Fabulous Feature Friday

A friend of mine back in Nashville has started her own little sewing business and she is turning out some of the cutest things!  I wanted to share her creations with you all.  You can find her here on Etsy, a site for all things handmade.  Her little shop is called "2 Sweet Things".  She does custom orders so if you see something you like she can customize it to make it a one and only just for you.  She's super talented and I wish I knew where she finds the time to create all these cute things while caring for two little ones at home.  I'm begging her to teach me.  Go shop!  


I usually make a little something for Mike to take to work with him around a holiday and last night I made cupcakes that were in the Halloween spirit.  I had planned to take a picture this morning and post them but I awoke to find that Mike had taken ALL of the cupcakes to work with him and left us none.  He's supposed to be bringing some back home with him.  So I hope to get a couple of pictures to share our Halloween creativity with all of you and to also get a bite!  Check back for an update.  TGIF!

Trick-or-Treat Thursday

A little about what's been going on with us and why I've been a little neglectful of my new blog.  We're going on a week now and still have sick kids.  I'm exhausted.  So I know my poor kids are.  Today we went to the doctor for the third time and hopefully the last for a while.  Keegan has been diagnosed with croup.  We've been down this road before so this is familiar territory.  I was just praying for it to be something other than pneumonia.  So praise God!  New meds = well kids.  At least we hope so.  I'm so looking forward to putting an end to my babies' misery.

For all of you carving pumpkins for Halloween this weekend, thought I'd share a little something to do with all those pumpkin seeds being scooped out.  This is a fairly easy and yummy recipe.  Very cute, too!  Happy Halloween!  ENJOY!

Sweet & Spicy Pepitas Popcorn Balls

Ingredients

• 3 (3.5-ounce) bags natural microwave popcorn
• 2 cups pepitas (hulled pumpkin seeds)
• 1 cup heavy cream
• 1 cup sugar
• 1/2 cup light corn syrup
• 2 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into pieces, plus more for forming
• 1/4 teaspoon fine salt
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper

Directions

Pop the popcorn according to package instructions. While hot, carefully open package and dump into a large bowl.

Toast the pumpkin seeds in a large skillet over medium-high heat, until browned and popping, tossing and stirring occasionally, about 4 minutes. (Do this in batches, if needed.) Add to the popcorn.

Make caramel: Warm the cream over low heat and keep warm while you cook the sugar. Put the sugar and corn syrup and in a deep, heavy-bottomed large saucepan. Cook over medium heat, stirring occasionally until the sugar dissolves. Stop stirring, raise heat to medium-high, and simmer until the sugar reaches the hard crack stage, or 305 degrees F on a candy thermometer, about 7 minutes.

Whisk the butter and salt into the sugar mixture. Gradually pour in the cream and vanilla taking care since the mixture will bubble up. Reduce the heat to medium and continue to cook, stirring occasionally, until the sugar reaches soft ball stage, 240 degrees F on the thermometer, about 5 minutes more. Immediately remove from the heat and stir in the cinnamon and cayenne. Cool for about a minute. Pour caramel over the popcorn and stir to evenly coat.

When the popcorn is cool enough to handle, coat your hands with some butter and shape into 4-inch balls. Wrap in waxed paper and tie with a string, if desired. Serve or store covered at room temperature for up to a week.

Sick Kids Trump Computer Time

I haven't posted in several days due to two sick kiddos here at our house.  Presley started running a fever, seemed to recover and now Keegan is running a fever.  Looks like he will recover also.  I have been so paranoid about this swine flu epidemic that I began to panic as soon as I took Presley's temperature the first day.  But I don't think that's what got the kids down.  I'm not sure what they've come into contact with, but it hit Keegan harder than Presley.  We have never gotten flu vaccinations but this year we are ALL getting vaccinated.  We're just anxiously awaiting a new shipment to our area.  I think most who know me know that I am not usually paranoid about germs.  We do exercise good hand washing and sanitizing but I don't freak out if one of the kids eats something off the floor.  My kids are generally pretty healthy kids.  But I have to admit that this flu has got me a little freaked out.  I've been careful to spray everything down with lysol, religiously use Clorox wipes, etc.  I guess you just can't be too careful because both kids came into contact with something.  What about you and your family?  Are you getting vaccinated?  Are you a little more than freaked out about all of this flu talk?

Because both of the kids haven't felt well this weekend, they've been napping pretty good and actually napped at the same time one afternoon.  So I was able to get another scrapbook page done for Keegan's scrapbook.  This is when we first bought Keegan's sandbox.  Keegan was about 15 or 16 months old, I think and we were living in Hendersonville at the time.  Again, I'm way behind.  Hoping to start another page today!

Picture Fun

My baby girl is now 10 months old and I realized that I hadn't yet taken her pictures marking this milestone for her scrapbook.  So we incorporated a little photo shoot with bath time.  I got great smiles from her and had a good time taking pictures, which is one of my favorite things to do.  So here are a few of my favorites.  If you want to see them all go to my kids' blog, The World of Noff (link on the right) and check them out.

It's No Secret....

that I am not tickled pink with our new President in office.  I did not vote for him because I don't think he's qualified to be President of the United States of America.  I'm not big into politics and think most politicians are crooked.  So I don't think for a second that John McCain was the answer the Americans' prayers, but I think he might have been the lesser of two evils.  At least he had been a member of the senate for years rather than a matter of days.  However, I do find it extremely exciting and encouraging that our country has moved in a direction that we can now vote an African American into the presidential office.  That being said, I think Obama is blowing it big time.  I'm just not impressed.  He made too many big promises that have to be approved by Congress first and will probably never get passed.

So have you seen the latest?  Obama and the First Lady attended a fund raising dinner costing $30,000 per couple and rubbed elbows with the big wigs on Wall Street that he just criticized days before for attempting to pay out millions in tax payers' money for bonuses.  All this in the middle of a recession.  However, kudos to President Obama for pushing the reform at the fund raising dinner.  You can read that article here.    Think this will save our tax money from being paid out for bonuses?

There's also a YouTube video about President Obama and a 4th Grade boy.  Have you seen this?  The boy asks, "Why do people hate you?".  I believe the President handles it very well.  But this got me thinking.  Kids are so much more perceptive than we give them credit and we really need to be careful about what we say around our children.  I know I'm guilty of saying things that will later come back to bite me.  My children don't miss a thing.  I tried to post the video here but YouTube or Blogger is hating on me right now.  If you want to see it, go to YouTube and search "4th Grader to Obama".  Let me know what you think.

Happy Hump Day!

Sweet Tooth Tuesday

Thought I'd share one of my favorite recipes to satisfy all those with a bit of a sweet tooth.  This is one of my favorites, easy to make and by Mrs. Paula Dean herself so you KNOW it's good.  Hope everyone has enjoyed this beautiful day.

Georgia Cookie Candy

Ingredients

• 1 cup (2 sticks) butter or margarine, softened
• 1 cup crunchy peanut butter
• 3 cups confectioners' sugar, sifted
• 1 1/2 cups graham cracker crumbs
• 1 1/2 cups semisweet chocolate chips

Directions

Line a 13 by 9 by 2-inch pan with foil.

Combine the butter, peanut butter, sugar, and graham cracker crumbs in a food processor. Process until the mixture forms a ball. Press into the foil-lined pan using your hands or a spatula.

Melt the chocolate chips in a double boiler over simmering water or in a microwave-safe glass dish in the microwave for 1 minute on high (100%). Stir. If the chocolate has not completely melted, microwave for 10 seconds more, then stir. Spread evenly over the cookie layer with a spatula. Chill for several hours.

When ready to serve, allow the candy to come to room temperature before cutting into pieces. Store in an airtight container in the refrigerator.

Do Children Make Women More or Less Happy?

That is the controversial question that was discussed this morning on the Today Show.  Research shows that children make women less happy.  What do you think?  Click here to see the video.

Getting Down to Business

It's Monday morning and I am already inspired by this blog.  Kids are fed, dog is fed, laundry is going but now I am taking five minutes to myself to make a post.  YAY ME - as I watch my 10 month old walk into the other room.  Better go fetch her.....

I haven't quite decided if I'm going to have a theme for each day of the week or just see where this all goes and let this blog take it's own shape.  But there are a few of things on my mind this morning that I think a lot of people probably have opinions about.  So here it goes.

I'm sure everyone has seen or heard about the balloon boy.  My first reaction after hearing the story was pure horror at the thought of a 6 year old boy being whisked away inside a homemade balloon.  Then I started wondering where the boy would actually be in that homemade balloon while watching the video on the Today Show.  Next come all the stories about this family being on Wife Swap and how they've made a rap video for YouTube, not to mention their storm chasing life.  I start thinking "hoax".  Now, they are reporting these parents could be facing felony charges after further investigations.  Seriously?  These parents want to be on TV so bad that they'd use their kids to achieve that.  Serves these crazy people right, but I feel sorry for those kids.  They don't deserve this.  Okay, enough of this and on to something more fun.

So I did a little scrapbooking yesterday for the first time in months.  I usually can't find time during the day unless I put something else off (laundry, cleaning house, etc.) and I always tell myself that I'll take time to do it after putting the kids to bed.  However, that never happens because the hubs and I usually curl up to watch one of our favorite shows or catch up on some movies we've been wanting to watch.  Or I find myself too exhausted do anything and just go to bed.  But yesterday, both kids took great naps so I decided to blow off everything else and do something for myself.  I'll admit, I'm a little out of practice and so behind on my kids' scrapbooks that I'm really more into just getting it done than I am being super creative.  But I think it turned out okay.  This page is for Keegan's book.  Keegan wasn't quite two years old yet, if that tells you how far behind I am.  He's now almost four.  Better late than never, right?!  The subject matter is a trip back home to Kentucky.  If memory serves me correctly, I think we had a good time.  ;)  Hope this inspires you to be a little creative for yourself today! 

October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month!

SAVE THE TA TAS, ladies!  October is breast cancer awareness month.  Do those regular self-breast exams, go get squished, take care of yourself.  Somebody loves you!  Click here to visit the Susan G. Komen for the Cure website and make a donation, get involved or just buy a t-shirt.  Let's beat breast cancer together!

WELCOME!

Welcome to my blog about my perfect imperfection.  I love to be creative, just don't seem to have much time to do it these days as a busy mom of two.  But I hope to use my blog to inspire myself and maybe other moms to be more creative in our spare time.  What spare time, right?!  Anyhow, I hope to post a little something everyday, but it may take me a while to get into the swing of things.  I hope to blog about photography, scrapbooking, cooking, baking, parenting, anything newsworthy, new products for moms or our children - just about EVERYTHING!  So join me in a quest to not be perfect, just creative - Perfect Imperfection!