Caramel and Chocolate Pretzel Sticks

These are sooo delicious, and super cute to.  My neighbor Veronica and I got together and made Caramel Chocolate Pretzel Sticks.  It was great girl time and I LOVE how they turned out.

Don't they look awesome....we doubled it and made a tons but you really need extra hands if you want to double it.  This is a fun recipie to make with a friend or with your family.
Here's the recipie:

Caramel and Chocolate Pretzel Sticks

Ingredients

• 2 cups sugar
• 1 cup light corn syrup
• 1 cup butter, cubed
• 1 can (14 ounces) sweetened condensed milk
• 1 package (10 ounces) pretzel rods
• 6 to 12 ounces white candy coating
• 6 to 12 ounces milk chocolate candy coating

Directions

• In a large heavy saucepan, combine the sugar, corn syrup and butter. Bring just to a boil over medium heat, stirring constantly. Continue boiling, without stirring, at a moderate-steady rate for 4 minutes. Remove from the heat; stir in milk. Return to the heat. Reduce to medium-low; cook and stir until a candy thermometer reads 245° (firm-ball stage). Keep warm.
• Pour 2 cups caramel mixture into a 2-cup glass measuring cup. Quickly dip each pretzel halfway into caramel. Allow excess to drip off. Place on well-buttered baking sheets; let stand until hardened. (DONT put on waxed paper....I learned the hard way.... parchement works perfectly.)
• In a microwave, melt white candy coating; stir until smooth. Dip the caramel-coated pretzels into coating. Drizzle with milk chocolate coating.  Makes about 2-1/2 dozen.

 We mixed up the chocolate colors a little for Valentines Day and added sprinkles.  We also rolled some in pecans...I want to try some other toppoing next time to, all sorts of crushed candy bars, nuts and sprinkles would be cute...and GOOD!

 I found it easiest to line the pretzels up with the dipped ends together before drizzling the chocolate.  I drizzled the red and then white and added the sprinkles before the white chocolate cooled.  It was pefect, just enough sprinkled stuck, but not to many.

and my recipie card....

Valentines Boxes

Super Simple Valentines Boxes.

My girls each needed special boxes for collecting their Valentines in class at School.  I had big plans for theses cute boxes I picked up at Target for $1 each. . . . .  and here's the BUT. . . . . this week didn't exactly go as planned.  I had 4 kids home sick ALL week.  So ya, big plans didn't happen, oh well.  Can't say I'm sorry though, because we loved how they turned out.  Simple is good.

 I quickly cut their names from red vinal I had on hand with my Cricut, then I found a few cute embelishments in my scrapbooking stash and let the girls glue conversation hearts all over their boxes . . . . .which is a good use for conversation hearts at my house because even with 5 kids NO ONE likes them.  I think from start to finish it took about 15 minutes to make the boxes and all the girls really needed to do was stick on the hearts.  Perfect since they still felt lousy and it was about as long as they were going to last.

Upgraded Digital Photo Frame

I finally got around to updating my digital photo frame.  Why did I wait so long?  It only took about 10 minutes to do.

 I purchased this frame 50% of at Hobby Lobby.  It was around $6.00 and I love the hint of red stain that peeks through where it is distressed.  

First I tore the backing off and hot glued the glass into the frame so it wont move around.  I thought about removing it completely but my digital frame wont fit snugly up against the frame because of the routing and I didn't want dust to settle in the gap.  

Then I cleaned the glass and Digital Frame really good...something I should have done before I took the picture ;-)  As you can see this frame is kinda chintzy and needed a little something to spruce it up. 

 And walla....

I really love the way it turned out!

Rats Tails

I have my sister Sierra to thank for these babies.  She made them for a family get together years ago and I was sold.  They are awesome, always a hit and I make them every chance I get.  I took them to Jenns Super Bowl Party.  The recipie:

Rats Tails

12 small Jalapenos

8 oz Cream Cheese
1 package Thick Sliced Bacon

Wear rubber gloves.  Cut stem off Jalepenos and slice lenghwise, scrape out Jalepenos (get all the seeds out.)  Fill each Jalepeno half with cream cheese.  Cut Bacon in half and wrap 1/2 piece bacon around each Jalepeno, secure with a toothpick.  Grill on BBQ grill lined with foil or bake in oven at 350 in a foil or foil lined pan.  Cook until bacon is done.

Don't skip the gloves, Jalepenos don't wash off your hands well and hours later you'll wish you had.  I scrape them out with a spoon and then rinse the seeds off and pat them dry with a paper towel.

Then it's time to assemble.  It's pretty simple.  I love to BBQ them when it's warm out, but since it's freezing outside I opted to pu them in a foil pan to cook in the oven. 

I got them ready, covered and refrigerated them Saturday night so they would be ready to pop into the oven Sunday afternoon....it took about an hour at 350 to cook.  I always pour the bacon grease off and sit them on paper towels when they're done.  Because I was in such a hurry on Sunday I forgot to take a DONE photo, so I snagged this one I found online.  And here's the recipie card.

Tame it or Toss it: Fabric

I have been meaning to go through my fabric for quite some time now (like years.)  It is embarrassing how much I have collected and how much of it was really just garbage.  I used to have craft booths at a couple of different boutiques and used scraps all the time for sticheries and crafts that just needed a little piece or this or that.  So I had quite the collection.  Since I haven't had a booth since my twins were born and have decided no to get back into it, it's time to purge.  

So here it is, dust and all.  I had my fabric in the 7 plastic drawers shown below as well as a big blue tote.  

 I threw away anything that wasn't usable, I didn't love or would never use again.  I filled a whole kitchen garbage sack of stuff to toss and a smaller sack of stuff to donate.  Why am I holding on to two whole bags of stuff I don't even want?

 These, I love.  I folded the usable pieces that still loved into stacks by color and tied them up with Jute.  Some pieces are fat quarters, some are close to a yard and a few are quite small.  I also kept a collection of Christmas pieces I am saving to make a quilt and the two stacks on the right, florals and the really bright ones, for my daughter Kenzie who has been begging my to learn how to sew.  They will make some cute, simple little projects to get her started.

 All of my little stacks fit into one of my drawers.  I used the other drawers for the larger cuts of fabric and labeled them for quick access.  Sadly I will always be in the middle of unfinished projects, so I might as well have a drawer for it.  Right now there is a bed skirt and pillow shams I was working on to cover an ugly metal bed frame in my little girls room, but  in the process we found an awesome bunk bed with trundle for $40.00 that I repainted and replaced their old metal bunk bed with.  So for now I have no need for the Shams and Skirt and I am in search of a new idea to use the fabric for.  I may just end up making a small quilt to hang or a ragged rug for in front of their bed...who knows?

 So that's it....all condensed to four drawers and three small totes that weren't being used.  The totes on the right aren't labeled yet...I need to grab more vinyl, but they'll say Tulle, Felt and Yarn.

and.....I now have an empty set of drawers for my little girls room.  I added their names and am going to let them fill it with their special toys or other items that they don't want just mixed into the other toy buckets.  I also have this extra blue tote now.  Not sure what I'll be filling it with yet, but they are always handy.

Black Licorice Caramels

 I love, love, love Black Licorice Caramel!  A friend treated me to some a few years ago and every once in a while I will treat myself to the 3 for $1.00  pieces when I run accross them.  So it occured to me that I could make it, DUH.... and for a fraction of the price.... and I get to eat the WHOLE pan...yummm!! 

I found this recipie on KSL.com and Jenn and I gave it a try.  It turned out perfectly.  (and we split it...so really I didn't eat the whole pan....and my kids had a little, very little.)  I can't wait to make this for my mom!

oops, this photo is a little distorted, but here's the recipie......

Black Licorice Caramels

Ingredients:

1 (14 oz.) can sweetened condensed milk
2 c. granulated sugar
1 c. butter (no substitutes)
1/4 tsp. salt
1 1/2 c. light corn syrup
1 tsp. anise (licorice) extract
black paste food coloringMethod:

Grease 9"x13" pan with butter. Combine first five ingredients in heavy saucepan. Cook over medium heat stirring constantly until mixture reaches 234 degrees on candy thermometer. (This will take 15-20 minutes.) Mixture will turn from pale yellow to golden brown. Stir in anise extract and enough black food coloring to make caramel dark black. Pour mixture in buttered pan and let cool. Cut into small squares and wrap each piece in waxed paper.

and last but not least...here's my fun recipie card.

What DID I get done today?

Ever have one of those days when you feel like you have accomplished nothing?  Thats me today.
So lets see what I did do...even if no one else can tell. 

I woke up a 7am to get the kids up for School.  Did 3 cute hair do's and put together equally as cute outfits for my little girls.....got myself pulled together......made my morning run to the JR. High to drop off Kylie....then headed to the Elementary School to volunteer.  Go figure I had to leave the Elementary a little early to go back to the JR. High and bring Kylie a notebook she had forgotten.  I stopped at my FAVE donut shop Madbrook for our usual Monday dozen and then home to start on my chores....I have a whole hour before my twins get home!  I scrubbed the bathrooms..... fed my girls..... then back to the bathrooms to spend another hour on the floor, baseboards and cabnets which really needed to be detailed....I broke out the cleaning toothbrush...I mean detailed!  I scrubbed everything and then orange oiled the cabnets...finally....why do I always wait so long, it makes such a big difference, they look amazing!
Deep Breathe.....
Off to pick up Ky from school.  When I got home I took some time to add cute scrapbook paper to my kids school work binders. A fun idea I saw on A bowl full of Lemons....one of my favorite blogs...thanks Toni!  I didn't have time to cut the vinal on my Cricut to add their names though....saving that for another day. (then I'll post pictures.)  Kenzie and Kaysn made it home and it was time for after school snacks (donuts...good thinking mom, that made it easy!)  Then we dive into homework, chores and stories about their days.  About and hour or more later...no after 5, I start dinner.  Taco soup tonight....yeah an easy one!  Switch laundry, and do a few more chores while waiting for B.  We all sit down and eat, more cleaning....  I check on my work for the night and download my files, I need to take a mental note of how big my night is going to be. 
I tell myself....okay, I can handle that.......
Then I leave the girls with B and take Kaysn to the Mall to pick out some pants....he really needs them!  I have to Brag...got two pairs of jeans at Aeropostale for $10. each!  I also bought him a more conservitive pair of jeans for $19.  and a t-shirt for $9.  (not as good of a deal but he had a gift card.)  This was our first trip to buy him clothes at an adult store.  He is a big, tough, football playing boy and just doesn't fit into kids sizes anymore.  We stopped on the way home and picked up Kylie from a friends...did I mention taking her to her friends house?  When we got home Kaysn and I did a little fitting and I pinned his pants so they can be hemmed.  He went to bed and I cleaned a little more then left my to hubby put them to bed.  I sit down and get started working.  I work an average of 5 hours a night from home...every little bit helps.  So now I'm done working and here I sit wishing I had just a few more hours in the day.  So many things I missed, so much I didn't do and wanted to. 

So there is a big, long, recap of my day.  See I did do something! 
I love my life and at the end of the day when I don't feel I am getting anywhere I need to remind myself sometimes of what I DID do....and after writing it out, it was a lot.