Saturday, March 31, 2012

CHANGING CAREERS

Guest post of the week by Deangelo Spencer

I finally made the decision to quit practicing law two months ago. When I got out of law school, I was on fire and wanted to work sixty hour weeks, go to court, and basically live at the office. Now, after five years, I think that I am already burned out. Actually, I know that I am burned out. Practice law just wasn’t fun anymore. I was constantly in a bad mood and dreaded going to the office. I gave my two week after a really stressful day at the office without any thought of what I was going to do next. I decided that I wanted to pursue something that I have loved to do since I was a kid, baking. My grandmother was a wonderful sweets maker and even sold some of the things that she made. I decided to open my own bakery. The shop is going to be too small for a comfortable office, so I had T1 Dallas come out to my personal residence and upgrade the networking at my house to work as the command center for the bakery. I don’t live too far away and when I am not at the bakery, I have all of my calls forwarded to the house. So far, I love what I am doing!

Chasing Tiny Feet

Friday, March 30, 2012

Orange Cream Cookies

I am super excited about this cookie recipe!  One of my favorite flavors is orange creamsicle.  I treat myself once or twice a year when I buy orange creamsicle fudge from our shore vacation or when we go to the Renaissance Faire.  And, of course, you can always buy orange creamsicle ice cream. YUM!

I was introduced to this recipe around the holidays when my husband brought home a smattering of cookies from his office party.  I had to try this one out, so now, I have a cookie recipe from Betty Crocker that helps to fill those orange creamsicle cravings.

Ingredients
  • 1 pouch (1lb 1.5 oz) Betty Crocker Sugar Cookie mix
  • 3 tablespoons butter or margarine, melted
  • 1 teaspoon orange extract
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 2 eggs
  • 5 drops yellow food coloring
  • 2 drops red food coloring
  • 1.5 cups white vanilla baking chips

Directions
  • Heat oven to 350 degrees.  In large bowl, stir all the ingredients except the baking chips until soft dough forms.  Stir in baking chips.


  • On ungreased cookie sheets, drop dough with 1 1/2 tablespoon-siz cookie scoop or by rounded tablespoonfuls about 2 inches apart.
  • Bake 9 to 10 minutes or until dough is set (do not overbake).  Cool 1 minute from cookie sheets to cooling racks.  Cool completely.


Makes 3 dozen cookies.

Wednesday, March 28, 2012

Bathtub Finger Paint

I am a horrible Mom!  I let Mason run out of finger paint for the tub.  He loves it, and I have slacked off.  No worries though!  I found a simple and cheap recipe so that we can make our own at anytime...and never run out again!  You can feel good knowing that you can let you child use the paints to paint on his/her body or the tub tiles.  When bath time is over, the paint will wash away.

Age: 18-40 months
Time: 15 minutes

Ingredients
  • 2 tablespoons liquid soap
  • 1 tablespoon cornstarch
  • food coloring
Directions
  • Mix all ingredients together for each color and store in a covered container. The mixture will last for a few weeks.
  • I added a little more cornstarch than the directions called for.  Mix soap and cornstarch until you reach the desired consistency your child likes!



Get this and more ideas from the The Everything Toddler Activities Book.

Monday, March 26, 2012

FREE Easter Printables


I cannot believe Easter is right around the corner! I will be decorating around the house this week for sure. Along with my usual decorations, I will have Mason color some pages to hang around the house to show off his brilliant use of colors, also known as scribbling!


Click HERE for printable letters from the Easter Bunny and Easter coloring pages from FreeEasterPrintables.com

Click HERE for Easter mazes, coloring pages, cards, egg decoration printables, mini Easter basket printables, and word puzzles from kaboose.com

Click HERE for coloring pictures of Easter eggs, Easter bunnies, baskets and more from freecoloringpages.com.

Click HERE for free Easter craft patterns and projects. Print and color your own Easter holiday coloring books, calendars, games, and more from About.com

Click HERE for Easter word searches, coloring pages and more from momsbreak.com

Click HERE for free Easter printables from coloringbookfun.com

Click HERE for free Easter coloring printables from coloringpages.net

Click HERE for the cutest free personalized letter from the Easter Bunny to your child from easterbunnyletters.co.uk

Click HERE for free Printable 3D Easter Bunnies from allfreeprintables.com

Click HERE for free Easter coloring pages from hp.com. Once you are there, be sure to click around on their site. They have other free printables like cards and games too.


Chasing Tiny Feet