recipe for crazy

January in Photos

2012-02-01T07:48:00.000-06:00

I've mentioned that I was joining in on the instagram and Fat Mum Slim's photo-a-day challenge this year. Well, January is over and here are my photos to represent.

I didn't commit to the FMS prompts until day 6 but here are my photos: 1-something you adore, 2-reflection, 3-drink, 4-treat, 5-lunch, 6-makes you smile, 7-favorite, 8-breakfast, 9-daily routine, 10-childhood, 11-where you sleep, 12-close-up, 13-in your bag, 14-something you're reading, 15-happiness, 16-morning, 17-water, 18-something you bought, 19-sweet, 20-someone you love, 21-reflection, 22-your shoes, 23-something old, 24-guilty pleasure, 25-something you made, 26-color, 27-lunch, 28-light, 29-in your fridge (freezer), 30-nature, 31-me.

You can also see my whole set larger on my flickr set: 2012 PhotoADay.

Here's a link for February's list if you want to join in the fun: February photo a day.

Crispy Southwest Chicken Wraps (recipe reviewed)

2012-01-31T07:01:00.000-06:00

I found another great recipe on pinterest that I had to share.

This one is a pretty quick dinner idea and my whole family loved it. The husband termed it quesaritos, because they're kind of a mix between a quesadilla and a buritto.

Here's a link to the recipe from Mel's kitchen cafe. She mentioned that the original idea came from Cooks Country. By the way, have you ever watched that show? It's really good and makes me hungry every time. I think it's on Saturday mornings.

Anyway, the things I liked most about this recipe were: it was fast, easy and really tasty. I had a bag of pre-cooked chicken strips in the freezer so I used those instead of the shredded chicken. I also added a few fresh toppings but other than that, I kept with the recipe.

First you make the lime-cilantro-black bean mixture (which happened to be my favorite part - next to the cheese) and cook the rice.

If you have pre-cooked chicken, that's all the cooking that's involved! Then you just assemble the "quesaritos." I bought the huge burrito sized flour tortillas and it made six.

Then you put each one in a skillet (with a little melted butter) to crisp up the sides, top with sour cream, salsa, fresh jalapenos and avocados and eat.

And your meal is complete!

Every Princess Needs a TuTu

2012-01-30T08:40:00.000-06:00

Each day I'm amazed at how independent my little Sweet P is getting.

She wants to do everything on her own and with as little help as necessary. I love watching her confidence grow as she becomes so much more a little girl and so unlike a little baby. She's just growing so fast and I'm trying to take every moment in.

One thing that is totally new is her independence in clothes choice. Her sister-cousin has always been pretty opinionated about her clothes and it's something I've never dealt with. Sweet P usually doesn't care what I put on her and for the most part, still let's me pick out her clothes.

However, she is starting to have her own opinions and favorites. She loves anything "cat" so any shirt or pajama with a cat on it gets picked first. When those are dirty, she likes her purple dress or sweater her pappy got her for Christmas.

Every now and then she demands to wear the tutu her aunt Ashley made her. If I ask her if she wants to wear it she always says no. I have found that to be true about almost everything.

My idea and it's a no. Her idea and it's the way to go.

This past week I had changed her after her nap and went to her closet to pick out her clothes.

This is what she picked.

Her purple process, cat shirt and her tutu. She's pretty stinkin cute, if I do say so myself!

My favorite socks

2012-01-25T22:19:00.000-06:00

Someone stole my favorite socks.

I'm not naming names.

But to be honest, I don't really mind because my knee length, neon heart socks look pretty cute on those plump little thighs.

Letters

2012-01-24T22:41:00.000-06:00

I have a thing for typography so you can imagine my delight when I stumbled upon these little beauties:

There were about 4 tubs filled with random letters, symbols and punctuation marks in various typefaces and sizes. I sorted through each tub until I found all the letters I needed. I have a small bag full that I came home with and have NO idea what I am going to do with them right now.

I just couldn't resist so if you have any good ideas, send them my way.

Homemade Pizzeria Pizzas

2012-01-23T15:20:00.000-06:00

I'm sharing one of my favorite recipes today. Honestly, it's not really a recipe at all. It's more like an easy, cheater recipe for a fun dinner.

Growing up we used to have pizza night where we got to make our own mini pizzas with whatever topping we wanted. The secret to fast mini pizzas was a can of biscuits. Yes, biscuits, the kind that come in a tube and you pop it open and put them on a cookie sheet to bake for breakfast. My mom would roll out each biscuit and then we'd top it with sauce, cheese, pepperoni ... you get the idea.

Anyway, we do the same thing now that I'm a mom, the only difference is the crust. There happens to be an awesome little hole-in-the-wall pizza place near me so I stop in and buy their raw dough. They sell the equivalent of a large pizza dough for only $3! Sure, it's more expensive than a can of biscuits but the taste of real pizza crust is tough to beat.

What is this magical pizza place I speak of? The Pie Hole. I've mentioned it before when I made pizza balls. They have this white pizza that's really good and their cheesy bread, well, it's pretty much amazing. So go try it and take home a ball of dough.

Anyway, I had all kinds of left overs ready for pizza toppings after a week of dinners so I stopped by and bought some dough (if you follow me on instagram, you already knew this - it was for "something I bought".)

Since this really isn't a recipe, I'll just share what we had for toppings but really, the possibilities are endless. I set each topping out in little bowls: chopped onions, bell peppers, mushrooms, jalapenos, leftover cooked chicken, pepperoni and cooked sausage. We also had mozzarella and cheddar cheese and regular pizza sauce.

Here's a tasty little idea for a different taste - make your own garlic butter glaze. In a small bowl combine 2 tablespoons of butter, 2 tablespoons of olive oil and two minced garlic cloves. Microwave it until the butter melts and brush that over the dough. I made one with just the glaze and it was amazing but it's also really good with pizza sauce on top too.

Anyway, I divided the dough into 7 balls, rolled each one out and then we each topped our own pizzas with the different toppings. It was fun and easy. Even Sweet P helped!

That's my pizza in the lower left with the garlic butter glaze, onion, mushroom, pepperoni and mozzarella cheese. It also ended up being my favorite.

As for cooking them, here's another little tip I learned from making these in the past. Bake the pizza at 450 degrees on a cookie sheet until the cheese starts to brown. Then, take the pizza of the cookie sheet and put them back in the oven, directly on the rack and bake for a few more minutes. This will make the crust a little crunchy but still soft in the middle.

MMM.

Here's my little pizza.

And here's one of the husband's.

So that's that. Homemade pizzeria pizzas. As good as, if not better than going out and much less expensive!

Instagram

2012-01-19T08:30:00.000-06:00

I mentioned a little while back that I was going to do a new photo challenge with instagram and my phone. I started out just planning on taking a picture a day for an entire year.

Once I got started, I noticed other people doing something similar but there was a common theme. As far as I know, this lady, Chantelle, created the graphic that tons of instagrammers are using to inspire their year-long photo challenge.

I started using her prompts and have really liked it.

Day 15 was happiness.

Here's a couple of pictures I took that almost made it:

First, a personal favorite. My husband doing the dishes = happiness.

Then there's the dinner he made. Baked fish, cheesy potatoes and cole slaw. Mmm. Good food and not having to cook it = happines.

Did I mention I wasn't feeling well this day? No? Oh, well that explains how I managed to get him to cook and do the dishes in one night!

Then there was my Sweet P and her chalk. I was happy it was warm enough to be outside to a little bit and she was happy to have her chalk. The kid and sidewalk chalk = happiness.

I finally decided on this one. I love that big ol-gap-toothy-smile. It makes me happy. That girl makes me happy.

I hope your day is filled with happiness!!

Tulsa Flea Market Finds

2012-01-18T08:36:00.000-06:00

Remember that post I wrote for Tasha Does Tulsa? Well, I have some new finds to add to my collection of awesome flea market treasures.

Notice the little hand trying to steal my goodies?

The thing I'm most excited about from my last trip to the Tulsa Flea Market was this beauty.

My cat recently broke my old butter dish and I almost went out and bought another basic white one from Target but decided to hold off. I'm so glad I did! I have a few Pyrex pieces in this pattern, I think it's called Butterprint, and love that it's a butter dish to add to my little collection! And the best part, it was only $6!! That's even less than I was going to spend on a plain, boring white one!

And my other favorite find of the day was an old wooden soda-pop crate. By the way, do you say soda, pop or coke? I say them all. Random.

Anyway, I've been on the hunt for a crate to put Sweet P's kitchen toys in and the soda (pop, coke) crate was the perfect size to fit in my little microwave stand. Which, by the way, I haven't done anything to since I bought it. I couldn't decide if I wanted to paint it or not so right now it's the way I bought it. Back to the crate. I've seen a ton with the metal dividers but didn't want those because her toys were going in it. After months of searching, I found this little guy and he was a steal for $8. I think it's a steal anyway. I also liked the fact that it didn't have a brand painted on the box.

So here's what the little area looks like before and after the crate.

Do you think HGTV will be calling asking for decorating advice soon? Ha.

It's the small things folks. Seriously, I really am very pleased with my little finds and am proud to give them a loving home.

2012-01-17T08:39:00.000-06:00

Hi, my name is Lesley and I'm a pinaholic. It's been 1 day since my last pin.

Seriously, pinterest is a great place for inspiration and recipe ideas. I have 125 recipes pinned to my food board right now. When am I going to find the time to make all those? Sometimes it's hard to make a recipe because, although the picture looks great, the dish might not be so good.

I think it would be awesome if there was a recipe reviews part of pinterest. Something to where if you pinned something and made it and wanted to leave a comment, that everyone could see it. I think that would be helpful. I know you can leave comments on pins but I think only your followers or people that repinned your pin can see it.

Since no place like that exists (that I know of) I'll leave comments on the pins for recipes I make and leave reviews here.

I'm going to start with two recipes I made this weekend.

First up, Gooey Cake.

Source: pauladeen.com via Lesley on Pinterest

I pinned Paula Dean's Gooey Cake recipe a while back and finally made it Saturday. When I initially saw the recipe, it make me think of a dessert my husband and I devoured at a little Italian restaurant. When the waitress brought us our check she made sure to tell us that she'd never seen two people finish the entire thing. Yikes. It was so good though.

Although it has been years since we ate that Italian Butter Cake, Paula Dean's recipe seemed the same and was just as delicious. The Gooey cake was super easy to make and called for very few ingredients - thus, making this a go-to dessert any occasion.

The only thing I varied was adding some powdered sugar to the top after it cooled. I think it makes it look extra fancy!

The other recipe I tried, and have made 3 times in 2 days, was an Orange Julius recipe. Here's a link to the recipe from Sweet Treats and More.

It tastes just like an Orange Julius from the mall! That's a great thing in my book. If you have milk, water, sugar, vanilla, ice and orange juice concentrate, you are ready to make your own!

Source: sweettreatsmore.com via Lesley on Pinterest

I thought her recipe was great but a tad too orange-y for my taste so I tweaked the recipe to my liking.

1/2 cup water
1 Tablespoon sugar (I've also tried it with raw sugar and it's great that way too)
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 cup milk
1/4 frozen orange juice concentrate

First I blended the water, sugar and vanilla in my magic bullet and then I added the milk and blended a little more to get it good and frothy. Next I added the on concentrate and enough crushed ice to fill the cup and blended until the ice didn't make any noise. I divided it between two cups but seriously could have drank the whole thing myself.

Perfection. Even the husband agreed it tasted just like a real Orange Julius! I see myself trying this recipe with all kinds of different concentrates! I'll let you know how that goes.

So, long post but there you have it. Two pinterest recipes crossed off the list and reviewed.

Chicken Broccoli Cheese Soup

2012-01-13T16:14:00.000-06:00

I have posted this recipe before but didn't have pictures at the time. For the recipe, go here.

It's one of my favorite cold weather soups. MMM. Cheesy goodness.

Did I mention how easy, fast and delicious it is???

Have a great weekend!

All About My Sweet P

2012-01-12T15:51:00.000-06:00

As my due date approaches, less than 11 weeks to go, I'm trying to take in every moment with my little Sweet P that I can.

We shop, picnic, meet daddy to feed the ducks and just enjoy our time together.

She's a lot like her momma, in many ways.

She has been inherited my inability to sit still when music comes on, love of laughter and a serious love for donuts.

She's also a lot like her daddy.

She thrives in the cold, she has the most gorgeous eyes and isn't afraid to get a little dirty.

She loves to be outside and she recently got to walk our little dog for the first time. The kid oozes joy!

She oozes joy a lot and is getting big so fast. We tried piggie-tails for the first time, she insists on doing most things by herself, she can rock massive headbands, neon and sunglasses - at the same time, she loves to color and she's getting more and more independent every day.

All of a sudden, my little sweet P turned into a full-out child.

She's a riot to be around and although I will miss our time together just the 3 of us, I'm pretty excited to watch her continue to grow and become an awesome big sister.

We love you little Sweet P.

Human Trafficking Awareness Day

2012-01-11T07:50:00.000-06:00

Today is National Human Trafficking Awareness Day. This is an issue that breaks my heart and I want to do my part to abolish modern day slavery and the first step is awareness.

Here are some facts copied directly from StopChildTraffickingNow.com

Child/Human Trafficking is one of the fastest growing crimes in the world. Child/ human trafficking is the world’s second largest criminal enterprise, after drugs. U.S. State Department
The global market of child trafficking at over $12 billion a year with over 1.2 million child victims. UNICEF
300,000 children in the U.S. are at risk every year for commercial sexual exploitation. U.S. Department of Justice
600,000 – 800,000 people are bought and sold across international borders each year; 50% are children, most are female. The majority of these victims are forced into the commercial sex trade. U.S. Department of State, 2004, Trafficking in Persons Report, Washington, D.C.
An estimated 14,500 to 17,500 foreign nationals are trafficked into the United States each year. The number of U.S. citizens trafficked within the country is even higher, with an estimated 200,000 American children at risk for trafficking into the sex industry. U.S. Department of Justice Report to Congress from Attorney General John Ashcroft on U.S. Government Efforts to Combat Trafficking in Persons

Pretty jaw-dropping. You can get more statistics here.

I really want to encourage you to learn more about this issue today and increase your awareness. FreeTheSlaves.net has some really good educational resources. If anything, check out Slavery in the 21st Century.

"whoever you are
whatever you do
you have something to offer"
- not for sale website

Thanks for you time!

crazy joy, instagram and Love146

2012-01-09T09:02:00.000-06:00

How's that for a title!? I decided the topics all kind of relate so I'll just pull it all together in one post and get on with it.

First things first: the crazyjoy challenge. You may (or may not) have noticed the lack of posts regarding the crazyjoy challenge. Over Christmas break and then New Year's, Anna and I decided to take a little break from it. She was good and let her readers know about the break where I just didn't even mention it! Anyway, we both enjoyed the weekly challenge but also enjoyed the time off so with a lot of thought, we have decided to end the challenge.

I struggled with ending it because we committed ourselves to doing it for 52 weeks and had only made it about 30 so that would mean we failed. But to be honest, that's not a very good reason to keep doing something. Sure, it's not great to be a quitter but if you have the right reasons, I think it's just fine. I want to be more intentional about my time this year, including my blog and the challenge was just not a high priority. I don't feel bad about giving up on it but I have also replaced it with a new challenge.

Which brings me to the second topic: instagram. I love having a phone on my camera. I usually have my camera on me at all times and take random pictures of just about anything. I found instagram quite a while ago and love it. Although I have tried doing project365 twice before and failed, I'm giving it another attempt this year.

I think this time around will be more successful because I'm only using instagram photos for the challenge. That means I don't have to worry about uploading them to my computer, editing, or anything else. All I have to do is snap a picture with my phone each day (no problem there) and add it to instagram. I'm 8 days in and doing good.

Oh, and if you're on instagram, let me know, you can find me by searching recipeforcrazy.

Sorry, this post is super long, but I'm almost done.

If you haven't read any of this post yet, start now!

So, back to being intentional.

One of the more personal posts I've shared was this one on Love146. Just to remind you, Love146 is an organization with this mission:

"Abolition and Restoration! We combat child sex slavery & exploitation with the unexpected and restore survivors with excellence."

So, in an effort to raise awareness, did you know that the month of January is Human Trafficking Awareness month and January 11 is Human Trafficking Awareness Day?

You can click here to view a PDF with quick facts on child trafficking.

Want to learn more? Here are some great links:
HumanTrafficking.org
Love146
Love146 blog
Not For Sale
Oklahomans Against Trafficking of Humans
Stop Child Trafficking Now

Those are just a few but I hope you take some time this week to learn more about this issue.

Alright. That's all for today! Thanks for taking the time to read this today.

Oh, also, thank you for all the comments regarding the Star Wars poster! You guys made my day!

Ok, have a great week!

Blog address change

2012-01-06T16:32:00.000-06:00

Just a quick FYI, I changed my address today from http://lesleyraes.blogspot.com/ to http://www.recipeforcrazy.com/. Blogger said it would redirect traffic after the switch, which may take 3 days or so, but I don't know what that will do with bookmarks. If you currently subscribe to my blog with reader or bloglovin', you may need to subscribe to my new feed.

Sorry for the inconvenience.

Lesley

Hand Drawn Lego Star Wars Alphabet Poster

2012-01-06T15:20:00.000-06:00

One of the fun things about working in design is doing random projects for the fun of it. This is one of those projects.

If you know much about my nephews, you are well aware of their obsession with Star Wars. They know the movies, the characters, the games, the books and I think they own nearly every single Lego Star Wars set that's been made.

I thought it would be fun to make them an alphabet poster of the characters for Christmas. I took on the challenge of finding and drawing 26 different characters for the poster. You'd be surprised how many sources there are on the internet full of Star Wars info for such a project as this.

I started off with a basic google search for "alphabetical list of Star Wars characters." Then I wrote out a list to make sure I had a character for each letter. Once I had my list ready, I did an google image search for each name, made a contact sheet to use as a reference, then sketched out some dimensions so each would be proportionate.

Then it was time to sketch. Each little character was hand drawn with pencil then I inked the lines in with my Sharpie.

Once I had all the line art ready, I took a photo of each character (because I don't have a scanner) and then added the color to each in photoshop.

I should correct myself here, I only did 25 characters. I asked my sister to get a picture of the boys doing some sort of Star Wars light saber battle scene to use for the "F" for the FORCE. The photo was perfect!

Now that I had 26 graphics for each letter of the alphabet, I downloaded a Lego font and added the letter to each character. I also included the character's name inside the letter, just in case the boys needed it. Ha! Right.

So there's the finished poster - sorry about the large, ugly watermark!

I gave it to them for Christmas and was not surprised when they told me nearly every single name in a matter of seconds. The boys know their stuff.

Check out the Halloween costumes my sister made them last year - here. They're awesome!

I Really Did It This Time

2012-01-04T16:41:00.000-06:00

Remember how I told you I would have a post that makes this one obsolete? Here it is.

The perfect iced coffee recipe.

It's not so much a recipe as it is a recommendation for a product you HAVE to have to make the best iced coffee ever, well, that and some really good beans. And no, I was in no way paid for this recommendation but that would be nice Toddy people.

Anyway, when I originally posted about my trials with making an iced coffee, I really wanted something I could make in batches that I could just pull out of the refrigerator as needed. It may sound lazy but I didn't want to brew hot coffee and wait for it to cool in the refrigerator. I wanted it when I needed it.

So I tried some recipes I found online and wrote that post about it. Then a lovely friend (thanks, Krista!) left me a comment about how she uses a Toddy.

A what?

Yes, a Toddy. Don't worry, I had to google it too.

Several months went by and I found myself in a local coffee shop (with my mom) talking to a very helpful lady about the best coffee to brew for iced coffee concentrate. She directed me to the Toddy as well.

Hmm. I thought. There must really be something to this thing they call Toddy.

I jokingly made the comment to my mom to put it on my Christmas list (I mean hello, do you remember what happens when I make jokes about Christmas gifts - *ahem* alphabet cabinet *thanks dad*). We left the store and months went by.

Then Starbucks comes out with their iced coffee blend. Remember that? Anyway, the VIA was good and all but it was not so cheap. Sure, it's cheaper than forking over the $3 something for a small lattee, but not quite was I needed to be spending every day.

Jump forward to Christmas. My mom, with the best memory ever, surprised me with my very own Toddy!

I decided I would try my personal cold brew system with my favorite coffee, Topeca. To be completely honest, my favorite coffee is Blue Mountain, which comes from Jamaica, but $30 a pound is too rich for my family! Anyway, back to Topeca, if you haven't tried it, go get some, you won't be sorry.

Here's how the Toddy works: get your favorite whole coffee beans and grind them on the french press setting - they have to be coarse.

Then follow the directions which basically go, add water, add grounds, add water, add remaining grounds and finish with remaining water and let sit at least 12 hours. After it sits, pull out the plug and let your coffee concentrate drip through the filter into the glass and refrigerate up to two weeks.

That's it. When you are ready, make your favorite concoction.

Mine is 4 oz coffee concentrate, 6 oz. milk and vanilla syrup. I could really do whole milk and whipped cream on top but that's a little more calories than this 28 week pregnant lady needs!

The coffee is not acidic and my homemade drink tasted identical to the vanilla latte I get at a local coffee shop!

My search for the best coffee concentrate is officially over!!

So, if you're looking for a Toddy for yourself, or a caffeinated loved one, here's a few local spots that have them Mecca Coffee Co., Topeca and Williams Sonoma.

Or here's the actual Toddy website: ToddyCafe.com.

Reminders for 2012

2012-01-03T20:11:00.000-06:00

I know I just said I'm not big on New Year resolutions but I came across something the other day that made me think of them in a different light. If you follow me on pinterest, you saw Woodie Guthrie's resolutions from 1942.

There are so many simple, doable things on his that serve as great daily reminders of how to live. I used his resolutions as inspiration for my own daily reminders for my life in 2012.

Did you make any resolutions, goals or reminders for 2012?

What I Learned

2011-12-31T14:52:00.000-06:00

I'm not big on New Year's resolutions, mainly because I never can keep them. Last year I made a resolution to make our bed every morning. *gasp!* It's true, I have a terrible habit of not making the bed. I probably made it about a month before I failed. I have gotten better, though. I guess that's the point anyway, to continually improve.

So this isn't a "what I'm going to do in 2012" post, more of a mindset I want to have.

See, the other day Sweet P reminded me of something. We were doing a simple, mundane task, the laundry. Here's the thing, the very sound of the buzzer going off on our dryer makes me annoyed. There is never an end to laundry, it just keeps coming. I wash, dry, fold and put away and start the whole process over. It never ends. That's probably my biggest pet peeve.

Anyway, Sweet P was helping me put clothes in the washer and was having an absolute blast!

She wasn't thinking about the next load, or the load after that, she was just having fun throwing the clothes in (and taking them back out) and pushing the buttons.

She lives in the moment.

Sure, it's kind of the only way she knows to live but it's still a good lesson. A lesson I want to carry forward in 2012, to live in the moment and to enjoy it, no matter how simple or mundane it may seem.

So, I hope you have a very happy New Year's Eve and cheers to an awesome 2012!!

Advent Week 3 and 4 Recap

2011-12-30T09:37:00.000-06:00

This is a little late coming but here's the update of the remaining Advent calendar activities.

We always save the story of Christmas for Christmas day. So that wraps up our Advent calendar activities for 2011.

You can see week 1 here and week 2 here.

Christmas Vacation

2011-12-27T14:10:00.000-06:00

Howdy folks! I hope you all had a great Christmas! Here's a little recap of some of our Christmas vacation in photos.

I'm going to be taking a break from blogging for a little while but I'll be back.

Until then, have a great week!!

Merry Christmas

2011-12-25T21:05:00.000-06:00

It's a little late in the day for this post but here's a little Merry Christmas love from our family to yours.

Hope you had a blessed Christmas.

TDT

2011-12-22T15:01:00.000-06:00

Do you remember that sneak peek I gave you guys a while back?

Well, you're not going to find out what it was all about here. You'll have to go check out Tasha Does Tulsa to see what I was working on!

That's right folks, I'm guest posting at TDT today! I know, I can't believe it either but it's true.

Check it out here and come back and let me know what you think!

A Visit to See Santa

2011-12-22T08:39:00.000-06:00

I know I said I'd post week 3 of our Advent activities today but we're having a bit of a situation at the house so hopefully I'll get it up later.

Until then, Sweet P's visit to see Santa. This was her second visit to see the Bass Pro Shops Santa - we took her last year too.

She was excited as we stood in line. She even waved to the reindeer and Santa.

Then it came her turn to sit on his lap. Although there were no tears, she was obviously not too thrilled about the situation.

And here's her picture from last year's visit.

Tonight, we're baking Christmas cookies and decorating them. Wish us luck!

Ritzies - A Christmas Tradition

2011-12-21T07:45:00.001-06:00

Day 17 on our Advent calendar was to enjoy Ritzies so I decided to share this simple "recipe" with you in case you need a quick, tasty treat to snack on or give as gifts. Mom made these many times when I was growing up and I thought everyone had heard of them but apparently I was wrong, so here you go:

You only need three ingredients, 4 if you want to get festive:
Ritz crackers
chocolate almond bark
peanut butter
sprinkles are optional but very festive!

First, line a baking sheet with wax paper. It makes clean up a cinch. Then make little peanut butter sandwiches with your cracker, peanut butter, cracker.

Once they're all assembled, melt some almond bark. I used a little dish and put two cubes in at a time. A lot of people use a double broiler, but that's more mess and more dishes to clean so just microwave it. I do it for 30 second incriments, stirring between each until it's all melted.

While you're waiting for your chocolate to melt, grab a plastic fork. You are going to be amazed at this next tip so brace yourself.

Break the middle two tines off. Now you have your own fancy, chocolate dipper!

Back to the ritzies. Put a sandwich in the melted chocolate to coat one side.

Flip it over with your fancy dipping tool to coat the other side. Then scoop it up and tap a few times on the side of your dish to shake off some of that excess chocolate. It also makes the tops look all neat and tidy.

Lay it on your wax paper and repeat with the remaining sandwiches.

If you want to add sprinkles, just remember to sprinkle them before the chocolate sets. I made about 10 at a time, sprinkled, did 10 more, sprinkled and so on.

To make about 30 ritzies, I used 2 sleeves of ritz crackers, about 6 cubes almond bark and I have no clue how much peanut butter and it took about 30 minutes.

After you dip all your sandwiches, put the baking sheet in the fridge for about 5 minutes to set the chocolate then they are ready to eat.

These make cute, easy treats to give as gifts too.

Advent Calendar Week 2 Recap

2011-12-20T09:21:00.000-06:00

Last week I posted days 1-7 our advent calendar activities. Here's week two.

go to Winterfest

I'll post week three on Thursday. Hope you're all having a great week before Christmas!

crazyjoy = sighting (revealed)

2011-12-19T08:23:00.000-06:00

Just so you know, there's only 6 days left before Christmas! Are you ready!? I am so looking forward to celebrating with my family this year!

I'll have an update on our Advent calendar this week, but for now, it's time to reveal the crazyjoy challenge word photos for SIGHTING.

One of the activities on our calendar was to take Sweet P to see the lights at Rhema. If you're not familiar with Rhema, it's a local church that puts on one of the biggest (if not biggest) Christmas light displays in Oklahoma. It's pretty spectacular.

We haven't made it out the last few years but made the trip this year. So my photo was sighting the seasonal lights at Rhema.

Check out Anna's later.

If you want to join in the challenge, just submit a link below to your blog post with your picture. You have until Thursday at noon - Oklahoma time. Anna will post our favorite submission on Friday.

Have a great week!

crazyjoy =

2011-12-16T08:30:00.000-06:00

Happy Friday!

The new crazyjoy challenge word is...

I've had some questions about how to join in the challenge so if you're interested, all you need to do is take a picture of your interpretation of the word (craft it, draw it, make it, find it, whatever you want), post about it on your blog and then submit your link on my post Monday. Anna and I will post our entry's Monday with the link tool but you have until Thursday afternoon to submit your link. Make sense? You can link up to the post on your blog if you want, not required though.

Anna and I alternate every week and announce our favorite entry each Friday so check both blogs in case one of us misses something.

Here's the rundown we post every week:

Think on the word, photograph it, draw it, make it, whatever you want to do to represent it
Come back Monday and I will post my and Anna's photo and you can link up through Thursday with your interpretation
Then check out Anna's blog on Friday where she will post our favorite entry and the new challenge word

And last week's favorite entry for dark goes to Andy!

Now go out and have a great weekend, see some sights and come back and share your pictures!

Winterfest 2011

2011-12-15T09:03:00.001-06:00

Or Embrace the Camera - Winterfest Edition (with Emily).

Or, How to Wear Out your Child

Any of those titles work for today's post.

The BOK Center, in downtown Tulsa, puts on Winterfest every year. I don't know how long they've been doing it but it's a pretty big hit. They have live music, an outdoor ice skating rink, food vendors and a gigantic Christmas tree. It's really pretty at night but it's also pretty fun during the day.

Last Saturday the weather was gorgeous so we took Sweet P down to check it out. So, this pregnant lady not going to ice skate, the husband has ice skated once and hated it and there was no way we were going to attempt getting a 16 month old to wear skates - if they even had her size!

So what do you do? Well, aside from people-watching and just being out and about?

You pose for some pictures and laugh when you come home to notice the wipe-out in the background...

You find the hill next to the stage with live music and have a dance party.

You get lots of kisses.

And you watch your husband and daughter run/slide up and down the giant hill until they're both about ready to collapse!

Oh, and don't forget about getting a family picture next to the gigantic Christmas tree!

You can find out more about it here.

Puppy Chow - A Christmas Snack Tradition

2011-12-14T08:16:00.000-06:00

In yesterday's post I told you about our Advent calendar tradition. Well, one of the food-related doors we opened had a card for puppy chow. Have you had puppy chow? I'm sure just about everyone has. Have you made it? If not, the purpose of this post is to show you how easy it is. I'm pretty sure the recipe is quite standard but I've given it below in the event you don't feel like googling it.

Here's what you need:
9 cups - Crispix cereal
1 cup - chocolate chips (I use milk chocolate, not semi sweet)
1/2 cup - peanut butter
1 1/2 cups - powdered sugar

Don't you just love my festive measuring cups!? I do. Mom got them for me for holiday baking - thanks Mom!

Anyway, get a big pot - one that has high walls so you don't make a huge mess when you stir the cereal around - and melt the chocolate chips. Then add the peanut butter and stir until combined. Next, pour in the cereal and gently fold/stir until all the cereal is coated.

Get a big plastic bag, like a gallon bag or I just use a clean plastic shopping sack, and pour the powdered sugar in it. Then dump all the cereal in the bag, twist the top and give it a good several shakes, spins and rolls. Open it up and grab a couple warm little treats and eat them up. They are great with a glass of milk.

That's it! Once it's cooled, store in an airtight container our separate into little baggies and give as gifts.

Advent Week 1 in Review

2011-12-13T09:18:00.000-06:00

We started an new Christmas tradition last year with Sweet P and decided to continue it this year. We have an Advent calendar house-like-thing that has little door to open each night.

So we decided to fill each door with a variety of activities to do, Bible verses to read, movies to watch, songs to sing and dance to and food to eat to open each night.

Here's the first seven days:

I'm curious, what traditions do you have or Christmas treats you always make?

crazyjoy = dark (revealed)

2011-12-12T13:29:00.000-06:00

Happy Monday! I hope you had a great weekend!!

Here's my photo for the crazyjoy challenge word, DARK:

That is Sweet P on the night-vision monitor, clearly awake and playing her music on her glow worm at 3:30 in the morning - when it's very dark out. She just sits and talks to herself for about an hour before she starts crying and this has been happening the last few nights.

One of us eventually goes in there, comforts her and then she falls right to sleep. I'm worried this is becoming a habit for her so I welcome advice on nipping it in the rear. Oh and yes, we've tried just letting her cry it out but she goes on for hours and the cries turn to screams!

Anyway, more than you care to know, but that's life.

Head over to Anna's blog to see her entry and to link up with the challenge.

crazyjoy =

2011-12-09T15:19:00.000-06:00

I didn't forget about the new word for this week. I've just been out running errands and finishing up that shopping list.

Here's the new challenge word:

Get out and get those creative juices flowing and check out Anna's blog Monday to link up.

Have a great weekend!

Copy Case

2011-12-08T08:29:00.000-06:00

I am not ashamed to admit that I totally stole an idea from my sister. I mean, really, who hasn't that girl is full of them.

Here's the thing...

I had a phone.
I dropped it.

A lot.

One day the case broke.

I dropped it.
The screen spider-webbed. Thankfully my screen protector kept the screen from falling out so it still worked.

Time went on.

I dropped it again. Screen broke more and lock button wouldn't work.

Sweet P got her little hands on my phone and put it in the sink as I was washing my hands. Phone stopped working for a day then came back to life.

Only, partially alive. Sound button stopped working and phone reception very poor.

Then the final straw hit - the home button stopped working. You can't do much with an iPhone if the home button is broke.

So...

And I needed to protect my little friend. So I used my sister's recent post about customizing her case for inspiration. Only, I didn't use vintage scraps and things, I used my Anthropologie recipe card bookmarks! They are the cutest by the way. I cut, pasted and laid out a design I liked, with the help from my girl.

Uploaded to getuncommon and...

So there you have it. My very own customized, kitchen-y inspired iphone case with an actual, working phone in it!

Thanks for the inspiration, Ash.

Scarfament Swap

2011-12-07T08:36:00.000-06:00

Have you ever participated in a blog swap? I mean, not an actual swapping of blogs, I don't know the proper term. It's when a blogger hosts a swap, people sign up, those participating get paired off or randomly assigned someone, then you send your person something and you get something in return. Kind of like that.

Well, I joined in on my first swap and it was put together by the fabulous Danielle over at Take Heart. She hosted a "Scarfament Swap" this past month. You were to spend no more than $20 on a scarf and ornament for another blogger and mail them their goods by Dec. 1st and you would get an ornament and scarf from someone else. Buy it, make it, whatever, just get it there by the 1st.

I was paired up with, Nicole, over at, The Story of a Girl. I was given her favorite colors: purple, brown, mustard, teal. And this is what I came up with:

Clearly I went with the color teal. I hope she likes a little red because I felt it made it Christmas-y. I made the ornament and found that scarf while I was out and about one day. I kind of wanted to keep it. I liked the little sparkle in it - I hope Nicole did. It didn't say anything about liking sparkle, but, it didn't say anything about not liking it either!

And, based on my super helpful comments on my favorite colors (pink, orange, teal, red, black, purple) this is what Nicole came up with for me!

I love them (sorry about the poor photo). The ornament is awesome and is already up on the tree and I can't wait to wear my new fun scarf!

Anyway, all that to say, thanks Danielle for hosting the swap and I had a blast.

The Stache Party

2011-12-06T07:26:00.000-06:00

So last week was my dad's birthday and my sister and I worked up a little party to celebrate his many years of life!

I originally saw this photo collage on pinterest and wanted to do it for dad. I didn't even know it came from MS at the time! Have I mentioned how much I love her?

Anyway, my mom pulled some photos together for me and I took pictures of each one with my phone, converted them all to black and white and added a border, then printed them for the backdrop at our swanky venue.

Looking back on dad's pictures, one thing that popped out was his mustache. He's had one my entire life so I thought I would be fun to incorporate the stache into the party decor. Thus, the theme was born.

My sister and I made treats for the party. Lots of mini cupcakes came out of my oven and a few didn't make it to the party - a girl has to taste-test. I used Bakerella's cookies and cream icing recipe (with butter, not shortening) and added some crushed Oreo's to a little of the chocolate batter (in a box) as well as the vanilla batter (also from a box). Folks, I may never make a standard cupcake again. Those things were delicious. The cookies even kept their crunch.

Anyway, my sister made a variety of fancy treats like peanut butter bites, rolo pretzels and sugar cookies. They were all so tasty. She also cut out mini mustaches and the number 60 so we could top the treats. I think the party table came out pretty cute if I do say so myself!

My sister probably got tons of cute party pics so while she was doing her thing, I chased her kids around trying to get them to pose with mustaches with me for a little photo booth fun.

Side note - do you have the pocketbooth app?

photo from itunes

No!? Go get it now. If you do, you know how much fun that thing is, especially at parties AND parties that have mustaches on sticks!

Anyway, here are just a few of the photo booth pics - there's a whole lot more.

Oh, and the swanky setting? We had it at none other than Jim's Coney Island. I've mentioned it on this blog before and some know it by "Never on Sunday's" but I basically grew up there. I've even ran into my Dad at Jim's a time or two. It was the perfect setting: laid back, the smell of chili dogs and Greek food and just classy enough to not get stares from the other patrons as we ran around covered in fake mustaches!

I hope dad had as much fun at the party than we did planning it!

crazyjoy = twinkle (revealed)

2011-12-05T08:27:00.000-06:00

I hope you had a great weekend and enjoyed yesterday's video! Am I the only one that hates hearing your own voice recorded?

Anyway, it's time to show off your photos for this week's crazyjoy challenge word TWINKLE!

Here's mine:

That's one of my favorite ornaments on our tree. I think it was one of the first ornaments the husband and I got together when we got married. I love how it sparkles with all the twinkly lights around it!

And check out Anna's:

Did you accept the dare and join us this week? Link your blog post up below and show off your photo. Anna will announce our favorite this Friday on her blog!

Have a great week!

In Case You Missed It

2011-12-04T17:33:00.000-06:00

OSU beat OU.

Way to go Cowboys!

We had a little good luck charm during the first part of the game, but after she went to bed, we kept her enthusiasm alive by repeatedly playing this:

Happy Birthday Dad!!

2011-12-03T07:15:00.000-06:00

It's my dad's Birthday today so let's all wish him a very special, happy Birthday!

We celebrated his big day this past week and here's a little sneak peek at the party details.

I'll post more on the party next week but for now, Happy Birthday to the world's best dad.

I love you.

CrazyJoy =

2011-12-02T09:31:00.000-06:00

Raise your hand if you find it hard to believe it's December 2nd.

*raises hand*

Seriously folks, this year has flown by. We are only 22 days away from Christmas and then it will be New Year's eve and we'll welcome in 2012. That's just nuts. I love this time of year even though it gets to be a bit colder than I prefer. But I'll take it along with the hot cocoa, twinkly lights, Christmas carols, fires in the fire place, and holiday cheer!

In celebration of the festive time of year, this week's crazyjoy challenge word is...

I dare you to join in the challenge this week! Here's what you need to know:

Think on the word, photograph it, draw it, make it, whatever you want to do to represent it
Come back Monday and I will post my and Anna's photo and you can link up through Thursday with your interpretation
Then check out Anna's blog on Friday where she will post our favorite entry and the new challenge word

Go on, get out and enjoy the last remaining days of this year and get some twinkly pictures!

Here's our favorite entry from last week. Thanks, Jessie!

Happy Friday!

Oh, and in case you're not from Oklahoma or live in a cave and aren't aware that tomorrow is Bedlam, you've been warned. I'll either be an insanely happy lady tomorrow night when my OK State Cowboys beat those land-thieving Sooners - or - I will crawl into a hole and weep over our loss. I'm kidding, I won't cry but I'll probably sulk.

Oh How We Love Fall

2011-12-01T00:41:00.000-06:00

Happy Thursday!

Homemade Croutons

2011-11-29T08:41:00.000-06:00

I love Thanksgiving dinner with all the sides and leftovers but there comes a time when I just can't eat another bite of turkey or stuffing. I begin to crave other things like cheese, beef or even a salad! I could also title this post, "How to make something healthy like a salad, unhealthy", but we'll stick with what I have. That said, I love homemade croutons. They are fresh, flavorful and the perfect crunch on a salad (or by themselves). They take a little more time than opening a box, but once you try them, it's worth it.

I'm about to shock you now, the recipe I use is from my pal, Martha. She shows it with her Caesar salad dressing recipe which happens to be my all-time favorite dressing recipe. It reminds me of the Caesar salad at Tulsa's Celebrity Club. Yes, it's that good.

Anyway, back to the recipe. This is easy stuff folks.

A loaf of French bread, or Italian or some other big ol hunk of bread. Martha suggests cutting off the crust by I actually prefer leaving it on (plus it's takes less time).

Cube the bread.

Drizzle the bread with oil and butter and sprinkle the seasonings all over and toss to coat.

Bake for about 6 minutes at 425 degrees, stir around so all edges get a little crispy, put back in the oven and cook another 5 minutes or so until browned.

Let cool (or don't and just grab handfuls to enjoy while warm because you won't be able to help yourself when you smell them) then top your salad.

These croutons are amazing with the Caesar salad dressing. I don't have pics of that but you'll just have to take my word for it.

CrazyJoy = Buy (revealed)

2011-11-28T13:05:00.000-06:00

Happy Monday!

I'm sure there was a lot of buying going on over the last few days with Black Friday and now Cyber Monday. I got a couple of really good deals over the weekend but one of my favorite buys came in the mail today. It's a bow I ordered from Lulu & ChaCha.

I found the Lulu & ChaCha through my sister's blog where they're sponsoring this month. They have some seriously cute headbands and bows.

Check out http://www.thejoycottage.com/ later to see her photo and to link up with the challenge.

CrazyJoy =

2011-11-25T21:45:00.000-06:00

I hope you all had a great Thanksgiving!

Sorry this is late. I've been in and out, enjoying a few Black Friday traditions, eating, decorating and even grabbed a quick nap. It's been a great couple of days!

Anna posted the new crazyjoy challenge word earlier today so I hoped you checked it out. If not, here you go.

I'll see you Monday where I'll post my photo for the challenge.

Until then, here are some new photos over the last few days...

The collages were made with the diptic app using instagram photos from my phone library. I guess I should mention that I'm a little obsessed with Instagram (free) and Diptic (only 99 cents).

Tomato Theif

2011-11-23T08:09:00.000-06:00

Up until last week, my grandpa still had red, homegrown tomatoes from his garden. He sent me home with a huge sack full of them and several sacks of green tomatoes to ripen indoors.

Sweet P (who LOVES tomatoes) found the bowl of ripe, red ones on the table and this is what I walked in on:

I grabbed my camera to get a picture so I could show her grandpa while the husband cleaned her up.

She's a goofy girl.

$6 Well Spent

2011-11-22T13:57:00.000-06:00

I'm not a big sweets-for-breakfast kind of gal. I prefer sausage gravy over homemade biscuits. However, I do enjoy a homemade pancake or waffle from time to time.

We make pancakes every now and then but have never been able to make waffles because we don't have a waffle iron...until now!

Let me first say that I know you can get waffle irons just about anywhere but I'm a little particular about my waffles. I don't like the Belgium waffles. I like the old, thin waffles with the little squares. It's what I was raised on and you wouldn't believe how difficult it is to find an iron that makes these now! I've been on the hunt for about a year.

This past weekend we hit up the flea market only to find there was no flea market that day. We decided to stop in a little flea-market-type-store on the way home and found this beauty for $6!! I was a little skeptical about it actually working properly but figured what's the big loss if it doesn't?

After we cleaned that sucker up we were pleased to find out it works just fine.

I only makes two waffles at a time and takes about 9 minutes per 2 waffles but at least it cooks evenly!

Sweet P approved of our waffles too!

crazyjoy = edge (revealed)

2011-11-21T08:00:00.001-06:00

Well, if you live in Oklahoma or keep up with college football at all, you know there was quite the disaster for Oklahoma football this weekend. Both OSU and OU lost. The silver lining, TU won and there's still hope that OSU can still bring home a conference title!

The OSU game was a nail-biter. It came down to double overtime and while I thought about taking a picture of me and the husband on the edges of our seats, I decided not to give you a picture of our bums to start off your week. Your welcome.

Instead, here's my entry for the crazyjoy challenge word, EDGE:

Sweet P's kitty was hanging on the edge of her dollhouse. You never know what you'll find in that dollhouse!

Ok, I need my coffee and I'm sure you do. But first, check out Anna's photo:

And link up with us below.

CrazyJoy =

2011-11-18T09:18:00.001-06:00

Short and sweet:

If you want to join me and Anna in our little crazyjoy challenge, here's what you need to know:

Think on the word, photograph it, draw it, make it, whatever you want to do to represent it
Come back Monday and I will post my and Anna's photo and you can link up through Thursday with your interpretation
Then check out Anna's blog on Friday where she will post our favorite entry and the new challenge word

So here's our favorite from last week:

Thanks, Jen. He's too cute taking care of business!

Happy Friday and have a great weekend!

A Martha Stewart Thanksgiving

2011-11-17T07:31:00.000-06:00

Can you believe Thanksgiving is in one week!? I am so excited. It's one of my favorite holidays, mainly because of the food!

It's no secret that I love Martha Stewart. I used to get Living but now I just subscribe to her Everyday Food magazine. I have found some of my all-time favorite recipes there so I decided to share some that I make or have made for Thanksgiving.

There are two dishes I get asked to make every year: deviled eggs and cranberry-grape compote. Both are from Martha.

I adapted her deviled egg recipe and here's my version.

And the cranberry-grape compote recipe, couldn't be easier!

As for sides, I love her sweet potato casserole. Sorry, I didn't have any decent photos of my version of her recipe so this is from her site.

Those are my favorites from MS. Do you have a go-to place you get recipes? What are your all-time favorite holiday recipes? I'm always looking for something new to try.

Animals with Sweet P

2011-11-16T08:23:00.000-06:00

Sweet P loves our fish tank which is a little sad because we're trying to sell it. Anyway, she wakes up and wants to see the fish. Before she goes to bed we have to put the fish to bed (turn off their light). It's kind of nice because she can watch them for minutes!

While she was watching the fish I started quizzing her on her animals. I had my camera out so I snapped a few of her action shots. I need to upload a video because the pictures don't do the animals justice.

You can't tell it from the picture, but she's gobbling.

I have been told by many people that she knows the strangest animals. She also knows cat, dog and fish, you know, the basics but those aren't as funny.

Blog redesign

2011-11-15T07:05:00.000-06:00

Yesterday I shared a photo of my blog redesign for the crazyjoy challenge. This has been my little labor of love.

Why the redesign? Well, I finally got around to redesigning my website and wanted them to have a similar look. For those that are new to this blog, I'm a graphic designer turned work-at-home-mom-freelance-designer. I love being able to be at home with my girlie and still have a creative outlet in the freelance world. Check out my website to find out more about what I've done, what I do and to see some of my recent work. I'd love to hear what you think.

One of the things I love about design is the concept stage. This is when a client comes to me with a name/idea of their business and need me to turn it into something visual. I sketch, sketch and sketch various ideas before narrowing them down and turning them into computer generated graphics. I love the hands on part of this step and wanted to communicate that throughout my website.

I drew every single graphic, logo, poster and photo for thumbnails. Like I said folks, this was my labor of love. I really love how the rollovers turned out on the site. Once I had it all up and running, I scrolled around for several minutes just watching the sketches switch to graphics.

Once I finished my website, it was time to redesign my blog. I really liked the feel of the old design: soft, girly and clean. And not that I'm not any of those things (those of you that know me giggle here), I just wanted a change and I wanted it to have the same feel as my website.

Here's a quick rundown of the changes, starting from the top.

New hand-drawn header and menu bar.

I sketched out the frames, title and added some color photos to give it a little warmth and color.
I also wrote out the menu and ~~scanned in~~ took pictures of each word and uploaded them for a completely custom menu bar.
I also changed the background to a grid pattern I created in photoshop that matches my website.

New hand-drawn sidebar graphics.

I sketched out several different frames and used those for all the sidebar links
I updated my website link to include the logo
I sketched out each of the social network logos for pinterest, flickr and twitter
New buttons for crazyjoy challenge and button for my blog
I also moved the search bar down so it's not at the top

That about sums up the changes. Now that I have all that set up I'll probably work on adding some rollover effects to match my website. What do you think?

crazyjoy = business (revealed)

2011-11-14T07:47:00.001-06:00

Here's my photo for the crazyjoy photo challenge for BUSINESS:

As a freelance designer, I get to run my business from my home. This is my work space. Coffee, notepad, computer and one of the projects I've been working on is on the screen.

If you're viewing this on a feed, you haven't seen the new blog design so this is new to you. I'll post more about it tomorrow but now my blog looks more similar to my website!

Here's Anna's photo:

I love the colors she uses for her quilts! They're always so perfect, boy or girl. Go to her post today to link up with the challenge!

Have a great week!!

crazyjoy =

2011-11-11T13:31:00.000-06:00

First off, thank you to all the men and women that serve our country to protect our freedoms. You are all honored, especially today, on Veteran's Day.

Secondly, here's the crazyjoy challenge word:

Check out Anna's post to find out how to participate in the challenge and to see our favorite entry from last week's word.

And just because she has been keeping me on my toes lately and the fact that I think she's the cutest thing, my Sweet P.

Someone learned how to climb onto the table.

Happy Friday!

Natural Snack

2011-11-08T07:57:00.000-06:00

Here's a quick, all natural little snack we've been munching on around our house that I thought you might enjoy. They're no-bake, all natural energy balls/bites.

I first saw them on Krista's blog where she talked about how delicious they were. I pinned her pin to my pinterest board and finally made them myself, you can find the original recipe at Food Doodles.

I stayed close to the recipe but a few slight changes.

Ingredients
1/2 cup all-natural peanut butter
1/3 cup honey
1 cup finely shredded coconut
1 cup old fashioned oats
1/2 cup ground walnuts
1/4 cup chopped, dried mixed fruit (cranberry, blueberry, strawberry)
about a teaspoon sea salt

You mix the peanut butter and honey together, then mix in the rest of your ingredients.

Refrigerate for at least 30 min. and roll into little bite-sized balls - I got 30 out of them. I stuck them on some wax paper in a tupperware dish in the fridge and they lasted about 5 days.

I'll be making a new batch tomorrow and trying the frozen version, Heidi, mentioned.

crazyjoy = crack (revealed)

2011-11-07T08:25:00.000-06:00

I hope you had a fantastic weekend! Mine was full of excitement. OSU beat Kansas State in an absolute nail-biter of a game! Go Pokes!

Then, just as we were starting to calm down from the rush of the game, a record-breaking earthquake hit Oklahoma. It was the first earthquake I've ever felt and it also happened to be the strongest in recorded history for Tulsa! It was nuts!!

And since earthquakes cause structural damage, I thought it was fitting to include this photo for this week's crazyjoy challenge word: CRACK.

Don't worry, the quake didn't cause that, it was like that before.

Check back for Anna's photo in a little bit.

If you joined in or plan on participating, you have until noon on Thursday to link up with your blog post showing off your interpretation of crack. Link up below.

Have a great week!

crazyjoy =

2011-11-04T08:53:00.000-05:00

Whew. What a week! I am very ready for the weekend, who's with me?

Here's the new crazyjoy challenge word for the weekend:

I'll show my immaturity here but I giggled a bit when the random word generator popped up with that one. Anyway, here's what you need to know to join in the challenge with me and Anna:

Think on the word, photograph it, draw it, make it, whatever you want to do to represent it
Come back Monday and I will post my and Anna's photo and you can link up through Thursday with your interpretation
Then check out Anna's blog on Friday where she will post our favorite entry and the new challenge word

And here's our favorite from last week: LIGHT.

Love that shot! Thanks, Kimberly.

And I know I promised to post more on some of the projects I've been working on but, sheesh, this week has been nuts. I hope to post more on those next week.

Have a great weekend and I'll see ya Monday!

Embrace the Camera - Kitty

2011-11-03T08:36:00.000-05:00

Most Thursday's, Emily, does a little thing called Embrace the Camera. This is me with my little kitty on Halloween.

Happy Embracing!

Not a Baby Anymore

2011-11-02T13:37:00.000-05:00

We had a big day in our house yesterday - it was the day we took the pacifier away from Sweet P.

I'm pretty sure it was the hardest on me.

Sweet P has always been a good sleeper - even when she was a newborn. Great sleeper. When she started sucking her thumb I read over and over about breaking that habit and trying to get her on a pacifier. Why? They say a pacifier is easier to break than the thumb. I can see why. You can't really remove the thumb!

Anyway, in preparation of the new baby coming, we decided to break the pacifier habit.

Yesterday, she was so upset when I told her she was a big girl now and didn't need a pacifier. She was crying. I was crying. I mean really folks, she really, really likes that thing and it makes her so happy and sleep so well so did it have to go? I guess, even though I admit I contemplated going in there and giving her a new one on many occasions.

I didn't. Instead, I left her room and tried to escape the sounds of her cries. I just kept thinking about what I said moments ago. You're not a baby anymore.

Now, I haven't called her a baby since her first birthday but the realness that she isn't a baby anymore and here in about 5 months, a new baby will be here to take on that title hit me like a ton of bricks.

There's part of me that wants her to stay little just a little while longer. This 15 months with her has flown by and I can't imagine how fast time will move with another one. Blame it on the pregnancy hormones but this momma is E-MO-TION-AL. Don't get me wrong, I love watching her grow and it seems like every stage she hits is my favorite.

It's just hard to think that she won't be the only little thing getting my love and attention anymore. Which leads me to a whole slew of other thoughts running through my head:

What if I don't love our next child as much?
What if she feels slighted?
What if I treat Sweet P like my favorite and totally screw up the next kid?
What if I can't adjust to taking care of two little ones?
What if ...

Yes, folks, all that from a stupid pacifier. I told you I was a crazy pregnant lady.

Anyway, I know in my head that I'll love our next child so don't send me hate mail. It will be pretty awesome to see how a new one will change our lives but for now, I get to love on my big girl. By the way, she did great without her pacifier at night and only cried for 15 minutes today at nap time!

Victory!!

Woolaroc Oklahoma

2011-11-01T07:29:00.000-05:00

Yesterday I shared one of the pictures from our visit to Woolaroc, today, I'm posting more.

The place is gorgeous. If you've never been, you should check it out sometime. There are tons of animals walking around. Sometimes you have to stop your car so a buffalo can walk by, other times you have to stop your car to hear an elk bugle and watch it chase after a female! It's pretty awesome. I'll stop rambling and let you see for yourself.

I included the car in this one so you could get an idea of how close they really get.

That's just a few of the sights but there's a lot more to discover at Woolaroc.

CrazyJoy = Light (revealed)

2011-10-31T07:30:00.001-05:00

Happy Halloween! I hope you all have a safe and fun evening. I have a couple of photos to share with you today.

Up first, since it is Halloween today, here's our kitty. Complete with the licking tongue!

And now for mine and Anna's photos for the crazyjoy challenge word: LIGHT.

That was from a wedding we went to this weekend at Woolaroc and it was absolutely beautiful! The weather was perfect and the sights were gorgeous. The sun was setting as we were leaving and we got to see elk, bison and tons of little Japanese deer walking around! If you haven't been out to Woolaroc in a while, or ever, you should check it out. I'll post more pictures tomorrow.

And Anna's:

The was out and about at Quilt Market and I'm kind of jealous of all her facebook posts about the event.

If you joined in, link up with Anna today and come back Friday to see our favorite.

And here's another picture of my kitty just because I think she's so cute!

crazyjoy =

2011-10-28T08:03:00.001-05:00

Well hello friends. I've been busy finishing up projects and starting new ones so I've been absent from here the last couple of days. Also, I have found a little addiction while I'm working - mini Tootsie pops. I can crush through 6 without even thinking about it. I really regret buying the Halloween candy we're going to pass out 3 weeks early.

Anyway, I'll share a couple of the projects I've been working on next week. But for now, a peek.

And it's also time for the new crazyjoy challenge word!

Anna will be out today getting ready for Quilt Market but will be back sometime this weekend. Here's the new word for the weekend:

Check back with her over the weekend to see our favorite "us" entry from this week.

Happy Friday, enjoy your weekend and I'll see you on Monday!

Oktoberfest Feasting

2011-10-25T08:35:00.001-05:00

As I've mentioned, Oktoberfest was this past weekend here in T-town. The plan was to save money by going during the free-admission time and not eating anything while we were there because we had a German feast to come home to. Such was the plan anyway. We made it inside the gates with seconds, and I mean seconds, to spare. We didn't plan on the traffic and had to run for the gates. Sweet P and I made it through, then Eric and then the ticket-takers started moving out saying time was up and everyone needed a ticket. My mom held her phone up with the time showing there was still one minute to go as she pushed on through. They ended up letting her through - along with a drove of others!

It was a fun start to the event. We walked from tent to tent, hearing various sounds of music and cheering and smelling all kinds of tempting treats.

We hadn't been there 20 minutes before the beer (the husband's beverage), potato pancake and Ludgar's Bavarian cream cheese cake had been purchased.

With full bellies it was time to work a little of those calories off with a little chicken dancing. Sweet P once again wooed the crowds and had everyone around her clapping and smiling.

It was a good time. I think I need one of those German hats for me and Sweet P next year.

The rest of the weekend was filled with family, a lot of football watching and more German feasting. Last week I mentioned a few recipes I wanted to try and I made all but one. I also added one I didn't mention so here's the reviews...

First up, the Wiener Schnitzel and German potato salad.

I tried this chicken schnitzel recipe but used tenderized-boneless pork chops for the meat. The husband said it was the best schnitzel he's ever eaten and that it reminded him of the one he would order as a kid at Ursula's (Tulsa restaurant no longer in business). I thought it turned out pretty good.

Then there's the German potato salad recipe that I mentioned last week. Again, the husband loved it and said it was the best potato salad I've ever made. Personally, I prefer a cold, smashed potato salad but it went well with the dinner.

Next up is the recipe for apple strudel I also mentioned last week.

After I converted everything in her recipe, I decided to use puff pastry instead of phyllo dough. I like puff pastry, it's easy and I'll use the leftovers. Plus, I didn't feel like taking the time to do the whole buttering the 4-5 layers or phyllo. I'm lazy.

The puff pastry ended up working out really well and the strudel was amazing. Really folks, delicious. I used honeycrisp apples inside and topped the strudel with some icing to really take it over the edge in the healthy department.

And, last up, I tried this recipe for homemade pretzels.

They were a huge hit. I read a lot of the comments on the recipe and ended up going with 4 cups of flour and using my kitchenaid with the hook attachment to knead the dough. That thing made this recipe SO easy. The pretzels smelled amazing and were perfect right out of the oven.

The recipe calls for sugar but the husband didn't care for the sweetness of the dough. I didn't mind but will probably use less next time I make them. They were also really good ~~covered~~ sprinkled with cinnamon and sugar and coated with melted butter. Such a great treat.

After all the German food cooking and eating I have determined that the German folk aren't too concerned with calories and I'm happy Oktoberfest only rolls around once a year.

CrazyJoy = Us (revealed)

2011-10-24T08:15:00.000-05:00

Happy Monday! I hope you had a great weekend. We sure did. We celebrated Oktoberfest all weekend, my Cowboys won their game Saturday and we got to have a lot of family time. I'll post more on that stuff this week, but for now, photos for the crazyjoy challenge.

Here's my photo:

I know, I slacked. With all the cooking, game watching, eating and having fun, I forgot to get a picture of us. This one is me and the husband on our wedding day. I love the picture and it always makes me smile. I'm so happy to be a part of an "us".

Check out Anna's photo.

How cute are they!?

Did you join the challenge this week? If so, link up to your blog post with your photo below and we'll pick our favorite and announce it on Anna's blog Friday.

Have a great week!!

crazyjoy =

2011-10-21T07:25:00.000-05:00

Friday, Friday, so good to me. Isn't that how that song goes? No? Well it should.

Anyway, if you're here for the new crazyjoy challenge word, wait no longer, it's...

You have until next Thursday to go out and capture US the best way you can. Here's some more info if you want to join the challenge.

Think on the word, photograph it, draw it, make it, whatever you want to do to represent it
Come back Monday and I will post my and Anna's photo and you can link up through Thursday with your interpretation
Then check out Anna's blog on Friday where she will post our favorite entry and the new challenge word

And here's our favorite from last week: SWEET.

Thanks, Andy. Hope it was as good as it looked!

That's it for today. Have a great weekend!

Oktoberfest

2011-10-20T07:59:00.000-05:00

Did you know Oktoberfest is this weekend in Tulsa!? We'll probably make it out to the festival sometime Friday - when it's FREE to get in!

Why Oktoberfest? Well, other than the fact that it's another fun outdoor festival with food, music and entertainment, one side of the husband's family just happens to be of German ancestry so we always feel the need to celebrate his roots with brats, pretzels, a little chicken dancing, strudels and all things Oktoberfest.

Instead of spending a lot of money at the festival, we're going to be having a little German feast of our own at home over the weekend. I have done some research and found several recipes to try out and I'll let you know how they tasted next week. But, if you're looking to get in the spirit of Oktoberfest, here are some recipes from my pinterest boards:

Source: asweetspothome.com via Lesley on Pinterest

Source: allrecipes.com via Lesley on Pinterest

Source: peppercornsinmypocket.blogspot.com via Lesley on Pinterest

Prost!
(that's German for Cheers!)

Here's the website for more info on Tulsa's Oktoberfest: TulsaOktoberfest.org

More Park Pictures and Polenta

2011-10-18T08:16:00.000-05:00

Here are a few more pictures from our visit to the Conservation park in Claremore.

The deer were really that close. It was awesome.

Sweet P giving her daddy pebbles along the walk.

Not sure what she's pointing to here, but we looked.

And daddy teaching his girl the art of hunting and stalking deer.

Now on to a totally different subject, I made polenta (basically cornmeal) for the very first time. I had it at one of the Biga wine dinners a while back and decided to try to make my own. Now that I know how easy it is, I will trying many more recipes.

I found this recipe and altered it a little. I didn't have fresh parsley or parmesan cheese so I used some dried parsley and topped ours with a little feta and fresh green onion.

It turned out pretty good but you have to eat it right away or the polenta gets a little hard.

CrazyJoy = Sweet (revealed)

2011-10-17T07:54:00.000-05:00

Happy Monday! In case you missed it, OSU beat UT this weekend! That's means we're still undefeated!!

In other news, today is the day Anna and I share our photos for the crazyjoy challenge word. Anna announced on Friday that our new word is SWEET.

There were so many opportunities for this one over the weekend - I mean, pregnant lady and sweets, come on. But, in the end, I decided on this one:

The special, sweet moment of daddy holding his daughter's hand.

Saturday morning we headed over to Claremore to check out the wildlife conservation and enjoy the beautiful weather. We saw a ton of deer and walked all over the trails. Before Sweet P, the husband and I would go on these little outdoor adventures and talk, walk, enjoy a picnic lunch and just hang out together. We really enjoy each others company and being outside but it is crazy how much better these adventures are with a little one.

Watching her take everything in and be in awe of deer walking by us just makes me stop and really appreciate my life. When Sweet P is older, I'll probably still think back to these sweet moments we got to have with her and remember her daddy bending down to hold her little hand as they walk along sharing life.

Check out Anna's blog today to see her photo and to join in the challenge.

CrazyJoy =

2011-10-14T07:25:00.001-05:00

It's Friday!!! I'm SO ready for this weekend. OSU (my alma mater, for those new to this blog) is playing UT (blah). We will be cheering on our Cowboys!

Also up today is my sister's birthday!!!

Happy Birthday!

When I start thinking I'm getting old, I remind myself that she's the OLDER sister and then I feel young again. This is where I insert a fabulous picture of her in her total-famousness-awesomeness.

And, last up, this weekend we have a new word for the crazyjoy challenge. Check out Anna's blog to get the secret word. Not really secret, I just don't know it yet and will be out all morning so I don't know when I'll update it here. Oh, and thank you to each one of you guys that participated last week! We had fun looking at all those WISH photos.

Have a great weekend and see you Monday!

Seared Ahi Tuna Wraps

2011-10-12T08:15:00.000-05:00

I know it's been a while since I've posted anything food related - and the fair food yesterday doesn't count. And not that I haven't been cooking, it's just been the same ol' same ol'. So this week I went out on a limb and tried making some ahi tuna wraps.

My husband bought some tuna steaks at the store a bit ago when they were having a huge seafood sale - and, no, he doesn't usually do the shopping. It was late, we needed milk for the morning and he came back 45 minutes later with 3 bags of groceries. That's why he doesn't do the shopping.

Anyway, I finally decided to use them and came up with this recipe that we both liked, Ginger-Soy Glazed Ahi Tuna Wraps. I steamed some brown rice and sugar snap peas to go with it, but here's what you'll need for the wraps:

4 ahi tuna steaks
1 cup chicken broth
1/4 cup soy sauce
2 tablespoons brown sugar
2 tablespoons white wine
2 tablespoons minced ginger (I used my microplaner)
1 teaspoon minced garlic
2 tablespoons coconut milk (optional, I had some left over from my rice)
1 cup of finely shredded cabbage
1 knob green onion (or 3-4 green onions)
1 avocado - sliced very thin
1/4 cup mayo
1 teaspoon prepared wasabi
4 large tortillas or wraps

First, in a small saucepan, whisk broth, soy sauce, sugar, wine, ginger, garlic and coconut milk together and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer 5 minutes. Pour into a small bowl and refrigerate until cool.

Once the sauce is cool, place the tuna steaks in a gallon ziploc bag or dish and pour all but a few tablespoons of the sauce over to marinate. Marinate the steaks for at least 30 minutes.

While the tuna is marinating, make the wasabi mayo. It's really easy. Just mix the mayo and wasabi together. That's it. Use more or less wasabi to your liking. I also went ahead and sliced the avocados so they'd be ready.

Here's a little tip you probably know of, but it not, here you go. Cut the avocado in half and remove the seed. Then make cuts, without going through the skin, lengthwise to make your slices. Do that to the other half and squirt lemon juice on each and then put them back together. This will keep it from browning. Plus, when you're ready for the avocado slices, just run a large spoon between the avocado and skin and voila! Sliced avocado ready to go.

Then just sear your tuna. I used my panini press and it worked great. I probably broke some kind of tuna rule here on how I cooked mine, but hey, I'm pregnant so I had to cook these things a little longer than you should. After you remove it from the grill, cut it into thin slices. Now assemble your wraps.

I warmed my wraps on the press before cooking the tuna but it's not too important. Put a handful of cabbage down the center of your wrap, top it with a little sliced onion, then the tuna, add the avocado slices, season with a little salt and pepper and top it all off with wasabi mayo. Fold each side over and cut it in half and enjoy!

Happy Wednesday!

Birthday Weekend Celebration

2011-10-11T07:41:00.000-05:00

My birthday was last week and we celebrated all weekend. It was awesome, especially since the fair is always in town on my birthday weekend!

I took Sweet P to the fair on Thursday with my mom and grandma. We went early and since there weren't any crowds yet, she got to run wild.

Then I went back on Friday with the husband. When we got there MC Hammer was practicing with his dancers for the concert that evening. He was too legit to quit.

Then it was off to eat the fair food.

Corndog.

Followed by cheese curds and fried green tomatoes.

And then we shared a pineapple whip to wash it down but didn't get a pic of that.

Then we walked down the midway and headed for the petting zoo. It was a success.

Sweet P kept saying, "goa" (goat) and really wanted to get in the pin and play with them. She made pig faces at the pigs, mooed at the cows and pointed to everything. It was so fun to watch.

Then we had to get the annual fair pics and monster cookie before we left.

Last year's pic:

Last year's pic:

There was a surprise party that evening for me, but, since I didn't know it was coming, I didn't have my camera. :( It was tons of fun though.

Saturday we finished up the birthday fun by taking P to Philbrook's Fall Family Festival. It was free to get in so we had to take advantage of that!

We had to finish our coffees before going in and that's when we saw the squirrel.

Sweet P finally saw it and tried talking it down.

But, sadly, it ran away.

After walking through the museum, we headed out back to the gardens. I snapped a couple of pictures of P.

Then she found the band. They were playing up on the rocks but came down and surrounded her and started up again.

I was so surprised she didn't run away! Instead, she just stared up at them and then started walking around dancing and clapping her hands. Show-stopper, folks. SHOW. STOPPER.

And that takes care of our weekend. Too many pictures? Sorry. That's not even close to the amount I took!!

CrazyJoy = Wish (revealed)

2011-10-10T08:53:00.001-05:00

Hello Monday!

The fair was in town this past weekend and we got to introduce Sweet P to a Tulsa tradition. She went last year, but she was so tiny and I don't think she really remembered much.

Anyway, my photo submission for the crazyjoy challenge word for WISH is this:

She was really wishing she could climb in the fence and hug the goats.

And here's Anna's photo photo, poor G.

If you joined in the challenge, link up below.

Hope you had a great weekend!

CrazyJoy =

2011-10-07T07:46:00.000-05:00

Happy Friday!!

I'm going to make this short and sweet. The new crazyjoy challenge word is:

Here's what you need to know to join in with me and Anna:

Think on the word, photograph it, draw it, make it, whatever you want to do to represent it
Come back Monday and I will post my and Anna's photo and you can link up through Thursday with your interpretation
Then check out Anna's blog on Friday where she will post our favorite entry and the new challenge word

And here's our favorite from last week: ASSEMBLY.

I love the angle on this one and check out all those potatoes!! Thanks, Jamie!

That's it for today. Have an awesome weekend!

Overwhelmed

2011-10-06T08:38:00.000-05:00

Seriously guys. I'm so overwhelmed by your comments and birthday wishes on yesterday's post.

Thank you doesn't seem big enough to express how much it means to me that you guys watched that video. I know it was hard to see, trust me, I know. But thank you for taking time to not only read that post but mainly, to watch the video.

To be able to create awareness on such a horrifying subject is the best gift I could ask for on my birthday. So thank you again.

I haven't linked up with Emily's blog for Embrace the Camera in a while, so here's a quick iphone pic of me and my girl at the park yesterday. If you follow me on twitter, you get a double dose, sorry.

And, since I mentioned my iphone, I must also say how sad I am for the loss of Steve Jobs. What an incredible man. Here's a quote that I stole from a friend's facebook page, thanks Loren. Anyway, I thought it was very fitting.

“Remembering that I’ll be dead soon is the most important tool I’ve ever encountered to help me make the big choices in life. Because almost everything –all external expectations, all pride, all fear of embarrassment or failure –these things just fall away in the face of death, leaving only what is truly important. Remembering that you are going to die is the best way I know to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose. You are already naked. there is no reason not to follow your heart.” -Steve Jobs

Happy Thursday and really, thank you so much.

What's Love Got To Do with It?

2011-10-05T07:15:00.000-05:00

I have started, stopped and rewritten this post countless times and just don't know exactly how to begin. I'm not a great writer and I tend to ramble but I have something to share so bear with me.

I'm not really sure why people visit this space out in blogland but according to the stats, you people are out there so I know I'm not just writing this on a blank page that only my family and friends read, heck, some of my friends don't even know I have a blog. Anyway, I have gone back and forth on deleting this or keeping it, what to share here and what I shouldn't share and to be honest, why I even have this thing.

Here's the thing, our time is very limited on this Earth and now that I have a kid (and another on the way) I am looking at where I spend my time and why. I want my time to mean something. To do something.

I haven't really shared much about my faith or social issues here. I haven't really hidden it either, just not very outspoken about it. There's a long list of reasons that have kept me from speaking out, some of which include: fear of offending someone, getting too personal, automatically having a label on me, my life being put on a pedestal of sorts because people can think you're supposed to be perfect and then letting those people down because it's easy to see my many imperfections, fear of saying or doing something that reflects poorly on my faith and being judged accordingly, not having the answer to a question ... the list goes on and on.

One of the main things that has kept me from this is the fact that I'm not the best Christian. I have messed up. I've done wrong. I've sinned. I've turned my back on God for a season. I can't quote the Bible and don't have answers to a gazillion questions people have about Christianity. With all those faults, I'm obviously no "Super-Christian" so why bother putting it out there when others are much better at it than me? There are so many Christian women out there with inspiring blogs so I should just leave it to the pros right?

Well, it made sense to me. That is, until I started thinking about other areas of my life. I don't post photos of my family because I think I'm the best photographer and others can learn from me. I do it because I like the picture or the story it tells about this stage of our life. Same with cooking. I'm no chef and I make things that I don't even want to eat sometimes, but that doesn't keep me from posting food pictures or recipes. These are just parts of my life. So why do I have to be perfect to get a little personal and talk about my beliefs?

That's just silly.

I mean, hello, Jesus is a much bigger part of my life than cooking, weekend fun and all the other nonsense I talk about.

I feel like I should put all this out there to help make sense of what I'm about to share. You see, the last few months I have felt called to do something. To use my voice and bring awareness to an issue. I have wrestled with talking about it here for two reasons. One, it's not wrapped in a pretty package or will leave you with warm fuzzies when you open it like some causes out there. Two, I didn't want to educate myself on the issue because it hurts to my core.

The organization I'm talking about it Love146. It's a nonprofit with a goal to abolish child sex slavery. I'll go more into my journey with Love146 some other time, this post is long enough. But, I will say that I feel called to do something about it. I'm not entirely sure what that is at this time and am relying on God to show me how He wants to use me to fight this war.

So today, on my 30th birthday - whoa! old lady alert! - I want to use my voice and share this video with you. You may have seen this already, several bloggers I know went to Blog Sugar where they talked about this.

Ok, if you've made is this far, way to go! All I ask on my birthday is that you take a few minutes and watch this video.

Love146 History from LOVE146 on Vimeo.

Thank you for sticking with me today getting through my longest post ever of my thought ramblings.

Luchapalooza 2011

2011-10-04T08:23:00.000-05:00

I gave you a little peek into my weekend with yesterday's photo:

Here's a little more on that. Saturday night was Luchapalooza, an outdoor street festival featuring the Elote Luchadors. A Luchador is a masked, Mexican wrestler.

These guys are "Stars and Stripes."

The event was downtown and it was also a fundraiser for the Tulsa Area United Way so we had to stop by and say hello. The weather was absolutely perfect, plus, we ended up getting to watch the matches from the VIP area!

If you've never been to or seen a Luchador match, here's a little taste of what you can expect:

That about sums it up!

CrazyJoy = Assembly (revealed)

2011-10-03T08:19:00.000-05:00

Happy Monday!! This weekend was a blast, more on that tomorrow. But for today, I will leave you with my crazyjoy challenge word for assembly:

It's also a peek into my weekend!

Check out Anna's blog today to see her photo and to join the challenge.

Have a great week!

CrazyJoy =

2011-09-30T13:10:00.000-05:00

Happy Friday!

Here's the crazyjoy challenge word:

Check out Anna's blog today to get the details for the crazyjoy challenge and to see our favorite entry for FUEL.

I'll see you all on Monday. Have a great weekend!

Wordless Wednesday

2011-09-28T14:36:00.000-05:00

I've seen that title around and decided to copy the idea and post some photos. I guess I've already broken the rules by writing this but who really cares.

Here are some shots of Sweet P to prove that I don't just let her play in dirt, she also likes to take everything out of every bin she finds.

And the many faces of P.

And I also got a new 'do last week. A little darker for the fall and a bit shorter and I love it.

Thanks Loren!!

Happy Wednesday, folks.

Seriously the Best Homemade Salsa I've Had

2011-09-27T08:54:00.000-05:00

Yes, you read that right! I found a recipe for HOT, homemade salsa that tastes just as good, if not better than most, restaurant salsas.

Thank you pinterest for making my life a little happier and thank you Erin, from One Particular Kitchen, for sharing my new favorite recipe.

You guys know I like my salsa pretty hot, right. Well, after seeing this on pinterest and then reading all the reviews on how amazing it was and especially how hot is was, I pinned the recipe and finally tried my hand at it.

I halved the recipe because it said it made a ton and I was still very cautious to believe I had found the one. The halved recipe still made a lot.

Here's all you need (plus cilantro if you like):

Then you cut the tomatoes and onions in half, chop off the tops of the peppers and lay out on a pan and roast in the over until the onions are tender and the peppers are charred.

Next you put all that in a food processor with salt and cilantro. (I only have a mini food processor so I had to do it in like 8 batches.)

I also like my salsa a little chunky so I added some fresh diced onion and tomato to the roasted salsa.

Stir it up, eat and be happy you never have to buy another jar of bad salsa again!

I followed the recipe exactly (except I didn't use as much cilantro and added freshly ground pepper) and it was HOT! More than make your nose run, hot, almost too hot for me and the husband (almost). I think I'll leave out a few serranos and add a few jalapenos and try some other peppers in the mix and maybe even add a little lime juice for a different flavor. I'm so excited about this recipe and all the different things you can do with it!! Yay!

CrazyJoy = Fuel (revealed)

2011-09-26T11:56:00.002-05:00

After a weekend like this past one, I am ready for a new week! Here's my photo for the crazyjoy challenge word: FUEL.

Yes, that's an emergency room in the background - don't worry, we're all doing great. Since Sweet P has been born, we've visited the ER 2x, but not for her! The husband was having killer migraines all weekend so we wanted to make sure it wasn't anything more. Tests came back normal, kind of surprising his head is normal, I mean, the man noodles.

Anyway, dealing with a husband with migraines all weekend, a 14 month old that doesn't sit still unless she's sleeping and add growing a baby on top of it all, I needed some caffeine to fuel me.

Here's Anna's:

Seriously folks, have you noticed how much our brains are alike!? Yay for coffee.

If you joined us this week, link up your blog post with you photo below...

Hope you guys had a great weekend and here's to a great week!

CrazyJoy =

2011-09-23T08:08:00.000-05:00

Happy, happy Friday!!

It looks like it's going to be a beautiful day here in Tulsa so we're going to get out and enjoy it.

If you're here for the new crazyjoy challenge word, here it is:

Here's what you need to know to join in with me and Anna:

Think on the word, photograph it, draw it, make it, whatever you want to do to represent it
Come back Monday and I will post my and Anna's photo and you can link up through Thursday with your interpretation
Then check out Anna's blog on Friday where she will post our favorite entry and the new challenge word

And here's our favorite from last week: ATTACK.

How awesome is that action shot!? Thank, Alice, and everyone else that joined in this week.

Have a great weekend!

The Weekend

2011-09-20T12:59:00.000-05:00

I mentioned yesterday that our weekend was crazy and here's a little more on that.

I love how many outdoor festivals there are in this town, especially the ones centered around food! The Rock & Rib Festival was this past weekend and after going last year, we had to come back. It rained pretty much all day and finally let up in the afternoon so we hurried down to the festival and made our way down the street checking out each vendor before deciding on which ones to try.

Sweet P was pretty patient as we tried to decide.

Last year we tried Johnson's so knew we wanted to sample something else - even though they were SO good!

We finally made out decision and went with "Porky-N-Beans" ribs and "Big Boned" ribs and sides.

This year's winner went to Porky-N-Beans but I think Johnson's was better.

Sweet P slept through the festival last year but enjoyed gnawing on a bone this time around!

After stuffing ourselves with meaty goodness, we let P run/dance wildly in the open square.

Another successful festival in the books.

The next day I woke up to biscuits and gravy for breakfast and a delicious Rocket Brothers latte. Not to mention, the little one was already fed, changed and ready for the day!! My husband is pretty awesome.

Fed and full, we to the park and then I filled nap time with baking.

There was a little football game later in the evening that I needed to make snacks for because I can't watch sports without snacks. I made some orange and black (OSU colors) cupcakes and had enough to take to my grandpa's. Our family gets together pretty much every Saturday for dinner.

Check out the pictures my sister took of Sweet P in her game-gear on her post today!

Anyway, we were about to leave and I was in the front seat (holding an uncovered plate of cupcakes) waiting for the husband to get in the car after buckling in our daughter. That's when he decided to lob me the keys at my lap - without warning and then, the keys landed perfectly on the cupcakes.

So that was a fun time cleaning icing off car keys!

After dinner we had some friends over to eat snacks and watch a little football. The game we were excited about, OSU-TU, had a scheduled kickoff time for 9:10pm. Late? Yes, but when it's your alma mater, it's not too bad. It had been raining all evening and the lightening delayed kickoff.

We waited and ate more food. 10:30 rolled around and I was giving up hope of the game actually happening. At about 11:30, everyone else gave up hope and went on home. By midnight, the snacks were eaten but the game finally began. The husband tried to watch the game but it was way past my bedtime and I only lasted the first 20 minutes.

Sunday was a day of recovering and resting. It was good.

So that was our weekend, in a super long post. Hope you had a good one.

CrazyJoy = Attack (revealed)

2011-09-19T08:10:00.000-05:00

This past weekend was nuts and I'll save some of that for tomorrow.

So for today I will leave you with my photo for the crazyjoy challenge word: ATTACK.

We hit up the Rock and Rib festival over the weekend and Sweet P attacked the rib bone.

Link up with your photo at Anna's blog today.

Hope you had a great weekend!

CrazyJoy =

2011-09-16T12:09:00.000-05:00

Sorry for the delayed post on the new crazyjoy challenge word. I know, you have been waiting on the edge of your seat, barely able to go on with your day, but here it is...

If you want to join in the challenge, here's what you need to know:

Think on the word, photograph it, draw it, make it, whatever you want to do to represent ATTACK
Come back Monday and I will post my photo, visit Anna to see her photo and also link up through Thursday with your interpretation
Then come back Friday where I will post our favorite entry and the new challenge word

Don't forget to check Anna's post today for our favorite entry for ROCK.

Have a safe and fun weekend!

She Likes Dirt

2011-09-15T07:42:00.000-05:00

Sweet P is becoming an excellent gardener.

She is really good at rotating our soil.

She's not afraid to get a little dirt on her hands. And legs. And in her hair.

And she'll even taste it to make sure all levels are optimum for planting.

Hmm, I guess that dirt was not quite right.

But I do think someone should teach her to keep a little dirt in the bucket so we can actually plant something in it.

Eric...?

My Favorite Mushroom Risotto

2011-09-14T07:05:00.000-05:00

As I typed that I caught myself saying riz-auto in my head like I'm Chef Ramsey. Have you ever heard him say it? It's just like that.

Anyway, one of my favorite not so healthy indulgences is risotto. I've never had it at a restaurant so I have no comparison as to what it "should" taste like. But, I've made it countless times at home and love it.

Here's the recipe I use as a base - not surprisingly from Martha. I get the sliced baby portobellos from the store to help with the prep work because risotto is a dish of love and labor. It's not one that you can start and walk away from. I've never timed it, but I think it takes about 30 - 40 minutes of constant stirring.

Not a side I make if the husband has to work late.

It's also a great recipe to use any frozen, homemade chicken broth because it calls for like 5-6 cups of chicken broth.

Since the risotto needed serious attention, I baked some salmon and steamed some asparagus to have with it (it also balanced out the meal to be a little healthier). Although, I could eat of bowl of just mushroom risotto by itself.

Yes, it's that good.

And that's what we had the other night.

Here's my adapted version of her recipe:

5-6 cups homemade chicken broth
1/4 cup (1/2 stick) unsalted butter
1 large shallot, diced small
1/2 pound sliced baby portobello mushrooms
Coarse salt and ground pepper
1 cup Arborio rice
1/2 cup white cooking wine
2 handfuls grated Parmesan (probably about 1/2 cup)
3 tablespoons chopped mixed fresh herbs, such as parsley, marjoram, and chives

I'm really wanting to try this recipe next:

Source: thewellfednewlyweds.blogspot.com via Lesley on Pinterest

It's supposed to be a quick version that you can bake!

CrazyJoy = Rock (revealed)

2011-09-12T08:46:00.001-05:00

Time to reveal our photos for the crazyjoy challenge word: ROCK.

Here's mine:

That was my attempt to rock Sweet P. She had other things in mind like looking at her books. I miss being able to rock her to sleep but it's pretty fun to see her remember her favorite books and point to different things. Plus, I guess I'll have another one coming along soon to rock to sleep!

And Anna's:

If you joined in the challenge this week, link up below:

Hope you all have a great week!!

Oh, and make sure you check out my friend, Danielle's blog today for her adoption HUGE day of giveaways and help bring her baby home!

CrazyJoy =

2011-09-09T07:22:00.000-05:00

Finally Friday! Before you head off to enjoy your fabulous weekend plans, here's the new crazyjoy challenge word:

Here's what you need to know to join in with me and Anna:

Think on the word, photograph it, draw it, make it, whatever you want to do to represent it
Come back Monday and I will post my and Anna's photo and you can link up through Thursday with your interpretation
Then check out Anna's blog on Friday where she will post our favorite entry and the new challenge word

This week was tough to pick a favorite entry for YOUNG. There were cute, young ducks, gorgeous, young couples and amazing wedding dress but ultimately, the baby and the kitten won us over. Thanks, Jen! Go check out all the entries last week for some other great photos.

Thanks for all the fun photos you guys shared last week. Hope to see you all back next week to link up.

Until then, have a great weekend.

Proof I Still Cook

2011-09-08T07:20:00.000-05:00

Last weekend marked the beginning of college football season! Go Cowboys!
I love this time of year, especially because of the insane, record-breaking summer we just had.

The mornings are cool and crisp but the sun is out and warms the afternoon, perfect mix of cool and warm. I also like long sleeve shirts, jeans, weenie roasts by a campfire and the smell of fall. I also realize I am not in college anymore and shouldn't dress like I am, but I love hoodie sweatshirts and just can't let them go.

Anyway, another reason I love college football games is because we almost always eat fun game-day food. I went to Oklahoma State University in Stillwater and we started the tradition of eating great food on game days. If it was an away game, there would be meat smoked, chips and dips a-plenty and tasty treats. Home games could be enjoyed at Eskimo Joe's eating world-famous cheese fries or in parking lots on tailgates. Ahhh, I can smell the game-day flavors now!

Sorry about the sidetrack, back to last weekend and food!

Now, I didn't invent this recipe and there are probably a hundred different recipes out there on these but I'm going to go ahead and share how I make jalapeno poppers.

These are one of those perfect game-day treats: two bites, on a stick and make no mess.

Here's what you'll need:

12 jalapeno peppers
1 8oz tub of Philadelphia chive and onion cream cheese
2 slice of American cheese
12 slices of uncooked bacon

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Wash the jalapenos, slice them in half and remove all the seeds and ribs (those are the hot parts).

Then cut the American cheese into little strips and put one into a jalapeno slice, then spoon in some cream cheese and set aside and repeat with the remaining jalapenos.

Next, cut the bacon in half lenght-wise and wrap one half of a slice of bacon around the cheese-filled jalapeno. (Sorry, no pics here due to gross raw bacon germs.) Then stick a toothpick or small kabob stick through on end to the other to hold the bacon in place while it cooks. Repeat with the remaining jalapenos.

Put the assembled poppers on a wire rack and bake for 30-35 minutes or until the bacon is brown and starts to crisp. Let them cool a few minutes before digging in, otherwise you'll melt your tastebuds off.

These are also really good cooked on a grill but the husband was fishing so I had to use the oven which was also good.

I also bought enough jalapenos and bacon to try this recipe I saw on pinterest, but due to a small kitchen fire that ruined all the cooked bacon pieces, I only got to make a few.

The few I did get to try were dangerously good!

So there, proof I'm still around and still cooking.

CrazyJoy = Young (revealed)

2011-09-05T09:16:00.001-05:00

Happy Labor day! I hope you get to enjoy the day with those you love!

Here's my and Anna's photos for week 16 of the crazyjoy challenge, YOUNG.

Mine:

An old picture of me and my sister that I found at my grandpa's house over the weekend.

And Anna's:

How fun. The NSYNC folder cracks me up. Check out her blog for the letter she wrote to herself when she was 14! It's awesome. Oh, and link up with her if you joined in.

Otherwise, have an awesome Labor day!

CrazyJoy =

2011-09-02T16:21:00.000-05:00

Ooops, I forgot to post this earlier today. Hopefully you checked out Anna's page for the new word, if not, here it is:

Have a great, LONG weekend!

Embrace the Camera - My Girl

2011-09-01T07:33:00.001-05:00

Here's another picture my sister got the other day for me. It's one of my favorites of me and my girl.

I love her sweet little expression.

So, go Embrace the Camera.

That Explains It

2011-08-31T09:44:00.000-05:00

I'm assuming the post yesterday will answer a few questions as to my lack of presence here. A good friend called and asked if I was ok because I hadn't been posting so I decided I better clear it up here.

Yes, we are expecting another little one. Due date is set for April 1. Seriously, I'm not foolin' (get it, due date on April Fool's, yes I'm a nerd).

That means I'm close to 10 weeks along. It's a bit early than I wanted to share the news but the husband has been telling pretty much everyone - including strangers - so I caved and decided to share the news here too.

I haven't been feeling the greatest and I've been extremely tired. Like, I wake up and feel like I need a nap and have been falling asleep on the couch just after we put P down to bed (8pm). I don't really have a routine when it comes to writing this thing. Sometimes I write in the morning (when I was doing Insanity and up before the rest of the house - clearly I'm no longer doing that crazy workout) sometimes I write when P's down for her naps. She still takes two naps a day and I've been trying to nap when she does but I just can't fall asleep during the day. And, other times I write at night, but seeing how I'm falling asleep at 8 or 9 I just had the energy or desire to do it.

As you guys know, I really like food, however, I have been feeling nauseous all the time and just cooking food makes me want to puke. Too much for ya in the morning? Sorry, but seriously, the other night I was cooking ground turkey and almost had to stop and leave the house all together. The stench permeated the house and I didn't think the stink would ever go away. Needless to say, I didn't eat that meal and I certainly didn't have the stomach to stand near it to take a picture!

However, if I don't have to cook it, food isn't so bad. Bring on the donuts and ice cream.

All that to say there probably won't be many food posts for a bit. And since food is something I talk about a lot here, that probably means I won't be posting as often.

So, there you have it, I'm pregnant and preparing for a new little one. Ohhh, I am so excited about holding a teeny-tiny, sweet-baby-smelling little one.

Anyway, happy Wednesday and thank you for all the sweet comments yesterday!

Maybe a Tad Biased

2011-08-30T07:11:00.002-05:00

I know every parent out there thinks they have the cutest kid(s) and I'm no different. I'm pretty sure Sweet P is the cutest thing I've ever seen.

Here's the proof. My sister agreed to take her one year pictures for me and got some great shots of my girl.

That scrunched up face. Ohhh, I just have to kiss it.

That hair.

That personality.

That little attitude when she doesn't like something, like her hands being held.

That's my girl and that's my little family of four.

Four...

oh yeah...

Thanks again, Ashley, for the great pics! And be sure to check out her post today to enter her RadLab giveaway!

CrazyJoy = Labor (revealed)

2011-08-29T09:12:00.002-05:00

Happy Monday!

Here's the photos Anna and I came up with for Friday's crazyjoy challenge word: LABOR.

Mine:

Labor that is never finished.

Anna's:

Blah, I hate unloading the dishwasher.

If you joined in the challenge link your photo up below.

Hope you have a great week!

CrazyJoy =

2011-08-26T07:58:00.000-05:00

This week's crazyjoy challenge word is...

This could go so many ways and I'm excited to see the photos next week! Here's what to do...

Think on it, photograph it, draw it, make it, whatever you want to do to represent the word
Come back Monday and I will post my and Anna's photo and you can link up through Thursday with your interpretation
Then check out Anna's blog on Friday where she will post our favorite entry and the new challenge word

And our favorite entry for ORANGE:

Thanks, Jennifer!

Happy Friday and have a great weekend!!

It's Here!

2011-08-25T07:45:00.000-05:00

My sister first told me about it. I have since looked on every Starbucks shelf I've entered with no luck of seeing it.

But then it happened. I was checking out and there it was, staring me right in the face!

Yeah, that says Iced Coffee Blend. I didn't get the pound of coffee (yet) and bought the little packets of VIA to try first.

Man, oh, man. I made one yesterday morning and it was great. It was only lacking the extra whip I like to add but it did the trick. Now I need to go back to the store and use my coupon for the pounder bag!

Hello

2011-08-24T07:14:00.000-05:00

I figured it's been so long since I've had a "normal" post that I should reintroduce myself!

Hello! Remember me? I used to write about stuff like my Sweet P, my husband and his fishing, a whole lot of food and randomness. No? That's ok, I understand!

Things have been crazy around here. I've been doing a lot of design work and have had bouts of not feeling so great. Combine the two and it doesn't leave much time for posting stuff here.

So to get back in the swing of things, here are some pictures of my P.

Big smiles.

Not sure.

What? I'm not supposed to stand on the chair?

Oh, and here's a recent flea market purchase...

More to come on that project. But for now, Happy Wednesday friends.

CrazyJoy = Orange (revealed)

2011-08-22T07:32:00.000-05:00

Happy Monday!

I hope you had a great weekend!

Today Anna and I are revealing our photos for the crazyjoy challenge word: ORANGE.

Here's mine:

A bunch of orange stuff I had around the house.

Head over to Anna's blog to see her photo and to link up with your post if you participated in the challenge.

Later.

CrazyJoy =

2011-08-19T12:59:00.000-05:00

Hello, hello!

I know it's been a while since I've posted but I couldn't leave you hanging on the new crazyjoy challenge word.

The word for this week is...

Do your best to capture ORANGE and link up with your blog post with Anna on Monday.

I'll be back more next week and have a couple of fun posts planned! Until then, have a great weekend!!

recipe for crazy

January in Photos

Crispy Southwest Chicken Wraps (recipe reviewed)

Every Princess Needs a TuTu

My favorite socks

Letters

Homemade Pizzeria Pizzas

Instagram

Tulsa Flea Market Finds

Pinterest

Chicken Broccoli Cheese Soup

All About My Sweet P

Human Trafficking Awareness Day

crazy joy, instagram and Love146

Blog address change

Hand Drawn Lego Star Wars Alphabet Poster

I Really Did It This Time

Reminders for 2012

Top Posts in 2011

What I Learned

Advent Week 3 and 4 Recap

Christmas Vacation

Merry Christmas

TDT

A Visit to See Santa

Ritzies - A Christmas Tradition

Advent Calendar Week 2 Recap

crazyjoy = sighting (revealed)

crazyjoy =

Winterfest 2011

Puppy Chow - A Christmas Snack Tradition

Advent Week 1 in Review

crazyjoy = dark (revealed)

crazyjoy =

Copy Case

Scarfament Swap

The Stache Party

crazyjoy = twinkle (revealed)

In Case You Missed It

Happy Birthday Dad!!

CrazyJoy =

Oh How We Love Fall

Homemade Croutons

CrazyJoy = Buy (revealed)

CrazyJoy =

Tomato Theif

$6 Well Spent

crazyjoy = edge (revealed)

CrazyJoy =

A Martha Stewart Thanksgiving

Animals with Sweet P

Blog redesign

crazyjoy = business (revealed)

crazyjoy =

Natural Snack

crazyjoy = crack (revealed)

crazyjoy =

Embrace the Camera - Kitty

Not a Baby Anymore

Woolaroc Oklahoma

CrazyJoy = Light (revealed)

crazyjoy =

Oktoberfest Feasting

CrazyJoy = Us (revealed)

crazyjoy =

Oktoberfest

More Park Pictures and Polenta

CrazyJoy = Sweet (revealed)

CrazyJoy =

Seared Ahi Tuna Wraps

Birthday Weekend Celebration

CrazyJoy = Wish (revealed)

CrazyJoy =

Overwhelmed

What's Love Got To Do with It?

Luchapalooza 2011

CrazyJoy = Assembly (revealed)

CrazyJoy =

Wordless Wednesday

Seriously the Best Homemade Salsa I've Had