Old Family Cheesecake Recipe

I loooove this cheesecake!  I really wish I had some right now.  This is one of the recipes I dug out during the holidays from back in the olden days when I was growing up.  I already shared the stained glass candy we made on our family holiday weekend, but forgot to share this.  I love it so much, I had it for breakfast three days in a row.  Did I just say, (err, type) that out loud?  Oh well.  It’s true.  I did.  And I loved every sinful second of it.

I just pulled the recipe out again for my sis.  She’s making it for her sister-in-law’s birthday, but she’s putting a sweet, little twist on it.  She’s making them in teeny, tiny mason jars.  Too, too cute.  Since I have the recipe out, I’ll let you in on the goodness.

Aunt Helen’s Cheesecake                             

What You Need:

• 1 prepared graham cracker crust
• 16 oz. container of sour cream
• 8 oz. cream cheese
• 2 eggs
• granulated sugar
• vanilla extract

What You Do:

• Preheat oven to 375.
• Whip 1 cup sour cream + 8 oz cream cheese.
• In separate bowl, beat 2 eggs lightly and add ½ cup granulated sugar + ½ t vanilla.  Stir mixture.
• Add cream cheese/sour cream mixture to eggs and sugar.
• Stir & blend.
• Pour into crust.
• Bake 25 min. @ 375.
• Cool.
• Beat 1 cup sour cream, 2 tbsp. granulated sugar, ½ t vanilla.
• Spread on cool cake.
• Refrigerate 24 hrs.

Now dive into that goodness!

I’ll make sure to share my sister’s tips for making them in the tiny mason jars.  She made me some flourless chocolate cake in the tiny mason jars for my birthday too.  I think we’ll have to have a guest post from Chef Jackie and her mason jar creations soon.

LOVE Art {anyone can do}

I’ve been in a bit of a funk lately.  So I went to where I go for a lift and inspiration.  Target, of course.  Ha.  I call it Target therapy.  It’s free to meander the aisles and get lost in the fun stuff.  So that’s what I do.  I guess it’s not really free once I hit the check out.  That part is called shopping therapy.

My first stop is always the dollar section.  When I was there, I found some cards that said, “Buy me.”  So I did.  Then I decided, let’s turn this into a little Valentine’s art.  So I did.

One dollar and one minute later, I had this…

Just taped the card to the backing of the frame with silver striped washi tape and called it done.  Too easy.

Popped it up on the mantel with some hand drawn kid art and that is some good love art going on!

I L-O-V-E it.

And when we are done with the love season, I can pull it right off and use the frame for something else.  That’s what I like.  Double duty, don’t need to store, holiday décor.  And one dollar + one minute = my favorite kind of project every time. 

(Check out this Heart Art project from last year – completely repurposed materials = FREE! )

Weather Stripping, Organizing, Super Bowl & Valentines

I have to be honest with ya.  I’ve lost that bloggin feeling…whoa, that bloggin feelin. (sang to the tune of “lost that lovin feelin”, you know the song right?  - best known from the scene out of Top Gun.)  I think last week sucked the energy, creativity, my zip, zest and zippity-do-dah right out of me.  Until I get my zippity-do-dah back, here are a couple posts from the past that might come in handy this time of year.

Tips I learned from weather stripping my doors last year

Super Bowl Recipes

Organizing Tips

Valentine Inspiration from the Blogosphere

Heart Art

Not Quite Homemade Valentine Treats

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sweets for your Sweetie

My Kids’ Valentines from Last Year

Hope these past posts are helpful.  Wish me luck getting my zip back.  And thanks to everyone for their sweet comments and birthday wishes over the last week!  I truly appreciate you stopping by!

- Kim

Yep, Another Plant Post

When I get excited about something, I have to share.  I saw this beauty right when I walked into the grocery store Sunday night.  I knew I wanted to add it to my plant collection, but would it pass my criteria?  YES!  Right there on its tag were the words I needed to see- durable plant.  SOLD.

And hey, look, a sneak peek at my office too.  You can see the desk in between the two piles of paper.  I didn’t think of it before, but I think this plant just found its new home.

I’ll let you know if this plant holds up like the others that survived.  And this still might be the only part of the office you will see this week.  Two boys home sick yesterday, so there was a lot of mama snuggles and mama requests to postpone my big clean up a little bit longer.  Hoping to send one back to school tomorrow (which is really today since it’s past midnight), but I’m positive the other guy is going to find his place again on the couch tomorrow.

Hope you are feeling well and fending off the germs in your neck of the woods.  If we can keep it at 2 out of the 5 of us, that would be fine by me!

Technical Hiccups

Hello.  I noticed that feedburner sent a post I did back in November.  Not sure what that’s about.  If you received that in your inbox, sorry about that.  There always seems to be some kind of hiccup out here in this bloggy blog world and unfortunately, I’m not always sure how to handle them.  And if you don’t receive my e-feed and didn’t want to feel left out, my feedburner subscribers were lucky enough to get a second dose of Clever Uses for Boxes Around the House.  I guess a rerun works today because I’m not prepared with a post.  Sorting through some thoughts on what to do next over here…although it is suppose to be my office clean up.  Ha.  Just can’t seem to finish that off!  If you saw the before, you’d understand, then throw in my big 4-0 to distract me, along with this, that and the other thing, plus, one little guy home sick.  Not getting anywhere quickly.

How are you all doing?  If you’re on an organizational buzz, please, oh please send me photos to inspire me.  I’ve already lost my organization buzz and we’re only 3 weeks into the new year.  Sorry I’m babbling today, just in that sort of random rambling mood cause my brain is full of scattered thoughts.  Sometimes it’s therapeutic just to babble in the form of typing.  It works for me.   Hope your week is off to a great start!  Thanks for stopping by!  It seriously makes my day!!

40 fun day

Happy Birthday to me…

today I turn 40!

{image via Geronimo balloons}

How did that happen?  Weird.  So weird.

Just for fun, here are a couple {40} random facts about me.  Because who doesn’t need to know 40 facts about me? Ha! I kid.  As a blog reader, I like to learn little tidbits about the real live person behind the blog, so why not?  Plus, it’ll be fun to look back one day to see what was in my head at 40.  Here we go…

1. If I had the means, I’d hire a personal chef.
2. currently obsessed with giant, round balloons, like those ones up there.
3. obsessed with paper straws, but don’t really like drinking from them.
4. favorite accessory: fashion statement rings
5. would love to be in a flash mob one day!
6. getting less daring with age {I think it’s a parenting thing}
7. I’m a procrastinator
8. I’m a terrible housekeeper
9. I love the smell of fresh laundry
10. I love the smell of fresh cut grass and the humming of a lawn mower.  makes me happy.
11. my most favorite thing at a concert is when the entire audience sings along – OH, HOW I LOVE THAT!
12. don’t wear eye shadow, just mascara
13. Make-up or no make-up, I always wear COBigelow lip gloss from Bath & Body Works.  Don’t leave home without it.  And it’s minty fresh!
14. Every morning I drink a Starbucks Via coffee – half milk, half water and a teaspoon of sugar (sometimes all milk).
15. I LOVE biscuits with REAL butter and honey drizzled on top.  Oh.so.good!
16. I love cute shoes, my feet hate them. (plantar fasciitis – ugh) Most of the time, you’ll find me sportin tennies whether they go with my outfit or not. Unless I’m actually going “out,” then I suck it up. At my feet’s worst, I wore tennies with my bathing suit on the beach – totally ridiculous!!!!!
17. Therefore, my dream is to be the inventor of a shoe that has the comfort of tennies with the style of today’s trends. Or at least for someone else to do it! PLEASE!
18. I’m a pants girl.  I feel better in pants and I think I look better in pants.  A sassed up jean outfit is my preference.
19. If I could be styled like anyone, I would go for the Jennifer Aniston look, clean and classic.  And you can’t mention clean and classic without including Audrey Hepburn or Jackie O.  But, alas, I’m usually the opposite – a bit disheveled.
20. Clothes shopping really isn’t that fun for me.  Although, I recently had an awesome time with Sarah at Ann Taylor Loft.  She hooked me up!
21. And that is probably why I’m obsessed with shopping for home stuff, truly gives me a natural high.  I could spend hours!
22. I thought the outside of Alcatraz was beautiful with the flowers and broken buildings mixed together.  My husband thought I was crazy.
23. Give me a platter of cheese, meats, fruit and some wine and oooohhhh, I’m in heaven!  Holy Moly!  LOVE.
24. Giving the perfect gift to someone is way more fun than receiving.
25. I enjoy looking through magazines and catalogs better than looking at stuff online.  
26. I get teary-eyed at all my kids’ school performances. Something about those little guys singing, gets me all mushy.
27. If I could wish for one talent, it would be to sing well.
28. I don’t really watch sports (although it’s always on at my house), but the sound of a football game soothes me. Once, when my husband was out of town, I actually turned on a game for background noise.
29. But if it’s an exciting game, you bet I’m jumping around like an idiot.  I’m pretty good at acting like an idiot.    
30. I’m not on Twitter or Instagram and not sure that I want to be.  {I might eat my words someday, like I did with Facebook.}
31. Speaking of FB, I have a love/hate relationship with it.  well, love might be too strong a word – like/hate is more like it.
32. I kind of hate that my kids are growing up with FB where all your mistakes can be made public at the push of a button.
33. I’m on Google+ and have no clue how it works.
34. I think if the whole world came together at a tailgater, we might find world peace.  Think about it, everyone loves each other at a tailgater.
35. Although, I’m guilty of this, one of my pet peeves is no response from email or text.  then you think, “did they get the note?” “did the note come across the wrong way?” “do they think I’m a weirdo?”  My friend and I call it crickets when we don’t hear back.
36. I tend to overanalyze things.
37. pet peeve – silverware scraping together
38. I want a personal trainer.
39. I find the best times usually happen by accident.
40. I am in love with my readers, friends and family.  You have ALL made me feel extra special this year!  Thank you!

If you’re still here, thanks for stopping by and listening to me babble today!  Now, I’m off to buy a big, huge, round balloon and eat a super yummy dinner dressed in a sassy jean outfit, with super cute, uncomfortable shoes while wearing make up!

Just in case, you didn’t get enough of useless, fun facts, here’s another short list I did a while ago.

The Plants That Survived

Over the holidays, I was inspired to take a cue from nature and decorate with plants.  You saw two of them in my Christmas posts.  One of them being paper whites from my mantel o’natural…not a survivor.  And the other, the Norfolk Pine, a surprising survivor.

I don’t know about you, but I’ve been hesitant to add plants to my home knowing that I’m not a very good plant mom.  Plants in my home need to be able to survive on virtually no care at all.  If you’ve had the same worries, these are a few that might work for you.  {disclaimer: I am by no means a plant expert at all, but if they didn’t die on my watch, it’s a winner!}

Out of all the plants I picked up, the Air Plants are my absolute favorite!  LOVE at first sight.  Often times, you will find them floating in little glass orbs or in terrariums.  These guys don’t even need soil and require very little water, just a bit of misting every now and then. 

My method of misting is a bit unorthodox, but it seems to be working.  These little guys live in my bathroom.  So after washing my hands, I just do a little flick of my fingers to “mist” them.  Aren’t they the sweetest little things?  Gets me all giddy inside.

Next up, the Jade Plant.  I’ve wanted one for years now.  I might have watered it two or three times in the last month.  That’s it – definite survivor.

The Christmas Cactus. I’ve been eyeing these for a couple years too.  They come in a variety of colors from white to fuschia.  Mine’s not flowering right now.  Not sure if that’s due to the season or my lack of care.

As I mentioned above, the Norfolk Pine survived.  These can actually grow fairly big.  I’m sure you’ve seen them all over the place, from grocery stores to Home Depot.  I even spotted them throughout Anthropologie during the holidays.  I really love this plant more than I expected. 

Besides the paper whites, the Frosty Fern wasn’t a survivor either, but worth mentioning.  It’s unique look caught my eye while grocery shopping.  I may grab another one and give it another go because I liked it so much. 

The plants really have added an element that I didn’t realize was missing in my home.  I love the added life and texture.  If you’re looking to add some plants into your world, you might want to give one of these guys a try.

Get Your Irish On {& Some Target Goodness}

It’s not that I’ve decided to skip ahead to St. Patrick’s Day already, but I want to make sure you’re all ready to cheer on the Irish during the big championship game on Monday – ND VS. Alabama!!!  Living in Michigan, we are one of the few Notre Dame fans, so it’s always fun to to razz our friends with a little Irish banter.

Our friends hosted one last holiday hoorah last night, so I thought I should prepare them for the big game with a little Irish bag o’ fun.   Luckily, Target has already started stocking the dollar section with some St. Patrick’s Day loot.  So I threw some green goodies in a bag and taped a free St. Pat’s printable from Flamingo Toes to the front of the bag, along with some ND logos.  If you’re ready to start looking ahead to St. Patrick’s Day, check out my St. Pat’s pinboard on Pinterest.

And while I was at Target grabbing some green, I stumbled upon a whole bunch of goodness.  It took all I had to restrain myself from buying it all.  They have an entire aisle of Anthropologie inspired stuff.  Let me tell you, I was giddy.  It was one of those “where can I put this, so I can buy this, even though I really don’t need it” moments.  I restrained, but if you’re an Anthro fan, you really should take a peek.  Here are a couple pictures to give you an idea.  Have a great week!

 

 

 

Go IRISH!