Ain't She Crazy!

A Horse Named Jack

noreply@blogger.com (Jami) — Fri, 14 Sep 2012 14:14:00 +0000

This is Jack.

He begged me to take his picture last weekend.

It wasn't our first meeting, but Jack was in an especially friendly mood this time.

He would not be ignored.

He followed my camera around like and over-sized puppy.

So, I figured the least I could do was snap his portrait.

He is a beauty, after all.

This shot almost makes his silky black coat look brown, but I could not resist that morning sun streaming in behind him.

It's too bad horses don't read blogs because I'm sure he'd be pleased by the results.

Thanks, Jack!

PW's "Edit This!"

noreply@blogger.com (Jami) — Mon, 10 Sep 2012 01:38:00 +0000

Are you familiar with the "Edit This" challenges on PioneerWoman.com ? I just cannot resist when Ree puts up a photo and invites us to edit it. It's so fun to push my own creativity and it's fun to see what everyone else comes up with.

Here is the photo she invited us to edit this time:

I didn't particularly like the photo. It just didn't "speak" to me.

So, I decided I needed to have some fun with the edits...to let them "speak", as it were.

So here's my first entry:

I {big, fat puffy heart} vintage photo textures. And I love the (faux) TTV look (I know...it's not square...whatever. I claim creative license.) So, I incorporated those elements with a dash of rainbow flare and some faded goodness. I'm loving it!

In edit number two, I wanted to play around with desaturating the picture. Yet, I was not satisfied with a straight-up black and white. I wanted to make this one unpredictable, maybe even implausible, and yet, still beautiful. So I turned to some of my favorite textures, my bokehs.

This crop clearly focuses on the sky as the subject of the photo. I imagine the sun is just beginning to peek through after a storm and the lens is a bit misty. Or perhaps the film was damaged slightly.

Either way, I love how this edit turned out.

My third edit was purely for fun. I took another photo from PW (her cows) and put them into this picture, then simply cropped and edited so that it looks like a painting on the wall. I thought it was good for a laugh, at least.

If I do another edit, I guess I should attempt something more serious, but for now, these were a great bit of weekend entertainment for me.

You can go here if you want to play along.

Or here to see some of the other entries.

There is Hope

noreply@blogger.com (Jami) — Fri, 17 Aug 2012 13:48:00 +0000

Here in the Midwest, we have been in a drought.

You may have heard.

It has been a long summer in terms of the heat and lack of rain,

especially for the farmers, who have lost so many crops.

Keep in mind, this is August, not October. The corn should not look like this.

But, as they say, "Absence makes the heart grow fonder". This is especially true for someone like me, who gets a little thrill from shooting a beautiful sky. This last couple weeks, have have had beautiful clouds and even some rain. Hooray!

And you know I had to race out there with my camera at the first sign.

I could not possibly post all the shots I have taken of the beautiful skies around here, but here is a little taste.

You know there will be more, because I just can't get enough.

I love how the grass "wakes up" at the slightest bit of moisture. It is beautiful.

And at the end of the beautiful skies and the big, fat drops, we are left with a little bit of hope.

Have a beautiful day!

Rescuing a Bad Picture

noreply@blogger.com (Jami) — Mon, 06 Aug 2012 15:01:00 +0000

Have you ever taken a quick snap of a sweet moment, only to later realize you totally blew it? The exposure is off, it might be out of focus...

My least favorite kind of pictures to take are the quick snaps and candids BECAUSE THEY ARE HARD! Usually, I will spot some great lighting or a moment I want to grab, but have approximately half a second to capture it before the sun moves or the kids run away. And since I almost always shoot in manual, there are settings to be adjusted if it is my first shot of the day, or situation.

Following is a shot I had decided to throw out because it was so blown out there was no grass at all, and certainly no sky:

I know. Awful, right?

And yet, this would have been a sweet candid...a shot of my uncle walking my kids through the back field at his farm. It was a rare quiet moment with my kids, and a memory I wanted to save. So I got to work in Photoshop.

Now, the finished results are certainly not technically correct. I will never win any photography awards for this shot, but I was, nonetheless, pretty satisfied with the end result. Lucky for me, I am all about hazy, pastel memories. And vintage style photos.

Here's what I came up with:

Side note: I decided to leave the sky blown-out...ummm...cloudless... here to balance out the look of the grass, even though I am currently OBSESSED with swapping skies in Photoshop. I may write about that another day. I just can't enough of beautiful sky shots these days!

Lessons learned?

1) Always shoot in RAW if you can.
I'm pretty sure I have been hearing this from a few people for a long time. Thankfully, I finally listened, because at these settings, I would have surely lost this photo, had I not been shooting in RAW.

2) When shooting at a very high f-stop number, or super high or low shutter speeds, or a weird ISO, using exposure compensation, etc. (You get the idea) Try to remember to put your camera back to something somewhat normal when you are all done with that shoot.
Do I have a way with words, or what? I find that since I take most of my snaps of my kids, I tend to hover in the 5 range f-stop-wise for the majority of my shots. (that's totally a techno-term!) Of course, I adjust as needed, but it's a safe bet that MOST of my quickies are going to be in this range. An average shutter speed for me could be all over the map, but if I stick somewhere around, say 100 ish when the camera is "in park", I'll have a better chance of getting a decent shot, if I forget to readjust when I grab and snap the next day. Not that I really ever do that, except for this one time, of course. ;) At the very least, I will have an easier time getting to where I need to be in a hurry if I start off in these neighborhoods. As for ISO? I can't help you there. Your camera will determine what ISO is right for you, as far as I can tell. I have an entry-level DSLR, which is a bit sucky when it comes to this particular aspect. I hear stories of high ISO numbers that I cannot even comprehend. If I am above 400, the shot is probably not going to be frame-able with this camera and that's just a fact for me until I can save enough money/ justify buying a better camera. If you take as many pictures of your kids as I do, you know what you like, so go there. I'll park it at 200-400 usually.

3) Practice with your software before you need it.
This was a big one for me because we had Photoshop7 for YEARS before I learned how to do anything with it. Once I started watching You-Tube and other on-line tutorials and classes, my knowledge increased exponentially . I use CS5 now, but I know plenty of hobbyists who use Elements or Lightroom and get fabulous results with them once they get the hang of it.

So what are your tricks for getting shots on the fly? Do you just pop it into Auto? I may have done that once or twice...

Mexican Fried Ice Cream

noreply@blogger.com (Jami) — Sun, 29 Jul 2012 14:22:00 +0000

It has come to my attention that I never posted this tutorial on my own blog. I overheard someone talking about fried ice cream the other day and it reminded me I need to make this again. It is so fun and yummy and it is one thing the kids can really help out with. So here you go, in case you missed it over on TT&J about a year ago.

****

Mexican Fried Ice Cream

****

First, you will need to collect your ingredients. (The sprinkles are optional, of course.) I didn’t realize until after I took this shot that nearly everything in this recipe was made from Great Value brand foods. I just want to let you know, that was not intentional, so just ignore the labels, please.

You will also need some food storage bags, such a sandwich “baggies” or gallon sized bags that do not zip. (There are probably a dozen different ways to make ice cream balls, but this is the way I do it.)

Part 1

Stick your non-dominant hand inside one of the bags.

Scoop the ice cream into the “gloved” hand.

Now invert the bag so that the ice cream is inside the bag. Squish it into something that resembles an ice cream ball.

Leave the ball in the bag. Start with a fresh bag for each ice cream ball…scooping, shaping and inverting the bags, until you have enough servings, then toss them all in the freezer. You can leave them there as long as you want to, but at least until they firm up a little. You can easily make these up ahead of time so that the dessert seems effortless at the time of serving.

Part 2
This is the part where you can really get the kids involved. First, get them excited about the project:

Next, have them pour some of the

frosted flake cereal into a zip bag.

(You may notice I had to label mine “DO NOT EAT”

to keep the older kids out of it long enough to make this recipe!)

Sprinkle the cereal generously with cinnamon.
You’ll want enough that you can taste it, but not so much that it is spicy. Feel free to taste as you go!

BE SURE TO ZIP THE BAG COMPLETELY!
Then, just have them use a rolling pin over the bag, rolling or pounding, until the flakes are crushed up. They like this part a lot!

Part 3

Remove the ice cream balls from the freezer. Pour the crushed cereal mixture into a plastic bowl that has a tight fitting lid.
(Can you tell, these pictures were taken after dark? Sorry, but my helpers could not wait until tomorrow to try their creation, so we forged on.)

Unwrap the ice cream balls one at a time and drop them into the bowl.
Close the lid and shake until well- coated.

At this point, again, you can place all the coated balls into a container and store them in the freezer until it is time to serve dessert. This is the way I prefer to do it, otherwise, the process feels pretty slow.

Part 4

Now comes, the best part! If you really want to impress the kids (or adults), you can fry up some tortillas, coat them in a cinnamon-sugar blend (I keep mine in a shaker in the spice cabinet.) and quickly stuff them into your bowls so that they harden in the bowl, forming a crunchy shell for the ice cream. This is a cute and yummy effect, but also one you should practice before your guests arrive, as it can be rather messy. When I make these for my kids, we usually skip the frying thing, but it does add a little “wow factor”!

Now all that is left is to place an ice cream ball into the shell (or directly into the dish!) Drizzle plenty of honey over the top…

And top it off with whipped cream and a cherry, if you like.

Here’s what it looks like when you skip the tortilla:

Delicioso!

I hope you all have a great Cinco de Mayo and that your family enjoys Mexican “Fried” Ice Cream as much as we do!

Bareback

noreply@blogger.com (Jami) — Sun, 15 Jul 2012 19:21:00 +0000

Here's a quick little shot of my baby girl riding bareback at my aunt's farm earlier this summer. It's all she had talked about (wanting to try), so we finally got her out there to give it a go. She loved it! What a little cowgirl!

Summertime

noreply@blogger.com (Jami) — Tue, 10 Jul 2012 14:49:00 +0000

If you follow me on Facebook, you have probably seen some version these pictures. I took them one evening this summer and I love them. I am always drawn to the dreamy quality of sunflare shots, but these hold a particular loveliness for me because they are of my uncle and my youngest playing in a field...a memory worth savoring.

If You Want to Know the Truth

noreply@blogger.com (Jami) — Mon, 09 Jul 2012 22:35:00 +0000

If you want to know the truth, I'll tell you. The truth is, I've gotten lazy. Well, lazy about blogging, that is. As many bloggers will attest, it takes up a huge chunk of time (depending on what you are blogging about) and unfortunately requires one to sit still for long periods of time, which means the word "chunk" can eventually describe more than one aspect of a bloggers life. At least that's what I hear... So, maybe I won't become TaterTot Jen or Kevin's Amanda. Oh well.

It is so much easier to push pictures up to facebook or instagram and forget it. For those of you who follow me there, you may have seen a few of my recent captures. But recently, I have run into more than one situation when I have referred to my blog...only to realize (in a panic) that it may, in fact, have died since I was last on there. :(

So, I decided that even if I don't have the time right now to write up all the recipes (and endless photos) and craft projects (and endless photos), I want to try to at least post just a few of my favorite pics. I want to push myself to keep snapping pictures and to keep practicing my edits, because let's face it, I've got plenty going on (we all do!) and without a reason to edit and display my pictures, I will surely just let them rot away on my SD card until eternity.

So I'll just pop a few pic here, if that's OK and if you are taking the time to read this, I thank you for stopping by, but please don't be surprised that there isn't much new content, at lease not while the kids are home for the summer. ;)

Simple, Custom Accessories: Amy Butler Style

noreply@blogger.com (Jami) — Wed, 02 May 2012 13:45:00 +0000

For Easter, this year, we kept it low-key, since First Communion would be the following week. (Two celebrations, two weekends in a row is enough to wipe this momma out!)

So when it came time to shop for an Easter dress for the Princess, I knew just what I needed to do.

I had picked up this little gem on sale at Lands End: simple, flow-y, adorable.

Although it is great as it is, for Easter it needed a little pizzazz!

So I tore into my {Amy Butler} stash and came up with a beautiful fabric from her LOVE collection.

Please ignore the wrinkles, as I forgot to take the picture until the end of the day. And although she refused to let me "attach" the sash, as I had planned, it looked really sweet with this simple pink dress.

I'm a sucker for a big, wide bow.

Lastly, a custom rolled flower headband to match. I love the way this turned out! and the colors just looked so fresh and feminine.

I just love accessories paired with solids and classics lines. And these Amy Butler beauties just have a way of making me smile. I think I'll be making a few more of these...

Have a beautiful day!

Dense Cut-Out Cookies For Frosting

noreply@blogger.com (Jami) — Mon, 23 Apr 2012 13:48:00 +0000

Don't you just love cut-out sugar cookies? You can do almost anything with them, which makes them perfect for pretty much any occasion, from birthday parties and holidays, to bakes sales or even weddings. We served cut-out cookies at my wedding. The only error we made was underestimating how much people would like them (we needed about 3 times as many as we had, I think!)

I have several recipes for sugar cookies, but I think I have finally settled on this recipe for my "impressive" cut outs. My most yummy, home style faves are still the Sour Cream Cut-Outs that my mom used to make, but this cookie is delicious in it's own, unique way. These Cookies, so cleverly dubbed "Dense Cut-Out Cookies For Frosting" (I'm so darned creative!), bake up nice and flat and dense enough to take on royal icing or any other frosting you can dish out.

Dense Cut-Out Cookies for Frosting

1 C sugar
2 sticks of unsalted butter, cool, not quite room temp, but not straight from the fridge
2 big brown farm eggs
1/2 tsp vanilla
3 C flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp cream of tartar
dash of salt (only if you use unsalted butter)

Cream butter and sugar. Add egg. Add vanilla. Mix dry ingredients and add to wet ingredients slowly. Pre-heat oven to 350. Roll out in small batches, so as not to work too much extra flour in and turn them tough. Roll them nice and thick so they can stand up to plenty of frosting. Line baking sheet with parchment paper before putting cookies on the sheet. Put baking sheet (with cookies on it), into the freezer for 5 minutes before putting it into pre-heated oven. Bake for 12-14 mins. Do not let them get brown on the edges, just bake until firmly set. Let them cool 5 minutes before removing from the baking sheet. Cool on baking rack. Do not frost until completely cool.

This recipe is adapted from Bridget's sugar cookie recipe from Bake at 350.

Sun Flare in the Pasture

noreply@blogger.com (Jami) — Thu, 12 Apr 2012 22:23:00 +0000

I love sun flare. I love that it is hard to catch...and I love that I CAN catch it.

I get a little giddy about it.

And, well, you know how I feel about cows.

Friends, every now and then, it all comes together for you. Every now and then you capture a moment that takes your breath away. For me, this was one of those moments.

I hope you are having a beautiful day!

Eye Candy

noreply@blogger.com (Jami) — Wed, 04 Apr 2012 13:24:00 +0000

Have you seen these?

They are as much fun to play with as they are to eat.

They really do stack!

What kid wouldn't want to find a basket filled with these on Easter morning?

Use-What-You-Have Easter Decor

noreply@blogger.com (Jami) — Mon, 02 Apr 2012 14:47:00 +0000

Here are some quick shots of some of the Easter Decor the kids and I have come up with this year. Having recently moved, we don't have everything perfect yet, but then, who does, right?

I painted these eggs a couple of years ago using paper mache eggs from Hobby Lobby. I still love them.

Here's a little "mantle" we created over a shelf I use to store overflow glass and crystal. It's dark, so we used some green checked fabric to brighten things up a bit. Instead of buying decorations, we used plastic Easter eggs inside my Grandma's covered cake plate. The other stuff was simply dug out of storage... We were pretty proud of ourselves.

Incidentally, this was a nice little color sorting project for the toddler. We spent the whole of an afternoon washing and sorting the plastic eggs from storage. (I have hundreds!)

Over on the fireplace are the bricks I loathe and the lack of mantle...ack!...but I can't exactly let a holiday pass without decorating. The kids will only be little for so long and I think it is important for all of us to have some festive decor here and there. So, instead of throwing a sheet over the whole thing until I have time to redo it, we slapped a little pine board up at Christmas, called it a mantle and went right ahead and decorated. We'll get to it...eventually... :)

I faded this picture out to de-emphasize the orange bricks...

I bought two of these urns and faux topiaries, which I LOVE, but found it to be too matchy-matchy to have them set symmetrically on the "mantle", so instead I busted out one of my favorite pieces, my blue finial (one of them). This also allowed me to use the other urn somewhere else, so I get double the enjoyment factor. bonus! The background color is simple a board I bought at Menards in the wood department and painted one of my favorite colors. This is Sherwin Williams "Mosque Blue".

For the Eggs, you guessed it, just hot glue, some green silk cord and plastic eggs. I would not have guessed I would be happy decorating with colored pastic, but I felt so much better about the eggs once we sorted out the pink and orange! LOL

I'm feeling more in the mood for Easter already.
Have a beautiful day!

On Cow Families and Perfection

noreply@blogger.com (Jami) — Mon, 26 Mar 2012 14:21:00 +0000

A little while ago I posted some shots from my recent visit to a farm. You can see those pictures here, if you haven't already viewed them.

This morning I wanted to quickly post a couple more shots of those cows, even though I still don't have the ones I wanted to post ready.

I have been reflecting a lot about the issue of perfectionism. The Nester writes about this concept often. You see, I really didn't want to post these particular photos. I don't take pictures to simply capture what anyone can see. It's just not my style. So when a shot is a little out of focus, or the lighting is bad, or most of the better ones are of the cows' backsides as they ran away from me, I'd really rather not post them at all. I prefer to ignore what is not perfect, when it comes to my creative side (or house-cleaning, I suppose).

But I have noticed since I am not blogging regularly (the way I used to) that the files sit on my hard drive or on my disk untouched. I don't look back through them more than once and I certainly don't bother to edit them. This is a shame considering that photo editing, like most everything else, requires practice. I need to continue pushing and experimenting in order to improve.

So even though, these are not great, here they are. And there will be one more post to come. I just couldn't get it all done this morning. Those of you who blog can probably imagine how long I have been sitting here just to get these up....meanwhile the dust bunnies have begun a war under the sofa and I am just sure the dirty laundry pile has somehow multiplied.

***

Here is an example of a shot I was unhappy with. Those cows simply would not turn into the proper light. With my limited equipment and skill, the shot turned out less than perfect, but I still loved the way the Momma and the Baby were right by each other...sort of like a "family photo". So I tinkered with the contract and gave this one a little drama. At the very end I added a "cinema strip" (I think) on picmomkey. Have you been to Pickmonkey yet? Go. You will love it. (even if you have Photoshop, like I do, it is a fun place to play!)

Here's another sweet little family shot that I called "Party of Five".

Here's a little shot of two of the sweet babies just hanging out. Not great photography, perhaps, but they still are awfully cute!

Note: I had a heck of a time getting the faces of the "pure" white ones to focus well. I tried adjusting the aperture...and every other thing I could, but I still didn't get the clarity I wanted. There must be a trick to this...

Here is the last one for today. Another little "family shot". I think the color on this was a little funky. I perked up the green grass (which was mostly brown then) and tried to make the colors pop a bit. I'd love to retake this one with better lighting and green grass, because I ended up loving the colors in the background.

If I were going to print this, I'd go back to my great big Photoshop file, because I noticed that I lost even more clarity when I compressed these for blog posting. I have been hearing so much about piracy, that I have gotten a little anxious about posting bigger files.

As it is, I can't imagine someone wanting to steal my semi-focused cows!

Well, that's it for today. Have a great week!

Farm Eggs

noreply@blogger.com (Jami) — Mon, 12 Mar 2012 15:38:00 +0000

I don't have much to say this morning, but I wanted to share some pictures since I am trying to do that more often. These beautiful eggs are fresh from my aunt's farm. I just love the thought of serving natural, drug-free eggs to my family. There are so many great things about farm eggs. I'd encourage you to google it some time and go support your local family farm.

Happy Monday.

Cows

noreply@blogger.com (Jami) — Thu, 08 Mar 2012 16:03:00 +0000

You may or may not know that I love cows.

{Love them!}

So, when I got the opportunity to poke around with some new calves recently, I was thrilled.

Of course, I toted my camera bag out to the field.

Cows are a little harder to catch than kids...which is saying something.

They don't pose. And they sure as heck will not get into the right light for you.

I have a new respect for animal photographers.

Before this I had really only shot a few animals; mostly my own patient pets.

I loved this mama and her baby.

You may notice I got very few glimpses of the babies at all. In fact, most of my better shots are of the mamas. Go figure.

I had forgotten how long it takes to edit and then resize for the web and blah, blah, blah. My point: I'm only posting 4 shots today. I need to shower some time. :)

I will try to post more cows soon. Have a beautiful day!

Pinteresting Idea

noreply@blogger.com (Jami) — Tue, 28 Feb 2012 16:48:00 +0000

Are you on Pinterest?

Do you love it or hate it?

Most people I know love it, but hate that they can get lost in there for hours. My hand is raised.

(You can look over my pinboards here if you are interested.)

Sometimes I look for long periods of time and do nothing but sit and munch on cookies while I pin, but once in a while, I see a pin which makes me spring into action. hooray!

Unfortunately, the pin I am referring to today had no link attached, so I will not repost it. (I know most of us get pretty upset by that.) Instead, I will show you what I did after I saw the pin.

Let's start at the beginning for those who are just joining us.

I have 4 kids. 3 of them are boys. Messy boys. They all share one bathroom...and one "dental care" drawer (for lack of a better descriptor). The drawer was always chaos...and there was probably some germ-swapping going on when those toothbrushes were intermingling in that mess. yuck! They subscribed to the "dump and run" method of organization for lack of a better solution.

So I offered them a better solution:

This is simply a Dollar Store silverware organizer that I wrote on with Sharpie markers. Not fancy, but oh, so neat and tidy. And believe it or not, I did not have to straighten the drawer (much) before I took this shot, months after doing this project. Now I can actually see that ancient contact paper we inherited (I recovered the drawers, with a lesser product (apparently) and it didn't stick.)

This bathroom is scheduled for some DIY love this summer and I can't wait!

Since I'm all out of parenthetical comments, (yeah right!) I'm signing off for today.

What tricks do you use for keeping your family organized?

Three Out of Four

noreply@blogger.com (Jami) — Thu, 16 Feb 2012 03:21:00 +0000

As promised, I am posting number 3 out of 4 of the portraits...actually kid 2 out of 4, but whatever...

I always get the best "eyes" out of this one.

And although, he looks rather angelic in that first one, here is the one I am tempted to hang on the wall.

THIS is his personality.

What do you like to hang? Personality or Portrait? Maybe both?

More Valentine Ideas

noreply@blogger.com (Jami) — Sat, 11 Feb 2012 15:38:00 +0000

The Princess and I made several versions of her Valentine until we found just the right one (s).

I thought I'd share them with you even though I didn't think to save them as "printables".

If you are familiar with picnik, you should be able to recreate these pretty easily

using a picture of your own sweetie.

We came up with the idea of putting a piece of candy right on the Valentine,

so we looked all over the blogs and in Pinterest for inspiration.

We chose to glue a chocolate heart right over the "heart" on the card...so we made a little play on words. We're funny, no?

Unfortunately, I forgot to photograph that for you, but you get the idea.

The chocolate thing was a little trickier than we anticipated...

TIP: if you decide to glue heavy candy onto paper, make sure you use some pretty thick cardstock.

We played around with design shapes and styles until we found one that worked best for her.

In the end, we decided to personalize each valentine with each child's name.

I just made them 4x6" and printed them at WalMart (I'm a big fan of "easy".), though you could print your own or use a paper cutter to create an odd shape, such as a square.

I even let her pick most of the colors as we made them. I tried not to steer too hard...gosh that's hard for me!

She was really excited about handing these out at the party on Friday. Of course, we parents stress over centering and color and all the details, but in the end, if you kid is happy, that's what matters.

Happy Valentine's Day.

And remember, on Valentine's Day and every other day: Tell those you love that you do.

Valentine

noreply@blogger.com (Jami) — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 16:24:00 +0000

New Pics

noreply@blogger.com (Jami) — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 14:29:00 +0000

I don't really have the time to blog these days (a good thing!) but I need a place to post some pictures. I find I am less inclined to keep snapping now that I am not posting them. Facebook destroys my pictures (I have tried the actions...I guess I am not good at them, because they only help a little.)

Anyway, I'm going to put up some pictures and maybe a thing or two. I doubt I will have time to do any blog-hopping, so please know that if you comment, I may not be commenting back. But I do see a lot of your posts on Pinterest! :)

January 2012

Kids Portraits:
(only 2 so far)

Pumpkin Recipes

noreply@blogger.com (Jami) — Tue, 15 Nov 2011 21:53:00 +0000

I have been craving anything pumpkin lately.

This recipe for Pumpkin Gingerbread Trifle from Taste of Home makes me want to do cartwheels all the way to the grocery store so I can make this little piece of heaven.

Well, maybe just one cartwheel. An imaginary one.

Anyway...

I see Pioneer Woman's Pumpkin Leche Flan in my future.

Perhaps I'll make my own recipe for Pumpkin Pie Bars.

OOooooohhhhh! How I love those! :)

Here's the recipe in case you missed it.

Pumpkin Pie Bars

pie

3 eggs, slightly beaten

1 C sugar

1 can pumpkin

1 can of evaporated milk

1 tsp cinnamon

1/4 tsp cloves
1/2 tsp ground ginger

crust

1 box Yellow Cake Mix

1 stick of butter

1/2 Cup brown sugar

1 Cup chopped pecans
nutmeg, if desired

Combine cake mix and melter butter in a bowl, using a pastry blender to make it crumbly. (Some people will add up to one more stick of butter, but that’s up to you.)

Add in chopped pecans.

Divide this dry mix into about half, using one portion to press into a crust in the bottom of a 9x13” baking dish. (You will not need to butter the pan.)

Mix all the Pumpkin Pie ingredients above. Pour this over the crust.

Bake it for about 20-30 minutes. I wanted it to be firm enough that the topping doesn’t sink, but I also wanted the topping to be in there long enough to crisp up, just a bit.

Add the brown sugar to the remaining crust.

(I might add a little flour or even whole Oats to this next time, if I am in the mood for more CRUNCH)

Sprinkle the topping evenly over the top of the bars and continue baking until you reach the one hour mark or until a knife inserted in the center comes out clean. (Just like when you make pie.)

Let it cool and enjoy with whipped cream and a sprinkle of nutmeg on top.

I'll take pumpkin in pretty much anything, but I'd love to know....
What is your favorite pumpkin recipe?

Have a great day and tell those you love that you do.

Eyes to the Skies

noreply@blogger.com (Jami) — Mon, 07 Nov 2011 17:23:00 +0000

Please ignore the ridiculous background issues I am having.

I just don't have time to fix it right now.

It's dreary here in Illinois today. I'm rearranging a room and baking some banana bread. Mmmm.....

To cheer me up, I wanted to share a few shots of the skies I have taken in recent months. I have already posted most of these to my personal Facebook page, but I haven't gotten around to putting them on AintSheCrazy yet. So here's wishing you a sunny Monday.

I guess my time is up! The dog disconnected my power cord while I was uploading the last photos.

Maybe later...

Halloween

noreply@blogger.com (Jami) — Tue, 01 Nov 2011 20:04:00 +0000

I can't believe Halloween is over already!

It seems like I barely got any fun treats made this year.

But we still soaked up every minute of dress-up goodness we could!

Here are a few shots of my kiddos in their costumes.

The Mad Hatter

Zombie

Alice

Snake

I hope you had a fun night too. I'm loving all the pictures of everyone's kids!

Is it just me or is this just about the best holiday ever???

Cat Costume

noreply@blogger.com (Jami) — Fri, 28 Oct 2011 22:05:00 +0000

Our son decided the cat needed

a Halloween costume.

He tells me she's going as a mummy.

more costume fun to come...