GOT VIKINGS?

My house has been invaded by vikings. There is a lot of man energy here between the vikings and upcoming football game this afternoon. Doesn't the lil viking wearing Green Bay colors know he is in enemy territory?

In honor of the upcoming football game I thought I would make beer bread. If you can't beat them join them, right! I did not have enough self -rising flour so I am trying the Honey Oat Beer Bread recipe found at www.allrecipes.com Here is my tried and true recipe:

Beer Bread
3 cups self-rising flour
1/2 cup sugar
12 ounces of beer (don't go too cheap or it is bitter)- or any carbonated beverage
2 tablespoons melted butter

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F
Butter a loaf pan and set aside. In a large bowl, combine the flour, sugar and beer and mix well. The mixture should be sticky. Pour into the loaf pan and bake for 55 minutes. At the last 3 minutes of baking remove form oven, brush the top of the loaf with butter and return to oven.

Imitation

Chuckles has been intimating the giant man child. He is sitting here with his laptop. I guess imitation is the sincerest form of flattery.

This has been the year of food experimentation. So far, I have tried microwave peanut brittle, crepes, homemade dinner rolls, and honey glazed chicken thighs. The best part is that everything turned out. What's next? (hopefully something low fat- LOL)

Snow 08'

Here are just a few little pictures of our first snow of 2008. It wasn't much only enough to delay school by a hour.

Of course, some of us enjoy snow more than others. This is Chuck and his truck.

When I saw this in the Diva's backpack, I just wanted to let Barbie out. I know, weird. I mean is this any way to treat Barbie. The girl needs to breathe. I have issues. At least, she isn't locked in the dark.

Totems

A week or so ago we went to our new riverfront park. There have been three new totem installed there. These are a few pictures that #1 son took of the largest totem. It is called "Log Jam". This totem is 26 feet tall. For some reason, I am fascinated about Totems because I didn't grow up around them. This one depicts the Europeans in the canoe and how the tribes assisted with the first settlers transport in Ferndale. Ferndale use to be known as Jam because of the the log jam that was upstream from the mouth of the Nooksack river. I believe there are a total of 6 totems in our downtown area. This certainly one the tallest.

The Buzz

This is a baby picture of Buzz. His official name is Buzz Lightyear. His mom after all was Ariel. We had to keep with the whole Disney theme, right. Isn't he adorable. He is nine years old, now. He is my big black dog. I swear he thinks he is human.

There has been a lot talk on some local blogs about digital scrapbooking. It is getting a lot buzz. I have been doing this for a while. I like digital photo chopping(that is what I call it)because I don't consider myself a traditional scrapbooker. I am never going to scrapbook every photo. I want to tell the important stories. I don't take perfect photos and I like to move my stuff around a lot so photoshop works for me. It gives me a lot flexibility. I am using photoshop elements 3. Yes, I am in the dark ages as far as photoshop is considered. I hope to move up to 6 this year sometime but right now it works for me. I print my pages as 8 x10's through Walgreen's. Why Walgreen's, because they are in my town and I don't live close to COSTCO.

There has been a lot of Buzz on various message boards about Pioneer Woman. You have to check out this website http://www.thepioneerwomancooks.com/ Keep scrolling down past the pot roast and check out the apple pie. She is pretty entertaining and cooks lots and lots of fattening good food. I gain 5 pounds just looking at her food. Her cinnamon rolls look especially evil. She also has another blog where where she talks about her man and life on a cattle ranch. It is very entertaining.

The start of things

You should be very afraid when your youngest son runs around saying you are the chip leader or you are the rookie. Evidently Giant Man Child has been watching too much poker on TV and now is trying to teach the children how to play poker. Be very afraid especially if the dogs are better poker players than any of you.

I have started several projects for the New Year. One is a scrap baby blanket. I have had these strips cut out for a while and finally decided to take the plunge to create something. I hope to post a pic later. I have also been thinking about valentine's and created some felt hearts I need to post a pic of . It is a start.

Seek

I created this lovely layout of my one little word but for whatever reason when I put into blogger it looks like you know what. You'll just have to trust me that my one little word is SEEK and I have a lovely layout for that word.

Seek out more resources
Seek out more JOY
Seek out more income
Seek out more margins

There was an article today in the Bellingham Hearld that said that in University of Scranton Study showed that the success rate for adults making resolutions is 10 times higher than the those desiring to change but not making a resolution. I am going to give it my best shot. I have a list of 15 things I want to work on which I am not going to post here but right next to phone on my desk. Hopefully, it will spur me into action. LOL You will notice I chose the word margin. I was re-reading a book MOPS sends out to their members - "Breathe" and this quote hit me.
"Margin is the amount allowed beyond that which is needed. It is something held in reserve for contingencies or unanticipated situations. Margin is the gap between rest and exhaustion, the space between ourselves and our limits." - Richard A. Swenson, MD
So many things that were totally beyond my control happened this year, it forced me to live in my margins. I want to breathe this year. I want to find my margins.