My new iPad Mini, Die Storage, etc.

Happy Friday! :)

It's a gorgeous, sunny day out there today. When I picked B. up from school this afternoon, she was excited that the bags of canned and boxed goods that I brought in to her school this morning helped her class to win first place out of the entire school during their canned food drive. Apparently, when I cleaned my pantry out last year, her class got first place because of it (which meant an ice cream party for them). I had absolutely no idea at all because B. never told me until the other day when she came home saying that her class and teacher were asking her to please ask her mom (me) to bring canned goods in because I helped them to win last year. I'm like "really??" I know it sounds really strange considering there are over 30 kids in B.'s class. But for some reason, not many brought cans in this year like last year. But I kind of understand why. Apparently, B.'s teacher last year, Mrs. M.,  didn't let them have the party. Last year, the kids were supposed to have their ice cream party the Monday after winning first place in the canned foods drive. Mrs. M.,  kept telling the kids "no we don't have time" everytime one of them would ask when they could have their party. Then one day - four weeks later - one of the little girls in B.'s class asked the teacher if they could please have the party after recess when they would have time, and Mrs. M. told them "I threw the ice cream away because it was expired." Can you believe that?? The kids were soooo disappointed. :(   Needless to say, that teacher was not one of our favorites. To top things off, she's young with an attitude. I can't handle attitude. She's no longer an elementary school teacher because the district moved her to the high school meaning that, unfortunately, we will more than likely have to deal with her again in the future. Maybe she'll be better by then. We can only hope. Luckily, B. has a much nicer teacher this year - Mrs. B.

Not wanting to disappoint, I cleaned out my pantry cupboards last night. Which was long overdue anyway. Of course, I'm thinking more about the local food pantry that it was all going to and less about some ice cream party. A lot of people have lost jobs in our area and I want to help in whatever small way that I can. It doesn't look like that much canned and boxed goods is even gone from the cupboards because there's still plenty left in there. And I've got some space to put stuff which was much needed anyway. I'm more than happy to help. And happy that I made a whole classroom of kids happy too. When they announced on the loud speaker this afternoon at the end of the school day that Mrs. B.'s class won first place in the canned foods drive, the teacher gave B. a big hug and the whole class gave her a group hug. Now I can't help but think who I can make happy when I finally get to cleaning out my walk-in closet here soon. lol! It does feel good to give. Especially during this time of year.

Last night my husband came in from work and handed me a purple gift bag with pink tissue paper in it. He said it was my early anniversary gift and that I would understand why I was getting it early once I opened it. I was completely surprised because I certainly wasn't expecting anything. I was already looking forward to our upcoming (long overdue) date night for our anniversary and was more than happy about that. Inside the bag, was a very nice anniversary card (*sniff*). And further down in the bag, under all the tissue paper was a white box. I picked it up and couldn't believe what I was holding in my hands.... the new iPad mini. wow.

I don't keep up with all that techy stuff so I didn't even realize they had come out with a mini. I love the size of it and how it's better on my eyes than the iPod and iPhone (Although I love my iPod and iPhone). But this larger 7.9" screen is so much nicer...

B. will be getting my iPod because hers needs a new power button and battery. Someday, we may get it fixed, but she can have mine and it will save us the cost of getting hers fixed for now.

I've also come up with a fabulous new way to store my thin dies like Spellbinders, QuicKutz, LifeStyle Crafts etc....

I saw a video about these storage boxes and magnet sheets on YouTube. JoAnn's got them in, so I was happy to find them locally. I got the box and extra packages of magnet sheets 40% off earlier this week. I love this storage method and it will keep my dies from getting bent or lost while keeping them nicely organized. Although, I don't have many sets at this point...

The magnet sheets are magnetized only on the white side. The other side (black) is not. Which is fine with me because I think it's better that way....

Other than that, I have been on an OPI nail polish kick this past week, adding some new colors to my ever growing stash. My three favorite brands (so far) are OPI, Nicole by OPI, and Sally Hansen Salon Manicure. I tried out a different, non-conventional color today - teal. Not my usual color. But I really like this shade of teal. Not too light and perfect for fall and winter. I like the darker colors but only tend to wear them in the fall and winter months...

This is "Ski Teal We Drop" from their Swiss collection and I think it would look nice while wearing black or gray perhaps...

The more I look at it, the more it grows on me. I've also started wearing the Poshe top coat. I really like it so far and it doesn't have any of the harmful chemicals in it like another popular top coat, Seche Vite, does (toluene, formaldehyde, or DBP - which all cause either cancer or birth defects). Poshe comes in a package that looks like this...

At first,  I really wanted the Seche Vite because a lot of people rave about it - that is until I found out about the nasty chemicals in it. So I'm really glad I found the Poshe at CVS. I stopped in Sally's Beauty Supply for the first time ever the other day and saw they sell the Poshe cheaper than CVS does, but I already had my bottle of it from CVS. Oh well. Those are the only two places that sell it around here. And even the Seche Vite was hard to find - Sally's is the only place that sells it in this area.

While I was in Sally's, the woman working there was telling another lady and myself that we're supposed to be getting an IHOP and a Buffalo Wild Wings. Hopefully, the rumors are true since we need more restaurants in our area. They're already in the process of building a Lone Star Steakhouse and we're getting a T.J. Maxx (finally - yes!).


Well, I hope you all have a wonderful weekend ahead. The weather's supposed to be nice.

'til next time...

A Cozy November Afternoon...

 Just sitting here with my family on this cold November afternoon, enjoying a cup of coffee with the gas fireplace on while we watch our very first rented movie in 3D on the new tv -  Alice in Wonderland. B. wanted to watch it, and so her daddy rented it. So here we all sit with 3D glasses on our faces, lol!

My husband noticed that there was water leaking out of the side of our pool yesterday afternoon thanks to the tree that fell on it earlier this week when the remnants of Hurricane Sandy came through here. The neighbor from up the road had stopped by yesterday to say he'd help with the tree and would be back in the morning since he uses the wood to heat his garage with. He went home and then called to say he had something to help us with the pool and he gave my husband  a patch for the pool and a grabber thing on a pole to help patch the hole. So, hopefully, it works and we'll still have a pool come next summer to use. When he came over this morning to help cut the tree up with a chain saw, he was a little bit late showing up because he had gotten a phone call about his uncle who lives out around Philly on a farm somewhere. Apparently, his uncle was cleaning up trees that had fallen on his farm due to Hurricane Sandy when his big farm tractor started giving him trouble. He was under it, trying to fix it, when it rolled over top of him & it was awhile before anyone found him. :(  Needless, to say the news our neighbor got this morning wasn't good. My thoughts and prayers go out to their family. So very tragic & sad. :(  Needless to say, my husband told him that the trees that fell way down back on our property can wait until spring.

I "thought" we were supposed to be spending the day out in Amish Country yesterday before going to the football playoff game. However, since we were going with my in-laws, we didn't leave until 3:00 in the afternoon for whatever reason. It takes us about two hours to drive out there, so we only had time to stop to eat dinner before the game at the Dutch Valley restaurant in Sugarcreek before heading to the game which started at 7:00. We all got the dinner buffet which was really good. There were quite a few people there that had the same idea as us, apparently, including the entire high school band. Quite a few people showed up to show support for our school besides our family... but our team lost. At least we even made it to the playoffs, right?  There is always next year...

I did manage to work on my 2011 December Daily album a bit more and got another day scrapbooked. I also added some baker's twine and ribbon to a couple of the previous pages....

Well the battery on my laptop is about the die, so this will be it for now. I hope you all have a pleasant day. We're having dinner at my husband's parents' since Matt's fiancee, Stephanie, is in town to visit us all.

'til next time...

New Favorite Nail Color

I found this beautiful glittery, med-dark, red nail polish this afternoon at Walgreens and had to have it. I think it's perfect for winter and Christmas...

It's called Leading Lady and the cashier had a $1 off coupon for it. Of course I can't buy nail polish for myself without B. wanting some as well. And so she got some of the crackle polish by Sinful Colors that's trending right now on clearance for $1.99. She was getting frustrated with it because it wouldn't crackle, but then we read online that it could take one to two hours which we found to be true. So patience is key.

'til next time...

Pepperoni Rolls

Friday, November 2, 2012....

The sun decided to come out for a short time this morning. First time we've seen sun all week. It didn't last long though, and it's cloudy again out there, 43 degrees with a wind chill factor of 33. Brrrr....

I've been wanting to try making pepperoni rolls for quite some time now. I came across this recipe thanks to Pinterest and started making these fairly recently. I made them for supper last night. And this is my version of them....

I make three at a time, because they reheat well for leftovers, lunches, etc. I start out with a package of Rhodes frozen bread dough. I've always loved their dinner rolls and knew I wouldn't be disappointed with their bread dough. I've found that I have better luck with getting the loaves to rise if I turn my oven on the lowest temperature that it will go (170 degrees), shutting it off, and putting the loaves in the warm oven to rise. I learned this little tip thanks to my dear husband the first time I made these and it took forever for the dough to rise. He no doubt learned it from his mom I'm sure...

You only need to let the frozen bread dough rise once with this recipe, instead of twice, like some other recipes call far. Which is nice. Make sure you grease the baking sheet that you're letting the dough rise on, as well as the plastic wrap that loosely covers it while rising...

Roll out each loaf to about 11 inches square. Yeah I know mine won't look like much of a square in these photos. But I tried. lol! I put a little olive oil on the rolling pin to keep it from sticking. This recipe is a great one to make with kids since they can help with rolling out the dough and putting on the pepperoni & cheese...

Next, brush the dough with some olive oil. I buy at least 3/4 pound of sandwich pepperoni from the deli for this recipe which gives me enough to make all three pepperoni rolls...

Then you add the cheese. Depending on which grocery store I shop at, I either buy a 1-1/2 lb. bag of shredded pizza cheese and use just that. Or I use a big bag of mozzarella along with fresh shredded Parmesan. It's more economical to use the pizza cheese though since it already has the parmesan in it along with mozzarella, provolone, and romano. Sprinkle on some Italian Seasoning all over.....

and some garlic powder....

Roll up, and place on greased baking sheet. Brush the tops with melted butter...

Bake at 375 degrees for 25-30 minutes or until golden brown and the loaves sound hollow when you tap on them....

Remove from oven and let them set out for about 10 minutes or so...

In the meantime, make a tossed salad to go with your pepperoni rolls...

And enjoy...

This is also great to take to parties or small get-togethers. B. loves when I make pepperoni rolls, because that means she can take some to school for lunch. She's the envy of the lunch table with pleas from her friends of  "can I have just a little piece?" "How 'bout just a piece of pepperoni??" lol!  Hope you all give it a try and that you have a nice weekend ahead. We'll be spending the day out in Amish country with my husband's sister and her husband, and my father-in-law. It's supposed to be cold again tomorrow - in the 30's and 40's, partly sunny with a slight chance of snow flurries. I doubt we'll see any snow though. Welcome November.....

Cold, Rainy November 1st

I hope you all had a happy, safe Halloween. It was freezin' cold with temps in the 30's and raining out. We took the truck out this time and didn't walk the whole length of the road and back this year like we usually do. B. had fun trick or treating in her Dorothy from the Wizard of Oz costume...

We only saw six other trick or treaters besides B. out.  The bowl of candy we left out on the front porch had a lot of it gone when we got back though. Which was good.

We lost a few trees when the brunt of Hurricane Sandy came through here Monday night with 60 mph winds. One of the trees landed on our pool and put a hole in the cover. Quite a few schools in the area were on two hour delays Tuesday morning, but not us. It hasn't stopped raining all week, plus we've been having some car troubles that we've been having to deal with. So the trees are still laying out there waiting to be cut up with the chain saw. The yard is a soggy mess.

I've been working on my 2011 Dec Daily some more, trying to get it done before Thanksgiving when  I'll be starting 2012's. Not being caught up actually worked out since I found some more holiday photos (and stories) on my mother-in-law's camera SD card that I decided to include in our holiday album as well...

These first three photos are all of the same day. We had a lot going on that day family-wise. I also included the pictures that my mother-in-law took of her Christmas decorations on that day. We spend every Christmas with them and I'm sure B. will appreciate having pics of her grandparents' home decorated for Christmas in the years to come...

This day was a bowling birthday party that B. went to...

Nothing much happened on this next day. So I took pictures of the Christmas village we've had for more than several years now. It is displayed on our dining room hutch during every Christmas season.  In my journaling, I tell the story of where I got it and how B. has always loved playing with the tiny dog....

Mailing out our Christmas photo cards...

Another photo from my mother-in-law's camera. The journaling talks about her Questers group and includes a copy of a newspaper article about a meeting that was hosted by her at her home.

I'm enjoying the process and it's putting me in the Christmas spirit a little earlier this year. This was my first December Daily and I think it was so worth the effort. I look forward to doing another one for the upcoming holiday season...