, I heard about 5 Guys, and the hype is true. Although it is like comparing apples and oranges, to try to compare it to In N Out, because it is a very different burger. Who knew grilled onions could pack such a surprise for my mouth! And their fries. I'm doing the Homer Simson right now, just thinking about it.

6. Blurb. I know I have expressed delight about Blurb.com before, but I love their books. Everything I have made by them I have love, love, loved! This year I tried the new 5x8 text only book- cheap and nice, and it came out great. I'm "scrapbooking" all my 2008 pictures into a book, and I love that it will be smaller than a scrapbook. It will be portable, and kid friendly as well.

7. Time Out for Women. It always amazes me what I learn. I have been 3 times, and at each of them, I have learned life-altering truths. Okay, I have heard things and learned things that have changed the way I view my life and the way I live it. It is such a fantastic thing to go to and I leave feeling rejuvenated and excited about my life. If you ever have the opportunity, GO!

8. My Elliptical Machine. Yes, we paid a small fortune for it 3 years ago. That's where our tax return went, and I have never regretted it. Dan wanted a gym quality machine. We got a Spirit, and I love that it has a 21 inch stride. I use that thing usually twice a week, more if the weather is too cold to run. Its a beast and will probably be a problem if we ever have a smaller house, but I love that thing!

9. My Make Ahead Meals Group. I never thought I would love it this much. 8-10 of us get togther every 2 weeks and swap 10 meals. I make 10 of the same thing and trade them in for all different things. All I have to do is to remember to take something out of the freezer the night before and I never have to worry about what's for dinner. What will I do when I actually have to plan ahead?!

10. Young Living Essential Oils. Love the way they smell, Love the things they do. Especially now when so many of our friends are getting sick.

The Last Gingerbread Post!

Okay, I was so done with making gingerbread houses, that I did not even want to post the kids doing theirs. It seems however, that some people desire to see this, so here it is:

Joshua was obsessed with his yard. He worked mainly on that. That marshmallow is going to be Santa's sleigh, I think. He spent the most time on his house, and it was the least decorative home, but it had the most decorative yard.

Delaney was just there for the food. She snagged everything in sight.

Marian was very cute. She worked very hard on her house and did almost everything all by herself. I love the pixie dust covered roof.


Ah yes, I finally got Joshua to put something on his roof. And he actually did all the work on his house. I didn't do anything but nag.

Here is Callie with her finished project. I helped her a lot. But the giant snowman in the front was all her idea! As was the gumdrop tree there!

No, I have no shots of the other 2 houses when they were done. I was upstairs trying to get 2 girls bathed and ready for bed. I meant to go back and take pictures, but I didn't. And then Callie and Delaney figured out how to move the chair just so, and they climbed on the counter and started snacking the candy off the houses. That's my life. (And I like it!)

Gingerbread Parade of Homes

We had some pretty spectacular homes created today. Bear in mind that these were made by girls age 9-12. Thier primary goal was more towards how much candy could they apply. I think they succeeded admirably! Check these out!

The girls worked hard on these. They had an hour, and most of them stayed a bit longer than that to finish thier masterpieces.

The green and red sprinkles make this one extra festive. I like it.

I think the candy cane pillars on the corners are a lovely touch.

I like the simplicity and the roof is way cute. It's a charming cottage, not overdone.

Look at the colors on this roof. She spent a lot of time on this. And there is a marshmallow sleigh in front. Such a cute idea.

Again, the cute candy cane pillars. The marshmallow were a hot commodity today. I like what she has done with them. And the gum drops on the front.

This one has Santa's sleigh up on the roof, and a snowman in the yard. Such great ideas!

I was really impressed with the girls and the things they came up with. It was good fun!

Gingerbread House Tutorial; Part 2

Okay, back to making our gingerbread houses today! You have your gingerbread. It has been cut and baked and now it is ready. (Please ignore whatever it is that keeps turning my pictures.)

Here we have the pieces laid out and ready to go. I like to use a sturdy piece of cardboard for the bottom. I cover it with foil and I'm good to go. I like to lay the pieces out like this so I can lay the frosting down where I need it.

Pour a thick layer of frosting for the foundation, and along the sides that will be touching. Then slap that bad boy together and hold it for a few minutes till the glue... er, frosting dries enough. This part may take more than 2 hands. The directions say to wait an hour before adding on the roof, but please, who actually follows directions?!! When in doubt, add more frosting. Fill up the nooks and crannies and places where the pieces don't quite meet because I am an impresice person and I don't cut a straight line!

Now me, I had to lay out 8 settings here. It was Activity Days, ya know! I actually had 9 girls come, so its a good thing I had baked up 12 of these things! They also brought more candy to decorate with. Once the girls arrived, we put the roofs on and they went to town. Here is the table before the girls arrived.

Here is the table after they left. Sprinkles, smarties, and pixie stix were everywhere! They had a good time though, and all I had to do was sweep everything off the table and into a trash can. Easy clean up!

And here is the creative process in progress. There was a lot of great stuff going on! I was impressed with some of the things they did. I hope they had fun, because I did!

Gingerbread House Tutorial; Part 1

I may have mentioned that I am the Activity Days Leader in our ward. For one of our December activities, I thought it would be fun to make gingerbread houses. That really means that I get do all the work to actually MAKE them and the girls will decorate them. If you are lucky, I'll remember to post the recipe I use later. This is not an eating recipe. You certainly CAN eat it, but only if you are orally fixated and like to gnaw on things. It makes rock solid gingerbread, which happens to be perfect for this project!

Once you have your dough made and cooled, you will need to clear off a lovely bit of space. For me, the only space big enough is the kitchen table. Flour the surface heavily and roll out some dough! It is suppose to be 1/4 inch thick, but I probably roll it a lot less than that! Hey, I made small houses, they don't need to be as structurally sound.

This picture was turned the correct way when I uploaded it and I do not know what happened. I'm sure you can see what to do without even cranking your head 90 degrees to the right.

Lay out your template and gently trace around it with your knife. The trick here is to have a sharp enough knife to smoothly trim the dough, but no so sharp it slices through the tablecloth. (I say tablecloth, when in fact, I merely have a sheet of plastic to protect the tabletop. And I like it!) I did switch to using a pizza cutter later. It cuts smoothly and its easy to trace along the template with it.

If you are like me, you may have to shoo away a baby who is suppose to be upstairs with Daddy getting bedtime stories read to her. She is not a helper, she just thinks she is.

After you cut out a bunch, your table may look like this. Just to sound helpful, let me remind you that you should have at least 3 templates- one for the roof, one for the sides, one for the front and back. You'll trim out 2 of each to make one complete house. I doubled my recipe and made really small houses, so I got 8 full sets cut out. Yeah, it took a while.

And yep, I had to chase the girls back up to bed too. I lured them away from my culinary masterpieces with the promise that they could roll out their own dough the next day. I followed through too.... all the scraps went into the fridge and I let the kiddies roll and cut out some rock hard cookies for tree ornaments. So there! I still needed a few more houses, so I had to make another batch.

Here you can see the cut out parts waiting to be put on the pan and cooked. And Delaney is enjoying her breakfast in the background. I'm into casual here.

Now, FYI, I only have 2 pans that fit into the oven here. Sad, but true. So I imporvise, and it just takes a bit longer. So..... slide the lovely cut-outs onto your pan, and straighten any edges that might have gotten gronked in the process. Then toss that pan in the oven.

Here's what they look like when they are done. Well, slightly overly done. We're not going to eat this stuff people, we don't care if its overly done! Its a good thing, actually, it means that they won't crumble. Chip, maybe, but not crumble.



Again, with the rotating the picture for me! Still, you can tell that you need to cool your gingerbread when it comes out of the oven. You want to let this stuff sit a few minutes first to firm up before you move it to the cooling racks.

Then I like to stack them as units so I can make sure I have enough pieces to make a complete house. I miscounted on this batch and I have 2 extra side pieces, which is much better than being 2 short.

Okay, and here is the recipe. I'll be showing the finished results later. (PS- the icing dries to a very solid finish, like glue.)

Gingerbread Dough:
Stir together into a bowl
6 c all purpose flour
1 Tb cinnamon
1 ½ tsp ginger
½ tsp salt

In 2 qt sauce pan mix until blended, then stir over medium heat until margarine is melted:
1 ½ cups Corn syrup
1 1/3 cups packed brown sugar
1C margarine or butter

Add liquids to flour mixture and mix until well blended. Then chill in refrigerator until dough is easy to handle.

For easy rolling, place damp dish towel under cookie sheet to prevent sheet from slipping. Line 15 ½ by 12” or 17”by 14” cookie sheet with foil, moistening first with water to prevent f oil from moving. Remove about 2-3 cups dough from refrigerator and roll about ¼” thick. (As you saw, I just rolled it out on the table and moved the pieces. Whatever works for you!) Cut pattern pieces from light weight cardboard, place pattern piece on dough and cut with sharp knife. Remove scraps of dough for re-rolling.

Bake at 350 degrees for 15-20 minutes or until cookies are lightly browned and firm when lightly touched. When cooled, check against pattern. They can be trimmed with a knife or sanded to fit. Return all pieces to oven and rebake for 20 minutes at 300 degrees so they will harden and handle easier. (I don’t think I ever did that.)

ICING
1 lb confectioner’s sugar
3 egg white at room temperature
½ tsp cream of tartar
In large bow with mixer at low speed, beat all ingredients until well blended. Beat at high speed 7-10 minutes or until a knife drawn through it leaves a path. Makes about 2 cups.

Note: because the frosting dries quickly, make each batch just before you are ready to use it. If you must store for a few hours or overnight, cover tightly with plastic wrap. When using, keep container covered with a damp towel. You can add food colors as needed. If icing is too thick when using the decorator tubes, add a few drops of water at a time. For thicker icing, add confectioner’s sugar.

Assembly: When assembling gingerbread pieces with icing, work with pastry bag with medium tube. Color small amounts of icing with cocoa to use as glue. To attach walls of houses pipe icing along the edge of one wall. Press it against adjoining wall and hold in place for several minutes before icing sets. Let dry thoroughly, propping attached pieces with a small sturdy object. When dry, smooth seams with a damp cloth. Fill in any spaces with more icing. For extra stability when building a house, pipe icing inside along seams as well. Allow to stand for at least an hour until icing has dried before putting on the roof. (They say to decorate each wall, and then assemble… ah, we didn’t do that.)