Onward & Upward

In this past year and a half, a. lot. of things have been going on! Now that all the pieces are falling back together, we are in a new state:

"Onward & Upward" is the new motto for my family! 

We are sad to leave our friends and family of the Midwest, but we welcome all the new fun & culture Colorado has. I am sure there will be many exciting things for the my family to "put our stamp" on, and I will select the best places to share with you, my favorite blog friends.  

Here's to our new motto "onward and upward" 

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Home.

When I was a young teenager I remember telling everyone who would listen: ‘Once I am an adult I am moving out of poe-dunk USA Midwest, I am going to the city’. Now although I have not moved to the city, I did move about Three Hundred miles away. I also remember my father telling me upon hearing this: ‘One day you will appreciate your hometown and grow to love it.’ Then he made a comment about me missing it if I really did go to a city. Now that I am no longer that mouthy teenager, I am beginning to realize that Father Indeed Knows Best!

Now like I said, I am not a city girl, and I am still surrounded by farm land 360, but I do…

long for my hometown,

miss my home county,

When I drive that long 300 miles, I am transported back in time. I see the things that hold such strong memories for me. In fact, now that I have a decent camera, I want to pull over every few miles, to capture every. single. one. of. those. memories.

Here are a few:

 

Sometimes just looking at a picture can open the flood gates on memories, guess that is why they say a picture is worth a thousand words.

Words for today

*I know I am not the only one to have ever lost someone, but some days it sure does feel like it.*

Slow as a snail, but…

I can feel spring in the air, and it is coming slowly but surely… This lovely little rose as made her appearance! Do you think she would like to be planted outside soon? I sure do.. amongst the “bugs” in my perennial garden.

Sampita 2 vs. Katrina 0

I originally thought that I could never make sampita because I did not have a stand alone mixer. I attempted it once, with my husband’s help (okay instruction), but it didn’t work out too well.

So, this being the case, I began to dream about a Kitchen Aid, and dream, and dream… I would read several recipes needing a mixer. I would watch Food Network, and tell myself some day.

As you know some day came! First mission was Sampita…

And here you are, 10 egg yolks (for the crust) & 10 egg whites for my dreamy, fluffy, cloud-like delishesnesses. Well, FAIL! what a waste of 10 eggs. The crust turned out lovely, and tasted good, but the meringue is just not gonna happen.

I guess I will have to find a baka (OLD Bosnian grandma) to help me :/

One nice thing happen out of the mess. I learnt how to make my own vanilla sugar. One teaspoon of vanilla to a 1/2 cup of sugar. You need this to make my favorite Bosnian treat, you can buy packets at the “Euro-supermarket”. I thought I had some in my cupboard, but did not on close inspection. So, that being said, I guess I am a domestic Goddess for being able to mix sugar and vanilla, right? LOL

Oh no! I thought I had that!

The other night I started boiling my pasta, the plan was to make baked rigatoni. I grab my pasta sauce jar out of the fridge only to see it half empty. My first thought was “great this is suppose to be my quick fix go-to meal”, so now what? Off to the store? In my baby-fit manner, I spin my lazy susan quickly around, and something caught my eye! Hmmm I can make pasta sauce homemade, I’ve done it before, but it takes all day of simmering. I grab the tomato sauce can that caught my eye, and rummage through my spice cabinet. There we go!

I pour into my sauce jar the tomato sauce that will fit, and start “doctoring it up”. I throw in about 2 Tbsp. of Parm, and a few, three shakes of Italian seasoning, a dash of garlic salt (I didn’t have garlic powder on hand). I put the cap back on, and give it a good shake, shake, shake. Then I poured it all over my rigatoni as usual. It worked out so good, I had to share it with all of you, my favoritestes peeps. 

March 8th–Women’s Day…

The first time I heard of International Women’s Day was after I became a mother. With a husband from Europe I should have been getting flowers the 8 years prior to this, right? *sheepish grin here*

Okay, let me tell you what women’s day means to me….  The year that I learned about Women’s Day, I was going through a lot. It was the stuff dreams are made of, two beautiful, and amazing little girls in tow. As all of you women know, this is hard hard work, especially when you have two under two. It was not flowers and trinkets I was looking forward to. It was not some time alone at a spa, & it sure wasn’t a “night out on the town”. It was, in fact, something only a women could truly give me… moral support. This is how International Women’s Day came full circle for me. Women helping women.

Why do we, as women, get so cagey and catty with other women? We have it hard enough ladies.. we need loads of support to get through all that domestic stuff that us “goddesses” are expected to do. Okay, well, let me back up for a minute. All those domestic things that a lot of (but not all) women like to do. Everyone has their own arrangements in their households, but I feel like I would be an awesome “goddess" if only time allowed. This is where our support team steps in, to talk us down off the ledge, we can’t do it all. Also, to let us get the praise we deserve, who better knows how hard it can be than another woman?

So in short, be extra kind to all women today & everyday, because like in my favorite quote:

If we all understood that everyone has their own battles to fight, insecurities to face, loves to contend and goals to attain, the world would be a gentler place.

Happy International Women’s Day! <3

Overwhelming!

Okay! Now I know there are a boat ton of women out there that have kids AND a full time job, which I sort of do too (I work four 9 hr. days). But here is the question… How do those women keep up with everything?!

Do you ever scowl at those little “jobs” that just drive you nuts, but you just can’t get to? Yeah like this little mess… HOW does it get like this?

Check each pen for it’s writing ability, and this is what I accomplished with my extra day off a.k.a. Labor Day :)

I was quite pleased with myself once this one was done. Then, I proceeded to finish the rest of the top of my fridge. Man, that place was DiRTy! Now give me about 25 more days like that & I could get my house in order, don’t ya think?! hahaah

Mrs. Nature tricked us!

Baby It's COLD outside! We got a few warm days, but Mother Nature tricked us! We are back to snow & ice, so I was inspired to create this to make myself feel better :) Hope you enjoy it, and if enough people request, I will make it a free printable download.