It's For Your Own Good

I've been sitting here for the past hour trying to figure out what to write tonight. Friendship? Strength? Speedbumps in life? Nothing...just a blank screen. My mind has been completely blank. So, instead of me telling you how you need to enjoy life, covet friendship in unusual places(not the bus station though...that's just creepy), and how you should jump over speedbumps like The Dukes of Hazard jumping over Rosco's patrol car-I'm giving you a cute picture of puppies.

No sir, I'm not gonna tell you that even when you are down, you are not out. Life may be tough, but you are tougher

I'm not even going to go into how certain people come into your life for certain reason and it is absolutely okay if they leave your life. You were able to share a wonderful moment that no one will ever be able to duplicate. Others stay in our lives for a lifetime and the older the relationship, the better it gets. I have a friend that I know I will be sitting on the beach, drinking cocktails with, laughing at all the young kids making fools of themselves. Nope, not going into all that-I'm just going to show you puppies.


Don't even get me started on problems can be viewed as adventures. Just take the picture of the puppies and be happy with it. It's for your own good.

Tie One On Tuesday!

School is back in session and I heard a collective`1 "YAHOO" from moms around the world. In order to honor back to school, I am ordering moms everywhere to pop open a bottle of bubbly, reach for that juice and make yourself a mimosa. After all, drinking just champagne at 8 in the morning, might be a bit much-even for me.

The Original Mimosa
One bottle of Champagne
2 ounces of Orange juice-if you have fresh, all the better
Crushed ice
Add ice to a champagne flute, then the orange juice and last the champagne.

You can substitute the orange juice for cranberry juice and you have a Poinsettia.

Oh hello Mama! We have a mimosa just for you!
Mama Mimosa
Orange Juice
Champagne
2 Shots of Orange Liquer
1/2 cup raspberries
Pour the carton of chilled orange juice into a 3 quart pitcher and then add the full bottle of chilled Champagne or sparkling wine.
Add 2 shots of orange liquer and stir the orange juice, Champagne and orange liquer until thoroughly mixed. Just before serving add the raspberry ice(crumble fresh raspberries and place the crumbles into narrow ice cube trays, fill with water and freeze) to the pitcher and pour about 4 ounces of the mimosa mix into Champagne flutes or if you'd like to show off more of the raspberry ice pour the mimosa mix into regular wine glasses.

If you aren't into orange juice, you can add whatever juice you like. Just mix that baby up with some champagne and you will be on your way to happy Mimosa land.

Raise your glass and shout out your happiness now that those little ones that are back in school, learning to take over the world.  I will raise my glass with you as I am celebrating my little ones going back to school-doggy day care counts as school doesn't it?

Labor of Love

Hi all you wonderful readers out there. In case you haven't notice, I have a new banner and a new background. I think it's so stinking cute! There will be a few more changes and I will be tweaking things a little bit more-adding and removing links, revamping, basically making the blog bigger and better! So here's the low down as I see it right now.....

Monday-Movie Madness Monday.
Tuesday-Tie One On Tuesday
Wednesday-Wild Card Wednesday
Thursday-Crafty/Pattern goodness
Friday-Feel Good Friday (now with themes!)
Saturday-Salivating Saturday
Sunday-Scrappy Dog Sunday

Read one day or read them all! It's up to you!

Big hugs and smooches to everyone who has stuck around and read my ramblings. You guys rocks my socks off!

Big shout out to AlwaysInspired and Digital Misfit for their awesome banner making skills. Watch your mailbox for some love!

Scrappy Dog Sunday!

I have a confession to make. OMP is not going to be happy with me. I've found a new man. He's short, dark and handsome.

See that little paw, I am officially wrapped around it.

OMP may think he has dibs on this little man

But in reality, he's all mine.

Sweet Saturday

Okay, first let me apologize for being MIA this week. It's been so crazy this week and I have been absolutely exhausted that I just haven't had a chance to keep up with everything. That being said, I made you something today. Let me begin by saying for the past three months I have pined over a donut baking pan. I saw one on another blog and wanted it so badly. I finally went out yesterday and bought one. So, today I have cake donuts to bribe you into forgiving me.

I tried the recipe that came with the pan and well, it wasn't as sweet as I wanted so I scoured a couple of sites to find one that was just perfect for you.


Baked Cake Donuts
1 cup sugar
1 large egg
1/4 cup oil (vegetable or canola)
3/4 cup milk
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon

Preheat oven to 350 degrees and prepare donut panwith non-stick cooking spray, if you don't have a donut you can use a muffin pan.
In a large bowl, beat sugar and egg together until creamy and light-colored. Add oil, milk, and vanilla and mix well.
In a medium bowl, mix flour, baking powder, salt, and nutmeg.
Slowly add flour mixture into egg mixture until well combined.
Fill donut pan about 2/3rd way full or the muffin pan about 3/4 full and bake for 10 minutes for donuts or 15 minutes for muffins, or until a toothpick comes out mostly clean.
Do not overcook! You want a nice, dense, moist cake.

Powdered donuts: While donuts are still warm to the touch, remove from tins and immediately roll the crust with powdered sugar, until it is well coated. Dust the tops with sugar as well.

Sugared donuts: Using a pastry brush, coat each donut with a thin layer of melted butter. Roll each buttered donut in the cinnamon/sugar mixture. (Perform this step immediately before serving. If the butter and sugar cool for too long, it will make more of a “crust” on the donut)

Jelly filled donuts: Layer the donuts. Put in about 1/3 then a ring of jelly then another 1/3 of the batter.

Icing donuts: Mix one cup of confectioners sugar with two table spoons of HOT water. Dip the donut into the icing.

I made chocolate ones and they tasted more like a chocolate bread, so I still need to find a good recipe for those. These were actually so much easier than I ever imagined. You can leave the plain, sugar them or decorate any way you want. They keep for several days but I'm doubting they will be around that long. Now...don't you forgive me? Let's always be friends. Have another donut. 

And The Winner Is.....

Extra big love to everyone who entered the giveaway. You guys rock my sock! The winner is....DRUM ROLL.....

SEW LOVELY EMBROIDERY! Yahoo!!!

Sew Lovely-if you would be so kind as to email me your address I would be ever so grateful. You can email me at v1313(at)hotmail.com or on flickr or facebook.

Stay tune for more cocktails, patterns, cinemas and of course giveaways!

Feel Good Friday!

 Picture courtesy of fabricio leal

For the love of all things holy, I am SO tired this Friday. I'm pretty sure it's because Lola and Pete decided at 5am that they wanted to play chase and sprung out of bed chasing eachother. It's a good thing they are cute, otherwise they would be going in the stew pot. Let's see what I have for you on this sleepy Friday.

Cross Stitch Ninja kicks major butt! This is an EMBROIDERED Lego plans. You should also check out her embroidered loom part. It will blow you away!

I absolutely LOVE history and the Wessels Living History Farm keep me supplied in farming and in wonderful history. I haven't been yet but one day I hope to make it. In the meantime, I will continue to read the website.

The past few days the weather has been a bit crisp which gets me in the mood for fall, specifically hunkering down for some cool weather stitching. I found this pattern and just adore it. I can't wait to stitch it up. It is so me!
For those of you who haven't seen it yet. A new Craftster video starring yours truly with cameos of Pete, Jujube and Mark's hand.

Alright my pretties. I am completely wiped out. I'm gonna put my feet up, turn on a bad movie and "rest" my eyes. I hope everyone has a wonderful weekend. Get out there and enjoy the last days of summer or the beginnings of fall.

Optimist: Person who travels on nothing from nowhere to happiness.

~Mark Twain