Thursday, December 15, 2011

Goats on my phone!!

So... i have this little love affair with goats... im pretty sure that it is because we had goats when i was about 5 years old and i have pictures of my brother and i holding baby goats(which i don't really remember, but the pics are great) and i also have a picture of myself in the goat pin, and my mom entered the pic in some sort of contest..who knows what type of contest(maybe girls raised by goats.. or goat weekly)...and i won  and my prize was...a pair of roller skates!!!!.... i remember loving those skates... they where the coolest skates ever...

any way... since then i have loved goats!! so my ringtone on my phone... is a... goat... baaaing or bleating.. or whatever they do...everytime my phone rings... i think...oh my little baby goat is calling me... i have been trying to get my kids to join 4H so we can get a goat(in our neighborhood, we can only have farm animals if we are in FFA or 4H) 

BUT.. i did just get the opportunity to milk 2 goats for 4 days.... my friend that owns goats was going out of town and needed a milker.... i jumped at the chance... not knowing what i was doing... but had a lot of fun and i got to keep the milk.





So i have been making some goaty things.... i made goat milk soap(for Christmas gifts) I used a recipe from  marthastewart.com is is Dr. Brent Ridge recipe... and hopefully i did it right. and i added some peppermint oil.
Then i made some goat cheese...
i didn't get any pics of the making of it which im super bummed about... but here is the final outcome... i rolled it in some dill and minced onion.. pretty tasty i may say....

so today im making goat milk fudge... which im super excited about... i will post pics soon.... so what are all of you making for Christmas.... i would love to hear???

happy making!!!

Saturday, November 26, 2011

hope you all had a delish Thanksgiving

I did it!! I made a delish Thanksgiving meal...  Some new things i tried this year... crock pot stuffing...turned out great.... brined my turkey... turned out great... made my own cranberry sauce from fresh cranberries.... turned out great. So all in all I am pretty proud of myself!!! Not to boast or anything... but i don't usually make the Thanksgiving meal... so YES i guess I am kind of boasting.

I also just found a AZ blog... that has THE BIGGEST BLOG ROLL I HAVE EVER SEEN... I am so excited to check them all out.... go to  lollyjaneboutique.blogspot.com

So hope you all had a great Thanksgiving day spent with family and friends.... and don't forget to give all your family and friends hugs and kisses and tell them how much you love and appreciate them!!

And also don't forget to GO TO pinterest.com to find all kinds of DIY gifts to get started on for this holiday season...

Happy Crafting!!

Tuesday, November 22, 2011

So, its time to think about gift giving..and making!!!

I love making gifts!!! the problem is... I never have enough time to make them!!! And that is a BIG problem. These are some things that i would love to try and make this holiday season...

Owl hats... love them!!! they are so fun!! I would need to make two of them
Beanies for the boys and man in my life(my sweet husband)... so that would be three of those
Goat milk soap... OMGoodness i forgot to post about my goat milking adventure.. i will have to do that
Goat milk fudge...yum!!

So this is all I can remember right at this moment... but I think i can do it!!! now that soccer season is over ( so our 3 games a week and 3 practices a week ) and we just have 3 kids in basket ball.. so that only means between 4 and 6 games a week and 6 practices a week that i would have to taxi for... well that does mean alot of sitting at games and practices that i could be crocheting my hats... RIGHT!!!

 So everyone get started on making your gifts for the holiday season!!

Tuesday, October 18, 2011

prickly pear JELLY!!!or more like syrup




After all the prickles were out, we decided to make jelly... ooohhh how i love prickly pear and peanut butter sandwiches.
     So I carefully poured the pears into my canning pot and boiled for about 10 min. Then took about 5-8 of those little suckers and blended them up in my blender.
     Then poured that into a strainer lined with several layers of cheese cloth, and pressed out the juice with a potato masher and just picking up the cheese cloth and squeezing the dickens out of it.
     Then you have beautiful fuchsia colored juice to make jelly or make prickly pear margaritas... (i canned the jelly using the water bath and the instructions from the pectin package)although this time, it didn't set up as well as it did last year, and its more like syrup, so i may try and redo it or just use it as syrup.... so happy canning!!!

Wednesday, October 12, 2011

Prickly pear Pickin

 Well this is my second annual prickly pear extravaganza!!! One of my sons(the other is getting to cool for this kind of stuff) and my two daughters, got our wagon, our bucket, and our tongs and headed off to the neighbors down the road to pick prickly pears or tunas or cactus fruit... whichever you prefer.  They were just perfectly ripe and as i warned for the 20th time to my 4 yo not to touch the cactus or the prickly pears... she tripped and fell into one... and got quite a few prickles... so we had to go home to get them out and then return the next day... so this process can last a while when you include the kiddos... but they beg to go and love to do it... i guess once you get the prickles, you probably will be more careful next time.


 They are such pretty fruit... and i love the color of the juice... fuchsia!!
  Tomorrow will be the jelly making... see you then!!

Tuesday, September 27, 2011

So many craft ideas...CAN'T FOCUS...PINTEREST ITS YOUR FAULT!!!

OMGoodness... let me just tell you... like you don't already know... that there are so many cool craft ideas out there.. and i just want to make them all....what do I do.... i should just focus on a few and prefect them... but NO... i just want to try them all and then what happens is that i don't do any of them very well... HUMPF.....

well i am really blaming this all on ....pinterest.com

i just get on that site and can't get off and then get overwhelmed... because i just want to a do it all......so that is were i sit... overwhelmed.... NOT GOOD!!!  to many great craft ideas floating around in my head... HELP!!!

if you have not been to pinterest.com ... it is a must but BEWARE....its addicting.... the kind of addicting where you just want to feed your kids cereal for dinner... so you don't have to get up to make anything.... not that I have ever done that or anything...haha... have a pinteresting day!!!!

Friday, September 23, 2011

Yippee Yahoo!!!! Its FALL!!!

HAPPY HAPPY FALL DAY!!!! I am so excited, its the first day of Autunm. I can finally feel it in the air. And i can finally turn of my A/C. Living in this high desert... we have to run the a/c constantly from may to sept or even oct. and i am just delighted that i have been able to turn it off at night and in the morning til about 12 or 1pm.. then it still want to kick back on in the after noon... yesterday my kids we playing on the trampoline with the hose... so its still quite hot in the afternoon... but at least we are getting a little morning break...

and i  am also a bit jealous... of all you bloggers out there that are doing your harvesting and canning and preserving.... with your bounty of fruit and veggies... and in my little garden i am going to go out and pick my 8th tomato... that i grew this year... oh well i guess i will have to go to the farmers market and see waht i can buy to can and preserve.

I just went to a canning class that was informative, and learning alot of things that i was doing wrong... so thats good!!i did not know you shouldnt tip the jars when getting them out of the water bath to get the water off... try to keep them level as possible...

 a bandanna table cloth i made for a summer time feast
 some cute piggy toes that have gotten a fresh coat of paint
Did anyone have one of these banana seat bikes when they we younger???? well a new project is to try and fix this on up and bring some glittery life back to it! Im thinking green and orange with a sparkly glitter seat.


OH and i am so excited... I just made my first ETSY sale.... Thank you to Karina in Belgium for purchasing one of my chicken bags.... YIPPEE!!!

Have a great day!!!!

Thursday, September 8, 2011

Soccer, uncluttering and maybejust maybe some cooler temps??

Hello all... i have been busy...like a bee...(note to self...see about getting beehives)... i am an official soccer coach. I volunteered to coach the little ones 4-5yr old for my sweet baby dill's soccer team. They are such a crack up!!! So, I had a friend (thanks paultaylor) that said that he had brought barbie dolls to show the little ones how the game was played.... so i did the same... well the kids were like... WHAT IS GOING ON HERE... I am showing you how to play the game of soccer with these barbie dolls.. the two boys on the team were not amused and the girls.. thought it was funny... anyhow when i stuck them kids on the field to play... they just stood there and no clue what to do... well so much for barbie... after a couple of scrimmages they kind of got a clue on what to do... so this should be an interesting season... oh and by the was... this is also my first time at coaching anything and i have never in my life played soccer... so like i said it should be interesting.


    So I am also decluttering.. not by my choice but by my husbands... so that had not really been going well... but its got to be done and at least we have a clean..er garage.. that we still can't park in..

   And finally.. im hopin and praying.. that its starts to cool down ovah heah!!!!

oh and has anyone seen The Help.. i really want to go see it,, now that i have finished the book!!!


Here are a couple of things i just put in my etsy shop... check them out..Happy day!!!!




Tuesday, August 23, 2011

Coolness....where are you????

When is it going to cool off!!!!! I am really ready to be able to go outside.. without sweating!!! I am sure you people in the cool mountains or you people with those cool ocean breezes don't quite understand... the 110 degree dry desert air, but many of you that are also from the desert can understand, that Arizona really does have its own sun... and its just different from any where else. Although we don't have much humidity(sorry peeps in the south, its just crazy where you are too!) its just time to cool down here....

     all this talk might be related to the fact that my a/c in my car is broken for the 2nd time this summer and im a little tired of driving around and being soaked with sweat and my hair looks like i just got off a motor cycle when i get to my destination...well on the brighter side of things..here is what we have been doing lately..

 repainted and recovered my dining room furniture...
 goofing around with family photos...
 climbed some trees...
 saw a really cool old truck... that i would love to have...
 roasted some of our green chilies that we grew...
 kids did a mountain bike race in flagstaff.....
     swam in the creek by our house.....fun times had by all!!!!
have a great day!!!!


Wednesday, August 10, 2011

well... i guess that was it....summer is over!!!

Everyone here has started school... yesterday!! Mano. mano. how the summer flew by!!!Ours was taken up by all stars baseball... and swimming lessons...and then we did get to go on a trip to my parents for a week... which was super fun... got to go to a real lake...(not an Arizona lake, where you have to watch out for cactus) a real lake, that pine trees grow right down to the water... it was sooooo nice. We stayed in a great little cabin(thanks brother for that) and went out for a nice boat ride...caught a chipmunk in a box trap fished, ate, drank and then ate and drank some more.... fun stuff!!!

But now... yes its back to school... well i mean trying to figure out what to order for school... mental note.... need to order math books and science books for kids.... O.K. will post pictures of the trip soon.... i had to purchase a disposable camera for the trip, because a person with a degree in photography doesn't always remember to bring her camera(husband was not happy... since we are still and will always be paying for the student loans that paid for the photography degree) so i have to go get them developed which seems so old school and i barely remember how to do it.... so if you haven't started school yet... ENJOY the rest of your summer

Sunday, July 24, 2011

random summer fun

 




This summer has been full of swimming lessons, lots and lots of baseball games, accompanied by the making of lots and lots of all stars shirts for all the moms, a Missoula Children's Theater play, my birthday... and getting cooled off in the 110 degree heat...lots of fun stuff... i hope you are all having a wonderful summer!!!

Tuesday, July 19, 2011

a PALLET project i actually finished

 So here is a project that i started and i ACTUALLY finished..... i have so many projects and crafts started and i just never seem to be able to finish them.... but this one... my sweet hunny was on a backpacking trip with my two older dills.. and i was able to finish the book shelves.... and i just love them..

this glue ROCKS!!! i had to use some because the wood was splitting a little and its awesome

Sunday, July 10, 2011

Mango Muffins...DE-LISH

Hop on over to Mango's Corner for a yummy recipe for mango muffins... i know that sounds kinda weird... but i had an abundance of mango's and needed to use them before they went bad... so.... EVERYTHING MANGO!!!! I want to try to make some mango salsa too!
http://www.mangoscorner.com/2008/10/22/mango-muffins/
I did use whole wheat flour instead of all-purpose and i also put the mango the eggs the extract the oil and the milk in the blender first, my kiddies don't like and chunks of anything in anything... and oh i used coconut oil instead of the other.



I am also in LOVE with Pinterest......you all need to get over there and check out my pins http://pinterest.com/

WARNING....it is very addicting!!!! but so fun!!! have a great day!!

Thursday, July 7, 2011

this was a great video... i feel like this guy!!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=9AV2hp8s_eE

Nest: make blender mayonaise

So i am out of mayo and entered blogland and what do i find on a great new blog that i just found....this.....what a great find!!!




Nest: make blender mayonaise: "Making Mayonaise in the Blender from Paula Deen on Vimeo . Yesterday I made this delicious homemade mayonaise-- it was so tangy and ric..."

Wednesday, July 6, 2011

Wow... i have alot of friends!!! and some new space









 Here is my new space....YIPPEE  I'm so EXCITED!!!! i have been looking for some space for a while now... i mean some crafting space... that i wont have to clean up everynite before dinner. so first i had made my space in the garage.. sewing desk, shelves, and basic crafting supplies... well that did not go over to well with the hubby, because it was always a mess... and in his garage...  so then last week i thought well i have a nice shed.. maybe i will make my space out there.. well as i was cleaning it out... i saw a mouse and lots of spiders... so that option went out the window.. plus at that point seeing all the stuff in my shed.. that brought on a yard sale on my birthday weekend in the 110 degree heat...lovely huh???

so then after the yard sale and the killing of the mouse and spiders and putting back all the stuff back into the shed.. o found my space... in my husbands nice air conditioned shop... which is like the bicycle/man cave/workout shop... but he said i could have a little corner... so i now have  a nice clean little space to do some crafts that i don't have to clean up every nite before dinner... yeah for me!!! My husband saw it this morning and said he liked it, but it was a little weird to see a sewing machine and yarn in his bike shop.. oh well we all have to share now don't we....  oh and about all these friends....

  Well i mean... that sent me birthday wishes.... it was all very nice and all... but i do think its rather funny that people that i have not seen in 20 years.. now because of facebook.. old and new friends can see your every move... if you post stuff on there of course... which i don't.. but i do like to read what others are doing.... anyway, the other day on my facebook page i had like 30 or 35 people wishing me a great birthday.. which i did love don't get me wrong..... its just funny!!!  

Monday, June 27, 2011

oh... how i love summer!

How i love fresh salsa...i could eat it for every meal...I mean just chips and salsa...for the whole meal...


 And how i love my Mimosa tree... i love how it is filled with bees right now, who will soon be making me some honey!!
 and my new favorite thrift store find... which has nothing to do with summer...but i love it anyway!!!
hope you having a great start to your summer!!!

Tuesday, June 21, 2011

17 years...oh my!!!

Conner Hotel, where we stayed in Jerome AZ

 great view of Sedona Az
 Some of the great funky homes in Jerome
 and the great yard art
 and the interesting bathrooms
 and the telephone booth(people still use those apparently)
the view from our room


Well, on the 18th... was my 17th year anniversary... WOW that sounds like such a long time. But really it has flown by, especially since we have had kids... so we were not going to plan any thing special for the big day(we should just save our money... we can't find a babysitter for all night...yadayadayada).... just maybe have a nice dinner with the kids. 

Well my AMAZING  husband surprised me(little stinker) and booked a room in my favorite town   JEROME AZ right above the Spirit Room... a very cool and crazy watering hole.... anyway... we had such a great time.. Thanks to my sweet husband... Happy Anniversary... hopefully we have many more years filled with fun and happiness...