So, last week I am told that I have 2 wonderful friends who want to throw me a baby shower (thanks Cheri and Tiffany) and this week I start getting so much accomplished that I am 2 weeks ahead on my to-do list.
Noah's room has now been converted to a big boy room. His crib is now set up as a toddler bed, his furniture is anchored, and all the stuff we stored in the room is ready to transition elsewhere. The dining room is mostly cleared of the stuff it has been storing and should be emptied next weekend after I get the donations out of our closet. Next week will bring a trip to goodwill and possibly the dump or all my boxes awaiting recycling. It feels good to get the house cleared out. It feels terrific that our little girl is closer to coming into an organized home. I am loving this.
Speaking of baby girl, she is an active little baby. I love feeling her kick and watching my whole belly move when she is excited. Noah seems to love his little sister to, but its hard to know. He definitely enjoys laying against her and feeling her kick his back and head, lol. He is going to make an awesome big brother. I feel so lucky and blessed with the family I have. I love my life (most of the time) and am excitedly waiting the 15 weeks until baby girl's due date making our family of 3 a family of 4.
Friday, January 27, 2012
Thursday, January 19, 2012
New Baby
As the weeks tick by I know we are closer and closer to having our baby girl. This time I want to do a few things differently. A big one is that I want to get into baby wearing. Not that I did not want to wear Noah, I just didn't need to. I had both arms available for him. With 2 little ones, I won't be as lucky (unless having a second baby means I automatically sprout a second set of arms). In deciding to baby wear, I think I want to make my one ring sling and wrap. It will give me flexibility to have the stroller or grocery cart for Noah while I am "carrying" my little girl. Plus it will make breastfeeding on the go easier.
There are a million projects to work on in our house right now, and I am fixated on baby wearing devices. Hopefully we can get Noah's room "secured" this weekend. He is so big that it is time to convert his crib to a toddler bed.
We also get to clean out mommy and daddy's room and closet to make room for our little girl and to store their bigger clothes. Finish clearing out the dining room, move the eat-in play yard gate, and just clean out the house in general... so much to do and all I can focus on is the wraps/slings. I need help, lol!
There are a million projects to work on in our house right now, and I am fixated on baby wearing devices. Hopefully we can get Noah's room "secured" this weekend. He is so big that it is time to convert his crib to a toddler bed.
We also get to clean out mommy and daddy's room and closet to make room for our little girl and to store their bigger clothes. Finish clearing out the dining room, move the eat-in play yard gate, and just clean out the house in general... so much to do and all I can focus on is the wraps/slings. I need help, lol!
Monday, January 16, 2012
Easy Fudge
So, I love to make fudge for the holidays. Its easy, people enjoy it, and if I can give it away so there isn't too much in the house for me to eat!
Here is the recipe I follow (from Nestle Tollhouse) with my personal variations.
Fudge
Ingredients
1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
2/3 cup (5 fl.-oz. can) Evaporated Milk
2 tablespoons butter or margarine
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 cups miniature marshmallows
1 1/2 cups (9 oz.) Baking Chips
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Directions
Line 8-inch-square baking pan with foil or wax paper
COMBINE sugar, evaporated milk, butter and salt in medium, heavy-duty saucepan. Bring to a full rolling boil over medium heat, stirring constantly. Boil, stirring constantly, for 4 to 5 minutes. Remove from heat.
STIR in marshmallows, morsels, nuts and vanilla extract. Stir vigorously for 1 minute or until marshmallows are melted. Pour into prepared baking pan; refrigerate for 2 hours or until firm. Lift from pan; remove foil.
My Variations
I never take the pan off the heat before adding chips, marshmallows, etc, I simply turn the pan to low. If you take it off the heat, you may have to put it back on to melt what won’t melt. There are so many ways you can change this up to get the flavor you want. It is super easy to change it, which is why this is my FAVORITE recipe to follow.
Milk Chocolate (self-explanatory)
Use 1 ½ cups of milk chocolate chips
Milk Chocolate Pecan
Use 1 ½ cups of milk chocolate chips and ½ cup of pecans (or other preferred nut)
White Chocolate (again, self-explanatory)
Use 1 ½ cups of white chocolate chips
White Chocolate Peppermint
Use 1 ½ cups of white chocolate chips, and substitute 2 tsp of peppermint extract for the vanilla extract. Also, I crushed 3 candy canes and mixed half in and topped with the other half. For another variation, I have made this recipe with semi-sweet chips before if you prefer to the white chocolate and I noticed this year that Andes now sells their mints chopped up for baking, but I haven’t tried that yet.
Peanut butter Chocolate
This one is easier than the triple layer. I split everything down the middle. And combine separately then I layer it in the pan.
Layer 1 (chocolate)
3/4 cups granulated sugar
1/3 cup Evaporated Milk
1 tablespoons butter or margarine
1/8 teaspoon salt
1 cup marshmallows
¾ cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
½ tsp vanilla
Prepare as instructed and place in bottom of pan.
Layer 2 (Peanut Butter)
3/4 cups granulated sugar
1/3 cup Evaporated Milk
1 tablespoons butter or margarine
1/8 teaspoon salt
1 cups miniature marshmallows
3/4 cup Reeses peanut butter chips
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
Prepare as before and layer on top of chocolate.
You can also make a straight up peanut butter fudge by using peanut butter chips, or if you don’t care if the chocolate and peanut butter is layered or mixed you can buy premixed peanut butter and chocolate chips (or mix them yourself).
Triple Chocolate
This one is slightly more difficult to describe. I split every ingredient in thirds, or you can make a half batch of each flavor which would be easier to split. I could only do this one because of my kitchen scale.
Layer 1 (Semi-sweet)
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1.67 fl.-oz. Evaporated Milk
2/3 tablespoons butter or margarine
Pinch of salt
2/3 cups miniature marshmallows
1/2 cups Semi-sweet chips
1/3 teaspoon vanilla extract
Layer 2 (White Chocolate)
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1.67 fl.-oz. Evaporated Milk
2/3 tablespoons butter or margarine
Pinch of salt
2/3 cups miniature marshmallows
1/2 cups white chocolate chips
1/3 teaspoon vanilla extract
Layer 3 (Milk Chocolate)
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1.67 fl.-oz. Evaporated Milk
2/3 tablespoons butter or margarine
Pinch of salt
2/3 cups miniature marshmallows
1/2 cups milk chocolate chips
1/3 teaspoon vanilla extract
Prepare each layer as instructed and layer each of them.
I think I would have preferred this one with dark chocolate chips. Just me though. I wasn’t using dark chocolate for anything else though so I didn’t have any.
Here is the recipe I follow (from Nestle Tollhouse) with my personal variations.
Fudge
Ingredients
1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
2/3 cup (5 fl.-oz. can) Evaporated Milk
2 tablespoons butter or margarine
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 cups miniature marshmallows
1 1/2 cups (9 oz.) Baking Chips
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Directions
Line 8-inch-square baking pan with foil or wax paper
COMBINE sugar, evaporated milk, butter and salt in medium, heavy-duty saucepan. Bring to a full rolling boil over medium heat, stirring constantly. Boil, stirring constantly, for 4 to 5 minutes. Remove from heat.
STIR in marshmallows, morsels, nuts and vanilla extract. Stir vigorously for 1 minute or until marshmallows are melted. Pour into prepared baking pan; refrigerate for 2 hours or until firm. Lift from pan; remove foil.
My Variations
I never take the pan off the heat before adding chips, marshmallows, etc, I simply turn the pan to low. If you take it off the heat, you may have to put it back on to melt what won’t melt. There are so many ways you can change this up to get the flavor you want. It is super easy to change it, which is why this is my FAVORITE recipe to follow.
Milk Chocolate (self-explanatory)
Use 1 ½ cups of milk chocolate chips
Milk Chocolate Pecan
Use 1 ½ cups of milk chocolate chips and ½ cup of pecans (or other preferred nut)
White Chocolate (again, self-explanatory)
Use 1 ½ cups of white chocolate chips
White Chocolate Peppermint
Use 1 ½ cups of white chocolate chips, and substitute 2 tsp of peppermint extract for the vanilla extract. Also, I crushed 3 candy canes and mixed half in and topped with the other half. For another variation, I have made this recipe with semi-sweet chips before if you prefer to the white chocolate and I noticed this year that Andes now sells their mints chopped up for baking, but I haven’t tried that yet.
Peanut butter Chocolate
This one is easier than the triple layer. I split everything down the middle. And combine separately then I layer it in the pan.
Layer 1 (chocolate)
3/4 cups granulated sugar
1/3 cup Evaporated Milk
1 tablespoons butter or margarine
1/8 teaspoon salt
1 cup marshmallows
¾ cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
½ tsp vanilla
Prepare as instructed and place in bottom of pan.
Layer 2 (Peanut Butter)
3/4 cups granulated sugar
1/3 cup Evaporated Milk
1 tablespoons butter or margarine
1/8 teaspoon salt
1 cups miniature marshmallows
3/4 cup Reeses peanut butter chips
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
Prepare as before and layer on top of chocolate.
You can also make a straight up peanut butter fudge by using peanut butter chips, or if you don’t care if the chocolate and peanut butter is layered or mixed you can buy premixed peanut butter and chocolate chips (or mix them yourself).
Triple Chocolate
This one is slightly more difficult to describe. I split every ingredient in thirds, or you can make a half batch of each flavor which would be easier to split. I could only do this one because of my kitchen scale.
Layer 1 (Semi-sweet)
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1.67 fl.-oz. Evaporated Milk
2/3 tablespoons butter or margarine
Pinch of salt
2/3 cups miniature marshmallows
1/2 cups Semi-sweet chips
1/3 teaspoon vanilla extract
Layer 2 (White Chocolate)
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1.67 fl.-oz. Evaporated Milk
2/3 tablespoons butter or margarine
Pinch of salt
2/3 cups miniature marshmallows
1/2 cups white chocolate chips
1/3 teaspoon vanilla extract
Layer 3 (Milk Chocolate)
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1.67 fl.-oz. Evaporated Milk
2/3 tablespoons butter or margarine
Pinch of salt
2/3 cups miniature marshmallows
1/2 cups milk chocolate chips
1/3 teaspoon vanilla extract
Prepare each layer as instructed and layer each of them.
I think I would have preferred this one with dark chocolate chips. Just me though. I wasn’t using dark chocolate for anything else though so I didn’t have any.
Mommy blues
I don't know what is going on, but I have this attitude I cannot shake since last night. I wouldn't doubt if it is because I am exhausted, but I don't like it one bit.
I jumped all over my wonderful husband for the simplest things. While I'm not jumping on Noah and still being the mommy he knows I don't feel like doing it. Just hanging laundry, loading the dryer, and starting a new load of laundry left me feeling out of breath. I still need to finish organizing the dining room, clean out Noah's room, and make a plan of attack for getting the house cleaned up this week (when we went out of town, we left it looking ransacked and I have yet to start picking it up).
I need to organize coupons, peruse shopping ads, couponing websites, and make shopping plans for our groceries this week. It is equally frustrating that lockheed's email isn't cooperating so that I cannot get in touch with Jonnie easily. ARGH!
At least I am starting to wake up some.
I jumped all over my wonderful husband for the simplest things. While I'm not jumping on Noah and still being the mommy he knows I don't feel like doing it. Just hanging laundry, loading the dryer, and starting a new load of laundry left me feeling out of breath. I still need to finish organizing the dining room, clean out Noah's room, and make a plan of attack for getting the house cleaned up this week (when we went out of town, we left it looking ransacked and I have yet to start picking it up).
I need to organize coupons, peruse shopping ads, couponing websites, and make shopping plans for our groceries this week. It is equally frustrating that lockheed's email isn't cooperating so that I cannot get in touch with Jonnie easily. ARGH!
At least I am starting to wake up some.
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