Important Banana Shrinky Dink Corduroy Bliss!

Important: Last night we received a letter in the mail stating that MB will pay for Corrina's second implant! She will hear with both ears! Thank you Lord, we are grateful! Isn't that the most wonderful pot/cooking dish you have ever seen?! Candace gave it to me for my birthday! It's the heaviest and wildest pot/dish I have ever seen! thanks love. As well, my friend Heather gave me a cupcake tree that holds sweet little cupcakes on delicious display! I am blessed!

Banana:

I found this Banana Cake recipe online and chose this one from the many posted because it only had 1/4 cup butter. That's pretty good for cake/cupcakes!

Banana Cake

This recipe is taken from an old, unidentified newspaper clipping, circa 1915.

One cup granulated sugar, 1/4 cup butter, 2 eggs (1 white kept for icing), 1/4 cup sour milk, 1 teaspoon soda, 2 teaspoons baking powder, 2 cups flour, a little salt, 3 very ripe bananas. Cream sugar, butter and egg yolks. Mash and beat the bananas until smooth and add to the mixture. Add the sour milk and soda then the flour, into which the baking powder and salt have been sifted. Lastly, fold in the well-beaten egg white. Bake in a fairly deep pan about 10 inches by 10 inches in a moderate oven for 25 minutes. --M. C. J.

I put my oven on 350 degrees and this seemed to work well. I believe I baked for about 20 minutes. I didn't actually set the timer, so do keep your eye on these if you bake them.

Shrinky Dink:
I spoke in the very last post (did you read it?) about a craft night I had with a girlfriend, Allison. She is a perfect crafting companion! We found inspiration in this book/website and then went from there (oh, the book is called Craftivity and I highly suggest you check it out from your local library!). I had trouble getting a good photo of it, but this is what we created.

Corduroy:
I had some red and designish corduroy fabric lying around and I just happened to buy this wonderful new sewing book so I had to try a few projects out! I made this tote bag
And this Heidi Headband. I love them both, but have much to learn about sewing straight!

So, that's the last of my craftiness for about 2 months!

A treat

I cannot claim ingenuity on this one, many mothers before me have discovered the wonder of the blender indeed, but Corrina and I experienced it on a NEW level tonight! You know how evenings are, tiring, long, messy.... after bath time comes snack time which I usually rush through because it is followed by bedtime... while Corrina ran around the house in her daip-er (funny little way I say it sometimes) I began to brainstorm snack time.. we like variety in our house, and tonight I had settled on a little milk, a little yogurt, and a little banana... protein calcium fiber potassium here we come! Well, I quickly realized that we didn't have any fresh bananas, only frozen ones (yeah, you can see where this is going), so i dumped it all in the blender and we shared the most delicious smoothies! Corrina thought she had died and gone to dessert heaven, and I was just happy to suck back something that tasted sweet but lacked the sugar (I really have been trying to have less sugary, empty calories.. its HARD!). I guess because the bananas were so ripe when I froze them they had a powerful, delicious flavor in the drink. Snack time made happy!

I have done three crafty &/or sewing projects in the last week! I will share them very soon, I promise, and you will love them, i know!! School has been very demanding lately and is just starting to pick up even more. I have a number of major papers and assignments (videos of me practicing counselling skills... yikes!) due very soon. I am so excited to delve in and start my research, but it also means fewer evenings filled with creative things. However, when the daytime rolls around and I encounter different people in different ways throughout the day I am so thankful for the moments when I did sit down and study (social work, therapy skills, theories of counseling, human behavior, and theology too!) because I feel empowered, I feel helpful, I feel able to understand the world to a better degree than if I had spent the night with fabric in hand. So, from here on in I believe that sewing and crafting will become my reward for diligent studies, and not the other way around as it has been! Off to book land I go (I should have dave draw a picture of bookland for me that I can hang around the house for inspiration!!! See, i just can't get crafting/creativity out of my head!).
Lots of love to all my readers, near and far

I'm thankful for YOU

Our potluck was amazing. The food brought by friends filled our home with warm, sweet smells. An assortment of desserts were enjoyed by all with many happy "MmmmMmmm's" filling the room! There was more than enough food for everyone, and amazingly very few leftovers! Just the way it should be! I will make soup from the turkey carcass to make every little bit count! Here are the pictures of friends sharing delicious and sentimental moments together. I was so busy with dinner prep that I forgot to take pictures until after everyone had filled their plates, so the bowls look a little empty, but you get the idea of the feast!
My house was spic and span by the time everyone left. Actualy, they all took dish washing shifts. I think EVERYONE except Dave and I washed, dried or put away! Thanks Friends
Sarah!
A Happy Dave!
A wonderful Allison

Our leafy-o-natural decorations
Bre and Tricia
Corrina was the perfect little hostest-with-the-mostest... she handed cookies out to everyone, over and over again. Eventually someone told her no more cookies, than she started going around to everyone and wagging her finger at them, trying to tell them no more cookies! Instead of handing out cookies at this point she started eating them all herself!
Dig in: Allison, Bre, Edythe
Happy thanksgiving to you too Tricia! She means well!

Bre and Edythe
Karl (good friend from high school) and Dave (good husband from College!!!)
Candace, Tricia and Bre goofing around!

In other news I made Corrina a darling pom-pom hat for winter!

I'm not thankful yet

It is 1:30 on thanks giving monday and later today we are having a BIG potluck. Alot of people are coming to our house to eat and laugh. So, I will be thankful later today. As for now, I have a turkey to put in the oven! Lively, thankful pictures coming soon!

A productive morning

Autumn, if I haven't already said this, is my very favorite season of the year! I love the smell in the natural air, I love the smell of cinnamon and nutmeg in my house, I adore the way the trees naturally turn bright, bold hues of brown, yellow and red, and I prefer to put on cozy clothes, scarfs and hats over a swimsuit any day, but above all I love the versatility of pumpkins and squash. You can find the recipe for the healthy living Pumpkin Cream Cheese loaf pictured here. Your loaf will be even better if you happen to have a toddler in your house. Go ahead and let them add way too much cinnamon, ginger, and nutmeg!
If you're like me you just can't wait for the loaf to cool before sampling the first piece. While the piece may not look nice on the plate it will taste delicious fresh from the oven!

studying

I am home studying for a counseling role playing video (I wish it were drama!) i have to record tomorrow. Dave is at a Church Alpha night, and he brought Corrina so I could have time to read. I thought if i took a picture of the ordeal and posted it on the blog that I might feel more motivated. If I don't stop getting distracted than I am lying to everyone about studying. Now that I have said I am studying I have to be studying. Our calculator is a funny little man with number buttons for a body. I am counting how many times the word angry is used in my text book. That's a lie.
Dave bought me this beautiful olive serving platter for my birthday. It will be used at our upcoming thanks givin' potluck with friends. The lovely candle is from him too, the candle holder is a little silver tray spray painted white (bought and given by my friend Allison).