It’s been awhile since I’ve read Parents Magazine. I do still love their website, though, and occasionally stop by – especially when they’re giving things away. Just comment here before October 20th and you’re entered – easy peasy.
Author Archives: Sparkbark
Interior Design Blog – The Inspired Room
The woman behind this design blog is incredibly, well, inspiring. It’s called The Inspired Room. Love at first site…I mean sight.
Creepy White Pumpkins – Fall Porch Decor
These white pumpkins are creepy – and kinda pretty. I found the pic and ideas at homemadesimple.
My Mummy Halloween Ideas
Okay – I couldn’t find my mummy cupcakes (they were like Kara’s except the lines were mostly horizontal only having chocolate cupcake underneath and leaving a swath where the eyes would be so you could just peek at the cupcake and then having red dots for the eyes). They were cute but I have no witnesses – sorry!
I did find an old mummy cheese log surrounded by crackers that I had made for a church event. You can make any recipe cheese log you’d like. Pre-made and purchased worked great for me. Just make a savory cream cheese based dip, fill your piping tube and mummify the orange cheese. Olives for “eyes” and other veggie accoutrements work great, too. Use your imagination!
One of my favorite magazines for a Mom with and a home based business is Working Mother. I no longer subscribe but they have the best time-saving tips, recipes, etc. I think every Mom should read it – just to save time (isn’t every mother strapped for time?). I don’t think I got this costume idea from there, but…one of the easiest, cheapest and cutest costume ideas I’ve ever seen was this mummy – this was Jack in 2006. So very scary. Ah, the memories…they are growing too quickly for sure!
Kara’s Cupcakes – Halloween Ideas
I was out to lunch yesterday with a friend and we stopped by the bookstore to look at some quilting and knitting and design books and she said, “What is up with cupcakes? They are everywhere these days!” and I’m not sure what I replied but I wholeheartedly agree. They are everywhere – and for good reason. It’s the perfect little sugar package.
Fast forward to this morning, I open my email and another friend, Kara, has started a new blog. Kara is the sweetest (and one of the prettiest) girls you’ll ever know. It makes complete sense that everything she makes is ultra sweet and adorable. She had more talent in her pinky toe when we met (she was 10 and I was 20) and she still could teach me a few things. Anyway – her new blog is all about cupcakes and I wanted to share her beautiful creations with you! There’s some adorable Halloween ideas here. I made the mummy cupcakes a couple of years ago – I’ll see if I can’t dig out a picture of my own from way back when!
Another Beautiful Set of Cupcakes…
Another adorable blog that is one part sugar, one part presentation is Amy Atlas. I do not personally know her but wish I did!
The Cutest T-Shirt Ever
I haven’t ordered from Deseret Book in forever. I’m years behind on my EFY cd collection. So what made me place an order this morning? This t-shirt. Adorable. Cute for boys, girls, men, women (yes, they have all those styles). It comes in heather gray and pastel ribbing, too, if you’re so inclined…and it’s half off. About $7 per tee. Now that’s a bargain! If you can’t read the picture, the t-shirt says, “give” — the Little Stream. One of my favorite Primary songs – hooray!
Mormon Monument – Jesse & Newel Knight
We came across this really neat monument on our weekend camping trip a couple of weeks ago – it is fun to find history you didn’t even know was there! I spent many years in the Jesse Knight Humanities Building (aka JKHB) at BYU and 15 years later here I find out he is Newel Knight’s son and they both have very interesting stories to tell – give ’em a search at www.lds.org and you will be inspired. That Jesse sure was a character!
Bennie Wants Pie!
I guess he was really hungry for pie. I thought he’d had enough while we were at Nan’s house watching general conference — maybe not!
Cole’s Taekwondo Testing!
It’s blurry because I didn’t realize you have to focus BEFORE you push record. Let’s hope I don’t make that mistake again. The video of his lower belt below that he had to remember and redo is a bit better!
He was hoping to not have to do yellow but, unfortunately, it was one of his two random older forms he had to remember in order to pass off his red belt. He hesitated but did a great job (especially for being sick for two days home from school!). We are truly proud of him – he persevered even though he didn’t feel his best.
Cole should be getting his brown belt a week from today. He did a great job with his red belt testing on Friday night. At this level, they have to choose two random previous forms to pass again also. He chose orange and yellow out of a bag which were the 2nd and 3rd ones he’d learned a LONG time ago and he was really nervous. Next is black and we have to try to rush through that before we move because his teacher here in Gretna, Rick Staack, is absolutely the best! We don’t want to fool around with starting over in Texas.
A Little Something to Put You in the Christmas Mood!
I know, I know, it’s early for Christmas…but my fabulous artist friend Traci Osborn sent me this she has been working on and it’s beautiful! I wish I had her talent…but I know I don’t have the discipline necessary to get there. She even sent me the outlines I could have worked with on the computer to create something but, alas, I couldn’t have even envisioned it as well as this. Hope it puts you in the Christmas mood like it has for me. It’s coming up fast, you know.
Two New Mags: STITCH & Women’s Running
Hooray! Two new magazines being published and I like the looks of both of them. Let’s hope the STITCH magazine from Quilting Arts can stay fresh (the other magazines looked a bit old fashioned to me but this Stitch one has potential – I’m definitely going to check it out!). 10% discount on this subscription if you order soon.
Another new magazine: Women’s Running. Can’t wait to check this one out, too! I just love to flip through magazines – snippets of info you can keep one in the car without getting the least bit upset when it’s crumpled and smashed by kids and/or dogs. FREE (actually cute) t-shirt when you subscribe.
Baby Name Game Online
I only know one pregnant person and she just sent me this online game and it’s really cute! I must be getting old because I only know one pregnant person right now but if you know of any, be sure to point them to this site because it’s cheap ($4.95), easy and fun! What a great idea!
My Favorite Breakfast – Oat Bran!
I am addicted to oat bran. I know, crazy. It is fast, easy and yummy and I’ll let you in on my secrets. Get a big bowl. Put it away and get a bigger bowl. This way you can cook it in the microwave. If you want raisins, put them in now. Other additions are better after it’s cooked (say, nuts, fresh fruit or maple syrup). Place 1/2 c. uncooked oat bran in the bowl with 1 c. water. I usually go shy on the water so my oat bran is fairly lumpy and soaks up the milk I like to put on top (no porridge or gruel for me – it should have some substance to it!). Microwave on high for 2 minutes. Use a saucer for a lid. Stir and microwave in additional 20 second increments until it is the consistency that you like. Add 1 tsp. butter, cinnamon (if desired) and about 2 oz milk on top. I sweeten mine with Stevia (2 packets) but you can use real sugar if you like. There’s so many carbs in the oat bran, though, that real sugar makes it too sweet for me. A couple of variations you might like: mix in a hot cocoa packet (regular or no sugar) – yummy! I also occasionally like mixing in 2 heaping tsp. Green & Black’s Organic Unsweetened Cocoa. When I do this, though, I usually add a little Splenda to taste. Very nice chocolate fix. Maple syrup is also a good addition with bananas and yogurt…there are so many variations that I could eat this every day!
I Love My Dog(s)
Okay, so only one of them is mine. The jumping dog is Marcie (our neighbor’s dog is named after the Snoopy character). We kind of claim her, too, as Cole has taken care of her almost daily since she was just a puppy. Daisy: I do love her. Even if I didn’t touch her for the entire 9 months of my last pregnancy and she has now been banned from the master bedroom since my allergies flared (with said pregnancy). I do know that she is spoiled, however, because other dogs are not even allowed in the house (gasp!). Perfectly beautiful dogs. I do not think I will ever have enough restraint to enforce that. I am a doormat for dogs. Daisy spent the weekend frolicking in the wild and when I was getting ready for my run this morning – with baby and stroller and happy to go sans dog – she looked at me so expectantly that I gave in almost instantaneously. I couldn’t help it. She was so perfectly excited for the run that I was not nearly as excited for – I could not deny her.
I put the pic of Jack in. He’s not a dog but I love him, too (just in case any of you wondered about that!).
General Conference Packet from Deseret Book
The 2008 packet isn’t available anymore, but here’s a link to the current Deseret Book October 2020 General Conference Activity packet. Enjoy! Happy Conference!