Stay At Home Nation...: Holiday

Showing posts with label Holiday. Show all posts

Wednesday, February 15, 2012

Simplify 2012 ~ Valentine's Day

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I missed this week's party -sorry :/ but it gets so busy around the holidays

here in my home. Sometimes, time gets away from me.

I decided to make a Valentine's Day Coconut Cake for my sweets ~ all 5 of them!

I typically make my sweets from scratch but I had a limited amount of time so

I used boxed cake mix -GASP- I know I know but it actually tasted pretty good.

I didn't know Duncan Hines made boxed coconut cake mix so I gave it a whirl. Since

I was on a roll with the whole store bought stuff, I used a can of vanilla frosting to top it off.

Talk about keeping it simple right?

I did add coconut to the top & candles. =D Landon & Michaela must have thought it

was their birthdays again or something lol. I mean hey around here it's always

some one's birthday.

I didn't have any red colored sugar so I improvised

A few drops in a bowl of sugar, mixed with a fork worked well enough.

I sprinkled it on top

and

we had to fight off little hands that wanted to dig right in.

I think Landon liked it...

every crumb of it.

I hope everyone had a wonderful Valentine's Day!

Hey just wondering if I can get some suggestions on the quickest & most user friendly

photo editing program. Since picnik is going away soon I need to find a program

that I can edit, re size, etc photos without taking a ton of time. Just curious if any of

you had any recommendations?

Thanks in advance!

Much Love

~Iffy~

Saturday, December 31, 2011

New Year's Eve 2011 ~ Fun Ideas For Staying At Home Tonight

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Since this is my first New Year's Eve with you all, I wanted to share

some fun ideas with those of you who are like me

& like to stay in on New Year's Eve.

I cannot remember going out on New Year's Eve ever....well perhaps

once. But I'm pretty sure the sheer craziness of the night & people

is what geared me to stay at home all the NYE since.

That and the fact that ever since my oldest, Jackson, was born I like

to give my children a kiss on the head at midnight on NYE.

Here are some really neat ideas to keep you all entertained

and sane for this long evening. Well this is my plan at least =D

Countdown Goodie Bags from Hoosier Homemade-I am so excited to make these for the kiddos

& I may even make some for Geoffrey & I too.

And Kellicrowe has a tutorial on keeping a time capsule throughout the year~ fabulous! I

think we will start one tonight for 2012!

And for hour by hour fun how does she shares this cute idea.

Six in the Suburbs has an easy diy party popper favor.

Now what's a party without some food, so here's what I will be making

Ham & Cheese Crescent Roll Ups -easy for the kids

Baked Potato Skins anyone?

& Chili (like at Wendy's) I will post my altered recipe after I make a batch today

but you can find the base recipe here

Homemade Cinnamon Chips with Fruit Salsa are always a hit

as is Cowboy Caviar

and a few sweets too

like fudge, mmm you can find a flawless recipe here

or if you like rice pudding

These Chocolate Crinkles look yummy too.

OK so that's all I have for now. I hope you all have a

Happy New Year

Be safe! ;)

Much Love

~Iffy~

Wednesday, December 21, 2011

Sweet Tooth Satisfaction # 6 ~ Xmas Wreath Cookies

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Can you believe Christmas is THIS weekend?!?

I have been so busy but I feel there is still SO much to do still!

I had 3 MRIs on Friday of my shoulder, brain, & cervical as my new neurologist

is trying to figure out the cause behind my pain & migraines. I received

the report but am waiting to meet with her so she can explain it. I have always

worked in the medical field but I do not know all of the terminology.

I will keep you posted on the findings, as of now it looks like I have a small anurysm which could

be the cause of my migraines, and I have degenerative disease in my shoulder

& neck as well as a bulging disc that is causing weakness in my hands. But I will wait to

see what the Dr says. Thank you for all of your words of

encouragement & well wishes.

You ladies are amazing!

OK, on to this great little treat made from

1 (16 ounce) package large marshmallows

1/2 cup butter(1 stick), softened

1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1 teaspoon green food coloring

3 1/2 cups cornflakes cereal

cinnamon candies (as many as you like)

First melt the butter, marshmallows, & vanilla in a large saucepan

over med-low heat.

Go ahead and add the food coloring too. Be sure to keep stirring so it does

not burn by sitting on the bottom of the pan.

Prepare your working area (aka table) with wax paper & spray

lightly with cooking spray.

Keep the spray out as you will need it for any little hands that are

shaping the wreathes.....trust me.

I'll explain in a minute.

Don't forget to stir your marshmallow mix......

It's pretty lumpy.....be patient & keep stirring

Almost there....

Perfect! Now, while still on the stove, add in your cornflakes

and stir

Once the cornflakes are covered in your green goop

quickly drop spoonfuls onto your waxed paper.

Here's where the kids can help, but be careful the mixture just came off of the stove.

So I saved this cookie for just the older kiddos & had them wait a minute

before diving in with their sprayed fingers.

It is messy but all they have to do is make a hole in the center.

There's no science to this but as they cool off it gets stickier. Sydney kept wanting to

shape the outside for some reason so she was a mess by the end. Lol

It washes off your hands fairly easy with soap & water.

After all of the wreathes are shaped, it's time to wash their hands before the final step.

Then while the wreaths are still warm they can push the cinnamon candies into the wreathes

making them look like Holly. The recipe I altered was from allrecipes.

Let them cool & then I wrap them in saran wrap to keep them from sticking to

each other & then place them into a large ziplock.

This is a quick, easy, & fun recipe for the holidays.

Enjoy!

Oh and don't forget to link up to My Favorite Things Friday Party if you have something

you would like to share!

And be sure to check out my giveaway tomorrow from Nyneve.

Much Love

~Iffy~

Saturday, December 17, 2011

My Favorite Things Friday Link Party ~ #23 Quick & Easy Gift for Any Occasion

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Sorry for the delay, but it's been a pretty bad day today, 3 MRIs and a long story

but the show(or blog) must go on right?
The short version is that basically my neurologist is trying to find out why since October I have a sharp pain in my left shoulder joint every time I take a deep breath. I'm alright though, yesterday was just one of those days. Which makes it even more stressful being so close to the holidays.

I wanted to share with you a very easy, very relaxing, & very inexpensive bath salts idea that you can
whip up for a last minute gift for any occasion really.

I first made these last year as gifts to all the women in the family, as a nice little gift
of relaxation in a jar. You know after all the many hours we all
spend shopping, cooking, wrapping gifts, baking cookies,
decorating & as well as all the day to day things that still must be taken care of.

I came across this from Smashed Peas and Carrots but I altered it
of course, because that's what I do ;) I don't have the tutorial pictures since
I made these last year (before I was a blogger).
Here's what I did I grabbed a large bag of Epsom Salt on sale from
RiteAid & I ordered some essential oils from ebay in the scents I wanted.
I first put the Epsom salt into 4 bowls & mixed in several drops of the oils I wanted into each bowl.
You can adjust the strength to your liking or mix scents but remember
you cannot take away once you add, so add a little at a time.
Once you have the scents you desire you can add a little food coloring if
you like.
I used peppermint oil in 2 of my bowls & colored one with red to make pink & left the other alone,
and then I scented another bowl lavender coloring it purple & the last I added vanilla
and left that one white.
You then want to let the oils & coloring dry so you can carefully pour your
salts onto wax paper lined plates and let dry a couple of hours. Stir them around
every hour or so until they are pretty dry(timing depends on how much oil &
color you added).

While they are drying, you can make your cute jars. The blog above has a great
tutorial for this(I didn't add a spoon but did add a ribbon)

Once everything is dry, you are ready to add the salts to your jars(I used 8oz)
You can either spoon them in, or gather your waxed paper & use it as
a funnel. I alternated the colors in my peppermint jars so it resembled a candy cane =D

In my other jars I did a vanilla lavender mix, both were super yummy smelling.
You can even add a tag that says add a few tablespoons to a warm bath &
ENJOY!
This would even be a great gift for teachers or neighbors.

I look forward to seeing what you have to share this week as

the holidays are oh so close now.

Please link up & grab my button & post it somewhere on your blog so others can
come party with us too.
Remember you can follow me on twitter & pinterest too.
Oh & if you like my blog then why not follow me?
Plus if you let me know you follow Stay At Home Nation publicly,

then I will follow you back.

Have a wonderful weekend!

Much love

~Iffy~

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