Santa came early via USPS

I love mail. I love mail soooo much. My favorite mail is from friends and family – oh how I love Christmas cards!!! There is, however, one thing I love more than cards and letters – packages.

Today I received the best package from a very talented friend, Natalie. I opened my beautiful package and squealed with glee because this is what I saw…

Oh my, I am in L.O.V.E!!!

Not only is it a camera strap, but a F.A.B.U.L.O.U.S camera strap in my favorite print (I have owned two, yes two of these V.era B.radley bags). And did I mention I also got a key chain too? I might as well die and go to heaven!

Natalie is amazing. She owns the most beautiful camera strap business on Etsy (check her out: www.cottoncandybynatalie.etsy.com). She also owns a fabric supply company on Etsy – you know, the good kind of fabric you can’t get at Joanns (www.justfabric.etsy.com). Completely well made, you can tell she pays attention to details! Her logo and labels are too die for.

So if I weren’t so excited to hold my little presents constantly in my hands, I might use them to decorate my tree:

 

Thank you sooooooo much Natalie – you R.O.C.K!!!

Showing some Southern Savers Love

Yet another reason to visit my latest favorite site. Southern Savers help me save money so I can spend more (just kidding about the last part… okay, not really).

In the spirit of Christmas they are doing a giveaway a day – go… run… check it out!

www.southernsavers.com

Yikes! Another reminder to watch my words!

Madeleine was playing with her toys, and all the sudden I hear, “Come on dude!” – my new G-rated version to talk to all my fellow drivers on the road. However, coming out of the mouth of a 2 year old, it doesn’t sound as squeaky clean as I imagined.

For my fellow procrastinators…

Would you like a nice family picture – one that you feel you’d be happy to display in your home, or finally have a decent picture to send in your Christmas cards? Well…

Yes, after countless hours of work I’m happy to finally have my website go live – www.honeysuckledew.com. So check it out!

Top of my “To Do List”

I love the decorations of the holiday season, the constant crafting that seems to go on, the yummy smells of dishes that are usually only made this time of year, and the joyous sounds of Christmas music making everything so merry and bright.

As I was forming my to do list today of all the things I need to get accomplished, my spirited two year old is sitting beside me being an absolute crack up that she is known to be. I decided I needed to stop for a moment and catch up on her.

I meant to post about her birthday (that happened back in August). I meant to mention how perfect a day it was. For Maine it was beautiful and warm, in the mid 70s, quite the contrast from my 60 degree-rainy-and-foggy birthday just 5 days before.

I made Abby Cadabby Cupckaes for her birthday. It was Phoebe’s birthday too so I made party hats for the both of them.

Mindy made her yummy pizza.

We even saw a bald eagle at lunch-time.

Madeleine got to open her presents.

 

I love the joy of finding out her present was a new baby doll.

She was cracking everyone up with how every tear of the paper she would hand to me to throw it away – Grandpa Opp would be soooo proud!

Happy birthday beautiful girl. We are so grateful for the craziness you bring our lives everyday.  

Just keeping it real

This has been a hard week. My precious child has become the most mischievous two year old.

 
(yes, that is a leaf stuck in her hair)

I could handle the dipping my deodorant into the toilet, the painting of the bathroom with my concealer, the mixing up the DVDs for the umpteenth time, getting in and using up my favorite perfume, and even the constant destruction of newspaper ads all over the house. Then Sunday came. We ran late making it to church, but I will say she looked adorable in one of her seasonal dresses. I dropped her off at nursery and she went right in (big sigh of relief there), and I went to my meetings until it was time to pick her up so that we could head into Sacrament Meeting (we have Relief Society, Sunday School and then Sacrament last – sorry, Mormon lingo). Sacrament is the most reverent of our meetings. It doesn’t help my plight that I know our Bishop is making a big push for reverence (and he should, but people understand 2 year olds, right?). She has to be one of the absolute worst behaved in that meeting. It’s like the light switches and you see the Dr. Jekyll come out. She knows how to be quiet. She can do it just fine at home, but there she loves to talk as loud as she can and when I try to get her to be quiet she starts screaming and flailing around. I know it will help when Andrew gets home and we can have a tag team. She must sense my fear (of her bad behavior) and plays on it. I think she also knows she has me cornered in the meeting – sooooo hard! So today, I just couldn’t take it. I left after the Sacrament and didn’t stay for the rest of the meeting. While we were going outside to get into the car someone was getting out of a car next to mine. I let go of her hand for a second and she takes off. Those who know where my church is, you know it sits off quite the busy road – well, she starts running straight towards it – only she’s in the grassy/pine straw area and I’m in high heels running after her (not too easy, let me tell you and she is FAST!!!). I finally got her to turn in the other direction (so not heading towards the oncoming traffic) and somehow managed to get her into the car. By this time I am angry, upset, embarrassed (did it have to happen right in front of the foyer so anyone could see – not to mention so all the drivers on the busy road see this crazy momma running after a two year old Lightning McQueen), and tired so needless to say I started to do the ugly cry and I felt a little better (especially after I was able to talk to my mom and Andrew). Days like today I just don’t even want to make the effort to go to church.

Next Sunday I’m going to go to church with my parents so I can get some much needed assistance. But to all the mothers out there that are so much better than me – how do you do it? I thought I was well armed and prepared – I have snacks and water, a magna doodle, and a small bag full of books including church books. I have tried to talk to her in whispers and ask her to use her quiet voice. I have tried to talk to her about Jesus and how He wants us to listen and how that makes Him happy. I don’t want to get into the habit of taking her out of the meeting because I don’t want her to use that when she wants to go, but I don’t want to cause irreverence in the Chapel either. I’ve even threatened that I will tell Santa Claus. So far nothing is working. I know a small part has to be because she misses her daddy (so do I!), but she was progressively getting worse even while we were in Maine and luckily there everyone thought she was so endearing because she was the only child in the branch.

So HELP! Do you have any wonderful advice on how to get my child to behave so I can enjoy going to a much needed spiritual rejuvenation?

A thankful post

Now that I’ve gotten home and have gotten the groceries put away, I’m starting to begin my Thanksgiving preparations. This will be a stinky Thanksgiving since Andrew is still in Maine. Poor guy will be working most of the day tomorrow trying to get as much done before our drywall guy flies up next week. He’s been working without a day off for so long I know he’ll be so happy to be home – hopefully right before Christmas.

Back to my preparations, I’m making a pound cake (special family recipe), loaded cornbread casserole, Nestle Tollhouse Pie, my good friend June’s Pretzel Jello Salad, and for my sister’s birthday and special request a pumpkin cheesecake – I’m going to use pecan meal instead of almond meal for the crust since I already have some on hand. I do love Thanksgiving – probably more than Christmas because the pressures of gift-giving is absent, plus I love the gathering around food and a chance to reflect on what we are thankful for.

This year I am thankful:

1. That I’m not in Maine (feel a teensy bit guilty about this one!)
2. That I had the opportunity to live in Maine for a short period of time. I met some wonderful people up there and got to see so many beautiful parts of our world that I never knew existed. I’m grateful for the Deans kindness to our family and how incredibly welcoming they were to us.
3. That I have a beautiful little girl that makes the most incredible messes. Her coming to our family was a miracle to me in my darkest hour, but I know it did not happen by chance.
4. Kind of with #2 but I’m grateful for Madeleine’s birth family, for their love and support and for the amazing people they are. I know Heavenly Father has a special place in His heart for those who are able to make this most difficult sacrifice.
5. That my kitchen was finally able to be remodeled right before we left for Maine. I feel so happy when I’m in there.
6. That  Andrew installed the most ginormous sink in my newly remodeled kitchen. I can wash my full baking sheets with ease without crazy contortionist moves on my part. Pure joy in seeing that sink everyday.
7. That my husband is a hard worker and will do just about anything to provide for our family, even when it’s difficult and grueling. He takes care of so much so that I don’t have to worry about it. I think about that a lot now since he’s so far away and now I have to pump my own gas.
8. That there are so many conveniences in life I enjoy and take for granted like my dishwasher, washer & dryer, garbage disposal, clean water, sewer (not septic!), and electricity (live in a poorly solar-powered house for a little bit and you’ll know what I mean).
9. For my friends and family. To lump them together, I’m so grateful for the phone calls, e-mails, or visits. It’s been a hard year with the back and forth to Maine and I felt like I drew from this strength more than ever.
10. For the gospel of Jesus Christ. I’m grateful that I can pull from that strength when things are tough I can take my problems to the Lord because I know He hears and answers prayers. I know my Heavenly Father loves me and He loves you too. I can’t imagine having to go though my life without the blessings of the Gospel. I know that no matter what the Lord is mindful of me and knows my struggles and wants me to be happy. I’m thankful for parents who taught, not so much by their words, but by there actions how Christ would want us to live, and for that  I will be forever grateful.

I hope everyone has a wonderful Thanksgiving and to my sister-in-law, Becky and to my sister, Kayleen I wish the most happiest birthday!

I’ve got bitten by the bug

My dad has it, my sisters all have it, my brother has it, my mom’s been touched by it and I feel the coupon fever coming on.

I went to Publix (grocery store) today; my total bill came to $141.85 and I spent only $46.97 (I saved $94.88 – almost 70% off my grocery bill)!!! I am not one to use coupons just for the sake of using coupons, but let me just give you a quick synopsis of what I got: eggs, cake flour, Jello, frozen veggies, 10 boxes of Chex cereal, batteries, shredded cheese, canned pineapples, cream cheese, butter, ice cream and so much more.

What a rush! My sister, Cassidie, found the most amazing site: www.southernsavers.com that tells you exactly how to get the best deals, even so much as showing you which coupons are out there and how to maximize your savings, like I never knew you could use a store coupon plus a manufacturers coupon which will make things a lot of times free. I will tell you  it still takes time (probably because I’m just getting started and don’t have a full system in swing), but being able to save so much money and put things away for my food storage makes it totally worth it! At least that’s what I kept telling myself as I was trying to concentrate and in the meantime Madeleine had: gotten into my makeup for the 3rd time this week (I keep out of reach, but she is determined and I might add, she’s getting pretty good at applying her lipstick for a 2 year old), ripped the pages out of one of her books, got into my dental floss and pulled it all out, got into the dvds and scattered them all throughout the house, found some way to make it look like a tornado has hit just about every room, and still found time to find a pen and color all over my pillows – did I mention she was 2?

The coolest lighthouse

Seriously, it was the coolest (it was freezing that day!). In Maine we were about 35 minutes from Canada, and right by the eastern-most point in the US (Quoddy Head State Park – that will be another post). At Quoddy Head State Park there is the West Quoddy lighthouse, that is absolutely beautiful in it’s own right, see below…

However, I just couldn’t see the West Quoddy Light without seeing the East Quoddy Light – right? Well, that would require a short trip to Canada, which meant I would actually have to find my passport and have it on my person, as well as a birth certificate for Madeleine. I don’t know why it took me until my last week in Maine to finally cross the border. (On a short tangent, this was my first time driving across a border – okay, this was my first time crossing a border while not on a cruise – so I was kind of excited for this new adventure. The Canadian border patrol were so very nice and “bien venue-ed” me into Canada. My favorite was them asking what the purpose of my visit was – “well, I’ve never been to Canada before so I thought I would try it out”, somehow the U.S. border patrol did not think this to be a reasonable answer as if no one would have the desire to check out another country, I could feel myself sweating as I was trying to ‘pass the test’ to get back into my country. He (U.S. border patrol) even wanted to check my vehicle – okay, come on, I was on Campobello Island, it barely counts as Canada and it is just about as remote as northern Maine is so I would really have to search hard for trouble, luckily I satisfied whatever lofty requirements they had and made it back – phew!!!, okay so off my tangent) While on Campobello I first stopped at Roosevelt’s former summer cottage. Somehow, his version of a cottage and my version of a cottage are not the same thing…

Did I mention it was cold? It was, but thankfully the scenery made up for the chill.

Next, we wound to the opposite end of the island to the lighthouse. I had to get used to following speed limits in kilometers and having a solid line down the street, instead of two stripes – they only had two stripes if it was a passing zone. Even the stop signs were different, and I had no idea what the yellow checkered sign meant, hope I didn’t break that rule.

In my glimpse of Canada (the short glimpse it was) I was surprised by the roadside cliffs with hardly a guard rail. The cliffs were amazing, and the water was crystal clear .

I soon made it to the East Quoddy Light, having no idea what to expect, I didn’t really research it before hand. I got out of the car and squealed with glee because this is what I saw…

My favorite part of this lighthouse is it’s access.

You could go down these stairs, cross the seaweed beach floor and up stairs on the other side of the cliff to make it to the light (another liability I thought the U.S. would never take – there was hardly anything for you to keep from making a wrong step and plummeting off the cliff – shocking!). I obviously got there at non-low tide so no crossing for me (if only I had done my research!), but the views were breath-taking. A cool geographical note: this area in between Maine and Canada is known as the Bay of Fundy. The Bay of Fundy has the highest tidal change of anywhere in the world, and it’s really quite incredible – it’s somewhere around 55 feet of tidal difference.

So beautiful – I only wish I had seen it sooner.

Mindy’s Bread Recipe

I have loved reading everyone’s comments – thank you soooo much! I’m working on my next batch of bread now and had a moment to get this posted.

Mindy’s Yummy Everyday Bread

	2 big loaves	5-6 loaves	Ingredients
	(½ cup)	1 cup – 1 ½	potatoes (Instant) enough water to reconstitute
	(1/3 cup)	1 cup	Sugar
	(1/3 cup)	1 cup	vegetable oil
	(2 t)	2 T	yeast
	(2 t)	2 T	salt
	(6 cups)	18 cups	flour – or up to half whole wheat
	(1 ½ cup)	4 ½ cups	warm water (115–130 degrees) hot to touch - not smoking hot

Instructions:

· In the mixing bowl add instant potatoes (I used the pearls), water to reconstitute potatoes, sugar, vegetable oil, yeast, salt, and 1/3 of the flour (for 2 loaves add 2 cups of flour now – for 5-6 loaves add 6 cups of flour) and mix 6-10 minutes at medium speed (use a dough hook), this will help start the dough.

· To develop the gluten, add the flour ½ cup at a time until it cleans the side of the bowl, knead 8-10 minutes on medium speed.

**A note, since I had so many problematic issues with dough I’ve learned it should feel like an ear lobe, not too sticky – if it’s really sticking to your fingers use more flour. When I made this, I thought I had added enough flour, it was cleaning the sides of the bowl and after 10 minutes of kneading I realized it was too sticky – I quickly freaked and called Mindy who told me it was okay to add more flour and continue to mix to incorporate the flour, it just helps with the elasticity of the bread to continue to knead.**

· Once it’s done mixing put it in a large greased bowl to rise, use plastic wrap or a lid to cover the bowl and allow to rise for an hour to an hour and a half until doubled in size (too long of rising uses all the sugar and makes sour dough).

· *Optional – Second rising, punch down the dough and do a 2^nd rising for 45 minutes (Mindy usually skips for time sake and she hasn’t had problems with skipping the 2^nd rising – I did do a 2^nd rising when I made it).*

· Once allowed to rise, break it down into loaves into your greased loaf pans and cover with towels for 45 minutes to an hour until ready to bake (allows another rising).

· Preheat oven to 400 degrees

Bake for 10 minutes at 400 degrees and then 30 minutes at 350 degrees.

I have a secret...

I am a terrible baker. So sorry for anyone who has had to partake in my past creations - I tried, really I did.

Well, Mindy (of the family Andrew's building the house for in Maine) is a fabulous baker. She is my bread-making idol. Yes, she's even one of those who makes their own sandwich bread and never buys store-bought and her bread is incredible. You could only be so lucky to be in her home for pizza night. I gained weight in Maine and I know why!

So I set on my quest to correct my Achilles Heel of baking. It really started about a year ago when we completed our long-term food supply with wheat, wheat, and more wheat (okay there was beans, flour, spaghetti, oats, macaroni, pancake mix, and all sorts of miscellaneous items in that mix) and I had no idea what to do with it! I tried recipe after recipe and failed (I almost blew up my Kitchenaid motor in the process) and convinced Andrew I needed the right tools for the job so I got a state of the art wheat grinder and a Bosch mixer (like it was going to help me!).

I began to be the brunt of some Bosch teasing (anyone know my dad? By the way, he's another AMAZING baker). So I called Mindy to salvage my baking reputation. I should mention, Mindy is also a chemist - quite handy with all those intricate yeast things that are so alluding to me. She helped me take a recipe and work on how to make it right. I now know exactly what the water should feel like when adding it, I know it's okay to add more flour after kneading if it's still sticky, and I've learned rising dough too long makes sour dough (who knew?). And... I DID IT!!! The best bread I have ever made, and it is beautiful - no crazy bubbles, no weird yeast flavor, no brick-like texture - just incredibly yummy bread. I used half of the dough for a loaf and half for some sticky buns, and I couldn't have been more excited with the outcome.

Anyone want some bread? Now, I'm off to master pizza-making (say a prayer!).

Soup for you!

Okay, so here's another recipe. I can only take credit for my modifications. My good friend, Kim made this for Bunco about a year ago, and I've been itching to make it since. There's nowhere close in Maine to get a rotisserie chicken, so I was craving to make this when I got home.

Santa Fe Soup

1 sweet onion, chopped
2 cans of corn with juice
1 can chili beans with juice (my mod)
1 can black beans with juice
1 can Rotelle tomatoes undrained (I used Aldi brand)
1 can diced tomatoes undrained (my mod)
1 pkg dry taco seasoning
1 rotisserie chicken deboned - no skin or fat
1/3 cup of honey (my mod)

I put the chicken in a big pot with the onions and cooked until the onions were soft and translucent and then literally dumped in all the other ingredients. The longer it can simmer the better. I like lots of toppings so I served with: sour cream, guacamole (Holy Guacamole from Costco), shredded cheese, diced tomatoes, diced onions, chopped cilantro, lime wedges and chips! You could also add jalapeno peppers and cornbread - yum!

This would be the perfect chili for my sister, Kimberly a non-red-meat-eater. I've tried to make vegetarian chili for her and YUCK!!! I need to get her back into town so I can make her some Santa Fe soup - enjoy!

You should make these this weekend...

So with Halloween it's been a crazy week home, and I'm still recouping!!! So I arrived home last Friday at 1 a.m. and that day I drove to my sister's house to attend her ward's Trunk or Treat and so Madeleine and Dylan could play together. I wasn't planning on it at the time, but we ended up spending the night (after a 45 minute trip took 2 hours with Halloween rush hour!). I'm so glad I did because the next morning, Kayleen treated me to the most delicious pumpkin pancakes. They were to die for good, so good in fact that I made them this week for the missionaries who helped me blow leaves and mow my neglected lawn, so good that I'm making them again tomorrow.

I doubled the recipe when I made them for the Elders, so to simplify your mathematics, here it is:

Pumpkin Pancakes

• 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 4 tablespoons sugar
• 4 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon ginger
• 1 teaspoon nutmeg
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 pinch clove
• 2 cup 1% low-fat milk (can be any kind)
• 3/4 cup canned pumpkin puree
• 4 tablespoons melted butter
• 2 eggs

1. Whisk flour, sugar, baking powder, spices and salt in a bowl.
2. In a separate bowl whisk together milk, pumpkin, melted butter, and egg.
3. Fold mixture into dry ingredients.
4. Spray or grease a skillet and heat over medium heat: pour in 1/4 cup batter for each pancake.
5. Cook pancakes about 3 minutes per side. Serve with butter and syrup.
6. Makes about six 6-inch pancakes.

A note - when I made them I omitted the clove (I didn't have any ground clove on hand). The batter can be super thick so I used the measuring cup to kind of spread the batter out.

I also made the recommended cinnamon syrup, I wasn't too sure about it at first, but ended up really liking it.

This post totally inspired me...

I've been here there and everywhere and have felt so discombobulated with Andrew's project and Maine and leaving my home behind. I read this blog post the other day, and it warmed my heart so much. She inspired me to try harder and be better in living the Gospel of Jesus Christ. It is something I know I take for granted so much because it has made my life so much easier. I am grateful for the Book of Mormon and Bible for it's testimony of Jesus Christ. I feel joy and happiness when I read the Book of Mormon. I love the idea of a working Book of Mormon and will definitely have to work on getting my own marked up copy. If you would like your own copy, I'd be happy to give one to you too.

By the way, I am home, my real home! I drove almost straight through with Andrew's worker, Juan. I left last Wednesday at 6 p.m., stopped for quick sleep, got up and drove until I reached my driveway at 1 a.m. Friday morning - that is one long, beautiful drive! It was so cute when we pulled into our neighborhood and Madeleine would say, "we're almost there!". It feels so good to be home - warmer temps (it's been in the low 70s - yippee!!!!!), and I get to experience Fall all over again with the trees in my yard. Now if Andrew could just finish that house in Maine we'll be able to be home together, and it will be wonderful!

Owen

So one of the purposes of coming home in August was to see my new nephew, Owen. Kayleen is such a fighter. I was there when she was in labor with Dylan (her first). I saw first hand how hard she labored and all she went through – pushing for three hours before finally having a c-section. I also know how not having a ‘normal’ delivery has weighed heavily on her since that time. She always knew she wanted to try a VBAC (vaginal birth after caesarean), but the doctors were much against her. She didn’t let that get her down. She read up on how to have the best outcome, she put herself in the best fighting form, and knew to have as much in her favor she needed to do it au naturale. Well long story short, she did it, and I am oh so proud. My only regret is that she couldn’t have waited one more day, my flight didn’t get in until the following day after he was born.

So his stats are:

weight 8 lb 8 oz
length 20 3/4 in

A big boy, but not as big as his older brother. Dylan was close to 10 lbs!!!

I was happy to get some shots of their family both at the hospital before they came home and some more formal shots of the new family. I love them!

     

And if you have followed me down this far, you are in for a treat! The best family picture I have EVER taken…

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Ta-da! Kayleen, don’t kill me for posting this :) This photo makes me smile every time!