Frustrated

I am so frustrated that I can't blog because my pictures won't upload anymore. Keeps saying failed!

A New Recipe!

Cheesecake Brownies

Yesterday I tried a new recipe. Well, half new. I used my infamous brownie recipe and changed it to include cheesecake and I put them in cupcake holders. They turned out great. They are especially good with cherry pie filling and a little cool whip on top. I am trying to sample new recipes to find some good ones to have at my graduation party.

Yesterday I tried a new recipe. Well, half new. I used my infamous brownie recipe and changed it to include cheesecake and I put them in cupcake holders.

My Flower Bloomed!

I went out this morning and my plant had a bloom on it. Possible more tomorrow. I was so excited as this is the pot I had fake flowers in because I thought I had killed the flower in it last summr. I was so excited to see this plant come back this year.

My First Drive-In

This past Saturday Kent and I went to the Drive-In in Grandbury. This was my first drive-in movie experience and it was different but better than I thought it was going to be.

The line to get in was very long and took us about 30 minutes to get inside.  We found our spot and got out our chairs to enjoy the movie. It got a little chilly so I was grateful that we had a blanket in the car. We saw IRON MAN 2 and I must say it was alot better than I thought it was going to be.

Scrapbook Room Cleanup AGAIN!

It has taken me most of the day to get my scrapbook room in tip top condition. It hasnt been this way in a long time! Lanas friend Natalie came over to play today so Lana was out of my hair and I could really get it organized.

BEFORE:

After a few hours of cleaning I finally got everything including the closet organized.

AFTER:

I LOVE when inspiration strikes!

I love it when you are trying to think of something cute to make for an event and then all of a sudden an idea pops into your head. This is what happened to me when trying to think about gift bag ideas for my upcoming party!

I took the below supplies:

and created a cute gift bag and tin!

I knew these silver tins would come in handy one day! I got them while in Wichita Falls for free! (I got about 6 boxes of 30) and have held on to them for about 4 years. They have been in the back of my mid but never thought of a way to use them until TODAY! (I knew my saving EVERYTHING craft related would pay off one day!)

Now I am thinking about what I can put inside the tins. I though about pink, green, and black customized m&m's but decided I didn't want to pay $16.99 per 7oz bag. With 20 or more to make that may be pricy. Thinking about getting plain pink, green, and black m&m's instead at only $7.99 per bag (but still deciding, any suggestions would be fabulous).

I feel good that I created a sample of the gift set and my scrapbook room is a total wreck now with Lana using it as her play area today.)

My Mother's Day Gift!

I got a special treat on Mother's Day! Lana let me put a BOW and a CLIP in her hair. I was soo excited as most of the time now it is like pulling teeth to get her to clip her hair up or put a bow in it.

And to make things better she was HAPPY about it!

Besides Lana allowing me the priveledge of putting a bow in her hair. Kent is letting me pick out some lounge chairs to go by the pool that I have been wanting!

Lana's First Smore!

Earlier this week we went online searching for a firepit that was reasonable, the right size, and that would look good next to the pool. We found one and ordered it. To our surprise it came in only a few short days later. Kent put it together yesterday morning. Last evening turned out to get a little cool and we were able to make our first fire in it.

Of course to break in the firepit I wanted to teach Lana how to make yummy SMORES! and of course to get pictures of her first marshmellow roasting for my blog and for her scrapbook. She had a great time roasting the marshmellows.

Then I showed her how to make and eat her very first smore!

She liked the smore however she was more interesting in the chocolate inside it. She had fun roasting the marshmellows.

It was so nice sitting outside enjoying the fire.

I can't wait to use the firepit again!

Brown Sugar Frosting

I tried a new recipe out this morning "Brown Sugar Frosting" from one of my mom's friend and my friend, Linda. I always love trying out new recipes and get especially thrilled when they turn out perfectly. I made mini butter pecan bunt cakes and put this delicious frosting on top of them.

Here I am melting the brown sugar and butter (mmmm)

Now I put the mixture into a mixing bowl and added the other ingredients (milk and powdered sugar). I only  had a little bit of powdered sugar as I used most of it making a wedding cake and grooms cake yesterday and when I added the powdered sugar was still a little too runny for my taste (it tasted wonderful though), so I thought what am I going to do? I thought about using flour but then remembered I had a bag of white cake mix saved (I use this when I need to flour any baking pans) and added 3 T of that to the frosting. I tasted it and it tasted GREAT! The cake mix helped cut down on the sweetness a bit.

On another note the mixing bowl pictured above the cow print bowl is part of a 3 mixing bowl set that is my absolute FAVORITE! They are sturdy have a pouring lip on them and have a rubber lined base on the bottom so they won't slide. A girl at work gave them to me on my birthday and they get plenty of use.

I was surprised at how much frosting this made. I thought it was only going to make a little but as you can see from the picture above it made plenty!

Here is the finished product they look so YUMMY! I had a cake break when getting it out of the pan and I put frosting on that one and ate it and it was so YUMMY! I am going to take these when we go visit Kent's mom tomorrow for mothers day! Thanks Linda for sharing your recipe with me.

I had some cake batter left over from the grooms cake so I made mini chocolate bunt cakes and the frosting is chocolate can frosting I had that I melted in the microwave for 30 seconds then dipped the cakes into.

I think I like baking more than eating the final product, although I can never resist a bite which is good since I am on a diet, but I love finding people to share my creations with!

Cakes and Ratatouille

Today I started baking the cakes for a wedding I am doing both the Brides Cake and the Grooms Cake. It is a 3 day event to get all of this baking finished. While I was baking the layers one of my 14" layers cracked and broke when I got it out of the pan. (I put the cake in a zip lock and put in the deep freeze to make cake balls at a later date).

When I make big cakes like this I have to remove the candles, and photo's on top of the wine buffet and make it into a "Cake Bar" to hold my cakes until they are finished in order to get them out of the kitchen.

After a day like today baking all these cakes my kitchen aide mixer gets a workout and need cleaning itselfl.

I would have to say out of all my kitchen "gadgets" my kitchenaide mixer is my absolute favorite and I use it for everything. This is actually my 2nd kitchenaide mixer as I had to get a new one that was more professional grade for all of my cakes. (I still have my 1st one-a white one that I use when I make large cakes). Tomorrow I will be using both mixers as I have 16lbs of buttercream to make to cover and decorate the cakes. I also have to bake and finish the grooms cake complete with over 6dozen chocolate covered strawberries).

A New Recipe

I decided to try a new recipe tonight a vegetable ratatouille. I got it out of the oxygen magazines I read. I need to try out some new recipes that I can eat on my diet.

I cut all the vegetables and got it to cooking.

I must say for having only vegetables in it this meal was quite tasty.

Mom's House

Me and Lana just returned home after spending a couple days with MOM! We had a great time! When we first got there we went to Gene's House to make garden stones since she was going out of town the next day. We had a great time and made some pretty stones.

These are the 2 stones that I made. Now we just have to wait a couple of weeks while they are poured before we can go back and pick them up.

This is the stone that Lana made all by "HERSELF" for Aunt Sandra. Mom and I asked her if she wanted us to help her and she kept saying, "No, I can do it all by myself". The stone turned out cute!

Gene's house was on Lake Texhoma, the living room is nothing but floor to ceiling windows where you can get a nice view of the lake! It was very beautiful. In Gene's front yard she has a ton of stones that she has made herself over the years. Including a square with many of her stones.

Also In Gene's front yard is a horse made from an old tire that Lana loved to swing on.

When I get my stones back I am putting them next to the pool pump as the litte "road" to get to the controls. I already have 2 there and needed 2 more to complete it.

We also went to the local scrapbook store in Madill, OK. I must say for a small store in this little town they have some good stuff. One item they had made on an artist canvas to set out for Christmas was a little scene that was so cute I had to take a picture so I can make one myself.

It wouldn't be complete to a visit to mom's if she didn't make her famous chocolate gravy for breakfast.

It was sure yummy! Even though I am on a diet (so far I have lost 36lbs) I had to have a little bit of this wonderful gravy!

Botanical Gardens

Today we went to the botanical gardens. They were in FULL BLOOM and it was sooo pretty. The gardens made for great pictures. So much so that I had a hard time deciding which few to post on my blog.

The rose gardens were really spectacular and SMELLED WONDERFUL! Lana had a good time smelling all the roses and how each type had a different smell. She smelled one rose which had a really sweet smell and she said that one smelled like STRAWBERRIES!

At one part of the gardens you could smell roses and honeysuckle and sweet wonderful aroma that we couldn't get enough of. While we didn't see any honeysuckle you could smell it in the air.

There was a very pretty waterfall that made for a gorgeous picture. We tried to get Lana to sit on the rock by the waterfall but she had already had enough and didn't want to take anymore pictures.

There were so many pretty flowers and I got some really good pictures.

Lana and I had our picture taken by the BIG water fountain.

There were some pale pink rose arches that were full of blooms and there were rose petals raining down on us. Lana had a great time playing in the "Petal Rain". She ran around trying to catch and smell them.