Summer Break!

So, today is our first official day of summer break, and I've got to say how excited I am!  I love summer break!  Now, I know I kinda went missing for a few months.  But I'll be here this summer with an occasional post or two.  Since I waited months and months to post anything, today I've got two things to share.  First up, a scrapbook page.  My daughter just finished first grade and LOVED her teacher.  As the year was winding down, she was really sad for it to end, because she knew she wouldn't be seeing her teacher every day.  One of the days of the last week of school she was at the bus stop crying.  Well, I didn't want her getting on the bus with tears, so I promised her I'd make a scrapbook page of her and her teacher.  So I got that done, and she loved it, and then asked me to make a second one for her teacher.  So I did.  This one, is the one I made for our family album.  The page for her teacher I let her write the words, and it was a sweet little tribute to her teacher.

The second thing to share is a recipe card.  I do not love potato salad, usually.  In fact, most of my life I've hated potato salad.  Well, my mother-in-law's potato salad is the only one I've really had that I can actually say I like.  Yesterday was technically the last day of school, but we've always kept our kids home and done fun stuff as a family.  So yesterday, I was in the mood for summer food.  Bbq chicken, rolls, potato salad.  And as much as I LOVE my mother-in-law's potato salad, she's not a "recipe" kind of gal.  You know the type:  "Oh, a pinch of this, a little of that."  Which means I don't have an actual recipe for her potato salad.  So I went searching the internet. And I found this. The recipe looked delightful.  But I gotta say, as much as I need a recipe to start out with, I always have to change a few things here or there.  So I did.  And after my tweaking I loved it!  But the true test was my husband.  He's not a picky man with too many foods, but there are some things that have to be just right or he's not going to be a lover.  Potato salad is one of those things.  And he loved it!  Woo-hoo!  I was excited.  It's the little things in life that keep me going!  Here is the recipe card:

Well, I am off to do a few chores with the munchkins and hope to be back to make some blogging rounds later this afternoon!  Enjoy your day!

January 2011

Can you believe January is in the books already?  I can't!  And we've got Super Bowl Sunday coming up.  Should be a good week (as long as the Steelers lose, haha!).  I have my January scrapbook page to share today. And thanks to everyone for their input on the title.  I decided to go with the single 2011 memories instead of the full row.  Keeping it simple!

Stay warm!  And I hope to be back someday with some more recipes.

Chocolate Chip Cookies

ya gotta have more, you can bake 'em in the oven or buy 'em at the store!  That song always gets stuck in my head when I think about chocolate chip cookies.  Anyway, I know everyone has a favorite recipe for chocolate chip cookies, or they have tried a billion recipes for them and don't want just one more chocolate chip cookie recipe, or chocolate is a migraine trigger for you.  But I'm here to tell you.....these cookies are DEliCiOuS!!!  I love them.  One of my running friends brought them to me the day I found out my grade on a history mid-term last semester.  Well, I wasn't in a happy place and ate waaaaay too many of these.  But they are so good.  And I found out something fun.  I have made lots of friends through blog-land, but I realize that most of them I will never see or even talk to in person. Well I found out that one of my real life friends recently started a crafting blog!  I was so happy to hear that!!!  She is talented and crafty, and can sew (and, yes, I am jealous!) and she is doing a fun feature on her blog this year called Fantastic Friday.  Well, I know most of us look forward to Friday, and this is just another fun thing to look forward to on that day.  And, yes, I realize it is Saturday, but she still has the link up and running, so I'm posting for all you chocolate lovers out there.

 All supplies: Designer Digitals

Happy New Year!!!

Hello again, friends! Can you believe it is already 2011?  I have seen several blogs lately that highlighted some of their favorite cards/projects from the year.  I think that's an awesome idea!  Too bad I fell off the blogging wagon a bit last year.  haha!  Oh, well.  I did keep one thing going.  At the beginning of last year I had in mind to do a Project 365/Photo of the Day.  Basically you take a picture each day documenting life and at the end of the year you have a really cool album of the past year.  Well, I didn't totally keep up with my project as far as getting the pictures on layouts.  But I did keep taking pictures.  Lots and lots of pictures.  And early on in the year, I was doing a weekly layout.  But I decided to shift to a monthly layout.  So today I can share with you October, November and December.

I found a great template on Designer Digitals that I modified to fit my needs. Now, perhaps you noticed, but this template has room for only 28 photos.  I generally do take a picture almost every single day, but I have missed a day or two. This layout gives me a little wiggle room.  If I miss a day, no big deal.  Or if I have a day that I want to include several pictures from, I do that.  Now, for a little help from my crafting friends.  The titles are not the same on all of them.  November has "2010 memories" all across the page while October and November do not.  I could not decide which way I liked better.  I had the people in my house vote, and it was a split decision among the 4 of us.  So I am just hoping for a little input from you.  I always like to know other crafters' opinions on stuff like this. 

And while I won't be making any New Year's resolutions like "post to my blog every day," I do hope to share a few more projects this year than last.  Have a great one!