Scrapbooking Like Crazy!

I haven't been around the blogging block in a while and that is because I have been spending my very limited free time doing scrapbooking. It all started when the Scrapbook Expo visited about a month ago. I found deals that were 75% or more off retail. I spent 2 hours at the expo and left with enough supplies to keep me busy for a very long time. I have been creating fabulous page layouts almost every night, and I am happy. I am more patient with the kids, I am excited to see my works of art and I am doing something that is just for fun with no kid intervention. I love it!

I do have a question for all you scrapbookers out there. I'm curious to find out what adhesives you use on your layouts and pictures, and why you use them. I have recently discovered that adhesives go fast and are rather expensive to replace. Next time I purchase some, I'd like to be armed with the advice from my best scrapbooker gals!

French Fruit Tarts

I have joined a local cooking club, and last Tuesday we were all asked to bring something from a bakery. When I think of a bakery, I remember the delicious looking items I saw in the windows as I backpacked through Europe. I decided to recreate some one of these items, and it was a success.



French Fruit Tarts
Chef Melissa Pearson


Ingredients
2 cups all purpose flour
1/8 teaspoon salt
½ cup butter
2 teaspoons sugar
1 egg yolk, beaten
cold water

For the filling
8 oz soft cream cheese
2 tablespoons sugar
1 teaspoon grated lemon zest
Raspberries and/or blueberries

For glaze
4 tablespoons apricot, peach or mango jam
4 tablespoons water

Makes 24

Sift the flour and salt into a bowl. Cut the butter into the flour. Add the sugar. Add the egg yolk and enough cold water to make a smooth dough. Knead lightly and cover with plastic wrap. Put into the fridge for thirty minutes. Roll out the pastry 1/4 inch and cut out rounds of pastry using a 2 to 3 inch pastry cutter. Line the tins with the pastry rounds and put into the fridge for 15 minutes. Heat the oven to 400 degrees.

Prick the bases of the tartlet cases with a fork. Bake in the oven for twelve minutes. Put on a wire rack to cool.

Make the glaze by putting the jam and water into a small pan. Bring to a boil, stirring all the time. Put jam mixture into a clean pan and keep warm. To make the filling, beat the cream cheese with the sugar and lemon zest. Spread a little in each pastry case. Top with a selection of fruits and using a pastry brush, brush a little glaze onto the fruit, covering the tartlets up to the pastry edge.

Keep in mind that you will need one or two mini muffin pans to make the tarts.

Dancing with Levi

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9 Months Old

Today Ian turned 9 months old. He's celebrated the day by going to the doctor for shots, which he was very unhappy about. He then spent many hours playing toys with Anna, or I should say that he spent many hours trying to play with toys that Anna kept taking away from him.

Ian is my tall skinny boy. His height is in the 75th percentile while his weight is in the 25th. He's been crawling around the house since 7 months old, and is fast enough to keep Atticus the cat running for cover. Ian is very curious about everything and rarely misses anything happening around him. In only 9 months, he's grown so much and still fills my life with joy. How on earth did I ever get by without him?

Tonsillectomy

On July 31st I had my tonsils savagely ripped from my throat and placed in the garbage. What sort of cruel world do we live in where people walk into these torture chambers (called hospitals), willingly sign the consent forms saying they acknowledge that they could "die" from the procedure and won't sue the doctor, and then allow themselves to be put to sleep while crazed doctors and their sidekick nurses go to town cutting into their bodies? It is our world! We are the people who sit by and let these things happen. the Doctors and Nurses could very well be vacationing in Hawaii during our painful recoveries. They give us drugs like Percoet and Loratab to keep us happy until the pain subsides, but what we don't realize is that we're given just enough medicine to keep us happy for like 4-5 days, and the pain doesn't stop that early. No my friends, the pain rarely stops that early.

I stumbled across this website before my surgery and boy did the advice on it help! Most people think that tonsil removal for an adult would be easy, but let me assure you that it is quite difficult.

I am so grateful that Levi took a week off work to take care of me and the kids through the most difficult stage of my recovery. He was wonderful! He made sure I stayed hydrated, ate at least a little food, and kept me up on my meds. He took complete care of the kids, the cat and the house as well. By the end of the week, he was anxious to get back to work! I imagine that he found homemaking life a bit more challenging then he expected. :) Thank you Levi!

4th of July Fun

The month of July is almost over and I'm finally getting around to post our adventures over the 4th of July weekend. We drove to Washington to spend some time with Levi's parents. When we arrived, Anna was thrilled to discover a big house to explore, a young Doberman Pincher, a pink bed with her name on it, and a basket of new toys. What more could a 2 year old ask for? One of those new toys was a stick horse. Anna would drag it downstairs, place it on the coffee table and put it to sleep. Thinking back, I still giggle at my funny girl.


On the 4th of July, we attended a local parade and browsed stalls for trinkets. Anna received so much candy from the parade, we were having to sneak much of it away while she wasn't looking.

That evening we were able to watch the fireworks off the balcony as they exploded over the Puget Sound. That view will always be one of my favorites. It was fun to eat kettle popcorn and watch the fireworks explode. This year they had some fun heart shapes and smiley faces. Loved those!

During our visit we were able to make arrangements to visit with our friends Jason, Carla and their toddler Cora. They now live under 20 miles away from Levi's parents, so it was exciting to visit with them after being apart for a year. Anna and Cora were born a week apart and spent much of their first year together. After a year apart, it was so exciting to see the girls play together again. They ran through the house laughing, hugging and getting into general mischief. It was fun to see Jason and Carla again after so long. Even though it's been a year, it felt like old times with our visit.



We visited the Tall Ships museum and saw a replica of Columbus's ship. I was very surprised at the small size of the ship. During that visit, we were able to board a military boat and see the ships up close. On the dock, there were people dressed in pirate costumes and making the general atmosphere fun. One pirate had a pet rat that Ian enjoyed touching with his pointer finger. I wasn't fast enough catching the picture, but here is a cute one.





Our last days there were spent at the Tacoma zoo and at the beach. The zoo was exciting for the kids and Anna especially enjoyed feeding the petting zoo animals. The beach is in walking distance from the Pearson's home. Anna delighted in playing in the water and couldn't understand why us adults kept trying to point out sea shells and other boring things. Water is so much more exciting.





We enjoyed our 4 of July weekend and are grateful to Levi's parents for opening up their home for our family.

Little Red Riding Hood

On June 7th I participated in an organized cycling ride called the "Little Red Riding Hood". It's a women's only ride and started in Wellsville Utah. Depending on the rout and distance you choose, can take you up to the Idaho border. As I had only given birth to Ian 6 months ago, I choose to do a shorter distance ride. I was shooting for 45 miles, but realized that my body had had enough by 30 miles. I decided to ride long enough to make it to the next rest stop, and ended up riding a total of 40 miles. I was able to borrow a cell phone and called Levi to come find me.

Although I was disappointed that I couldn't finish the last 5 miles, I am proud that I didn't completely give up at 30 miles. I weigh 25 pounds more than I did 4 years ago when I first participated, and that extra weight certainly made a big difference in my performance. Last time I was able to finish 70 miles, and I was certainly tired afterward. I hope to be lighter and in better shape for next year's event.