This Is Us

Yesterday was National Croissant Day! 🥐  I’ve never made them before, but I know they take a very long time to make. One of these days I will try making them, but yesterday was not one of those days. 🤣 I bought some mini ones at WinCo. They have the best ones I’ve ever had (mini and regular)! They are flaky, buttery, and just a bit sweet. They are so good alone but also make a delicious sandwich. So I made a Turkey, cheese, and lettuce sandwich, with chips and a Coke! Delicious! Do you like croissants?

For Christmas Nick's parents bought me this nail stencil set.  I have been having a very hard time getting it to work.  It says to only use the nail polish it comes with, but when I do, it dries so fast that the stamper it came with won't pick it up.  I have tried SEVERAL times, and it just doesn't work. I have even tried doing it on Brichette's nails, and working as fast as I can, still didn't get a good design on the stamper.   So today, I used some of the gel polish on it and it worked great!  I used the light to "dry" it on my finger after stamping and it looks good.  Here is the blog post with my nails I painted with the stamper for Valentine's Day Nails . I don't know if I'm doing something wrong with the "special" polish it came with, but it just doesn't work. I put the polish on, use the scrapper to smooth it out over the stencil, use the stamper and nothing comes off.  The stamper is blank.  It's so frustrating.  At l

  My nails for January lasted from January 6th to today!  The post is  Here  for my nails. I love painting my nails, creating new designs, having them feel fresh, but it also makes me happy to have them last longer, since I'm busy and hate taking the time to paint them.  It almost feels like I'm wasting time, but I know it's important for me to do this for myself. 😁 I used a light pink, white, sparkles, and magenta color.  I made lines and a tiny heart on my ring fingers with this  Nail Tool . I painted the magenta on two of my fingers and then painted the sparkles on my middle finger.  I painted the light pink on my thumb and pinky.  I used this  Stencil Set to make the bows and hearts on my thumb.  Then I painted the glossy top coat on my thumb, middle, and ring finger.  Then I painted the matte coat on my pointer finger and pinky.  I have really liked all my valentine's nails. They are  Here - 2022  and  Here - 2021 Maybe it has something to do with me loving pink,

  I know these tips seem pretty simple, but they are so true. Plus, where is a better place to start then at the beginning with simple tips?  So here are 5 tips to start a garden: 1. Pick a Sunny Spot Most plants need at least 6 hours of sunlight. So you’ll want to plant in a place that gets lots of sun. 2. Use Good Healthy Soil If your ground is hard and doesn’t have much nutrients nothing will grow, or won’t produce any crops. You can buy soil from your local nursery or if you compost, add that in to your dirt. You can also use chicken poop to fertilize the dirt, but you’ll want to do it now so the soil is ready to be planted in the spring. 3. Grow What You’ll Eat There is no point in growing things you won’t eat. It’s a waste of space, time, and energy. If you are planning on selling some of what you grow, then grow a little bit of stuff you wouldn’t eat. That way you have a variety of crops for people to buy. 4. Companion Plant This is so important and very beneficial. If you plant

  Do you know anything about bee balm? Do you know the benefits of bee balm? If not, here is a post for you. I’m going to be sharing all the info I can find about bee balm. Information about Bee Balm: It’s a perennial native to North America. They are usually 2 to 4 feet tall and grow in clusters. Their cheerful flowers resemble fireworks. The flowers come in white, pink, red, and purple colors. They attracted pollinators such as bees, butterflies, and hummingbirds. Which help the rest of your garden. They are part of the mint family, so it’s edible. Benefits of Bee Balm: It helps repel squash bugs and mosquitoes. It’s contains antiseptic, antibacterial, analgesic, antioxidant, and antifungal properties. The leaves can be applied to the skin or made into a salve to help heal minor wounds and infections. It can also help bring down the inflammation from a bee sting. When the leaves and flowers are made into a tea, it can help relieve headaches and digestive issues.

  Yesterday was National Puzzle Day. Every Sunday we go to Dieter and Colleen’s for dinner and do the Come, Follow Me lesson. So yesterday after dinner and the lesson we started putting a puzzle together. It’s a 3D Harry Potter one. It’s kind of hard, so we didn’t get to finish it. We will try and finish it this week. 

Yesterday I made Sourdough Chocolate Cupcakes for National chocolate cake day. They are more of a dark chocolate cake, but so good. They also are very dense, but again, so good! We had a busy day yesterday so I didn’t get this posted. We get together with my “brother” Jeff, his wife Abbie, and his two boys every other Friday for movie night. It’s so fun! Sometimes we don't get a movie watched... sometimes we play games or just talk.  It's a wonderful time! I know you want it, so... Here is the recipe for the cupcakes. Sourdough Chocolate Cake Ingredients: 3/4 cup Sourdough Starter 1/2 cup Milk (I used 2%) 1/3 cup Honey 1/4 cup Vegetable Oil 1/4 cup Hot Water 1/2 tbps Vanilla (I used Mexican vanilla) 1 Egg beaten 1 1/2 cups Flour 1/3 cup Cocoa Powder 1/2 tsp Salt 3/4 tsp Baking Soda Directions: In a microwave save container heat the milk and vegetable oil for about 30 seconds.  Add the honey and dissolve.  Then add the hot water.  Make sure that this mixture is not hotter than 1

  I don’t usually use a recipe for frosting. I just wing it. But I decided I would share what I do. 🤣 If you don’t need a lot of frosting (this will frost about 12 cupcakes) this is a great recipe. You can double it and cover a cake. 1 stick of Butter, softened  Powdered Sugar 1 pinch of Salt 2 tsp Vanilla 3 tbsp Milk In a bowl mix together the butter and about 1/4 cup powdered sugar. Once mixed add salt, vanilla, and milk. Stir. Add in powdered sugar until it’s the thickness you want. Add in food coloring. If you don’t use the gel food coloring, you may need to add more powdered sugar.  Enjoy!

Today January 26, 2023 is National Spouse's Day. I am so very grateful for Nicolas. I am grateful he is my eternal husband, bestest friend, confidante, soul mate, adventurer companion, and more! He makes me so happy!