An Update on Turning 30

I have been asked how our birthday challenge went. More or Less. As most challenges go we started out really strong. It was fun to get rid of one thing everyday. Sometimes it was just a lone kitchen utensil that had an unknown purpose, sometimes it was a pile of something being saved for some unplanned craft, sometimes it was the extras where we had multiples and multiples stacked it the cupboard. Anyways... We knew we were going to be away quite a bit over the summer so we had a few good PURGE DAYS. That way we wouldn't have to come back and say we were gone for 11 days now we have to find 11 things to get rid of. Our church had a garage sale so we donated a bunch of stuff to that. We now have a corner of our basement dedicated to next year's garage sale. By August our challenge petered out quite a bit. I still think however that it was successful. Have I missed anything I got rid of? Nope. But I still look around and see clutter.
And then I found this:

Have nothing in your houses that you do not know to be useful or believe to be beautiful. William Morris

Wow. That is so my goal for my house! I have said before that I want everything in my house to be something I love, and this kind of summed it up beautifully for me. This will be an ongoing struggle and challenge for me, but I know that someday I will succeed and be happy with the results.

In conclusion.... The birthday challenge was good but the lifestyle challenge continues!

On Learning Joy

Joy Spam Pass It On!!!

I hope these pictures make YOU smile.
So many simple ways to make the world a more JOYFUL place.
A SMILE is all it takes... and maybe a banana.
Do something TODAY to make someone smile and put a little joy in their heart!

Oreo Cake

If you come to my house on your birthday I will probably make you a cake. This is the cake I made my brother-in-law. This is also the best chocolate cake recipe ever. I should have used this cake for Jacob's birthday digger cake. So moist and delicious.

The original inspiration for the chocolate cake recipe come from Martha Stewart's Allergen Free Cupcakes, which are really good. My version makes two rounds. I think my pans are 8".

3cups all purpose flour
1 1/2 cups sugar
1/2 cup cocoa powder
2 tsps baking soda
1 tsp salt
1/2 cup cooking oil (I use canola)
2 tbsps vinegar
2tsps vanilla
2 1/2 cups water

Preheat oven to 350.
Combine dry ingredients in one bowl and we ingredients in another, then combine.
Batter is very thin.
Divide into two pans and bake 25-30 minutes.

For the Oreo filling:
1 8oz pkg cream cheese
1/2 cup sugar
2 cups cool whip.
Then add chocolate chips or crushed Oreos.

For the chocolatey top:
4 squares semi sweet bakers chocolate
1/4 cup butter
Melt in microwave.

The Very Hungry....

CATERPILLAR! I love the idea of reading a book and doing a craft to go along with it. This was my first try and it was a great success! At first Jacob wanted his caterpillar to have a red face and a green body but when I told him he was going to paint it himself and pick the colours he went with blue and black. 

Just for fun we made beetles out of the little ends of the egg cartons. Which turned out awesome because the boys discovered that the beetles can go for rides on the caterpillars' backs. We fed the bugs all leaves because that turns out to be what the "Very Hungry Caterpillar" liked best.