A Happy Sunny Treasury

It really did snow last night... SO I thought I'd make a pretty, happy, sunny treasury to help me "think Spring"!

'Sun and Flowers' by JennyBunny

It snowed last night in Minnesota! I can't wait for these happy flowers to start growing!

Sunflower Absorbent Til... AngelEllie $16.00	Flower Hair Clip - Larg... BloomDesignStu... $8.00	Sunny Sunflower note ca... lemonlizard $15.00	Enjoy the Simple Things ParadaCreation... $19.00
Sunflower Watercolor Li... AlisaPaints $67.00	Double Sunflower Hoops ... SBJewelry $120.00	SUNFLOWER, Yellow Tutu,... TutuGorgeousGi... $26.95	Sunflowers.....a Scrabb... LittleputLand $14.95
Miniature Sunflower Bob... Flauxers $4.50	Pocket Mirror - Sunflow... HappyBugDesign... $3.00	Sunflower 8x10 inch woo... wayfaringart $50.00	Sunflower Beanie Hat Ne... LandyKnits $22.00
8x12 The Rising Sunflow... designedbydall... $30.00	Outdoor Pillow Cover - ... Mazizmuse $39.00	XL Golden knitted Sunfl... Yoola $39.00	Giant Sunflower 4x6 YourLittleDrea... $7.00

DUMPLINGS!

I baked a chicken the other day with stuffing, potatoes and gravy. It's one of Joe's favorite meals. (It's one of mine too!)

To use the chicken completely, I made soup the next day. The man wanted vegetables and noodles, but chicken-veggie-noodles just didn't sound good to me. I decided I wanted dumplings.

I've never made dumplings until yesterday.... I'm happily surprised at how easy it was!

Here's what I did-
I found my Joy of Cooking cookbook and searched for dumplings. There were seven different variations of them, which surprised me a little. The first one though, on page 334, was the one I needed for a soup!



Whisk together:
1 cup cake flour (1 cup regular flour, minus 2 T is the same thing
2 t baking powder
1/2 t salt

Break into a one cup measure (I used my glass Pyrex):
One egg
Then add enough milk to make it 1/2 cup.

Beat the wet ingredients well, then add to the dry.

The stiffer the batter, the better. You can add herbs if you want. I thought maybe some pepper and parsley added would have been yummy!

Make sure your soup or broth is simmering, then drop small spoonfuls of the batter into it. Don't over-crowd the pan since they expand quite a bit!

Cover and steam them for 10 or so minutes. If you are unsure if they are done, stick a toothpick in (just like a cake) and if it comes out clean, they are done!


They were so delicious that I ate six.... Yeah, I need to go exercise today at some point hardcore! :D




The Joy of Cooking is one of my favorite cookbooks! It's the perfect go-to guide for anything cooking related! Buy one! You will be so happy you did!

My nephew is my favorite person...

How true is this - "You are worried about seeing him spend his early years in doing nothing. What! Is it nothing to be happy? Nothing to skip, play, and run around all day long? Never in his life will he be so busy again." ~Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Emile, 1762

We had a very busy day yesterday.... Now, I'm listening to him talk to his grandpa... And I just love him.

Restless

So, I've been laid off for over 6 months now.... Finally, I'm getting bored, I think. Probably only of the constant day-to-day of "what do I do now?". I own a small business, so I have things to do... and I've really been amping up my listing/marketing/blogging/all that other business-y stuff...

The problem is my lack of human interaction, I reckon. Talking to people on facebook, yahoo messenger and twitter are NOT the same as face-to-face chatting with touch-able people. (Not that I'd touch people, but the option is there. I'm just not touchy-feely.)

I need a job outside of the house....

I went to a place to fill out an application today at a garden/flower place. I was one of many. There were two guys, maybe a little older than me, and an older lady. Somebody had just left too. In my brain, I'm going- "Ok, wow, this sucks. I'm just one-of-many unemployed persons. crap." Then I'm thinking, maybe just maybe I can find two seconds to schmooze this dude into thinking I'm the best...

He asked me two questions- "Do you have any disabilities?" and "Do you smoke?"

There was not much time for schmoozing and thus impressing the man with my awesomeness.

Now I wait.

I'll work on my business stuff, but I really need to get out of this house more.

Cheese/Organizing/Newsletter

I've been craving cheese for the last week again... I think my body is telling me I need calcium. Probably, right? I don't really like milk, but maybe I should eat more yogurt? No, even better... Ice cream!

Whilst ignoring the cheese calling me from the fridge, I've been working my heinie off organizing and listing items on my Etsy shop. It's tiring and lots of fun at the same time. Tiring that I have to do it almost constantly just get all of my 200+ items up there.... and Fun that I get to write all my goofy descriptions. And sometimes I really worry that they are uber goofy... enough to scare people away. It's not like I'm writing life stories about the items... but I just babble sometimes.

Like now.

Which reminds me, I wrote my newsletter for my business last night too... And I do babble! A LOT! Hopefully people find me endearing and not crazy.... :D

Anyways. I shall stop babbling at you now and go back to work.
Spring has sprung and I hope it's lovely for you!

xoxo
JB

Dieting?

I've been craving (I mean CRAVING) cheese for the last week. I even have some unopened in the fridge. I haven't eaten any though. I have to get skinny for the wedding, you know...?

I have an unGodly amount of pounds to lose, so I'm being good and not eating my cheese.

Oh, but I made cookies yesterday. I share half of them, mind you, but I still ate six. What sense does that make?!

Maybe I should have just had the cheese....

Tra-la-laaaa

I was sick all of February, but now I'm determined to get back into shape... Mentally and physically. It's daunting to be sick and feeling like you'll never be okay again...

A week back, I started cleaning up my work space downstairs (the full basement of a four level split) and it was tiring and messy. I annoyed myself with my mess, but I'm 75% there and still working on it.

Then I was going to start editing all my photos and listing things on my site... and the computer blew up. Not really like an explosion (though I wouldn't minded that actually happening) but it stopped working completely. Thank God for my dad having his old one. It was putzy until Joe installed our new virus protection... Who knew that 50 some viruses could slow a computer so much!?

My sister and I also may (I stress MAY) have found an investor for our business. I'm not even going to start telling anyone about it until I work out the kinks, but I'm optimistic, especially when said investor is a close family friend and a very nice man.

Today, I'm humming to myself while working on the mental clean-up. Later, I'm going to exercise. 14 months to the wedding and all.... I'm feeling okay, now, but there is so much to do. See ya!

I'm a slacker...

Seriously, I haven't blogged in forever... And I annoy myself. I annoy myself a lot actually.

Anyways, I've been sick this whole month. First the flu or something incredibly similar that didn't make me vomit or, well, you know, out the other end. I just had the chills and aches and pains.

NOW, I have strep or something of the sort. If I had insurance, I'd be at the doc checking it out, but, alas, I must home heal... Which means lots of hot chocolate and coughing. I'm ok with that. :D

BUT, I'm cleaning today... I'm going to finish organizing my craft room then... then, i'm going to set up the puzzle I bought as a reward for cleaning and work on making a quilt.... And I'm going to do all of this while job hunting, because being laid off is less fun than I thought the first month!

I'll let you know how that goes since I'm (hopefully) on the upswing of the sickness thing... And I'm hoping to keep blogging.

xoxo
JB