Detoxing...

I have been reading this book called Tao for Fertility and it talks about detoxing my body of all the crap thats in it to allow my body to take in new, healthy foods and a new way of life. So after an expensive trip to Whole Foods, I am detoxing this week (attempting to at least). Eating all whole grains, drinking only herb teas (and the occasional Diet Dr.Pepper shhhh) and stretching more... I can honestly say I am feeling ALOT better already. I have more energy and have a different feeling inside. Something to be said about eating healthy.

I went to the Dr. on Tuesday to only be told "you are not going to get pregnant in the next three months so just forget about it". I semi-cussed at the doctor under my breath but then after a few tears were shed she explained that I will need medical help to get pregnant and I will not be able to get the medical help until they can figure out whats going on with my hormone levels. No answers... more tests... and passed onto another doctor. I know we will get pregnant but it might take all our money trying and we will probably pop out like 5 at one time.

I wonder if TLC needs a new reality show.....

what sucks to is that I see all of these mothers come into my office that have like 6 kids and are pregnant with a 7th and they make $8.00/hr and are trying to get government assistance... Thats when I used to get a little bitter. I don't know if they realize what a blessing their children are.

Year End Deadlines...

At work it always seems like the end of the year is what we call "crunch time". We meet about two months out reanalyze all the goals we set for the year and then half arse throw everything together so we can call it completed. On one hand, I think this is great because we can cross it off the list before we get a new set of goals thrown at us. On the other hand, we probably should have spaced all the projects out when we got them- rather then wait until year end. Either way... it becomes a stressful time of year.

On the same lines... I made some personal goals in 2009. Some of them I accomplished and some I did not. The Hubbs and I sat down after scripture study a couple weeks ago and wrote out our goals for 2010- HIS, HERS, and OURS. (I felt like I was back at my missionary days when you would do weekly goal setting-- great concept and not sure why I did not stick with that... add that to my goal list).

One of my goals for 2009 was to make a quilt. That goal got put on the 2010 list but under "finish the quilt". Instead, I decided over the last couple days to apply "crunch time". I finished it and love it. I am a "QUILTER" now. Hooked.

Its not perfect by anymeans... definitly not as great as some of the amazing woman I have blog searched like http://www.crazymomquilts.blogspot.com/ but I am getting there. Just a little more practice.

I loved this backing fabric- I got it at JoAnns ON SALE... its little Dragonflies (I love Dragonflies- in case you did not know)

Domestic Gifts for a semi Domestic Brooke

I think I am spoiled... actually I am. I got everything that I wanted this year for Christmas (except boots with the fur... aka Uggs- but I am still working on that one). This year I got mostly domestic gifts which is what I wanted plus alot of quality time with the Hubbs and family. Love it.

I wanted a sewing maching and picked out this really expensive one... when I came to my senses and realized that I really don't even know how to sew... I decided on this one from Costco

Mom and Dad got me (and the Hubbs) this fancy mixer. I love baking and wanted a nice mixer. This thing is amazing. I highly recommend it.

Every Sunday the Hubbs heres me curse at the Iron... not a great way to start a Sabbath day so he got me this iron. Very much needed. Funny thing... I got him a new ironing board (like he really wanted that).

I also got this external flash for the camera... love it. Haven't mastered it yet but definitly changes up the pictures.

The Hubbs and I got money from his side of the family and used it to buy this pressure canner. We went to the Stake Preparedness fair earlier this year and got motivated to can foods for our food storage.

Its funny when you get older and already have so many things... like I would ever imagine me asking for a pressure canner or a mixer for Christmas- but I am so happy and blessed.

... we also did something different this year with my family. We exchanged gifts but they had to be "AS SEEN ON TV" items... it was quite fun and comical. I got the perfect brownie- Dad got the Sham-Wow, Mom got some fuzz killer thing, Blake Pasta Prado, and Bri got some Dryer ball things. For the extended family we exchanged White Elephant gifts which was fun as well. Look what I got from my cousin Tazia...

It was her favorite stuffed animal she slept with for years... she told her mom "its time someone else loves Cotton Candy (the cats name). Love it.

As you know I have been attempting to make a baby for a while now. All the mattress mambo techniques are not really working for me. For some reason my husbands baby batter is not making a bun in my oven (wow that was alot of cooking lingo in one sentence). I have had the doctors poke and prod on me and I have another appt next week with the hormone doc. I have been frustrated, and sad, and angry, and bitter, and hormonal. I need to just relax.... so alas I am going to come to terms with my inner chi.

A friend of mine recommended The Tao for Fertility which is a book written by a Chinese doctor. The Western medicine technique is to take lots of hormone pills and whatnot- Eastern medicine teaches to meditate, eat healthy, herbs, acupunture all of those things. Heck its cheaper then the western way and I figure it can't hurt to try.

So in the new year, The Hubbs and I are going to go and get him tested to make sure his swimmers are swimming and if everything tests out okay, I think I am going to apply some of these Chinese ideas. I need some balance, some harmony, some positive energy, some chi. I have found that this baby making (or lack of) has caused me to be negative about my work and everything else around me.

so we shall see... I will know more after the new year. 2010 will be a great year.

Love the Fam....

I love my family. We are small in numbers but we still have fun and I know that I can turn to my parents and brother at any time for anything. This Christmas is fun because Blake has his own house and The Hubbs and I moved closer to my parents and brother. We all now live within 5 miles of each other. Yesterday my mom wanted to start a new tradition. We had appetizers at Blakes house, the Sunday meal at their house, then dessert and games at our house. It was alot of fun.

Blake bought a house a couple months ago... its super nice.

Mom and Dad at their house...

Me and the Hubbs wishing all a MERRY CHRISTMAS

Safety

I was thinking the other day about getting a gun (don't tell my mother and mom if your reading this... forget I said that).

Monday morning around 5:00 AM (which is exactly 65 minutes before my alarm clock) I was awoken by Sampson (my rottie) barking. It was not the soft, sweet "I'm hungry" bark but the serious, deep "somethings going on" bark. Then we heard gun shots. Now don't get scared- they were not in our backyard or in our house but definitly near by. So close that the Hubbs made me lay on the floor in fear of flying bullets. We heard a total of 15 shots then, there were sirens, and then 4 more shots and then nothing.

I have not seen anything in the paper or on the news about the gun shots- I am not sure what happened but what I do know is some crazy person was shooting their gun ALOT at 5:00 in the morning (not a fun way to start the MONDAY MORNING).

So then I was thinking- I have this false sense of security. Besides my super macho husband and my diamond eating cocker spaniel (who bites), what kind of protection do we have in our house. Yes we lock the doors but that doesn't mean anything. If someone wanted to break in, they could. Yes the dogs would alert us but what if... (I may watch to much SVU).

So here comes my dilemma- how do we protect ourselves? The Hubbs wants us to get PepperSpray. I suggested a gun but he was not so thrilled with the idea... probably because I can't even walk straight so my gunshots are probably doomed. Plus you hear about gun accidents and whatnot. My parents never had a gun (that I know of) and I do not know why I feel the need for protection but I was scared the other day. For the first time, I walked to my car a little fearful. At any time something could happen.

The church teaches us to prepare for bad days- we do food storage to prepare for disasters or economic problems. We save money to prepare for the future. But what do we do to prepare for someone breaking into our house or hijacking our car. What do we do to make our false sense of safety not false??

Update on the ring....

If you read my post regarding my dog getting hungry, eating me ring, swallowing my diamond, finding my diamond in her poo, and that whole fiascal then I have an update for you. If you did not read that post... go read it. Its quite a humorous "that only happens on TV" types of story.

Anyways- so I came home from work yesterday and was all excited to take my super clean and sanitized diamond and the teeth marked setting back to Jared's (ahhhh he went to Jareds) and get an estimate on the fixing of the ring and turn it into my insurance and have the ring fixed in 5-7 days. Or so I thought.

I came home, got the diamond and was looking at it when I noticed that there was a chip missing from the side of the diamond. What?? Diamonds don't break. Flip... this dog has a super jaw and crazy teeth if she can break a diamond.

The Hubbs was pissed, I was laughing because seriously?!... can anything else go wrong in this mess. Damn Dog.

The nice Assistant General Manager at Jareds was soooo nice. He said "at least you have the diamond". So Jareds has a "lifetime guarentee on all diamonds" and as long as you get it inspected every 6 months, they will replace and fix rings and whatnot. He said they could shave down and recut MY diamond but it would be significantly smaller or they could just send it out and get me a new one at the same cut and clarity. BUT it will take 10-12 weeks before I have my ring back. UGHHHH! So all in all... I guess it turned out okay. I did not need to use my insurance, I do have the diamond back, and its gonna get fixed by the nice people at Jareds.

What have I learned from this whole ordeal... this is a ring- yes it was expensive, yes I loved it, yes it was a nice gift from my husband to let me know he wanted to marry me but its just a ring. We are healthy (sorta), we have a home (sorta), we have great families, we have each other, we have jobs, we are blessed. It's just a ring....

and in 10-12 weeks will be back on my finger. (hehe).

Some more photography practice...

Just another day.... whatever

This was a very INTERESTING day... I have been knitting alot lately and well its difficult to knit with my wedding rings on (rings = my band and my engagement ring). I took them off and placed them next to the couch on a little table. I woke up this morning a little sluggish and as I was leaving for work, I went to the little table only to find that my diamond ring was missing. I thought the Hubbs moved the ring because he thought it might fall into the couch or something along those lines so I checked with the Hubbs and he said he didn't move it but that he woke up in the middle of the night because our dog Bailey was chewing on something hard. I thought to myself "no way would the dog eat my wedding ring" but sure enough we found the ring outside with little teeth marks all over it and the prongs bent back... WITH NO DIAMOND!!

The Hubbs was convinced that she either ATE IT or it fell out of the ring as Bailey carried it around the house. Seriously?!?


I made an appt with the vet to do an xray to see if the diamond was inside her- the diamond was 1.5 carats so we thought it would be able to be seen on an xray but the vet said he saw nothing. We locked Bailey up in the bathroom for the day until after we got off work and then searched the house high and low on the "Great Diamond Search". I called the insurance and luckily I took out a seperate policy on the ring since it was worth quite a bit of money. Insurance said they would cover for lost diamonds (thank goodness) and the agent couldn't help but laugh when I told him that we thought the dog may have eaten it.

So to spare you all the gross details... my ring was found and it WAS eaten by Bailey. Now most items I would not be willing to search poo over but this WAS my diamond and it WAS worth close to $10,000 so pretty much her poo became the prized item of the day.

Here is my diamond all nice, clean, and SANITIZED

And here is the "Great Diamond Thief"

She's a brutal Cocker Spanial

just a little rant...

I am trying to be positive I swear... I am trying to not get discouraged... trying to not count the days... trying to smile, stay busy, not think about it, enjoy the moments BUT its so difficult. Throughout the day I am faced with the reminder that I am not pregnant and probably won't get pregnant anytime in the near future. I went to my doctor- he said that I have high testosterone (uhhhh my response... "like a boy testosterone- have no fear- I am not a boy). So then I get referred to a specialist. Well when I called to book my appt today- she says "we aren't seeing anyone until Feb" my response... "are you flippin kidding me?" so... after some pouting and kicking and screaming (its the testosterone that does that) I got myself another appointment with a different doctor for the end of December.

When I got married I thought it would be this like super easy thing to get pregnant. I imagined getting "knocked up" on my wedding night and popping out babies left and right. After one month, then two, then 5, then 12, lots of prego tests, lots of ovulation sticks- I am left with lots of heartache and frustration and still no baby. Guess my plan and idea was different then Heavenly Fathers and I am here with no baby and alot of frustration. The Hubbs is amazing at keeping me calm, reminding me of my blessings, not letting me get depressed but then I see all of my friends (total 14 friends are prego right now) with their glow and their excitement and I want that. I know I should not be that way but maybe just maybe a special stork will bring me a baby for Christmas. I know it will work its way out... it may cost us alot of money and maybe we will pop out like 6 at one time but it will happen. My dad said we won't be Jon and Kate plus 8- but instead will be Brooke and Brian are Broke!!

Busy Bee

I have been attempting to keep myself overly occupied lately. Every night I come home and have some sort of project I want to work on. I feel very blessed that I have a husband that allows me to explore my creativity and change my "passion" each week to something new. I am currently knitting a scarf (I L.O.V.E. knitting now that I have figured out how to do it right handed.... I am left handed in case you did not know)- I also made some super cute non-super saturday crafts because my ward did not have one this year. I have been borrowing my friends children to practice my photography on because I have no children of my own. Its just been busy busy and I know its gonna get even busier as it gets closer to Christmas.

Here are some photos of my friends children that I have borrowed...

This is Carson.... super CUTE

I borrowed another friends children as well and will post there pics once I finish editing. Fun times.

In other notes... I have appts with the specialist this next week to find out what the heck is going on with my body and why I can't seem to get prego. Fingers crossed and say some prayers we can figure things out.

Vinyl Word Tile

I have been given the task of teaching Relief Society (womans organization in the church) and my lesson is on service. As I was wondering around the LDS bookstore, I saw this awesome quote made with vinyl on a tile. I inspected it for a couple minutes, then thought.... I can make that.

If I would have known at the time that it was going to be so much work, I would have spent the $30 on the one at the store but I have a cricut for a reason.

You will need to purchase from vinyl sheets and vinyl transfer tape. You take the sticky part of the transfer tape off and assemble the letters on the grid side. Cut out all of the letters using the Cricut... now this would be totally fine if the letters were large but when you do a quote- the letters are small. So it was a pain in the butt getting the letter to cut right and then not losing parts of the "i".... ughhh.

Next you assemble the letters onto the vinyl transfer tape. This part is a pain in the butt too because you have to get the spacing JUST RIGHT and it takes a lot of little adjustments. Because the vinyl still has its baking on it, you can move the letters around freely.

You then put the sticky side of the transfer tape on and rub it with your fingers or a paint scraper or ruler or spatula or something that will get all the air bubbles out--- you get the idea.

Then you peel the tranfer tape off and take off all of the back of the vinyl letters... you will have to be careful here.

Now you stick the transfer tape with the vinyl letters on it onto the tile you have picked. I got the 12x12 size tile because it is easy to measure it out with the cricut. Line the transfer tape up really well and make sure all of the air bubbles are out. Again use the scraper or ruler or whatever to make sure the letters are stuck on well. Then pull off the transfer tape and the letters will be stuck to tile.

I spent $20 on the supplies and it took me 2.5 hours to make this tile. I think it turned out well. I definitly think using the vinyl to make tiles as gifts would be a great idea for the holidays especially because they can be personalized.

The-Women-in-Our-Lives

Just a little Spiritual Juice... Love this


The-Women-in-Our-Lives

ME

When I first started blogging (ohhh like a couple weeks ago), I wanted to mimick all of these amazing women that I see in all of the blogs that I stalk... I have come to realize through this experience that I don't need to mimick anyone because I am amazing just being myself. I may not be perfect... I may not comb my hair everyday... I may not be the friendliest person all the time, but I am ME and I am happy that way. I am grateful for my life, I am grateful for my husband who loves me just the way I am (and laughs that I change hobbies all the time), I am grateful for a Heavenly Father who allows us to grow and make choices and forgives us when we make bad ones. Even though I desperately want babies right now, I am grateful that I have this time with the Hubbs (just us) to be together, experience each other, and grow together before we bring mini-me's into the world (which I hope its only like ONE mini-me and more mini-hims because too many mini-me's would be REALLY HARD). So I am still going to document some neat things I try and make but moreso going to document about how cool I think I am (just kidding).

p.s. KNITTING SUCKS... I don't think my mind allows me to process it. I have taken apart the same dang dishcloth five times because I screwed up knitting- plus being left handed makes it difficult because I can't just mirror the you tube videos. UGH.

Busy Busy Busy....

I am feeling like I have not been domestic in weeks although I have made a batch of cookies every weekend and am attempting some new crafts recently. I cannot post pics yet because they are in their starting phases but will keep you informed when they are done.

The Hubbs has taken on the task of being my personal trainer. I have had bouts of gym attendance in the past but never really stuck with it. Which is not a surprise to those who know me and those who don't- I am kinda flighty in my ideas... which is a whole nother post in itself. Anyhows, this gym gig sucks. I am sore, can't bend over, can't lift my arms up, my back hurts, and seriously me belly is not getting any smaller. Why can't there be this magical place that you can go in and walk out 20 pounds lighter with no muffin top (oh wait... is that lypo). Anyways- I have been commited to exercising more. I have been having a wee little problem getting pregnant (another post in itself) and think I need to be just a little healthier and maybe my body will allow me to carry a child- and just for the record... my last friend that was my crutch of infertility is now pregnant. I am so happy for her but still have this inner being telling me to be angry, sad, disappointed, bitter, and all of those other feelings. I put on some Joshua Radin- "Brand New Day"... its a great song that gets you up and going on the days that inner being is overpowering.

It's a Brand New Day, the Sun is shining, Its a Brand New Day. And for the first time, in a long time, I know I'll be okay.

Sumptin Pumpkin....

I mentioned this before that The Hubbs loves pumpkin items. I have ventured this season to make two kinds of pumpkin bread, pumpkin pancakes, and now I have made the super yummy Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies as seen www.designmom.com (by the way if you have never popped over to see her fabulous blog... go check it out). When I asked The Hubbs what he wanted me to bake- it was no surprise when he said "sumptin pumpkin".

Try these out---

Old-Fashioned Soft Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies

2 1/2 cups flour

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp baking powder

1 tsp cinnamon

1/2 tsp nutmeg

1/2 tsp salt

1 1/2 cups sugar

1/2 cup butter (1 stick) softened

1 cup 100% pumpkin (you can find cans of this in the pie-filling section of the grocery store)

1 egg

1 tsp vanillaGlaze (see below)

Optional: 1/2 cup chocolate chips or nuts.

Preheat oven to 350. Grease baking sheets.Combine flour, baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon, nutmeg and salt and set aside. Beat sugar and butter in large bowl until well blended. Beat in pumpkin, egg and vanilla extract until smooth. Gradually beat in flour mixture. Drop by rounded tablespoon onto prepared baking sheets.Bake for 15 to 18 minutes or until edges are firm. Cool on baking sheets for 2 minutes; remove to wire racks to cool completely. Drizzle glaze over cookies.

For Glaze:Combine 2 cups powdered sugar, 3 tablespoons milk, 1 tablespoon melted butter and 1 tsp vanilla in small bowl until smooth.

***HINT FROM THE BAKER BROOKE*** These cookies taste soooo much better after being completely cooled off. They "get happy" when they sit overnight and are completely cooled down.

Sidenote: I am pretty excited about moving onto other food sources then pumpkin- you'd think I would have learned how to make a pumpkin pie yet but I haven't.... maybe next week

One Year....

I can hardly believe that its been a year since The Hubbs and I got married. This has been such an awesome anniversary. Friday I took off work to go buy a cute little dress... its hard to buy cute dresses when everything in the store is not very modest. I did find a cute black dress that I was able to wear a little sweater with. I bought some SEXY black high heels that made my legs look super hot... (well I thought so) and then I spoiled myself with some new jewelry and a manicure and pedicure. Can't have super sexy high heals with a poor manicure. Bri took me to a fancy restaurant and we ate the MOST EXPENSIVE MEAL I have ever eaten but it was SOOOOOO yummy. Bri said it was a special occasion so we can splurge on a fancy meal. Today is our actual anniversary and we have skipped out on church (forgive me) and spent the whole day hangin out in our backyard playing boche ball, chess, enjoying yummy beverages and food, and just enjoying each other as we speak we have food on the grill and have hooked up the TV outside so we can enjoy this wonderful weather and watch the Cardinals play Sunday Night Football. I LOVE MY HUSBAND SO MUCH... I am so grateful for him and and feel SO BLESSED TO HAVE HIM. This year was amazing and I look so forward to so many more.

Talking in Church

So why is it that speaking in church is like a love/hate feeling.... I mean there are some amazing women who stand up at the pulpit and give this heartfelt, super spiritual, inspired, divine message from the heavens.

And then there is me.

I have to give a talk in church this Sunday and well needless to say.... I am not really thrilled with the idea.

I am sorta "pouting" about it.

The funny thing is that I love to teach- but its a new ward so I am not sure if they will have love for the Brookism's

I guess this is a good reason to buy a new dress.... hmmmm

Gardening... sorta

SO I have not been my "semi-domestic" self because I have been so busy farming on my stupid Farmville on Facebook. Who created such a thing??? AGHHHH! Now if gardening and farming was just as easy as it is in the stupid game.

BUT... if you want a fun thrill go to Farmville on Facebook and become a farmer- You will get A.D.D.I.C.T.E.D I promise.

My Hubbys Birthday

It was my wonderful husbands birthday yesterday (I won't tell you how old he is but will let you know he will be the big 40 pretty soon)... Love him. We have this problem in our family... I can't keep a secret for anything and my money is his money and his money is mine. SOOOO with that said, I can't really buy him anything because I would tell him before and after I bought it AND everything he likes or wants is well over a couple HUNDRED dollars. SO I let him pick out what he wants. Last year, I got him some nice seats to Metallica... this year he bought some BOSE Speakers for his recording studio. He says they sounds great. Anyways- this post isn't all about his birthday... its more about the AMAZING CAKE I made for him. He requested a TURTLE CAKE (and not like Teenage Mutant).

I consulted with my good friend Betty.... Crocker.... and got a great recipe for TURTLE CAKE.

YUMMY YUMMY

1 box of Betty Crocker SuperMoist Devils Food Cake Mix

1 1/3 cups of water

1/2 cup of Veg Oil

3 eggs

1 bag (14 oz) caramels

1/2 cup evaporated milk

1 cup of chopped pecans

1 bg. (6 oz) semisweet chocolate chips (1 cup)

-- heat oven at 350 degrees F. Grease or spray bottom of 13x9 inch pan. In large bowl, beat cake mix, water, oil, and eggs with electric mixer on low speed 30 seconds, then on medium speed 2 minutes, scraping bowl occasionally. Pour half of the batter into pan. Bake 22 minutes. Refridgerate remaining batter.

--meanwhile, in 1-qt saucepan, heat caramels and evaporated milk over medium heat, stirring frequently, until caramels are melted. Stir in pecans. Pour caramel mixture over warm cake in pan. Sprinkle with chocolate chips. Spread with remaining batter. Bake 25 minutes or until cake springs back when lightly touched. Run knife around sides of pan to loosen cake. Cool at least 30 minutes. Serve with ice cream, drizzle with caramel topping and sprinkle with pecans.

YUMMY YUMMY... Enjoy

COOKIES...

I am one of those people that love the quick and easy pre-made cookie dough from the grocery store. Its simple, its quick and honestly... it tastes yummy. I decided to make some cookies FROM SCRATCH... you heard me right ladies-- from scratch AND they turned out super

fab.u.licious

so I would like to share this wonderful recipe with the world (well really for the 2 people that read my blog)...

Oatmeal White Chocolate Cranberry Cookies

1 1/2 Cups of all-purpose flour

1 tsp. baking soda

1/2 tsp. salt

1 tsp. ground cinnamon

1 cups (2 sticks) butter or margarine softened

3/4 cup of granulated sugar

3/4 cup of packed brown sugar

2 large eggs

1 tsp. vanilla extract

3 cups of quick oats

1 cup of white chocolate chips

1 1/2 cups of dried cranberries

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Combine flour, baking soda, salt and cinnamon in a small bowl. Beat butter, sugar, brown sugar, eggs, vanilla in large bowl. Gradually add the flour mixture to the creamed mixture. Stir in oats, cranberries, and white chocolate chips. Drop by rounded tablespoon onto the ungreased baking sheets.

Bake for 10-12 minutes. Cool on baking sheets for 1/2 minutes and then cool on wire racks.

The Dirty Laundry

Really where did that phrase come from... getting the "dirty laundry" on someone. I hate dirty laundry (but I love gossip so I am not sure there). So my point of this blog is HOW IN THE HECK DO I CONTROL THE DIRTY LAUNDRY IN THE HOUSE. The Husband and I are TWO people. We should not create this much dirty laundry. My Wednesday night activity this week... a real DOMESTIC THING... sort through this mess.

.

So whats the secret?? My boss told me that I should do laundry every night (doesn't that sound like fun?). Exactly what I want to do-come home from work and fold clothes. When I was dating The Husband, I was impressed by his ability to do laundry every night. Somewhere in the vows I think he said, "with this marriage, I will not do laundry anymore". He will totally help me if I ask, but he doesn't jump for joy with the thought of sorting, cleaning and folding clothes. Also, Whats the key to fresh smelling clothes all day long. I love Downey and dryer sheets BUT still the smell only lasts like the first hour. So help me out here. If you have any tips on doing laundry, organizing laundry, and making clothes smell super fresh all day-- PLEASE LET ME KNOW.

Thrift store finds

I

L.O.V.E

to go thrift store shopping. I love buying things second hand, cheaper prices, pre-shrunk, and just super exciting when you find a good buy. Some of the amazing bloggers out there always post their awesome finds. http://www.dearcjane.blogspot.com/ Cjane and her lovely sister NieNie always find these amazing dresses, skirts, and super cute vintage wear from thrift stores. So likewise... I was on pursuit to find me some goodies- not the typical Brooke things I look for either- I wanted something unique. So here are a couple of my goodies from my Saturday Trip

Now the weather just needs to start feeling like FALL rather then late SUMMER- its still in the 100's here in Phoenix. I may get to wear these super cute coats in December. They both were only $10.00 each. YEAH YEAH

Ahhh the smell of Pumpkin

My husband LOVES pumpkin bread. So to celebrate the first day of Fall, I made him some pumpkin bread and boy was it yummy. Here's the recipe for everyone to try... I PROMISE its YUMMY.

1 (15 ounce) can pumpkin puree
4 eggs
1 cup vegetable oil
2/3 cup water
3 cups white sugar
3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
1/4 teaspoon ground ginger

And the special ingredient is a touch of love.


DIRECTIONS
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease and flour three 7x3 inch loaf pans.
In a large bowl, mix together pumpkin puree, eggs, oil, water and sugar until well blended. In a separate bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves and ginger. Stir the dry ingredients into the pumpkin mixture until just blended. Pour into the prepared pans.
Bake for about 50 minutes in the preheated oven. Loaves are done when toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.

This recipe will make 2 regular size loafs or 8 mini loafs (I like the mini loafs so I can give them out).

*** for a sweeter tasting bread- use Pumpkin Pie Filling instead of Pumpkin Puree. The Husband preferred the sweeter one***

Grandma's

What is it that makes Grandma's so special?? Is it the fact that they always are smiling? Or that they always have homes that smell so pleasant... like cookies, flowers, or that perfume smell that always takes you back to your childhood? Is it that they are your biggest cheerleader? Your greatest fan? Or your shoulder to cry on when everything seems to go wrong? I have been SO BLESSED with amazing grandmothers. They both are so similar and so different. These two women were both Mid-West Farmers Daughters. They were beautiful, smart, talented and I have been blessed to know both of them and still today try to emulate their qualities.

Sadly, my "Grandma" passed away a couple months ago. I miss her. I miss her laugh, her smile, her stories, her cooking, her greeting of "well there's my Brookie", her big hugs, her love. She had faith like no other, loved EVERYONE that she met- she considered everyone her "friend". She remembered birthdays, anniversarys, holidays, and you always got a card for each event in your life. She was always there to tell you that she loved you.

My "Mema" lives in Missouri and unfortuantly because of the distance, I am not able to see her often. She is such an amazing, talented woman. She cooks, she bakes, she cross-stitches, she quilts, she reads her Bible daily, she gardens, she has beautiful flowers, she is awesome.

With marriage, I have adopted a new "Grandma". The Husband's grandpa passed away last week and with that, we have committed to spending more time with Grandma. We went over tonight and made her dinner and hung out. She as well is such and amazing woman and I have loved (and will continue to love) getting to know her. She gives those same hugs that my grandmas do, she smiles all the time even after losing her husband of 61 years, she laughs at your jokes, she raised 4 girls (and anyone that can do that deserves a pat on the back).

Grandma's are special people. Is it experience or maturity that makes them the way they are or is it just in the Grandma handbook??

Update on the Crafice

LOVE THE PEG BOARD... its kinda big but I plan on filling it with lots of craft supplies- The Husband has banned me from the craft store from a while though (hehe)

Yeah.... its clean and organized and I LOVE IT!!!

I decided that this blog keeps me focused on my "projects". Even if no one reads this thing, at least I stay focused to I can report back progress. So I offically am crossing The Crafice off the list.