Weekly Log

Loving this great talk by Brad Wilcox tonight... and blogging while my husband does the dishes.  ;)
I like this quote: "We are not earning heaven, we are learning heaven."  Take a listen:

OK now.  Weekly log - -

Origami Log by Jason Ku

Oliver LOVES bananas.  He has become accustomed to getting his own banana at the end of our grocery shopping trips.  He was VERY vocal about wanting it this time and here is his reaction to finally getting it...

I enjoyed visiting with some ladies at a casual luncheon this week.  The food was amazing but I just loved the chance to visit with some extraordinary women.  The reason for the luncheon was just to get together and share stories...  One gal spoke of her belief that women are our society's "story keepers."  She encouraged us to "keep" our stories by writing, blogging, recording, or whatever, just to save, share  and preserve them.  I have been struck by how my own kids seem to relish the stories Jared and I share with them and they ask about them frequently.  For good or bad, our family's stories are part of us and we need to "keep" them.  I was really grateful to go and get this great reminder.  

We were able to visit the Nissan plant and see it in action this week.  It was very exciting for the boys to see these robots building and assembling car parts, sparks flying all over the place.  If you can, you really should go on this amazing, free tour.  Quite an experience.  No photos allowed or I certainly would have taken some!  

And last but not least, we enjoyed a fabulous visit from my Uncle D and his family.  What a delight to see them after so long.  :)  Makes me miss my immediate family...

Hope you had a great week too.

Fluffernutter Cupcakes

I saw this post about these cupcakes from (www.thenovicechefblog.com)  and I had to give them a try!  They had me at NUTELLA.

I like their pic better than mine:

Basically what we have here is a peanut butter cupcake injected with a shot of Nutella and topped with the yummiest, kinda marshmallowy/seven minute frosting-ish stuff.  DIVINE!

I finished the cupcakes before I realized I did not have any piping bags and tips like the recipe recommends for the Nutella injection.  So I MacGyvered it with a medicine dropper.  HA!

The frosting they listed with the recipe turned out AMAZING and way better than other similar recipes I have used.  I will definitely use it for other recipes too!

Finished product:

The verdict was that they needed more Nutella.  (Doesn't everything need more Nutella?)  I will not be making these again without the proper tools, as it was very difficult to get Nutella into a medicine dropper.  :)  Still, I hope YOU make them for me and drop them off between 9 AM and 7 PM, any day of the week.

Thanks ;)

I need a sewing basket

I have never owned a sewing basket to speak of.  I have kept my sewing things in a little plastic tote but alas, it cannot hold the amount of stuff that I have.  I need something else to help me organize it all.  Here are some ones that I like... which is your vote?  If you have one, do you love it or pine for something else?

The very cute Chicken Basket:

The Vintage Basket:

The Green Trim Basket with dividers inside:

Or how about this vintage one that comes pre-stocked with sewing notions:

This one is big and has retro needlepoint on top:

Or there is the retro plastic one with great organizers:

Choices choices!!

A poetic prayer for America

{This is verse 4 of My Country, 'Tis of Thee}

Our fathers' God, to thee, 
Author of liberty, 
To thee we sing, 
Long may our land be bright
With freedoms holy light.
Protect us by thy might, 
Great God, our King!

I love this song and especially this verse.  I hope you had a good day freaking out about your kids lighting things on fire like I did.  God bless America.