Music Monday

For whatever reason, I've had this song stuck in my head for several days now.

Dolly's voice is so pure and effortless. So nice.

The story is that there really was a "Jolene" who was a bank teller with whom her husband was mildly infatuated.

 Oh, and The White Stripes have a pretty cool version of this song, too.

She's Crafty

Really though I am not crafty at all.

Sewing. Blech.

Painting. Meh.

Glitter, sparkles, etc. No thanks.

I attribute my lack of craftiness to my short attention span, practicality, and neat freakiness. Is that a word?

I highly and deeply admire all those who are creative and crafty though. It's just hard for me to make something simply for the sake of making it. I don't like having lots of "stuff" around.

BUT,

If there is a simple, low-maintenance, quick, practical, and non-messy craft, bring it on!

Which is why I love making magnets.

Grab a roll of flexible magnet strip with an adhesive back from your local craft store, and you can turn almost anything into a functional and practical magnet.

We have these little beads that have words on them, which are actually intended to be made into a neclace or bracelet. We made them into magnets.

Cut to appropriate size

Peel off back to expose adhesive

You can also just put the magnet strip directly on the back of a photo to avoid cluttering up and distracting from the photo.

You can also turn stickers into magnets! Put the sticker onto a lightweight type of cardboard, like the kind you find on the front or back of a notebook, or even a lightweight posterboard, and glue together.

Cut around the sticker and then add the magnet strip.

Back of sticker, stuck onto lightweight notebook cardboard

Our next magnet making endeavor involves bottle caps and craft-store googly eyes

What's your favorite practical craft?

Kind of a Big Deal

I have a very athletic daughter. She picks things up quickly and has no fear. She is also very competitive. None of these things were inherited from me. 

In her first grade phy. ed. class back in May, they had a unit in rollerblading.  

When I was her age I thought those little square plastic things with four wheels we used in obstacle courses were a big deal.

The first pair of skates that lasted a whole month.

She loved it so much and begged so effectively, that her daddy went and bought her a pair of inline skates. She skated in those things so hard, she broke them. In one month. Bruce went to about 5 different stores in one day to find a replacement part. Apparently that part doesn't exist outside of the manufacturing plant of these skates. Fun times.

We decided that since she loved it so much and it wasn't just a phase, we'd buy her a higher quality pair of skates.

All padded up to hit the half pipe

She's having so much fun and getting so good from practicing at a local skate park, I thought I'd show her some inspirational videos of Jenna Downing, a professional female inline skater.

Trinity was in complete awe. She declared, "I want to be just like her!"

I found Jenna on twitter and wrote her a couple of tweets. One was about how much potential Trinity has and how Jenna is inspirational to her.

Well, Ms. Jenna Downing wrote back!

Jenna Downing @Jenna_Downing replied to you:

Jenna_Downing Jenna Downing @hippiechristian Amazing! I was 7 years old when I started out :-) tell her I said good luck and I hope to skate with her one day! Aug 23, 4:00 PM via Twitter for BlackBerry®

In reply to…

hippiechristian Heather @Jenna_Downing Hi!,my 7y/o just started skating and has crazy potential! i'm showing her your vids as inspiration. :) http://t.co/Ktxer5g Aug 22, 6:38 AM via web

How cool is that? Now, I don't know if Trinity is the next Jenna Downing or will ever take her skillz to that level, but it certainly is kind of a big deal for her to personally be encouraged by a professional.

Do you have any stories of being encouraged by someone who has achieved a lot in what you are working at?

It's not Pummus, Dad

In my quest to incorporate more beans into the family diet, I decided to make a bean-based dessert. This is not my first endeavor in beany desserts. Remember the black bean brownies?

So good!
I had to cut my phone conversation with my dad short the other night, because I was in the middle of making cookies. 
He asked, "They're not made with pummus or something are they?" Matter of fact, they ARE made with pummus (he means hummus), Dad!
He knows me so well :)

Anyway, I've seen different versions of dessert hummus balls all over the internet, but the one I liked best was at Purple Bird Blog.
She has much prettier pictures, including pics of all the ingredients. I just whipped all my ingredients together, put everything away, threw away the empty can, and then remembered to take pics. Sorry.
I split the batter and made two versions. The batter in the yellow bowl has chocolate chips, the batter in the green bowl doesn't.

Mine, all baked and yummy, ready to eat.

Trinity's

 I didn't make these exactly the way Christin did, but adapted them a bit.
My version:
1 can garbanzo beans rinsed
2 tablespoons peanut butter
1/4 cup Bob's red mill gluten free all purpose baking flour
8 packets Stevia in the Raw
1 tsp vanilla
2 Tbsp almond milk
1 teaspoon cinnamon
chocolate chips-optional
 1* blend all together until you have a doughy consistency.
2*scoop out dough and form into balls
3*bake at 400 degrees for 15 minutes

Pretty healthy as far as I'm concerned: The ones without chocolate chips are sugar,dairy,egg,cholesterol, and gluten free. Both versions are Full of fiber, iron, protein, and calcium.

Bucket List-MY world wonders

 I was first exposed to Karl Pilkington in the mini series "An Idiot Abroad," where he traveled to several world wonders and shared his unique insight on each visit.

I love Karl. He is so transparent and unfiltered in a charming way. PLEASE watch this if you want/need a good laugh.

Apparently there is another mini-series with the psuedo-daft Karl, entitled "An Idiot Abroad: The Bucket List." Producer Ricky Gervais explains it as "making Karl do things OTHER people want to do before they die."

I doubt we have the same things on our bucket lists, but I'd love to have Karl join me when I do visit my world wonders (just for his commentary).

 First off, I love lighthouses and have already been to several. I'd like to visit as many as possible, but a few specific ones.

"La Jument" off the coast of  Brittany, France

Coast of Tokyo

 I'm a big fan of geothermal "pools" and "spas" as well. I've been to the Mt. Princeton hot springs in Colorado and seen many shallow geothermal pools in Yellowstone.

One day I want to go to the BLUE LAGOON spa in Iceland.

What is so super cool and kinda freaky about geothermal spas, is that they are heated by lava, under the earth's crust. A little close for comfort, but that just adds to the excitement!

This is something my dad and I heard about a couple years ago and for some reason find it extremely intriguing. 

The Svalbard Global Seed Vault (also called the Doomsday Seed Vault) on the Norwegian Island of Spitsbergen. Click on the green/blue link to read more about this.

A city underground! Hotels, churches, homes, restaurants. Where can you find this man-made wonder?  Coober Pedy, Australia.

HOTEL

CHURCH

HOUSE

Crazy, huh? Not for the claustrophobic.
 

Also on my world wonder bucket list is the Neuschwanstein castle in Germany. I'll visit any and all castles, but this is one of a very few that just takes my breath away. It's also the inspiration for Disney's Cinderella Castle!

C'mon, how incredible is that!?

Then there is Mt. Rainier. I foresee visiting this majestic peak very soon. I mean, I can see it on a clear day and it only takes 2 hours to drive to the national park.

Finally, the Grand Canyon. Yes, it's a common one, but it's just so incredible. 

 
The skywalk thing-not sure if I'd do that. Especially after reading this book.

Thanks for joining me on my world wonder bucket list. I know they're not the traditional world wonders, but they're MY world wonders :)

What are YOUR world wonders you'd love to visit?

Music Monday

I love this version of the song.

Kitchen adventures

I've been on a cooking/baking kick lately. It's been awhile and I'm glad I'm back at it. 

It's very therapeutic.

My last cooking creation was in the form of GLUTEN/DAIRY/EGG FREE 

carrot-apple-zucchini muffins.

 It's kinda ridiculous how easy these are to make.

 I don't have a grater to create little shavings of the fruits and veggies, so I just busted out my juicer and used the pulp.

While I was sippin' on my fresh juice, I whipped up the muffin batter. I also pulled some frozen beet pulp out of the freezer, defrosted it, and added it to the batter.

Just enough for 6 muffins. :)

Donezo :)

Pretty, right? And super easy to make!

Recipe for 6 muffins:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Mix following together:

3/4 cup Bob's Red Mill gluten free all purpose baking flour

1/4 cup brown sugar

2 tsp baking powder

2Tbsp cinnamon

3/4 cup fruit and veggie pulp

1/4 cup almond milk

*Scoop into muffin tins and bake for 20 minutes.

These are so tasty despite having no fat, gluten, dairy, casein, or egg. It's the cinnamon that really holds everything together, so don't skimp on it :)

I also decided to use some more collard leaves to make some wraps. The smaller of the leaves do work better for wraps, so I tried to find one NOT so freakishly large.
I placed some mashed and whole black beans,carrot slices, as well as red and yellow bell pepper slices on the leaf.

After minimizing/paring down the mid-rib of the leaf to simplify folding, I folded the bottom half up, the top half down over the bottom fold, and the turned it to the right and rolled 'er up.

Cut in half, and dipped in mustard or any kind of yummy sauce/dip, it's a super healthy snack.

Pretty :)

For $1.49 I sure am getting my money's worth out of these collard leaves!

Frugal Feasting

It's summer and the fresh local produce is in great abundance! I've been so blessed to find such great deals.

This crazy big bunch of collard greens was $1.49. The leaves are huge and perfect for making into chips or using as wraps to stuff with other goodies.

I decided to use a couple leaves to make chips. Look how big! With the quantity of leaves in this bunch, I could easily make enough chips to fill my baking sheet 10-12 times. That's a lot of collard chips!

I basically used the same method/recipe that I use for kale chips.

1-Just rinse and pat dry,  cut out the mid rib, and cut into your preferred size of chip.

2-Massage with olive oil, and sprinkle with salt. You can also sprinkle on chili powder, garlic salt, pepper, red pepper flakes, or whatever savory seasoning you like.

3- Finally, bake at 35o degrees for 15-20 minutes.

I think I like these even better than the kale chips!

I also finally got around to making the 8 ball squash that my sister in law gave me.

 Yum!!!

1-I sliced it in half and scooped out the innards. 2- I sauteed the innards with some salt, pepper, and garlic. 3-While I was doing that, I was also baking the squash "shells" and some carrots from my sister in law's garden. 
4-After I sauteed the squash, I put it, along with the carrots back into the shells and continued baking for about 10 minutes at 350 degrees.

They turned out great! A mostly free, completely local meal. Total travel distance from source to plate? Less than one mile :)
I think today I'm going to make some zucchini carrot apple muffins. Again, with zucchini from my sister in law's garden and organic carrots I got on sale for .99 cents/lb.
I don't have a grater/shredder, so I'll just pull out the ol' juicer my mom sent me. While I'm sippin' on some carrot/zucchini/apple juice, I'll use the pulp for the muffins.
Waste not, want not. 

What frugal meals have you made lately?

Bucket List

So I've been playing around with the idea of a single bucket list post, and the more in depth my list got, I realized it's way too much information for one single post.

I LOVE reading other people's bucket lists. It's a glimpse into who they are, their hopes and dreams, and can also be very revealing and surprising.

Aaaanyway, I decided to do mine in a series of posts broken down into categories. I'm not committing the Bucket list post to one specific day a week, though. I'll do it when I'm feelin' it. But, it WILL be one day a week 

I'm gonna start this week with ATHLETIC/SPORTY THINGS I want to try or go to.

DISCLAIMER:I am NOT a competitive person. At all. I love to watch or play certain games, but "in it to win it"? Nope, not me.

That's why the Dirty Girl Mud Run would be great for me! It's basically for fun.

I love being athletic and physical, but just for the sake of being athletic and physical. Not to beat anyone. This particular event is taking place mere minutes from my old home in Wisconsin SOON. Wish I could be there!

I'd love to attend the Summer Olympics in someday to watch women's gymnastics!

Now, in 1984 the 9 year old me would have been all about COMPETING in the 1988 Olympics as a gymnast. But, we all know that ship has sailed, docked, been decomissioned, dismantled, and sold for parts! ha ha ha!

I'd also LOVE to go to a Green Bay Packer game IN Green Bay!

ARE YOU READY FOR SOME FOOTBALL!!??

I'd also LOVE to hike up to the top of Pikes Peak. Despite having lived in that very area, seeing this gorgeous creation everyday, and been up it several times by Cog or truck, I've never actually hiked it. For shame, I know.

I will though!! I will.

The natives who inhabited the area years ago, called her Tava.

 Last but not least, I would really love to try surfing someday!

i don't know who this girl is, but obviously she can surf :)

Share with me YOUR athletic endeavors??

I wanna know!! Really :)