I'm not back yet...

Hi! I just thought it would be polite of me to stop by and say hi. I didn't plan to take a break from blogging, it just happened. I used to blog during nap time. But nap time is too valuable to spend online. I need to work out, spend time with my non napping child, swim in the pool and get this place ready for some company. We have family coming in from both Texas and Sweden soon and I'm so excited!

I also am playing around with different ideas of how I want to continue blogging. Having two blogs isn't really working for me (duh, can't even keep up with one) but I don't want to abandon either one. We'll see what happens.

I hope you all have an amazing summer. I might pop in here a couple of times. Maybe... Or I might just hang by the pool. I will be back though, eventually.

T(ea) is for Thank You

It was teacher appreciation day a couple of weeks ago at E's school. She has amazing teachers and I wish I could've spent more on them to really show how much we appreciate them and all they do. But until two of our apartments start to bring in rent again I'm pretty much on a zero dollar budget. So I went looking for things we already have at home. I know, how bad did that sound. Kind of like regifting. But these are the times right now and I thank my Lord He made me crafty and imaginative. 

I love tea. I'm a big tea drinker and I have a lot of different teas in my pantry. So I came up with "T(ea) is for Thank You". I was so excited and jumped online right away to look for directions for this envelope kind of pocket thing to make for all the tea. I found something much better! A paper cup tutorial. I mean, how cute did they turn out, if I may say so myself.

Here are some of the teas in the cups. I must admit that scooping up loose tea into the little plastic bags made me feel like a drug dealer. Well, not really of course, but the thought hit me as I looked at my little bags laying there on the table.  "Here Mrs X, thank you for dealing with my kid. I'm sure you need to relax a little after being around all the three and four year olds..."

(Ok, can you tell it's past my bed time?)

 

We did write real thank you notes and E drew pictures of her and her teachers together. I also wrote down word for word what she had to say about her teachers. It was so cute! We rolled them up into little scrolls and attached a hemp ribbon and a tag so it looked like the end of a tea bag. I did take a picture of them with my camera but it came out really blurry and not even picnik could do anything about it. (I had good pictures on my iPhone, but we all know what happened to them, don't we?)

Anyway, if you would like to make your own cups you can find the tutorial here.

 And here's one final shot of the cups.

It could happen to you. You never know. Not even if you have a crystal ball...

Yesterday Mr Hubster and I were watching Fox News and there was this lady and her name was Krystal Ball. Kid. You. Not. I took a picture of the TV screen of her and her name with my iPhone and went to upload it to facebook. But it wouldn't let me update. And then I remembered that I've had this problem for a long time now. I really wanted to post the picture (with the comment: "Do you think she ever foresaw herself being on the O'Reilley show?" Clever, right? Just wish I'd thought of it. But it was all C.) so I googled my problem and I wasn't the only one it had happened too. Plenty of people swore that if you only deleted the fb app from your phone and then reinstalled it it would work. Sounded easy enough. But is there ever such a thing as easy? In the middle of the download my phone froze. What do you normally do when there's a problem with your iPhone? You turn it off and then you turn it back on again and the problem is fixed. Not this time. It would not turn back on properly. I was stuck with a cute little apple on my screen and that was it. C search around for info on how to fix this and found the answer. Not the one I wanted to hear, though. It had to be re... whatever the word is when you take everything away and start all over. From the beginning. Losing all your info. Yep. It was that bad. (And everyone with this problem had it happen because of the fb app.) But anyone with an iPhone know that you're supposed to sync it up so your info is saved. Well, last time I did that was in NOVEMBER. That's a lot of pictures, bookmarks, videos, contacts etc ago. Luckily I uploaded my pics to the harddrive three weeks ago so I only lost three weeks worth of photos. Still sucks! I was up until 2am restoring my phone. Putting on apps, organizing folders etc. Needless to say, I will do that syncing thing at least weekly from now on. And you should too!

Well, no blogpost should be without a picture and I wish I could post the picture of Krystal Ball. But that's obviously not possible so here's an unedited picture from my regular little camera of something I found on the floor a couple of days ago when it all of a sudden got very quiet around here.

Just because I need something to smile about right now.

Have fun syncing up!

What hole?

My mom sent me these iron on stickers called "täck en fläck" (cover a stain). They're great if your kid has a stubborn stain on a favorite piece of clothing. You just iron on a sticker and they can wear it again.

A few weeks ago I was looking through the clearing rack at Old Navy, looking for pants for E. I would never pay full price for everyday pants for her since they only last a few months and then she outgrows them so the clearing rack is my friend. This day I found a pair of super cheap pants! They had a tiny hole on one knee, but there was double fabric and the hole was only on the first layer so I figured I could fix that with one of the iron on stickers. And guess what? It was sew easy! And it worked out great. You can't see the hole at all and I think the pants are even cuter now. See for yourself...

Btw, she's been telling me all day that she looks like daddy. I guess he wears khakis quite a bit. (Without ladybugs, though. Just in case you were wondering.)

Our St Patrick's Day in Pictures

Swedish Meatballs

Can you believe I moved to this country without asking either of my parents for their meatball recipe? How can a Swedish girl survive without Swedish meatballs? I guess I could've just emailed them, but for some reason I didn't. Maybe I was really hungry and needed the recipe ASAP. Anyways, I brought a bunch of cook books with me from home and one of them was a cook book I got in 7th grade that's all about meat. So that's the recipe I've been using for 8½ years now. (Mamma,or pappa, there's room in my inbox if you ever find yourselves wondering what to fill your time with.)

Here is the recipe from the Meat Book:

(The recipe is in metric but I'll try to convert it the best I can without giving you measurements like 3.87562973465i47 cups of whatever. Yes, because lower case i's normally appear when converting.) 

SWEDISH MEATBALLS

(4 servings)

1 lbs ground beef (or chuck, or something like that)

1/3 cup rolled oats + 1 tbsp potato flour (or 1/3 cup plain bread crumbs)  

I use bread crumbs. I think you could use leftover potatoes too.

2/3 cup water, milk or beef stock basically some form of liquid. Some people use heavy cream.

1 egg

1 tsp salt

1/5 tsp black pepper  

measure that one without metric cups, ha! (I do have a tiny little thing for that, but does anyone ever use it, I wonder?)

1 tbsp grated raw onion

(If you're making these for Christmas add a little bit of ground allspice. But not too much.)

 1. Mix rolled oats, potato flour and liquid, or bread crumbs and liquid. Let sit for 10 min.

 2. Add egg, salt, black pepper and onion.

3. Add ground meat. Work it all together, but not  too long or it will turn all "thread-y" on you. Well, it is my blog. I can translate how ever I want. Believe me, you do not want your meat thread-y. That would result in dry meatballs.

4. Fry a little piece of meat to make sure it tastes right. You don't want to roll all of your meatballs and fry 'em up just to realize you were way low on the salt. Been there, done that. If you're brave enough you could taste it raw. I'm not!

5. Wet your hands in cold water and roll little meatballs. Don't make them Italian meatball big. Think tootsie pop. Well, maybe not that small. 

 6. Fry the meatballs in a frying pan until evenly browned.

 7. My book says to put them in a pot once they are beautifully browned and keep frying them without added liquid for about 5-10 minutes on low. I put mine in the oven.

If you want gravy, and who doesn't, rinse the frying pan with some water after every turn. 

 Make sure not to use burnt grease. Pour the drippings in a pan and add beef stock until you have about 1 2/3 cups of liquid. Mix 2 tbsp flour with some cold water. Add to pan and stir. Bring to a boil and let boil for 3-5 minutes. Add a little bit of cream or half and half. You might need some more salt and pepper. And here is the secret to a good gravy. Sugar! A little bit of sugar or jam and it will be delicious. Lingonberry jam is da bomb with this!

I love my meatballs with boiled potatoes, gravy and lingonberry jam. How do you like yours?

The only thing missing is the lingon berries.

I also want to let you know that you don't have to roll the meat into meatballs. This meat is also great for little patties. Try making patties with a small piece of cheese in the center. That is delish!

Glutenfree Playdough

When planning for H's birthday party I knew I wanted to make play dough as party favors for the kids, and I wanted it to be sparkly white, just like snow. But if you've ever made homemade play dough you know that it won't come out white just because you don't add food coloring. It turns kind of beige. Not good for imitating snow. (Never play with yellow snow...) And I don't know about you, but I've never seen white food coloring. Does that exist? So I googled white play dough and it turns out that gluten free play dough is as white as it gets. I guess the flours used doesn't turn off white, like wheat does. 

My first attempt to gluten free play dough resulted in a sticky mess that smelled like pizza dough. I don't think you want me to share that recipe. But maybe you'd like to know what worked? Are you ready? Here it is...

(sorry, only picture I've got of it.)

Gluten free play dough recipe

1 cup gluten free Bisquick

½ cup salt

1 cup water

½ tbsp cream of tartar

1 tbsp oil

I also added glitter to mine. And of course you can add food coloring and spices or extracts if you'd like.

Mix everything together in a pot. I prefer a non stick one. Heat it up and stir until it turns into one big lump. Knead (I just love warm, fresh play dough) and let it cool down. Then Play!

Sparkling Attitude

I was sitting here going through an old devo notebook from 2009 and found something I thought was worth sharing. I had totally forgotten about it, which is why I always sit with a notebook during devo time so that I can be reminded some day. And considering my stinking attitude the other day I thought this was pretty fitting. 

I was reading "Women of the Bible" at the time and here is the page:

Now my head is spinning with ideas on how to put this reminder somewhere on my jewelry box so that I can be reminded daily, or at least on the days I leave the house and actually open up that box.

Breakfast Bar

A few weeks ago we were in the mood to make these, my girls and I. We didn't have all of the ingredients, but we weren't going to let that stop us. We went pantry shopping and found some other yummy things to throw in the mix and came up with something delish! I'm not sure they would make it back on the Eating Well web site, but they sure made it into our family cook book. Here we go:

 

• 1 cup old-fashioned rolled oats

• 1/4 cup slivered almonds
• 1/4 cup sunflower seeds
• 1 tablespoon flaxseeds,we used the regular dark ones but I would love to try the golden ones soon.
• 1 tablespoon sesame seeds
• 1 cup Reeses puffs
• 1/3 cup craisins
• 1/3 cup chopped dried apricots
• 1/3 cup chopped raisins
• 1/4 cup organic creamy peanut butter
• 1/4 cup organic sugar
• 1/4 cup honey
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/8 teaspoon salt

Follow the directions in the provided link above. These are great to have for the mornings on the go.

P-U Stinky!!!

What stinks? 

Could it be the fact that E woke up at 6 am!!! this morning and woke up H too? 

Could it be the urine that leaked through H's diaper, again? (Seriously, she leaks through every other night. She's wearing a night diaper and she has 8 lbs left before the next size.) 

Could it be the passion fruit juice left on the ottoman by my 4 year old for my 1 year old to reach, and spill all over the floor and the clothes I just put her in? 

Could it be the broken pieces of glass all over the sink (and some on the floor)? 

Could it be the attitude of my 4 year old demanding to always get what she wants? 

Could it be the results of H's reflux on the clothes I just changed her into? 

Could it be the fact that H fell asleep in the car on the way to the dr's office (which I knew she would since it was her nap time) and then after me being very careful not to wake her up to bring her inside, the receptionists were really loud and woke her up? 

Could it be the result of H's reflux that had landed on me and the fact that I just now, at the dr's office realized that I smelled of vomit? 

Could it be the nurse giving me the shots too far to the center of my arms leaving me with sore, bumpy arms?

Could it be the fact that I had to give E a time out at the dr's office since she broke the rules we had just discussed before entering the building? 

Could it be the lunch (tuna) smeared all over my 1 year old's face and hair? 

Could it be the fact that I had to give her a bath before nap time since I was not about to put tuna baby down on freshly cleaned sheets. 

Could it be the toy microphone echoing in E's hands during H's nap time?

Well, as you can tell I'm having "one of those days" today. And although all of the above things mentioned stinks, literally or figuratively speaking, the thing that stinks the most about today is my response to the day, my attitude. That broken glass I mentioned above was from me being mad at E for leaving yet another glass out for H to spill so I threw it in the sink. Yeah, it looked like crushed ice, that's how much it shattered. How can I expect my 4 year old to make good choices when mine are clearly bad? I just can't seem to shake this attitude today and with each added thing it's not getting any better. So I sat down for a quick minute to see if any blogs were updated. Because that's what you do when you're upset at everything, right? Well, of course the only thing updated I hadn't already read was from this Godly woman. Not what I felt like reading right then and there but I clicked on the link anyways and Oh. Did. I. Need. Her. Blogpost. Today!!! I think she wrote with me in mind. Well, since she has no idea who I am, that I even exist, or read her blog it was probably written through her, by God, with me (and others like me) in mind. Check it out to see what I mean...

Chowder - iPhone Meditaion

I never thought I needed an iPhone. And to be honest, I still don't think I need it, but oh, do I enjoy it. Like the time I had to wait in line at Walmart for almost an hour. To buy something for $8. And I know I could have walked out of there without my item, but I had been searching high and low for it so I didn't want to risk it being out of stock later on.

A while ago I discovered another perk. I recently started memorizing Bible verses in English. I figured after being here for 8+ years it's about time to switch to English, right? This is where the iPhone comes in handy with all its apps. I have a few different Bible apps, all free ones I think. But I mostly use this one:

What I really like about it is all the different versions available. So when I go to read a new verse I look it up in a bunch of different versions. Not to find the one that best tickles my ear, but to find the one that is easiest for me to understand. Being a foreigner and all that... Now I have been doing this for a few months and recently come to realize that this process actually makes me meditate on the verse for awhile. Reading it over and over again and kind of looking at it from different angels. I love it! So much that I just had to share it with y'all. It's like breathing in happy air. If that makes sense to anyone but myself I don't know. I might have just lost most of you right there so with all that said... yay for the iPhone, and more Yay!! for the Word of God!

It's Personal - Celebrating ONE

My baby turned ONE last month and we had a little party for her a couple of weeks ago. I thought I would guide you through her special day. 

You are cordially invited...

 

Are you getting hungry? Just dig in!

We had crackers with cheese and pepperoni, veggies and dip and some fruit and berries. The guests were also munching down some Swedish bullar (those are the cinnamon/cardamom rolles you might spot there. They are not covered in salt. It's sugar. Pearl Sugar), popcorn balls, chocolate dipped pretzels, yogurt covered raisins, biscotti, and oreo cake pops.

If you're getting thirsty and are wondering where on earth that hot chocolate bar is I must admit that I forgot to take pictures of it. But it had whipped cream, instant coffee for all the mocha fans and marshmallows. I forgot the crushed peppermint canes at home. 

What about the birthday girl, you might wonder.

She was stunning as always.

Yes, I made my walker crawl, just so I could get some pictures of her little behind. I'm in love with those bloomers, what can I say?

I made the tutu myself, but the onesie and the bloomers are from Marina's Monogramming. She was great to work with. I highly recommend her!

Look at that cake! It was gorgeous. And soo delicious! I hope I won't offend anyone when I say that I normally prefer Swedish cakes over American. They just taste better. But this one tasted just like a cake pastry thing from home and I actually had seconds. If you ever need a cake I can recommend my baker friend! Just let me know.

The birthday girl is gorgeous too! And messy. Just like she's supposed to be.

Her tutu was never put back on after the cake, but with those bloomers, who cares?

Her sister kept decorating cookies all day long. They were shaped like snow flakes before I baked them...

Sorry about the random snowflake in the middle. I made these huge snowflakes out of poster boards and hung them from the ceiling, but forgot to take pictures. So I snuck one in here. It's from when it was drying in our basement. Oh, well.
 

 I don't mean to kick you out, but if you're leaving please grab a party favor. 

Gluten free, white, sparkly, homemade playdough for the kids,

Chocolates for the adults and

Puffs for the little ONEs.

Now all I need to do is schedule a photo shoot with my favorite photographer and I can make and send out some thank you cards.

Thanks for stopping by our Winter ONEderland!

Something to do - Play Makeup

Do you have a daughter that likes to play with your makeup? Do you have makeup that you don't use because someone once gave you a box with totally not your color eye shadow? Or something like that. I do. And while hopping from link to link to various blogs using my iPhone I stumbled upon this great idea to turn my box of wrong colors into play makeup for my girl. If I would have been using my computer I could have put a link to the original post, but like I said, I was on my cell on some blog I normally don't follow. Totally would though if I were to stumble upon it again.

The whole idea is to pour some sort of glue on top of your makeup and let it dry. Most glues dries clear, make sure yours does too. I used Stampin' Up's crystal effects. There will be air bubble to pop. Just use a needle. Be careful not to push the needle down into the makeup itself as it can smear into the glue. Mine didn't and I hit the makeup a few times. As you can see on my picture I wasn't able to pop all of my air bubbles. The glue dried too fast and I had to stop popping bubbles or they would turn into holes. But my girl doesn't care about them anyways.

Another little tip is to be patient. Don't touch until completely dry, which can take hours, or you can end up with finger prints. I totally messed up with one of the squares before it was dry, leaving a big dent in it and I was bumming, thinking I messed up the whole project. Not fun considering it's quite time consuming. But I guess crystal effects is my friend. It healed itself over night. Yay!

Now I really feel like running down to the dollar store to pick up some cheap makeup and make some more. She could use a blush, right?

Yummy for my Tummy - Snack Time

I was looking through the pictures I took with my phone in January to see which ones to save and which ones could go and found a picture of my snack. Kind of random, you might think, but I find myself taking pictures of my food all the time. And this one made me hungry so I'm definitely on my way over to the pantry and fridge to dig out a couple of plain, unsalted rice cakes, some roasted red pepper Tribe hummus and some cucumber. And sprinkle with a tiny pinch of kosher salt and some freshly ground black pepper. My mouth is watering as I'm writing. Just look at the picture and you will understand why. Yum! Or Mums! (See, I snuck in a little Swedish lesson for you there.)

Ok, so I'm drooling. Gotta go!

Chowder - Fruit *freebie*

When it comes to disciplining my children - my 4 year old mostly since my 1 year old isn't as strong willed (yet) - I sometimes get frustrated and discipline from the works of the flesh. You know, bursting out in anger for example. I try though, to stay calm, but that's just it. I try. And then I fail every so often. Because I don't let the Holy Spirit work through me. So while sitting in my church chair this morning, listening to the preaching pastor, my mind started spinning. What can I do to remember the fruit of the Spirit and recognize the works of the flesh. I decided to make subway art cards to print out and post on my fridge. Just because I walk by it so many times during the day. (And maybe it will stop me from opening the door to the refrigerator a few times too.) 

I figured I might not be the only one who struggles with this and likes a visual reminder so here's a little freebee (or is it freebie?) for ya.

Just click HERE for an enlarged image of the fruit of the Spirit to print...

and HERE to enlarge the works of the flesh.

(btw, I chose to use the NLT version of the Bible for this since I understood every word but one (dissension) which hubby explained to me so know I know.)

And thanks for a great message pastor S!

Yummy for my Tummy - Lime-y Black Bean Soup

Maybe the correct way of spelling lime-y would be limy...
but it looks funny so we won't do that.

Anyway... this is such a simple, quick, healthy, cheap meal
that it's a staple here at our house. 

Ingredients:

1 cup Newmans Own Tequila Lime Salsa

2 cans drained, rinsed, organic black beans

  (please, use organic so your ingredient list isn't a mile long. 

beans should be beans, don't ya think?)

2 cups low sodium chicken stock/broth 

(10 points to anyone who can tell me the difference between stock and broth.)

½ lime

chopped parsley

sour cream

Heat the salsa for a few minutes, stirring often. 

Add beans and stock. Or broth. 

Bring to a boil, lower heat, simmer, covered,  for about 15 minutes.

Let the soup cool down for a little bit then ladle about half of it into a magic bullet. Just because you don't have a food processor just yet. Or a blender.

 Puree and return to the rest of the soup.

Squeeze the lime into the soup. Now we like it pretty lime-y. Or limy. Add as much or as little as you like here. 

Add parsley, save some for garnish.

Serve warm with a do do a dollop of sour cream and sprinkled parsley. 

Did you sing that last line too?

Enjoy!

It's Personal - Soaring, Flying

If you want to read about my flying baby then just click on the word below. Why did I pick that word? Click, read, then understand...

FAIRY

Something to do - First Year Calendar

 When E was little I made a calendar of her first year and sent it as a Christmas present to all the grandparents. I started in April and had time to work during her naps all through the year. This time around I had the same plans, but with a non napping three year old (now 4) I didn't get started until - gasp - October. Or was it November? Anyhow, I started LATE! And I was working late nights, often past midnight to finish them all up before Christmas. And still didn't manage to do so. But they are finally finished and I'm hoping to send them out this week. 

Okay, if you are a grandparent to my kids stop reading NOW! Do not scroll down. All I have to say is
MAJOR SPOILER ALERT!!!

Don't say I didn't warn you!

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(I just figured I should give them a chance to stop scrolling. I'm nice like that.)

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OK, here we go...

This is the binder that will hold the pages once this year is over. The back of the tag says Merry Christmas 2010, or God Jul 2010 depending on what grandparent we're talking about.

This is the 1st page inside the album. The top picture is one of H's newborn pics. My grandmother gave me that little pram (?) stroller and then my talented mom changed the fabric and brought it with her in her suitcase (!!!) for E during one of her trips here. The bottom pic is of H on her first birthday. See how she's grown? She's still a li'l peanut though.

This picture makes me miss her being a little baby so much! She was tiny!

We have pictures of E in the same outfit, with the same heart pillow. I have to show you some time.

Sisters!

I really wanted to make a pool page, but apparently I only took pool pictures in July. I couldn't really skip a 4th of July theme so the American grandparents got the 4th theme and the Swedish ones got the pool pics.  

This is from our apple non picking trip. What a bad year for apples. How could they all be gone by the end of September? We still got some great shots.

 I'm so sorry you can't see the beautiful faces of my girls. Just trust me when I'm telling you that you're missing out on some seriously squeezable cheeks.

 

Sorry Santa. I didn't pixel out your face. But everyone  knows you already. =) 

Well, there you all have it. Maybe some day I'll post E's calendar too.