The Chocolate Project

....as promised here.

Sweet Girlie cousins!

If you read blogs much you know that these are not original with me. In fact, I'm probably far enough behind the times that I may be at risk for boring some of you with ANOTHER cake pop post. I first saw the idea on  this blog. Yes, that says Valentines Treats, it takes me a little while to get to my ideas sometimes. Of course when I was ready to make them I couldn't remember where I had first seen them, so I collected tips from all over Google before I started. Here's how it worked out for me....

TAKE

...One 9x13 cake (yup, straight outta the box, I suppose it would be more "homemakerish" of me to make it from scratch but by the time it's all doctored up I don't think it'd be any better) baked, cooled (completely) and crumbled.

...Add Half a can of bought icing. (again, you could do the Martha Stewart thing and make you own. In fact I usually don't care for the bought stuff much but it works for me here.) Many of the blogs I read used a whole can but the first site I read said this made problems for her so I stuck with a half as per her advise.

I decided to go with chocolate overload on these but you can use any cake/icing combo you like. (I also did white cake with Betty Crocker's Strawberry Mist icing. They were cute and nice and girlie pink but there's NO substitute for CHOCOLATE!!)

....Mix Well!

....Just for fun I stirred in about a cup of mini chocolate chips. I was serious about that overload bit!! I'd love to try other goodies too, nuts, toffee chips......Mmm!

When it's mixed well, dig in, get your hands messy and start rolling into balls. I used my #60 cookie scoop for a head start. Somewhere (no idea where anymore) I found a tip that recommended dipping the stick in a bit of chocolate before inserting them into the cake balls to give them a sturdier start.

When the sticks are firmly in place and the balls are super cold. Your ready for some melted coating chocolate and ooey, gooey, messy, chocolatey, dipping fun.

I had a bit of trouble with the temperature of the cake balls. If they're not cold they turn into mush and fall off the sticks while you try to coat them. They dip beautifully when they are frozen but then I had trouble with the chocolate cracking as it got hard. So getting a happy medium "frozeness" was definitely my biggest challenge of the whole project.

Styrofoam covered in foil works great for holding them as they dry.

These are all sprinkled with nonpareils but I also did some with chocolate drizzle,

just in case they weren't quite chocolatey enough! :o)

Found this black and white crock at Goodwill for a couple of bucks and it was great for making

an arrangement for our

Mother Daughter Banquet Dessert Buffet.

Finished Product

almost too pretty to eat....ALMOST!

 

This was a super fun project but it did take MUCH longer than I thought it would. Not because it was that difficult it was just time consuming. I got about 45 pops out of each cake mix and I made 2 kinds so I guess making almost a hundred of anything isn't gonna happen in a few minutes. Next time I will start much earlier in the day. Chocolate is much more fun to play with when it's not the middle of the night!!

When the going gets tough the tough eat chocolate!! :o)

 I was asked to help plan the Mother Daughter Banquet at our church this year.

our colors. classy but fun!

Since my house is all about little boys, I jokingly told someone, "I have to agree to help plan it if I want to be invited." That of course is not true, I do have a mother and actually a daughter too

{but I thought she might be a wee bit young to enjoy it yet.}

Since I do enjoy, food and flowers and candles and pretty stuffs and chocolate and

fun times with other ladies

.....I agreed.

the food.

food prep

appetizer

 

Thank you to Esther for sharing this lovely piece with us!

the flowers.

the candles.

the pretty stuffs.

entryway welcome

table settings

the chocolate. 

favors

 I made about a hundred of these chocolate daisy pops for the tables.

chocolate cake pops

 the fun times.

"girl chats" over good food. what could be better?

we tried to include the younger girls and make sure they had some fun and went home with a prize.

topped off with....

words of wisdom and encouragement!

 and dessert!!

did someone say chocolate??

berry tarts

key lime and strawberry creme desserts

dessert buffet table (calories in all shapes and sizes :o)

 It was a lot of work but it was fun!! We had a great group of ladies working together and as with most things in life, when you work together and everyone does there part, things go smoother, the hard things are shared and it ends up being more fun!! Besides, Mothers and Daughters are truly something to celebrate!!!

Do you need anything???

While out scrounging and searching for bargains on one of my recent yard sale excursions I heard these words proclaimed across the street,

"A cricut, I really NEED a cricut!!"

(If you're not familiar with the scrapbooking world and you're imagining creepy, crawly critters here, let me explain. A cricut is a cutting machine used to produce all kinds of cool letters, shapes and embellishments for scrapbooking.) If you are a scrapbooker and you own a cricut, rest assured that I have NOTHING against them, really, I think they're awesome. I am a firm believer that we all make our own choices on what's important and where to spend our money. If you choose to spend yours differently than I do I'm okay with that. It's a good thing really, who wants to live in a "cookie cutter" world??

There is just something about that phrase that grabbed me as pathetic!! 

The world we live in is becoming more self absorbed and more selfish every day!
Have I bought into this craziness??
What is it that I "need" that sounds ridiculous?? I need a latte....I need shoes that match this outfit....I need a vacation....I need (fill in the blank....) 

How often do these words tumble out of my mouth without a second thought.....thoughts of all the things I DO have and all the people that DON'T have the things they really need to survive.

We not only have plenty to eat, we have some to play with too.

They have literally played with these for hours...much cooler than play dough, apparently. And much easier to sweep up too!

I've thought a lot about needs vs. wants over the past 2 years. It started when we sold our 4 bedroom 2200 square foot house and through an odd series of events,  moved into a 3 bedroom 1700 square foot rental.

Was it smaller.....of course.

Was it ideal......not really.

Did adding baby #5 improve the situation.....NOPE.

But do we have everything we NEED ??? 

ABSOLUTELY!!

On top of that, I have a friend who is raising/homeschooling/providing a loving home for, 11 orphan/foster children  in Haiti with only the support they have raised on there own from family and friends. And my brother and sister-in-law  in Ghana  live next door to people who do not have enough food to eat.

Perspective, Perspective, Perspective!!! 

 

Oh sure, there are still days when I compare my little 1800's house with it's mold, bugs and dirt to my friends houses that seem clean, spacious and lovely.....days when going out for dinner would be more fun and less work than cooking macaroni and cheese....days when I wish we could take our children on trips around the country.....days when being discontent sounds inviting. (just for a little while)

But on the days I choose to compare "my world" with those who don't have a roof over there heads on a rainy night....those who never knew the feeling of crawling into a soft bed after working hard all day.....those who have children who are hungry and can't do anything about it.....those who had "everything" and in a moment lost it all.

Those are the days when I realize how incredibly blessed I am.

In the end, packing a box of groceries to ship to Haiti,  supporting someone who is taking Jesus to the other side of the world, or even donating a box of extra clothes to the local goodwill....this is what life is really about!! It's what we really need, to make a difference in the world!

Am I suggesting that we all move into one bedroom apartments and eat rice every meal??
No.

Am I criticizing the people who spend money to travel or on hobbies?

No.

Am I going to feel guilty the next time I go to the grocery store when there is still food in my pantry?

No.

We are blessed! We live in American! We are children of the King who loves to give good gifts!

But I am suggesting that the next time you find yourself comparing yourself to someone else that you choose carefully who it will be. The next time you find yourself "needing" something, think about how it would sound shouted across the street. Think about what is really important to you not just today but forever!

Why Mama's are tired....

Wednesday, 11:36 p.m.  I finish my took-three-times-as-long-as-I-thought-it-would-project. (More on that later but for now let's just say it involved LOTS of chocolate) I'm exhausted but I know that leaving the mountain of sticky, gooey, chocolate-y dishes on my counter will only be an invitation for an ant buffet. Since I prefer they dine on my tasty terro traps I run hot water and tackle that pile. 11:47 p.m. dishes are done and maybe, just maybe I can pull off a shower and be in bed yet before midnight.

I quickly sweep up the ant feast on the kitchen floor and that's when a small person shows up and the bottom of the steps. "I have to go potty," he says. I send him back up and tell him to climb back in his bed when he's finished and I will tuck him in when I come up.

Upstairs the Little Miss starts to cry. My investigation on that matter reveals a dirty diaper. I already have the dirty one off when I realize I have no wipes within reach so I transfer operation dirty diaper to another room where there are wipes and lights (can't turn lights on in a room where 2 other little people are sleeping.) The lights reveal the need for diaper rash cream to complete this mission so we move one more time, this time to the downstairs, swinging through big brother's room as we pass to fulfill the tucking promise.

Downstairs I happen upon a bottle, still half full and left on the living room floor. I take it to the kitchen where the light from  the opening of the refrigerator door  reveals that apparently ants enjoy baby formula too. Still toting baby girl I go to investigate the ant situation in the carpet, not hard to spot them, there is a trail, more like an army, of them scurrying along the baseboard heater. Now I need another one of those famous terro traps.

12:03, diaper duty, CHECK, ant population endangered, CHECK, baby girl back to bed, CHECK. Ahhh, finally that shower....warm....steamy....relaxing!!! And finished just as baby girl decides it's not fun to be left alone in her bed in the dark. {tired sigh!} But how can a mama who has been busy all day resist a little snugly rocking time even at 12:17 a.m.....SLEEP, who needs it???..... maybe tomorrow night.....

Mother's Day,
............................a day when many kind words will be said about many women. Words of encouragement, words of affirmation, words of thanks, and words of love.

I am thankful today for the woman who gave birth to me and for the many things she taught me but recently over the past couple of years I have become more aware of and blessed by the women God has placed in my life who have taken time to care, to encourage, to support, to advise.....not because it is expected of them, (as it would be if I were part of their family) because they chose too.

They sacrificed time and energy to share their wisdom with me. They humbled themselves to allow me to learn from their mistakes. And they gave me hope when the journey of turning small, needy, whining, people into men of God sounds overwhelmingly difficult.

To be taught by these women is a gift I can't repay. I can only give thanks for them, pray blessings on them and determine to one day "pay it forward."

 ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

It was a wonderful day. I did not have breakfast in bed. I was not taken out for a gourmet lunch. The flowers on my table were my own grocery store purchase. But these are not the only things that can make a day special.

We were blessed to be surrounded by family and friends at church this morning as we Dedicated our sweet baby girl. Or perhaps more accurately, dedicated our feeble, faltering parenting efforts to the Lord. He can make good come of them!

We spent the afternoon picnicking in the sunshine. Since everyone pitched in with the food stuffs for lunch we ate well, and I got to enjoy the day too. I failed to calculate one little detail into my picnic plans though. This day is traditionally more about trucks than it is about mother's at our house, thanks to the annual Make A Wish convoy.

the husband's ride and joy!

 I am truly okay with this. I have no problem being honored and appreciated other days of the year and letting my husband enjoy the shiny rigs that get spiffed up and polished for his viewing pleasures. Typically, when we are involved in Baby Dedication at our church it means that he misses out on the parade though. But this year, it came to him. Yup, our rental house is right along the main highway that begins and ends the parade route. So they went right by, not once but twice. The perfect solution you would think, picnicking in the shade, enjoying tasty food and pleasant conversation while enjoying a little show from the convenience of you back yard.....OR NOT!!! I never once considered the fact that every one of those trucks, probably 200 or more of them would be blowing there horns.....not just a friendly toot, but a looonnnnngggg LOUD train whistle kind of horn blowing. It was a wee bit obnoxious and chaotic but we managed.

Us! (in real life!)

Us! after plenty of reprimanding and 100's of tries!

And at the end of the day, after little boys who have played outside all afternoon with cousins and uncles and daddy are bathed there is NO fight to get them to settle, they were asleep in seconds.
The house is quite. The mama is relaxed.

'And the evening and the morning were Mother's Day, and behold it was very Good!!"