A Very Pinteresting Evening: April party

      My mother, sisters, daughter, and I just had another "Pinterest party". We were past due on this one by a few months due to sickness, weather, my change of jobs, work,  schooling, etc. My daughter and I were so looking forward to this one.

    On the menu for the night was Dr. Pepper Pot Roast (courtesy of Pinterest),  roasted potatoes, rolls, and salad. Our dessert also came from Pinterest and was called Chocolate Lasagna. YUM!  For those of you who recall when KFC had those little chocolate parfaits (our KFC doesn't anymore that I am aware of), well, that's basically what the chocolate lasagna was....everything was delish!

   We spent the night (and I do mean the night...as in almost all of it...until 3 am) performing karaoke with my new karaoke machine. My sweet husband hooked it into our TV set and surround sound so we could really croon the night away. He opened the windows as well. Pretty soon the dogs around the neighborhood were barking along (I think they were trying to sing with us on "Unchained Melody" but hubby thinks they were howling in pain). FYI: we did close the windows at a decent hour, not subjecting the poor neighbors to our 3 am rendition of the "Shoop, Shoop" Song and Whitney's "I Will Always Love You".

  After the karoake finally died out we spent a little while researching the Illuminati and it the wild conspiracy theories out there. Mind you, this is what my family does for fun on a Friday night. We're easy to please. :)


  The next morning we carried the party over with a Pancake Buffet. Oh goodness gracious, that is some good eatin'! We made four kinds of pancakes...banana nut bread pancakes topped with sliced bananas, pecans, and maple syrup; "Fill 'er up Pancakes" stuffed with bacon crumbles, scrambled eggs, and shredded cheddar cheese; Pumpkin Pie Pancakes topped with Cool Whip, nuts, and Maple Syrup with a dash of cinnamon; and lastly, plain pancakes topped with Nutella and Strawberries and Cool Whip.
H E A V E N L Y    D A Y.    I might fall out just remembering.....swoon, swoon.

  Once we were fat and sassy from our little wanna-be IHOP breakfast, we tried our hand at some subway art and quotes on canvas. They look great! And were cheap and easy to make. Whether I Mod Podge my printed quotes and subway art onto canvas or simply frame, I WILL be repeating this activity. There are all sorts of free, printable subway art prints online. And if you can't find a free one you like you can easily buy them off Etsy or make your own using a free subway art generator like Wordle or Word It Out.

  This very Pinteresting evening was the most fun yet and we can't wait to do it again next month.

  Shoot me a line and share your Pinteresting evenings with me. I would enjoy hearing from you.

Blessings,
Lynn

To make your own Dr. Pepper roast, visit:

www.addapinch.com

And to test the lovely Chocolate Lasagna, visit:

www.mommysfabulousfinds.com

A very PINTERESTING evening: the November party

 Today and into the evening, my sisters, mother, daughter, and I held our first-ever Pinterest party. It was such fun we plan to hold one every month and take turns coming up with the evening's schedule.

 The basic idea goes like this:   1. Three sisters see Pinterest.  2. Sisters fall in love with Pinterest and pin thousands of fun ideas between them.  3. Sisters convince their mother Pinterest is a good thing. 4. Sisters decide to try some of the Pinteresting ideas they see...together...in a small kitchen, filled with silliness and fun. Ah, life is good. :)

 Tonight was Emily's turn. She wanted us to make two new dishes she found on Pinterest: Runza casserole and Apple Pie Bread Pudding with caramel rum sauce. She also picked a craft for the evening: decorating mugs and platters with Sharpie markers. So the five of us (plus my husband, who is turning into a real domestic goddess in his own right) set to work in my very teeny kitchen chopping, whisking, stirring, and layering.

 The Runza dish, Em tells us, is popular up in North Dakota. It is a layering of meat, cheeses, onions, and cabbage baked between two layers of cresent rolls. It was very good. We all liked it a lot but we thought it needed more cheese, maybe even some cheese melted on top. My sis says one can substitute mushroom soup for the cheddar called for the in the recipe, and use Swiss cheese in it as well.

Our version of Runza casserole

 The real treat was the Apple Pie Bread pudding with caramel rum sauce. While my mother was watching my sisters mix the bread cubes into the sauce for baking, and sniffing the sweet smells wafting through the air, she couldn't help but express with a dreamy look in her eye, "You can just see the calories dancing off of that!"  lol. My mother; gotta love her.

  But she was right. A million times over I tell you she was! That woman knows dessert and she knew this was a keeper. Oh my goodness...I can't say enough about this rich dessert! (no one else could either as they sat stuffing their faces full of it). It is a wonderful cold weather comfort food, bursting with spices and warmth.And it is even more delicious topped with a dollop of Cool Whip. :)  Move over Pumpkin Pie....I think I found my new Thanksgiving dinner buddy. I am ashamed to say I sit here with my jeans unbuttoned after making a glutton of myself on this stuff. I am disgustingly full. And even with this full stomach and indigestion, my shoulder devil is already telling me to be the first one up in the morning so I can beat the others to the kitchen for another piece. With coffee. Hmmmm, hmmmm.

http://www.keyingredient.com/recipes/68541974/apple-pie-bread-pudding/

 Our stomachs full, we turned our attentions to the craft chosen for the evening. A very simply idea really--grab something ceramic and white, like a serving platter or coffee mug, decorate it with a Sharpie marker, and bake it to make a lasting treasure.

 We thought about writing a family recipe on our platters. Then Emily suggested maybe each of us getting a platter and letting mom write one of her recipes on it in her own handwriting for each of her daughters to keep. I thought that was a really good idea, but for our practice session we chose something easy. Mom went with a quote about chocolate, Emily chose to write her pinings for Mathew Gray-Gubler on her mug, and my baby sister Lonessa let everyone know on her mug that she likes both her coffee---and her men---with an Irish flavor. My daughter made a really cute little plaque with a family quote on it, and I made a coffee mug for my mother-in law, who's own late mother used to say, "Good morning, good morning, good morning" while she drank her coffee. We read some tips on the fine art of decorating mugs with Sharpies over at http://www.diyopolis.com/tips-and-tricks-to-the-diy-sharpie-mug/ which really helped. I just baked them and now they are sitting in the oven cooling slowly. We'll see if they are safe to wash.

 We had such fun that I am already planning the December party.  I would love to hear about YOUR Pinteresting evenings.
Blessings,
Lynn

Goodbye, Strep throat...it's kinda been oddly nice knowing you

     I know that sounds weird to say. Strep throat is NOT fun and it's extremely painful. I had it repeatedly as a child and teen, and every five years or so it comes back to haunt me as an adult. It wasn't fun missing work (or the paycheck I WOULD have had if strep had not come knocking on my door over last weekend), but it was nice to be able to stay home (sans kids) the last 3 days. I got to rest (without guilt since I had a good excuse! lol)....clean a little house when I had a burst of energy....plop back down on the couch when the energy failed....catch up on some college course work...goof off for hours on Pinterest when no one wanted to be near me and it hurt to converse anyway...you know the things moms typically don't get to do unless they are sick. It's a shame I can't be some successful blogger...or  novelist....or an uber-talented crafter who actually makes a decent living doing it, because being home this week has reminded me of just how much I L*O*V*E being home. You see, I'm a natural introvert (who also just happens to be quite OCD about order and cleanliness in my home). So being home just makes sense to me because I accomplish all these silly things on my trivial to-do list that no one else ever really notices or cares about in the first place. Check off the list....ahhh...inner-most satisfaction. Now lest you think me totally strange, you other busy women admit it: it IS nice to be home long enough to catch up on stuff, even if you could never ever stay home 24/7.

     You might not know I am introverted from my job (I'm a daycare worker in a class of sixteen little ones--but my boss and co-workers will likely tell you I am sort of quiet), or from my past (as a high-schooler with a massive list of clubs and activities in which I thrived), or from my homeschooling days (when not teaching my own children I worked with three different homeschool co-ops, 4-H, cub and boy scouting, church, etc.). But even in all this, deep inside, I just always liked being by myself. I love my "littles" at work; I really really do, and have no regrets about the decision to finish college so I can keep working with children, but I relish the quiet time I find at the end of each work day. For an introvert, having a time alone is how we recharge our batteries. Being in the public constantly is actually very emotionally draining to an introvert.

      I have found over the years, that I enjoy the "mundane" duties of a homemaker very much because they require only 1.) ME. I don't need to be out in the public to find satisfaction. Taking a trip to Walmart once a day, sadly enough, is about all I require of interaction. Learning new homemaking skills such as baking fresh bread from a starter I started, to planning a delicious dinner, to cleaning the house, to reading a good book, to getting some in-depth Bible study time, to organizing a closet or room, to learning new crafts from Pinterest, could easily keep this simple mind entertained for years to come. But since I doubt I'll ever get rich from selling glass photo jewelry or writing witty blog posts to the masses, I'll finish my education and continue on in the teaching path. The social path. The path that pays a little (at least I hope, since I'll owe the government a small fortune in college loans). But every so often, when I get worn down or a bit under the weather, I'll *secretly* slightly*enjoy the small break from "normal" society. :)

Blessings,
Lynn