the time I made a million muffins….

….not really more like a hundred, haha! but it sure felt like I made a million. I made these as Christmas gifts back in December for all my dad’s business’s customers. I hope next year to do something different, I enjoyed it don’t get me wrong, but it’s a ton of work and around the holidays that’s pretty much the last thing I want to be doing. cooking should always be slow, and not stressed equaling a perfect recipe for enjoyment.

And I never took a picture of the final baskets. Crazy! I didn’t realized this until I was editing these today…it’s a long story so I won’t bother you with the uninteresting details of the many whys=)

I made carrot/pineapple muffins, cranberry/pecan muffins, banana/chocolate chip muffins, and lastly applesauce/walnut muffins. I baked all afternoon and wrote some about it over here. After I made a batch of every single muffin I had my parents and siblings taste them, and then tell me if I need to add more or less of something etc. The problem at my house isn’t finding people to test taste, but to get them to stop once they have had a bite.

Normally when I cook I’ll finish up making one kind of cookie, muffin etc. I then clean everything up and start on the next kind, in this case it would have been muffins. But this wasn’t what happened this time. I made one batch of one kind and then of a different kind and so on. So I had one huge mess! And we don’t have a lot of muffin tin, only enough to fill our oven  twice. It works out okay. I pulled one batch (24 muffins) out of them oven and put the next ones in. Then wait on the “done batch” to cool for 10 min and then I’d take them out of then tins. And refill them in time to repeat the entire process. Sounds easy, but then put “making up the muffin batter” the entire time into the equation. I was a bit stressed at times…haha.

My mom helped put the muffins, after they had cooled completely, in the muffin cups, even my dad was helping at one time=) Speaking of my dad he even went to the store three times for us that night to get some much needed forgotten items/ingredients. He left for his final trip at 11:30, such a trooper. 

And you come to think of it, I didn’t even taste one myself! Shame on me! lol I will next time for sure…

The banana/chocolate chip were by far everyone’s favorite=)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The customers were all thrilled, thankfully! Grace used to make these for these same customers every year, before I took over her job…she was known, at that time, as the “Muffin Girl” so I was trying to fill some pretty large shoes. I hope I did okay=)

Have a fabulous weekend! Mine will be spent studying=)

 

~Photo-a-day~ Dec 2–Dec 9

Hello!

My life has been so crazy lately…but crazy in a good way. I spent last week up near Shipshewana, IN attending meetings. I learned so much about Jesus, myself and most importantly that this life is a journey to be taken one step at a time. (and enjoyed) I feel so refreshed and invigorated, more than ready for whatever this life has to throw my way.

This weekend I gave in and instead of doing something profitable at home, I ventured out and included myself in the group jumping at Skyzone. It’s an indoor trampoline park in Indy…I jumped for like two hours straight and was so sore on Monday. haha! I twisted my knee wrong also (my only injury) and it has kinda messed with my workouts for the first part of this week. But other than ALL that, I’m quite alright and had a good time=) I even celebrated afterwards. with a milk shake,at Steak’n Shake. After my salad, of course…aren’t y’all proud of me?!?!?

Monday it felt so good to be back in the office. Sam missed me a lot!  I’m sure the horses I jog missed me at least a little bit. They were all pretty goofy after their weekend off though. But after last night, I think we’re back on track. Literally….lol!

Day 336

~errand~

Christina came up and spent the day with me last Wednesday. Here we are running errands for mom, picking up all her holiday baking needs=) BTW isn’t Christina perfectly lovely, in this photo?

Day 337

~candle~

In the middle of our table…I love Christmas time and all the decorating that comes with it.

Day 339

~dinner time~

Here we are up in mom’s and dad’s room eating dinner, while watching a movie. not weird at all right?!?!? I don’t know how many movies I’ve watched from a floor seat…quite a few and I don’t know why I continue to do so, it’s sorta uncomfortable.

Day 340

~ornament~

Y’all have seen these before, seriously this is what pops into my head when I hear the word “ornament”…weird I know, just thought you’d wanna know that…I should get out more=)

Day 341

~lights~

The lights on our stairway are so festive…I can’t help but feel in the season with our house all decorated=)

Day 342

~bundle~

I asked mom what I could take a picture of for “today’s word” and she immediately responded with this…so a bundle of bananas it is ladies and gentlemen=)

Day 343

~baking~

I don’t bake very much in the evenings any more (sniff) since I’ve started my second job. Mom made muffins and bread last night, so I HAD to take a picture. She’s an amazing baker and I’m so happy she finds the time to do it.

So that was my week…please tell me about yours.

Happy Monday!

 

~Photo-a-day~ Nov 26-Dec 1

I ran the drumstick dash again this year. Even though Christina and I did it together, we didn’t run together. I ran alone and it was positively boring…I shouldn’t HAVE to run so fast then. I should be fine with running slower. I had my first cup of coffee, in over a year, after finishing this race – I deserved it after running in that freezing weather. IT WAS AMAZING!!!! no sweetener just straight black=) We stopped by my grandmas to enjoy a bit of the traditional meal. The cranberry salad, my mom made, was excellent! It wouldn’t be Thanksgiving without it.

I went hunting all day Friday with Steve (my boss) and Isaac, way down in Canaan Indiana. We didn’t see anything, but had a wonderfully grand time out there in the woods. This was my very first all day hunt. And let me tell you it was perfect! I had such a good time=) Sitting there, thinking. All by myself all day long, no phones ringing, no costumer needing anything, I didn’t have to put my glasses on all day, and I didn’t have to talk to a soul. A neighbor dog came out of the woods and began barking at me non-stop for the first half hour of legal shooting. Tried my patience to the max, to say the least.

Sunday my mom and Victoria sang the Handle’s Messiah with a community choir. I’ve listened to this song all my life on CD’s my mom has blared off and on my entire life …but have never ever heard it live. It was beautiful – the hallelujah chorus gave me the chills. Everyone standing to their feet wow!!!! Mom has worked so hard the past few months to get to this point…music lessons etc. She’s one of the best singers I’ve heard (of course I’m bias) but come on, believe me, she like sang opera in collage…so I hope you get the picture of how GOOD she really is=) She underestimates herself so much…All of us kids were there to hear her sing, minus only one - Jonathan. She was so happy…and that’s when she’s the most beautiful to me.

 

Day 330

~starts with “S”~

Spice=) The king of the spices in my book is cinnamon…I love the smell, taste, looks everything about it.

Day 331

~texture~

Day 332

~a blessing~

We cooked our normal stuffed Thanksgiving turkey for Sunday. This stuffing is soooo good! we only have it once a year and wow after I eat it - every time no fail, I wonder why we don’t make it more often that this.

Day 333

~warmth~

no kidding it was fifty-three degrees, it felt like a heat wave. I went running in a tank top and actually was pouring sweat=) I could totally get used to this!

Day 334

~I went…~

I went to the Handle’s Messiah performance=) 

Day 335

~mail~

Mailing out the Christmas letters to soldier. I will be mailing out 31 letters to 31 soldiers this month.

Day 335

~red & white~

I’ve actually begun my in store Christmas shopping!!!

 

Happy Wednesday Folks!!!

 

the End to the Finish

I’ve wrote about this process here and here….

…a week ago I finally did the last thing, I had to do with it. I took this quilt to Ohio to show the, 91 year old, woman (Bernice B, who gave me the pattern and inspiration) the finished product. We spent a delightful Sunday afternoon with her and her daughter Bea.

Among many the other things, this woman is known for is her cooking. My family still makes the egg noodles that she gave us the recipe for, years ago. So while mom and Bernice talked…Bea, Ally and I were busy looking through all her recipes. All written down, over the years, in her beautiful handwriting.

And this was her reaction to my quilt…lol need I say more???? After looking over it she looked up with a smile on her face and said, …”well I give you an A+…”

Mom, coming along, made Bernice’s day it’s been years since they’ve seen each other.A quilt that she made…mine is pathetic in comparison…

This was my parents house when they lived in Ohio. Behind Bernice S. house at the end of a long lane. I guess it used to be white, back when, but since then the siding has been striped off.Ally and mom we’re remembering back and kept telling me…”get a picture of that”…lol

And on the way home I saw my “dream house” and managed to get this picture of it=) Minus the bushes around it, it is perfect! I totally want to look through those little windows, up in the attic. There must be ton’s of rooms in this house…I’ve always wanted to live in Ohio=) haha

So that goal is checked off! It’s a good feeling. Thanks Ally for all your help to make this possible. But I will never quilt again, it’s just not my thing.

What are your week plans?

 

~Photo-a-day~ Aug 13–Aug 19

Hello all!

As y’all can tell I changed my blog name…from girl in camo photography to girly ‘n camo. The reason for this being I feel like this name describes my blog more accurately and is a lot easier for me to say..lol. I’m one for change and I hope you like the new name as well=)

All weekend  was spent cooking. I began with pancakes Saturday morning.  Then dinner Saturday night, I grilled herb chicken and made the normal sides to go with it. On top of that I made dessert - peach upside down cake and brownies=) Both were yummy! On Sunday I roasted a 20 lb. turkey and made breakfast sausage to freeze. A perfect way to spend a weekend for someone whose obsessed with cooking like me. The only down side to cooking for me, is that it absolutely wreaks havoc on my weekly Friday manicure. On Monday I looked down at my nails and cringed…they’ll just have to wait till Friday, as much as it pains me to look at them.

Isaac and I rode 15 miles on our bikes, Sunday afternoon. He’s a very deep kid, surprisingly, and after about mile 8 he starts talking. Wow and as always I’m impressed with his very mature 16 year old mind. Like a choice he made recently, purely because he knew if he didn’t, it would hurt his mom. Really! in a day and age where it’s not uncommon to do what YOU want and not worry about what others think…or how it will make them feel…we have a boy here with big life dreams and he cares enough about what’s truly important to redirect these ideas, so he will actually get to live these dreams and have his parents admiration along the way. Not just when he archives his goals. I can only say I hope if I ever have a child it’s half the kid that my brother is.

Last night I was out on Brookville lake…swimming and riding on the boat. Isaac and I swam in 100 ft of water…first time for both of us. It was very cool=)

Day 225

~a corner~

Day 226

~tool~

do you know what this is?

Day 227

~colorful~

Day 228

~work~

Saturday night I stayed up late canning these banana peppers with my mom. We had never done this before and had a great time learning together=)

Day 229

~an animal~

I love these soft eyes…

Day 230

~funny~

Isaac and one of his friends each won these by making the basketball shot. And they both gave them to me=)

Day 231

~stairs~

Happy Wednesday!