10 THINGS THAT MADE ME HAPPY THIS WEEK

26 September - 3 October, 2010

"I am not afraid of storms, for I am learning to control my ship."  Louisa May Alcott

(In no particular order.)

#1  I had 3 projects for last week.  I am happy I got at least one of them done.  And I am SO happy I got this done.  It has been on my list for over 1 year. 
Step one was getting the pictures taken.  DONE!
Step two was getting them developed.  DONE!
Step three was finding the frame.  DONE:)  (The frame is from ROBERT'S CRAFTS.  It was $55.00 w/ a 40% off coupon.  It is harder to find a 7 opening frame.)

It has flaws. 
Hilary - Hilary took all the pictures except for hers (H).  Thus she is "Little Hilary" (Logan).  (We will re-order that one.)

Emily- wants to hold her "O" on the other side.

Charles and Elana-(N)  We need to re-do it with Layne.  He was at his dad's.

Leslie- "Can I get mine re-done with my hair cut?"  (S)

Lindsay and David and Logan- (O) Will need to add Baby Sister in Jan.
"We will."  "O.K." "Sure" "Yep"
(Other than Layne) I HAVE WHAT I WANT!  The beauty of this (other than my great picture of our family name) is that we can replace/redo/whatever any picture.  (Also, I am aware that my photos are not great.  And the matte is black.)  Still happy :)

(This idea is from from Shauna at http://mymixofsix.blogspot.com/  You can see how she did it on her 5 Jan., 2010 post.  That is why I put her blog on my blog.  She shares.  And is happy.  THANK-YOU MY MIX OF SIX!

#2  October General Conference Week-end is one of my favourite week-ends.  (The other one is April General Conference week-end :)  (Twice a year our church (Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (Mormon) leaders speak to us at a world wide conference.  We are able to watch the conference sessions on cable /local television.)  I feel re-inspired and motivated after hearing the counsel given.  I see and feel places that I can do and be better.  It is a week-end that brings our family together.

On Saturday night we have pizza (Thank-you for getting the pizzas, Emily.), and sundaes.  (I tried a new recipe for "MAGIC SHELL" from http://www.instuctables.com/   .It worked great, BUT was not any cheaper.  The recipe is one cup coconut oil + 1-2 cups chocolate chips (I used GIRADELLI).  We all know how high the cost of chocolate chips are now.  Does anyone have any recipes that use coconut oil? 

Everyone comes over for omelets after the Sunday morning meeting.  (I made a new cinnamon roll recipe that was just o.k.)  I made a really good new APPLE DUMPLINGS recipe from Ree at http://thepioneerwoman.com/ .  (see 28 February, 2008)   IT WAS SO GOOD!  And very easy, too.  I wish I could I had a picture to post, but things were moving very fast as I cooked omelets.  This is the first recipe of hers that I have made, and I will make more.

#3  I stayed home all day on Monday.  All by myself. :)  (I cleaned.)

#4  HAPPY BIRTHDAY, LINCOLN!  He turned 9 on Saturday, and spent the day with us.  We love you, Lincoln.

#5  Emily buys our laundry soap for us.  (I don't know why?  She brought home some laundry soap about 1 1/2 years ago, that was on sale.  And just kept getting it.)  She brought home 3 bottles this week.  THANK-YOU, EMILY :)

#6  An older neighbor invited me over to pick grapes and apples from her yard.  Some of my book club friends can wonderful grape juice, so I was excited to try making it.  When we got to her house, there were many, many squashed apples on the ground.  We took our plastic bags and started picking ALL of them up.  It was so fun to watch and work with my sweet grandsons.  They were great workers.  They picked up rotten apples for about 1 hour.  Layne thought it was a play date ;)

October is apple month.

#7  Which brings me to the grape juice.  WHY???  It took 1 hour to pick the grapes.  It took over 7 hours to make 6 qt. bottles of juice,  (The jars were $8.00) and 1/2 of them are Lindsay's.  I stained several dishcloths, 1 towel and a shirt.  (Can I count dying from the heat in the kitchen?)  It was so hot that my burners melted.  NOW I REMEMBER WHY I QUIT CANNING!
I was telling a visiting nephew about this and he asked if it was worth it because of the quality.  Nope!
Happy that I remember why I do not can.

#8  I am happy we watch "AMAZING RACE" together.  While I do think Team Glee boys are nice, everyone voted yes that I could change to the Father/Son team.  (Yea, I know it looks like they won't last, but I like them.)

#9  I love spring and summer foods.  Fruit and garden produce.  Salads galore.  I welcome spring and summer...  But I love fall and winter cooking.  Soups and crock pots.  For dinner on Friday I did a roast in one crock pot and baked potatoes in another. 

 I LOVE MAKING BAKED POTATOES IN A CROCK POT.  (Pick about 10 potatoes about the same size.  Wash and wrap in foil.  (You do not need to oil them because they do not get crisp in the crock pot.)  Put the potatoes in the crock pot.  Pour 3/4 -1 cup water into the bottom of the crock pot.  Cook on high for 4 hours for larger potatoes, or 3 hours for small.  I mix sweet potatoes, Yukon's and russet.  Squish with a pot holder to check for doneness.  Do not over cook.)

#10  Are you working collecting 30 meals that you can (easily) eat once a month?  I am trying.  I may be too picky.  Maybe I hate to commit.  I have about 7.  Until this week. 

For the week-end we were going to be gone, the kidults planned chili dogs for Sunday dinner.  We ended up with lots of extra hot dog buns that I was determined to finish.

Day 1- chili dogs

Day 2- french dip

Day 3- sloppy joes

Day 4- grilled cheese sandwiches for the boy's lunch

Result- Doug said to please add sloppy joes to my 30 Day Plan.  YEA!  I love it when Doug tells me what he wants for dinner. 

The kids LOVED grilled cheese sandwiches on the hot dog buns (turned inside out).  A new picture for our lunch cookbook. :)