This is my current favorite soup.  I like that my kids can make it for me with a bit of instruction and I can do as little as necessary.

Potato Leek Soup

1 Leek
2 Onions
bit o' butter

1 box Vegetable Broth

Salt & Pepper
1/2 tsp Thyme

1 cup buttermilk  (make this using one cup milk with 1 tbsp. white vinegar.)
Instant mashed potatoes or dehydrated potato flakes.

Slice the leeks and onions, saute in a pan with butter till soft.  Pour in your vegetable broth, some salt and pepper, and the thyme. Shove in that buttermilk too. Enter the stick blender if you have one, whhizzz until everything is creamed.  If you don't have one, no worries, you have a chunky soup. 
Now add a few sprinkles of the potatoes.  Keep adding until it's a consistency you like.... if you go overboard add a bit of milk or water. 

Yummo, soup in 15 min.

Now in case you think I'm the only one cheating like this... check this out...
http://www.goodhousekeeping.com/recipefinder/potato-leek-soup

Well on Thursday I got my second cast on.  I went with a Iroquois Purple!  I haven't decided how I'm going to decorate it yet, but the ideas are starting to brew, and since I'm going to have it for SEVEN WEEKS I guess I have some time to come up with a plan.

Now did you know you can get "tattoo's" for your cast?  I can't make this stuff up.... check this out.
I think I will stick with something a bit more traditional... sharpies.

Well I haven't written anything here for such a long time!!  Due to recent events you might be seeing more of me, I will try to make it as entertaining as possible.  The reason for my new found blog time?
Exhibit A:

Plaster of Pain

I know, soooo pretty.  That huge bulge in the plaster on the left would be my ankle.  In keeping with not wearing white after Labour Day (whatever!) ...
Exhibit B:

Cast yarn bombing

Maybe now nobody will notice.
Either way you are probably looking at 6 weeks of my ranting.  My apologies in advance!

Well it's the time of year when 12 legs get hoisted into the back of the pickup truck for our annual Birthday Cone Extravaganza!
Yesterday was Boda Zapha's birthday (he's the black dog on the right) and Zeke the Freak has a birthday in a few days, they are both 13 this year.  Gingivitis doesn't celebrate hers until November but it would be wrong to leave her out don't you think? This year I decided to take a video to prove that dogs are just like kids... no two are alike.



For the record:  the cone on the Golden Retriever isn't some sort of odd torture.  She had bad seasonal allergies so every year the cone comes out while we give her meds... otherwise she would chew her butt bald... I've seen it, it's not pretty.

We have a hedgehog.  It was given to us by the Pilgrim Family and we are so gratefull because we just love every spiky inch of her!  Her full name is Sonic Sally Mia, but we just call her Mia (which is the name she was given before we got her and seems to stick!) We are just coming up to our 1 year anniversary with Mia, thus the tribute to our prickely pet.

Despite my recovery I allowed myself to play with a bit of sugar this month... here are a few pictures.
The top two are for two homeschool girls that graduated this past weekend. The one is lime green (which doesn't show well in these crappy pictures) and the other is purple.

My friend Matt celebrated a birthday and we couldn't help but send him his own R2D2:

R2D2 Cake

I also did a pirate/treasure map cake but forgot to take a picture ( I always forget!).  I will try to get one to post.

You might have noticed I haven't been around here much recently.  My apologies.  I had a hysterectomy 4 weeks ago and am finally feeling like myself.

On that note here are a few pointers for anyone else looking forward to this kind of surgery:

*Slip on shoes are a must at the hospital.  Waiting around to have someone tie up your laces is a real downer and makes you feel 2 years old again.

*If your husband/friend rents a funny movie to lift you spirits after surgery... kick them out and tell them to take their tool of torture  with them.  I didn't know this universal rule and had to hold a pillow to my abs while trying not to laugh for two hours.

*Even the most proper of us will start to rejoice at the return of certain bodily functions.  Abdominal surgery messes with everything and sometime your body takes it's time getting back into the swing of things.  In the meantime you will feel like Buddha (the short happy fat one) and feel disgusting.

*If you body is stubborn and DOES NOT start said bodily functions... call your surgeon.  DO NOT leave it TWO full weeks until your mother who happens to be an unsympathetic RN drags you kicking and screaming to the ER for X-rays and other things I will spare you from knowing about.  Enough said.

*Hiccups are from hell, avoid them at all costs. 

*Between incision holes and hepron shots your abdomen will look like a world map to a world you have never seen.  Don't sweat it, just make up country names for all the bruises, they don't last forever (although those hepron shot sights are still alive and kicking 4 weeks later ~ just to warn ya!)

*Get used to the following pet names:  Frankin-mommy, Frankin-wife, Scary-lady-who-sleeps-all-day.

Enjoy the rest, take it easy, milk it for all it's worth.  That's been my motto.

OK, I LOVE the Story of Stuff. But, did you know there is also The Story of Bottled Water? The Story of Cosmetics? The Story of Citizens United vs. FEC? It might be time for you to take another look at http://www.storyofstuff.org/

Sometimes when my husband goes out the dogs do some pretty freaky stuff.  Just recently while my husband was away for the day our lab came out of our bedroom looking like this…..


I don’t know how he get’s them on, or why.  Strange, right honey?

Well I decided I better post something from the recipe book I felt so guilty about buying…(see here)  just to prove I actually use it! 
This was amazing!  It's a side dish but I could have had just this and been supremely happy.

Whipped Sweet Potatoes with Maple Pecan Topping

6 sweet potatoes, peeled and cubed (approx. 3 lbs.)
2 russet potatoes, peeled and cubed (approx. 1 lb.)
3 eggs
2 tbsp. maple syrup
2 tsp lemon juice
3/4 tsp. salt
Pinch nutmeg
Pinch pepper
1 1/4 cups chopped pecans
1/3 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 cup butter, melted

In a large saucepan of boiling salted water, cook potatoes and sweet potatoes, covered, until tender, about 12 min.  Drain; return to pot.  Mash until smooth.

Beat together eggs, maple syrup, lemon juice, salt, nutmeg, and pepper;  beat into potatoes.  Scrape into greased 9 x 13 inch glass baking dish.   ( To prepare ahead of time, cover and refrigerate for up to 24 hours; add 10 min to baking time.)

Stir pecans with brown sugar; sprinkle over potatoes.  Drizzle with butter.  Bake at 350 degrees F until set and bubbly, about 45 min.

I’m out to deliver some yoga bags I just completed.  Here are a few images.  It’s amazing what you can do with recycled jeans!

These are made with jean legs.  You have to open one of the seams to apply the fabric designs and then stitch it back up again. (All of my appliques are made from quilting scraps and leftovers from other projects.)  Add a round bottom, a strap and fold over the top and make a channel for a string to tie the whole thing closed!  Happy downward facing dog!