Musical Monday: Drew Holcomb and the Neighbors - Fire and Dynamite

Happy Monday!

Kettle Corn

Popcorn is one of my favorite snacks. The buttery salted goodness is always a welcome treat in my mouth. When I was little we had a pop corn popper that I loved. We would always pop the corn into a big green Tupperware bowl, pour melted butter and salt over the warm popped kernels and then fight over who got to eat the ones at the bottom of the bowl that were always extra buttery.
I have been dreaming about non microwave popcorn, because no matter what you say there IS a difference, but we don't have a popping machine and were pretty unprepared to buy one.
So I decided it was time to attempt old fashioned, on the stove kettle corn and let me tell you! I will never return to microwave pop corn again (not to mention it's so much cheaper to buy just the kernels).

Kettle Corn
2 tbsp oil
2 tbsp butter
1/2 cup pop corn kernels

Warm the oil, in a pot that has a tight fitting lid, over medium heat. Once the oil is warm add the butter and allow to melt then add your kernels (in as even a layer as possible) and raise the heat to medium high. Cover with your lid and allow the magic to happen. Once your kernels start to pop slightly open your lid to allow out some steam, replace the lid and shake shake shake! I shake mine quite regularly, probably every 10-15 seconds but I think you could get away with waiting 30 seconds each time. Keep shaking until the popping slows down, slightly open the lid to allow more steam to escape, remove from heat, give another shake for luck and there you have it!

Add extra butter, salt or whatever other topping your little heart can come up with.
Mmmm....mmmmm!!

Phones

We finally did it.

We bought cell phones. We put it off for 6 whole years but decided it was finally time to come back to modern thinking and make the big leap into technology.
I'm not going to lie, I am so beyond confused with this thing, but I'm slowly getting it. I can text and check my text messages. Yesterday I figured out how to access my voicemail but that's all I know so far... not sure I could make an actual call if I needed to though!

Musical Monday: Elton John - Tiny Dancer

I'm on a bit of an Elton John kick these days and I think this could be one of my favourites of his. 

The fact that this video is from 1971, makes it perfect!

Bits 'n' Pieces

31 weeks, I think there's a baby in there!
A lovely crochet blanket, I can't get enough of this project.
Project Life supplies, now to just get my thoughts in order and start.
Reading for the next month.

Lounging outside in the shade, on a warm day, with a popsicle... does life get any better?
A quick trip to St John's equals Starbucks for all (except daddy with his love for Timmy's), and story time.

Life Right Now

I am...

Relaxing, finally.
Preparing for the bean to arrive (only 8 weeks to go!).
Intimidated by August, I will be single parenting 2 little boys while 8 months pregnant for 3 weeks, while keeping the house in "show ready" condition... sounds... fun...
Believing in God's timing and finally seeing how perfect it really is.
Realizing I may have an addiction to notebooks.
Crocheting an afghan and loving it! I already have the next 2 planned!
Reducing the amount of time I spend on the computer and TV everyday.
Looking for the positives in everyday, no matter how hard it is sometimes.
Loving listening to my boys play with each other and have adorable conversations.
Changing emotionally and spiritually.
Maintaining a new skin care regime that I think is making a huge difference (if nothing else, it's making me feel better about myself).
Tossing or donating a lot of our "stuff", or at least trying.
Living, we put a lot on hold the last few weeks while waiting to see what the next couple of months were going to look like, but no more! We are going to stop thinking of the "what ifs" and living for the now.
Craving caramel yogurt... it is soooo good!

Raspberries

When I was little my grandparents grew raspberries and I remember picking them in our little margarine containers (mine always had red spots on it) and eating them with vanilla ice cream.
I love raspberries.
Funny how certain foods and smells can bring on emotions. For me raspberries are everything summer represents. I can eat them on a rainy day, close my eyes and swear I am playing in green grass with the sun shining on my face.
I saw this recipe a while ago and simply had to try it out.

I didn't brown the butter, as I'm simply too lazy and used brown sugar instead of white for the assembly process.


Raspberries and lemon, not sure it could get any better!

I'm Back

I feel as though I owe you all some sort of explanation for my absence of late...
I wish I had a big detailed and elegant reason, but straight up, life got busy and I needed to drop something and this here blog was the easiest thing to step away from for a week or so.

(it's raining today...)

We had a conditional sale on our house and it was supposed to be closing at the beginning of the month, unfortunately the buyer was unable to meet one of the conditions so the sale fell through. During the time of "have we sold, have we not" limbo our planning selves got the best of us and we had so many things we were trying to figure out. As everything stands now we are expecting to be here until at least the end of September (hopefully we will sell by then!). I will have another Newfoundlander baby, the boys will be able to welcome her into the home they are used to and Zac will start school here, with the friends and teacher's he knows. While this wasn't our first choice for our final plan it is proving to be the best option of all our plans and we are confident that everything has worked out the way it should.

I have been busy preparing for Zac to start school (early I know, but to do it right before or right after having a baby seems a bit like borrowed stress), I have unpacked and organized most of the baby things we have, we've made a plan to move the boys into a room together if we are still here by the time the bean will move into a room of her own and I have started crafting again. While we were in limbo I went on a bit of a dry spell with crafting in an effort to keep the house clean and not get a project started that I would have to put down in order to move. I've decided this mentality was silly and have since been crafting like crazy.

So there you have it. We had a bit of excitement for a time but now life is back to our normal!

Musical Monday: Jimmy Fallon, Carly Rae Jepsen and The Roots - Call Me Maybe

Whew! I feel like I've been gone an entire lifetime.
Have no fear I do have plans for this week and hope to get back onto my regular posting schedule.
 For now though, we begin the week per usual with a lovely Musical Monday!!

I've decided I would like to hang out with Jimmy Fallon.
I think we would have a good time and laugh a lot.
This one is played with instruments you would find in an elementary school... ummm, yes please, sign me up, I'm in!

Life

To say life is crazy right now is an understatement. We have so much going on I often finish my days with a scratch on the head wondering if I've actually accomplished anything other then adding to my, scary long, "to do" list.
I am hoping to have some answers by the end of the week as to how our life will look for the next few months and will be all to eager to share, once I finally figure out what's going on.
Until then though, please bare with my random posting schedule... and lack of pictures... so sad a post is without any pictures...

Musical Monday: Etta James - A Sunday Kind of Love

There is just something about Etta James that always makes me stop and want to curl up on the sofa just to listen.
I would totally be the strange lady in the store that would stop right in front of the speaker playing her song, close my eyes and sway, then walk away like nothing happened once the song finished.
Love her.