When Pigs Fly

Happy New Year!!!

2011-01-01T00:01:00.000-07:00

The Little Drummer Boy

2010-12-20T09:23:00.001-07:00

Another Good Reason to Enroll Your Children in Kumon Math

2010-12-09T10:20:00.001-07:00

NEVER GIVE UP!

2010-11-03T20:33:00.002-06:00

Dear God...

2010-09-22T12:02:00.000-06:00

Read, Repeat, and Remember

2010-07-31T18:50:00.004-06:00

Once upon no time, there was a little Soul who said to God, "I know who I am."

And God said, "That's wonderful! Who are you?"

And the Little Soul shouted, "I'm the Light!"

God smiled a big smile. "That's right!" God exclaimed. "You are the Light."

The Little Soul was so happy, for it had figured out what all the souls in the Kingdom were there to figure out.

"Wow," said the Little Soul, "this is really cool!"

But soon, knowing who it was was not enough. The Little Soul felt stirrings inside, and now wanted to be who it was. And so the Little Soul went back to God (which is not a bad idea for all souls who want to be Who They Really Are) and said,
"Hi, God! Now that I know Who I am, is it okay for me to be it?"

And God said, "You mean you want to be Who You Already Are?"

"Well," replied the Little Soul," it's one thing to know Who I Am, and another thing altogether to actually be it. I want to feel what it's like to be the Light!"

"But you already are the Light," God repeated, smiling again.

"Yes, but I want to see what that feels like!" cried the Little Soul.

"Well," said God with a chuckle, "I suppose I should have known. You always were the adventuresome one."

Then God's expression changed. "There's only one thing..."

"What?" asked the Little Soul.

"Well, there is nothing else but the Light. You see, I created nothing but what you are; and so, there is no easy way for you to experience yourself as Who You Are, since there is nothing that you are not."

"Huh?" said the Little Soul, who was now a little confused.

"Think of it this way," said God. "You are like a candle in the Sun. Oh, you're there all right. Along with a million, gazillion other candles who make up the Sun. And the sun would not be the Sun without you. Nay, it would be a sun without one of its candles...and that would not be the Sun at all; for it would not shine as brightly. Yet, how to know yourself as the Light when you are amidst the Light -that is the question."

"Well," the Little Soul perked up, "you're God. Think of something!"

Once more God smiled. "I already have," God said. "Since you cannot see yourself as the Light when you are in the Light, we'll surround you with darkness."

"What's darkness?" the Little Soul asked.

God replied, "It is that which you are not."

"Will I be afraid of the dark?" cried the Little Soul.

"Only if you choose to be," God answered. "There is nothing, really, to be afraid of, unless you decide that there is. You see, we are making it all up. We are pretending."

"Oh," said the Little Soul, and felt better already.

Then God explained that, in order to experience anything at all, the exact opposite of it will appear. "It is a great gift," God said, "because without it, you could not know what anything is like. You could not know Warm without Cold, Up without Down, Fast without Slow. You could not know Left without Right, Here without There, Now without Then."

"And so," God concluded, "when you are surrounded with darkness, do not shake your fist and raise your voice and curse the darkness. Rather be a Light unto the darkness, and don't be mad about it. Then you will know Who You Really Are, and all others will know, too. Let your Light shine so that everyone will know how special you are!"

"You mean it's okay to let others see how special I am?" asked the Little Soul.

"Of course!" God chuckled. "It's very okay! But remember,'special' does not mean 'better.' Everybody is special, each in their own way! Yet many others have forgotten that. They will see that it is okay for them to be special only when you see that it is okay for you to be special."

"Wow," said the Little Soul, dancing and skipping and laughing and jumping with joy. "I can be as special as I want to be!"

"Yes, and you can start right now," said God, who was dancing and skipping and laughing right along with the Little Soul.

"What part of special do you want to be?"

"What part of special?" the Little Soul repeated. "I don't understand."

"Well," God explained, "being the Light is being special, and being special has a lot of parts to it. It is special to be kind. It is special to be gentle. It is special to be creative. It is special to be patient. Can you think of any other ways it is special to be?"

The Little Soul sat quietly for a moment. "I can think of lots of ways to be special!" the Little Soul then exclaimed. "It is special to be helpful. It is special to be sharing. It is special to be friendly. It is special to be considerate of others!"

"Yes!" God agreed, "and you can be all of those things, or any part of special you wish to be, at any moment. That's what it means to be the Light."
"I know what I want to be, I know what I want to be!" the Little Soul announced with great excitement. "I want to be the part of special called 'forgiving'. Isn't it special to be forgiving?"

"Oh, yes," God assured the Little Soul. "That is very special."

"Okay," said the Little Soul. "That's what I want to be. I want to be forgiving. I want to experience myself as that."

"Good," said God, "but there's one thing you should know."

The Little Soul was becoming a bit impatient now. It always seemed as though there were some complication.

"What is it?" the Little Soul sighed. "There is no one to forgive."

"No one?" The Little Soul could hardly believe what had been said.

"No one!" God repeated. "Everything I have made is perfect. There is not a single soul in all creation less perfect than you. Look around you."

It was then that the Little Soul realized a large crowd had gathered. Souls had come from far and wide ~ from all over the Kingdom ~ for the word had gone forth that the Little Soul was having this extraordinary conversation with God, and everyone wanted to hear what they were saying. Looking at the countless other souls gathered there, the Little Soul had to agree. None appeared less wonderful, less magnificent, or less perfect than the Little Soul itself. Such was the wonder of the souls gathered around, and so bright was their Light, that the Little Soul could scarcely gaze upon them.

"Who, then, to forgive?" asked God.

"Boy, this is going to be no fun at all!" grumbled the Little Soul. "I wanted to experience myself as One Who Forgives. I wanted to know what that part of special felt like."

And the Little Soul learned what it must feel like to be sad. But just then a Friendly Soul stepped forward from the crowd.

"Not to worry, Little Soul," the Friendly Soul said, "I will help you."

"You will?" the Little Soul brightened. "But what can you do?"

"Why, I can give you someone to forgive!"

"You can?"

"Certainly!" chirped the Friendly Soul. "I can come into your next lifetime and do something for you to forgive."

"But why? Why would you do that?" the Little Soul asked. "You, who are a Being of such utter perfection! You, who vibrate with such a speed that it creates a Light so bright that I can hardly gaze upon you! What could cause you to want to slow down your vibration to such a speed that your bright Light would become dark and dense? What could cause you ~ who are so light that you dance upon the stars and move through the Kingdom with the speed of your thought--to come into my life and make yourself so heavy that you could do this bad thing?"

"Simple," the Friendly Soul said. "I would do it because I love you."

The Little Soul seemed surprised at the answer.

"Don't be so amazed," said the Friendly Soul, "you have done the same thing for me. Don't you remember? Oh, we have danced together, you and I, many times. Through the eons and across all the ages have we danced. Across all time and in many places have we played together. You just don't remember."

"We have both been All Of It. We have been the Up and the Down of it, the Left and the Right of it. We have been the Here and the There of it, the Now and the Then of it. We have been the male and the female, the good and the bad; we have both been the victim and the villain of it."

"Thus have we come together, you and I, many times before; each bringing to the other the exact and perfect opportunity to Express and to Experience Who We Really Are. And so," the Friendly Soul explained further, "I will come into your next lifetime and be the 'bad one' this time. I will do something really terrible, and then you can experience yourself as the One Who Forgives.

"But what will you do?" the Little Soul asked, just a little nervously, "that will be so terrible?"

"Oh," replied the Friendly Soul with a twinkle, "we'll think of something."

Then the Friendly Soul seemed to turn serious, and said in a quiet voice, "You are right about one thing, you know."

"What is that?" the Little Soul wanted to know.

"I will have to slow down my vibration and become very heavy to do this not-so-nice thing. I will have to pretend to be something very unlike myself. And so, I have but one favour to ask of you in return."

"Oh, anything, anything!" cried the Little Soul, and began to dance and sing, "I get to be forgiving, I get to be forgiving!"

Then the Little Soul saw that the Friendly Soul was remaining very quiet.

"What is it?" the Little Soul asked. "What can I do for you? You are such an angel to be willing to do this for me!"

"Of course this Friendly Soul is an angel!" God interrupted. "Everyone is! Always remember: I have sent you nothing but angels."

And so the Little Soul wanted more than ever to grant the Friendly Soul's request. "What can I do for you?" the Little Soul asked again.

"In the moment that I strike you and smite you," the Friendly Soul replied, "in the moment that I do the worst to you that you could possible imagine ~ in that very moment..."

"Yes?" the Little Soul interrupted, "yes...?"

"Remember Who I Really Am."

"Oh, I will!" cried the Little Soul, "I promise! I will always remember you as I see you right here, right now!"

"Good," said the Friendly Soul, "because, you see, I will have been pretending so hard, I will have forgotten myself. And if you do not remember me as I really am, I may not be able to remember for a very long time. And if I forget Who I Am, you may even forget Who You Are, and we will both be lost. Then we will need another soul to come along and remind us both of Who We Are."

"No, we won't!" the Little Soul promised again. "I will remember you! And I will thank you for bringing me this gift ~ the chance to experience myself as Who I Am.
" And so, the agreement was made. And the Little Soul went forth into a new lifetime, excited to be the Light, which was very special, and excited to be that part of special called Forgiveness.

And the Little Soul waited anxiously to be able to experience itself as Forgiveness, and to thank whatever other soul made it possible. And at all the moments in that new lifetime, whenever a new soul appeared on the scene, whether that new soul brought joy or sadness--and especially if it brought sadness--the Little Soul thought of what God had said.

"Always remember," God had smiled, "I have sent you nothing but angels."

~Neale Donald Walsch, "Conversations With God"<>

Knock, knock. Who's there? Remember me???

2010-05-05T10:19:00.012-06:00

Hello, friends! Have you missed me? I've certainly missed you :-) Things have been a bit hectic in my little world this last month, but I've definately been working, weaving, and swapping... But apparently not blogging! (Speaking of swapping, the picture above is of Barkley playing with his new favorite toy: A rubber chicken that was sent by one of my swap partners in ISRAEL!!! Cool, right?)

Anyway... My Kumon Center is blessedly busy. I'm working about 60 hours per week right now, but I have no complaints. OK, one complaint. We are getting a new roof put on our building (thank you, new landlord!). Over the weekend, we had a freak hailstorm which dumped several inches of hail on Rio Rancho. Unfortunately, the new roof had not been completely sealed before the storm, the temporary drainlines didn't hold, the ceiling in my Center collapsed, and, needless to say, hundreds of gallons of water poured into the Center. Nice. (Words very unbecoming to a Kumon Instructor might have been uttered when I saw the destruction.) But... Nobody was hurt, no worksheets or important data were destroyed, the carpet will (eventually) dry, and furniture and student prizes can be replaced. This, too, shall pass :-)

Oh. Can I lodge one more complaint? On top of my 60 hours per week, business trips to Phoenix last month, New Jersey next month, and New York in July... I'm on JURY DUTY for FOUR MONTHS! It appears that owning a business that cannot operate without you is not a "valid" reason for being excused from performing my civic duty. Lovely. (A friend of mine suggested I claim "Tourette's Syndrome" as a reason for dismissal. She thought I would VERY convincing in playing this part... I, unfortunately, must agree with her!)

I mentioned that I have also been able to find time for weaving. Below are a few of my latest creations:

Mail basket swapped to on of "Swap-Bot" sisters in exchange for a lovely crocheted scarf.

I wove this basket around a large glass jar and filled it with flowers for one of the volunteers at my Kumon Center. It is currently being used as a utensil holder in her kitchen.

This sweet little basket was sent to another of my Swap-Bot friends. Here's the message she sent to me after she received the basket:

" Tonight I told my mom, "Look at this great basket someone made just for me!" She gave me a look like she didn't believe me, and said I was silly believing someone made it for me. She said that it looked "store-bought" and "too good to be handmade". I said, "Nope. She made it just for me. She's a basket weaver and even signed the bottom of the basket. Isn't that cool?"

She finally beieved me... So kudos! Your stuff rocks :-) Just thought you'd like to know. ~April"

Pencil basket sent to a swapper who likes to draw. This was the first swap I sent to a "Swap-Bot brother" :-)

I filled this basket with a collection of little rubber duckies and bubble bath and shipped it to a friend in Hawaii.

This little basket went to a swapper in England. She loves to cook and collects recipes, so a recipe basket seemed to be the perfect gift.

OK. That's all for now, as I have work to do :-) My next post will be about a new weaving project that I loved so much I'll be making more for all of my seamstress friends. Stay tuned, my crafty friends!

Hugs and blessings~

~~~Anne

Yeah... There are just NO comments from me on this Etsy item :-)

2010-03-11T21:48:00.004-07:00

Seriously??? I would have thought this was am early April Fool's Day joke, but pre-orders are going for $30.00. Read on for the Etsy store description. Order if you must. Period.

Link to store/item

Introducing Hip Handmaids’ exclusive iMaxi—the only Apple iPad case made with protective wings!

With its durable vinyl outer layer and plush, quilted-cotton sleeve, the iMaxi helps keep your iPad clean and dry.

Plus, the iMaxi's Velcro-latched, advanced wing design wraps snugly around your device, so your iPad always stays where it should.

Best of all, it shields it from all those unsightly and embarrassing data leaks that would make any motherboard worry!

Each handmade iMaxi can be easily customized to fit your active lifestyle.

Please view other listings for different color options including our "lived in" red thread interior. If you don’t see a color you like, just ask!

It's the perfect one-of-a-kind embarrassing gift for the Apple geek in your life! Don’t be caught letting your iPad show!

Ambrosia Cake - A Celebration of Spring!

2010-02-16T11:28:00.003-07:00

Ambrosia means "food of the gods" in Greek and Roman mythology. In the USA, it has a much more humble history as a chilled fruit salad! Most ambrosias are made with manadrin oranges, pineapple, and coconut. This show-stopping cake is no exception, with four layers of angel food, pineapple curd, and orange and vanilla frostings.

Don't let the picture fool you... This stunning and delicious cake is super simple to make!

AMBROSIA CAKE

1/4 cup pineapple juice (I used the juice from the can of pineapple slices.)
2 large eggs + 1 yolk
1/2 cup granulated sugar
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
pinch salt
~~~
3 cups vanilla buttercream frosting (I used the cooked version here)
1 teaspoon grated zest + 2 teaspoons juice from one orange
~~~
1 9" angel food cake (due to time constraints, I used store-bought)
2 15oz. cans mandarin orange slices, drained
2 cups sweetened shredded coconut
1 20oz. can pineapple sliced, drained and cut into half-moons

For the pineapple curd:
Bring pineapple juice to boil, in a small saucepan, over medium heat. Whisk eggs/yolk and sugar together in a medium bowl. Whisking constantly, pur hot pineapple juice into egg mixture. Return to pan and cook, stirring constantly, until mixtures thickens. (It takes 2-3 minutes and will be VERY obvious!) Remove from heat and stir in butter and salt. Place in small bowl, cover surface directly with plastic wrap, and refrigerate until thickened (at least one hour).

For the orange frosting:
Put one cup of vanilla buttercream frosting in a samll bowl. Stir in orange zet and juice.

To assemble cake:
Using a serrated knife, cut cake horizontally into four layers (don't worry... angel food cake is quite sturdy!). Place bottom layer on platter, spread with 1/2 cup of orange frosting and top with about 20-25 mandarin slices. Place next cake layer on top of orange slices and top with pineapple curd. Top with the next cake layer, spread with orange frosting and more orange slices. Finish with the top cake layer and coat top and sides of cake with vanilla buttercream. Press coconut onto frosted cake and decorate with orange and pineapple slices.

Hugs and blessings~

~~~Anne

Origami Paper Doll Bookmarks and a Braided Rim Basket! (My Crafty Resolution Update for January)

2010-02-07T10:01:00.005-07:00

January was a great month! And, yes, I did keep up with my "Crafty Resolution" :-) Here's a bit of what I created...

I made Origami Paper Doll bookmarks. Loads of them, as once you get started the process is very addicting. (Yes, paper folding friends, I will have a tutorial posted soon!)

I also wove this amazing mini muffin basket! We had a basket weaving party at my Kumon Center, and my friends Nancy, Darlene, and Faith guided me in my efforts to make my first braided rim. Not bad for a first try, right? I love the rim and am excited to weave more baskets using this technique. By the way, this is one of Nancy's free patterns. It can be found here. Bonus: She has a video tutorial on weaving this mini muffin basket here.

On the subject of our basket weaving party... My potluck contribution was an Ambrosia Cake. It was four layers of fluffy, fruity goodness. The recipe will be posted this week. Stay tuned :-)

Hugs and blessings~

~~~Anne

Need a Smile? Call The Nestle Hotline!

2010-02-01T22:27:00.004-07:00

If you need a chuckle try this...

Call the Nestle hotline at 1-800-295-0051.

When asked if you want to continue in English or Spanish wait quietly for about 10 seconds and you will smile!

Keep listening, and then press 4.

Listen to the options, then press 7.

Yes, it will make you laugh! Yes, you can let your kids listen to it...

Dial in... Post your comments :-)

Hugs and blessings~

~~~Anne

P.S.
If you comment on this don't give away the surprise!

What He Said. What I Heard. (Husband to Wife Translation)

2010-01-18T18:21:00.002-07:00

So... I'm sitting at the kitchen table this morning making origami doll bookmarks. (Yeah, no pictures. Yet. I seem to have misplaced the cable that links my camera to my computer. Shame on me!)

After an hour or so of cutting and folding, my husband strolls out of his office and says, "Wife. Whatcha doing?" (Yes, he calls me Wife. I call him Husband. If I call him Dave, he knows I'm mad about something. I can't remember the last time he called me Anne!)

I smile up at him lovingly (ok I glare at him a bit, because he is disturbing my creative process) and reply "I'm making origami doll bookmarks, Husband. Aren't they beautiful?"

"Cool!" Husband says as he looks upon an army of headless kimono bodies. "I'm so happy I have a crafty wife."

Ha! I, of course, heard "Please feel free to go to Michael's and spend as much money as you want. This makes me happy."

I now am the proud owner of two bags of new crafting supplies :-)

Ladies, please feel free to share this translation with your husbands. Or not.

Until I find the camera cable and can post my Origami Doll Bookmark tutorial...

Hugs and blessings~
~~~Anne

My Crafty Resolution, Part Two - Free Basket Pattern Links

2009-12-28T10:39:00.009-07:00

Time for basket weaving needs to be factored into my Crafty Resolution for 2010. Below are some links to FREE PATTERNS for some of my favorite "must weave" projects for next year.

Basket Maker's Catalog has a lot of free basket weaving patterns. OK, they're not just patterns, many of them are complete tutorials with very detailed instructions and lots of pictures. Click here for the free pattern for the "Simple Gift Basket" pictured above.

There are tons of FREE patterns for beautiful baskets at Suzanne Moore's NC Basketworks - I love the Summertime Wall Baskets (free pattern here), and will definately be weaving these. Don't you love the colors and embellishments?

These sweet teacups were made by my blog friend, Juliana Deen at "A Handwoven Life". These have a high priority on my weaving list, as I'd really love to give them as Mother's Day gifts to my mothers-in-law and Aunt Judy. (Click he re for free pattern.)

I, of course, can't forget to mention some baskets I intended to weave in 2009 that were posted by my "real life" friend, Nancy Jacobs at Basketmaster's Weavings. The first is this awesome and useful Recipe Basket. I'm going to weave two of these... One for "tried and true" recipes, and one for new recipe clippings. (free pattern here)

I also want to weave a collection of Nancy's Kitchen Counter Baskets (free pattern here). I think that if I modify the dimensions a bit, they would be perfect to store my "keeper" magazines like Cook's Illustrated and A Taste of Home.

Oh... Nancy has a YouTube Channel with amazingly detailed and simple-to-follow video tutorials of how to weave several different baskets, including the recipe basket pictured above. Please visit her here for more weaving inspiration.
'

Until next time...

Hugs and blessings~

~~~Anne

My Crafty Resolution / Linky Love - Part One

2009-12-27T10:30:00.010-07:00

2009 is coming to an end, and what an amazing year it has been! I've collected links to a bunch of projects I am going to find time to craft in 2010. (Seriously, I have so many grand ideas that it is not realistic for me to think I'm going to be able to complete them all in a year.)

One of my "resolutions" for the New Year is to find/make time to craft. This can be a challenge, so in my efforts to make this an attainable goal, I am going to commit to completing one new project per month.

I'm excited about sharing some of what might be on my "craft plate" next year... And I will keep you updated on each of my monthly projects.

See below for some fun ideas and tutorials. More links will be posted soon.

Hugs, blessings, and Happy New Year!
~~~Anne

Cute, cute, cute! I have to make this one in several colors... But first I need to figure out how I'm going to make and attach wings :-) Check out Q.D. Patooties for the easy-to-follow tutorial.

These Hedgies were made with car wash mitts from Dollar Tree. I think my Barkley would love playing with them, but I am certain the pom-pom nose would only stay on for a minute :-) Please visit Darling Petunia for the tutorial.

I'm loving these water balloon luminaries from candletech.com. The tutorial they provide makes this look like a fun and affordable project, with tons of possibilities.

Amazing punched tin butterflies from Gingerbread Snowflakes. Yes, Pam provides a full tutorial, and if you browse through her site, you'll see a bunch of other suggestions for punched tin ornaments, as well as a bunch of other fun projects.

Christmas in Mexico

2009-12-24T10:32:00.010-07:00

Feliz Navidad! No... I'm not spending Christmas in Mexico, but I have met a new blog friend who shares all things Mexico. Her name is Angie, and her amazing blog is called At Home in Mexico. Angie is an educator who is very excited about sharing details about her life in Mexico. She posts amazing pictures of the country, churches, celebrations, and food, as well as providing very detailed an colorful explainations and commentary.

Below are just a few pictures from her posts about December celebrations in her country:

December 12 - The Celebration the miracle of the Virgin of Guadalupe

A A beautiful young lady with traditional embroidered attire and decorated braids.

Scenes from a marketplace selling figurines for Nacimientos (Nativity scenes). I love how Angie explains that people continually add to their collection each year. I also enjoy that in Mexico, the true spirit of the season is celebrated... If a family has no money for a Christmas tree, they still have a Nacimiento. Beautiful!

How cool is this? The Holy Family made out of corn cobs! The 5th grade girls at Angie's school had to make Nativity scenes from any materials they chose. Click here to see some very creative ideas. Great job, ladies!

Oh... One more thing. Angie hosted a giveaway for a bag she made and a scarf from Mexico. What do you see on the slips of paper that were the winning draws? Yup, that's me, third one down. I can't wait to post pictures of Angie's generous gifts when they arrive. Thanks, Angie!

Merry Christmas!

~~~Anne

Candy Cane Cake and Tiny Gingerbread Houses!

2009-12-21T09:29:00.007-07:00

Wow! Christmas is almost here and I've been so busy that I've not been able to do much along the lines of crafting this month. (I can't really complain, though. Kumon has been really busy, which is definately not "normal" for December!)

I was able to find time to make a "Candy Cane Cake" (Betty Crocker's recipe here) for my staff Christmas Party

I baked a Cranberry Apple Pie with Vodka Pie Crust and will be posting the recipe later this week. I also made peppermint truffles, dipped pretzels, and Fire Vodka so I guess I'm OK in the holiday cooking/baking category :-)

Wait! I'm not finished yet... Below is one of the cutest and most original Christmas ideas I've seen in ages...

Tiny gingerbread houses that sit on the rim of a cup! I know I'm out of time this year, but I am totally adding this project to next year's Christmas "must do" list! For complete instructions and a pattern, please visit Megan at NotMartha.org.

If you do make these sweet little houses (you know you want to!), please leave a comment/link so I can live vicariously through your creativity...

Merry Christmas!

~~~Anne

Two Wolves

2009-12-15T09:06:00.002-07:00

One evening an old Cherokee told his grandson about a battle that goes on inside people.

He said, "My son, the battle is between two wolves inside us all.

One is Evil - It is anger, envy, jealousy, sorrow, regret, greed, arrogance, self-pity, guilt, resentment, inferiority, lies, false pride, superiority, and ego.

The other is Good - It is joy, peace, love, hope, serenity, humility, kindness, benevolence, empathy, generosity, truth, compassion and faith."

The grandson thought about it for a minute and then asked his grandfather: "Which wolf wins?"

The old Cherokee simply replied, "The one you feed."

In Memory of my Father (Dec. 1928 - Mar. 1997)

2009-12-10T23:22:00.010-07:00

Happy Birthday, Dad. I miss you every day.

Just to let you know... I created a Kumon scholarship fund in your and Mom's names. I wanted to honor you and your commitment to childhood education. This fund will allow children whose families are not financially able to participate in the Kumon program, the opportunity to enroll in and benefit from our services. We already have three worthy (and grateful) participants!

I know this makes you happy. I also know that you and mom are smiling upon me in my successes and (and supporting me in my challenges) in regard to my Japanese-based (thanks Mom) self-owned, educational business (thanks Dad)!

I would not be the woman I am without you.

Quietly, tearfully, lovingly, and respectfully~

~~~Anne

Congratulations to Ed and a Reminder to Sign Your Donor Card

2009-12-02T20:51:00.002-07:00

Woo hoo! We just recieved a call from my husband's longtime friend, Ed. He has been on the national donor list for a long time, and finally recieved a kidney AND a pancreas today!!! (If any of you have listened to TJ Trout's morning show on 94Rock, Ed is a frequent contributor who goes by "Spesh Ed". ***Sorry, but he came up with the name himself***)

Our heartfelt thanks go out to the individual who agreed to donate his/her organs to help improve Ed's life. Our eternal sympathy is with the loved ones of the person who lost his/her life. All of you will be in our prayers forever.

If you are not currently an organ donor, please become one. It could make a difference to someone you love.

Hugs and blessings~
~~~Anne

Sparkley Sugared Cranberries

2009-11-25T14:04:00.005-07:00

SUGARED CRANBERRIES

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups granulated white sugar

1 1/2 cups water

1 12oz. bag fresh cranberries

3/4 cup superfine sugar (or grind your own using regular sugar in a food processor)

Directions:

1. Rinse and drain cranberries. Remove any mushy berries and discard.

2. Cook granulated sugar and water in a medium sized pot over low heat. Bring the mixture to a gentle simmer, stirring frequently.

3. Add cranberries to hot liquid and stir. Pour berries and sugar water into a large bowl and refigerate overnight. (Use a small saucer on top of the berries to keep them submerged.

4. Drain cranberries in colander over bowl. Reserve the syrup for later use.

5. Sprinkle half the superfine sugar on a foil-lined baking sheet. Dump the cranberries in the sugar and shake the pan to coat. Continue adding sugar and shaking the pan until all berries are coated.

6. Allow to harden for a few hours and then serve and enjoy. Berries are best within a day or two of preparation... But they're so addicting I've never been able to test out whether they'll last any longer!

Happy Thanksgiving!

~~~Anne

Send a FREE Card of Thanks to Our Military Members

2009-11-23T13:28:00.002-07:00

Happy Thanksgiving!

In the spirit of the holiday season, please take a moment to visit www.LetsSayThanks.com .

Once there, you can pick out a thank you card and Xerox will print it and it will be sent to a an American soldier who is currently serving in the Middle East .

Though you can't select who recieves your card, it will go to a member of the Armed Services who cannot be home for the holidays.

How AMAZING it would be if we could get everyone we know to send at least one card of appreciation!!!

Sending a card is FREE and the process is simple and fun. Wouldn't it be wonderful if our soldiers received a bunch of these cards of thanks?

Regardless of your feelings about the current "war situation", our soldiers need to know we are behind them and support their efforts 100%.

Sending a card takes just 10 seconds and is a wonderful way to say thank you to our dedicated military members.

Please take the time to send a card and then pass on a link to this post so others can do the same.

God Bless America and Happy Thanksgiving.

~~~Anne

We Whisk You A Merry Kiss-mas!

2009-11-19T13:45:00.004-07:00

Are you looking for a simple, inexpensive, and original gift for the ladies in your scrapbooking club, bowling league, or for your children's teachers? Head over to your local dollar store to pick up the supplies for this sweet gift.

Materials:
Cloth kitchen towel
Metal whisk
Hershey's Kisses
Clear plastic sandwich bag
Bow

Directions:
Put a generous handful of Kisses in baggie. Open the loops on the whisk and tuck in the bag of candy. Wrap the towel around the whisk and secure with a bow. Add a little card that reads "WE WHISK YOU A MERRY KISS-MAS!"

What are you doing to prepare for the holidays? Please head over to Basketmaster's Weavings to share your projects and recipes on "What We're Working On Wednesdays". I can't wait to see what everyone is doing :-)

Hugs and blessings~
~~~Anne

How to Make a Ristra

2009-11-13T09:38:00.011-07:00

Okay, I’m totally late for Nancy’s “What We’re Working on Wednesdays”, but better late than never, right?

I, once again, had a hard time sleeping last night. I finally decided to get out of bed at around 4:30 this morning. I put on a pot of coffee and cleaned up around the kitchen for a bit (I was already miserable, so why not add to the pain!). Anyway, I noticed that the last huge pile of peppers from our chile harvest were ripening at an alarming rate, right there on the counter in my(now clean) kitchen. “Lazy Anne” thinks they’ll make a good addition to the compost bin. “Crafty Anne” knows she can absolutely do something fun with the chile. “Crafty Anne” thinks a lot faster than “Lazy Anne”. Guess who began making her first-ever RISTRA at 5:00am???

It was actually an easy project. Tying all the knots was strangely relaxing, and knowing I’ll have plenty of dried chile pods to use this winter made the process that much more satisfying.

Want to make one of your own?

Ready, set, go!
'

Gather your materials:
- Chile peppers
- Twine
- Scissors

- Raffia

Cut a long length of twine (l-o-n-g, about 10 feet or so.) Double the twine and tie a knot at one end. Begin making a series of slipknots with your doubled “rope”, as pictured above. Try to make the knots fairly close together, but don’t worry about the placement too much. You’ll fill in any “holes” later.

Begin poking the stems of your peppers into the slipknots. Tighten each knot as you add more peppers.
'

After about every third pepper, weave the twine around the stems several times and knot to make a cluster.

Continue the process until you have a “foundation” for your ristra. The length of your foundation depends more on your personal preference and the number of peppers you have. (I had a lot of peppers! My ristra is about 22 inches long.)

Cut more pieces of twine in lengths of about 6 inches. Begin attaching more peppers by simply tying double-knots to secure them to your foundation. Snip off the ends of twine to about ¼ inch. ( I have also tied in some raffia in the picture above.)

Hold up your ristra often to check for gaps. Add more peppers as needed, attaching to the foundation AND the stems of already tied-in peppers. (Always include the twine part of your foundation when adding more chile.)

We’re getting there, but you can still see “bald spots”. Add more peppers. As your ristra becomes more fuller, you’ll have to dig around a bit to get the ends of your string through your arrangement. Don’t worry. If your knots are tight, your ristra can withstand quite a bit of manipulation.

Tie in more raffia for decoration and texture.

Whew! We’re almost finished. We need to add a loop so we can hang our ristra.

Wrap and tie tightly the remaining end of your doubled twine around the pepper stems at the top of your ristra. Wrap until you are left with a loop about 2-3 inches long. Attach raffia to the top of the loop by knotting. Wrap the raffia around the twine, and finish by tying the raffia into a bow. Add additional raffia or other embellishments, if desired.

Here is my finished ristra. Not bad for a project I finished before the sunrise! Not too bad at all. (Okay, really. I totally LOVE it and am feeling very impressed with myself right now!) I’m thinking I may have to get an earlier start on making ristras next year. They’d make awesome and unusual Christmas gifts for family and friends who don’t live in the Southwest.

Hugs and blessings~
~~~Anne

Recycle a Light Bulb into a Reed Diffuser

2009-11-04T11:26:00.012-07:00

My friend Nancy over at Basketmaster's Weavings has started a new meme called "What We're Working On Wednesdays". Just in time for the holidays, it gives us the opportunity to share our current projects and recipes with the blog world. Please visit Nancy for more details on how to participate in this fun project.

OK. On to my Recycled Lightbulb Reed Diffuser...

I'm going to show you how you can get from this:

To this:

Ready, set, go!

Mix Your Diffuser Fragrance:
In a bowl or jar, mix 20 drops of essential oil or other fragrance with 6oz. high-proof vodka or grain alcohol (100 proof or higher). Add a couple of drops of food coloring if you wish to tint your fragrance. Set the mixture aside. (I used Christmas Forest Fragrance Oil from Bramble Berry and a couple of drops of green food coloring in this project.)

Create Your Diffuser:
***Wear protective eyeware and rubber gloves for the first step.***
'

Wrap your lightbulb in a towel. Smack the end of the lightbulb with a hammer to break the seal and release the filament and innards. (You’ll try to be gentle at first. Don’t be. Apparently, lightbulbs are not nearly as delicate as they look!)

Pull out the innards with needle-nosed pliers and rinse out the lightbulb with water.

Attach feet (I used clear glass “vase gems) with glass-friendly adhesive.

Cover the neck of your diffuser to clean-up the look. You can wrap it with raffia, ribbons, fabric, cork… I used a bit of embossing copper on the project pictured.
Glue on embellishments, if desired. Fill with fragrance mixture and insert reeds. Enjoy!

Hugs and blessings~

~~~Anne

Carving a Pumpkin to Look Like My Dog

2009-10-30T10:29:00.011-06:00

OK. I was not going to carve a pumpkin this year. But last night, Dave hauls in a good sized pumpkin from the garden, plops it on the table, and trots away. I did my best to ignore this orange beauty, but she's absolutely begging to be carved. "No. Back away from the pumpkin," I tell myself. "Go to bed." I went to bed and both the pumpkin and I survived the night.

What do you know? The very first e-mail I received this morning had a bunch of pictures of dogs posed next to pumpkins that had been carved into their liknesses. The one above is the spitting image of my 4-legged baby! Are you kidding me??? I, of course, have to carve this design into the pumpkin! So I set off to find a chihuahua pattern. Lo and behold, I hit the jackpot of FREE dog themed pumpkin patterns!

Here's one for Nancy and her sweet Cindy:

Here's one for Miyuki's precious Dachshund:

And one for Miss Yo-Yo's little Jack Russell:

Do you want to carve a pumpkin in the image of your own 4-legged family member? The free patterns are available here at BHG. There are many different breeds available and the pictures they have posted are totally sweet. I especially love the pumpkin carved like a pug!

Happy Halloween.

Hugs and blessings~
~~~Anne

Free Berry Basket Pattern from Basketmaster's Weavings!

2009-10-08T19:13:00.000-06:00

My friend and "mentor basket weaver" Nancy Jacobs has generously posted another free basket pattern and tutorial on her website, Basketmaster's Weavings. Even better... She has created a video tutorial to guide you in the weaving process! Click here to visit her on YouTube.

I've not had time to weave for a few months! This sweet "beginner" basket might just be the thing to get back into my "weave".

Hugs and blessings~
~~~Anne

How To Make Gift Bows From Old Magazine Pages

2009-10-06T09:23:00.005-06:00

How cool is this idea? Making your own gift bows from old magazine pages has got to be one of the best "upcycle" ideas I've seen in a long time. There are so many different scrap materials that could be used for this project, right? (I'm thinking my staff members are going to be receiving Christmas presents decorated with bows made from old Kumon worksheets!)

Please visit Jessica at How About Orange for her simple tutorial. Be advised that simply viewing the directions for the project might cause you to stop what you're doing and head off to find some glue dots and a stapler!

Hugs and blessings~

~~~Anne

October is National Book Month - Be a Reading Role Model

2009-10-01T02:12:00.001-06:00

The latest word from educators is that reading aloud to kids may help them in school and later in life. That’s because children who are read aloud to often become readers themselves.

Experts say reading aloud makes reading more fun for kids and, therefore, something they’re more likely to do on their own.

The more a person reads, the better he or she becomes at it—and students who read the most tend to stay in school longer and achieve more.

I strongly encourage families to read together as much as possible. Here are some tips for parents to become reading role models:

Make it a family thing. Set aside time to read at lease one night a week as a family. It can be after dinner or homework or right before bedtime. Join your local library and make family trips on a regular basis. Talk with your children about their books so that they will see you’re interested.

Make your home reading ready. Create a reading area in your house that has comfy furniture, good lighting, and most importantly books. Stock this area with books that your family will enjoy, such as how-to books, mysteries, comedies or fairytales. You’ll be surprised how often you and your children read when the materials are immediately available.

Do it together. In addition to reading as a family, invite your children to read with you. Show them how we use reading in our everyday lives by asking them to read the back of the cereal box, street signs, or the synopsis of their favorite movie on DVD. These simple activities work anywhere and will show your children that reading is an essential life skill.

Read on the go. Next time you take a family road trip, encourage your children to open a book along the way. If your children get carsick or are too young to read on their own, audio books are a safe and educational alternative for everyone. This will ensure a quiet and entertaining trip for the entire family.

Do you need help selecting books that appeal to your child’s interests or reading ability? Kumon offers a free Recommended Reading List, which includes a range of 350 titles for any reading level. Parents can select books to read aloud to children that help build pre-literacy skills. Students can find books on anything from sports to science or adventure books. Ask your local Kumon Instructor for a copy, leave your request as a comment on this post, or e-mail me at barksmommy@gmail.com.

Hugs and blessings~
~~~Anne

Kumon Booth at NMJACL Aki Matsuri 2008

2009-09-27T07:21:00.010-06:00

It's 7:30 in the morning, and I'm off to host a booth at NMJACL's 2009 "Aki Matsuri" (fall festival). Kumon of Rio Rancho proudly donated the first place prize for this year's raffle, and will also be conducting drawings every hour for Kumon books and gift certificates. All of the profits from this event go towards building a Japanese Cultural Center in the Albuquerque metro. If you're in the area, we'd love to see you there.

You're looking at pictures from last year's event, but I'm sure I'll have a bunch more from this year's Aki Matsuri to post this week.

Hugs and blessings~

~~~Anne

Let's Get Back to Worksheets!

2009-09-23T10:18:00.004-06:00

Let's Get Back to Worksheets!
By Bill Costello : BIO 22 Sep 2009

The U.S. is falling behind the world in math. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan said, "We are lagging the rest of the world, and we are lagging it in pretty substantial ways."

A special analysis put out by the National Center for Education Statistics found that the math performance of U.S. high schoolers was in the bottom quarter of the countries that participated in the most recent Program for International Student Assessment.

Results of the 2009 ACT and SAT show that U.S. students are no better in math this year than they were last year. Math performance has improved in other countries while it has remained stagnant in the U.S.

These findings are disturbing in an increasingly global economy where careers in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) are becoming progressively more important for nations to compete internationally.

According to the U.S. Government Accountability Office, the proportion of students obtaining STEM degrees from U.S. universities has dropped from 32 percent to 27 percent over the past decade. At the same time, the percentage of non-U.S. students earning these degrees from U.S. universities has increased dramatically.

In The World is Flat: A Brief History of the Twenty-First Century, Thomas Friedman argues that getting more Americans to pursue careers in STEM fields is critical to the future of our nation's economy. Friedman is not alone in his opinion.

The National Science Foundation reports that non-U.S. graduates from U.S. universities accounted for more than half of the doctorate recipients in physics (58 percent), computer sciences (65 percent), engineering (68 percent), and mathematics (57 percent). The most numerous of these non-U.S. graduates were from China, India, and South Korea. The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development found that over 40 percent of non-U.S. doctoral degree recipients intended to leave the U.S.

Not only are we losing ground to non-U.S. citizens at our own universities, but we're also falling behind other nations. The U.S. is no longer the leader in STEM education. In absolute numbers, Japan and China are producing more graduates. Our rate of STEM to non-STEM graduates is roughly 17 percent while the international average is nearly 26 percent. We're not even keeping pace with some developing countries.

President Obama has acknowledged that other countries--especially Asian countries--are performing better in math than the U.S. How does he plan to prevent us from falling farther behind?

In the U.S., we used to focus on basic computation skills when we taught students traditional math. Ever since the U.S. National Council of Teachers of Mathematics developed standards for school math in 1989, many U.S. schools starting teaching reform math.

Recently, I visited schools in Japan and Taiwan. I found they're teaching math the way we used to teach it; they're focusing on basic computation skills.

Hong Kong, Singapore, and South Korea--all top performers in math--are also focusing on the basics. Even the cram schools, which are prevalent in Asia, focus on the basics.

The largest and most established cram school in Asia is Kumon. I visited their head office in Tokyo to interview public relations executives Mayu Katata and Shinichiro Iwasaki about the Kumon method. In a nutshell, they focus on using worksheets to help students master basic computation skills.

Traditional math emphasizes basic computation skills and algorithms that lead to the correct answer while reform math places more value on the thinking process that leads to any answer.
Both of these skills are needed. However, the major problem with reform math is that it puts the cart before the horse by trying to teach students abstract concepts of math before they have built strong foundational skills. With traditional math, students often work individually on worksheets. With reform math, they often work in groups cutting, pasting, and coloring.

Sure, worksheets and algorithms are boring compared to gluing stuff and explaining how you came up with an answer that may not even be correct, but which method will better prepare our students to compete in an increasingly global economy?

America, let's get back to worksheets.

Bill Costello, training director of Making Minds Matter, teaches parents and teachers the best strategies for educating boys. He can be reached at www.makingmindsmatter.com or trainer@makingmindsmatter.com.

An Afternoon at the Symphony and Dinner at the Artichoke Cafe

2009-09-21T11:16:00.003-06:00

Yesterday, I turned off my computer and my phones and spent a wonderful few hours with my mother-in-law, Marty. We began our afternoon by enjoying an amazing concert performed by the Albuquerque Youth Symphony at Popejoy Hall. (One of my Kumon students plays first violin with AYS, so I enjoyed the performace even more!)
These young people are incredible musicians! Under the direction of the very personable and entertaining Gabriel Gordon, the group played selections such as "Romeo and Juliet" and "The Sorcerer's Apprentice". As a very special treat, they also premiered Michael Mauldin's "KOKOPELLI: His Flutesong" which was based on a piece for pipe organ and re-arranged and orchestrated for the Albuquerque Youth Symphony. (Bonus: Mr. Mauldin was seated right behind us. Very cool!)

After the symphony, we decided to treat ourselves to dinner at a restaurant neither of had visited, both wanted to try, and couldn't generally afford. We decided on The Artichoke Cafe and we are so glad that we did! The atmosphere, service, and food were truly spectacular.

We began with a "Beef Carpaccio", which came crowned with fresh baby arugula, pickled cucumber, red onions & capers, and dressed with a wonderful wasabi creme-fraiche and chili oil.

After enjoying a beautiful house salad and delicious fresh-baked bread (three different kinds!), we were on to the main course. Marty selected the "Pan-Roasted Free-Range Chicken Breast", which had a beautiful plate presentation. Stacked atop a compote of braised fingerling potatoes, roasted poblanos, sweet corn, yellow squash and onions, the moist and tender chicken was topped with a tequila-lime picata sauce and toasted pine nuts. Chicken that is done well is definately a rare treat. The Artichoke Cafe has the art perfected.

I chose the "House Made Ravioli" because I could not see leaving without incorporating artichoke into my dining experience. The abundant ravioli were stuffed with artichoke puree and ricotta. They were decorated with basil, slivered tomatoes, and toasted pine nuts. The pasta pillows came bathed in a rich golden white wine-butter sauce, which tasted slightly of citrus. Topped with shaved Grana Padano, this pasta extravaganza is definately something worth enjoying again.

Unfortunately, we were too stuffed to even look at the dessert menu, so that will have to wait until our next visit to The Artichoke Cafe. Yes... I'm definately going back again. Maybe I'll even invite my husband :-)

Want to share a taste of Artichoke Cafe at home? Click here and scroll to bottom of the page to get the recipe for their signature Artichoke and Crab Dip recipe. I'm definately going to try this one for holiday entertaining!

Hugs and blessings~
~~~Anne

Good Works Can Lead to Good Grades

2009-09-10T09:00:00.003-06:00

(NAPSI)-According to a recent study, community service can help young students make the grade. American students who volunteer in their community or are motivated to volunteer are more likely to earn above-average grades in school.

That's one reason parents who are eager to help their children have a successful school year may consider helping them volunteer in the community. Sixty percent of more than 1,000 American parents surveyed by Ipsos Public Affairs for Kumon Math and Reading Centers indicated that their children who are performing at an above-average level in school are already volunteering, are interested in community service or are encouraged to volunteer.

Ninety-eight percent of parents of children who perform at an above-average level at school and participate in volunteer activities agree that their child's community involvement helps them succeed both in and out of the classroom. Moreover, 80 percent of those parents believe that their children's educational experiences inspire them to become more involved in volunteering and charitable acts.

These young volunteers are not only experiencing success in school; they are inspiring others to join their efforts. More than a third of parents whose children volunteer said they were inspired to become more involved in the community because of their child's efforts.

"Volunteering offers children the chance to see that they can make a difference in their community," said Dr. Mary Mokris, educational specialist with Kumon Math and Reading Centers. "That empowers them to take ownership of their life and their education so that they can give more back."

She believes today's children are becoming role models for their parents and peers, demonstrating how to get involved and make a difference. Added Mokris, "It's inspiring but not surprising to see the connection between education and social responsibility."

To learn about volunteer opportunities, Dr. Mokris and Kumon suggest visiting your city hall, library or school.

More information is available online at www.kumon.com or by calling (800) ABC-MATH.

Summer Peach Margaritas

2009-09-07T02:37:00.003-06:00

As I work on cooking and freezing the last of this year's peach harvest, I thought I'd whip up a fruity cocktail to enjoy on the porch while watching the sunset. This recipe is a light, not too sweet version of a margarita. Adding a teaspoon of superfine sugar to the puree would sweeten it up a bit, as would serving it in a glass rimmed with sugar.

Summer Peach Margarita

1 medium peach, peeled and cut into chunks
1 ½ oz. tequila
¾ oz. triple sec
½ oz. peach schnapps
2 oz. orange juice
1 cup crushed ice

Place peach chunks in a blender and puree. Add liquids and ice. Blend until smooth. Pour into glass, garnish with peach slices, and enjoy.

Hugs and blessings~

~~~Anne

Six Word Saturday - Puddles

2009-09-05T08:35:00.002-06:00

Hugs and blessings~

~~~Anne

Crockpot Peaches

2009-09-02T11:11:00.001-06:00

Here's an easy and delicious peach recipe for all of you crockpot lovers out there. It was submitted by my blog friend AudreyO at Audrey's Spot for Recipe Tips & Hints.

CROCKPOT PEACHES

2 cups mashed peaches
1/3 cup white sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
2 eggs
3/4 teaspoon cinnamon
3/4 cup Bisquick
1/2 can evaporated milk
2 teaspoons melted butter
2 teaspoons vanilla

Mix together the white and brown sugars. Add bisquick and stir. Add in eggs and vanilla. Stir again. Add in melted butter and milk. Mix again. Finally, add in peaches and cinnamon. Pour into crockpot. Cook on low for 6 to 8 hours.

Hugs and blessings~
~~~Anne

Peach Muffins with Praline Topping

2009-08-30T11:48:00.003-06:00

Peach Muffins with Praline Topping

1 2/3 cups flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
¼ teaspoon salt
¾ cup sugar ( ½ cup for batter, ¼ cup for topping)
2 tablespoons molasses
½ cup milk
1/3 cup vegetable oil
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 ½ cup chopped fresh peaches
¾ cup chopped pecans ( ½ cup for batter, ¼ cup for topping)
1 tablespoon butter, cold

Directions:

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
Place liners in 12-hole muffin tin.
In a small bowl or measuring cup, mix the molasses and sugar until combined. Set aside.
In a large bowl, combine flour, baking powder, and salt. In another bowl, combine ½ cup of sugar mixture, milk, oil, egg, and vanilla.
Add wet ingredients to dry mixture, stirring just to moisten.
Fold in peaches and ½ cup pecans.
Fill muffin cups ¾ full.
In small bowl, cut together the remaining sugar mixture, pecans, and butter.
Sprinkle over batter.
Bake at 400 degrees for 15-18 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean.

Coming up next: Crockpot Peaches!

Hugs and blessings~

~~~Anne

Six Word Saturday - It's Complicated!

2009-08-29T03:17:00.002-06:00

Six Word Saturday:

"Why do I always over-complicate everything?"

A while back, I was in the position of administering a placement test to a potential Kumon student. This little boy was only 3-years old, quiet, and shy. I decided to break the ice (and test the waters) by having him draw a picture for me before testing. I offered crayons, but the child chose a pencil. OK. He then proceeded to draw a picture very similar to the one above.

I looked at the picture and told him how wonderful it was.

The child had no response.

"Why doesn't the man have arms?" I asked.

"I didn't want to give him any", the child replied in a whisper.

"That's OK", I said. "But he doesn't have a mouth. Is he happy or sad?" (That would be Miss Anne searching for information...)

The little boy was silent for many l-o-n-g seconds before responding "Sad", he said.

So I'm thinking "Rats. This is going to be a VERY challenging testing session!" (OK, in all honesty, I was not thinking 'rats'. I was thinking words innapropriate for a Kumon Instructor!)

I pulled myself together and gently asked the boy "Why is the man sad?"

Again, a VERY long silence. I was losing hope.

Suddenly, the boy looks up at me like I'm the biggest dummy in the world and replies in a strong voice "BECAUSE HE HAS NO ARMS!"

I laughed and we went on with testing.

Later, I thought about why I put so much emphasis on the details, rather than the big picture. I guess I do that with everything. I suppose I've always been that way.

I have the picture hanging up in my center to remind me NOT to overcomplicate things. It helps, but I'm still not "cured".

By the way... Tjhe boy's family enrolled him in both math and reading :-)

To participate in Six Word Saturday, please visit Cate (and my other SWS friends) at Show My Face.

Hugs and blessings~

~~~Anne

How to Peel a Peach

2009-08-27T07:44:00.004-06:00

It's peach harvesting time at my house, so get ready for a flurry of peach related recipes over the next couple of weeks. To help you prepare for this baking extravaganza, I thought I'd share a simple way to peel peaches. Ready... Set... Go!

1. Fill a large pot with water, maing sure water is deep enough to just about cover your peaches. Bring the water to a boil and gently drop in a few peaches. Leave peaches in water for about 30 seconds (more or less, depending on the ripeness of the fruit). 2. Using tongs, remove peaches from the boiling water and place them in a large bowl filled with ice water. The skin will easily slide from the peach with a bit of gentle encouragement :-)
3. Slice, dice, or bite... Your fruit is fuzz free and ready to enjoy!

Tomorrow's recipe: Peach Muffins with Praline Topping

Hugs and blessings~
~~~Anne

Six Word Saturday - Words of Wisdom

2009-08-22T07:56:00.004-06:00

To participate in Six Word Saturday, please visit Cate at Show My Face. I'd love to see your six words :-)

Hugs and blessings~
~~~Anne

Kumon Student Makes History!

2009-08-19T09:16:00.003-06:00

POWAY, Calif. - (Business Wire) Pomerado Elementary School student Sansar Yogi, 9, makes history as the youngest student in North America to graduate from Kumon’s Math and Reading programs. Kumon is the world’s largest after-school math and reading program with centers in 46 countries. The curriculum includes thousands of worksheets covering pre-school to advanced high school material.

Sansar completed Kumon worksheets every day in addition to his school work. He mastered differential calculus, indefinite/definite integrals and differential equations in the final level of the math program and studied great works of literature from Shakespeare to T.S. Eliot, as well as interpretation and critique of literature in the reading program. Sansar’s passion for learning new things motivated him to work through the entire math and reading curriculum in just three years.

“It is a great achievement for a young child to have the skill, capability and dedication to achieve this goal, and to do so takes great effort,” said Hideki Kusuzawa, president of Kumon North America. “Every child can achieve their full potential through independent learning like Sansar.”
“Sansar was different from the other kids,” said his instructor Saeko Jalbuna, of the Kumon Center in Poway. “He has the ability to concentrate and persevere through challenging problems without becoming frustrated.”

Although Sansar is the youngest completer in North America, he is not the only one in his family to complete both the Kumon Math and Reading program. His older sister Sara, 12, finished the reading program last August and the math program in June.

As Sara completed the program, Sansar gained the extra motivation and encouragement from his family to finish the program. “My dad taught me what I needed to know and more,” said Sansar. “My mother encouraged me to keep going and my sister supported me.”
Last year, only 1,141 out of more than 250,000 students in North America graduated Kumon’s Math and Reading programs. Sansar is one of 669 graduates in North America this year but is the first to graduate before middle school.

Sansar and Sara’s mother, Manita said, “It’s a really exciting time for our family. I’m really proud of my children for tackling an enormous challenge all on their own.” Their father, Gopal, echoed these sentiments, “Sansar and Sara truly surprised us! We never thought our children would master these advanced levels at such a young age.”

Sansar leaves the Kumon program with words of encouragement for current and future Kumon students, “Even though it may be hard to finish the program, the benefits of completing the program will greatly help you in school.”

In addition to his academic interests, Sansar is a first degree black belt in Tae-Kwon-Do. He also enjoys watching movies and reading books in the ‘Magic Tree House’ series. Sara enjoys running long distance on the track and field team and tutoring after school.

Sansar hopes to one day become a college math professor or work as an engineer for NASA, while his sister Sara aspires to be a pediatric surgeon.

As for how Sansar celebrated his completion of the Kumon Math and Reading program, “We held a big party, and I had a four-day sleepover with my friends,” grinned Sansar, remembering the event.

About Kumon Math and Reading Centers
Kumon [Koo-mon] is an after-school math and reading program that unlocks the potential of children by motivating them to achieve more on their own. Founded in Japan in 1958, the learning method uses a systematic individualized approach that helps children develop a solid command of math and reading skills. Through daily practice and mastery of materials, students increase confidence, improve concentration and develop better study skills. Kumon has 26,000 centers in 46 countries and more than four million students studying worldwide.

Six Word Saturday - Just Peachy!

2009-08-15T07:09:00.006-06:00

Six Word Saturday:

"LIFE'S A PEACH. MUST MAKE PIE."

Second Six Words:

"HELP! WILL YOU SHARE PEACH RECIPES?"

(Recipes don't have to be for pie. Just something involving peaches. You can post your recipe or a link in your comment. All recipes and ideas are greatly appreciated, as it looks like we have a bumper crop of fruit this year!)

Please go see Cate at Show My Face to play along with Six Word Saturday and to see other players Six Word posts.

Hugs and blessings~

~~~Anne

Six Word Saturday - Symphony in a Pan

2009-08-08T08:14:00.004-06:00

Six Word Saturday:

IS MY 'BTS' CAKE REALLY 'BTS'?

Do you know what a 'BTS' cake is? I thought I was being so creative when I came up with a decadent take on the old Jello poke cake to take to our family reunion last weekend... Until I did a little research on the internet and found bazillions of similar recipes! Imagine my surprise when I found the "real" name for this dieter's nightmare is 'BETTER THAN S^X CAKE'!!! (OK. I'm not really afraid of the "s" word, but I'm trying to keep things very family friendly around here.)

Anyway, I had to whip up my original(?) recipe and see for myself if really was BTS.

I did bring it to the reunion, by the way. I told some of the adults about the 'BTS' name, and the line for cake formed immediately! From the men, you could see some looks of serious contemplation. From the women, you could see some worry on their faces (due the caloric investment or the husband's reaction? I wonder.). Regardless, the cake was easy to make and was super moist, rich in chocolate and caramel, and, quite simply, delicious. I will absolutely make it again for a potluck or party :-)

I've printed my recipe below, so you can judge for yourself if it really is BTS. (Warning: Just reading the recipe may cause you to gain a few pounds!) In my "family friendly" spirit, I've renamed my version of this decadent delight:

SYMPHONY IN A PAN

Ingredients:

1 box chocolate cake mix
6 oz. caramel topping
13 oz. can sweetened condensed milk
6 oz. hot fudge topping, warmed to pouring consistency
1 tub whipped topping (Cool Whip), thawed
1 4.25 oz. Hershey's Symphony milk chocolate bar with almonds & toffee chips, chopped

Directions:

1. Bake cake in 9X13 pan, according to directions on box.

2. While cake is still warm, poke holes all over cake with the fat end of a chopstick or the handle of a wooden spoon. Holes should be 1-1 1/2 inches apart. Take care that you do not poke all the way through to the bottem of your cake or it will become soggy.

3. Pour caramel topping into holes. (Yes, it will probably spread over the top of the cake and look messy. No worries.)

4. Pour condensed milk into holes. (See note above.)

5. Pour warmed hot fudge as in steps 3 and 4.

6. Refrigerate at least 4 hours or overnight. (In a chocolate "emergency", this step can probably be ommitted.)

7. When ready to serve, remove from refrigerator, frost with whipped topping, and sprinkle Symphony bits on top. Enjoy!

Hugs and blessings~
~~~Anne

P.S.
To participate in Six Word Saturdays, please visit Cate at Show My Face. Have fun!

No-Bake Bittersweet Mocha Cheesecake Bars

2009-08-04T11:55:00.002-06:00

BITTERSWEET MOCHA CHEESECAKE BARS
Ingredients:

For Crust-
35 chocolate sandwich cookies (Oreo)
3/4 cup bottled hot fudge topping

For Filling-
1 envelope unflavored gelatin
1/2 cup cold strong coffee (I used a sleeve of Starbucks Via Instant Coffee in 1/2 cup water)
2 bricks (8 oz.) cream cheese, softened
3/4 cup sugar
1 cup sour cream
3 oz. bittersweet chocolate, melted

Directions:
1. Line a 13x9 baking pan with foil, leaving a coule inches of overhang at the narrow ends of pan.
2. Make the crust: Pulse cookies in food processor until you have fine crumbs. Heat fudge topping and add to crumbs. Pulse several times to moisten completely. Press crumb mixture into pan and freeze while making filling.
3. In a small sauepan, sprinkle gelatin over coffee. Stir over low heat until gelatin dissolves and mixture steams. Remove from heat.
4. In a large bowl, beat cream cheese and sugar at high speed until smooth. On low speed, beat in sour cream, the coffee mixture, and melted bittersweet chocolate until blended.
5. Pour onto crust and refrigerate for 4 hours or over night.
6. Cut into bars and garnish (chocolate covered coffee beans, chocolate curls, candies...)

Makes 48 bars. Enjoy!

Hugs and blessings~
~~~Anne

Tips for a Successful School Year

2009-08-03T05:00:00.000-06:00

New backpacks. Clean shoes. Notebooks with pristine covers. New teachers and friendly faces. All of these things are all part of the anticipation children have when they think about the start of a new school year. As summer winds down and children begin trading in their swimsuits and sleep-overs for school buses and homework, there are several strategies parents can use to ease any stress that might occur during the back-to-school season.

A successful school year can depend on how smoothly a child transitions from summer vacation. Here are some tips for helping your child make a smooth transition:

Focus on the Positives. Talk to your children about their summer accomplishments. Recogize the skills they practiced, no matter how large or small. Did they learn to swim? Did they read a whole book (or maybe many books)? Did they go the whole summer without losing their house key or cell phone? Maybe your teen began babysitting this summer... Skills such as perseverance, time-management, responsibility, and independence will help them will help them succeed in school.
Ask your child to write a short story about his or her summer experiences. This will give your child practice writing before the first day back in the classroom, and it is also a nice way to reminisce about quality time spent together. Pictures are an added bonus!
Set up a study area for your child. It should be quiet and free of distractions. Make sure the area has "study supplies" (pens, paper, markers, dictionary, thesaurus, etc.).
Establish a consistent homework routine at the very beginning of the school year. Help your child develop organizational skills by writing down his appointments, assignments, and activities, and by helping him break big assignments into small, manageable parts. Being organized is a key to being a successful student. Schedule daily homework time in your house so it becomes a part of your family's routine. This also helps children to see that homework is a priority in your home.
Meet your child's teachers. Keep the communication open. Discuss goal setting with both your child and the teacher. This partnership of parent-teacher-child will be very effective in the development of healthy homework habits which will, in turn, help children have a successful school year.
Give your child genuine and frequent praise. Praise your child's progress, and don't focus on perfection. Let them know that you believe in them, you think they are special, and you have confidence in them. Let your child know that you recognize and value their efforts, not just their final accomplishments.

Hugs and blessings~

~~~Anne

Santa Fe Bean Dip

2009-08-01T07:23:00.003-06:00

My friend Bina shared this fun, healthy, and easy recipe with me a few years back. It's so awesome that when I get invited to potlucks, I'm always asked to bring dessert and Bina's Bean Dip! Since I made it for the reunion, I thought I'd share the recipe with you. Just a note though... The recipe makes a LOT of dip. No. I mean a lot. Like a massive salad bowl full of dip. The good thing is it saves well in the fridge, and can also be used as a side dish when you're serving Mexican food. Enjoy!
'

BINA'S SANTA FE BEAN DIP

Ingredients:

1 lb. bag frozen corn (white and yellow mix) - No need to thaw before making the dip

8 oz. Kraft Zesty Italian salad dressing

2 oz. jar diced pimentos

2 cans black-eyed peas - not "flavored" and not with lard

1 can black beans - same caveat as above

1 can Rotel chopped/diced tomatoes with green chile - Hot or Extra Hot

3 bell peppers - I used one orange, one red, and one green

1 red onion, medium

1 sweet onion, small

Salt and pepper to taste

Optional: 1 or 2 finely chopped jalapenos to add a little heat

Directions:

1. Chop bell peppers and onions into small pieces and place in very large bowl. (Looks great, right? Very colorful! And yes, those are jalapenos sprinkled on top!)

2. Open all of the cans, drain the black-eyed peas and the black beans... but not completely. Add to bowl containing peppers and onions.

3. Add all remaining ingredients and mix well.

4. Cover and refrigerate for at least 4 hours or overnight.

5. Serve with corn tortilla chips. I like Tostito's white corn Scoops because they'll deliver more of this delicious dip with less effort :-)

Hugs and blessings~
~~~Anne

My Prayer Basket

2009-07-30T21:03:00.006-06:00

Yeah! I finished weaving the "Prayer Basket" I've been working on just in time for our Parham Family Reunion this weekend. This is a good thing, because my basket is my contribution to our reunion auction! My friend Nancy at Basketmaster's Weavings and I attempted to weave this little beauty without a pattern. Good thing she's a "master", because there is no way I could have tackled this project on my own... Not even with a pattern!

If you haven't figured it out yet, this basket was actually created as a peanut basket. Nancy came up with they "Prayer Basket" concept, hence the "To be Prayed" on one side and "Prayed" on the other. I printed out some sweet little affirmations and included in the "To Be" side of the basket, as well as adding some blank circles so the auction winner would be able to add some prayers of his/her own.

If you want your own set of the affirmation cards, the wonderful ladies over at Kind over Matter have free, printable versions available for you to download. They've even included a cute little box pattern so you have a place to store your cards. My thanks go out to Amanda, Jenn, and their blog collaborators for offering us such a beautiful gift!

OK. We're off the the reunion in the morning. Yes, I'm cooking for a crowd. Yes, I'll be posting recipes. And, YES, chocolate will be involved :-)

Hugs and blessings~
~~~Anne

Six Word Saturday - Soap!

2009-07-18T07:59:00.002-06:00

"Six Word Saturday"

TODAY I'LL CRAFT. I'LL CLEAN TOMORROW!

Woo hoo! My Bramble Berry order came in this week. Christmas in July, I'll tell ya! Anyway, I have been chomping at the bit to make Fortune Cookie Soaps for a while now, as well as some rose petal bath bombs. Even though my mother-in-law and sister-in-law are coming to visit this week, I'm going to dedicate this afternoon and evening to doing my soapy projects and might even finish weaving my "Prayer Basket". Cleaning can just wait until tomorrow :-)

Please come back next week to see the results of my crafty efforts. There just might there be a couple of tutorials for you.

By the way... If you want to participate in "Six Word Saturday", please visit Cate for more information. (Just do it. You know you want to play!)

Hugs and blessings~

~~~Anne

What I've Learned...

2009-07-16T11:24:00.000-06:00

Words of Wisdom from Maya Angelou~

I've learned that no matter what happens, or how bad it seems today, life does go on, and it will be better tomorrow.
I've learned that you can tell a lot about a person by the way he/she handles these three things: a rainy day, lost luggage, and tangled Christmas tree lights.
I've learned that regardless of your relationship with your parents, you'll miss them when they're gone from your life.
I've learned that making a "living" is not the same thing as "making a life."
I've learned that life sometimes gives you a second chance.
I've learned that you shouldn't go through life with a catcher's mitt on both hands; you need to be able to throw some things back.
I've learned that whenever I decide something with an open heart, I usually make the right decision.
I've learned that even when I have pains, I don't have to be one.
I've learned that every day you should reach out and touch someone. People love a warm hug, or just a friendly pat on the back.
I've learned that I still have a lot to learn.
I’ve learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.

What have you learned?

Hugs and blessings~

~~~Anne

Happy Birthday, Mom.

2009-07-15T09:13:00.002-06:00

Mitsue (Murayama) Porter

July 15, 1930 - August 9, 1989

How to Make Origami Paper Dolls - Version One

2009-07-10T10:34:00.025-06:00

Aren't these little origami dolls sweet? Want to make some of your own? Follow my step-by-step tutorial and you'll soon have a whole collection of kimono dolls to decorate a scrapbook page, make a pretty greeting card, or attach to a gift package. Have fun!

A couple of things before we begin:
I used "washi" (Japanese paper made of fiber so it has more of a cloth-like texture) for the boy doll. I used a paper pattern I got from Creative Park for the girl doll. I simply printed the pattern on plain old printer paper and cut it to size. It worked great, but if you have access to washi, I would certainly reccommend using it.

An important Japanese cultural note: Please fold the Kimono layers as shown (left side first, then right side). Right side first is funeral attire.

Kneeling Origami Kimono Doll

Assemble your materials:

You will need:

black crepe paper for hair - 1 piece cm x 2.5 cm and 1 piece 4 cm x 3.5 cm

white cardstock for head - a circle about 2.5 cm across (the size of a quarter)

white cardstock for neck - a rectangle about 1/2 cm x 5 cm

paper for collar - three 5 cm x 5 cm squares

paper for kimono - one 10 cm x 10 cm square

paper for underskirt - one 5cm x 5 cm square

Glue

Step One: Assemble the neck and collar:

1. Fold the three squares in half, into a triangle. Put a tiny bit of glue down the center of two triangles.

2. Layer the triangles as shown above.

3. Flip the layered triangle stack over and glue neck to the center.

4. Begin folding the top left flap across the neck at the angle shown. Repeat with the right side.

5. Repeat until all layers have been folded. You may use a tiny drop of glue to secure your collar layers, if you prefer.
'

Step Two: Make the Kimono

1. Fold your 10 x 10 square in half, making a triangle. Fold the top left corner in to meet the center of the right side of the triangle.

2. Repeat with top right corner.

3. Unfold your triangle and position your neck/collar piece. Refold your kimono and adjust the collar as necessary. Secure neck using a tiny drop of glue.

4. Fold bottom flaps up and crease. Unfold and tuck into the "pocket" made by the top kimono layer.

Step Three: Assemble the underskirt:

1. Fold 5cm x 5cm square into a triangle. Unfold back to square and fold top corner down to center. Unfold to square. Fold bottom corner up to the crease you just made, and fold corners in, as shown above.
2. Fold both bottom corners in and secure with tiny drops of glue.
3. Slide underskirt into kimono pocket, leaving about 1cm showing at the bottom of the kimono.
'

Step Four: Create your hairstyle
1. Place cardboard circle on top of 4cm x 3.5cm square, as shown.

2. Wrap hair around circle and secure with tiny drops of glue at the "temples".

3. Flip hair back as shown in picture above.

4. Glue on bangs (the smaller of the crepe paper rectangles.

5. Fold bangs over back of head and glue into place.

Final Step:

Position head on neck, trimming neck if necessary. Glue into place... You've now created your first Origami Kimono Doll! You can use your creativity in making different hairstyles for your dolls, using shorter hair for boys, adding hair ornaments or bows, or even embellishing your dolls with glitter or ribbon. I kept my doll "as is" and attached her to a plain brown greeting card with one tiny dragonfly floating above her. I think the simplicity of this is beautiful.

Please come back next week for the next version of my origami kimono dolls. Until then...

Hugs and blessings~

~~~Anne

Origami Dolls "Sneak Peak"

2009-07-09T18:56:00.003-06:00

See... I really am working on them! Today I wrote up the directions to fold the boy doll shown above. I'll have the tutorial posted tomorrow. Pinky swear!

Hugs and blessings~
~~~Anne

Flying Pig Soap Mold

2009-07-07T10:19:00.005-06:00

Are you kidding me??? I just popped over the the "new and improved" Brambleberry Soap Making Supplies site and found a flying pig soap mold! I am totally placing an order today, because I MUST have this mold. Since I can't stop at just the mold, I'll also be ordering the supplies to make Sushi Soap , which uses a wasabi fragrance. How fun is that?

and Fortune Cookie Soap. Hmm... Writing up some witty (read: "inapproriate") fortunes is going to be a hoot!

Click on the links to find these tutorials (and many, many others) from Anne Marie over at Soap Queen then order your supplies from Brambleberry.

I think my stars were aligned, because I picked up some little Chinese take-out boxes, on sale, at Cost Plus last week. They'll be just perfect to hold my little soaps. I can't wait to try these projects and am really excited about hearing about what soap making projects you want to try.

Hugs and blessings~

~~~Anne

Origami Project Update

2009-07-06T09:55:00.003-06:00

You know how sometimes you get a vision of a project in your head, and you think "Hmm. I know how I want the end result of my project to look, I have the materials I need, and I've done something like it before. This should be simple!" And then, things go shockingly BAD??? Such was the beginning of the origami project I had in mind this weekend.

If you've not figured it out by now, I have decided to make "Warabe Ningyo", which are Japanese origami paper dolls. I remember making boatloads of these dolls with my mother when I was a child, so I thought it would be easy for me to figure out the "how to's". Yeah, right!!! I now have about twenty headless dolls in wrinkled, crooked, ugly kimonos on my kitchen table. I'm far to ashamed to share the pictures with you :-(

BUT... after experiencing a couple of days of trial and error, I think that I'll finally be able to begin posting tutorials for a couple of different style dolls over the next few days. Please remember that making these dolls takes practice, patience, and a sense of humor, but not a lot of skill.

Here are a couple of things I learned while I was experimenting with the doll project:

This is not a project that can be done while reclining on the couch watching reruns of "Wife Swap" with a little dog on your lap. Origami must be done at the table!

Do not use "real" (translates as "expensive") origami paper for your practice dolls. Simply cut white or colored printing paper to size. It hurts a lot less when you toss your rejects into the recycle bin.

Use tiny drops of white glue, applied with a toothpick. Do not use old/super-thick tacky glue applied with a bamboo skewer. (What kind of a slacker would do this? Three guesses.)

A 1" circle craft puch would save a lot of time in makng the doll heads. (Note to self: go to the craft store! OK. I don't really need a reminder to go to the craft store...)

If you want to prepare the "ingredients" to make your own Warabe Ningyo so you're ready to follow along when I post the "recipes", here's what you need:

black crepe paper for hair (the sheet kind, not streamers)

white cardstock - cut out several 1" circle heads. If you don't have a punch, use a quarter to make your pattern

origami paper - if you don't have any pretty paper on hand, you can print some cool patterns on plain old printer paper and cut to size. (Yup, I tried it. It works just fine, and the patterns are simply beautiful!) The following sites have amazing selections of free origami patterned paper: Creative Park Chiyogami , The Khans' Origami Paper , and Origami Club .

I hope you're looking forward to making Warabe Ningyo with me. The dolls will make great bookmarks, framed wall art, or as embellishments on note cards or scrapbook pages.

Hugs and blessings~

~~~Anne

Six Word Saturday - Origami!

2009-07-04T09:40:00.007-06:00

"BEAUTIFUL ORIGAMI PAPER OFFERS CREATIVE POTENTIAL"

I'm hurrying to get all of my work done this morning so I can work on a long overdue craft project. Come back tomorrow... I should have pictures and a tutorial on a fun origami project!

I'm really enjoying the "Six Word Saturday" concept. If you'd like to play along, please visit Cate at showmyface.com for more details.

Wishing you all a happy and safe holiday weekend!

Hugs and blessings~

~~~Anne

Six Word Saturday - Family Reunion

2009-06-27T08:47:00.008-06:00

CONTEMPLATING "CAMPGROUND" DESSERT FOR 35 PEOPLE!

The Parham family reunion is being held July 31-August 2 this year, at the Summit Inn in Cloudcroft, New Mexico. I've volunteered for the task of organizing/prepping the Saturday night dinner and providing desserts for both nights. Since the functions will all be held outdoors, anything I serve needs to be either made ahead of time, "no cook", or grillable. Did I mention it's a four hour drive to the reunion site? Hmmm..... The good news is that I booked the last available cabin, so I have a tiny kitchen with a stove, oven, and refigerator. This makes planning a little easier!

Last reunion, I set up "Fajita Night": Dave cooked the fajitas on the grill, and everyone dressed up their fajitas with the condiments of their choice. We also served guacamole and chips, pico de gallo, beans, and Sangria. I made enough cakemix cookies so there were leftovers for all the children to take home.

This year, I think I'm leaning toward "shish-kabobs". I think it would be easy enough to prep the veggies ahead of time, and I think I'll cube the meat and freeze it in marinade so I can simply thaw it in the cabin fridge and it will be good to go. We'll set up all the fixins' and people can create their own skewers on site. I think maybe a green salad and garlic breadsticks (cooked on the grill) should be enough to complete the meal.

In keeping with the "create your own" theme, I'm considering making cupcakes and setting up a decorating station with frosting, sprinkles, fruit, etc. so people can reate their own yummy masterpieces. We'll award prizes for the "most creative", "prettiest", and "funniest" cupcakes. Does this seem like fun or a disaster waiting to happen? Either way, it will probably provide some great photo opportunities!

Does anyone have any ideas for Friday night dessert? Dinner is just hotdogs and burgers, so dessert doesn't need to be fancy. I'd love to hear what you'd bring to an outdoor family reunion.

Of course, I'll be posting all my recipes and pictures as the reunion date approaches.

Hugs and blessings~

~~~Anne

Cherry Pecan Coconut Bars

2009-06-24T11:50:00.014-06:00

Ahhh.... I finally took a little well-deserved time off to do some basket weaving with my friends Faith, Dar, and of course, Basket Master Nancy. Nancy offered to help me figure out how to weave a "Peanut Basket turned into a Prayer Basket", for which we had no pattern. Nancy generously provided pizza for our evening of weaving, so I offered to bring dessert. I whipped up my chewy, buttery, Cherry Pecan Coconut bars for all of the ladies to enjoy. Below is my recipe...

Chewy Cherry Pecan Coconut Bars
Crust:
1 cup all-purpose flour
3 tablespoons powdered sugar
1/2 cup butter, softened
Filling:
2 eggs, slightly beaten
1 cup granulated sugar
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
3/4 cup chopped pecans (but you could substitute walnuts)
3/4 cup sweetened shredded coconut
1/2 cup maraschino cherries, drained and quartered
1 teaspoon vanilla extract (I use Mexican vanilla)
1/4 teaspoon salt

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Prepare crust: Combine flour, powdered sugar, and butter in medium sized mixing bowl. Cut butter into flour/sugar using a pastry blender or two butter knives. Press mixture into an 8" square baking pan. Bake 18-23 minutes, until lightly golden. Remove from oven.
3. Prepare filling: Combine all ingredients in a large bowl and mix well. (I added the cherries last, because I was afraid the whole thing would turn pink... not that this is necessarily a bad thing!) Spoon on top of crust and spread evenly.
4. Bake 20-25 minutes until golden brown.

5. Cool completely before cutting into bars. This recipe will make 16 bars of chewy goodness. Be careful to make them right before your event if they are a contribution to a potluck or a party. The have a tendency to disappear very quickly!

Hugs and blessings~

~~~Anne

Fathers Play Key Role in Children’s Education

2009-06-21T07:31:00.007-06:00

Survey Finds Dads Active in Academics

Teaneck, N.J. (June 10, 2009) – Fathers believe helping their children excel in school is one of their primary roles according to a recent survey by Ipsos Public Affairs for Kumon Math and Reading Centers. As America prepares to celebrate Father’s Day on June 21st, the survey finds today’s dads are more active in their children’s academic development compared to their own fathers.

A recent educational survey of more than 1,000 American parents with children ages five to 15 found that 50 percent of dads say they are the ones who most motivate their children to do their homework, indicating that dads feel they are as likely as moms to help with schoolwork. This is quite different from previous generations. Only nine percent of these same parents chose their own father when asked who motivated them to complete their homework when they were growing up.

“In a world of dual income families it is inspiring to see fathers taking a leading role along with mothers in their children’s education,” says Dr. Mary Mokris, education specialist for Kumon Math and Reading Centers. “Fathers are actively addressing their children’s academic needs all year round.”

Kumon Math and Reading Centers shares other dad highlights from the survey:

Fathers who volunteer with their children spend an average of 2.78 hours per week volunteering together.

More than eight in ten dads feel confident helping their children with math, history, geography or science homework.

Ninety-eight percent of dads personally help their children when he or she experiences a problem with homework.

Three out of four dads are aware of summer learning opportunities for their children.

Six out of ten dads enroll their children in an organized learning program for at least one week over the summer.

More than 30 percent of dads enroll their children in supplemental education programs such as tutoring or summer camp to keep their skills sharp during the summer.

Kumon, the world’s largest after-school math and reading program, was founded more than fifty years ago by Toru Kumon, a math teacher and father, who wanted to help his son do better in math.

About Kumon Math and Reading Centers:
Kumon [k -mŏn] is an after-school math and reading program that helps children fulfill their potential by motivating them to achieve more on their own. The learning method uses a systematic and individualized approach that helps children develop a solid command of math and reading skills. Through daily practice and mastery of materials, students increase confidence, improve concentration and develop better study skills. Kumon has 26,000 Centers in 46 countries and more than four million students studying worldwide. For more information, please visit http://www.kumon.com/.

About the Survey: The survey was fielded April 3– 9, 2009 via the Ipsos North-American I-Say Panel, a household consumer panel that has been pre-staged and pre-screened. A total of 1,039 American parents with children between the ages of five and 15, inclusive, were interviewed online.

Happy Fathers Day!

Hugs and blessings~

~~~Anne

How to Make a Candy Bouquet

2009-06-16T10:15:00.022-06:00

I've always wanted to try my hand at making a candy bouquet, but somehow my available time and a "candy bouquet" occasion never had a chance to meet. Until now! I enjoyed this project so much (it really didn't take a lot of time) that I am trying to come up with other "bouquet occassions" so I can do this project again. I'm thinking "theme" bouquets, maybe red, white, and blue with little American flags for Independence Day, all white and silver for a bridal shower, pastels for a baby shower, a Mexican fiesta theme, or a pirate theme, decorated with little gold chocolate coins and bandanas intermingled with the tissue. Too cute!

Here's the tutorial on how to make your own Candy Bouquet:

Assemble your supplies:

Assorted wrapped candy bars, gum balls, hard candies, lollipops...
Container for your arrangement (Mine was a plastic bowl and about 2" deep and 6" in diameter, but I'll bet a flower pot would work great for this!)
Wooden skewers or dowels
Silk flowers with leaves (Strip the flowers and leaves off the stems. Save the flowers for a future project.)
Floral tape
Floral foam
Colored tissue paper
Cool-temp glue gun
Bow to decorate container

Directions:

Cut floral foam into chunks that fit your container. Floral foam is very light weight, so you will have to glue the chunks to the bottom of the container so they don't pull out due to the weight of the candy.

Poke skewers through the leaves you harvested from your silk flower stems. Make sure the leaves are pushed down far enough that you have enough "naked skewer" to run the length of your chosen candy bars. Wrap the bottom of your leaves and the skewer with floral tape to about 2.5 inches from the bottom. (Notes: Skewers should be cut to different lengths, tall ones go to the back of the arrangement, with lengths getting shorter and shorter as you come toward the front. For heavier candy, wrap 2 skewers together.)

For the taller stems at the back of your arrangement, fold tissue paper and poke the skewers through the paper as shown. This will help the tissue paper stand up to hide the backs of your "flowers" and the little fold at the bottom will cover your floral foam.

Begin creating your flowers by gluing your candy bars to your stems. Make sure the "naked" part of your skewer reaches the entire length of your candy, or the weight of the candy bar will cause them to droop or pull away from the skewer. (The picture above is how NOT to place the skewer!)

Here's a completed Reese's flower. I like the square shape in contrast to the longer, thinner rectangles of the other candy bars. I think York peppermint patties with their silver wrappers would also provide a nice contrast and a bit of sparkle :-)

For the "blooming" flowers, I glued the candy bars to a bit of cardboard for support. I then glued the cardboard to a stem.

Begin poking your stems into the floral foam. You'll see in the above picture that I have already cut some of my dowels and arranged my tissue to cover the foam. (Don't worry too much about placement at this time. Trust me, I poked and re-poked several times before I created my final bouquet. My foam probably looks like Swiss cheese!)

On a whim, I wired three Bit-O-Honey candies together to create a different flower. You'll see it in the picture below, as well as a bloom made of 4 pink and purple chewy candies with a gumball center. Cute!

Woo hoo! My bouquet is taking on a pretty good shape right now, but we still have a way to go. What shall we put in next?

Here's the stripped wire stem from my silk flowers. It was just laying on the counter looking lonely, so I decided I needed to incorporate into my bouquet. But how?

HA! I used floral tape to attach a gumball to each of the stems. I poked it right into the center of my bouquet and bent the wires to place these little balls of color randomly in my arrangement.

Aren't the colors pretty? The gumball stems added just what I needed to even out the bouquet. Genius, if I might say so myself!

We're almost finished. Looks pretty good, right? Keep poking your flowers into your foam until your arrangement is full of sweet goodness, and there are no bare spots. You might have to shorten some of your stems at this time to get the look you want.

We are done! Isn't the finished product fun? You'll see I've tucked in a few small pieces of tissue paper in between some of the blooms to cover any exposed foam. I also used glue dots to hold up some of the floppy folds of tissue at the back of the arrangement. Overall, this project cost under $10.00 and took about an hour to create. Best of all, I have a handmade-with-love birthday gift for a good friend. Happy birthday, Deanna!

Want more candy fun? Click here to take a fun candy quiz from CandyAddict.com . It's harder than it looks. I only got 15 out of 26! How did you do?

Hugs and blessings~

~~~Anne

Pico de Gallo - My Recipe and "The Song"

2009-06-12T11:06:00.005-06:00

It's a beautiful day here in the Land of Enchantment. Sunny, but not too hot. I had a very busy week, so I am going to enjoy hard-earned "down-time" this evening. I think if I lived in the south, I'd recline in the swing on my veranda, sipping a mint julep and snacking on cheese straws, while fanning myself delicately. YEAH RIGHT. I live in New Mexico, so it's me on the front porch with a margarita, homemade pico de gallo, and tortilla chips!

Pico de gallo (Spanish for Rooster's Beak) is a fresh condiment, much like salsa. It can be served as a dip for tortilla chips or as a topping for your next batch of tacos or fajitas.

Before you begin this easy recipe, you have to take a couple of minutes to listen to the "Pico de Gallo" song by Trout Fishing in America. Listen closely to the lyrics. I guarantee you'll laugh so hard you'll cry-o!

Anne's Pico de Gallo Recipe
1 lb. Roma tomatoes, diced
1 medium onion, diced
1 jalapeno pepper, seeded and minced (2 jalapenos will give you additional heat :- )
Squeeze of lime juice
Salt to taste
Optional: Cilantro, chopped (I'm not a fan of cilantro, so I don't use it in my version)

Put all of the ingredients in a bowl. Mix well. Cover and refrigerate for at least one hour. Serve with tortilla chips or as an accompaniment to tacos or fajitas.

Hugs and blessings~
~~~Anne

Chile Relleno Casserole

2009-06-03T07:00:00.003-06:00

Chile rellenos are one of my favorite New Mexican foods, but they require a lot of preparation. Get a whole roasted green chile, peel the chile, clean out the seeds, stuff it with cheese, dip it in batter and deep fry. Way too much work for this busy lady, so rellenos are more of a "restaurant treat" for me!

When I came across the following recipe for kind of a "faux" chile relleno casserole that involved none of the above prep and NO FRYING, I thought "no way", and filed the recipe card away. So... I was fumbling around in the kitchen the other day trying to figure out what to make for a weekend brunch and came across the recipe. I had all the ingredients for the casserole on hand, so I thought I'd give it a go. Oh my goodness! It was quick (5 minutes of prep!), easy, and absolutely delicious!!! This one gets filed under "love it". I will definately be making it again. (My husband said I'll be making it again SOON!)

Here's the recipe:

CHILES RELLENOS CASSEROLE
courtesy of Casa del Granjero in Albuquerque, New Mexico

Ingredients:

1 cup green chile, roasted, peeled, and chopped (Check the freezer section at the grocery for chopped green chile. It's already prepped for you :-)

2 eggs, slightly beaten

1 1/4 cups sharp cheddar cheese, shredded

1 1/4 cups Montery Jack cheese, shredded

1/2 cup flour

1 t. baking powder

1 1/2 cups milk

Garnish suggestions: shredded lettuce, diced tomatoes, diced avocado, diced onions, sour cream, salsa

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

In a large bowl, mix the first seven ingredients, stirring until well incorporated.

Pour the mixture in a buttered 9x9 baking dish or a 10" pie pan.

Bake for 50 minutes or until fully set.

Remove from oven and let stand for 5 minutes.

Slice, garnish, and serve.

Hugs and blessings~

~~~Anne

Breaking the Reading Code

2009-06-02T09:10:00.007-06:00

This is the Junior Kumon room at my

Kumon Math & Reading Center in Rio Rancho, New Mexico.

Have you ever wondered why reading is so easy for some children, yet so difficult for others? Breaking the reading code is the key to unraveling the mystery of learning to read. To decipher the code, students must first transform letters to sounds, and then blend the sounds together to form words. This is not an easy process. Yet as complex as it is, this process happens rather effortlessly for the majority of children during kindergarten or first grade.

Once children break the code, they become emergent readers, ready and eager to learn to read. These are the students who take off like reading rockets and smoothly transition through the rest of the stages of reading, eventually becoming successful readers. Ideally, this transition occurs before students enter fourth grade where they begin to use their skilled reading ability to learn all school subjects, including math and science.

For children who have difficulty breaking the reading code, however, learning to read can be an agonizing ordeal. The bad news is that as these children wrestle with learning how to read, they fall farther and farther behind their classmates. The good news, however, is that these struggling readers can be taught to read. Scientific research has provided us with the knowledge of what works best in teaching children to read, and Kumon’s Reading Program—starting with it's beginning levels—has put this knowledge into practice.

There are two parts to the reading puzzle that children need to master in order to break the reading code.

Part one requires the ability to recognize that words are made up of small sounds. We call this phonemic awareness. For example, the word cat is made up of a hard /c/ sound, a short /a/ sound, and the /t/ sound.

Part two requires the ability to link these sounds to letters of the alphabet. We call this alphabetic principle. For example, the hard /c/ sound is represented by the letter c, the short /a/ sound is represented by the letter a, and the /t/ sound is represented by the letter t.

The purpose of developing phonemic awareness in students is to give them these linguistic insights upon which the alphabetic principle depends. By understanding that words are made up of a sequence of sounds, students easily learn the sounds that go with letters. For example, when the sound /d/ is recognized as the sound heard in doll, dog, and day, students quickly learn that the sound of the letter d is /d/. When the sound /h/ is recognized as the sound heard in house, hat, hen, and heavy, they understand that /h/ is the sound of the letter h.

Phonemic awareness is the ultimate difference between those who catch on to reading very quickly and those who do not. Simply put, struggling readers lack phonemic awareness. Trying to memorize which sounds go with what letters and which words begin with what sounds, will not help these students learn to read if they have not mastered this skill. Fortunately, phonemic awareness can be developed if it is taught explicitly and systematically for approximately 15 minutes per day over the course of one school year.

How can struggling readers learn this skill? The development of the reading readiness skills of phonemic awareness, followed by the alphabetic principle, begins in Kumon's early Reading Program. Children can be taught phonemic awareness by first drawing their attention to rhymes and then making their own rhymes. For instance, by rhyming words such as cat, hat, pat, and mat, they quickly learn to recognize the sound of /at/, and they learn that by changing the beginning sounds of rhyming words, they can make new words. When they learn to do this, they can be taught to substitute the ending and finally the middle sounds of rhyming words to form new words. For example, if they change the /t/ in cat to /p/, the new word is cap.

Next, children need to learn to play games with words. They can be taught to blend sounds together to make words. For example, if a child blends the sounds /m/, /a/, /p/ together, the word map is formed. A child also needs to be taught to take a word apart by breaking it into its different sounds.

Although it is not easy for struggling readers to master these skills, it is possible with daily practice. For students who learn to attend to the structure of language, the alphabetic principle will make sense and they will rapidly develop the phonetic skills necessary for reading, thus breaking the reading code. Once accomplished, struggling readers and beginning readers will all grow into successful readers!

Hugs and blessings~

~~~Anne

Strawberry Tall Cake

2009-05-20T11:37:00.017-06:00

My son Jordan graduated from high school on Monday. We are very proud of him! In honor of his graduation, we had family come into town to help us celebrate. Dessert on Sunday night was "STRAWBERRY TALL CAKE". It's an easy-to-do recipe, and the cake has quite a presence.

STRAWBERRY TALL CAKE
Ingredients:
1 box (16 oz.) angel food cake mix
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1 box (3 oz.) strawberry gelatin
2 tubs (8 oz.) whipped cream cheese, at room temperature
2/3 cup seedless strawberry preserves
2 tubs frozen whipped topping, thawed
Fruit for garnish

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line 3 9" cake pans with parchment. (Or use a coffee filter, as I did. It worked great!)

Prepare cake mix according to directions on box, adding the vanilla extract. Divide batter evenly among the 3 cake pans. Gently tap to spread batter.

Bake 18 minutes, or until toothpick comes out clean. Invert onto cooling rack and remove paper.

In bowl of electric mixer, mix gelatin and 2/3 cup boiling water until gelatin is dissolved. Add cream cheese and whip for a minute or two. If mixture is not set enough to spread, place bowl in the refrigerator or ice water bath until spreadable.

Place a cake layer on a platter. Spread with half of the preserves, leaving a 1/2 inch border around the cake.

Spread on half of the mousse mixture, add the second cake layer, and repeat.

Add top cake layer, frost with whipped topping, and chill for at least 2 hours. Garnish with fruit before serving.

Hugs and blessings~

~~~Anne

What kind of learner is my child? Tips on determining your child's learning style.

2009-05-19T08:58:00.006-06:00

Think for a minute about how your child learns. Parents often focus on what their child learns in school, but sometimes they need to ask, what is our child's learning style?

Learning styles are linked to one or more of our senses. In general, each of us can be put in one of four categories of learning: Visual, Auditory, Kinesthetic and Tactile.

The Visual Learner learns best when he is "shown" how to do something. He thrives on written directions.
The Auditory Learner retains more information from what he hears rather than reads.
The Kinesthetic Learner expresses herself through movement and often has trouble sitting still.
The Tactile Learner needs to feel and manipulate objects. This person needs hands-on experience in order to learn best.

Successful learning happens when we make a connection between what we are attempting to learn, and our personal strengths. When the connection is made, learning is easy. When it isn't, difficulty follows and students have trouble paying attention, completing assignments, or taking tests.

At home, parents can use individual techniques for the different learning styles. For example, if your child is having trouble preparing for a spelling test, here are some tips that might help:

A visual learner can write and re-write the spelling list, so she can see how the letters look when they come together on the page.
An auditory learner can make an audio recording of himself spelling out the words on the list so he can replay them and spell along with the recording.
A kinesthetic learner can use her body to form the letters, can put the words on objects, or can recite the spelling of words while jumping rope.
A tactile learner can use magnetic letters to spell out the words on the refrigerator or form the letters in clay or sand.

It is important for parents to understand how their children learn best. Although most of us use a blend of learning styles, we usually rely more heavily on one style than the others. Sometimes what may look like a learning disability, may really be a learning difference.

Hugs and blessings~

~~~Anne

Weaving a Basket - The Entire Process!

2009-05-13T09:54:00.017-06:00

Here are some pictures of me weaving this cute little doorknob basket. This was a simple basket to weave, but it was the first one I wove on my own. The most rewarding part about weaving this basket is that my husband actually asked if he could have it to hang on his office door to store his wallet, keys, and cell phone. ***awww****

Soak your reed. Never attempt to weave with dry reed. (That one of the weaving commandments!)

Lay out and measure your base according to your pattern. You'll see little pencil marks on some of the stakes. This designates the center of the stake.

My base is woven and I have added a "holder row". Ok, that's not the right term, but it's the row that holds the base in place.

I am now "upsetting" the stakes. (No. I am not saying mean things to my reed!) I am bending the stakes up and holdng then in place with clothespins. Lots and lots of clothespins are used when weaving!

I am now weaving independent rows around my basket. Note that there are still several clothespins helping me along.

Ahhh... It always makes me smile to get to the point where my basket starts taking shape and actually looks like a basket!

Here's where I formed the handle out of my two longer stakes. It looks unfinished here, but I covered it with skinny flat oval before I lashed on the rim.

Here's my basket after the "cut and tuck". Cut inside stakes and fold and tuck outside stakes under rows on the inside of the basket.

The rim is now lashed on. Looks good, right? Are we done? Nope. Gotta make this little guy pretty and strong.

I inserted small pieces of reed in an "X" pattern to reinforce the bottom of the basket.

Then I added pretty green curls to finish off my basket. Simple and sweet. A great beginner weaving project :-)

Hugs and blessngs~

~~~Anne

Make Math Fun with Math Games!

2009-05-12T10:35:00.009-06:00

Keeping our children excited about learning over the summer makes back-to-school season so much easier. If we can make learning fun, kids view it as a reward, rather than a chore.

At my Kumon Center, I often use a deck of cards to conduct oral "fact checks". I simply take a deck of cards and remove the face cards. Here are some of our activities:

To practice simple Addition and Multiplication - In Kumon, we focus on mastering concepts in linear, bite-sized pieces. Therefore, we master "plus one" before moving on to "plus two" and so forth. For these students (let's say a child mastering "plus three"), every card I flip over would be "plus three". If they are able to give me the sum without hesitation, they keep the cards. If not, I get the cards. Whoever has the most cards in the end, wins the game. The same concept can be used to practice multiplication tables. (Note: Once basic facts are memorized, two cards can be flipped over and added or multiplied. This mixes things up a bit and makes it more challenging.)

Subtraction: Same concept, but be sure to remove all cards "lower" than the core number. This is not where we want to introduce the concept of negative numbers!

Other fun family games to teach numeracy and math skills:

To teach Number Sense, play War. Click here for rules. You can modify this game to grow with your child by giving each player a full deck of cards and having each player flip over two cards. The winner would be the player with the highest sum (for addition) or product (for multiplication).

Play Dominos. Click here for rules. I love Dominos!

Play Math Bingo. Click here for free printable bingo cards and a call list. Fast, fun, and easy!

Play Twister with a Math Twist: Put numbers in the circles on Twister mat. Call out an equation instead of a color. Cool, right?

Online FREE math game links:

For K-8 children, Funbrain.com has a ton of "brain games" (number games and word games) as well as web books. Some of the games I tried were Math Baseball, Grammar Gorillas, and Planet Zug, which is a grade-by-grade vocabulary building game.

Primarygames.com is another great family-friendly site for learning games. In the math category, there are a few versions of Sudoku, Math Lines, Arithmatiles, What Time Is It?, Simon Says, and (my favorite) MATH MAN, which is like PacMan, but uses sums of equations for power. It just does't get any cooler than that!

There's also funschool which has a 34 fun and free math games. Games start with pre-school concepts to square roots and powers. I'd reccomend "Math Poppers" for 2nd graders who will be entering 3rd grade in the fall. "Math Poppers" reinforces addition and subtraction skills while introducing children to the multiplacation tables.

Hugs and blessings~

~~~Anne

Arthritis Prevention, Control, and Cure Act of 2009 (S. 984)

2009-05-08T08:50:00.013-06:00

The Arthritis Prevention, Control, and Cure Act did not make it through to the Senate floor the last time it was introduced, but it is up for consideration again.

I am asking, on behalf of Cousin Tiger and his son Kelly(who suffers from juvenile arthritis), that you please contact your Senators and support the bill. Just click on the big, red "Take Action" text below and follow the instuctions. It will only take about 30 seconds of your time, but that 30 seconds might make a difference in the life of someone who is suffering from the nation's most common cause of disability.

Hugs and blessings~
~~~Anne

Contact Your Senators Today!
Arthritis Act Introduced in Senate!
Urge Your Senators to Co-sponsor Now!

Take Action!

On May 6, U.S. Senators Barbara Boxer (D-CA), Kit Bond (R-MO), and Ted Kennedy (D-MA) introduced the Arthritis Prevention, Control, and Cure Act of 2009 (S. 984). The bill expands efforts to prevent, treat, and care for people with arthritis through:

Enhancing prevention efforts related to arthritis;
Expanding and strengthening research programs relating to juvenile arthritis;
Establishing a juvenile arthritis population database to track our kids and monitor their treatments;
Enhancing support for physician training programs; and
Establishing a loan repayment program for pediatric rheumatologists to address the country's severe shortage of these critical health professionals.

We need your help to advocate for passage of the Arthritis Act and to address the needs of 46 million adults and 300,000 children with arthritis, the nation's most common cause of disability. Together we can fight the pain and disability of arthritis and make 2009 the year the U.S. Congress takes final action and passes this important legislation. Please contact your Members of Congress now and ask them to cosponsor H.R. 1210/S. 984.

You can read quotes from Senators Boxer and Bond in the following news release: http://capwiz.com/arthritis/utr/1/OPRYKLIFRL/OCPEKLIFVR/3310459891

Fudge happens. Have a ball.

2009-05-06T10:16:00.011-06:00

I'm so excited! One of my Kumon families is gearing up for the "official grand opening" of their online gourmet artisnal chocolate factory COCOPOTAMUS! I've had the pleasure of sampling their wares, and oh-my-gosh! Just a taste lets you know that these chocolatey balls of goodness were made with the highest quality ingredients, buckets of love, and a hefty dose of humor!

Max and Ally's idea is to create a fun, modern twist on old-fashioned fudge using the best ingredients from many cultures around the world. Check out these names and flavors (OK, you totally have to click on the link and read the full descriptions of all of their chocolates. Get a tissue, though. You'll be laughing so hard you'll cry!)

Gilligan's Fave - Wild ginger and dark chocolate fudge

Ommm... - Dark chocolate fudge, fresh orange, chai spice, and triple sec

Sumos Never Sleep - Dark chocolate with Japanese matcha green tea

Here's a little something I loved from the COCOPOTAMUS STORY:

"Joy is not some big elusive quest. Joy is life & love, family & neighbors, friends & fudge. Joy is keeping an American tradition like chocolate fudge growing and changing with the times. Everyday chocolate, every day joy. "

Stop by COCOPOTAMUS and take a look around. You know you want to!

Hugs and blessings~

~~~Anne

How to Fight Summer Brain Drain

2009-05-05T11:55:00.006-06:00

For many schoolchildren, the price paid for “fun in the sun” over the summer school break is significant learning loss. In order to counteract this, parents need to provide opportunities for their children to continue to read and do math during the summer months. One way to prevent summer learning loss is to enroll in a supplemental education program (like KUMON!) and make math and reading practice a part of the daily summer routine.

While students need to have fun during the summer, using their academic skills for even a short period of time each day will prevent them from the summer learning loss that plagues so many of their classmates. Here are some suggestions to help create a learning environment that is part of your child’s summer routine:

1. Read for pleasure during the summer – favorite authors, easy-to-read books, magazines, plays, poetry.

2. Read books for the upcoming school year (ask your child’s teacher for suggestions.)

3. Write plays and stories and share them with friends and family.

4. Visit the library weekly and make friends with the librarian, who has a wealth of information to share about books. (Most libraries also offer summer reading programs for children.)

5. Get activity books and do age-appropriate brain teasers, crossword puzzles, or Suduko.

6. Be creative with math. Write equations/problems on big surfaces using finger paints, dry erase markers, or washable chalk.

7. Be a role model for learning. Let your child “catch” you reading; note how you use math throughout the day—in cooking, balancing the checkbook, figuring out gas mileage—and encourage your children to calculate along with you.

8. Create projects: have your child help plan your vacation time, whether it be a day trip or a two-week holiday; research and read books about the destination; use resources, such as the library, the internet; figure out how much the trips would cost, including gas, entertainment, hotels, food, and directions.

Hugs and blessings~

~~~Anne

A Month of Basket Weaving Projects

2009-05-04T10:32:00.012-06:00

Wow! Even though April was a super-busy Kumon month for me, somehow I found time to weave quite a few baskets. (My computer kept over-heating and shutting down, so I think the "down-time" I had from that drama opened up a bit more weaving time. Thanks, husband, for fixing my computer!)

This is the little beauty I wove for my "Spring Basket Swap" partner. Her name is Diane and she lives in Michigan, so I included a card with a picture of Navajo children and a cute ceramic refigerator magnet with a Zia symbol and a New Mexican theme when I sent the basket. I love the turquoise rim on the basket!

Isn't this sweet? This is from a pattern from one of Nancy Jacobs' basket weaving classes. OK. I have to confess that when I went to this class, there was only Nancy and me. So... We spent three hours chit-chatting and playing with our blogs and no time weaving! I wove this basket by myself, later that weekend :-)

This pretty swirl design basket was based on a free pattern from http://www.basketmakerscatalog.com/. Check out their site. They have lots of free patterns available, as well as basket making and caning supplies.

Here's another take on the ribbon basket. This one was filled with cakemix cookies and delivered to a friend. The ribbon I used was two-sided, one side was floral and the other was a pretty plaid pattern. A very nice "bonus" for this lovely and simple basket.

This is my biggest basket to date. I wove it for my husband to use when our backyard crops are ready to harvest. It measures about 12" in diameter, and is about 7" tall. It is a variation on the "Classic Round Basket" by Deborah Blair. This free pattern, and many more, can be found at www.justpatterns.com/weavers/patterns .

Hugs and blessings~

~~~Anne

Welcome to the World, Baby Faith!

2009-04-29T09:40:00.005-06:00

Baby Faith Ann came into the world on Tuesday, April 21, 2009, at 9:13am. She was a couple of weeks early, but weighed in at a healthy 8 lbs., 2 oz. and was 20 1/4 inches long! Deanna wants to let everyone know that this was a drug-free birth... Not by choice, but because they got to the hospital 61 minutes before the baby was born :-)

Congratulations, Bartomeo family!

Hugs and blessings~
~~~Anne

Tips to Help Children Develop Strong Reading Habits

2009-04-28T15:01:00.005-06:00

(NAPSI)-Getting a child to read can be challenging, but a recent survey found that 96 percent of U.S. and Canadian parents recognize the importance of having strong reading skills for school and as an adult.

"As U.S. literacy rates worsen, parents need to make daily reading a priority for themselves and their children. Our society cannot afford a generation that doesn't enjoy reading," says Dr. Mary Mokris, education specialist for Kumon Math and Reading Centers.

The survey for Kumon, conducted by Harris Interactive, found that activities such as playing outside, watching a movie and eating together were more important to today's families than reading together.

"Spending as little as 15 minutes a day reading together helps children of any age improve literacy, analytical and lifelong learning skills while fostering a love for the English language," said Mokris, who offers the following tips to promote literacy at home:

1) Bring reading home-Create a reading area in your house that has comfortable furniture, good lighting and, most importantly, magazines, newspapers and books your children will enjoy.

2) Start a parent-child book club-Parents can learn more about their child's interests and children will get more comfortable reading and sharing in front of peers.

3) Read the book, watch the movie and discuss-It gives children and adults an opportunity to discuss the content, dilemmas and moral implications of the story. This combination sharpens both comprehension and decoding abilities, two of the most important skills for learning.

4) Physical reading-Make reading a part of your outdoor playtime. Read to your child and ask him to act out what he has just heard. Older children can read a play and then perform it.

5) Read and explore-Have each family member choose an area attraction that he or she would like to visit. Have older children read about the area and play tour guide for the day.

Need help selecting books that appeal to your child's interests or reading ability? Kumon Math and Reading Centers offers a free Recommended Reading List, which includes a range of 350 titles for any reading level. You can stop by a Kumon Center for a copy.

For Kumon locations, visit http://www.kumon.com/ or call (800) ABC-MATH.

Reading can be a family affair when parents look for books that the whole family can enjoy reading together.

Hugs and Blessings~
~~~Anne

How to Make Cake Mix Cookies ~ $5.00 + 90 Minutes = 6 Dozen Cookies!

2009-04-24T15:50:00.011-06:00

"Wife," my husband (a Realtor) said to me the other evening. "I'm having a big open house this weekend. Do you think I should serve cookies?" As wives around the world know, this translates to "Anne will be baking on Friday." I just feel grateful that he gave me a couple of days notice instead of letting me in on the secret the night before the event!

Anyway... For about $5.00 and in 1 1/2 hours, I whipped up 6 dozen cookies, and ended up with a kitchen that was cleaner than when I started my baking. Yeah, me!

I discovered "cake mix cookies" a couple of years ago. I've modified the traditional method a bit, so I'm calling this rendition "Auntie Anne's Creative Cake Mix Cookies". Below the recipe you'll see some flavor combinations I have tried (today was old-fashioned chocolate chip and "Almond Joy"), but the possibilites are only limited by your imagination :-)

"AUNTIE ANNE'S CREATIVE CAKE MIX COOKIES"

Ingredients:

1 box cake mix (any flavor)
1/2 cup vegetable oil
2 eggs
3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 cup "stir in" (chocolate chips, nuts, coconut, etc. This is where the "creativity" occurs!)

Directions:

Combine cake mix, oil, eggs, flour, and vanilla in a bowl and mix thoroughly. (Mix will look greasy. It's supposed to look that way.)
Stir in your "stir-in".
Roll a rounded teaspoon sized amount of dough into a ball and place on ungreased cookie sheet.
Bake at 350 degrees for 9-11 minutes.
Upon removing from oven, let cookies stand on sheet for two minutes, then transfer to cooling rack.

These are my "Almond Joy" Cookies. I used chocolate cake mix, almonds and coconut. I substituted almond extract for the vanilla.

These are "plain and simple" chocolate chip cookies. Yellow cake mix with chocolate chips.

Other flavor combinations I've tried:

Devil's food with peanut butter chips
Strawberry with chocolate chips
Yellow with white chocolate chips and macademia nuts (a fan favorite!)
Carrot cake with coconut and pecans
Spice cake with raisins and walnuts
Chocolate with Andes mint chips
Cherry chip with chocolate chunks

Hugs and blessings~

~~~Anne

What do you do when you fall down?

2009-04-22T11:49:00.003-06:00

One of my "Kumon Moms" sent me this video. It's short but absolutely inspiring. It's also interesting to see how many different languages have translated Nick's message. Thanks for sharing this, Maria!

Hugs and blessings~
~~~Anne

How to make Pepper Steak - A Quick , Delicious, Inexpensive Dinner Recipe

2009-04-14T20:03:00.016-06:00

Ahhhh... I've been doing Kumon work from home today, and have been glued to my computer for about 12 hours! Because I'm at home, I have no excuse (yeah, right) for not making Dave a home-cooked dinner. He commented the other day that there were about 8 bags of "Trader Joe's" frozen bell pepper slices in the freezer. I told him they were there for PEPPER STEAK or FAJITA emergencies, and to just hush. Well... Today is a "Pepper Steak Emergency", and here's the recipe.

Note: If you slice the meat when you buy it fresh and freeze it with the marinade, you can thaw it in the refrigerator overnight, and it will be good-to-go when you get home from work the next day. Freeze several bags when meat is on sale. It's a great time and money saving trick!

BUSY WOMAN'S PEPPER STEAK

Ingredients

1# (approx.) Top Round, cut into thin strips

1 cup bottled Italian dressing

1/4 cup soy sauce

A couple of splashes red wine, if you have it on hand

1/4 cup Allegro Marinade (this can be omitted if you don't have it. Just add a tablespoon of Worchestershire sauce and a 1/2 teaspoon of sugar)

1 medium onion, halved and thinly sliced

Bell Peppers, cut into strips (As many as you want. 3-4 mediun fresh, or a bag of frozen. More or less to taste.)

1/2 envelope dry brown gravy mix

3 tbs. soy sauce (more or less, to taste)

Salt and pepper to taste

In a gallon-size Ziploc bag, combine dressing, soy sauce, wine, and Allegro. Add meat and seal bag. Allow to marinate for at least one hour (the longer you marinate, the tastier the meat.)

Pre-heat a large frying pan over high heat. When pan is hot, use tongs to remove the meat from your "marinating bag", and add to pan. Discard marinade (I know it smells really good, but trust me. Throw it away!) Cook meat for a few minutes, stirring occasionally. Sprinkle in gravy mix and continue to cook for one minute. (Sauce will thicken a bit, but if you like a thicker, more "gravy-ish" sauce, add the entire pack of gravy mix.) Add soy sauce, salt, and pepper. Stir. Add onions and peppers. Cook, stirring occasionally, until veggies are tender. Serve over rice. Enjoy!

Hugs and blessings~

~~~Anne

JoJo's Frozen Limeade Pie

2009-04-13T12:15:00.016-06:00

My "good/better/best" friend John called the other night, and said his 9-year old daughter wanted to make a pie from "one of those cooking shows you watch on TV". He and JoJo went to the store, and she picked out her ingredients. He was a bit skeptical, but they brought home their supplies and she went to work on her dessert... with no recipe! His skepticism subsided when he took his first bite of her frozen masterpiece. It was delicious!

In honor of JoJo and her culinary efforts, I'm deeming her recipe a "child friendly" project, as it involves no cooking or baking. Way to go, JoJo!

JO-JO'S AMAZING FROZEN LIMEADE PIE
Ingredients:
1 graham cracker crust
6 oz. frozen limeade concentrate (thawed)
12 oz. container of thawed whipped topping (Cool Whip)
1 14 oz. can sweetened condensed milk
1 lime, zested and separated into two equal portions

Combine limeade, whipped topping, condensed milk, and half the zest. Pour into crust. Put in freezer and alow to set until firm (about 2 hours). Garnish with the remaining zest and enjoy.

Doesn't this sound like a quick and easy recipe your kids can make this summer?

Hugs and blessings~
~~~Anne

Can you believe I wove this Easter Basket?

2009-04-12T11:34:00.004-06:00

Happy Easter!

CREAM PUFFS - Inexpensive, elegant, and easy!

2009-04-11T20:22:00.017-06:00

Want to look like you spent hours making a fancy dessert? These amazing CREAM PUFFS look like a really challenging project, right? NO!!! It's a super easy, quick , inexpensive recipe that has a huge WOW factor. Here's the recipe:

ANNE'S "DON'T TELL ANYONE HOW EASY THEY ARE" CREAM PUFFS

(Makes 5-6 big puffs, but the recipe can be easily doubled.)

Ingredients

1/4 cup butter or margarine

1/2 cup boiling water

1/2 cup flour

dash salt

1/4 tsp. sugar

2 eggs

1 pkg. French Vanilla Jell-O Pudding, prepared and refrigerated

Powdered sugar (for decoration)

Melt butter in boiling water. Add flour, salt and sugar all at once and stir until thouroughly mixed. Cook over meduim heat, stirring constantly, until mixture forms a ball. Add eggs, one at a time, and beat with a hand-mixer until mixture is smooth.

Drop mixture in heaping tablespoons onto a greased cookie sheet, about 3" apart. (Don't worry! They'll puff when they bake!)

Bake at 450 degrees for about 15 minutes (a little less for smaller puffs). Reduce heat to 325 degrees and bake for an additional 15-25 minutes until puffs are golden. Check on them often, so they don't burn. Cook time depends on your oven and the size of your puffs :-)

Remove from oven, and split puffs in half. Put puffs back on cookie sheet and return to oven to dry. MAKE SURE OVEN IS OFF!!! The drying process takes about 20 minutes.
Spoon prepared filling or custard into tops and bottoms of puffs. Reassemble, and sift powdered sugar over the tops. Put on serving plate and enjoy. Easy, right? Enjoy!
Hugs and blessings~

~~~Anne

Super Simple Pesto Pasta Salad Recipe

2009-04-10T11:10:00.010-06:00

I was so excited about making CREAM PUFFS for "Ladies Night" tonight, that I completely forgot I had volunteered to also bring a salad! Time for some quick thinking and some creativity. Since I found frozen artichoke hearts (bonus!), this was my starting point. Also having flour tortillas, I was leaning toward an artichoke dip with tortilla "points". Alas, none of the cheeses or spinach were to be found, so I had to travel a different direction.
'
So... Here's my "use whaterever you find" recipe for PESTO PASTA SALAD:

Ingredients
7-8 oz. uncooked pasta (I used mini penne)
Fresh or frozen veggies (whatever you can find)
Sliced Black Olives (I didn't have any, but if I did, I'd have tossed 'em in!)
1/2 cup Salad Dressing (Miracle Whip)
7 0z. jar of prepared pesto
1/4 cup Parmesan cheese, grated
Salt and pepper, to taste
Diced tomatoes for garnish

1. Cook the pasta according to package directions and rinse with cold water, drain, and set aside.
2. Put your veggies in a bowl. (I used artichoke hearts, broccoli, peas, and some diced onion.)
3. Stir together salad dressing, pesto, Parmesan, salt, and pepper in bowl.
4. Put cooled pasta in large serving bowl. Add pesto mixture and stir to coat. Add veggies and mix gently until all ingredients are evenly coated.
5. Garnish with tomatoes. Cover and chill for at least one hour before serving.

Hugs and blessings~

~~~Anne

A tisket, a tasket... An adorable springtime basket!

2009-04-06T08:49:00.016-06:00

I finally made time to get some weaving done on Sunday. (I feel much better now that I've gotten my "fix", thank you very much!) Above is the amazingly cute springtime basket I made for Aunt Suzie. It is loosely based on the pattern "Springtime Wine Basket" by Sandra Lyons. I did not use the handle called for in her basket, and I chose to make my flowers in different colors (Aunt Suzie is a rather colorful lady!), rather than all pink. I also used "regular" flat reed for the flowers instead of the "paper thin maple" noted in Sandra's materials list.

Random thought: The pattern calls this a "wine basket". Hmmm. I put a standard wine bottle in it, just to see how it would look. It "floated" in the basket. Then I tried a 2-liter soda bottle. Better, but who puts soda in a basket? Really, at about 6" in diameter and 7" tall, this would make a pretty container to store cooking utensils on your kitchen counter.

Other news... I signed up for my first "Basket Swap" through the Yahoo Group "Weavers Words". My swap partner's name is Diane and she lives is Michigan. She has been weaving for 25+ years and works in a basket shop. I think that I'll have to substitute creativity for basket weaving skills on this one, so... My thought is to make a Southwestern version of my ribbon basket for her. I'll stain the basket and then, instead of ribbon, I'll weave lengths of turquose and silver beads (or maybe I'll use leather cording, we'll see). Instead of a bow, I'll finish off the basket with a concho or other SW type bobble. Into the basket will go a jar of "pickly pear" jelly or other New Mexcian goody. If anyone has any suggestions for this basket, I'd love to hear from you.

Hugs and blessings~

~~~Anne

I Think I'm Suffering from Basket Weaving Withdrawal!

2009-04-04T10:04:00.010-06:00

It's been a few weeks since I've attended a basket weaving class. I find myself sorting through my collection of reed and surfing for basket patterns on the internet when I should be working! Yikes... Am I already and addict? "Hello. My name is Anne and I'm a weaving addict." Nice.
'
Anyway, the picture above is the first weaving project I tackled on my own, at home, without the help of Nancy ("The Basketmaster"). I did this one a couple of weekends ago, but I have to admit I will be weaving again tomorrow. Dave's wonderful Aunt Suzie is coming to town next week, so I think I'll try making a basket decorated with tulips for her. I found the pattern here: http://www.justpatterns.com/weavers/patterns/springwine_basket.html . Cute, right? I'll post a picture if the project goes well. (OK. I'll post even if it doesn't! )

Aunt Suzie is rather crafty and artistic, herself. She made this beautiful pot, which we have proudly displayed in the living room. I'm very much looking forward to her visit, and am excited about presenting her with one of my "woven with love" baskets.

Hugs and blessings~

~~~Anne

Bittersweet Mocha Cake: A Tale of a Good Recipe Gone Bad... And Then Good, Again!

2009-04-01T11:26:00.024-06:00

OK. We all have at least one story of a good recipe gone bad. My FLOURLESS BITTERSWEET MOCHA CAKE started out good, then took a very unfortunate turn down the "road of badness", but I was able to rescue it and guide it to "chocolate bliss"! Below is my recipe and tutorial (bad pictures and all...)
'
Ingredients:
20 oz. bittersweet chocolate (5 4 oz. bars)
6 Tbs. butter
1/2 cup Kahlua (coffee liqueur), plus extra for drinking... I mean drizzling!
6 eggs, separated and at room temperature
3/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup boiling water

1. Heat oven to 350 degrees. In double boiler, over medium heat, melt 3 chocolate bars, butter, and Kahlua. Cook and stir until melted. Remove from heat and cool to room temperature.
2. In bowl of electric mixer on high speed, beat egg yolks and sugar for 3 minutes, or until light yellow and thickened. Fold in cooled chocolate mixture.
3. In separate mixing bowl, beat egg whites about 5 minutes, or until stiff peaks form. In batches, fold egg whites into chocolate mixture.

4. Pour batter into 9" cake pan coated with flour-based cooking spray. (Notice how full the pan is. This should have been a warning to me, but NOOOO!)

5. Bake 40 minutes, or until toothpick inserted into center of cake comes out clean.

~Here's a picture of the "bad" cake I took out of the oven. Notice the burned edges rising up and over the edge of the pan. YIKES! Not at all the result I wanted.~

~Here's my cake "post surgery". Things are looking up!~

6. Allow cake to cool in pan 10 minutes. Remove from pan, turn upside down, and allow to cool completely on cake rack.

7. If desired, brush or drizzle extra Kahlua on top and sides of cake. (This was a "must" for me, as my cake was a little dried out and a tad burned. The extra Kahlua aided tremendously in my cake's recovery process!)

8. In bowl, combine 1/2 cup boiling water and remaining chocolate. Let sit 2 minutes and stir until smooth. Let cool for 2 minutes. Pour chocolate over cake to coat.

9. Chill completely.

10. Garnish with fruit and serve This rich dessert goes great with a cup of good, strong coffee or a glass of deep port. Truly a slice of "Chocolate Heaven"!

Hugs and blessings~

~~~Anne

How to Make 3-D Chocolate Butterfly Cake Decorations

2009-03-31T10:50:00.014-06:00

Here's another view of my 14-LAYER CAKE from Deanna's shower. I couldn't come up with a fun decorating idea for the cake... Until I remembered reading an article about making CHOCOLATE BUTTERFLIES. I don't remember in which magazine I read about this project, but it was years ago. I knew I had to make the butterflies, but without directions, I'd just have to "wing it". (That pun deserves, at least, a snicker!)

Step 1: Melt a square or two of chocolate "bark" in the microwave. Stir until smooth.

Step 2: Cover your butterly pattern with waxed paper and trace your pattern with the melted chocolate. You can pipe it on, use a paint brush, or use the end of a skewer or chopstick. If you don't like the result, toss out the wax paper and start again :-) DO NOT TRACE THE BODY! Your end result should be two separate wings.

Step 3: Melt a couple of squares of white "bark". Make sure your outline has hardened, then fill in your white areas. Next, tint the remaining white bark with "paste" food coloring. (Do not use liquid food color. It will make the bark hard and grainy.) Fill in the remaining areas on your wings and allow to harden. It only takes a few minutes.

Step 4: Drape a sheet of waxed paper over two "wing supports" (I used tongs for the biggest butterfly and chopsticks for the smaller ones). Lay your wings on the supports so they form a "V". Pipe on your butterly body with re-melted chocolate bark. This will connect your wings. Let dry.

Step 5: Pipe out several sets of antenae. Pipe heads onto your butterfly bodies while your antenea harden.

Step 6: Lay a chopstick (or other support) near the butterfly head, add a drop or two of chocolate bark, and position your antenae. Once the butterflies harden, they are ready to use to decorate any of your edible goodies.

For my next butterflies, I am going to try filling in the wings with a solid color (blue might be pretty!), dripping in dots of chocolate, and then cutting the dark color into the blue for a "marbled" effect. I'll let you know how it goes :-)

Enjoy!

Hugs and blessings~

~~~Anne

Deanna's Shower and "The Cakes"!

2009-03-30T09:22:00.014-06:00

So... We had Deanna's Baby Shower at the Kumon Center on Saturday. I was very happy to finally get the chance to meet her beautiful mother, Loretta, and her sister-in-law, Sonya. I think they both had a great time getting to know Deanna's "Kumon family"!

Even Hailey had a great time! (But I think we had an even better time watching and listening to her. She's two years old, and smart as a whip!)

Woo hoo! Both of my cakes came out beautifully, and I'm soooo relieved. Above is my FLOURLESS BITTERSWEET MOCHA CAKE. I'll post the recipe and the tutorial later this week.

This is my 14-LAYER CAKE. I'm very proud of this one! I'll post pictures of the entire baking process later (including making the chocolate butterflies), but I got both the tutorial and the recipe from the absolutely amazing Bakerella. Her pictures are beautiful and her tutorial is easy to understand. http://bakerella.blogspot.com/2009_02_01_archive.html

Hugs and blessings~

~~~Anne

Baby Shower Project - Lifesaver Pacifiers

2009-03-26T08:55:00.015-06:00

My friend and collegue, Deanna, is eagerly anticipating the birth of her second daughter. We're having a baby shower for her on Saturday, so my crafting and cooking projects are well under way. The picture above shows the gift basket I put together for her and the diaper cake I made. Cute, right?! Scattered in front of the gifts are LIFESAVER PACIFIERS, wrapped in cellophane and tied with curly bits of ribbon.

So... the directions to make the pacifiers is today's crafty project.

Supplies Needed:
Meringue powder & powdered sugar (for "glue")
1 Bag of Pep-O-Mint or Spearmint Lifesavers (Do not use the rolls. The candies are too small.)
"Jelly Belly" jellybeans (regular sized jellybeans are too big)
Cellophane and ribbons

Step 1: Make a small batch of Royal Icing (glue). Mix one cup of powdered sugar, one tablespoon of meringue powder, and two tablespoons of warm water in mixing bowl for about 5 minutes.
Step 2: Assemble your materials. Lifesavers will have to be unwrapped :-)

Step 3: Put a bit of Royal Icing "glue" on the edge of one Lifesaver. (I put my icing in a bowl and used a chopstick as my "gluing tool".)

Place the glued Lifesaver on top of another Lifesaver as shown above. Hold it for just a moment and it will stick. Royal icing is tough stuff! Place your glued Lifesavers on a cookie sheet and allow to dry for about 10-15 minutes.

Step 4: Put a drop of glue in the center hole and attach your Jelly Belly. I lined mine up along the edge of my cookie sheet in a "standing position". Allow to dry thoroughly before wrapping (15-30 minutes).

There you have it! A simple and quick project, sure to delight a mother-to-be and all of her baby shower guests.

Tomorrow will be my 14-LAYER CAKE project. I'm a little nervous about this one, but we'll see how it goes. Wish me luck!

Hugs and Blessings~

~~~Anne

Sushi - How to Make a California Roll

2009-03-24T11:34:00.033-06:00

I rolled up some "Maki Zushi" on Friday. This batch of California Rolls was made as a snack for our Easter basket weaving class last Friday evening. ) I'll post a picture of my beautiful Easter basket soon!)

Making California Rolls is easy, fun, and inexpensive. Here's the recipe and a tutorial:

Ingredients:
3 1/3 cups uncooked medium grain white calrose rice (Botan or Nishiki brands are good)

4 cups water

Sushi Nori (seaweed sheets)

1/2 cup rice vinegar

4 Tbs. sugar

1 tsp. salt

1 cucumber (peeled, seeded, and cut into thin strips)

1 avocado (peeled, seeded, and cut into strips)

1 package surimi (imitation crab)

Soy Sauce and Wasabi (for dipping)

Sushi Supplies:

Bamboo mat (to roll sushi)

Rice paddle or large, flat plastic or wooden spoon (do not use metal)

Glass baking pan

Directions:

1. Cook rice. I use a rice maker, but if you dont have one, follow the directions on your rice bag.

2. Make the vinegar mixture: Bring rice vinegar to a boil in a small saucepan. Add sugar and salt. Stir until dissolved. Allow to cool to room temperature.

3. Transfer cooked rice to glass baking pan. Do not use any metal because the vinegar reacts with it and causes a rather unpleasant taste. (Trust me on this!) Gently spread out the rice, and sprinkle in some of the vinegar mixture. Using horizontal cutting strokes, evenly distribute the vinegar into the rice. Taste test. Add more vinegar as necessary and repeat. Don't use too much vinegar or the rice will get mushy.

4. When rice has cooled to room temperature, it is ready to use for sushi rolls!

5. Toast sheets of nori by passing the shiny side over your stove burner. Do this very quickly... a couple of seconds is just about right! You'll see the nori change color just slightly.

6. Lay your bamboo mat out on a cutting board. Place one sheet of nori on the bamboo mat. Spread a paddle or two of rice on the nori, leaving an inch or so with no rice at the ends.

7. Lay your "fillings" on the rice at the end closest to you.

8. Lift the bamboo mat and begin rolling, one time around.

9. Move the mat and continue rolling. You should now have a sushi "log" rolled up in your bamboo mat. Slightly squeeze along entire roll. The roll should be tight, but not "compacted".

10. Using a sharp knife, cut your sushi "log" into 1/2" slices. Serve flat on a plate with wasabi and soy sauce for dipping.

Feel free to change the "filling" ingredients in this recipe. Fill with slivered celery and canned tuna. Smoked salmon and onions? Sliced steak and bell peppers (a Philly Roll?)... Indulge your creativity and enjoy your rolls!

Hugs and blessings~

~~~Anne

Can you believe it? I'm blogging!

2009-03-20T12:57:00.000-06:00

Hi. Welcome to my very first blog! Here, we'll explore a little of everything... Crafts, cooking, shopping, things I like, and things that bug me.

Today, the peach trees in my back yard are blossoming. Let's file that under "things I like"!

Keep coming back to visit. My next post will be a tutorial on making sushi. Think of what an impact this would make at your next dinner party or potluck! Cool, right?

Hugs and blessings~

~~~Anne