The Sewing Side of Me...

So for a while now I've had my own micro-business where I make baby slings and sometimes crafty stuff, what that is depends on the time of year and how crafty I'm feeling... I didn't really start my blog to sell my stuff, but I figured it is a part of my love for sewing and vintage stuff so if you'd like to check out my slings and some of my stuff click HERE

R-R-Road Trip!

So we returned realllllly early Monday morning from our family road trip. Thus why I have not posted in eons. And oh how I've missed you blog! But it has taken me a full week to recover before any serious internet activity could take place! We did 6 states in one day people! With a not even 3 month old, are you serious! But on the up side of the trip we aquired some new paint by numbers for our collection, and I decided I want everyone else to love them as much as I do, so look out for that next post, as I'm sure you will all soon love them as I do, well maybe not, but I can try...
But whilst we we're in Colorado we went on a steam locomotive, one of the highlights of our trip!But let me tell you it was also very educational... did you realize that our relatives used to cross the country at a whopping 12 miles an hour!!! I couldn't believe how slow it was, after all the iron horse was supposed to be the thing that revolutionized travel! 12 miles an hour! We managed to make 26 miles in 2 1/2 hours going one way... and since we had soooo much time to discuss how slow we were going, my cute Kiwi pointed out that a days ride on a horse was 30 miles, so 26 miles in 2 and a half hours would have rocked great-grandma Cora's socks off! Man no wonder we're so A.D.D. ... what used to take our ancestors days or months, we can accomplish in hours. And what do we do with all that free time... don't even get me started. No wonder they didn't have credit card debt, it would've taken them 2 days with a pack mule to get to the mall and back. Why bother!
Anyways road trips are cool, when your kids are at least a year old... At least they're educational.

CAKE POPS!!!

Since I need another distraction in my life right now... I bring you my latest... cake pops!


On one of my new favorite blogs a gal who calls herself Bakerella has innovated even more on the whole cupcake craze! Just when we thought couldn't get any crazier she offers these delectable little bites that are oh so cute! Click here to see some of her great ideas!



Because I have to be somewhat original to feel OK about myself I changed things up just a little bit... and made it only slightly more fattening :



So if you like it simple go to her site and get the recipe, but if you wanna make it fudgy delicious and decadently delightful... throw caution to the wind and proceed below ;)

Get one package devils food cake or similar chocolaty cake mix and make per instructions on back in a regular half-sheet or as us lame-mans call it a cookie sheet.



After cake has cooled (or not if you're impatient like me,) break cake up into small pieces into your stand mixer or large bowl. Pour ganache (recipe below) over the cake pieces and mix on low until fudgy.


For the ganache
8 ounces chocolate chips
1/2 cup cream
- heat cream on medium high and bring to a boil, remove immediately and pour over chocolate chips
allow to sit for a minute then begin to whisk until smooth.

NOTE: If you don't have a stand mixer and wanna feel really "little house on the prairie" you could mix this by hand, it will just take you a lot longer and make your forearms large like the ladies in Leonardo's paintings...


Ok then take your oh so easy but amazingly delicious cakey fudge stuff (I don't really know what else to call it) and shape into little balls, about the size of a golf ball, maybe a little smaller.
Then chill for 30 min in the fridge or 10 in the freezer on a cookie sheet if you're impatient like me...


As you're waiting get your chocolate and candy melts that you want to use ready.


Melt them in 30 second increments in your microwave until they're nice and smooth.


Then take your cakey fudge balls out of the fridge and get a mini cookie cutter ready. Bakerella likes to use a flower shaped one but I found just the right size round one attached to a bird house shaped cookie cutter that I prefer to use.
Now press your cookie cutter over the cake ball and allow the excess to spill over the top...


Smush the top of the cake ball over the sides of the cookie cutter to get that exaggerated cupcake shape... now push out your cuppycake from the cutter and set aside.



Once you have completed 3 or 4 begin the dipping faze... I find that if I work in small batches it allows for just the right amount of cooling time for the chocolate to set.



Now dip the bottom of your cupcakes into your melted chocolate, making sure to go right under the edge of your cupcake top.


Place your freshly dipped cupcake top down and then insert your lollipop stick into the bottom of your cupcake, going about half way through. Be careful not to get your fudgy chocolaty hands on your nice white lollipop stick... woops :


Allow time to set before proceeding to the topping.


After chocolate has set dip the top into your already melted candy melts, allowing the candy to drip right down to the edge of the chocolate. Then while still soft, decorate with sprinkles or sanding sugar and an M&M to top it off and give it that really cute cupcake look!


Set your cupcake pop into styrofoam or a flower frog to allow it to set...


And there you have one super cute toothsome treat!


There is a really great photo demo here if following along without photos proves to be a little bit challenging for you.
There's just so many possibilities! Bakerella has amazing cake pops right now for easter if you need a last minute project to make your weekend even busier!

ENJOY!

-Old Time Cyndi

My favorite way to start the morning!

If you're anything like me, life just doesn't begin with out a cup a joe! But my life has been significantly enhanced since ditching my crummy 'barista' drip coffee maker. Just before our camping trip up north last October, we considered bringing one of those enamel pots you set on the fire, you know to enhance the whole "little house on the praire feel". But after testing one out on a weekend trip and having either the weakest sauce you've ever seen or a mouth full of grounds... really attractive and by the way, very upsetting, considering my husband's and I's affection for coffee rivals our affection for each other, it's true! That's not to say we don't love each other alot, it just lets you know how much we love our coffee! So we had to think of something fast, and my cute Kiwi suddenly remembered how when we were missionaries and couldn't afford the amazing latte's they make in Australia we used a french press!

If you love coffee and you haven't tried one of these, do yourself a favor and raid your couch cusions for some change (these are really cheap) and enjoy what coffee is supposed to taste like!

Oh and while we're on the topic of coffee, I have one more bone to pick with you America, and really Starbucks! Week after week we visit you, like any good friend, always offering you our hard earned cash and what do you give us in exchange? A push button latte with sudds for foam??? I guess I only have myself to blame, I know better, I know what a latte should look like, taste like, why do go back in? I guess we've just been friends for too long and Kean is too far to drive...

When you get a proper latte in Australia or New Zealand this is what it looks like everytime!

beautiful dense foam that's sugary sweet, and you just look at it and it enhances your drinking experince... so don't waste your $3.80 every week (or for some of you every day) on that poor excuse for a latte and find a local spot that cares and will make your latte how it's supposed to be made!

Or like me, you can just give up on the idea of the perfect latte and just enjoy your 200 mg dose of caffeine right in the comfort of your own home.

For Penance, I offer Pavlova

So I'm repenting of my "spreads" sins, which I'm sure to still face the consequences for today at 12:15 when I publicly humiliate myself on the scale.

2 cups of butter!!! what was I thinking, there's only 3 of us, that's way too much butter to go around!

So I'm offering something much lighter and less guilt inducing... Pavlova!

There is much to be said about Pavlova, almost every time it's brought up in our home, the conversation about how Australia stole it from New Zealand ensues. It's even mentioned Here on Wikipedia... Man they've got issues! It's just meringue people!

But with that said, it's still worth all the discussion... it's light, marshmallowy, crunchy and super delicious. And with the weather warming up it would be perfect for a spring luncheon or desert on the front porch, or for a mid-morning snack... I would never, yes I would.... I know I have issues...

Ok soooo, the most important thing about making Pavlova, so I'm told, is how high you can get your Pav to stay, (yeah they call it Pav, they shorten everything) and how thin the outside "crust" is....

It's funny, if you have a New Zealand or Australian relative you want to impress, make Pavlova... They're guaranteed to tell you how hard it is to make and how impressed they are at your efforts... And really I don't think it's very hard to put your stand mixer on for 10 minutes then plop it out on a cookie sheet, but maybe I'm missing some crucial step where you sit on the eggs for a day to get them to the right temperature... I dunno...

So anyways here's the recipe, if you make it, let me know how it goes for you... If you got it to stay up without the help of stabilizers or if you buckled under all the "Perfect Pavloa" pressure and used cream of tartar... either way, I'd love to hear your thoughts!

INGREDIENTS

*4 egg whites (room temperature)
*1½ cup super fine sugar (aka baker's sugar)
*1½ teaspoon white vinegar
*1½ teaspoon vanilla extract
*1 ¼ cup heavy cream
*1 lb. strawberries, hulled and sliced
*confection sugar, to serve

Preheat oven to 350F.
Using an electric mixer, beat egg whites and a pinch of sea salt until soft peaks form,
then, with the motor running, gradually add superfine sugar and beat until sugar is incorporated, then add vinegar and vanilla and beat until combined.
Or if you're crazy like me for 10 minutes.

Spoon onto a parchment paper-lined oven tray (or use silpat) and form into a 8-9 inch round.
I use a pencil and trace a dinner sized plate onto the parchment to determine where I'm going to place the Pav...
Reduce oven to 300F and bake for 1½ hours. Turn off oven and, leaving door ajar, stand pavlova in oven for at least 2 hours (but preferably overnight) to cool.

In a large bowl, whisk cream until soft peaks form, spread over pavlova and scatter with strawberries.
Dust with icing sugar and serve immediately.

And when I say immediately, I mean some time soon:)

Enjoy!

-Old Time Cyndi

That's what it's all about! - Clap! Clap!

So, the average person who lives to be 70, will have spent 20 years of his life sleeping, 6 years eating (at least 8 years, if your name is Cyndi), 5 years dressing(ok add another year if your name is Cyndi, I have a problem picking out just the right outfit, which always ends up being wrong anyways, why do I bother), 2 years on the telephone, 3 years waiting, and 5 months tying shoes. I'm not even gonna mention the years spent online...

So we all jump in and say "That's what it's all about, clap-clap!"


WHAT????


In my devotional time this morning the simple verse "the just shall live by faith" opened up a super jumbo sized can of worms for me... these 6 little words are so freeing and uncomplicated, but for some reason I prefer "the extra complicated with a slice of difficult on the side please."


'I marvel that you have left the gospel of grace — the unearned, undeserved, unmerited favor of God — just so you can get all tangled up in rules and regulations.' I loosely quote from Paul...

I don't know how it is for most of you, but I spend a large portion of my day worried about what I'm doing or not doing that is pleasing or not pleasing God... I set my own traps and fall into them regularly. And it's a gluey sticky mess that's not easy to free myself from... Seriously is this what it's all about? Is this the life that I was promised when I first believed?


"So Christ has really set us free. Now make sure that you stay free, and don't get tied up again in slavery to the law. Listen! I, Paul, tell you this: If you are counting on circumcision (or rules and regulations) to make you right with God, then Christ cannot help you. " Gal. 5:1-3

Woops! how did I get here again? Relying on all the "good" stuff I do, feeling like "I've got it going on, I'm all good". When I really break it down it's actually a little bit comical how I think the "good" stuff I do for God is actually "good". It's a little like when Emmy proudly cleaned up her pee on her carpet yesterday by taking a tea towel, dipping it into the toilet then proceeding to "clean up her mess" with an extra-large sized smile... yeah... that was good. YUCK!

In light of Emmy's example, I'm surprised how easily I jump right into playing this game... I put my whole self in...

And soon we can become Judiazers... FYI the Judaizers if you didn't know where the people that said it was impossible to be right with God with out having your foreskin cut off... woah!

I can start looking a little too close at people, and the private parts of their lives and I can hurt them — not love, embrace and bless them. I become self-righteous, and look at others saying, ‘ If they'd only read their bibles they wouldn't be in this predicament? Why do they that watch that junk? What’s wrong with them?’ Hypothetically of course... ;) I would never, I could never, Ok I do, but I wanna pretend I don't.... I'm sorry!

Then suddenly I blow it, I don't keep my own rules and standards that I think I need to to be right with God and I'm up a creek without a paddle, and I think to myself... "self, what we're you thinking, you've blown it and this one's gonna be hard to work out with God, He's gonna be disappointed in what a loser you are"

We put ourselves in the pressure cooker that for so many of us is the Christian experience, which is either that of a self-righteous jerk who goes around inspecting other people's privates— which we all know we have NO business doing!!!! Or one who lives in the doldrums, trying to escape the slimy walls of the deep deep pit we dug for ourselves.


Up and down, up and down, get me off this crazy thing Jane!


The just shall live by faith.

‘Lord, it's all done, there's nothing more to add. All the junk I've done— past, present, and future, are forgiven. I can come to You anytime I want to. I don’t have to prove to You that I'm spiritual. I don't have to do this or get rid of that. Lord, I can just love You and appreciate the Cross — and I’m free...

There's no middle ground with God, I LOVE that about Him!

No matter how many good things I do, He's not gonna love me more and no matter how many times I blow it today he's not gonna love me less!!!

YES! That's what it's all about, so I'm gonna put my whole self in and shake it all about today as I rejoice that I live by faith, nothing more nothing less, I belive and that means I'm free!

Clap! Clap!

Old Time Cyndi??

So maybe you've asked yourself... "self, who the heck is old time Cyndi? or why is she calling herself old time Cyndi, or has she gotten so gimicky that she's given herself a silly moniker that makes no sense?" All valid questions... Well now you don't have to wonder any more, Bonanza has all the answers...
Yes Bonanza! When my husband and I first started dating, we were all sitting around in his living room on one of our rare vacation times from our base, when the boys, my husband is one of 5 boys, decided to bust out a childhood favorite of theirs... Ponderosa Party Time! And suddenly my world was turned upside down... There was a song about ME!!! All those years spent feeling so low about myself every time I heard "Sarah" on the radio... one of my best friends growing up was Sarah and she was always there to remind me that they had written a hit song about her... Cyndi was just too lame a name and too lame a girl, I thought, for anyone to ever want to write a song about...

But I was wrong, there it was "Miss Cyndi" or "Old Time Cyndi" or "Get along home Miss Cyndi"
either way, it was my song... a song about Miss Cyndi and how all the boys swoon... WOAH!
Then it turned slighty disturbing... the same cute little miss Cyndi that Little Joe and Adam were singing about, Pa began to sing about, WHAT? He's way too old to be singing about me like this! Then it got worse, Haus' verse came on... "her face is like a coffee pot, her nose is like the spout, put a handle on the other side and pour that coffee out"????? Seriously?! I know I like coffee alot, but not enough to have it pour out my nose!

Anyways it's my song, weird verse and all... And considering how most of my friends think I somehow jumped out of my great-grandma's ovaries and landed on my mom's zygote in the wrong era, the title seems befitting of an old fashioned girl like myself...

Click Here if you wanna hear a totally lame version of the song

Here are some of the lyrics

Cyndi in the summertime, Cyndi in the fall, If I ain't got my Cyndi, I got nothing at all
Get along home home Miss Cyndi Get along home Get along home home Miss Cyndi
I'm a gonna miss you now

I wished I was a sugar tree standing in the town everytime my Cindy come along
she'd shake some sugar down
Get along home home Miss Cyndi Get along home Get along home home Miss Cyndi
I'm a gonna miss you now

Heart Condition

So in the light of yesterday's inventory check, I decided first on my agenda this morning should be some time with the Lord. Then I proceeded to totally disregard that and went directly to my computer... sigh... But thankfully the Lord helped me pull the reigns in and I went Here ...
if I can't beat my clear addiction to this uncomfortable computer chair, I might as well spend some time with the Lord whilst sitting upon it.

I was so encouraged and really convicted. One of the many problems I seem to have is it's way easier for me to intellectualize my faith, than to open my heart completely to it. I don't know why, I wish I was one of those people that just opened their heart easily and held nothing back. But for some reason when I'm in busy seasons like the one I'm in now, I've noticed that I start to withhold my heart from the Lord. That's so sad to type... I guess in these times I find comfort in how logical my faith is to me and how I know in my mind so well what I believe...
... and they sent forth Barnabas, that he would go as far as Antioch. Who, when he came, and had seen the grace of God, was glad and exhorted them all, that with purpose of heart they would cleave unto the Lord. Acts 11:22-23
But God hasn't asked me to cleave to Him with my mind, but with the deepest parts of me... So I spend a few moments reflecting and there I am... thoughts of all He's done for me, all those amazing times He's come through in just the right way. I guess this is why we need to be still, so we can remember who He is and all He's done. This modern world competes for my affections, and keeps me so busy. I'm sorry Lord that I let it!
So for today.... everytime I'm tempted to relate to the Lord from meerly the intellectual side, I'm gonna stop and reflect on why and how I can change that... I gotta get this heart condition under control!



P.S. if you're wondering where these bizarre pictures are coming from... don't worry there's plenty more where this came from... "Your bible and You" is great resource for eccentric faith based images from the 50's... It totally wasn't the Mormons that came up with these first, they knew a good thing when they saw one!

What you value the most

Today my cute Kiwi came home from church "totally stoked on the awesome message..." he's so California ;)

Note: I was at home attending to my sweet little sicky, she has a 102 fever, poor girl

Anyways he shared with me some of the highlights, but the thing that stuck with me the most, yes some things he shares DO stick...

Was our pastor suggested asking our children what they think we value the most, I suspect if Emmy could understand and I aksed her today, she'd say nursing that baby and sitting in front of that computer... ouch! on the last one mainly...

It really hit me that if I want my kids to love Jesus, it needs to be completely evident to them, how much I do...
so quick inventory of time spent... ehhhh, need to get back to my regular quality time with the Lord and I guess letting my kids know that the little things I do around the house for them and Papa are for the Lord too... because that IS what I value the most.

Daringly Dangerous but oh so Delicious

Yesterday whilst surfing my usual waves, I thought I'd look up a little something for my cute Kiwi, and I came across the Pioneer Woman's "spreads"
if you want her recipe for them click Here

Warning: these are really good and if you like me are watching your weight, you have no business making these. I have no business making these, I have to stand on a scale in public on Tuesday, luckily that means I have 2 more days to work them off!

I made just two modifications, real butter and

ganache instead of just plain ol' chocolate chips I have a real prblem!
(see my recipe below)
I think next time I'll get extra daring and brown the butter before hand...
My cute Kiwi informs me that they make these in New Zealand but with a layer of caramel...

that would be really good! But I definately have no business making caramel, that's too dangerous for me!

1 cup brown sugar
1 cup unsalted butter
1 egg
2 cups flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon vanilla

For the ganache
12 ounces chocolate chips
2/3 cream
1 tbsp butter

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Mix together brown sugar and butter. Add egg and mix together. Add flour, salt, and vanilla, and mix together well.Spread dough onto cookie sheet to a thickness 1/2-inch.
Bake for 15 to 20 minutes, or until slightly brown.
For the ganache- heat cream on medium high and bring to a boil,
remove immediately and pour over chocolate chips
allow to sit for a minute then begin to whisk
adding butter as you do.
Pour the ganache over your giant cookie and "spread"
Allow to cool then cut into squares.

I dare you to only eat one

-Old Time Cyndi

There's a blog in my head

There is a blog in my head, filled with wonderful, inspiring , and truly sometimes complelety boring thoughts that only I and the Lord get to reap the benefits from.
So many posts, so many topics,only no one to read them.

"do you blog?" "why yes, for years, I've blogged, before they even called it blogging, I blogged..."
Ok that's a lie, I only wish I was so cool, but now I can say... "I blog!"

So now begins the journey...
My hope is that I can encourage someone out there that needs encouraging and that I can have loads, heaps, tons of fun sharing recipes, stories, tips on whatever, crafty stuff, my love for anything vintage etc, etc... with you, the people I love....

Peace Out

-Old Time Cyndi