First Reactions

Today our local library held story time for youngsters so I took ours. We were ten minutes late due to traffic but all the same she got to listen to some stories and paint a picture. It was supposed to be a cave painting. We stopped at my mother-in-laws to chat and left the painting there. Please enjoy it Chocolatechic, we'll have a new painting next week :) From there we went to get some lunch. I do not like eating fast food but sometimes you gotta eat what you gotta eat.    But I surprised baby girl by having "picnic lunch" with our take out. She loved it! She always loves picnic lunches.   She then asked if we could go for a walk on the bike path. How could I say no, knowing that we won't have many more nice days to enjoy.  We picnicked and walked at  Lake Park  . She had so much fun running at break neck speeds. I like it too. We live on a very busy dirt road that I'm too afraid to let her run like that normally.  While we were walking on t

Since I was a little girl I have always loved Olive Garden. Mainly all you can eat soup, bread sticks and salad. Ok, ok, nix the salad in that. I love soup and bread sticks!  When they came out with Zuppa Tuscana not only was I in love with it but my whole family was. We have been known to sit and analyze our bowls of soup to try and figure out what makes it the best.  I never tried to make it until after I married Dean. My first try I followed a copy-cat recipe. It was ok but it wasn't "IT".   While cruising along the produce department of the grocery store I decided to try and make Zuppa again. I'm so glad I did.  But this time I didn't use a recipe. I used my taste buds and memory of what it should taste like.  It was so close to having the actual stuff that in a blind taste test it would have been very,very close.  Along with the soup I set the bread machine out to mix up some dough for bread sticks. They turned out great as well. The recipe for those came

So I told you yesterday that I started something new. For a week now I have been a Wellness Advocate with doTERRA Essential oils. First I have to say that I couldn't have done it without the loving support of my wonderful husband. I love you, darling!  I have been on the long journey of home sale type products for almost 10 yrs from two different beauty product companies to car and life insurance. But I'm so happy to say that this company is the first one I can honestly say that I'm excited and happy to be with. I see so many possibilities of living a healthier life, let alone how many other lives I can help through doing this.  Last night before we went to town Baby girl fell and scrapped her elbow. It felt awesome to know I had exactly what I needed to fix her ouchy. This morning I had and upset stomach because I had a little too much seafood for supper and I had what I needed to help me. Dean has been working extra hours all week (and more to come) and I had what

Time seems to always be my enemy with this blog. I never seem to be able to sit down and write something. To do a bit of catch up we didn't move into the house we were working on and returned back to Coshocton county to our previous residence.  Dean is still working working in the amish country in a factory. Like any other job he doesn't enjoy the long hours or the heat of the place but its a job. But he has good possibilities there even though its not a cooking position.  We celebrated our fourth anniversary this past month.  We went to a bed and breakfast in Loudonville and dined at Malabar Farms restaurant, it was a wonderful two vacation.  Baby girl has turned three and we are looking at our preschool options that face us this fall. She is so brilliant, we see her having no problems at all with learning new tasks. She is already for preschool.  Myself , I have discovered many thing in the past year. But mainly that being a mommy is my job and nothing else comes b

Roasted Carrot Soup                 with Hidden Veggies What was my inspiration for this ? I have no idea. But I’ve been wanting to make something delicious and wholesome and this met all the marks! This was simple and not hard to make at all. This is a great soup to make if you want to impress someone with your cooking skills and you have absolutely none! Haha. No, kidding. Its that simple and that fancy!  PLUS! You can be sneaky with the vegetables with your kids. Its super creamy, flavorful and a lovely orange hue. Roasted Carrot Soup Serves : 2 people ( but easily doubled, tripled) 3-4 Good sized Carrots, cut into 1” pieces 2 Cloves Garlic, whole ½-¼ Small Onion or Shallot ( I used a shallot) ¼ tsp Thyme Pinch of marjoram Drizzle of olive oil Salt and Pepper to taste 1 cup Chicken broth or stock    1 cup Milk ( Whole or Half and Half) Toss all the vegetables, herbs, salt and pepper with the olive oil on a cookie sheet. Bake at 350*, 45-60 min,

And when your done you'll groan in pain.  We have been working hard on the house and its been working on us.  We have gotten all the of the flooring ripped up.  And these are my tools of the day                                                    Knee Pads and needle nose pilers.  You say "Bethany? What are you doing?" This! BLOODY! HORRIBLE STAPLES !  I pulled hundreds! HUNDREDS! Of staples! And this was just the stair case. Every. single. carpeted. room. was like this.  So while I did this method on the stair case, we used a side walk edger (which back in the day in my great-grandma's barn we used one as a manure scraper.) It knocked the staples out pretty well, even though we will still have to go through the house and pull the stragglers. And the discovery of the day while Dean was rolling up  the carpet padding in the living room, we found this under this padding.... Who Carpets over a brick hearth?  We love this find an