The most pitiful cupcake you have ever seen

Two things...

1. It is not a "mini" cupcake themed birthday.

2. It's a good thing I decided to do a trial run on the cupcakes for the party.

Mama's little helper

I got my sewing things out today to work on a couple of things. She thought she needed to help.

It's Every Other Friday!

And I couldn't be happier. Why? Okay, I'll tell you. It's grocery day. Yes, I am one of the few people who LOVES to grocery shop. I actually start making my menu out 2 weeks prior, then begin making my list, anticipating every other Friday when I go to the grocery store and do big shopping.

I categorize my list according to where the items are in the grocery store. I'm even "one of those people" who if I make several mistakes and the paper looks messy, I'll rewrite it just so it looks pretty. Some people might call that OCD, I call it good grocery store etiquette.

I am creature of habit when it comes to shopping...especially at Wal-Mart. I usually park in the same aisle, enter the same door and start in the same section. And usually, I'll end up going through the same cashier as well (I use the reusable bags and she does a good job of packing everything in).

I love my every other Fridays!

This is the part I don't like....why is it when after you put everything away you just bought you think to yourself one of two things, "I spent all of that for this?" or "there isn't anything to eat in this house!"

Those are clean dishes that need to be put away there in the sink.

Have a wonderful weekend. And I still can't get my cursor to not be centered. Anybody?

We interrupt your regularly scheduled program...

We have been battling a nasty cold in our little girl the past week. Our days have been filled with nose wiping, picky eating, Children's Benadryl giving, extra love giving, middle of the night crying and early morning rising.

She's ready to feel better and I'm ready for sleep. I have to say though, I don't mind the cuddling and needing to be in Mama's arms.

Happy Birthday Banner

Somehow my cursor is stuck in the center position, oh well. I finished Anna Claire's birthday banner the other day. I followed the tutorial from Moda Bake Shop. I am excited about having it to celebrate her 1st year. As with all "first time" projects, now that I kind of know what I am doing, I'll know what to change for the next one I make. Regardless, it was so much fun to make and I love how it turned out!

Spinach Tortellini Soup and Whole Wheat Bread

I made this last night for dinner. We've been eating a lot of soups recently and this is one of my favorites!

Soup:

1 can chicken broth

4 cups water*

2 extra large vegetable bouillon cubes (Knorr brand)

1 (10 oz) package frozen spinach, unthawed (I used a 16 oz bag because I wanted there to be a lot of spinach)

1 garlic clove, minced

2 (9 oz) packages refrigerated cheese filled tortellini (I saved some money and bought the dry tortellini in the pasta aisle, cooked it separately and then added)

1/2 cup shredded Parmesan cheese

Bring first 3 ingredients to a boil in a dutch oven over medium high heat. Add spinach, stewed tomatoes, and garlic and return mixture to a boil.

Stir in tortellini and cook for 5 minutes. Sprinkle each serving with cheese.
*when it was finished cooking, I wanted it to have more broth so I added 3 chicken bouillon cubes and 3 more cups of water. You can add whatever you like depending on how soupy you like your soup!

Quick Wheat Bread (this is so easy and so good!):

2 cups rolled oats (quick or rolled)

2 cups whole wheat flour

4 tsp. baking powder

1 tsp. salt

4 T. honey (the original recipe calls for 3 but I wanted it to have a bit sweeter taste)

2 T. oil

2 cups milk

I added about a tsp. of cinnamon as well to give a bit more flavor, you could add whatever you like or leave it out altogether.

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

2. Combine oatmeal, flour, baking powder and salt. In separate bowl dissolve honey in oil (it doesn't really dissolve, more like stirs together) and then stir in milk. Combine both mixtures and stir.

3. Pour in greased and floured loaf pan. Bake for 50-60 minutes.

This was so good right out of the oven, a little crumbly though. That's what I get for being impatient. It is a very dense bread, not for sandwiches but delicious with soups or for breakfast!

Have a wonderful weekend!

Turnip Greens

The test of whether you are a true southerner or not is...do you, or do you not like turnip greens?


She passed the test with flying colors!

I failed miserably. So much that my gag reflux kicked in.

Wishing

I'm wishing for a craft table

My husband is wishing he had some place to eat his dinner.

It's cold in the south!

It's been cold here pretty much since we got back from our Christmas trip to Ohio. I know, "it is winter" you say, but getting down to 8 degrees at night? Come on now, that's cold.

We did get our first snowfall of the season and year! Not much, but for around here 1/2 an inch was enough to close the schools for 2 days and allow my husband to be home for an extended weekend.

It has been an exciting couple of weeks around here! Anna Claire is almost 1 year old! Can you believe it? Me neither. She is at the age, that many of you know, where everything is a new experience. She finds even the smallest little fuzz ball on the floor and puts it in her mouth. She is getting around so she will find either one of us regardless of where we are in the house and come and sit at our feet. She loves to help in the kitchen while I am getting dinner ready. But I have to make sure there are Tupperware containers and the soup ladle for her to play with.

She found this book. Who knows she might follow in her father's footsteps and love math!

She LOVES to look at herself in the mirror too! Our screen saver on our computer is a slideshow of pictures we have on our hard drive. If she is in the room playing and the slideshow is on, she will just sit and laugh at the pictures...but only the ones of her!

With the start of the new year, it's hard not to think about the past year, all of the things we did and experiences we had. Having Anna Claire was obviously the highlight of our year!

It is exciting to look towards 2010, knowing there are things already on our calendar for the year. Vacations, weekend trips, triathlon races for Mike, softball season, birthdays, anniversaries and days of remembrance. Then there are the things that will be filled in as the days go by. Spur of the moment dates (Brad and Nicole, if you are reading this..I promise we will be using our certificates!), friends coming over for dinner and babies yet to be born (No, not me!)

I don't usually make resolutions, well maybe in my mind I do. Usually by January 30th, they are forgotten. I think I would rather reach some goals rather than vow to change things, because inevitably, I will let myself down if I have in my mind that change is what needs to happen. So with that in mind here are some goals:

~Take more pictures. This won't be hard because I already take tons of them. I read somewhere about a woman who wanted to put down the stress of every day and instead take a picture of it...instead of worrying about the laundry, take a picture of it. Don't worry about the unmade bed and messy room, take a picture of it. Capture the moments that make your house your home, capture the memories that make your family.

~Continue to eat better and exercise more. Thankfully I already do these things, but I could be better at them. This can be hard when it is 15 degrees out at 9:00am and our treadmill is in our garage. Here's looking at you Spring; come soon! My goal is to buck up and get out there!

~Continue to work on our house; inside and out. We try to be good stewards with our "house money" and begin working on a project only when we have the money to do it, so with that said, the goal is by summer's end to have the bed and bath done!

~Learn more about my new hobby! I got this beauty for Christmas from my parents. Oh, isn't she gorgeous? I think I need to name her.

With some of this fabric...

...inspiration from here and a few calls to my mom, I am well on my way to finishing my first project!

I also have a goal to blog more--I haven't been as faithful to Nesting in Pleasant View as in the past and I do want that to change. Everyday holds something and if that "something" isn't grand, beautiful or funny, it can sometimes make me think that it's not all that important to share and that you would rather read about a project or a recipe (check out Carrie at Buzzings of a Queen Bee, she has a great post on this!). I guess what I'm saying is that even if it is just posting a picture of our day (beware, laundry and messy rooms might be exposed!), my hope is to be more consistent with sharing with you our life and home.

Keep warm and have a wonderful Monday!