New Year's Resolutions

New Year Resolutions for 2013

1.       Make a granny square blanket. I have a plan already in place to make this happen I hope that you will help me finish this goal with a follow along granny square blanket blog. That should help me stay motivated, and stay accountable.  

2.       Work on paying down our debt. With a little help from Dave Ramsey's books we should be able to do this.

3.       School I am going to take one eight week class at a time. Alright this is a cheater goal because I am already enrolled for most of my classes this year. I like to make sure I have one goal that I can for sure accomplish on my list.

4.       I am going to focus on exercise this year.  Sounds familiar? I really need to exercise more. So this year I will not be dieting. No fad diets, no pressure to make the scale bend to my will. I will work on running and yoga. By 2014 I will be able to run 2 miles in 24 minutes. That is a 12 minute mile.

5.       Lose a little weight to the tune of 12 pounds or so. Again I will not focus on the scale, I will eat healthy, I will drink less wine, drink more water, and exercise. I will not be doing a diet at all this year. 12 pounds is 1 pound a month so I will only weigh myself once a month. If by the end of 2013 there is no change in my weight but I can run a twelve minute mile for two miles than this is the weight that I am. No complaints. The goal is to be healthy and fit not skinny. I am happy with how I look at a size ten.

6.       Finish the projects I start. Right now I have about 10 unfinished projects. I want to finish them and more.

7.       Make the boys each a pair of Pajamas. Another little cheater one. I have the fabric, I have the pattern, and I have one halfway done.

8.       Sew two new dresses. This one I really hope I can make more than two new dresses this year but I want to be realistic too. I have fabric for both of the dresses I want to make. So it is all about make time.

9.       Get an updated Family photo. This one is important to me as we haven't had our family picture done in two years. So we need an updated one for our wall. New pictures of the boys.

10.   Get organized and get on a cleaning schedule. I need to do this badly. Maybe this should be the number one goal instead of number 10.

 

11. Write one page a day on my book. Yes, I am writing a book. I want to be able to say that I finished writing one. So if I write one page a day that is at least 365 pages by this time next year.

 

12. Be More productive. I want to accomplish more in my day. 

 

13. Finally Can more food for my family. I love homemade food and I want to do more canning this year. Everything from jellies, soups, beans, and pickles.

 

 These are my top ten Resolutions for 2013. Notice I included more things that I can and will complete this year. I hope that when 2014 comes around I can proudly report that I finished each of these things, or at least most of these goals. As long as I continue to move forward and learn and grow than I can be successful. I am hopeful and ready for the New Year. Welcome 2013!

I hope that your day is inspired, filled with love, and laughter. Be well my friends.

Goodbye 2012

2012 was a good year but when I looked at my goals for the year I cringe just a little.  Now I must face the music and asses how I did on my 2012 goals!

Here are my original goals for 2012:

 
I am going to focus on exercise this year. I want to be on the treadmill at least 30 minutes 5 days a week.

Um, fail here. I let my scale piss me off, dictate me, depress me, and worst of all it ruled me. Lame.

I would really like to lose that last 15 pounds.
The scale won this year I think I started the year at 168ish and when I reluctantly got on the scale today to update my goals the scale said 163ish. It was not the 15 pounds that I wanted but it was 5 down. So I am going to give myself an E for effort! Ha!

Start saving towards retirement. Remember our dream is to homestead or run a small family farm when Rob retires in 10 or so years.

This is a constant goal that never goes away. We did nothing new to save for our future goals but that doesn't mean we did nothing, it just means that we did nothing new. We got to farm sit in October and we realized that farming was really what we both wanted to do. So that is a giant step from maybe to definitely.  

No credit... Oops. No excuse. Epic Fail.

This year I want to give up eating out!

Dude. I got lazy. My husband does not like to cook but he likes to complain if I make something to many times or my dinner ideas does not sound appealing (I love you husband and we are both at fault here). Fail.

School I am going to take one eight week class at a time so that I do not get overwhelmed and can be a better mother and wife.

Ha Ha! Nailed it!

I would love to take a minute and explore a few things that I fell in love with in 2012:

Doctor Who

Canning

Dress making

Crochet

Milking a cow

Pigs

Reading glasses

Pinterest

I became Catholic this year with my family

Lucky for me a new is starts January 1 2013. It is time to put away the old goals and set new ones. I love a fresh start. A whole new year to discover a new hobby, a new class, there are endless opportunities, and chances to discover a whole new world. I am excited to greet the new year.  Have you thought of any New Years resolutions?  

I hope your day is filled with love and laughter. Be well my friends.

25 ways

Today I found a list of twenty-five ways to say Merry Christmas.

1. Alien: (transmitted directly into your mind)
2. Arabic: Milad Majid
3. Baby Talk: Merr Kissmus
4. Chinese: (Cantonese) Gun Tso Sun Tan'Gung Haw Sun
5. Chinese: (Mandarin) Kung His Hsin Nien bing Chu Shen Tan
6. Danish: Glædelig Jul
7. Dog: Arf Arf
8. Dutch: Vrolijk Kerstfeest en een Gelukkig Nieuwjaar! or Zalig Kerstfeast
9. English: Merry Christmas
10. French: Joyeux Noel
11. German: Fröhliche Weihnachten
12. Greek: Kala Christouyenna!
13. Hawaiian: Mele Kalikimaka
14. Hebrew: Mo'adim Lesimkha. Chena tova
15. Hindi: मेरी क्रिसमस
16. HTML:

Iraqi: Idah Saidan Wa Sanah Jadidah

Italian: Buone Feste Natalizie

Japanese: Shinnen omedeto. Kurisumasu Omedeto

Korean: Sung Tan Chuk Ha

Philippines: Maligayang Pasko!

Pig Latin: ErryMay IstmasChray

Russian: Pozdrevlyayu s prazdnikom Rozhdestva is Novim Godom

Spanish: Feliz Navidad

Vietnamese: Chuc Mung Giang Sinh

I hope that your day is filled with inspiration, love and laughter. Be well my friends.

On the first and second day of Christmas

Christmas is my favorite holiday. I am going to try and post something for the Christmas season everyday. I think this will help me to think of activities to do with the kids that they will carry with them.

On December 1 the kids made their Christmas ornaments. I used the salt dough recipe from Allrecipes- http://allrecipes.com/recipe/dough-ornament-recipe/.

Ingredients:

4 cups all-purpose flour 1 cup salt

1 1/2 cups warm water

Directions:

1.	Preheat oven to 325 degrees F (165 degrees C).
2.	Mix flour and salt well. Gradually add water, stirring with a large spoon. Finish mixing with hands. Knead until soft and pliable.
3.	Roll out on floured surface about 1/8 inch thick. Cut shapes with cookie cutters. Place on cookie sheets. With a toothpick make a hole in the top of the ornament for threading string. Bake at 325 degrees F (165 degrees C) until hard, about 1 hour. Decorate with paint and varnish to preserve I lowered the oven temperature to 300 degrees and only baked the ornaments for 1 hour then I just left them in the oven to cool. They turned out perfect. Then the kids painted them with acrylic paints from the hobby store. I did not get a good picture of them but here are a few on the tree. Then on December 2 we picked out our Christmas tree, brought it home, and finally decorated it. I opened a bottle of Pink Moscato champagne for my husband and I, a bottle of red grape sparkling cider for the kids, turned on Christmas music, and let the boys decorate. I love having a Christmas tree but I take a hands off approach to decorating it. The boys love looking at all of our old ornaments, hanging the new ones, and sneaking candy canes. I set up my Nativity set on the piano to remind of the true reason behind Christmas. When the boys finish the tree, they rush to turn off all of the lights in the house so that the tree is the only light we see. Their happiness fills my heart with pure joy. Merry Christmas, may your spirit be bright. The tree all dressed up. The tree all lit up. My favorite boys! I hope your day is filled with inspiration, love and laughter. Be well my friends.

Poetry Thursday

Rush
rushing
the time is here
the clock has chimed

I am waiting
to see your blue eyes
to feel your warmth
in a sweet embrace

Tick Tock

My heart is beating
my lungs are breathing
in my stomach butterflies
are singing

My love is not hiding
let me whisper
dark promises
worth repeating
in the moonlight

The clock keeps ticking
while I watch
out the window
for your return

My love is waiting


Waiting by Trisha Bartlett

Poetry Thursday

Standing among the clouds
soft whispering mist
swirling gracefully

A brisk autumn breeze
catches pieces of me

The wind becomes a hurricane
the pieces rush away

As the sun rises
the rosy colors blur
this secret world emerges

Below the clouds
the sharp uneven edges
cut into me
crimson seeps
circles surround me
the mist disappears silently
in the piercing sunlight

My pieces are distant
there are too many

lost

Broken from within

Here I finally see clearly
by the light of the day
the sun is hot unrelenting
burning my skin

I am spread too thin

Spread too Thin by Trisha Bartlett

6. A favourite thing:

Photo of the day challenge
6. A favourite thing:

Flowers

These two children

Today I decided to use more than one picture because I love flowers.

I hope you have a wonderful day filled with love and laughter. Be well my friends.

5. 5 o’clock:

Photo of the day Challenge
5. 5 o’clock:

I spent my afternoon canning cream of mushroom soup. I found a really wonderful recipe here http://www.grouprecipes.com/36004/condensed-cream-of-mushroom-soup-substitute.html

Here is the recipe. For me it is a staple. Trust me you will never go back to the canned goop from the store.

Condensed Cream Of Mushroom Soup Substitute

• Time 10 minutes
• Serves 4

Ingredients

---

• 1 tbsp. butter
• 3 tbsp. flour
• 1/2 cup any broth (I used a beef bouillon cube to make mine)
• 1/2 cup milk
• mushrooms, chopped and sauteed (how ever much you desire)
• salt and pepper to taste

How to make it

---

• Melt butter in a saucepan over Med-Low heat.
• Stir in flour a little at a time until smooth, then remove from heat.
• Add broth and milk a little at a time, stirring to keep mixture smooth. Then, stir in mushrooms.
• Return to heat and bring sauce to a gentle boil; stir constantly until sauce thickens.
• Add salt and pepper to taste.
• Notes: This sauce can be used as a substitute for CONDENSED Cream of Mushroom Soup. 
• Original recipe and other variations you can make can be found at http://www.recipezaar.com/278274

If you want to can cream of mushroom soup do not add the milk. I made a huge batch 16 tbsp of butter, 5 pounds or so of Mushrooms and so on. I put these in the pressure canner at 10 pounds of pressure for 45 minutes. It is important that you check with your instruction book because altitude does play an important part of canning.

Finally the picture of the day.

Look at all those lovely mushrooms in each one of those jars. This is a wonderful recipe whether you can it or just throw it in to a casserole. I hope you give it a try.

I hope you are having a wonderful day filled with love and laughter. Be well my friends.

4. TV

Photo of the day for the Month of November

4. TV

This is a picture of my Craftsy Class on making a Couture Dress. Well, I used it to make a summer dress. As you can see in the picture I am on the last stretch of the dress, Hems. The truth is, between you and me of course, I used a different pattern which caused me to only kind of follow directions. So you guessed it my dress is not Couture. Oh well, maybe next time. Wow my explanation is getting really long. I love Craftsy http://www.craftsy.com/classes. You can learn a new skill from professionals. I will post my finished dressed.

 

I hope your day is filled with love and laughter. Be well my friends.

3. Breakfast:

Photo of the day
3. Breakfast:

It's prune cake and coffee. Totally almost mostly healthy. There are prunes.

 

 

I hope your day is filled with love and laughter. Be well my friends.

2. Colour

Photo of the day
2. Colour

Chickens are so pretty.

I may have gone a little crazy chasing them.

I want chickens in every color.

 

When we start our own little homestead.

Maybe I can paint one of these silly birds.

 

I hope your day is filled with love and laughter. Be well my Friends.

1. Something beginning with ‘c’

Photo of the day
1. Something beginning with ‘c’

Officially I am in love with these two cows. Oh how I wish I could keep them in my back yard.

She loves to be pet right on that nose.

Of course she could just be begging for a treat. But I want to believe she likes me too.

 

I hope your day is filled with love and laughter. Be well my Friends.

Poetry Thursday

My Voice
my voice
echoes off the walls

I wonder if it has any weight at all

Is there sound
audible to all

My thoughts are loud
I hear the words
falling from my lips
all around me do not flinch

No replies
no movement

My Voice
my voice
louder I call

The reactions are there
anger is returned

No sweetness spared
punished am I
for my volume

This could have been avoided
had you answered
the first time


My Voice by Trisha Bartlett

Define me

I often get wrapped up in the number I see on my bathroom scale. I tend to define myself as a success or a failure depending on that one single number. Here is the truth I can not be defined by a single number. I want to be defined by how useful I am to others, by my ability love hard, by my college education, homeschooling my children, my ability to face my fears and move forward, my marriage (that's right friends. I have been married almost eleven years to a man I love more every single day I know him), I love to craft, I am learning to sew clothes, I am always happy to make something for a friend, I am a poet, I can cook, I am happy. I can not be defined by one single silly number. The scale is a tool that I can use to track my health goals.

My promise is to try and stop beating myself up over the scale. I want you to know that you are not defined by the scale. Your beauty is not a number. It is the way you treat the people around you. You are stronger than you can ever imagine, and braver than you know. You are wonderful all the time.

I hope your day is filled with love and laughter. Be well my friends.

Picture of the Day?

Hello Friends. How are you doing? Well I decided that I want to participate in the November picture of the day challenge from http://fatmumslim.com.au. A limited amount as I will be traveling for a week and I can not upload pictures from my phone on to my blog. I will do my best to do the best I can. Plus I really enjoy these pictures of the day projects. If you want to do your own I would love to see what you come with each day or once a week or whenever. Let's have some fun and join the party. Thank Fat Mum Slim!

1. Something beginning with ‘c’: Just pick anything {ANYTHING!} beginning with C and take a photo of it. It’s an easy one to start the month with.
2. Colour: Take a photo of a colour, or something colourful.
3. Breakfast: Yes. It’s time to take a photo of your breakfast. Get creative.
4. TV: Take a photo of your television, or where you watch TV. Or if you don’t have a TV – take a photo of whatever you do instead. Or someone else’s TV.
5. 5 o’clock: Take a photo of whatever you’re doing at 5am or 5pm.
6. A favourite thing: Take a photo of something you adore – a favourite book, movie, person, possession… anything.
7. Reflection: You could reflect back on life or take a photo of something reflecting, or even a reflection of yourself.
8. Something you do everyday: What’s something you do most days? Brush your teeth? Fix your hair? Write in your journal? Drive your car? Make dinner? Run? Share it.
9. Small: Take a photo of something small. Perhaps a bug, a toy or a small gesture.
10. Can’t {won’t} live without: What’s something you’d rather not live without? Is it coffee? Or something else. Shoot it and share it.
11. Night: Take a photo of something at night. Perhaps it’s your even routine, or something else?
12. Drink: Take a photo of a drink. Yours or someone else.
13. Where you slept: Take a photo of where you slept. Perhaps you took a nap somewhere odd. Or did you just sleep in your bed?
14. Man-made: There’s natural and then there’s man-made. Take a photo of something made by man.
15. In your bag: Take a photo of the inside of your bag. Or perhaps take out the contents and give us a full view of what you’re carrying around.
16. The view from your window: What do you see when you look out your window? Is it as uninspiring as a wall. Who cares? Show us.
17. The last thing you bought: Perhaps it was a car {dreaming!}, a loaf of bread, or a fancy pair of shoes. Share it!
18. Happened this weekend: Take a photo of something you did this weekend. Perhaps it was just sleeping, or was it partying? Just shoot a part of your weekend and share it.
19. Something awesome: Take a photo of something awesome in your life, or something rather awesome that you saw.
20. Work/play: You could use something like pic frame to share two photos – one of what ‘work’ looks like for you, and another of what ‘play’ looks like for you.
21. What you wore: Take a photo of something you wore. Easy.
22. Grateful: In parts of the world today it’s Thanksgiving Day. Take a photo of something you’re grateful for.
23. Black: Take a photo of something black.
24. A sound you heard: What’s something you heard today? Children laughing? Birds singing? An alarm? Music? Share it.
25. Sky: Take a photo of the sky.
26. In the cupboard: Take a photo of inside a cupboard. Be creative so it’s not as boring as it could be.
27. Tree: Take a photo of a tree. Again test out your creative bones. You could lie down on the ground and take a photo looking up. You could experiment with angles and filters. Have fun.
28. Vehicle: Take a photo of a car, bus, boat, plane or another type of vehicle.
29. Big: Take a photo of some BIG!
30. On the wall: What’s on the wall? Some art? A poster? A fly. Shoot it.

I hope you are having a wonderful day filled with love and laughter. Be well my friends.

Poetry Thursday

The stars are shining
the night blankets the surroundings
the silence is deafening

right

left

unrest

Out of body
floating above me
all the worries of the day
haunt me

Suddenly your hand
touches me gently
I become a delicate flower
finally peace finds me

At last sleep
becomes me


Unrest by Trisha Bartlett

Poetry Thursday

I have been writing poetry in my quiet moments. So I have decided to feature my Poetry on Thursdays. Some will be good, some will be bad, and some will just be. If I title the poems it will be at the end of the poem. Thank you for reading.


Fog is coming
creeping
over the grassy knolls
freezing the icy waters
Blinding all
who are seeking
the word is lost
in the grey
wolves are howling
all around
from everywhere
tearing the silence
ripping  shredding
all who hear
holding tightly
those who are dear
wishing hoping
crying praying
waiting
waiting
There is no peace in
the coming silence

Worry by Trisha Bartlett


I hope your day is filled with inspiration, love and laughter. Be well my friends.

What I have been up to lately.

Here is a picture that explains my day.

 

 

I hope your day is filled with possibilities.  Be well my friends.

Moonbeams and Butterflies

Moonbeams and Butterflies
Dreams unfolding taking flight
Life becoming
Silver linings
Storms rolling
grey skies unraveling
Thunder and Lightening
Calling Fighting

Scaring

Failing

Crack

Flash

Tears hiding
Love withstanding
Dreams still holding
Butterflies dancing in Moonbeams
Until Morning Light

Overcoming Fears by Trisha Bartlett

Cute

I saw this today and thought I would share it with you because you are amazing.

I hope you day is filled with love and laughter. Be well my friends.

School daze

Here are some new pictures from a school day at our house. 

 

James does school work on the floor or the table or anywhere I can get him to do school.

Damian is so good (most of the time) at following directions and being self driven. I am so proud of him.

I love his hands

James and I struggle with school the most.

He is four and wants to be busy.

He does not like an audience. He likes quiet one on one time when he is learning.

With a big brother who likes to be with other people while he works.

This is hard work for both of us.

Sometimes Damian and I will do our own school work together at the table.

 

 

I hope your day is filled with love and laughter. Be well my friends.

The radio is on

You know what I miss? The song of the day. So today is for music. I have the radio on, and a wooden spoon (for my microphone you can  use a brush if you like) ready. Today my friends I am feeling a little bit country. Let's start with a little red wine don't worry we won't run out tonight.

You and tequila make me crazy, One more is never enough (oh, yeah with a twang)

 

Hey girl, hey where are you going? Come back and sit back down. We could drink on it and sing a little louder!

 

Oh, this is my song. Okay not really but come on how can you not love Blake Shelton?

 

Hillbilly Bone. I think this video is hilarious. Watch it twice. I love that Blake is drinking straight out of the wine bottle.

 

This is when I tell you how much I love this song!

He's Mine. That one (I'll point at James or Damian) Got a wild-hair side and then some and it's no surprise what he's done.

 

 

Running through the backwood bare. Seriously we have not drank nearly enough yet.

 

I put put a spell on you because your mine. Oh dear I still get goosebumps when I hear that guitar solo in the middle of the song. The drums are so memerizing. I am swaying with my hands in the air. Oh yes I am singing and I point to you. I put spell on you

 

Someone told me long ago there's a calm before the storm. I know it's been coming for some time.

 

Okay I think I got lost on Youtube. I forgot how much I liked these songs!

 

I can be current. Oh, wait that's not country.I have no idea what the video has to do with the song. I still love it.  I'm at payphone trying to phone home.

 

Since I found Maroon 5 I had to post my husband favorite video from them. (Cause I love him!)

Oh yeah, So scared of breaking it you won't let it bend.

 

 

The truth is I have no idea what song to end on. . .

 

Oh wait. Somewhere over the rainbow. Sweet dream Friends!

 

I hope that your day is filled with love and laughter. Be well my friends.

Dress Making 101

I have been obsessed with the idea of making my own clothes. Over the last couple of weeks (I never do anything fast) I have been making a muslin dress. The first thing that I did was buy some patterns from Hobby Lobby when they were on sale for  99 cents. The next thing that I did was buy a class from crafts.Here is the link to the class I chose http://www.craftsy.com/class/The-Couture-Dress/53 This is a Couture Dress class that takes you through the steps of following a pattern from beginning to end. You do get a pattern with the class but I am using one I already bought fabric for. I am planning on making the Vogue pattern soon (in the next year) but the class is so wonderful and incredibly helpful.

This is the pattern that I am using for my dress. I have a little confession and I hope that my mishaps will help you to avoid the same blunder. If I go to the store and buy a dress off the rack I am a size 10-12 so I bought that size pattern. Well it was way too small. So I had to buy the next size up in the pattern. Now if you are great at math and can figure out how many inches you would need to add to everything, go for it. I am not good at exact measurements and or straight lines. Here is a tip measure your bust, waist, and hips so that you can check the size you need. The good news is unless you add a tag no one knows the size of your dress and your secret is safe with me. So I am about a 14-16 in this dress pattern.

If you noticed in the first picture this pattern will make six different dress styles. This is the one I am using. It seemed like the easiest in the one fabric, and I am not overly fond of spaghetti straps.

 

Here is my first draft of my muslin (the dress before the dress, which after it is all fit will be used for a pattern for all of the other dresses I make like this later) on my dress form called Pinny. I have to take in the middle piece so that it is not so baggy (how great is it that I can fix the bits I don't like). Also the reason it is fitting pinny poorly is because it is inside out. Silly mistake but easy to fix.

 

Here is the fabric I am using. I just love the colors and the big pink flowers.

The top right side out. The black lines is the pattern lines I sewed in. So much easier to match the pattern when you see the lines clearly! Totally worth the extra time and effort. Plus I thought Pinny looked skinny here.

Repining the middle so that it looks better.

A rainbow behind our house what a lovely break.

I will update you when I finish the muslin. Maybe I will even be in the muslin next time to show you how it looks on me. Wish me luck.

I hope you find something you love to do and conquer the project. May your days be filled with love and laughter. Be well my friends.

Bucket List

I randomly started thinking about the bucket list. So I decided to make my own including the things that I have already crossed off.

• Visit Paris France
• Order a coffee in perfect french at a cafe over looking the Eiffel tower
• Go to the top of the Eiffel Tower
• Live in another country
• Visit London England
• Travel the world
• Visit Hong Kong
• See the Great Wall
• Visit Egypt
• See the Pyramids
• Visit Italy
• See the Sistine Chapel
• Visit Greece
• Get a college education
• Fall in love
• Get Married
• Have children
• Write a book
• Get published
• Retire on a farm with my husband
• Visit New York, New York
• See a Broadway play
• Learn to sew
• Make my own clothes
• Learn to cook
• Buy a house
• Home School my children to college
• Learn how to milk a cow
• Raise chickens
• Grow all of our food
• Learn to spin wool
• Learn to make cheese
• Learn to make soap
• Learn how to knit a sweater
• Raise happy, healthy, well adjusted boys
• Be more out going
• Learn to dance
• Read all the great classics

So far this is what I have so far. I love to travel so it is mostly travel dreams. I think this is one list that evolves with time. I hope that I get to continue my adventure with my wonderful husband. If I am honest and I really try to be most of the crossed off items on my list is because he made them come true. I love him more today than I did when we got married almost eleven years ago. Do you have a bucket list? If so what is on yours?

I hope you are having a wonderful day filled with love and laughter. Be well my friends.

Home school adventures

Today everything was all quiet and what did I see?

Two little boys reading on the couch.

To be honest James has memorized this book and loves to read it.

So far he can recognize 15 letters on sight and the other 11 he either knows the sound once we tell him the letter, knows the letter but not the sound, or completely draws a blank. He gets a little better everyday. Because he wants to read so badly he is trying harder.

Damian trying to read the kid version of The Last of The Mohicans in 1 hour. He will probably make it and move on to The Red Badge of Honor and finish that one today as well. He wants to read his new Birthday books but he has a stack of books from the library he needs to finish first.

 

 

That is what home school looks like today in our house. In a little while there will be some crying and begging and general chaos but now it is beautiful.

I hope your day is filled with sunshine and rainbows, lots of love and laughter. Be well my friends.

New recipe.

I have a new recipe for you. I found it here http://www.sixsistersstuff.com/2011/04/chocolate-mint-brownies.html. Chocolate Thin Mint Brownies. They are Divine. If you like chocolate and mint these are for you. I love the http://www.sixsistersstuff.com/ they have all kinds of wonderful ideas and at least five times a week I see a new recipe for a meal, snack or dessert. If you need some new recipes to cook up for your family I recommend you take a look here. You can pin the recipes to pinterest. Well That is important so that you can find it again later or share it with all your pintrest followers.
.

 Here is the recipe:
Chocolate Thin Mint Brownies

Brownies:

1 1/2 cups melted butter

3/4 cup cocoa

3 cups sugar

6 eggs, beaten

1 1/2 tsp vanilla

3/4 tsp salt

2 1/4 cups sifted flour

Mint Frosting Layer:

3/4 cup butter, softened

3 Tablespoons milk

3 cups powdered sugar

1 1/2 tsp peppermint extract

Green food coloring (optional) As you can see I did not add food coloring but I think you can really branch out away from green and use your favorite color, or your child's favorite color. Have fun with it and enjoy.

Chocolate layer:

2 1/4 cups semi-sweet OR milk chocolate chips

3/4 cup butter

Directions:

Whisk together melted butter and cocoa. Add sugar, eggs, vanilla and salt. Mix well, then stir in flour by hand. Do not over mix. Spread in greased 12x17-inch cookie sheet and bake at 350 for 25-30 min. Cool and then put in the freezer for 20 minutes. For frosting, mix butter, milk, powdered sugar and extract. If you want to add color, add your food coloring (you could also use red food coloring). Frost brownies and then put in freezer for another 20 minutes. Melt chocolate chips and butter in a double boiler (or in the microwave) and spread on top of the frosting layer. Freeze another

For the record in no way these are good for you except on special occasions when calories do not count. Any other time cut them into squares and share with all of your really skinny friends, or co-workers. Okay, okay kind of funny, sort of mean. I am sorry share with everyone or hide them and eat one everyday for a month. Up to you. I hope you enjoy them as much as we do.

I hope your day is filled with Love and laughter. Be well my friends.

Picture of the day.

I watched this video of time lapse pictures and I had an idea. I would love to see how much my own children change everyday. So I am going to try and take a picture of them at least once a day and watch them grow. So here is their pictures from today.

Damian was more than happy to let me take his picture.

Looks like a Mug shot

James did not want his picture taken at all!

We had to wrestle one out. He is really upside down.

 

 

I hope you are having an amazing day filled with Love and laughter. Be well my friends.