Homemade Magic Shell

Childhood memories are so sweet.  Who didn't love a Dairy Queen dipped cone?  They actually have a product called "Magic Shell" which allows you to relive that memory at home.  Turns out you can make your own with chocolate chips and coconut oil.  Thanks to a friend's post on facebook I got the recipe here at http://www.skiptomylou.org/2011/07/08/diy-magic-shell/ . 

Recipe:

Measure 1 1/4 cup chocolate chips into a bowl and add 1/2 cup solid coconut oil.

Microwave 1-1 1/2 minutes.

Stir.

Dribble over ice cream (We used a medicine dispenser but you can also just pour).

That's it, easy peasey.  I put the finished product in a jar in the fridge where it can be reheated in the microwave whenever we need.  I love being able to make products like this at my house with stuff I just have in the cupboard.  Hurray for facebook and cooking blogs!    

1 1/4 cup chocolate chips, 1/2 cup solid coconut oil.

Just mix after melted.



Easy way for the kids to disperse it!

This was the most delicious desert I've had in years...Homemade raspberry pie, a scoop of ice cream, magic shell on top.  SO YUMMY!!!!!

Sunday Confessional - I still owned my baby blanket, up until last month...

Up until last month I still owned my baby blanket along with a bunch of childhood mementos.  Dr. J and I only had three feet in and ABF truck when we moved cross country eight and half years ago, so we packed up all our childhood memories and stuck them in my mother-in-laws basement.  Then we moved five times, and I've been so grateful they were safe, but with the buying of this house and the settling down of roots we decided it was time to bring our childhood memories home.  I decided to go through my boxes and found tons of treasures.  Shorts my father bought me when I was four, which like all of the clothes my father ever bought me were from the boy's section.  He never got over the fact that I was a daughter.  I also found my baby blanket which for years I slept with, I mean like into high school and an original pillow pet that my mother made me 26 years before the trend.  I was going to daycare/preschool at the time while she finished her teaching degree and they insisted each child could only have a pillow.  I was devastated because I was a stuffed animal collector and so my mother sewed both me and my sister a pillow that looked just like a stuffed animal.  We seriously were the luckiest kids ever, although I'm realizing now we should have patented the idea.  Also floating around in the boxes were all my school reports, report cards, an article I wrote while a cub reporter, all of my art work, letters from every missionary friend I ever wrote, all the letters my family and friends wrote me while I was in college, and what appears to be every note/piece of creative genius given to me by my high school best friend Pamela W.  It was an incredible trip down memory lane.  Like for one, I had no memory of the fact that Eric Lopez wrote me letters while he was on his mission, I thought he hated me in high school.  Also if you had to pick who I loved most on shear volume, it's amazing I didn't marry Pam :)  I decided though that some pieces needed to be thrown out, and so I tossed all the missionary letters that weren't from really good friends, or my high school boyfriend (who by the way dumped me while on his mission because he found someone while out he "loved as well".  I actually got a big kick reading that letter again.) or the letters from the boy I loved in college (52 exactly, one every two weeks from across the ocean), or all of Pamela's stuff (I mean it really was art and she was my best friend, which is why Peach's middle name has double meaning for me), and the letters from my mom and my sisters from when I was in college because that is part of my history.  I also kept all my school stuff, but decided it was time to say goodbye to the shorts that had been loved almost to bits, the blanket that was bits (I actually wish I would have kept it, which is partially why I threw it out, a little concerned the taters would have found their way back onto my bed), and the pillow pet that my mother took from me to take to her classroom.  I of course kept my wedding dress and my college journal,but tossed wedding thank you cards that I couldn't find address for but had been holding on to for years.  Sorry if you were one of them.  Thanks for all your love.  As for doctor J's stuff I hauled it back site unseen.  Who knows what treasures wait for us there, just waiting to be uncovered.  

I used to wear these when I was four.  They are definitely too short for E, but not to lean.

My baby bro showing off my blanket.  Notice the blue.  I told you my dad wanted a boy.

Berry Picking

We feel so lucky about the neighborhood we moved into.  We've found amazing friends!  On Thursday we went berry picking with our friend A, and her daughters B and K at at a u pick farm about 30 minutes away.  G bear wanted to make sure she looked nice before the outing :)

Do you like my headband?

Because I love it?

Captain E looking for berries.

Hmmm, where are more berries?

Maybe over here?

Working together.

Peach spent most of her time eating berries.  Her siblings an I kept adding berries to her bucket only to find it almost empty each time we returned.  Watching her for a few seconds and I realized why...every time we filled her bucket, she started filling her mouth.  It didn't take her long to munch through our offerings.

Here is B gathering her offerings.  She kept telling me she was going to use her berries to make a special treat with her dad.  What a cutie!

Here are the fruits of our labor.  I don't know if you can tell but this is a lot of berries.  We made one pie, jam, froze some, and kept some to just eat.  The kids worked hard!

Freezer jam?  This is the thing that drives me crazy about jam, look how much sugar goes into this sweet stuff.  I have a recipe for sugar free pectin but I didn't have any grape juice to make it and so far I've had little success with sugar free jam setting.  Has anyone had any luck?  Oh well, this white drug is what my kids were eating today and boy did they love it.

The whole time we were picking berries G bear kept saying, when we get home we're going to make a pie. 



She was so excited to be baking.

Peach is standing around waiting to help.  Do you like the scratch on her head?  She was sitting on the bench at church and then she was falling forward on her head, got a piece of the bench in front of us on the way down. 

This farm is amazing...not only do they have berries, but they also have apples, pears, peaches, tomatoes, and squash.  They also have frozen veggies/fruit that they do themselves, peas, corn, mushrooms, and berries.  They also do apple cider slushies.  Can I say I was in heaven :)

OCD Shower?

She showers and organizes!

Pool Fun

One of the major perks of our HOA is the pool.  Our fees help maintain a really large main pool, a baby pool, and two life guards who are always on duty.  With all the 90+ degrees days with humidity the pool has been a very happening place.  We are lucky to go often with a couple of friends.

Loving the bucket our friend A brought.

G bear carrying a heavy load :)

This is our little friend K.  She and Peach are in our nursery together...she cracks us up with her hair dipping routine!

No more pictures please :)

 

All I want for Christmas...this week Captain E lost both his front teeth.  His new lisp cracks me up :)  I have to get him singing for the camera.

Last year Captain E wouldn't even put his head in the water, now he's teaching himself to swim.  He's actually getting pretty good.  Maybe he's finally ready to take lessons from the life guards :)

This is my favorite in the series.  Captain E likes to swim around the pool with G bear on his back. 

Our friend B likes to join in the fun!

Look at those eyelashes!

No qualms about jumping in the pool!

G bear has these cute little freckles that have shown up this summer.  Freckles and eyelashes, I've got some really cute kids.

Have to love the matching swim suits!

How Much Does Water Cost You?

We got our second water bill today, the first full month cycle one and holy Hannah, the thing was for $70.  I did a hypothetical budget when we were first working on our match list of all the areas that were possibilities and the pay, and since then I made a new one specific to our area.  In my highest estimates I figured water would probably run us, $50 a month.  On a positive note I figured electric in the summer would probably run close to $200, and in our hottest month so far we came in at $70.  So I guess that was better then expected, I was just a little shocked at how much our H20 is running.  I mean it doesn't help that there's almost $30 of just taxes and fees just to have water, but still.  Am I watering our law too much?  It looks pretty dead to me.  Should I reduce the amount of water games?  Maybe this is just what water cost, which explains why most of my neighborhood has now just let their lawns die.  This is my first time paying for water on my own so maybe I'm just not aware or the cost.  Tell me please, what do you pay for water on average?  The saddest part, the water here taste horrible, like worse then Arizona :(  Dr. J will come in sometimes and say, "Do we have any soda, or anything?  Anything taste better then the water from the tap!"  Premium price for icky product :)

I Heart Netflix - North & South

I heard about this mini series from my friend Bridget.  Will I ever find something first?  Probably not, but I'm extremely grateful for her sharing!  I'm going to have to go pick the book up now.  Adapted from the book North and South by Elizabeth Gaskell, the story follows Margaret Hale, the daughter of a South of England clergyman who feeling he can no longer affirm from the pulpit with 100% certainty, leaves the church and takes his family to the North of England to teach philosophy as a private tutor.  There his family faces the harsh realities of mill work, poverty , strikes, "a faster pace of life, and dirt.  Early on Margaret meets John Thorthon, a mill owner who has been hardened by clawing his way to the top, a father who committed suicide, and a mother who is all sharp edges.  I started the series yesterday while my kids were watching Word World.  The first episode started off a little slow and I found myself constantly comparing it's similarities to Pride and Prejudice.  In my mind I started penning a blog about how ridiculous these story lines are: rich, cruel, emotionally unavailable man meets outspoken, educated, beautiful woman.  Insults and misunderstandings ensue.  Man falls in love with beautiful woman and despite the fact she is always has biting criticism for him proposes, woman hates man but  after her refusal realizes that hate is actually love.  Finally misunderstandings are resolved and couple lives happily ever after.  The idea that two people can have that kind of love story and live happily ever after is so ridiculous and quite frankly probably more than a little damaging to young girl notions of romance and love.  I had it all planned out and planned on heavily blamming disney for the fact that I love story lines like these, and then last night Dr. J conked out early and I had tons of extra time.  So I watched the second episode and balled.  Then watched the third episode, drying the whole time for it to end so I could start the last.  Finally I watched the fourth, and people it did not disappoint.  I was in tears again.  All of the characters in this series are so real, the situations heartbreaking, the main characters grow outside of their interactions with each other, the love is tense, misunderstood, and delicious!  My favorite part about Victorian romance is the actual romance.  Every look carries meaning, every conversation laced, every touch means so much.  Victorian England, a place where hands touching meant something.  It made me think about the first time Dr. J and I held hands, sitting on the couch watching a movie.  I want to say my legs were up over his lap and he had his hand on my foot.  He mentioned that my feet were cold.  It was winter in an old apartment and pretty much my whole body was freezing.  "My hands are cold too," I said.  "What do you want me to do, hold them or something?" he replied.  And so I said, "Well I wouldn't want you to do anything you didn't want to do."  He paused for two seconds and then he laced his fingers through mine.  Do you remember the magic, the possibility, the romance of the first time fingers touch?  I think I fell in love with my husband in that moment.  North & South has a magic like that.  I'm so glad I watched it, implausible love story and all :)

While we are on the topic of why BBC rocks I also watched the first three episodes of Sherlock, same Sherlock (quirky, brilliant, emotionally reserved), same Dr. Watson (trusty side kick), new time period.  I love mystery, the BBC, and Sherlock so this was an obvious must see for me!