For the Farmgirl at heart

Everything farmgirl, vintage, handmade, homemade, fabulous and fun!

Monday, September 26, 2011

Where have all the photos gone?

How come half of my photos don't show up on my posts?  They are there when I write the post.  And when I publish it and check that it worked.  But then the next day, they are gone!  There is just that stupid blue box with the question mark in it...mocking me.  What's up with that?

Someday I will conquer this thing they call a computer.  I will know all of it's secrets and it will no longer outsmart me.  At least it won't outsmart me as often.

Maybe.

More than likely, I will never outsmart the computer.  But that did make me feel good for a second.

I should go make dinner now.

Saturday, September 24, 2011

I Won an AWARD!?!?!

Wow, can you believe it?  I won something for this blog!  I know, I can't either.  But The Fearless Farmgirl just gave me one!  She has such a fun blog to read, but I don't get the chance to get over there as often as I like.  Lately, Moo and Toots have been so crazy (with school and teething, respectively) that I can't even seem to fold the laundry that is sitting in a huge pile on a chair in the corner of my bedroom.  Sigh.  Anyway, I stopped over there the other day and found that she had given me this award!!!!



Liebster+Award.png


Pretty cool, huh?
"Liebster" is a German word meaning dear, sweet, kind, nice, good, beloved, lovely, kindly, pleasant, valued, cute, endearing, and welcome.The Liebster is awarded to spotlight up and coming bloggers who currently have less than 200 followers.

Well, I have WAY less than 200 followers, that's for ding dang sure.  But to those 10 of you out there...and I'm serious, I have 10 followers, I'm so glad you check in with me from time to time.  Being a stay-at-home Mom can be challenging sometimes when you feel like there is no one to talk to.  I mean sure, I can talk to Moo about Dora til we're both blue in the face.  And Toots and I can talk gibber-jabber for hours on end.  But when the Hubby comes home from work, the last thing he wants to do is hear me go on and on about what I saw on t.v. or how I'm thinking of coloring my hair, or how I just read in InStyle about this new nail polish that has real metal flecks in it and a magnet in the lid of the bottle so that after you paint your nails (while they are still wet) you can run the lid over them and create really cool ripple effects.  Seriously, I just read that an hour ago in InStyle.  I may have to venture out to find this mythical nail polish at some point.  But I think I'm getting off track...

So since I got this award from FF (Fearless Farmgirl), which you should totally go check out using the link above, I have to follow the rules of the award and pass it on.  I have to pick 5 blogs to win this award that all have less than 200 followers.  This could be hard, because I read a ton of blogs, but I have never looked to see how many followers they have!  So here I go to find my favs. (current favorites, that is, I love you all!)...

Oh, and here are the other things I must do, so you who win this lovely award after me will know what to do as well. You must...
1.  Thank the giver and link back to their blog.  Done.  
2.  Reveal your top 5 picks and let them know by commenting on their blogs.  Doney-Done.
3.  Copy and paste the award on your blog. DONE!
4.  Have faith that your followers will spread the love to other bloggers. Hmm....Just kidding! Done.
5.  Have fun!  Done and DONE!

So here we go with my top 5!  Drum roll please....
(p.s. click on any of the winners names to go to their blogs)

Cattle & Cupcakes! - I love checking this blog.  As a Mom with a baby, I love all things baby and she has the most adorable little baby girl on the planet, second only to my own.  Come on, you knew I had to say that right?  I really like the posts about products she and Annabelle like.  I can always use a good review!

Heather Ann! - Heather is my bestie and I love checking in on her blog.  She puts so much of herself on there it amazes me.  Sometimes I feel like so much of the blogging world is rather superficial (what I did today, what color I painted my nails, etc.) but she always has something deeper to comment on.  

Crafty Mama of 4! - I don't think I need to explain this one.  Crafty, party of one?  Your award is ready!  Now technically, she has less than 200 followers, although her Facebook page is a LOT bigger than that.  But we're just going with blog followers, right?  Anyway, I love this blog - check it out.

Itchin' Stitchin'! -  Ok, technically, this blog has just over 200 followers, but I just love it and I had to give her this award.  She and her kids are just so cute and she is so creative!  I love seeing the projects she posts about and I wish I could make cute little bags like hers.

Green Owl Crafts! - This chica is seriously crafty.  SERIOUSLY.  And she's always giving away free printables and posting about things she is adding to her Etsy shop, which is also great, in case you were wondering.  Check her out, but make sure you have lots of paper, ink and a few dollars for the Etsy store!  

Well there you go!  Five blogs I love that have now, won awards!  Yipee!  So go forth winners, and spread some love!!!

Sunday, September 11, 2011

The Pioneer Woman Strikes!

icedcoffee.jpg

First of all, let me say right off the bat that I took this beautiful image off the Pioneer Woman website I will be linking you too in just a moment.  I just wanted to include it so you could see exactly why I decided to venture into the homemade deluxe coffee world that, until today, I have been afraid of.  
  So I've been a fan of the Pioneer Woman, her blog and her cookbook.  Recently she has hooked up with Food Network to make 6 episodes of The Pioneer Woman cooking show, which is my dream come true.  This chick is awesome!  She has a great sense of humor and good taste (in all things).  I have to imagine that she could be my cooler, slightly older sister or best friend, maybe?  If only I lived in the middle of nowhere Oklahoma!  Alas, the closest I'll ever get to hanging out with Ree (that's her actual name) is watching her cook on Food Network.  Inspired by her yummy cooking, I explored the recipe section of her website and since my cupboards are quite bare right now, there wasn't a lot that I could actually make.  It was killing me!  But I did stumble across this gem.  Iced Coffee!  Now how hard can that be?  Well, trust me, I can't make iced coffee that tastes like Starbucks to save my life.  Mine is always too bitter and too watery.  I can't do it.  Her solution shocked me!  And to make matters worse (in a good way) she gave a variation for Vietnamese Iced Coffee which is what I made this morning.  It was TO. DIE. FOR.  So dang good!  So here is the link to the Pioneer Woman's Perfect Iced Coffee Try it immediately, I'm sure you will love it.  I only made a quarter of the coffee concentrate because I didn't have a vessel big enough for the amount she made, but I know that I'm gonna need to buy a bigger pitcher because I'm going to be making this every summer from now on.  Yumm! 

A moment of silence...



...a moment of silence for 9/11. Though I didn't know anyone personally, that day of loss shook me to the core. Tragedy, bravery, fear, love, loss, hope, courage. So many running in to help those who could not run out. You are all my heros, you who died for no reason, you who died trying to save others and you who are left behind to deal with the loss of loved ones. I will never forget.  I will tell my children.  You will live on and your sacrifice will always be remembered.

Saturday, September 10, 2011

Room Re-do

Here's a good idea you can use too.  If you want to re-do a kids room into a more "grown-up" kids room and are sure that they will change their minds about decor a zillion times before they leave the nest, use inexpensive stuff.  Also use stuff that is not an age definer.  Example, do not go top to bottom Dora the Explorer!  In a year, Dora will be old news and you will be re-doing your re-do!  Try instead to focus on something they like, but in an off angle.  Moo LOVES My Little Pony, so I went to the craft store and found these $5 paint by number horses.  We will frame them in thrift store over the top gold frames and hang them in the room.  We are also using mix & match floral sheets.  When you enter this room, you won't  know how old the girl who lives here is...well, as long as the toys are put away.  We channeled her love of ponies into horse art that will work well beyond her My Little Pony phase.  Much more likely to stick around that way.  Just a thought.  I'll post pictures of the room when it's done, but hang in there for the long haul folks, because I think this re-do is going to take a LONG time.  Too much other stuff going on, but I'll be working on it bit by bit and it will get done eventually!

Monday, September 5, 2011

Wanna Biscuit?

Wanna biscuit?

It's really gooooood...

You sure?  You don't want a biscuit?

Oh no!  Where did my biscuit go?  Did you take it?

Oh there it is!!!!  I was sitting on it!  Silly me!  So, you want some?

Crayons!!!


So I've been seeing lots of broken crayons around the homestead and finally decided to do something about it!  I got myself down to the Walmart and picked up a really cheap mini muffin tin for about $3.  Then I spent an hour peeling the wrappers off the broken crayons that had collected at the bottom of our crayon lunch box.  That sounds strange, but our crayons do not eat lunch, they reside in a tin lunch box.  Anyway, after the pieces were all peeled (which was terribly annoying and I don't recommend doing it when you want to look your best because I now have a million different colors of crayon under my fingernails) I broke them into small pieces and combined them in the mini muffin molds.  Some spaces got different shades of the same color.  Some got a few colors and some got a kind of rainbow.  I really enjoyed playing around with the color combos and seeing what they looked like in the end.
  As you can see, we had a lot of reds, oranges and yellows.  My favorite is the one with the blues.  I think it looks like the ocean, so pretty.  The cool thing about these crayons is 1. they are being recycled into new crayons, because let's face it - kids don't ever use the broken crayons and 2. when you color with them, you
never know what it's going to look like!  How fun is that?!?!  I've decided to package some of them up with  a homemade coloring book for Christmas gifts for some of my dear friends (you know who you are!) and to package some up to give to Moo in her stocking!  Yes, that's right.  I did this project without Moo.  Gasp!  Shock!  In my defense, I tried to get her to come over and help me but she was too into her movie (Enchanted) and wouldn't budge.  So I did the entire thing myself.  Yes, it was super fun.  Yes, it would have been great to do with kids (as long as an adult does the actual baking part).  So now she has no idea that lovely creations are sitting right behind her on the kitchen counter.
So here's all you do.
1. peel paper off broken crayons
2. break broken crayons into bits that will fit in your molds
3. fill oven safe molds (muffin tins work great) with bits of crayon
4. heat oven to 350*F
5. when oven reaches 350*F turn it off, then place muffin tin in oven
6. watch the crayons carefully, remove them if they start to smoke
7. keep tray in the oven until the crayons look like soup and you can't see any large crayon chunks
8. let cool completely!  When totally dry they will shrink and fall right out of the mold.

* When popping them out of the mold, place two or three towels on the counter and turn the tin over on the towels.  If you do this on your counter, the crayons may crack.

Now color away!  So fun and easy!  I got the instructions for this from the internet and there are a million ways to do it, so you can use these instructions or find your own.  But please keep in mind that I am not a professional crayon melter and can not be held responsible for you burning down your house.  Crayons are made of wax and wax can burn and catch fire, so watch that mold while it's in the oven and do remove it if it starts to smoke.  There, disclaimer done.
 Which is your favorite?