Wonder Woman!

The girls and I are completely obsessed with Wonder Woman!

I was searching Netflix for our next movie and came across the original series from 1975.

Remember the first episode where Steve Trevor parachutes out of his exploding plane and lands on Paradise Island?  That is where Wonder Woman lives with her mother the queen and all her sisters.  Paradise Island has only woman.  Since there are no men there, they said the island has been free from fighting and the women are strong.  Watching the first episode, it's obvious to me now, some of those woman are really men dressed up...

Watching it now, it's so corny, yet I can't stop watching!

Remember the invisible plane?

   When they show it from afar, you can tell  that it is a plastic plane with a barbie in it and you can see the strings. 

But what fun memories!  I remember most of the episodes.

However I had not remembered it was based in the 1940's and most of the time Wonder Woman and Steve Trevor were battling the Nazi's.

It is so cool how she stops bullets with her bracelets.  Her bracelets are made from feminum, which is only found on Paradise Island.  And her golden lasso makes people tell the truth.

Portia watches the DVD's everyday, over and over.  Sophie has started to put her princess cape on and run down the hallway saying woner woomn woner woomn!

Remember how she spun around and she would turn into Wonder Woman? 

The spinning gets better with each episode.  It started out slow and with each episode it got faster and faster.

Then she would do the head stopping with each turn and the flash of light would indicate she was now Wonder Woman.

I wish they would do a movie or a remake, but you know, it wouldn't be the same. 

It would probably be turned into something disgusting.  So I guess we will just enjoy the original's.

Did you gals watch Wonder Woman growing up?

Oops, how'd Food Friday get here so fast!!

Today I will share with you some of my favorite snacks.

Before we found out Sophie had peanut allergies, we all loved to have Peanut Butter Popcorn.

Pop a bag of popcorn, then put it in a big bowl.  In a small saucepan melt 4 T of butter and double the amount of peanut butter.
When butter and peanut butter is all smooth, pour over popcorn and stir with a big spoon.  Have a paper towel with you when you eat this.  Sometimes we would throw M & M's in there too.

Another favorite thing the girls and I like to eat is chocolate covered pretzels.  But I don't like to spend the money on the ones at the store.  So I buy a bag of pretzels and then I take a glass measuring cup and put about 2 cups chocolate chips in it and microwave it for a minute at a time, stirring after every minute.

When the chocolate chips are melted I take a pretzel and dip it in and scrape it at the top of the measuring cup.  I then put the pretzels on wax paper on a cookie sheet to cool, then I put the cookie sheet in the fridge to set the chocolate.
They are so good!  You can try this with potato chips too!

Do you guys have any favorite snacks like this?

New Lollibags for Creative Connection

You guys know by now I am not a photographer!

So....keep that in mind.

Remember the phrases for what's in style this fall?

Granny grunge

Urban ballet

Plain ole grunge

In the fashion magazines there are lots of plaid's, pink's, gray's and neutral's for fall.

 While I'm sure I have not cornered the market on granny grunge, I did my best.

I have 65 Lollibags made for Minneapolis, I know it sounds crazy but I'm wondering if that is enough?

I'm being positive here....should I make more?   Or get things done I've neglected all summer,

because I've been sewing!

We'll see.

Food Friday & Rach's Visit!

Today's recipe is from one of my husband's customers.  The nicest couple, they came to our house and cooked for us one time. It was the best meal ever!  One of my favorite things is salmon and this glaze is from them.  I will never forget how nice they were, they bought all the food and came and cooked it!

Salmon Glaze

Orange Juice

Brown Sugar

Butter

That's it!  I just winged it and threw some of each in a bowl, stirred it and poured it over the salmon in each frying pan.  The frying pan with the flat bottom and straight sides (left one in pic) turned out much better, the glaze ended up getting really thick and just fabulously yummy!!!  I also added some crushed garlic to the salmon.

Rach and I could not get over how good it was, it tasted gourmet!  We were just shoveling it in our mouths and we overstuffed ourselves.

Rach's Visit

 

We had so much fun, I am so sad she had to leave today. 

Here are a few pictures :)

We are headed to the coast this morning!  OH what a fun day that was!!  Rach was being goofy ~

We took way to many face shots of ourselves, way to many......

Those stairs are as steep as they look!  We were like two old ladies trying to get up them, I think she may have gotten her inhaler out at the top, did you Rach? or was that after the dunes climb?

Soooo funny, about 4 years ago, on our anniversary, hubby and I went to the coast and saw this Choco Milk sign.  It was $295, vintage, from Mexico.

I wanted it so bad.  Rach and I saw it still there.  It was now marked down to $150.  I told the guy, hopefully it will be at $50 next time I come to the coast in about 2 years!

I had the best bowl of clam chowder at the Chowder Bowl in Newport.

The beautiful Oregon Coast at the dunes in Florence.

There were alot of people out in the sun :)  What a wonderful day!  We ate fresh made caramel corn, homemade fudge, fish and chips, fruit smoothies... whatever we wanted!

And then we sat at the beach and just listened to the ocean and praised God for the beauty of it.

We dreamed about our "turning 40" trip to Hawaii, took tons of pictures and bottled the sand.

I love this picture of Rach and Portia and Sophie out by the barn.

Rach and I took my 3 oldest kids to dinner Tuesday night.

Josh 19

Lauren 14

Nic 16

We just had such a wonderful time.  The week went by so fast..

But I will get to see her again in about 4 weeks when I head to Minneapolis for

The Creative Connection Event!

So that makes it a little easier to say goodbye.

Love you Rach!

Before and After photos....finally!

Remember when I got my Ikea curtains?
And I said I was planning on painting my room?
And putting up the colorful boards as a headboard?

Well I got my room painted a while back, but I was not happy with it.

I painted it Bavarian Cream by Benjamin Moore.  And the paint guy said, with this high quality (most expensive)  paint,  you won't need a primer. 

And since my walls were chocolate brown I thought....great, I'm all in, mix it up!!!  He said it would for sure cover in 2 coats.

Well after 2 coats, I was done and it didn't look right , but I thought well I'll just let it dry and then take a peek. (meaning: This sucks, I hate painting, I am done, never going to pick up a brush again)

Well  it really didn't cover well....  but I left it.

But all these months I just could not live with it, it nagged at me, I was disgusted with the outcome.

And the color wasn't sitting well with me either.  So I went back to the store and got the next shade lighter.

Which is called...

Cotton Balls

LOVE that name!  I did the third coat in Cotton Balls.

And I love it!

Who couldn't love sleeping in a room covered in pure creamy soft cotton balls!

So a few more weeks went by, with the boards sitting in the hallway.

So finally today, hubby put them up for me.

I just love these boards.  They are from the Scandinavian Festival that is held in Junction City.   A town about 30 min. from my house. 

I bought them at an antique store.

I really don't like showing my bedroom, it seems so unmagazine worthy....

BUT... it is home sweet home.

The pictures are dark, I know.  I have the room darkening liners behind my Ikea curtains.

Okay so it looks way better in person and would look way better without the dressers in the room.

I was imagining what a stylist would do, if they were prepping my room for a photo shoot.

Probably EMPTY it.

So there you have it, before and after.

Today is Sophie's 3rd birthday. 

My sweet wonderful surprise, I couldn't be more in love with her!

AND..... tomorrow I pick up my best friend from the airport at 12:23 pm!!!!

YIPPPEEEEE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Food Friday

Today's recipe is again what my mom used to make.  I remember her making it when I was a teenager.

I made this for dinner last night and it did not get good reviews from the kids.

But I love it.

One mistake I made though was doubling the recipe, thinking the kids were going to eat it.

I should have just made the original recipe.  I think in doubling it, I added to much salt and lemon juice to the dressing.

So don't do that!

Chicken Salad

2C red grapes, sliced in half

1C cooked brown rice

Tyson chicken chunks (or any ready to eat, precooked chicken strips)

dressing:

1/2 C mayo

2T lemon juice

1/2 t salt

Sometimes my mom added almond slices or cashews.

I cannot do that with Sophie's allergies.

I did use the seal salt grinder you see in the picture and I think that may have been my problem.  I should have used table salt.

But I do love this salad, the tangy lemon in the dressing, with the salt and then the sweetness of the grapes.

It is so good!

My favorite supplement

I love Garden of Life products.  These are fish oils.

I get migraines one to two times a month, they are hormonal.

I have spent literally thousands and thousands of dollars trying

different doctors, procedures, medications, vitamins, biofeedback, therapy, etc....

trying to get rid of them or find the cause so I can prevent them.

I took this supplement, Oceans 3 Healthy Hormones  last year for a while and noticed my migraines didn't come as often or were as bad.  Then I was trying to save money and I cut them out of my routine.

But my migraines got worse.  The medication I take for migraines is relpax.

Well for 6 pills of relpax it USED to be $64.

Sometimes I would use 5 pills for one migraine episode.

I just refilled my relpax yesterday at a WHOPPING  $168 for 6 pills!!!!! That's after my lousy insurance.

Do you understand what that means???

Besides the obvious of making me very angry, it means if I have a bad month,

I could end up spending $336 in one month for my migraines!

So anyway... I am choosing to take high doses of my Oceans 3 healthy hormones instead.

On the bottle it says for advance use increase gradually to 3 softgels 3 times a day.

And at $29.99 a bottle that's 3 bottles a month, still far less than the relpax.

Not to mention, Oceans 3 fish oils, are good for you, lower cholesterol and much more.

And if this ends up being to expensive, I'll just get the good ole cod liver oil from Garden of life.

Online it is under $10 a bottle.  I don't know if it has the same effect as these pills, since these are formulated for hormones, but I would give it a try.

Not sure I would like the taste either, but I would like to save the money.

Well it is 12:30, that is the GOLDEN HOUR, time for Miss Sophie's nap!

Food Friday

Oops,

I forgot to have this post ready!!

All I had on my mind this morning was ordering Sophie's 3rd birthday cake!

This recipe is from my childhood.

My mom made it at every holiday and during the summer.

She always put it in the same white ceramic bowl with a lid.

When she died I got the frozen fruit salad bowl.

Frozen Salad

3 C crushed pineapple drained ( 2 cans)  (I use pineapple tidbits)

36 maraschino cherries drained and cut

1 1/2 C mini marshmallows

12 T powdered sugar

9oz. cream cheese softened

3/4 C mayo

1 C whipping cream (whip up) (I use one tub of cool whip)

3 t. vanilla

Cream together: cream cheese and mayo.

Then add powdered sugar and vanilla.  Mix.

Mix in drained fruit.

Fold in whipped cream.

Pour in dish or pan and freeze.

Thaw 5 hours in fridge before serving.

I adore this salad.  It has so many memories for me.  Sometimes the girls and I will just eat it right out of the freezer without thawing.

You know what else I ate when I was a teenager?  My mom's homemade pickles on Ritz crackers.

I just had some and it tasted exactly the same!

Do you need some good news?

Well your in luck!

Isaiah 61:1-3

The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord is on me,

because the Lord has anointed me to preach GOOD NEWS to the poor.

He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted,

 to proclaim FREEDOM for

the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners,

to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor

and the day of vengeance of our God,

to COMFORT all who mourn,

and provide for those who grieve in Zion-

to bestow on them a CROWN OF BEAUTY

instead of ashes, the oil of GLADNESS instead of mourning,

and a garment of PRAISE instead of a

spirit of despair.

They will be called OAKS OF RIGHTEOUSNESS,

a planting of the Lord for the

DISPLAY OF HIS SPLENDOR.

Sooo gals,

Deuteronomy 11:18-20

Fix these words of mine in your HEARTS and MINDS;

tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads.

TEACH them to your children, talking about them when you sit at home

and when you walk along the road,

when you lie down and when you get up.

Write them on the door frames of your houses and on your gates.

In other words....hang on to these precious words of God

and surround yourself with them DAILY!

Sunday

Hi

It's Sunday, and for breakfast I had a huge plate of guilt.

Guilt that I do not have my kids in a church somewhere.

I have no church at the moment, and I despise trying new ones every week.

I am going to scrape that guilt off my plate into the garbage.

After that, I am taking Sophie out to Borders to *HOPEFULLY*  find the

new Where Women Create magazine.

Supposed to be out today August 1!!

It seems to never be in stock at Borders!

This is something I look forward to 4 times a year.

Then we are headed to Joann Fabrics to look for fall fabrics for Lollibags.

I do try and use vintage ones, but am running low on those at the moment.

In the latest Elle magazine, which I won't renew, because of all the disgusting sex articles they continually run,

they have what's in for fall.

Here it is,

ready?

Granny grunge

Plain ole grunge

Urban Ballet

Gray, pink and neutrals

So I am going to see what I could possibly use for a

Granny Grunge Lollibag!

Any ideas?