Brun-uusto Cheese & a Layout

This is going to be a real fast blog post but I had to see and or tell everyone about this great cheese! 

Dan and I were at our little locally own market, Mama Jeans, and saw this cheese and thought we would try it. I searched online about how to cook it and saw that most people grill Brun-uusto cheese and some cook it on a stove top. Since my grill someone is still lost in the move, I decided to go the stove top way. I put a little bit of olive oil in a pan and seared it on both sides then reduced the heat until the cheese started oozing out the sides! 

I cut up some french bread, dapped olive oil on the bread then sprinkled some dried basil on the bread and backed it until crisp. We then enjoyed this little treat as an afternoon snack. Give it a try and you'll surely fall in-love with it too!!

I crated this layout just about a week before we moved, I was about to pull my hear out and thought that if I could relax myself for a bit with a little creativity then I would surely be ready to take on more packing! But then I sat down in front of all my stuff and thought I don't even know where to begin so I went to Pinterest, found an adorable layout and went to work on my own! 

I scrap-lifed and I'm so happy I did!! 

Please go HERE to see the layout I scrap-lifted, Corrie is so talented and I love her work and I'm sure you will too!!

This is my dad and I. I've so cherished this picture!

That's it folks!

Have a great weekend!!

Farming, a Goat and a Sweet Family

I realize that most of my blog post are about scrapbooking, my business, my nieces and nephews and of course my dogs! Rarely do I mention, except in passing that I have siblings whom have made me an aunt about 9 times. They're all very exceptional in their own way and I have a close relationship with all 6 of them. I'm the oldest and feel like the mother of most of them, so I brag a lot to my friends about all of them. Today I wanted to REALLY brag on my brother, DJ, the middle child. Dj's 9 years younger than I, has always been very sweet and a little shy at times, but alway danced to the beat of his own drums (which I love).  I can not express how very proud I am of him, he's stepped out of our fast pace world and created a perfect little farm for himself and his family. We weren't raised on a farm an no one in our family is a farmer but this was his dream, one acre and animal at a time he's creating a farm. I can actually say he's a farmer. 

Dj has a terrific wife, Tanya, and 2 kids, Alex and Jacob.  As well as a herd of cattle, goats, and a new horse. This is one very hard working family and I can't imagine what it takes to run a farm, have a wife working full time (in the city-about 30 mins away) and 2 kids but they do it and they do it very well! 

I'm proud of DJ for doing and creating his hearts desire, and I'm sure I have no clue of all the heartaches along the way but I love him for all that he has done and is doing. 

Here are some pictures of this beautiful family on their farm...

Jacob and his goat!

 Look at both of their eyes in this picture. They are both like "hey, who are you" and "hey, who are you"!! Love it! 

This is DJ on his horse "Sissy". 

I love that name, because that's what he has called me his entire life. Isn't she beautiful!!

This is his wife, Tanya, who is a sweetheart and I can't tell you how happy I am that she's my sister in law! I'm proud to call her a sister!!

DJ decide to build a barn, a very huge barn, this past winter and this is the result. But here's the kicker, he and my dad have done this all by themselves!! Yep, you heard me right... just the 2 of them have built this magnificent barn. I'm not sure where I'd even start, and he built this! Talented man!!

One of great pieces in this barn are the windows that will go in it, they were in my grandma's old house. He thought looking out of them everyday would remind him of our grandparents. 

How sweet is that! 

I love this evening picture of his barn.

I wish I had a picture of Alex on the Farm but I don't so until I do...

 this is sweet Alex on the first day of school. 

I love you DJ...

I hope you know and will never forget that I'm so very proud of you!

Have a great rest of the week! 

All moved in and some Fried Tacos too!!

I've had some crazy moving-days before in my life but this one will go down in history as the worse one every! For so, so many reasons, but thats an entire other blog post! 

I wanted to share some pictures of my new home, pretend you don't see the boxes and clutter.

I'm making progress, most the rooms are done or coming along. We downsized by over 50% of space, which I love, and we will be empty nesters in under a year now so we needed a smaller home.

 We've been here a couple of weeks now, my only regrets is that I didn't do this 6 years ago when we moved in our other home!! I can't tell you or express enough that the 3 of us living all on one level in under 2,000 square feet is glorious!! We could actually take away a few 100 feet off each side of the house and still be fine. Henry comes in our room more and since he's just down the hall, we cross paths all the time. He's not upstairs and us down, we are all together, which makes me a bit sad that the last 6 yrs we spent in a huge home all lost and not having the closeness we should have. That's my one big regret, so if you are a family thinking you need a big house with more space just remember that the space is nice but the distances from your kids... not so much! Just my two cents worth of info. 

Here is my front entryway!

It's so bright, with huge windows!

As you can see the pups love it too! They've never had an all glass

door before so its a whole new world for them! Especial Bella, because

she's so small she can't see out the windows so this is great for her!!

Our bedroom, I bought new bedding and floor rug from Target,

and I love the new colors! (again ignore the boxes)!!

This is a wood burning fireplace in our bedroom, which will be so cozy this winter! 

We've not had a fireplace in the bedroom before, makes me excited for winter now!

These next 2 pictures are taken from the front door when you

walk into our home. You walk into a living room,

and if you head straight, thru the little doorway you go into the kitchen.

If you turn right you have a hallway to the bedrooms and this

sweet little built-in china cabinet, that I love!

It holds my grandparents china perfectly! 

That's all the pictures I have have for now, more to come once I get

a bit more organized... one day soon hopefully!

As most of you know, I love to cook and if you follow me on Facebook you see all my

cooking creations, the good, the bad and the ugly! I've had a chance to "break-in" my new kitchen

and trying to getting use to no gas stove anymore, and it isn't as bad as I thought, actually not bad at all!  Now the less counter space is a bit more trying as well as no center island but its doable, we get spoiled in these huge kitchens. This house was built in 1947, with all the same character and charm from the 40's, that's what I fell in-love with, but with that comes no counter space. Then I remember that families were raised here and those women made it work, so lord knows I can too!  

Here are a couple of my favorites cooked just last week...

My Gmas's Fried Tacos!!

These are the best!! 

I try to pre-chop everything before I get started so that I don't run out 

of time when it comes to putting them all together! 

One tip my g-ma shared with me is not to by the leanest meat b/c a little fat in taco makes the 

flavor pop, so I buy about 80% lean. Also along with the taco seasoning, add one small can of tomato sauce to the meat and seasoning, yes, tomato sauce will rock a taco like you won't believe, makes it moist and juicy! 

I use to shred all my cheeses b/c I think it taste better and fresher if grated right before 

used on a taco, but if short on time I buy a bag of cheese... it is a lot easier!!

My secret sauce...

"Mexican Villa's Sweet Sauce"

Its a local, VERY nontraditional mexican restaurant here in Springfield, but its 

also a local favorite, you'll hate it if you weren't raised on it! They have a sweet sauce that

 you poor over your tacos right before you eat them that is killer!! 

Sorry, you can only get it here in Springfield but you can order it on their website, I think! 

With homemade guacamole on top of the deep fried taco makes it

mouth watering!! I'll always think of my g-ma when making these!!

Well, you can't "break-in" a kitchen without homemade chocolate chip cookies, right!!

Hope you enjoyed todays post and that I didn't make you too hungry! 

Have a great day!!