So far I really like them there.  Every time I walk into the room, the beauty of that spot makes me feel happier, lighter.  I love the way the colors all work together, the aquas, white, and cream.  The vintage frame used to hang above our bed.  I like it’s new home.

The child sized blue chair is one of my most favorite vintage pieces.   It’s getting a little rickety, so I rescued it from my children to keep in my own room.  I think it’s happier there.

Doesn’t it just make you feel like spring might actually arrive?  It does for me!

I’m excited to pull this room together and share the whole thing (that is, if I can find the time to finish it and if the sun will come back so I can photograph it).

Either way, I’m loving my jars!

I found this recipe on Heather’s blog, and had to make it.  In fact, it looked so good that I tried it out on guests without having made it before.  The verdict:  it’s fabulous!

Here is the recipe for how I made it:

Heather Bullard’s Casino Butter

1 pound butter, softened
2 Tb. fresh lemon juice
1-2 tsp. hot sauce (I used Frank’s hot sauce)
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
4 green onions, finely chopped
1/3 cup red bell pepper, finely chopped
1/3 cup fresh Italian parsley, chopped
salt & pepper to taste

Heather chops everything finely, then puts it in a food processor.  I have only a tiny food processor and so I would have had to do 4 or 5 batches.   I put the butter in a mixing bowl and used my hand mixer to whip it a little bit.  Then I chopped the garlic, onions, pepper and parsley and pulsed them in my processor.  I then added everything to the mixing bowl and again used my hand mixer to combine it all really well.  I think it worked.

Heather takes half the butter, rolls it in wax paper and freezes it.  Then she uses the other half on a loaf of french bread.  It was the french bread I wanted to try.  I spread butter over both halves, sprinkled with Parmesan cheese, and broiled it.  I think I only used 1/4 of the casino butter, though, instead of half.  I rolled up the rest in wax paper to freeze for another use.

Here is the link to Heather’s recipe, explanations and directions.  (She also puts wine in hers, which I omitted.)  And her pictures are far lovelier than mine.

Can I say that this became an instant family favorite?!  It was the YUMMIEST garlic style bread I’ve ever eaten.

Please, do yourself a favor and treat yourself!  It’s delicious!  Thanks for sharing, Heather!

Combine 1 cup brown sugar with 2 Tablespoons butter and 2 Tablespoons light corn syrup.

Stir together, then microwave on high for 1 minute.  Pour and spread into ungreased glass 9 x 13 inch baking pan.

Wash, peel and slice pears until you have 4 cups of slice pears.

Spread pears over brown sugar in pan.

Sprinkle 2 Tablespoons of flour over the pears.

Slice 1 loaf of french bread into 1 inch slices.

In small bowl, mix together 3 eggs, 1 cup milk, 1 teaspoon vanilla and a dash of salt.  Dredge both sides of each piece of bread in egg mixture and cover pears.

Pour any remaining egg mixture over the bread, and sprinkle with cinnamon.

Cover and refrigerate overnight.  The following morning, remove from refrigerator and let pan sit 30 minutes before baking.  Bake at 350 for 35-40 minutes or until fruit is soft and bread is golden brown.

Serve warm, adding whipped cream (and maple syrup if you’re my son) if desired.  YUM!

Note:  I’ve made this dish in the morning instead of the night before, and it’s delicious that way, too.   I love breakfast dishes that I can make the night before so that my morning meal runs on schedule, especially when we have guests staying with us.

Overnight Pear French Toast

1 cup brown sugar
2 Tb. butter or margarine
2 Tb. light corn syrup
Mix together and microwave for 1 minute on high.  Stir and spread into ungreased glass 9×13 inch baking dish.

4 cups sliced and peeled pears
2 Tb. flour
Layer pears over brown sugar mixture and sprinkle with flour.

3 eggs
1 cup milk
1 tsp. vanilla
dash salt
10 slices of french bread, sliced 1 inch thick
cinnamon

Mix together eggs, milk, vanilla and salt.  Dip slices of bread in egg mixture and lay bread closely together over pears.  Pour extra egg over bread (if there’s any left).  Sprinkle with cinnamon.

Cover and refrigerate overnight.  Remove 30 minutes before baking. Bake at 350 for 35-40 minutes or until fruit is soft and bread is light golden brown.  Serve warm, with whipped cream if desired.

Enjoy!
Hopeful Homemaker

They’re from the Girl Friday line by Cosmo Cricket.  It’s fun to see so many scrapbook papers licensed for quilting fabric and this was a line I wasn’t familiar with until my awesome sister gave me a heads-up.  I think this fabric has been out for a while, but it’s new to me.  I was able to find some at the Fat Quarter Shop.

I’m so excited to use these prints, especially the lined one.  I’ve got embroidered love notes to my daughters dancing in my head… this will be the perfect thing!

I’m curious, what would you do with it?

This week:  88 steps.  I was surprised by this so I went back and read through them more closely than I sometimes do.  It interested me to note how many times I recorded the experience of having feelings of frustration or discouragement boil to the surface, filling my eyes with tears, then pausing to close my eyes and pray for strength to carry on.  I have mixed feelings about this pattern.  On one hand I feel happy that I’m learning to go directly from the feeling to the solution, to recognize that God is my strength, and to seek it instantly.  On the other hand, it’s a little disturbing to have a record of just how often those feelings rise to the surface.  Can I be getting worse and better at the same time?  I’m not sure I want to think too much about that one tonight.

A few highlights:

I managed an effective positive reinforcement campaign with the kindergarten carpool this week.  They’re putting on their seat belts and keeping them on much more cheerfully.

Mr. Wonderful’s aunt was in town this week.  She came over on Tuesday night for dinner (pizza).  She is single and has no children, and this was the first time she has EVER witnessed our family in real life mode.  She has only seen us in vacation mode.  Bless her heart!  The night she came over we had different children committed for activities at 4:00, 5:00, 6:00, 6:30, 6:45 and 7:00.  I’d love to be a fly on the wall and hear how she described it to someone from her perspective.  We did manage to snap a photo at one point in the evening with whoever was there at the moment.  Can you tell that some of them were a little wound up?

One of the activities going on during the above mentioned evening was taking my oldest daughter to New Beginnings, a special activity each year for young women ages 12-17 and their parents.  We were invited because my daughter is (gulp) turning 12 later this year and she was being presented.  Wow.  I’m pretty sure I’ll be ok with the transition because her birthday isn’t until November and she talks about it at least twice a day, but this activity caught me off guard.  It ended up being a wonderful night, and I was very grateful for the chance to attend.  Here we are together before leaving, and she’s still a little wound up.

This week I tried to enjoy my time spent in the kitchen.  I put more effort into our meals, and also into having the children help with the dishes.

I spent lots of time marveling at my littlest one.  She’s so mobile now, rolling and scooting and army crawling all over the place.  She’s experimenting with the hard floors, and ALMOST doing the full-on crawl.  One night in particular I kept her up later than the other children and the two of us snuggled and giggled and gave lots of kisses and smiles.  Truly magical.  I love her so much it hurts.

I did a little rearranging of things in my bedroom and I’m pleased with the results.

I started binding a quilt.  This one I’m doing by hand because it’s a scalloped edge (my first try) and I hope it turns out.

We tried hard to listen more carefully to our oldest and do lots of building so that the little requests for improvement will hopefully be taken better.  This whole world of communicating with teenagers is tricky, but we’re hoping to get good at it!

We spent lots of time talking with our children about some of their cousins and the things going on in their lives.  One little cousin had a surprise surgery this week, and another newborn cousin is still in NICU with some serious things to work out.  The lives of two other cousins will be decided by a judge in a custody ruling.  It is precious to hear your children pray for other children.

Last night my husband turned around and saw this hysterical commentary on the local collegiate rivalry.  Our 7 year old daughter had come up with it completely on her own.  I hope you can read it.  Let me know if you need any spelling translations.  I can’t stop laughing at her list of compliments and insults.

With that, I’ll wrap up this report and wish you a wonderful week.  May all your steps be good ones!
Hopeful Homemaker

I’ll tell you mine.

The dreamiest thing I can imagine would be to send my entire family away on some vacation to have a fabulous time….

and to stay home ALONE.

Yep.  That’s what I want.

I watch my friends go on getaways, see women head off to retreats, and although they sound wonderful I really don’t want to go.  Why?  Because although it’s a nice break, I know that when I get back the hole will only be deeper.  Getting away isn’t solving my problem; it’s hiding it from myself.

I want one full week alone in my house.

I want to clean it, organize it, and then have it stay that way while I move on to other projects that I never get to because I’m forever preparing food, cleaning up food, washing clothes, putting away clothes, picking up clothes…. you get the picture.

I want to have my kitchen counters stay clean for more than 5 minutes.

I want to clean my basement.

I want to read a book without worrying that I’ll forget to pick someone up.

I want to go through pictures, school papers, memories, and be able to sort & organize them without helpers.

I want to purge my house without input from 8 children.

I want to sleep.

I want to gather myself, get things in order for the long term, and prepare for the road ahead.

I want quiet.

And on the hard days when I really let myself dream of what I’d do, I start to think, “Hmmm. One week might not be enough!  I might need two!”  And then I quickly remind myself that I’d better just shoot for one, or my husband might send the children back ALONE because he needed some space, too.  And I really like him and would most definitely want him to come back WITH them.  So I’m okay with one week.

Yes, crazy lady that I am, I want to be home alone.

The funny thing is that there is probably nothing that is less likely to happen in my life.  Not for years and years and years.

Still, I can dream…

For me, March 4th is a mini-holiday of sorts.  It is, after all, mandate.  Have you ever thought about it?  Today is the day that the calendar says to us all:  March Forth!

And isn’t that what you feel like doing now that February is over and simply turning the calendar is proof that spring is on the way?  There is so much I want to do as the weather warms up!

I try to talk to my children on March 4th about the concept of marching forth in life to accomplish what we should be doing.  Sometimes it’s fun to turn on some marching music and let the little ones parade around the house waving flags.  Some years we’ve all set or re-dedicated ourselves to our goals.  Some years I’ve traced my children’s feet as a reminder that we need to be moving in positive directions.

For me personally it’s a wonderful day to pause and review what’s really important to me.  I always find myself doing this at the turn of a new year, at the beginning of summer vacation, and when school starts again in the fall.  Adding March 4th to the list of times when I re-focus my mind and heart has been beneficial.

So, even while the snow falls outside my windows this afternoon, I am pondering spring.  I am pondering how I need to adjust my days to set me on a straighter course to the life I really want.

In our modern world, the idea of marching is tied closely to parades and celebrations.  But historically, marching has meant armies moving great distances over rough terrain.  It has meant migration for different groups of people, and often migration not of their choosing.  While I’ve never been on such a march, I imagine that it gets really hard, especially in the middle.

Life is a march over long distances, through lots of mud and rain and sun and drought.  It is also a march that involves brilliant moments of illumination, breathtaking views, refreshing water and cool breezes.  It is up to me to seek the beauty, up to me to stay on course, up to me to just KEEP GOING.

One of my all-time greatest heroes, Gordon B. Hinckley, was asked once how he managed to get so much done, to preside over an international church with millions of members while in his 90’s.  His response was that every night when he went to bed, he made sure he got up the next morning.

Sometimes marching involves cresting a hill and marveling at the view below.  Other times it simply means that we endure, that we get out of bed again and do our very best, even when our best seems like nothing.

So today I say…

Keep Going
Look Up
Endure
Press Forward
Search Diligently
MARCH FORTH!

If you need some inspiration, do a little research on Henry Knox and how he moved some 80 cannon through terrible circumstances to Boston at the beginning of the American Revolutionary War.

His assessment:  “Perseverance accomplished what at first seemed impossible.”
I call that a quote worth memorizing.

What will you march forth to do?

Jennifer

This week we tried a new flavor in our homemade frozen yogurt recipe.

I love this recipe because it’s so very simple.  Three ingredients:  yogurt, sugar, half and half.  The peach flavor has been a hit with everyone.  We like to make homemade frozen yogurt because it’s a little lighter than ice cream, and we love the subtle tartness that the yogurt brings.  We love the consistency of this recipe.  At around $5.00 for 3 quarts, it’s a great price too.

Here’s the quick recipe, but if you want a step-by-step click here.

2 (32 ounce) tubs of yogurt *
2 cups sugar
2 cups half & half

Combine ingredients in a large bowl and stir to combine.  Pour into ice cream maker and process according to manufacturer’s instructions (mine needs ice and rock salt).  When finished, scoop into large container and place in the freezer for a couple of hours to harden more.  Serve and enjoy!

*We have found that yogurt WITHOUT high fructose corn syrup tastes much better with this recipe.  In fact, I never buy yogurt with high fructose corn syrup in it for my family as it seems to mask the flavor of the yogurt so much and is far less healthy.  In my area the best yogurt for this recipe has been the Western Family brand yogurt, which I watch for on sale (2 for $3).

Hope you like it!

Hopeful Homemaker

She came running to me, holding it.  We found some matching thread and did some mending.

As I did it, I realized what a tiny little thing I was doing.  It only took a couple of minutes.

But what a big thing it was for her.

Many times we feel we need to do something BIG.  Sometimes we don’t do anything because we feel we don’t have time or resources for that big thing.  Yet most of the time our hearts are lifted most by the little things that people do for one another.  I once read that if something needs doing and it can be done in the next two minutes, the most effective thing is to do it now.  Yesterday I wondered how many thoughtful things I could do in two minutes?

Small, thoughtful, compassionate things.  They really do matter.

A word of encouragement, a compliment, cost us nothing but the time it takes to utter or write them.

I made a list of little things I’m going to do more of, because it will be good for me and good for those around me.

What little thing could you do today for someone?