winner, winner, chicken dinner

I have winners!  I had opened up the contest to facebook as well, and I used a random number generator to select the winners....so.... Genevieve, Tricia, and Ashlee, you win!  I will contact you shortly for details on how to get you your earrings!

YAY!!! A GIVE AWAY!!! YOU HAVE TO POST A COMMENT FOR A CHANCE TO WIN!

See those earrings up there?  Pretty cool huh?  If you you would like to own one of the three pairs that I'm giving away, let me know in the comments.  I will randomly select three winners on Wednesday, December 14th.  Good Luck!!!

I am having a give away post TOMORROW!!!  Woo hoo!!  Free things are always nice, and free things around Christmas time are even better!

It's the week before finals....bear with me.


I will have a give away this week.  So don't loose all hope in me and this blog yet!

28

Today, I am 28.  It's odd to think that I am 28.  I don't feel like I'm 28. I guess it's a good thing.


I made cupcakes to take to school today.  I would show you all a picture of what they looked like, but I forgot to get my camera out before I let all the dental assisting girls eat them.


I do have some pictures to share with you of the Christmas ornaments that I made.  Unfortunately I left the memory card at  home, so you will have to wait til tomorrow for that.  I think they turned out really nice, so I'm excited to share them with you.

Here's what I'm doing tonight:

It's homework.  Dental Charting to be specific.  These pictures(taken with my cell phone) prove that my Thanksgiving break is over.  It's kind of sad.  I was enjoying being with my husband during the day. Tomorrow is my first day back to school.  I don't have class til 12, so it will be an easy start to the week.


I made some new stuff for the shop today.  I have now have a bunch of new things that need to be listed, but I haven't gotten around to it.  I'm an excellent procrastinator.


What do you always put off doing?

Look up.  


Do you see what's in the left hand side of my banner?  Yup, it's a birthday cake.  But I'm not the only one getting treated this coming week.  Nope.  I have something for you too!!!   I'm giving you 28% (because I'm turning 28) off your entire order from my etsy shop!!!!  Just in time for Christmas too!  So shoo!  Go to my shop(www.notimefortea.etsy.com ) and get your discount!  Enter 28BDAYWK at check out!   

I love Thanksgiving.  It has always been my favorite holiday.  And for good reason too.  Gifts.  No one stresses out about gifts on Thanksgiving.  It's about family, friends, food, and most of all, being thankful for what you have.  It isn't a time to dwell on the things you don't have. 


This  Thanksgiving, Paul and I went to his parent's house.  We went there last year too.  Paul's nephew, Jonathan, surprised everyone this year.  He had said that he wouldn't be able to come home and celebrate with the family,  but on Wednesday he came home and surprised his mom where she works.  It was good to see him.  
The best part of this year's Thanksgiving didn't even happen on the actual day, but rather today.  Paul and I gathered at his parent's house again today for a lunch of left overs.  While we were still seating ourselves and getting ready for prayer, Paul's dad announced that he felt very blessed today because for the first time in his life, he understood who Jesus is.  It was an announcement that brought him (and almost me) to tears.  He said that this year he truly had something to be thankful for.  I agree.

I've been debating on wether or not to sell house shoes in the shop.  I'm leaning towards no right now.  I think I need more practice on making them first.  I'm still getting the hang of them, so sometimes the size doesn't quite turn out right.  I can't sell  product if I'm not happy with it. 



In other news....  I have the day off work so I actually get to spend time with my hubby tonight. I'm excited :)

Blame it on Dental School

Okay, so I'm REALLY behind in blogging.  I blame school.  It is very time consuming.  But I guess not time consuming enough, because I opened up an etsy shop recently.  So, I think that a weekly post is in order now, even if just to track my etsy progress and the tips and tricks for the week.

Tomato Mozzarella Salad

I get asked how to make this all the time.  I thought I would share with the world.

First off, you are going to need stuff.  Stuff like tomatoes, mozzarella, balsamic vinaigrette, and basil. 

 Fresh basil.  

Next, you have to chop up your tomatoes (4-5 of them) like this:

Then your ball of mozzarella like so:

Then cut your basil with a pair of scissors :

Then put all of this yummy goodness into a bowl

Drizzle balsamic vinaigrette to coat :

Mix well and enjoy!!!

Cake Pop Catastrophe!

I had a learning experience yesterday.  Not always the most fun thing to have, but failure is an option if you can learn from it.  I made cake pops.  I was really excited to make them.  I thought for sure it would be a success.  And in a way it was. 

For those of you who don't know what cake pops are, they are cake that has been crumbled and then mixed with frosting.  Then a stick is stuck in them and they are dipped in chocolate or candy coating.  And they are tasty.

My first mistake with making these was following the directions.  The directions told me to use nearly all of the frosting, and I should have just used half.  The cake was too soft after I used all that frosting and I had to grease my hands to keep the cake from sticking to me and turning to mush in my hands.

My  second mistake was my fault.  I guess I need more patience. I didn't leave the cake in the freezer long enough to set up properly for dipping in the white chocolate.  

My third mistake was following the directions.  The directions said to stick the sucker sticks (in my case: coffee stirrer straws cause the store didn't have sucker sticks) in a little less than half way.  I should have but them in 7/8 of the way.  I ended up having to shove the sticks in further after the first attempt at coating them in white chocolate ended with the ball falling into the bowl of ooey gooey white chocolate.

My fourth mistake was my fault.  I didn't have the proper kind of styrofoam.  I needed florist styrofoam, but I had packing styrofoam.  So I wasn't able to stick the handles of the cake pops into the styrofoam and ended up having to set them down on the ball part so all my cake pops have flat tops.

Also, I should have bought two bags of the white almond bark instead of one.

I'm going to make them for my family reunion coming up soon.  Hopefully all goes well with the cake pops then.

Here's a happy little picture of my tea party with Joy last night since I didn't have good pictures to share of the cake pop making process:

Thank you, no really, Thank you.

My kitchen table is littered with the efforts of writing out 58 thank you cards.  I have paper, envelopes, stamps (both rubber for decorating the envelope and the us postal service kind), addresses, pens, and wedding cards that were given to us.  Oh, and my coffee mug and cell phone.  I think I'm done now with the cards...At least I hope I'm done.

It is finished!!  We have completed the kitchen and bathroom paint jobs!!!  

Here's the after!

And, here's the bathroom:

So, I'm going to paint the bathroom too. I figure why not? We already have the supplies. It's going to be a light grey.  I'm so ready for it to be painted. It will look cleaner. The bathroom is small, so it's hard to take pictures of, but here is what it looked like when I moved in:

The Mister and I are going to paint the kitchen today.  His mother gave us some yellow paint and we've decided that today is the day.  We went to Ikea earlier and just got back.  We bought some shelf brackets that will go up once the paint dries.


Here are a few "Before" pictures so that you can see what it looked when I moved in:

This was the view when you stood at the entry to the kitchen, not so pretty.

The sink and scant amount of counter space.  Again, not so pretty.

Okay, lets face it, it is an ugly kitchen.