More crochet!

Finally got my pictures to cooperate with me! I hope you enjoy and please try the links to my Facebook page!

I look forward to putting up some of my own patterns soon. Let me know if there is any interest!

 



Headband I made R for the Fourth of July!

             



Blue hat with flower

 

Green Basket Weave with a bow!

Knight hat I've already made three for friends!

Blue Basket Weave hat with monster buttons!

 

 

 

 

Minnie Mouse Hat!

Crochet projects

Finally made a Minnie Mouse hat for our little Minnie. She has been so obsessed lately!

Finally got sick of making everyone a hat but myself. Awesome slouchie beanie!

I promise I have a bunch more but for some reason I am unable to up load them at this time so hopefully I can get to them later!

Pictures!

As promised here are some pictures of just a few things I have tackled over the past few months!

 

 

I made my own whole chicken! First time ever!

Stuffed peppers! Again a first for me, the whole family loved them!





 A nice surprise when we came home...a flood!



I had a birthday! My cupcakes were amazing!

I have also done several crochet projects I would like to get pictures of on here! I've been a busy little bee.

Summer

It's totally been a while since I've been on here but a lot has been going on!

Lots of crafting cooking and trying to clean and straighten out multiple aspects of our lives.

I've completed several crochet projects, a few classes for school, and started creating R's second birthday party blowout even though its about 4 months away. I figure if I start now I can save loads of money down the road!

As you can see from the date of this post it's summer vacation here which means lots of sun, water, and even more crafts! It's going to be a busy one trying to get ready for our first ever craft fair this fall. My mother and I have been working our rears off trying to get hats, headbands, and anything else crafty pounded out. I'm hoping to get some pictures of our creations edited and up on here before the end of the day.

My recipe of the day is going to be black bean burgers! I have never tried them before but since I am trying to get the family on the right track to eating well, I'm going to give it a shot. I've been really trying to stop with all the processed foods and sweets. If you know me...the sweets are the killer part. Getting everyone happy healthy and active.

I've also started a thirty day ab challenge that I came across on facebook.  Since it is bikini season, it's about time to get my workout on. I really must say that it is becoming quite a challenge as I have been sick the past few days and completely lacking energy to do much.

The Workout of the Day is
50 sit ups
50 crunches
30 leg lifts
38 second plank.

The link to the whole calander is :30 day ab challenge!

BREAD PUDDING!

Do you ever buy way more bread than any one person can eat?! Well that happened to my family the other day we got a really good deal at our grocery store for a ten dollar dinner. It included a pork roast, 24 ounce side, and a fresh loaf of French bread. Well that huge loaf of bread is way too much for these guys so I needed something to do with it so it didn't go to waste. Since it's still snowing and it's spring, what better way to warm up than with bread pudding?!

 

What you need:

Any type of bread. I used about 6 thick slices of French bread then cubed it.

2 Tbsp of butter (melted)

4 eggs

2 cups of milk

cinnamon

vanilla

raisins (optional)

 

1) Cube your bread. You can make it any size you want. Place your bread in an eight inch pan.

 

2) Melt your butter and pour it evenly over your bread.

 

3) Sprinkle raisins over the top of bread.

 

3) In a seperate bowl beat eggs, add sugar, cinnamon and vanilla. Add milk and beat until well mixed.

 

4) Pour mixture over your bread evenly and press bread down to make sure its all nice and covered.

 

5) Bake in oven preheated to350 degrees for 45 minutes!

 

6) Eat! Let cool for a few mins and dive right in!

 

 



Cadbury Cookies

Took a break over the weekend and spent some long needed time with my family. If you know my family the love to cook and bake and create. I found an awesome recipe for these cookie cups that have like a Cadbury Egg filling. Now thinking about it and looking at it you might think, "wow that's nuts and way too sweet for my taste!" Really it's not you can hardly tell the filling is there. I though my teeth would hurt from the cream, but it was awesome.

 

If you want the recipe I got it here:

http://www.inkatrinaskitchen.com/2012/03/cadbury-cream-cookie-cups.html

We used a shot glass to push the dough down and make cups.

Finished product!



Go ahead and try these! They will be perfect for Easter!

 

 

 

Because everyone loves a good explosion!

Organic Drain Cleaner?!

 

Well I'm hoping to not have an explosion or a disaster when I try this next experiment.

We have been having some serious problems with the drainage in our kitchen sink and no matter how many time we have the maintenance guy come check it out, it doesn't seem to be solving anything. I found an organic drain cleaner made from baking soda and vinegar so what's not to love about thoes two things?!

 

What you need:

1/2 cup baking soda

1/2 cup vinegar

wet cloth

 

So the directions read to pour the baking soda in the drain and then add the vinegar. Cover the drain for five minutes with your wet cloth and then rinse the drain with some steamy hot water. Sounds super easy right!? I sure am hoping so. I'm charging up my batteries so I can get some pictures of what comes of my little drain cleaning experiment. Wish me luck, I'll be back soon with pictures and a full description of how it all went down.

 

 

By the way I got this idea off pincookie.com  I seriously love this site! So many fantastic ideas, recipes and DIY projects!

Finger lickin' chicken!

I made chicken nuggets for dinner last night and no they were not from the frozen isle in the store! These chicken nuggets are so good, easy, and you can change the seasoning to fit your taste! They do take a little time but if you do your prep work it should go fairly smoothly!

 

 

What you need:

Oil for frying

Corn flakes *about 5 cups*

Boneless chicken breast

Egg

Seasoning

*We used garlic salt. pepper, and chili powder*

1. Beat egg in a small bowl and crush your corn flakes. I find using a bag is easiest but today I let R try her hand at it...I'll let you figure out how that ended.
 

 2. Heat your oil over medium heat. If you find your chicken cooking too fast once you start you can adjust.

3. Cut up your chicken breasts in to about 2 inch pieces and season before you cook! I find this step very important in determining how your nuggets will taste! I used about 3 breasts to feed 4 people and had leftovers.

4. Coat chicken with egg first then cornflakes obviously! Make sure you cover each side evenly.

5. Cook! Watch out for the hot oil though, I got several burns from careless mistakes. I suggest taking th pan off the heat when you are placing your chicken nuggets in the pan or taking them out. Also if you are like me and are horrible at telling when meat is done you cut into them to check, TAKE IT OFF THE BURNER! The juice from the chicken will make the oil start popping and you do not want to have an oil burn!

6. Season again! If you really like to add flavor season right after you take the chicken out of the pan, while it's still hot. I cover a plate with paper towels to absorb the extra oil that drips off the chicken. You can also put one on top to get even more off!

This is a must try! My family is very sketcy about trying new foods so I figured this was an easy and simple one I could try on them.

 

 

 

If you're like me you're doing it wrong

BOBBY PINS!

 

 

 

 I bet a million or more people ar using them wrong including myself!

 

I can't remember where I read this but I know I read it recently! Majority of us are wearing them the wrong way! Since I read this and thought to myself NO WAY, I did some research and after a lot of reading, and trying it out for myself, I admited to my wrong doing.

 

So, you know the wavy part of your  bobby pin? That is the side that is supposed to be facing your scalp. I have been playing with my bobby pins for the past two days and when you put them in your hair this way you can totally tell the difference. A lot of the time my pins slip right out of my hair and get become askew and end up in places I don't want them to be. When I switched the way I wore them I could feel a tighter hold in my hair and they stayed there!

 

I know some people like to have the wavy part of your bobby pin out, but seriously you should give it a try! I don't think I will ever go back to wearing mine the wrong way. Another thing I love is bobby  pins that have some color to them. You can usually pick up a pack from Target in the dollar section in many different colors or you can get them in the traditional colors. I recommend heading out and picking up some in the neon colors, seeing as that is very big right now an a cheap way to add a pop to your style. If you are feeling crafty you can even attach some embelishments to them if you have the time. I think I am going to be trying my hand at that here soon. Maybe for Easter as it is fast approaching!

 

If you want to read more about the bobby pin wearing I suggest checking out this site:

http://www.allure.com/beauty-trends/blogs/daily-beauty-reporter/2012/08/do-you-really-know-how-to-use.html

There is a link within the article you can look at too if you have the time as I know most people are usually to busy to be sitting down and reading articles about bobby pins.

It's just a little something I thought was interesting and if you are like me and struggle to keep your hair in place it might be something you'd like to try!

Good Monday Morning!

Good Monday morning! Now that we are all  rested and relaxed it's time to start all over again! I hope everyone had an enjoyable weekend!

Back to the St. Patrick's day festivities! Saturday I tried my hand at making my own colored pasta. Let me tell you R and C loved it! Not that R really cares what color her food is she still thought it was good! In a crunch on St. Patty's day try this out!

What you need:

Box of pasta
Food coloring
As many pots as colors you want *we only used one b/c we only wanted green*
       If you want more than one color you need more than one pot


1) Fill your pots with water and the let your little ones or yourself pick out what color they want. Put a few drops in each pot you can put more or less of a color in depending on how vibrant you want the color to be.

2) Let the water come to a rolling boil...Remember what your mother said about watching water boil!

3) Add your pasta, I suggest if you are cooking for little ones try using fun shaped pasta. It is fun for them and easy for them to pick up the smaller shapes and pop in their mouths.

4) Drain, rinse, and serve! You can put butter, sauce, or cheese on yours, or all three if you please. The good thing about the things I want to post in here is there is a lot of room to play. After all who doesn't like to play with their food?!

All we did was put some sauce on it and the kids devoured it in about 10 mins with little leftover!

Waffles And A Movie Marathon

Goood afternoon everyone in blog land! We are having a  wonderful Saturday and it's only going to get better!

I like to use the weekends to make special breakfasts that we don't get to have all the time. The rush in the morning between getting C ready for school staying out of mom's way so she can leave on time for work, and tending to R while she screams non stop can be crazy enough. We usually stick to cold cereal, oatmeal, poptarts, and yogurt.

This Saturday we made waffles. We got a waffle maker for Christmas and we have only used it once before so why not take a cold gloomy day to make a nice hot breakfast.

I used a recipe I found from food.com for buttermilk waffles. Anything with buttermilk in it automatically is amazing to me. Here is the recipe:

2 cups all purpose flour
1 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. baking soda
2 eggs, beaten
2 cups buttermilk
dash of salt
4 Tbsp. butter, melted

1. Mix together the flour, soda, powder, and salt
2. Add the eggs, milk, and butter and mix well

See how easy that was!

Now you just heat your waffle iron, spread the batter and cook! It took mine about 2 or 3 mins to cook and voila! A delicious breakfast. We didn't do anything fancy with out butter syrup, we are just normal people. You can add fruit or whatever you want to yours. Another great idea if you have a few little ones running around is set up a topping bar. Let each child pick out what they would want on theirs put it in some small bowls or containers and let them have fun! You can even add some color to them by placing some food dye in  your batter.

 

 

 

 

R really enjoyed her waffles this morning, and I suggest using an ice cream scoop to get the batter on the waffle iron.

 

 

But now that breakfast is over it's onto our Twilight marathon! I can imagine the things people were thinking as I was walking around Target clutching my new Breaking Dawn Part 2 DVD with a huge smile on my face! Everyone is all settled in with full bellies and we have started with our first movie of our Twilight Saga marathon! I really wanted to come up with some awesome snack ideas but due to our ear infection R has given me little time to do such! I hope if you picked up your new copy of Breaking Dawn Part 2 you are enjoying it as much as I'm going to. I'll be back later with more St. Patrick's Day ideas!

 



March is for Saint Patrick's Day!

C is away on the bus to school, the dishes are done, and R has had her breakfast and is happily watching her music show. If you have never heard of The Animal Band, I suggest checking them out! R loves it and it's not too bad on my ears either.  Now if only I had someone to take out the garbage and recyclables! I think it's about time to start crafting before the house turns into a disaster area!

Seeing as today is the first day of March I thought it would be a good idea to get rolling on some projects for St. Patrick's Day! I found an awesome pin that is super easy and you can change up the supplies to fit your budget. It calls for green felt of several shades, scissors, glue *or a glue gun,* some ribbon, buttons, or any other thing you and your little one can imagine to decorate with. Since I don't have any green felt and I have a sickly baby with a double ear infection we are going to be using card stock for ours. You can do this as well or use construction paper or maybe an old T-Shirt you have laying around.  

I found the template for the shamrock here:
http://spoonful.com/printables/shamrock-pattern-st-patricks-day
This one is simple just cut and trace

OR...

http://spoonful.com/printables/heart-pattern
If you have a little more time you can cut out the hearts *six of them* and arrange them to look like a shamrock. This is the method I am using.

1) We printed this out and got started tracing our shapes!


2) After you trace the shapes cut them out. I used two of one color and one of the other. Then I did the opposite for the smaller one. You will also need to cut out a stem.

All of my hearts cut out

3) One you have all the shapes cut out in your desired colors time to start piecing it together. I started with one dark green heart and then put the other two light ones on both sides of the  light one.

First layer of hearts

4) Next I placed the stem in the center of the shamrock. You can use your better judgement to figure out how high or low you want your stem.

Center your stem

 5) After you can repeat step three for the smaller hearts. Piece them together with the opposite colors of the larger hearts.

Add your smaller hearts

6) Decorate! You can do anything you want with your shamrock! I just put a small glittery green brass fastener I already had on hand. Here it is my final product. I think R will look great in this at the St. Patrick's Day parade next weekend! I hope you enjoy this with your little one as much as I did!

Decorate however you and your little one please!

I bent my hearts down the center to give a bit of a pop!

Let's get it started!

I'm Ashley, a single stay at home mom...for now. I'm about to enroll in school for medical administrative assistant and hopefully get out and enjoy the working world again. For being 24 I feel like I have already seen and done a lot in my life. Been through college which included joining a sorority and all of the typical activities you would expect a college student to take part in. After not finishing college I took off and joined the Air Force, spending time in Texas, Mississippi, and New Mexico of all places. Spent a few months in the big sand box called Afghanistan. To my surprise was not too horrible even though I still have nightmares about being over there. Although they have nothing to do with anything that I did over there... Odd I know. I've been married and divorced probably faster than Kim Kardashian! What do you expect when the man *if you can call him that* engraves your initials into a bullet and starts talking crazy!? I tell you being in the military stationed in the middle of nowhere will drastically diminish your standards and increase your tolerance for a lot of hard liquor.

The love of my life R. 

I'm done with that life now and I have moved on. I have a beautiful daughter who I will refer to as R. She is sixteen months old and the love of my life. So smart and beautiful I don't know what I would do without her. Having her made me realize that now is a better time than ever to start up this blog! There are so many projects for me to test on her, and new recipes , and so many fantastic DIY ideas I have for her room and all over the house * once I move out of my mothers house... again said I know.* I want to have a space to share all of our adventures with others and get some awesome ideas from any readers too.

I love baking and cooking, crafting, knitting, crocheting, anything DIY so I'm really hoping this will be a good  spot to share all of my ideas in one space. I know times are tough  trust me I'm running on about 150 dollars a month so I will try my hardest to make all of my projects as budget friendly as possible!

I appreciate anyone who views and comments this blog with tips or your own projects. I will do my very  best to respond to anyone who writes so please take a minute to post a comment!