Muffin mania

I really don't have an excuse as to why I haven't posted since March 16. Well, I did start the new job and all. It's been keeping me really busy during the day

and exhausted at night. Jen gave me a friendly reminder that my blog was quiet. When I made these muffins, I immediately got the camera. I needed something to take to a church social on Sunday. I have been wanting to try out my new Pampered Chef Muffin Stone (not pictured here), so I signed up for muffins. I have also been wanting to get rid of these orange-flavored craisins that I don't like to eat plain. Well, a quick look on the back of the bag and there I found this recipe for Citrus Burst Muffins:

2 cups flour

1/2 cup brown sugar

1/4 cup sugar

2 tablespoons baking powder

1 tablespoon salt, optional

3/4 cup milk

1/2 cup orange juice

1/2 cup oil

1 egg

1 cup Orange-Flavored Craisins (pictured)

1/2 teaspoon orange zest (which I didn't have)

1/3 cup chopped pecans

Sugar

Preheat oven to 400 degrees and grease or a line a 12-cup muffin tin. Combine flour, both sugars, baking powder and salt. In a separate bowl, combine milk, orange juice, oil and egg. Add liquid ingredients to dry ingredients stirring just until dry ingredients are moist. Stir in orange flavored craisins and orange zest. Fill muffin cups 3/4 full of batter. Sprinkle tops with pecans and sugar. (If you look closely, I mixed up this step and mixed the pecans right into the matter. No harm, no foul.) Bake for 18 to 20 minutes or until golden brown. Cool five minutes in muffin tin. Remove muffins to a wire rack and cool. Recipe says it makes 12 muffins, but I got closer to 20. Enjoy!

Side by side before and after

The before

As I was uploading the photos back from a USB memory stick to my newly restored, higher RAM computer, I came across these photos of the dining room before. Like, really before. Click here or here to see it during and after the rennovations. Amazing. I will have to post photos of the living room, too. It only had lawn chairs in it :-)

Our home rennovations can hopefully continue now that my salary is back to normal and I won't have to work at Cracker Barrel so much, so I will have more time. There are so many choices. I would love to have the basement waterproofed and refinished. We've talked about new windows. We need a new garage roof. The bathroom downstairs still needs a door. We would love to tackle the kitchen or maybe a garden and some landscaping. I would have hate to see the "to do" list on a fixer-upper!

Bake me a cake

It was a busy week last week. So when I realized that I promised one of my students a cake for his birthday Wednesday, I paniced. It was Tuesday after work and I was tired. I didn't have energy to run to the store for a boxed mix. Little did I know that I would find that the recipe in the Betty Crocker Cookbook (of all places) for yellow cake was easier than driving to the store to buy the cake.

I mixed the cake (flour, sugar, salt, baking powder, milk, eggs, butter...items any self-respecting baker has) in a bowl and plopped it into a pan. While it cooked, I ate dinner and showered. I went to bible study while it cooled and when I returned, I mixed powdered sugar, butter and milk for the icing. Easy as....cake? Of course. And you should have seen the look on people's faces when I told them it was completely homemade....not even from a box. Priceless.

Actually...cheaper. I can't imagine those ingredients took any more time or money than a box of Betty Crocker and a tub of icing.

Cute little bugs

What a cute idea for a house-warming gift. These little bugs are creative, unique and adorable. I made these two as a trial, but am starting to get more creative to make more. All it takes is a little wire, a few beads and pliers and cutters. You can use all kinds of colors, shapes and sizes to make bees, dragonflies or butterflies. I got the idea from a library book.

Amy's shower

The secret crafts were for Amy's shower, which was a surprise. We rented a beautiful bed and breakfast, so I didn't want to go all out on decorations. I wanted something simple, that would make it unique for Amy. I decided on canning jars mainly because I was able to borrow them for free. I filled some of them with coffee beans and a vanilla votive and tied a simple real ribbon to the top. Amy loves coffee and the combination makes a heavenly smell. I also bought some teal candles and filled the jars with rocks and used a brown bow. I had most of these items at the house...I just had to buy the candles (33 cents each at Wal-Mart) and the ribbon, which was also on sale at Wal-Mart. I wanted to do one really cool centerpiece for Amy to keep. I had a blueish candle that was a gift, but NOTHING in my house is blue. I placed it in a clear vase ($4.99 at Christmas Tree Shoppes) on top of shiny teal rocks ($1 a bag at Christmas Tree Shoppes...LOVE that store) and tied a brown bow around the outside. My real craftiness came out in the beaded flower that I added to the outside for some pop. All it required was some wire and seed beads, which I also already had in the house.

I really enjoyed crafting these fun and inexpensive decorations. It's easy if you just take a little time, creativity and a peek around the house to see what is already there.

It's official

I was offered a job for the rest of the school year! I am so excited. The best part about it is, I have a better shot at returning full-time next year, too. I will be teaching English learning support at York County School of Technology until June 3.
Apparently, I did a really great job in my first four weeks in the 12-week substitute position, enough to consider me for this position and one for next year. No more $95 a day!
I am so happy that I get to continue this teaching career and that it has been moving so fast for me. I really enjoy the kids and getting to know them and their learning styles!