A Few Of My Favorite Things

THIS weekend was all about my favorite things.  I spent time baking and creating.  A nice casual dinner with neighbors meant I was able to bake dessert.  And OH BOY, what a dessert I baked.  I found the recipe here and since she seems to be my go to for all recipes decadent and sinful, I knew it would be good.



Seriously, how can a recipe that calls for 11 Milky Way bars be bad?

So you start by melting 8 of the candy bars with a stick of margarine.  Again, how can this be bad?





 

The dry ingredients and buttermilk.  Notice the little hand held mixer I use.  Someone could sure make me happy and buy me a KITCHEN AID MIXER for Christmas and I wouldn't complain. (hint, hint)

And of course, nothing goes better with chocolate than vanilla, so this was in the mix too.



I love this stuff!!!!!!!

Oh, and what was even more fun was that I got to use my Grandmother's sifter to sift the flour and salt.  I forgot I had this and was so happy when I stumbled across it.  I love to think about how many thousands of times my sweet grandma used this.  It makes me happy every time I use it even if it isn't so pretty looking anymore.  I think it is just perfect and love the old paint on the handle and the crank.





Once the chocolate bars were all melted it was time to blend everything together.  And just for the record, I did not share the bowl with anyone.  All that leftover chocolaty goodness was MINE!!!



I could have just eaten this and never made the cake, it was that good.

Once that went in the oven I started the frosting.  3 milky way bars and another stick of margarine plus a lot of  powdered sugar, some milk and vanilla, and you have got a wonderful frosting.  Throw in some pecans and you have HEAVEN on a cake.



The finished product.  Thank you Pioneer  Woman for yet another wonderful recipe.



Another wonderful thing about cooking and baking is I get to wear fun aprons, which I have a real love for.  My dear sister-in-law found me this homemade apron from the 1930's and sent it to me.  I just love wearing it.  It is so cute, don't you think?



  I just love it.



Here's the back view.  I wasn't quite sure how to take this, hahaha.



So that was all of my baking fun yesterday.  Today, I spent time working on another mixed media piece.  Good thing I enjoy the process because sometimes I wonder what on earth I am doing.  This is one of those times.  I somehow can not put what is in my head onto the canvas.  I think I rush the process because I am in a hurry to get my finished product.  I don't always wait for each layer to dry as it should, and I end up being really sorry I was in such a hurry.  Oh well, live and learn.  It's not finished yet, I still have to figure out how to make it look just right.  And give it a title.



Working on "Me". 



Let me just make this clear, I hate FACES!!!!  I am awful at painting them and believe it is just one of those things in art you are either good at or you aren't.  I clearly am not one of those in the good category.



I am not sure how to fix this.  My face is too prominent and i want to tone it down by maybe whitewashing over it, but I am afraid all the other colors will bleed if I do that and I will end up looking like a hot mess. 

So this is what it looks like so far. 



I found some more lines from that birthday card I had mentioned in another post.  They seem to sum up where I am at right now in my life.  I am not quite where I want to be, but am trying to keep moving forward and be happy with each stage along my journey.  Reading these words helps to remind me of that.

 So, I'll let you know how it ends up.  Hopefully I won't mess it up too bad trying to fix it.  I  really like some of the papers I used on here and would hate for the whole thing to end up in the trash. 

The only other thing I have to say it this, Jeanne Oliver, if you read this post, PLEASE HURRY UP and get your Mixed Media Art Workshop on-line because sister, I need some SERIOUS HELP :)

FULL DISCLOSURE?

How much is too much and how much is not enough?    Does disclosing all information make us look weak and or does it make us look human and easier to relate too?

This post is probably not going to have any pretty or funny pictures to go with it because I can't find any in my folders that relate to my topic.  Basically I am just purging and getting thoughts off of my chest.

As a parent of teenage children, I find each year brings greater challenges that I am not always sure how to deal with.  The  fact that I am divorced from my children's father also means, in my case, that I don't always have an open line of communication with him to discuss strategy.  We also don't have the same style of parenting either which is an added factor.  My husband has very cut and dry opinions on how to handle situations, but I don't always agree with him either because I am the mama and see and feel things much differently than a step-dad.

So.........I feel very lost sometimes as to where to turn for advice.

I am trying to figure out how much about our lives we should disclose to our children.  Revealing our faults, mistakes and hard times to our children, is it a good idea or not so much?  Does it help our children to open up to us and not hide things from us? 

As much as I love my parents, and KNOW that they love me dearly, I have never had the type of relationship with them where I felt I could be completely open with my feelings and tough times.  I have always been this way with them.  When I became a parent, I made the decision that I was not going to have that type of relationship with my children.  I would do my absolute best to let them know that I am not here to judge them but to love and support them in every aspect of their life.  Not necessarily agree with everything they do, but be willing to listen and be there for them.  I was sure my parents would never understand what I was going through or relate to me because I never heard one story from them about how they got in trouble as a child or ever made a mistake.  As a result, I usually ended up getting myself into worse situations because I didn't have an adult to go to and ask for direction.  My parents would be very hurt to read that this is how I felt/feel, but it is the truth. 

So, as my chilren get older and become young adults, I ask myself, how much do I tell them?  My gut reaction is to just tell every ugly little thing I have done and been through in hopes of keeping them from making the same mistakes.  But does that really work or does that just make me lose all credibility as a parent?  I know my kids need to make their own decisons and their own mistakes, it is the only way to grow and learn.  But it is soooooo hard to sit back and see it happen and know what the outcome is going to be.

I don't want my children to EVER be afraid to come to me with a problem, no matter how BIG or SMALL.  I am hear to listen, try and understand, give my opinion or bite my tongue, suggest direction and point the way.  Whatever is needed from me.  I don't expect perfection because none of us are perfect.  I just want to be the best parent I can be, not the BEST FRIEND for my kids, but the best parent. 

If I never get another comment on this blog, I don't care.  But PLEASE, I am begging you all, PLEASE sign up or do whatever you need to do to be able to leave a comment, and let me know your feelings and thoughts on this subject.  I don't normally ask for help, but I am this time, so please, feel free to tell me what you think.  You don't need to agree with me, I just want to know what other moms and/or dads think.

Have a great Friday and very happy weekend.

The SunnyDelight Mom

This weekend brought back some of my greatest memories of life with my kids when they were much younger.  Some of you will remember the orange drink called Sunny Delight.  In fact, I think it is still sold in stores.  But back in the early 90's when it came out, there were these great commercials for it where there was one kid on the block whose mom ALWAYS had the fridge filled with "Sunny D" and that house was the one that all the kids came to to hang out and play.  Well, where we lived, I was called the "Sunny D" mom and I wore this name like a badge of honor.  I LOVED having the neighborhood kids come to our house to play and to eat snacks.  I always had something for the kids whether it be homemade cookies, ice cream, popcorn, you name it, I had it.  And though I don't think I ever actually had much Sunny Delight in the house, my kids weren't to crazy about it, I always had some type of cool drink for the kids.  I shopped a lot at the health food stores and bought natural seltzer drinks with fruit juice in them, made my own lemonade and crazy stuff like that.  I was the weird mom who had all the strange things at her house, but the kids loved it anyway.  You didn't find sodas in my house but no one seemed to complain.  I would on occassion make Kool Aid, but the kids would always take that and set up a stand and sell it in front of our house. 

This weekend, I felt like that mom again.  I spent just about my entire weekend in the kitchen cooking, baking, washing dishes and starting all over again.  And I LOVED it.  Having one of my brothers and my niece here for the weekend, 2 of my sons at home and one of my other sons and his friends stopping by on both Friday night and tonight for dinner just made my weekend perfect.  My niece loved watching me cook and asked me questions about whether I have always loved to cook.  A few times she even called me amazing because of the things I was whipping up in the kitchen.  Not that what I was making was so unusual, but that I was making so much.  Breakfast was pancakes, bacon and sausage and my homemade Wine Berry Jam to put on the pancakes.  I make my pancakes from scratch with a recipe I have used for 20 years.  My dear niece was surprised I didn't pour the mix out of a box to make the pancakes.  As soon as I was done making breakfast, I started working on the homemade components of Reed's care package for college.  First up was Chocolate Chunk Cookies with dried cranberries and macadamia nuts.  My spin on the classic Toll  House Cookies.


Ingredients for a classic with a twist.

Once those were mixed up and baking in the oven, I moved onto Banana Walnut Muffins.  Those baked in one oven while the cookies baked in the other.


Nothing like homemade muffins to grab before you go off to class.

 I managed to make so many cookies that I was able to keep some for us, send a bag home with my brother and niece and give Reed and his roomate a whole bag of them to take back to school.  We didn't keep any of the muffins, Reed got all of those.

Once the baking was done, I started on the pasta salad for dinner and boiled a pound of whole wheat rotini.  Tonight's dinner was all about stuff that could be made ahead since I knew I would be having an early dinner for my boys and  brother and niece before they left and then a second seating when Reed and his friends stopped by on their way back to George Mason. 



Steaming hot whole wheat pasta.

I made a Caprese Salad with what may be, the last of the tomatos from the garden and a bunch of basil I picked this morning.  The house smelled so good from all of that basil.  I hope the basil makes it through the week and we don't have an early frost so that I can make up batches of Pesto and freeze them in ice cube trays. Then I will have pesto all winter long.


3 of my all time favorite foods.  Tomatos and Basil from my garden.

 Before we sat down to eat, we all went outside and the kids through the football.  Evan and Trevor were still wearing their pajama pants.  They didn't get back until 1:30 am from the football game they went to with their uncle and so today was a very lazy day for them.  These pictures show them being their typical crazy selves which in this case means they had fun with their wardrobe today.  I KNOW they will KILL me when they see I posted these pictures.  But they just make me laugh so hard and I am not sure my niece has ever laughed so hard.  She saw a side of her cousins this weekend I am not sure she has ever seen.





Before they left to go to Va. Tech for the football game on Saturday.



Outside for a little game of pass before dinner.



This is definitely a fashion statement in the making.



And not to be out done by his younger brother, Evan had to make a fashion statement too.



She may be a girl cousin, but she has a pretty good arm on her.





Working up an appetite.



Love the faces.



Finally it was time to come in and eat.  Burgers and Bratwursts were on the grill and the rest of the food was on the table.  Time to get down to some serious eating.


Pasta salad, Caprese Salad and grilled pineapple.

Everyone was happy to eat and once again I wish I had a video camera recording our time at the family meal table.  It is without a doubt my favorite time of any day.  There is so much laughter and fun conversation going on.  It has been a long time since I have seen my brother laugh as hard as he did this weekend at every meal he sat down with us to eat.  We probably don't exhibit the best of manners, but we sure have a good time together, and that's what it's all about. 

Two hours after we sat down to eat, Reed and his friends showed up for dinner.  Leftovers were put back on the table, more burgers and brats hit the grill and I sat back and smiled.  Listening to them talk about how great it was to eat home cooked food again made me smile ear to ear.  I don't know how often they will be back to eat, but I am happy to be the "Sunny D" mom for them anytime they want.  They may be using me for my food, but that is just fine with me:)



Reed and his friends fueling up before the final hour of their trip back to school.

So after their bellies were full, it was time to say good-bye.  I gave Reed all of his goodies I had gotten together for him and a few extras that I hadn't thought of earlier.  Hugs and kisses were handed out to all and a promise from all of them that they would come back again and eat.
 
A lump formed in my throat as I watched them pull out of the driveway and waved goodbye.  I don't know that it will ever get any easier to let my kids go and grow up.  I miss every minute of the past 20 years I have had with them.  If I could re-live each and everday with them I would.  But, at least I have the joy of knowing, that once again. I just may get to be the house that all the kids want to come to and let me be the "Sunny D Mom".

DInner For 10

Really, it is just the simplest things that bring me the absolute most pleasure.  Cooking for my family and their friends certainly ranks right up there as one of my all time FAVORITE things.

Last night I cooked dinner for 3 of my children, 3 of their friends, one of my brothers and his daughter and my husband and I.  It was a wonderful night.  I was lucky enough to come home from work after half a day and the festivities began.  I had been to the grocery store at 7:00 that morning before I even went into work, so all I had to do was come home and get cooking. 

The menu would consist of Grilled Chicken Breasts with a Mango Salsa, Mac and Cheese with 3 different cheeses, Roasted Asparagus with Balsamic Vinegar, Olive Oil and Garlic, a huge pot of Spicy Beans, rolls and for dessert Peach Crisp with Maple Cream Sauce and Chocolate Cream Pie.  My only fear was not having enough food to feed 7 teenagers and 3 adults.  Four of those teenagers were college students who have not had a home cooked meal in a month and have been surviving off of college food.  Needless to say, they were pretty excited about coming here to eat. 

As soon as I walked in the door, I put the beans on to start cooking since they were going to take about 4 hours to cook.  Within 30 minutes, the house was already starting to smell amazing.  This recipe, as well as the Mac and Cheese and Peach Crisp recipe, came from here http://thepioneerwoman.com/cooking/category/all-pw-recipes/.


Rinsing the beans before they cook.



Nothing like a Ham Hock to season things up.



Using peppers and onions from the garden and some garlic is what made these beans so delicious.  Red peppers and jalapeno peppers both were used.   After about two hours of cooking, the house smelled AMAZING.  In fact, the first thing Reed said when he and his friends walked into the house was how wonderful the house smelled inside.  Can I just say, nothing makes this mama happier and smile bigger than for one of my kids to say how great they think something I cook for them smells or taste:)


Wish this was a scratch and sniff picture.

The mango salsa was the next thing to take on as it required alot of chopping since I had 6 mangoes, 3 red peppers, 6 jalapeno peppers and one giant red onion to chop.  Add to that the juice of 6 limes and 3 lemons and you have yourself one very tasty Mango Salsa.

So yummy on top of grilled chicken or fish tacos!!!!

 This went into the fridge so that it could be nice and cool to add to the grilled herbed chicken.  I first tried this recipe a few weeks back when I made Fish Tacos.  My hubby loved it so much that I decided to make it again and have it as an option to top the chicken with.  Everyone loved it once again.

Next I made the Chocolate Cream Pie as I wanted to make sure it would have time to set up in the fridge before it was time for dessert.  I used an Oreo Cookie crust for this rather than a regular pie crust.  Just seemed like a really great idea to add more chocolate wherever possible.  I put a layer of the chocolate filling on the top of the crust, then added whipped cream to the rest of the chocolate filling, then topped that with more whipped cream.  I grated semi sweet chocolate on top and the drizzled caramel sauce on top for a final touch.  Needless to say, there is no pie left this morning.



Chocolate filling mixed with whipped cream.


















Final touches on the pie.

 I had full intentions to keep on taking pictures of the night and all the rest of the food once it was done, but somehow once everyone started showing up, I lost track of my camera.  Everyone was very happy with the meal, the kids just kept eating and eating and still managed to save room for dessert.  After Reed and his friends finished eating, they actually washed all their dishes by hand:)  That was a huge treat for me.  And best of all, they asked if they could come back on Sunday and eat again.   Needless to say I didn't hesitate for a second to say YES!!!!!  Reed and his friends left and headed on up the highway to go to Va. Tech to spend the weekend with some friends.  They will be hitting my house on the return trip to George Mason on Sunday afternoon.  Oh and one more great compliment I recieved, Reed's friend and her boyfriend decided that our house should be the scent of a Yankee Candle, how cool is that? 

I don't know about you, but there is just something about a table full of family and friends, talking, laughing and sharing stories and food that just makes my heart swell with joy.  Sitting back and watching everyone enjoy being together and eating the food that I prepared with nothing but love, is just a really hard feeling to beat.  I feel so blessed when I am given the opportunity to do this. 



My niece, Meredith, and I in the kitchen once everything was cleaned up.



Sitting next to the woodstove which would have been even nicer if there had been a fire in it.






My Form of Therapy

Today ended up being a mental health day for me.  A doctor called in sick at work and I got to go home and check myself in for some "therapy."  My therapy is going to my little corner and getting down and dirty with some paint, some packaging tape, old sewing patterns from when I was a little girl and some matte gel.  I learned a new technique for doing transfers that requires nothing more than clear packaging tape, hot water and the image you wish to transfer.  I was really excited to try it.


My messy little workspace.

 As I have said before, I really love birds.  Not big fancy tropical birds, just your normal sweet little backyard birds. They come back every year because they know I will feed them, provide water for them to drink and bathe in and give them a safe place to have their babies.  Every year we have Robins that come to my arbor, build their nest and have babies.  There is usually at least 2 sets of babies that are born every year.  We watch them as soon as they hatch and then I wait for the day that they FACE their FEARS, BELIEVE in themselves and take that leap of faith.  I don't know how they know they are ready to fly, but they jump out of that nest and flap their little wings and search desperately for a safe place to land.  Usually it is in the grass where their mama flies over to them to sing encouraging words to them.  And then, they take off again from the ground and find their wings and SOAR!!!!  It amazes me everytime.  How do they have such confidence in the unkown and take that first leap.  They are so tiny and have such a long way to FALL, but that doesn't stop them. 



Gessoed board layered with old sewing patterns and then began applying color and the transfers.



FEAR is something I have struggled with for as long as I can remember.  As a child I was terrified of so many things for reasons I don't even know.  Even now as an adult I have so many things I am afaid of.  Sometimes I am paralyzed by that fear, and other times I face it with the help of the people closest to me.  Someday I hope to have the courage of my little feathered friends, to dare to just jump and go for it.  Giving it 100% even when I don't know what the outcome will be.  I'm putting my faith into something way bigger than myself and know that in time, there is nothing that I will fear.  I will BELIEVE IN MYSELF and I will SOAR.



Rest of the color was applied.



                           



Added some branches, a few nests and a couple of soaring birdies.



                  




Finished.  I like it and it makes me smile.

         

To Thy Own-Self Be True

Late last night and into the very wee hours of this morning, I was dealing with some very strong emotions.  Sleep would not find me even with the help of 2 glasses of wine and then 2 Benadryl at 3:00am.  All I wanted to do was to find a way to express and release my feelings but in some positive way. At the time all I wanted to do was to break something to release my emotions but I knew this was not a positive way to deal with what I was going through.
So, I decided to go to the one release that has never failed me in the past.  I had to do something physical and with my shoulder injury, I knew yoga or any other form of exercise was not possible.  So, I went to my little get away corner where I try to create and turn my feelings into some sort of art.  I am NOT an artist by any stretch of the imagination.  What I am is a hopeless romantic in all aspects of life and a HUGE DREAMER.  I believe in all things good and am so thrown when life presents the ugly to me. 

My "studio" is a corner of a room we call "the game room".  It is the room where my boys play Xbox, Trevor plays his drums to Rockband even if he is not actually playing Rockband, and a massive pool table that is rarely ever used takes up an enormous amount of space.  I am making peace with the pool table though, it is turning into an extra work table for me, hehehehe.



My little slice of heaven.






















Robby had the cabinet in his hunting room and was about to throw it out.  I snagged it right up and now it houses the few supplies I have.







 


I know it doesn't look like a "studio" by most peoples standards.  But soon, I will take over this whole room!
Hahahaha

  


I had no idea what I was going to create.  I just knew I had to make something.  My mind was instantly going to that place where I blame myself for things that go wrong that I really have nothing to do with.  So, I decided I needed to make some type of a re-affirmation to myself that I was not to blame for what was happening.  I needed to show myself that I am okay. I am not responsible for other's actions when they don't directly involve me.  So my love fest towards myself began.  It was time to start healing my heart again. 



First step, Gesso my wooden board then apply some colorful papers.

I had some pretty envelopes that I no longer had notepaper for.  So I cut off the flaps and glued them down to my board which ended up making a focal point for me.  

Next I found a cut out paper doll dress in the back of one of my mixed media books by this artist...http://mistymawn.typepad.com/.  I have this ridiculous love for birds for some odd reason, and this dress just spoke to me.  It had to represent me.  So down it went onto the board.



I would wear this dress everyday if it were real.

I also had a birthday card my parents had sent to me a few years ago for my birthday.  I LOVED the words that were printed on it.  I don't tell my parents about all the struggles I have with myself and my past, but I guess because they are my parents, perhaps they inherently  know of them.   The words on the card just spoke to me and I remember crying so hard the day I recieved this card and read it.  Shocking I know, the thought of me being emotional and crying.  Anywhoooo, I cut out a few of those lines and down they went onto the board.

 Love these words and the meaning behind them.  Especially the one above.  I so need to memorize this.

Now came the tricky part.  I had to give myself a face.  AGAIN, I am not an artist.  This is not a very big board, so the scale is not so big either.  Basically that means, i had to have a little head which made getting the facial features right even more difficult for me.  But, thanks to yet another great book I have....http://kellyraeroberts.com/book , I was able to follow some of the techniques for shading and putting the face down.  Here was my attempt.



Shadowing with acrylics to get the placement correct of the facial features.  Not too good at this clearly.

Now is where I think it took a turn for the worst.  Looking back now, I should have just left the shadowing as the face and not done another thing.  I really botched this part up, but, hey, I was having fun with the process and my mind was being occupied and put to positive use.  Nothing was being broken, this is a good thing.



Yep, not the prettiest girl in the world.  Good thing she has a cool dress with a bird and butterfly wings.





So the last step was to add a little color to the white to tone it down a bit.  You can see a little of the blue I applied using a piece of screening in one of the pictures above.

All in all, I was very happy with the turn out.  Mostly, I LOVED the process.  I was listening to some really good, positive music which was feeding my soul and bringing a calmness back to me.  As the sun started to shine, I saw things in a new light and I was able to process my thoughts better and calm my mind.  Art is such a personal thing and no one should ever put down another persons art.  You may not like it, or even understand it, but more than likely it was created for a purpose that may only ever be known to the creator themselves.  Writing is my art and so is creating.  I do it for myself, not anyone else.  I may want to share it with others at times, but the only one I am trying to heal, is myself.  



Out of order, but one other inspirational piece hanging in my "slice of heaven".

 I hung my picture on the wall just to take a photo of it by itself with a solid background.  I don't know where it will end up in my home.  Probably some place where I will see it everyday to remind myself of the two sayings I attached to it.


Not too bad from a distance.



Yes, my eyes are a little puffy, but I am pretty happy with what I did.

 I don't know what other people do to work through their emotions when they hit like a hurricane.  I would love for some of you to share with me how you cope with overwhelming circumstances that come out of nowhere.  I just know for me, this is much better than being on medication and so far, it is working.  Thanks for letting me share this with you.  And I would really love any comments that you want to leave.