Breakfast Trifle and Women's Ministry Brunch

On Saturday my church had their annual Women's Ministry Holiday Brunch. I brought this amazingly simple breakfast Trifle. I layered yogurt, raspberries, and granola in a trifle dish. A beautiful dish can make even simple foods look fancy! 

 

 Of course I made a tag to tie around the dish!

Two lovely ladies from my small group!

 

 Another wonderful lady from my small group. She just recently became a Grandma! She doesn't look a day over 35 to me!

Our church is very big on Small Groups! While I have only been part of the group for about five weeks, everyone has been very welcoming! I love how open and honest everyone has been!

Have a good night!

A Closer Look: The Button Purse

This post is for you Lynette !

My mother made me this purse several years ago! The buttons belonged to my Mother and Grandmother. I can't imagine how long it took her to stitch on each button.  It is a work of art. I remember going through my Grandmother's buttons and counting and sorting them. A jar of buttons could keep me occupied for hours. It still can!

I don't take it out and about much, but whenever I do I get lots of compliments.One day at the grocery a woman grabbed my bag to get a closer look. I spun around so fast that I almost knocked the poor old lady down. She apologized for startling me. She just had to look at my bag!

T

The sparkly one is my favorite!

 Trying to get my Mom to open an Etsy shop. She is super talented in beading, knitting, quilting, and sewing! I even offered to run the Etsy shop for her! Maybe someday!

Here she is at a Red's Game :D

Sleep tight everyone!

My guilty pleasure

Everyone has to have some guilty pleasures right? Well my guilty pleasure is Youtube. I love Youtube. Here are a few of my favorites!

 I watch this one when I am homesick for New England!

 I love Improv Everywhere! They do some super fun stuff! It is all funny, but not mean spirited!

Ok...This one is just so stinkin' cute!

Another super cute one!

Have a great evening!

Gramma Nutt

 This week's theme at work was "Candy Land"! I got to be Gramma Nutt! I went into the classrooms to play a couple of fun games! One of the games was "pin the peanut in the basket" which was a take off of "pin the tail on the donkey". One of the kids told his teacher he couldn't play the game because he was allergic to nuts! :D :D :D

$14.99 Magazines and Funky Church Signs

 So I took my $20 to the bookstore to treat myself! I had the most difficult time choosing something. I wandered around for over an hour just looking. I ended up buying this special issue of Creating Keepsakes Magazine!

 It is a very good special issue. It had a few project ideas that I'm going to use. I especially love the mini album designed to show off your Christmas cards. The holiday season planner was also very cute! It is a definite must have if you are new to scrapbooking!

If you have been reading Creating Keepsakes magazine or Simple Scrapbooks for a while you will recognize some of the projects. I counted 11 projects that have been published in previous issues of Creating Keepsakes and Simple Scrapbooks.


I also found the price of the issue to be very steep. $14.99 is a lot for a magazine! The issue is all content except for one advert for Bazzill and a few for other Creating Keepsakes products.


It was nice to see projects created by some scrap-celebs that I haven't seen much of lately such as Stacy Julien,Erin Lincoln,and Rebecca Cooper!


All together I found this Special Issue to be very good. The projects featured are very nice. The style is pretty simple, no over the top techniques! Very doable! If you miss Simple Scrapbooks magazine,you will enjoy this issue a lot! 

On the way back from church we saw this sign at another local church. :D I had to stop and take a picture!!

Here is the other side of the same sign!!


:D
Have a wonderful Monday everybody! :D


Emily

A Trip to the Zoo

We spent the late morning and the early afternoon at the Cincinnati Zoo! The weather was incredible and we were actually able to see the animals! Not crowded at all! Monday is a perfect day to visit the zoo!

An adorable sloth!

I

Isn't He adorable!!

Grrr...My Mom in front of the polar bears!

Miniature Cows!

I wanted to take one of this adorable little guys home!

Opinion on Mommy Stuff by a Non-Mommy!

I admit it I do browse through parenting magazines. I hope to be a parent someday and well, I work with children. Most of the articles are pretty mundane regular stuff you'd expect. Then there was an entire article about baby poop and what the different colors mean. That completely grossed me out. I'm really glad that I don't have to worry about anyone's poop. Would you call that beige or mustard yellow? Ewwwwwwwwwwww gross!  Now I know why most people who do not have children do not read parenting magazines. They might get so repulsed that they decide having kids is not a good idea. While I'm grossed out, I still want kids.

Some of the advertisements can be pretty comical. One contraption was called Milkies. It looks like a small Tupperware dish that you place inside your bra to collect the extra breastmilk. To me as a Non-Mommy this looks like the most absurd item. I guess its good for when you need to multi-task. You can wear them to work, you can wear them to work out. Could you wear them to the pool? No I don't think that would be a good idea. Chlorine spiked milk doesn't sound very healthy to me. Have any of you Mommies out there heard or used Milkies before? I'd love to hear some feedback!

Another item that I saw in a parenting magazine seriously made me burst out laughing. It's called Thudguard. Basically its a helmet for babies to wear when they are learning to walk. I'm all for protecting kids, but this is one step closer to just wrapping your baby in bubble wrap and packing tape. I have to give them kuddos for putting cute little doggy ears on them. It does help the cuteness factor. Yet, it kinda reminds me of the bike helmet that my older brother used to wear when he rode his moped around. 

  I'm really sorry to pick on this product. I don't mean any disrespect, but I just think its going a little too far into feeding the paranoia that many new mommies feel already. Again, anybody use this product? I'd love to hear feedback about this one too!

I grew up in the 80s it was a different time. Does anyone else feel the same way that I do about overall feeling now-a-days to protect your child from EVERYTHING? I've seen a parent FREAK out because their child scraped their knee up a little. I remember I scraped my knees up all the time. I would fall down on my bike or rollerskates.My mom would clean me up and send me back out.

Kids fall down, kids scrape their knee.Kids are clumsy.Kids get bloody noses. Kids really don't have to win everything. How can a child experience the sweetness of winning when they never lose? Just let kids be kids. Ok...I will now get off my Non-Mommy soapbox!


Off to go frost my bannana cupcakes! Yummy!

A Midnight Snack. Reading, and Just Give me the Nikon and nobody gets hurt!

Michael made the most amazing chocolate walnut cookies! Yummy! Full of REAL butter and REAL shortening. The recipe is from this great cookbook that we found at Goodwill for $1.50. My mother had this cook book when I was a kid. I would spend hours planning menus.  I'm sorry to say that the coloring in the photograph is not off, the books is actually that red/orange color! Oh...the 70s 

April 5th-11th is the Clear the Clutter Read-a-thon.

Yay..Finally going to finish a few books that I've totally meant to finish

I'm 3/4 of the way through Eclipse. Its a pretty good book, but it hasn't held my attention like the first book!

My Dream Camera is on sale at Best Buy! $829.96 for the Nikon D5000DX plus two lenses is a steal. The drool is hanging from my mouth! I want that camera! I would love to waltz into Best Buy and say, " Just Give me the NIKON and nobody gets hurt!" I don't advocate violence, but really people its a NIKON. Oh...I could have so much fun with that baby!

Have a delightful evening!

Showers, Memories, and Michael Jackson changing colors!

 The one thing that I wish I had more of from my wedding is shots of the little special details. I love taking pictures of all the little things!

 The paper lanterns. The Mom-to-be took them home for her nursery! The colors were green and pink. The theme was jungle!

 One of the party planners made these adorable jungle animal chocolates! They disappeared quickly

One of my co-workers had her baby shower today! What a sweet event! Sara, the mother-to-be is such an adorable pregnant chick! I think she would disagree with me! You be the judge!

  The Mom-to-be and the lovely party hostesses! They did a beautiful job putting together this shower.

When I got back from the shower I found that my husband had made this.

Michael likes to collect ticket stubs, menus, and brochures from different places that we have been! I love that my husband is into preserving our memories too!

Funny Kid Quote

I was reading "A Color of His Own" by Leo Lionni to a group of 3.5 year olds. The book is about a chameleon who wants a color of his own. Wherever he goes he changes colors.

One of the darling 3.5 year olds says, "Michael Jackson changed colors just like the chameleon!"

I had quite the laugh! Where do kids come up with this stuff?

The church search is finally over! Thank goodness. The whole process of looking for a church was really uncomfortable. Lakeside Christian Church is the winner!

TTFN...I'm watching August Rush!

Fun in the Kitchen with Emily

The whole cooking thing has been going very well. This past week I've made some totally yummy dishes. 

Monday we had breakfast quesadillas. They had sausage, scrambled eggs,and tomatoes. Topped with a little bit of salsa and sour cream!! Delizioso!!

 Tuesday I made Crock-Pot Chicken BBQ! So easy! Soooo yummy! Michael ate about 5 sandwiches! Guess those will have to be added into the dinner rotation!

I had seen on some cooking website to mix canned pasta sauce with cream cheese! Sounds easy enough to me! 

My hand mixer has only one speed,SUPER SONIC FAST! The little mixer says that there are more speeds,but it's just not true. Knowing that combining the pasta sauce and cream cheese using the hand mixer could be a messy process, I knew I needed to find my apron.Where was my apron? I checked all over the kitchen and in the bathroom. No luck! Grabbed my bathrobe and headed back to the kitchen. Michael,after seeing me head to the kitchen followed me in.

Entering the kitchen he saw me wearing the bathrobe "Snuggie" style and about to turn on the hand mixer.I turned it on and sauce splattered everywhere. Michael laughed and asked me what I was doing. Making dinner of course. He told me that he wasn't going to clean up that mess. Here are some pictures to help you visualize things a little bit better!

The mess!

My bathrobe!

The sauce actually ended up tasting great! I asked Michael if he liked it. He said, "It's Ok!" Perhaps he would have liked it better if he didn't see the "PROCESS" of making the sauce! Ha! Ha! Fun in the kitchen

Michael and I have started a little family tradition of going to fish frys on Friday nights. We are not catholic, we just like fish! Last weekend we went to Mary Queen of Heaven for their fish fry. Its suppose to be the best in Northern Kentucky. We went through the drive-through to pick up our fish! Yes,they have a drive through. Fish Fryss are BIG in this area! Yesterday we went back and actually ate in the school gym. The place was packed! The food was fast and good! Mmmmmm!!! They had guys walking around dressed up like the "GOD FATHER." They had gold chains and everything. The sign above explains it all! Some good campy fun in Northern Kentucky!

Next weekend I am going to a baby shower for a co-worker. That means a stop by Babies R Us! For those of you who don't have such a store you are missing something. A SUPER GIANT emporium for all things baby and toddler. Its fun to look at all the cute little babies clothes and bedding. I picked a few things from the registry. Those monkey receiving blankets are très adorable! Of course I had to get the Butt Paste! Its a tradition!I've been giving it to Mommy-to-be for years. It gives everyone a good laugh and apparently its actually good stuff!

Just found out that two more ladies at work are expecting. It must be in the water. Remind me to fill the old water bottle at work!

Have a good Sunday everyone!

Another Snow Day!

Yay! Another snow day! Woke up super early to get ready for work. I packed up my stuff and trudged to the car. Michael helped clean off the car for me and begged me to call into work. I had to at least give it a try to get to work. The school I go to on Monday is about an hour and ten minutes away from home (in good weather). So was not looking forward to the drive. Headed out! Took a half an hour to get to the grocery store that is a mile from home. Not a good sign. While in the grocery store, I got a call from work telling me to not risk trying to make it in from Ketucky. Phew! I called the Hubby to let him know I was on the way home. In that brief trip, I hit the curb and spun around. Thankfully the roads were empty. There was nobody around. Very strange! Another thankfully is that no damage was sustained and no injuries!

Michael and I finished the back room.Shhhhhhhhhhh.....Michael did most of the work. I sorted the stuff that he didn't know what to do with. Now the room looks amazing! Now he is attacking the closet in the living room! I think he has cabin fever!

My job is to go through my very large collection of magazine and take out the articles and things that I want to keep. I'm having a  hard time with all the scrapbooking magazine "SPECIAL ISSUES". I feel the need to keep them all.

Well, off to go make waffles for dinner! Monday night is "Breakfast for Dinner" night!

I'll leave you with a few picture that I took today!