Sweet tea is my weakness.

I’m sitting here sipping on a Sweet Tea from Mc. D’s and watching New Moon. As you can see, by the writing of this blog post, that I’m not very interested in the movie.

I’m sure you’re thinking “Why watch it then?”

Well to be honest I put it on Netflix just so I can say “yeah, I’ve seen it”. But it’s really just background noise for me today. I don’t know, maybe it’s better than the first one and I should pay more attention. But I just really am not that interested in it and didn’t really see what the big hype with it was to begin with. But to each their own I suppose.

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In other news...our Au Natural cycle wasn’t a success. In fact I’m having the same issue as last month. I had my progesterone level checked on Friday, but don’t have the results yet. I have an appointment on Wednesday and will find out then and hopefully switch to a new med. We’ll see.

I’ve been having lots of cramping and spotting since about 5dpo. Which before meant that I wasn’t ovulating and my progesterone was low. So I won’t be shocked if it comes back low. Although I had hoped that after 4 months of Clomid it would have built up in my system enough...but who knows. The worst part about TTC is the waiting game, seems like all you do is wait...wait...wait.

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My FIL’s house is done being built and he should be moving in very soon. We have been taking pictures during the whole process and I want to make a photo book for him. But I’m not sure what to call it, like what to put on the cover. The only thing I can come up with is The Bushey House 2010...is that lame? Well I’m open to all suggestions if anyone has anything better, lol.

Book Review: Plain Pursuit by Beth Wiseman

I just finished reading Plain Pursuit, the second book in the series Daughters of the Promise series by Beth Wiseman. It was a wonderful story set in Amish country in Pennsylvania. The main character, Carley Mayek, sets out on vacation to visit her friend Lillian, who has married an Amish man and became Amish herself. She tends to rest and write an article on the Amish for her newspaper, but her visit turns to a simpler way of life.

A child’s illness brings a shunned member of the community back to help save his life. While there a spark flies between him and Carley but due to a heartbreaking secret they are not free to love.

The love story part of this book is some what predictable, but I still enjoyed reading it. I felt this was a nice representation of how the Amish community truly deals with it’s members. Although I don’t like the fact that they do shun their members, I know that it is there lifestyle and I respect that decision. Reading this book helped me to understand that a little bit more.

I’m looking forward to reading the 3rd book in this series.

The featured product in this post was provided to me free of charge by Thomas Nelson Publishers. All opinions expressed in this review are my own and not influenced in any way by the company.

Kiss me, I'm Irish!

Did you wear green today? I did!

Usually we head out for green beer to a local bar, but since I work till 8pm tonight and have to be back at 8am tomorrow I think we are going to skip it this year. It's a bummer that we're breaking tradition, but D.S.T. is kicking my butt and I'm just exhausted! I am looking forward to my 3 days off, if I can just get through 1 more day!

At work today we had a pot luck. I brought Sugar cookies with shamrock sprinkles, 4 layer Mexican dip and ham & cheese slices with crackers. Our nurse brought Corned beef and the Rad Tech brought in cabbage, potatoes and carrots. It cooked in the crock pot all morning and was just delicious for lunch.

I do have to admit that I don't remember ever eating corned beef and cabbage before, so I always thought it was because I didn't like it. But it was soooo good. I may even make it at home some time.

Do you have any St. Patrick's day traditions?

Spring ahead.

Ugh...it’s that time of year again. So don’t forget to Spring ahead, you don’t want to be late for church tomorrow...or for work in my case. Good news is that soon it will still be light out when we close up shop at 8pm. It won’t seem like I’m at work ALL day if I still have a little sunlight on my drive home. I’m still not happy about losing that hour of sleep...but I suppose I’ll get it back in a few months.

Tutu anyone?

I’ve been a busy bee with arts and crafts lately. We went to Hobby Lobby last week and I decided I wanted to make a tutu to add as part of my photography props. They can be so expensive to buy so I thought “why don’t I just make one” so I did. I made 3 actually. But that’s only because that was how many it took for me to get it right.

The first attempt was pink and white. I cut the tulle into thin strips...to thin actually. So it lacks...character I suppose. Definitely didn’t turn out like I had hoped:My second attempt wasn’t much better. I had decided that the reason I didn’t like the pink/white one was because I had cut the strips to thin. So this time I didn’t cut them width wise at all, but I made it to long: So I think I will take that one apart and cut them shorter so that I can still have a red tutu with out having to buy new tulle. Also by taking it apart I could get two out of it or make it bigger instead of wasting so much tulle and just cutting off the ends.

My most recent attempt gave me the cutest little tutu, although I may be biased since I did make it. But I figured out it needed to be shorter and it needed at least 2 pieces of tulle for each strand. So I used a shimmering purple and white and ended with this: Now that I have figured out how long to cut the tulle these have become pretty easy to make. The last one took me about an hour, which includes cutting all of the tulle and then attaching them to the ribbon. And it cost me about $7.00. I bought the rolls of tulle at hobby lobby and used 1 of each color for this one. Basic colors (white, red, green, blue) are $2.99 and the others are $4.99. But the shimmering purple was on clearance for $2.99 so I grabbed those up. I think I want to make an aqua/blue/green one next, but that one of course will cost more.

Now I just need to find some little models to put these on. They are pretty easy to make, so easy in fact I may make up a bunch to sell. It gives me something to do while I’m catching up on my shows that have filled up my DVR.

But if you are interested in making your own I found lots of ways to make them by doing a Google search on How to make a tutu. Most of them tell you to use elastic but I just used ribbon so that I could use it on all sizes by either tying it tighter or looser as needed. And now that I’ve shown you how not to make them you can jump right to the perfect tutu with out trouble shooting like I had to.

Good luck and let me know how it turns out if you make one.

My first attempt at bread making.

I finally got Windows writer to upload pictures so I could share this new recipe I found with you. As I said here I’ve been busy baking bread. What I didn’t tell you is I also broke my mixer doing that. Apparently the dough (is dough the correct word?) was a tad to thick for my little Betty Crocker mixer. It was just a hand mixer, but now it’s in the trash. So I’m on the lookout for a big stand mixer. I’ve always wanted one but never got around to buying one, besides we’ve always had such a small kitchen I’ve never had a place for one. But our soon to be new kitchen has plenty of room so I’m taking the plunge. Now to decide on which one.

Oh...about that bread. We had some bananas that were getting to be to ripe so I started searching the internet for a recipe and I found this: Crispy Cinnamon Streusel Banana Nut Cream Cheese Bread. Now that’s a mouthful, lol.

So I set out to make it this afternoon. 2 hours later and I have 2 delicious loaves of bread. It would have taken less time but after my mixer broke I had to start stirring by hand.    My loaf pans were pretty full and I probably could have gotten 3 out of itBe sure to cover completely with topping because it’s the best part.It rises and browns so beautifullyand slices even better

While I was cooking it my husband made some remark that he probably wasn’t going to even eat any, let alone 2 loaves of it. So when I was getting ready to package it up I took him in a slice. He ate it and loved it! In fact after he finished that piece he went and got himself 2 more pieces. So I'd say it was a hit.

I took the other loaf to work and the loved it there as well. One of my co-workers asked when I was going to make it again, cause she wanted more. I told that to Mr. B  and he said “Good, that saves me from asking you to make it again”.

I suppose I’ll be buying bananas and making this again…but not till I get a new mixer that is. But I do suggest all of you make this bread if you like banana bread, cause it’s good. So here’s the recipe so you can make it too:

Crispy Cinnamon Streusel Banana Nut Cream Cheese Bread

Ingredients

BREAD

• 3/4 cup butter, softened
• 1 (8 ounce) package cream cheese
• 2 cups sugar
• 2 large eggs
• 3 cups flour
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 1/2 cups mashed bananas (about 4 medium)
• 1 cup chopped pecans, toasted
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla

STREUSEL

• 1/2 cup packed brown sugar
• 1/2 cup chopped toasted pecans
• 1 tablespoon flour
• 1 tablespoon melted butter
• 1/8 teaspoon cinnamon

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350º.

2. Beat butter and cream cheese together with an electric mixer until creamy.

3. Add sugar, gradually, and beat until light and fluffy.

4. Add eggs, one at a time, and beat until blended.

5. Gradually add flour and next three ingredients to butter mixture, beating at low until just blended.

6. Stir in bananas, pecans, and vanilla.

7. Spoon batter into 2 greased and floured 8x4 loaf pans.

8. Batter will be thick.

9. For streusel: Stir together 1/2 cup packed brown sugar, 1/2 cup chopped toasted pecans, 1 tablespoon flour, 1 tablespoon melted butter, and 1/8 teaspoon cinnamon.

10. Sprinkle mixture evenly over batter in pans.

11. Bake for 1 hour or until a wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean.

12. Bread may be shielded with aluminum foil that last 15 minutes to prevent excessive browning of streusel.

13. Cool in pans on wire rack for 10 minutes.

14. Remove from pans and cool 30 more minutes before slicing.

15. For perfect slices, cut with a serrated or electric knife after cooling.

PRINT RECIPE

Spring is in the Air.

I made this wonderfully sinfully good Cinnamon Strussel Banana Nut Cream Cheese bread, boy that's a mouthful, on Monday and I was going to tell you all about it complete with recipe...but stinkin Windows Live writer was having issues and I couldn't upload my pictures. So...look for that recipe soon. And let me tell you it was so good and you will want to make it, so stay tuned.

Other than making bread, for the first time might I add, I haven't done much of anything outside of work this week. Which is usual for me as it's my long week again. But the sun has been shinning all week and I can just feel spring right around the corner. I can't wait for it to warm up, and not only because my gas bill is ridiculously high this year, but because the world looks so much nicer when it's sunny.

Last year, when we moved into this house, I had made a flower bed out front. I had put in Hostas so hopefully those will come up again this year. But the flowers were just annuals so I would have to plant new ones and I'm not sure I want to since we are moving. Although it would be nice for the landlords when they have to show the place after we move. And it will only take a Saturday to throw them in the ground. So I might...or might not. Depends on how I feel and if I want to spend the money I suppose. I almost wish I wouldn't have done it last year now since we're moving after only being here a year, but we didn't plan on moving and thought we would be here longer.

I also think I need to get ready for some major spring cleaning. Not only cleaning but sorting through some of our stuff so it's easier when we move. We have so much junk I'm sure we can get rid of. So come on snow and melt and bring in the sunshine, I'm ready to open up some windows and enjoy the spring air.

What are your plans once Spring arrives?