coconut-chocolate pinwheels

Just wanted to share a yummy recipe that I just made!

coconut dough-base:

8 Tbs butter
1 c sugar
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 tsp salt
1 1/2 c coconut

cream butter and sugar; add egg and vanilla, mix well; add salt and coconut until combined.

roll this dough between 2 layers of parchment into large rectange, cut off rough edges; place on cookie sheet and refrigerate for an hour

chocolate filling:

1 Tbs butter
6 oz. bittersweet chocolate
1/3 c sweetened condensed milk

melt butter and chocolate in double boiler; take off heat and add sweetened condesned milk; let sit 5 minutes or so until thickened a bit; spread over the coconut dough.




use the help of the parchment to roll into a log. refrigerate overnight; slice in 1/4 inch rounds; bake at 350 for 8-10 minutes.

I've been thinking that we should have a day, perhaps monthy or weekly, where we share recipes that we love...anyone?

Name That Song

The Rules:
1. Please DO NOT guess in the comment section. E-mail me (see my profile page for my e-mail address).
2. I really send a prize, so be honest and fair. (If you can sing it when you read the lyrics, you know it.)
3. Previous winners may still play.
4. Be the FIRST to e-mail me with the correct song title & artist and win.

Good Luck!

This month's lyric is:



Find the cost of freedom
Buried in the ground
Mother earth will swallow you
Lay your body down

Update:

I guess I should stick to more common songs that more people will know! Here's another song by the same artist(s):



And you, of tender years,
Can't know the fears that your elders grew by,
And so please help them with your youth,
They seek the truth before they can die.

Teach your parents well,
Their children's hell will slowly go by,
And feed them on your dreams
The one they picks, the one you'll know by.

Don't you ever ask them why, if they told you, you will cry,
So just look at them and sigh and know they love you.


Good luck, I hope this helps!

Self Portrait Challenge

More resolutions here.

caught blue handed

eeeeew.

Self Portrait Challenge

I have just barely enough energy to post this and then I'm going back to bed...I have what my hubs refers to as the "Mass Exit" flu. He has been the most wonderful person alive, taking care of my daughter and I while we can barely function. Holding my hair, cleaning up...stuff I cant think about right now, making us comfortable, giving us crushed ice and what not, and taking the day off work to do it. He's a saint in my book. He's got so much to do at work and is helping take care of a funeral for a member of our church.

For more resolutions, go here.

Meme Monday

1) Who is the last person you high-fived? My Boy
2) If you were drafted into a war, would you survive? Yes, I’d thrive under the pressure, but upon my return home, I would fall into a deep depression
3) Do you sleep with the TV on? No, but Jake likes to put on the sleep timer sometimes while he falls asleep
4) Have you ever drank milk straight out of the carton? Hasn’t everyone? Seriously?
5) Have you ever won a spelling bee? No.
6) Have you ever been stung? No.
7) How fast can you type? I have no idea
8) Are you afraid of the dark? I love the dark—I’ll do things at night by moonlight. (even shower)
9) What is your eye color? Blue
10)What color is your hair? Brown
11) Do you ever wear the same clothes twice without washing them? I am today, in fact
12)Do you smoke? Nope
13) Are you drinking anything right now? No, but I think I will as soon as I’m done with this
14) Favorite animal as a kid? I think I went through all of them at some point.
15) Can you hoola hoop? Yes.
16) Do you know how to make a fire? I’m very skilled at this. I make a fire close to every day in the winter. Plus my days as a councilor at a wilderness camp taught me to make them with no matches…
17) What’s your sign? Scorpio.
18) Favorite cereal: depends on the week. Right now, I love Basic 4.
19) Do you talk in your sleep? Sometimes
20)Been swimming in the ocean? You bet. It's the best. We pretty much live at the beach in the Summer.
21) Have you ever flown a kite? Yes
22)Ever ridden a horse? Yes, I used to take English style riding lessons.
23) How many people are on your contact list of your cell? About 40
24) Have you ever asked for a pony? No.
25) Plans for tomorrow? They might change if it ends up being a snow day for the kids…then I think we’ll make some Valentines Day crafties
26) Can you juggle? Not really
27) What are you reading right now? East of Eden (again...the 3rd time.)
28) How are you feeling today? Fine, thanks. I do have a headache now, but I took my daughter to the hearing doc and when we got back my kids didn’t want the babysitter to leave yet, so I went to work out and it felt really really good to work out at noon instead of 6 am. We just had chocolate chip cookies and next we’re going to a movie. Plus I got some cool pictures of the icy weather…




29) Have you ever been suspended or expelled from school? No, but plenty of detention. Actually, I was suspended from a field trip once…
30) What are you looking forward to? Brookie coming to visit me
31) Have you ever crawled through a window? yes
32) Have you ever eaten dog food? No. and do you know what really bugs me? When they show people letting dogs lick inside people’s mouths on America’s Funniest home Videos. That’s just disgusting. If you have a habit of doing something like that, you should not let anyone else see it, because…well, it’s seriously disgusting.
33) Movies you can quote line for line? Sleepless in Seattle, Goonies, Raising Arizona…
34) Favorite fast food breakfast? Fast food? That has no place in my life.
35) What 3 things can always be found in your refrigerator? milk, eggs, butter
36) Any cool scars? Not that I’d like to share…
38) What do you do when no one is watching? Sing really loud
39) Do you like dancing? yes, but only when no one is watching
40) Who did you last talk to on the phone? Brooke
41) Where was the last place you ate? Hmmmmm……I can’t remember…..(I’ve got 3 kids, I don’t get out that much.)
42) What is the last movie watched? Charlotte’s Web
43) What song did you hear last? Moment of Forgiveness by the Indigo Girls
44) How many emails do you get a day? real emails? A few…

Sunday Scribblings

#1: Hey, let’s go on a hike. I love hikes.

Me: Me too. Hey, I have an idea—let’s have a hike day! How about: every Friday is Hike Day.

#1: Good idea.

{six weeks later, give or take}

#1: Hey, whatever happened to Hike Day?! I want to go on a hike!

Me: Oh, yeah! I forgot about that. Okay, let me put it on the calendar right now…

{please see results below}

whatever....and, you know...stuff.

• today my littlest family member cut her hair AGAIN. I don't know how she keeps finding scissors. She's quite recourceful.
• so much for growing out her bangs. I had to chop her hair...again.

• My son is the one who really needs the haircut.
• I learned how to deal with greasy hair here.
• I get greasy hair quite frequently
• Is that gross to share with you? Too much information?
• Jake had to go to work early today, so I snuggled with my littlest family member instead. She's a good snuggler.
• I've been good about creating things so far this year. I'm learning lots of new tricks.
• I still have so many things to learn to do. I better live a very long life.
• I ordered a new planner and it should arrive today.
• I'm so excited to be a little more organized again.
• I tried to find a new purse that it (my big, red planner) would fit into and the only one I liked was $99.
• I refuse to spend $99 on a purse.
• It was on sale from around $200. Seriously? Do you guys spend that kind of money on bags? Am I wierd or is that just rediculous? If it was hand crafted I would be much more willing to spend that kind of money.
• Maybe I'll start surfing the web for cute hand made bags.
• Today is hike day, and we're going to bundle up and go trot around.
• I think I'll take my new camera.
• I've already eaten lots of chocolate today.
• I canned Pinto beans last night.
• I haven't switched to the new blogger yet. Is it worth it?
• I've got to go live, now.

The Winter Wood Arrives

I think
I could have
built a little house
to live in

with the single cord--
half seasoned, half not--
trucked into the
driveway and

tumbled down. But, instead,
friends came
and together we stacked it
for the long, cold days

that are--
maybe the only sure thing in the world--
coming soon.
How to keep warm

is always a problem,
isn't it?
Of course, there's love.
And there's prayer.

I don't belittle them,
and they have warmed me,
but differently,
from the heart outwards.

Imagine
what swirls fo frost will cling
to the windows, what white lawns
I will look out on

as I rise from morning prayers,
as I remember love, that leaves yet never leaves,
as I go out into the yard
and bring the wood in

with struggling steps,
with stuggling thoughts,
bundle by bundle
to be burned.


Mary Oliver

SPC: resolutions

One of my resolutions is to figure out how to use photoshop. Here is my first project--to try to make a header. I don't know anything about it, but I'm trying to teach myself, which turns out, I'm not very good at. But I reluctantly put out my first project and now I have to walk away, because I'm so frustrated. Grrrrr.

more resolutions here.

inconstant moon

O swear not by the moon,
th'inconstant moon
That monthly changes
in her circled orb

-Juliet (Shakespeare's Romeo & Juliet)


Why should something so miraculous as the cycle of the moon effect something so potentially miraculous as a woman's cycle? It truely is miraculous that a body has the potential of concieving and growing a person within itself. One of the pieces of the miracle that I don't understand is why the whole process has to be so difficult, regardless of whether or not one is pregnant. There are those who are not pregnant who have to endure an endless barage of hormones that can cause one to act in a way that is as if one is posessed of a devil. (which is what I am currently experiencing) There are those of us who are pregnant and are experiencing the miracle of life, but with all kinds of side effects. (which I have experenced three separate and miserable times, which also causes a barage a hormones and makes one (meaning ME) to act like the devil for nine months straight.) (By the way, if you are one who experiences the miracle without the side effects, you should probably think about having a very large family--you are experiencing a double miracle!) There are those who are awaiting the miracle and mourne the loss with every cycle of the moon.

If there is wisdom in the inconstant cycles that toss us to and fro, please write them in my comment section, women of the blogiverse.

SPC: resolutions

One thing I want to do this year is paint more often....I have let it slide, and it's one of my first loves. It's hard when so much of my energy goes into being a mother and a wife to find the emotional energy I need to put it onto the canvas. But I've learned in the past year that I have more to give than I thought, so I think I can muster up whatever I need from somewhere deep inside. I want to stop being too overwhelmed to paint; I am going to consider myself an artist this year and see what happens.

self portait challenge