July 4th (I know I am late on the post)

We had a lot of people over for the party, about 50 or more.  We kind of had an open house which works really well so the house doesn't get so crowded, everybody seems to congregate in the kitchen.  We will have to rearrange the floor plan for the next party.  It did not flow as well as Easter did.  I, as usual, forgot to take photos and the only one I have is from a dessert I made.  I saw this little goodie in Williams and Sonoma, my personal toy store, and it was only $9.99 and I had a little spending money for it. 

It is called an Apple Pie Mold and they have different ones, they do not seem to sell the others online, just the apple one.

This side does not have a leaf cut on it.

This side has a leaf cut out on it

So to make the pie(s) you need the following

You need parchment paper, 1 egg scrambled (not cooked), pastry brush and pie filling.  Tape the parchment paper down to the countertop if it curls up.  Then place the dough onto it and if you have homemade dough start rolling it out. 

Take your dough and if it is premade, pull it out a little- just not to much you do not want it to tear.

Press one side of the back of the mold into the dough.  Unless you are planning on frying it then you do not need the side that has the leaf cut out.  You will want to make two of the side that does not have a cut out

Then turn it over and make an impression of the other side.

When you get done you will have two leaf cut outs and two non leaf cut outs.  Again unless you are frying it and then you will have 4 of the non-leaf cutouts.

Carefully pull the leaf cut out off the parchment paper.  The lift one of the non-cut out pieces off of the paper.

Put it on the side that has no crimp marks on it.

(Ignore this picture and the fact I did it the wrong way)

The piece should be on the non crimp side this was the first one I made but the only picture I have of the filling and egg wash.

Put about 2-3 Tablespoons of filling in the pie holder, then go around the edges with a little egg wash-this is the glue.

Then place the one with the leaf cut out on top and fold the apple mold back in half.

Press down to seal and then open it back up.

Remove from the mold and then do the next one. 

It seems like a lot of work but I made 16 of them very quickly since I bought pre-made dough already rolled out.  Wal-mart has their own brand that is about $1.27 per box and there are 2 in the box.

Now after you make them you HAVE to freeze them before baking.  So I made these the weekend before July 4th.  All I had to do the day of was pop them in the oven frozen and bake 10-15 minutes.  It worked better because they were more fresh and the dessert table always had fresh hot apple, cherry and blueberry pie. 

The bad part was as I got them out of the oven they were devoured and I did not get to get a picture of them cooked.  Well there will be more parties and so many opportunites to use them other than pies.  If you have kids you can make PB&J sandwiches and seal them for kids who like Un-Crustables it is a cheaper version.  Plus this means you can make it with real whole grain bread and natural peanut butter with a less processed jam. 

Giveaway from Bentobloggy for CSN!!

I love CSN Stores, everything under one Internet "Roof" that you can possibly buy.  I also love Bentobloggy, because she always has such wonderful and cute ways to get kids to eat their veggies.  She is having a giveaway right now for a $40.00 gift card and all you have to do is become a follower.  It is really like getting two prizes, once you become a follower you will always see her recipe and food ideas.  So go on over to her blog Bentobloggy and enter now. :)

I am so stealing this idea!!!

I do not like clutter, see previous post below.  I feel that when you are organized you can stay on track time wise.  I am always trying to find new ways to store stuff but still make it look good.  When we bought this house I had intentions for every room and we are slowly working on one room at a time.  We have this one room in the house, we shall call it Renee's Room, that I love to be in.  The problem is that I HATE the color.  It is a tangerine pink orange, basically puke color.  When I am in the room I just want to paint it, I use this room to grow my herb garden in, it is a Florida Room and with its huge windows it gets a lot of light. 

My problem is that I can not settle on a color, I love the french cottage look with a mix of traditional and a little Americana country. LOL   So I was skipping through my google reader and happened upon an idea.  AJ and I love board games and we hope that with the nephews in and out of the house, this room will become a indoor (but feels like outdoor) playroom.  We love to be outside but please in Florida it is impossible to tolerate the humid heat from 10-4.  So I was thinking maybe a reading and board game room.  We have a large table in there and a couch I love to read in.  The board games though take up shelf space and the boxes they come in do not hold up well.  So Beckie from Infarrantly Creative has this cute idea that can also function as art. 

Makes perfect art!

Plus all the pieces to the games store on the back of the frame.

Perfect for my room, wall art and storage, check and check. Here are a few photos, for the how to and materials needed click here. Now I just need to find my power tools, pick a wall color and I am ready to go!

Renee

I WOOOONNNN!!!!!

I follow quite a few blogs, but one of my fave is from the Bird and Berry.  She has such wonderful ideas and prizes, being one that I have looked at for awhile now and I won one.  I am Mrs. Organization and I have that motto, A Place for Everything and Everything In It's Place.  I know I am a dreamer, because we don't have kids and I know that one day I will be ripping my hair out and loving it at the same time. LOL

Well Jill had a contest for a Cansolidator from Shelf Reliance and I have been WANTING one for years. 

So I came home one day to this:

Come to MAMA!!!!

So I opened the brown box and found this inside:

Then opened this box to find all the goodies inside:

So I looked over the instructions, very short and sweet, my kind of project:

You put together the railings first, which is basically the frame of it:

After the rails you put the sides on, you start with the first one on either end, you pick:

Then you add the other railing to the other side. You can't really see it close up, because my camera is

misbehaving, but there are numbers on the railings (this will come in handy on the next step:

Then you select any can in your pantry, I selected a larger can, yeah this can did not last long I love pineapple.  OK, back from pineapple land, you line up the can against the side to see what number the can lines up with:

You pop the next side into the number so the can fits kind of snug, but not so snug it won't roll.  Before I started the next side I tested it to make sure it ran through before moving onto the next.  The directions do not say to do this but I am a little retentive:

So you just continue on the path using large cans and small cans to measure spaces until you get to where you are out of side.  Trust me you will have enough if you use all small cans or all large cans:

I am still building my new pantry so I have not had a chance to put it in there yet.  I am using it though, it is just in my temporary pantry the armoire:

Please ignore the kitchen, we are getting ready to rip everything out and rebuild it.  I really dislike the cabinets from the 70's painted white and the drawers that no longer work.  I will keep everyone updated!!!

Love to all!!!

Renee

Seriously, why did no one tell me about this!?!?

AJ and I were driving last night to go set up one of his shows at the mall, on our way there we were listening to the radio and talking.  Well, the guys on the radio started talking about desserts, umm hello, my favorite subject.  The one guy said his girlfriend has to go to this place every time she is in Winter Park (we both got excited, we are driving right by there at the current time) and they have the best frozen yogurt ever.  By this time we are both reaching for the dial to turn it up and shushing each other.  They kept talking about all the different flavors (all non-fat, even better) and toppings, seriously give me the name radio guy!  He finally gives the name but can not reveal the address since they are not one of their clients.  He did however say it was close to an ABC liquor store in Winter Park, OK thanks now I can pull over and ask the local drunk where it is.  So we are driving down 17-92 close to the Winter Park Mall, in fact we already passed the Mall, but we are keeping our hungry eyes open.  No ABC in site, so we get to the venue and set up and then leave.  AJ drives down 17-92 on the way back and now we are really looking and we almost gave up but what do my eyes see an ABC, not being much of a drinker, I was never in my life happier to see one.  I see it and AJ literally passed it and said yep there it is, well now we know where it is. WHAT!?!? Are you out of your mind, I am PMSing and you had better turn around.  LOL 

So he teased me and went a few blocks down before turning around, he even mentioned that there was a Stone Cold Creamery not much farther.  (I love that place, but please non-fat yogurt any flavor, some I have yet to taste, turn around and get me to that yogurt place!)  So we arrive and not only is there a Starbucks and a Planet Smoothie there too, my other favs, but this new love of my life called Yogurt Land! 

So you walk in and they greet you, the environment is very clean and very IKEA feeling with a Japanese twist.  They ask you if you would like a sample cup, they give you these little cups, probably between the size of 1/16 and 1/8 of a cup.  Then they release you into the wild land of machines.  All of the yogurt machines are built into the wall, the machines are filled in the back where you can not see, I am dreaming of little Oompa Loompa's singing and filling these machines.

Oompa Loompa doo pa de do

I've gotta another flavor for you...

OK, maybe not but getting back on track.  So you can try as many as you like and find your favorite or favorites.  You get a cup from the back of the store and you find your favorite on the wall and put as much or as little as you want in the cup. Now let's talk about these cups or as I will call them pint, larger than a pint and "why are you even bothering with the non-fat".  I got the pint size, since it is the smallest, and hubbie got the "larger than a pint".  I found the coconut flavor and the pineapple flavor divine and AJ got the strawberry flavor and the dark chocolate flavor.  The cool this is they have three handles on each machine and the handle on the right is one flavor and the one on the left is the other flavor, the one in the middle mixes both the flavors together, if you want.  The best part is they seem to have a Oompa Loompa mixologist back there because ever flavor that was together in the machines went together really well.  So mine was more like a pina colada and AJ had chocolate covered strawberry.  Now comes the super cool fun part and dangerous, but we will get to that in a minute.  They had crushed candies of all sorts, fruits, chocolate syrups, caramel syrups, crushed graham crackers, nuts, cereals, you name it they had it.  (Their topping list is on their website under menu)

So I added to mine, walnuts, white chocolate chips, pineapple, coconut flakes, Ghiradelli White Chocolate Syrup, graham crackers and caramel sauce. Hey I see you judging, yeah you in the back row, I would just like to say that this will probably be a once in a huge blue moon thing so sit down and stop judging. :)  Now, hubbie I do not even want to know what he put in his, but if it is related to chocolate anything it went in there.

So now comes the dangerous part, you have to put your cup on a scale at the register to be weighed.  It is .30 cents an ounce, mine wasn't to bad since I did not fill the cup.  Mine was more like a sampling to see if it would be a new special place a total of $3.25.  AJ on the other hand, umm yeah, the total cost for both of us was $10.56, next time he will be getting the smaller cup.  He swore to me that he did not know there was a smaller one, I am on to you Mr.

The other thing to know is that they do not sell drinks there, they do however have a water fountain, like the ones you see with fruit punch in them, but with cold water and cups for free.  I should have probably used the water glass to get the yogurt in instead of the extra large posing as a small cup.  All in all I would go again in a heartbeat, but maybe after our waistlines and wallets recoup a little.  Their current locations are Arizona, California, Colorado,  Florida, Hawaii, Nevada, Texas, Utah and even International (Guam, Japan and Mexico). If you go on their website you can search location for one listed by you. 

Over the shampoo

I know it sounds like a weird title, but I really am done with the shampoo.  I have noticed that the more I wash my hair the greasier it looks.  Not only that but my hair will not do anything, oh the joys of living in Florida with humidity.  People that come from up North to visit the great state of Florida may think that we have no style but after a few days at Mickey Mouse land with humidity reaching its peak they realize why we stick with boring straight hair, nothing says fun like hair spray and gel leaking into the eye.  :)  Well that is unless you have curly hair and then it is just frizz.  Anyhoo, anyone who knows me, my hair is fine and straight and will not hold a curl.  My scalp has become an obsession, all day I want to sit on my hands to keep from itching it.  Arrggghhh!  The funny thing is I have no dandruff, just itchy scalp.  So I started to search and search for solutions until one day I was going through my google reader and low and behold on one of the blogs a solution.  Baking soda and Apple Cider Vinegar or has been titled No More 'Poo!  I love the back to basics website and I think she may have saved me, after finding this I did more research and started on my quest this morning.  I took a shower and washed my hair with baking soda and apple cider vinegar!  I even scrubbed my face with some of the baking soda as it fell on my face (keep your eyes closed while pouring on your scalp).  My hair felt a little lighter and bouncier, granted they all say the first three washes are basically cleaning out all the gunk from the other shampoos and after 2 weeks it will look fabulous.  I thought that the vinegar smell would be strong all day in my hair, but honestly I can not even smell it.  From what I have read on other sites some people boil the apple cider vinegar with mint leaves and put it in a squeeze bottle.  From what I have seen, after your hair has been without 'poo for awhile and you use this, your hair will become less and less greasy!  Shampoo basically strips all the healthy oils out of your hair and your hair over produces the oil to compensate.  I will blog in two weeks to see where I am at with the no 'poo thing.  I can honestly say that yesterday morning I used shampoo and everyday by 4:00 it looks all greasy (yeah it is that bad).  I will have to see how it goes over the next two weeks.  For those of you not will to go without the 'poo, some people combine baking soda with the 'poo or there is another product called WEN and I did use it for awhile and loved it, I did not love the cost though!

Also, totally off topic but I have a new obsession it is called the Farmer's Market.  I use to go to them about once a month but now I find myself going once every weekend!  I bring my little collapsible cart with me and start with the fresh herbs, basil, rosemary.  Last month I bought 4 HUGE basil plants at $1 each and 1 rosemary plant, this sucker was 3 feet tall for only $3.00.  Every time I go I get fresh tomatoes and garlic and on the way out there is a guy who sells the best bread evah!  I go home chop up the tomatoes, some garlic a little onion, basil, rosemary, salt, pepper and some olive oil. Walla instant Bruschetta, so easy, I think I will post this after Saturdays excursion to the market.  On a side note though I would LOVE to have a true Farmer's Cart a la France:

The only problem is these suckers are about $180.00, maybe one day I will get lucky and trip upon one in a thrift store.  A girl can dream!

One toe on the edge...

Have you ever had one of those days, months or years.......well I am having them all at once.

My whole life I have been raised one way and now I am on the edge of doing everything the complete opposite.  (To all who are reading this is not one of those feel good stories with a happy ending, lol)

It all started when we moved to Saint Augustine for my job transfer.  We moved up there loving the area and had thought that we would be there for a long time, like as in forever.  We first had to sell our house in Orlando and in the meantime we moved into a condo rental.  Once the house sold we bought the house we wanted to live in (again) forever.  I loved that house and so did AJ, it had everything we wanted and more. It had a lovely kitchen and huge backyard with no pool, my two requirements when we were looking.  We owned a home with a pool before and I did not want another one. :)

We lived there very happy until I got notice that due to the unfortunate circumstance that building houses in that area had pretty much ceased.  Everything in Jacksonville and St. Augustine pretty much halted overnight.  So about that time AJ's job had started cutting back and they took a LIFO approach to it (last in first out). My job gave me the opportunity to move back down to Orlando and take my job here back.  So we packed up and had to move back in with my parents until we could lick our wounds and figure out what to do.  We still had to sell the house up in St. Augustine, yea right.  So we talked to a realtor and she said nothing is selling, everyone is renting right now, you are better off renting it out.  We found a property manager who was very reasonable and who could show up at midnight if there was an issue with the house.

So we had thought that in about 6 months most of the stuff would straighten itself out and we would be able to start listing the house and move on.  What is that country saying about if you want to here God laugh tell him your plan.  God has a reason as to why things happen and when and it is not ours to question why, all will be revealed in time. 

Well we were only able to get rent paying half of the mortgage and we had to come up with the other half.  My wonderful parents were letting us live with them rent free so we could pay off a few bills.  In the meantime the house next door to my parents went up on a foreclosure auction and we were able to get it for next to nothing.  We had now not been living in the house in St. Augustine for a year and we had not had a tenant for 6 months and the house was now going to be in a short sale process.  This process is, for example, when you owe $250,000.00 on the house and the current market value is at $150,000.00 and you get the bank to approve the $150,000.00 for another buyer, which takes 6-8 months and a lot of paperwork.  We had an offer and everything was clicking right along and the bank approved it and the buyer walked away.  Arrgghhh. We put up the house again, now at the "bank approved" price of $150,000.00 and got the new offer, hopefully we will close in 60 days. That is the story of the St. Augustine house and the short sale.

So in September of 2009 AJ stated complaing about his back more and more and he finally went to see a orthopedic doctor. They did a Cat scan that showed a herniated disk and they tried therapy, hot and cold, massage, physical...etc.  None of these were helping and because his job is bending, pushing, pulling and lifting about 6 hours a day it was exasberating the problem and the Dr. said they would now try epidural steriod shots, once a week for 3 weeks.  So in November was when this started and before his third shot he was not getting better, it was getting worse.  He was only sleeping 1-3 hours a night and getting up and down all night and then sleeping on the couch to the lazy boy to the bed. So after talking to the Doctor he said the last resort is surgery and the sooner the better before he herniated another disk.  Even better news was that he would not be able to work for about 2-6 months and no they could not narrow it down any closer until he started therapy 6 weeks after the surgery.  So December 22, 2009 he had the surgery to remove the herniated spot on his back, luckily they got it before it got anymore inflammed and herniated another disk.  Since it was the end of the year and we were close to our deductible we only had to pay 350.00 out of pocket,everything else was covered.  6 weeks later he started his therapy and noticed a difference in the feeling in his arms and legs which was a fantastic sign, before the surgery the nerve on the left side of his body was pinched so bad he was dropping stiff.  His left leg hurt all the time and he was having random spasms that added to the no sleep, now they were virtually gone and with time as the nerves healed it would disappeat completely.  He was also himself again, not so grumpy, tired and hard to be around, he was my AJ again, loving, funny and wanted to do stuff.  His therapy though was 2-3 times a week and costs $50.00 each visit.  His job was keeping his position open just in case he could return in the first 2 months.  When he called them to say he was allowed to work in February but only 5 hours a day and it had to be sitting for 3 of those hours, they decided to let him go.  Which would be a blessing because with no work we had no money, at least now he could claim unemployment and we could eat again.  Well that was about 6 weeks ago and we have yet to see a check from unemployment.  When he called they said that since he was let go for medical reasons and that they were investigating it before they would pay any money.  He still needs to claim his weeks and they will pay in one lump sum at the time the investigation is done.  In the meantime he is looking for work and trying to get a job but no one is hiring for desk jobs and certainly not for 5 hours a day.  So luckily my old employer was having some issues with his employees and was looking to outsource the work to AJ.  My old job was working with a sports authentication company, we bought and sold sports memorabilia, authenticated signatures, graded sports cards..etc.  He was looking to sell most of his stuff on Ebay and we have an EBay store and AJ lists and sells stuff for him and AJ gets to keep a percentage of each sale.  It will take about 3-4 months to where we are making a profit but it is a start, such that even if he gets a job he can still do this and I can help out too. 

So now back to why I have one toe on the edge.....  We are drowning and I feel like everytime I swim to the surface I get one gulp of air and I am dragged back to the bottom again.  We have fought this idea with every ounce of will power and have tried to think of so many solutions that we are out of options.  AJ and I have always been they type of couple that never really fight, if we ever do I am more the person who is irrational and screams and yells.  Go figure and Irish, Taurus, redhead with a temper, never would have guessed.  :)  I have learned over the eight years we have been married to just let it go and not yell but try to have a rational discussion and it gets me a lot farther and AJ tends to listen to me better when my face is not beet red and spinning around like crazy. LOL  We have sat and talked and talked until our mouths just want to fall off and we have written down and tried to plan on how to pay back all this stuff. We also learned in the interim of all this that they bank can come after us for the $100,000.00 difference on the house.  We also have racked up the credit cards due to him not being out of work and having to pay for therapy and other stuff when the money wasn't there.  I have been raised that if you do not have the cash you don't need it, but when it comes to your health I am sorry but I am going to charge something if it means my husband getting better.  So now the lake is getting deeper and I am tired of trying to swim to the top, we have decided to claim bankruptcy, sell one of the cars (since AJ works from home), my Dad decided to let us use the truck, since he has the smart car, in case AJ needs to go somewhere or he gets another job.  It has been the HARDEST decision of our life and we really do not want to do this.  I decided to put this on my blog to help me, mostly because I don't want people to think bad of us and even if they do I do not have the will anymore to really care.  I am tired, depressed and really in the mood to hit something.  AJ has been such a help in taking care of the stuff at home so that is a huge weight off my shoulders.  He works at the computer about 8-11 hours a day listing items for sale on Ebay and it is picking up.  Hopefully we will hear something on Monday about the unemployment (I really hate that word, to me it means defeat).  What really gets me though about this whole thing is that AJ and I are really hard workers.  He has been working since he was about 14-15 years old. He always bought his own clothes, food, etc., because he said his Mom really didn't care about him.  I always worked for my Mom and her business when I was younger during the summer throughout high school and even through college.  Both AJ and I have had jobs where we worked 80 plus hours and have never asked the goverment for help.  I have always paid my bills on time and paid them off and kept them down, had a savings, yada yada yada.  We have been paying into the system forever and the one time we need it he is being investigated. We stopped the fertility treatments back in November due to the fact we knew all the stuff AJ needed was going to cost money and we wanted to save for that but the money goes faster than you think.   I could sit here and go on and on but I hope you understand and know that we need a fresh start, we need to be able to breathe again and not feel so hopeless.