“All your dreams can come true if you have the courage to pursue them.” – Walt Disney

My kitchen bookshelves are full of amazing cookbooks. I love reading my cookbooks as much as I like cooking from them. I know there are wonderful websites full of recipes, but I’m still old school when it comes to cookbooks. 

One of my favorites to flip through is Hello, Cupcake!: Irresistibly Playful Creations Anyone Can Make. The photography is amazing and the cupcakes are adorable.  

Last winter I whipped up the penguin cupcakes in the book for Evan’s preschool class to go along with the penguin-theme week they had. All in all I thought they turned out pretty well for my first time attempting such cupcake artistry. I layered the serving tray with coconut and threw in a few Swedish fish to top off the display.

Of course, as I was building the cupcakes I realized the teachers probably would not appreciate the aftermath of 12 toddlers hyped up on a cupcake, donut and donut hole. 

Let’s just say there were no afternoon naps in the class that day, but the teachers didn’t hold it against me too long. I’m definitely turning to the book again for some creative treats for my kiddos’ birthdays this year. 

Hello 2011. Welcome. I can’t wait to see what you have in store for me and mine over the next 365 days. Life is always an adventure, isn’t it?

I’ve been mulling over New Year’s resolutions in my mind. I had a long list going, but then I read one of my friend’s Facebook posts that said, “Instead of trying to change myself in 2011, I am going to be myself.” I took it to heart and abandoned my burgeoning list with a renewed promise to accentuate the positive and do the best I can in all things—personal and professional.

One area, however, that I do plan to work on this year with renewed interest is this blog of mine. I’m in the midst of sprucing up my home office, and my little corner of the Internet could use some structure, too.  To help me stay on task, I’ve come up with some weekly posts I plan to do. In life find that sticking to a regular schedule keeps me on track, and I think that will hold true to the blog. So here is my plan:

Monday: Share a favorite children’s book pulled straight from my little ones’ bookshelves. This means they will be the books we read over and over (per Evan’s request) at bedtime and during the day. The tried and true books friends and relatives have turned us onto tend to be our favorites, so maybe you’ll like them, too.

Wednesday: Share a favorite book pulled from my bookshelves. Whether it is a cookbook from my kitchen cupboard, a writing book from my office bookcase or the latest novel I managed to read, I’ll let you know a little more about some of the books I love. 

Friday: Friday will also be known as Freelance Friday, and I will share some freelancing tips, info on the business side of being a sole proprietor and offer updates on my latest projects. I may also sneak in a few suggestions on how to keep little ones occupied at home when you have a deadline looming (or a sudden urge to hop on Facebook) and need to spend some time at the laptop.

That leaves Tuesdays and Thursdays up for grabs. I’d love your input. What kinds of things would you like to read about on the blog? Favorite quotes, life stories and kitchen creations are all things I’ve written about in the past. What should I continue and what should I cut? Writers always need editors and I’d love your direction as I create an editorial calendar for my blog. 

My kiddos and I whipped up some little place cards for our Thanksgiving table today, and I scanned in a couple so my mom can print them for her table, too. I just have to add some legs, beaks and waddles to these little guys and they’ll be ready to go. Each one is a custom print. 

Painting with Evan is always a messy endeavor. 

He loves to mix the paints together to see what colors they make.

Then he spreads the paint up his arms and starts reciting lines from his Spiderman movie. He is very serious about the entire process.

It makes me smile. It also makes me cringe a little since I know I’ll have an extra load of laundry to do tonight. I think it is worth it though because on Thursday when I sit these little guys on the table, I will have forgotten all about the laundry. At least that is what I’m telling myself right now as my washer and dryer hum away in the background.

If you’d like to make a cute little edible addition for your Thanksgiving table, let me recommend pumpkin Oreo pops. All you need are Double Stuff Oreos, candy melts, lollipop sticks and green Tic Tacs.

Here are the easy-peasy directions:

1. Open up your Oreos. I did a bunch at a time and ate any that broke. You may want to keep a glass of milk handy for this part of the process.

2. Insert a lollipop stick and close the babies back up. 

3. Melt your candy melts in the microwave according to the package directions. 

4. Dip the Oreo into the candy and make sure to cover the whole cookie. Lay the dipped cookie on a cookie sheet covered with parchment paper. 

5. After it sets just a little insert the green Tic Tac into the top. If you wait too long it will be too hard, but if you do it too early it will fall off. So, play around with it a bit. Don’t worry. You can eat any mistakes. 

6. Once the cookies harden all the way, place some of the melted candy in a baggie, snip the end and drizzle some candy back over the cookies. That’s it. You’re done. I think they would be cute as place cards on a Thanksgiving table. 

Oh—and, if you want to get ahead on Halloween next year, you can try making Mummy Oreo pops. I didn’t get this posted a month ago as I had planned, but since I’m a glass half full kind of gal, I prefer to think I’m just getting a jump start on Halloween 2011. 

First, head to your pantry and your craft closet. Here is what you need: food coloring (Evan’s favorite), glue, water, flour and cornstarch. 

Put a few drops of food coloring in a bowl. I told Evan to do four, we ended up with about eight. Life is all about compromise, right? Then, pour in 1/4 cup glue.

Pour in 1/4 cup water and stir it up. 

Next stir in 1/2 cup flour and 1/2 cup cornstarch. It will get pretty thick, so use some elbow grease. 

Once it gets too thick to stir, pour it onto the counter and knead it for five minutes or so. You’ll want to get all of the flour and cornstarch mixed in. Now is the fun part. 

Start shaping the dough! You can roll it out, cut it into shapes or sculpt it. The dough does dry quickly—a little too quickly for my guy’s tastes. The outer layer starts to get a little crusty, which wouldn’t be bad, but Evan was having a lot of fun just playing. I finally convinced him we should cut out some shapes. We did Miss Madelyn’s initials, since she was being so patient while we whipped up our little concoction. 

Here are a few of our masterpieces: 

Evan liked this dough, but it wasn’t nearly as popular as last week’s slime. I think this would be a lot of fun for little girls making beads for necklaces. The beads dried completely in about two hours. I expect everything else will dry overnight. I will make this again during the holidays so we can create some custom ornaments for our tree. 

The Recipe:

1/4 cup water
1/4 cup glue
4-8 drops of food coloring
1/2 cup flour
1/2 cup cornstarch

Mix water, glue and food coloring in a bowl. Stir in flour and cornstarch. Mix in bowl until thick, then turn it onto the counter and knead for five minutes. Shape into shapes and then let dry. 

My hubby’s grandma introduced me to this little salty-and-sweet treat. I had to mix up a batch for our house. The key is to get just the right ratio of peanuts and candy corn. Not only do I like the way it tastes, I also like the way it looks. These little candy corns are inspiring all kinds of baking and decorating ideas right now.  

Let’s get started. There are only three ingredients: borax, white glue and food coloring.   

Measure one cup of glue. In our house that equaled two partially used bottles of glue and one full bottle. 

Pour glue into a large bowl. Add 1 cup of water. Stir in several drops of food coloring. If you haven’t already, you’ll want to be sure to get out a few paper towels at this point. You may also start thinking twice about not putting an apron on your kid. Just keep going. That Shout Advanced you have in the laundry room will work wonders. But if you don’t have any Shout Advanced, you should probably add it to your shopping list.  

My guy went a little wild with the food coloring, which is why our hands retain a slight blue tint after playing with the final product. You may want to limit your little scientist.

In a separate bowl (or a large measuring cup) mix four teaspoons of borax with 1 cup of warm water. Guess what’s next?

Try to get your helper to pour slowly. It might be a challenge. Then, start mixing the two borax into the glue. My guy dove in with his hands. 

Once it starts to take shape, pull it out of the bowl and knead it on the counter.

Now you get to play. Let your imagination run wild. Evan loved making hand prints and declared that the slime was alien goo. 

Store your slime in an air tight container. Ta da:

Here is a quick recap of the recipe. 

Ingredients:

Solution A:
1 cup glue
1 cup water
Food coloring

Solution B:
1 cup warm water
4 teaspoons borax

In a large bowl mix Solution A. In a small bowl mix Solution B then pour it into Solution A. Mix until it starts to take shape, then pour onto counter and knead. Have fun! 
 

Here are a few new-to-me projects I’ve seen around the Internet that I’d like to try:

A camera strap cover from Tidy Mom  (and speaking of cameras, Pioneer Woman is giving away a doozey of one but you have to enter by 12:00 pacific time today) 

Hanging fabric storage bags from The Mother Huddle

–I saw a pregnant lady earlier this week and decided that I definitely want another baby. I shared this news with my hubby who assured me it is not going to happen.

–I am pretty sure I need a Silhouette cutting machine. I entered the giveaway at Blue Cricket Design. Since I am trying to increase my odds of winning, I also entered the giveaway at Twigs and Thistle. I know I am decreasing my odds by spreading the word, but that’s what friends are for.

–My friend Sarah has gathered some fun Halloween and fall decorating ideas on her blog, www.sheekshindigs.blogspot.com.

–I’ve started gathering Christmas crafting ideas. I want to make these mini gingerbread houses I saw last year on Not Marta.  I also plan to download this DIY ornament wrap from the Twig and Thistle Etsy shop.

–I love this article on the value of a sibling. It reminds me that we’ve given Evan the gift of a sister, even if the transition can be rough. 

–I have deemed Wednesday afternoons Kitchen Concoction time and have a whole slew of activities I plan to do with my little guy. I’m hoping Madelyn will enjoy watching from her Bumbo seat. Tune in on Thursday to see our first try. Send me your kid-friendly crafting and cooking ideas at mindylng (at) yahoo (dot) com.