5, 6, 7, 8, 9!

After a long week last week wasting all that water, I did what any other sane person would do...let my daughter have a sleep over with a bunch of sugar amped kids who had just "decorated" cookies and Oreo Pops.



Seriously, that calms me. We had four girls and one boy sleep over, and their ages were, 5, 6, 7, 8 and 9! We did not notice until I took some photos of the kids decorating Valentine's Day cookies and making Oreo Truffle Pops into kitty cats.



By the way, those Oreo pops, holy cow, they are SO DELICIOUS...and SO EASY to make. Its like a little truffle, on a stick! Easy, convenient way to pop a dessert in your mouth. (Luckily, I put lolipop sticks in them, because my husband would have eaten all of them!)



The kids had lots of fun, and I ran them through the steps to make their own Kitty Oreo Truffles -on-a-stick!


(these girls are...from Kaisa on the Right, age: 6, 7, 8, and 9!)

"OREO POPS?" You ask... Why, Yes, OREO POPS. I mean, the easiest, best dessert you'll make in under ten minutes! Seriously, people will marvel at your awesomeness in slaving all day for those little pops. Just think about it, you could totally sleep and slack all day, then make some Pops, go to a party, and be "the one who made those adorable, delicious Oreo Pops!"



"It must have taken her ALL DAY..." they'll say. But, only you (and everyone else who reads this, or Bakerella's blog) will know the truth! (Google it...I know you want to! or just visit www.bakerella.com!)


Clara's Oreo Pop

And me. I'll know the truth! Don't come to my party with Cake Pops...or Oreo Pops...or Nutter Butter Pops... (Oh, yes, the list GOES ON!) Cause I'll know, yes, I'LL KNOW! (but I'll still eat them up like there's no tomorrow!)


Lexi's

Super easy to make, and super cute to boot. Start with one package Oreo cookies. Open the box, remove seven cookies. Not six, not eight...but SEVEN. Eat them, feed them to your dog, do whatever you want with them, just don't put them back in the box!


Kaisa's

Take the REST of the cookies and place them in a food processor. Process the heck out of them. Beat them to oblivion! Process until they're mini crumbles!


Gage's (he was the "5" for the group!)

Then take ONE block fo cream cheese. At room temperature works best. And beat that cream cheese with a wooden spoon into the crushed oreo's. The smell will make your mouth water!


Oh...that's Emily's Oreo Pop!

Its OK, just use your hands, I do! Then, once a dough is formed, roll into little balls, or "truffles" and place on a parchment lined baking pan. I throw mine outside for about ten minutes, but if you don't live in the arctic and your entry isn't 35 degrees, plop them in the refrigerator for a bit to harden up.



Now, melt some white chocolate chips. Yeah, WHITE chocolate. Melt them up and stir like crazy. Take your oreo "balls" and either 1. drown them in the white chocolate, and place on a rack to drip, or 2. stick a lolipop stick into them and THEN drown them in the melted goodness. Flip them upside down, and marvel at your cool Oreo Truffle...on a stick!


Mine!

Throw em outside again (or in the fridge) for a bit to harden and decorate to your hearts desire. Try not to allow your husband to get a hold of them prior to decorating them. I mean, seriously, put a fence up or something. Cause he will try, oh yes, he WILL! You all have kitchen knives...use them to protect all that HARD WORK YOU JUST DID!!!



Believe me, he'll love you more when he's eating a cute kitty cat decorated by a 5 year old, then he would just haphazardly popping them into his mouth! He will.



There you have it. The WORLD'S hardest dessert to make. :) Enjoy. I did!

Other hobbies...

When I worked for a certain company, we didn't have much to do. So, I ended up dabbling in Photoshop, InDesign, and other photo and publication type programs. For someone with no training, I think I do pretty good!

I love making birthday invitations, Christmas cards, baby shower invites, baby announcements, and more. Its another super simple way for me to relax while making kids happy. (And their parents. Heck, and ME!)

I LOVE birthday parties. I love planning them, and decorating for them, and playing games with the kids. They are SO FUN!

Here are a few from the past year or so...





Since we don't have a Build-a-Bear workshop, Kaisa and I flew down to Anchorage (600 miles) went to the B-A-B workshop and told them we wanted them to fill the arms, legs, heads and partially fill the bodies, then put a bunch of fluff into a garbage bag, and fill the other bag full of hearts, noises, and bows. For less than $200, we got an entire birthday party in a box (or two) Including party favors, stickers, coloring books, etc! (Not including the plane tickets, but those were almost free!) THEN, being the thrifty person I am, I totally listened to my sister and went to Wal-Mart, bought 20 preemie outfits on sale for $3 each and those ended up being the outfits the girls played games to WIN! It was a success!



Max and Maddisen come to Kotzebue right after their birthday in May, so we always have a HUGE birthday party with like 30 kids running around, playing games, eating food, winning prizes and welcoming them back to Kotzebue! This year, we're separating the invites and having separate parties! Girls Night, and Boy's whatever-they-do!!!



Clara, Kaisa and Maddisen always have a "Girl's Night Out" in mid July, so I let them make their own invites.



My best Niece's birthday is in August. Perfect for wildflowers and fairies! We made our own fairy crowns and fairy houses, with flowers, sticks, feathers and bark!



This is my buddy Nabridus. He loves Batman and Superman. And Iron man, and the Hulk. This birthday, we settled on Superman AND Batman!



Braden loves Super Mario Bro's. So do my kids...and Uyaana. Braden loved that he was made INTO MARIO! We thought that was cute! P.S. He is so cute I could just eat him up!



GI Joe, aka Cadell had his ninth birthday a few weeks ago. He stopped me IN ANCHORAGE, 600 miles away to hug me and say, "THANK YOU for making my AWESOME birthday invitations!!!" It was so cute. By the way, he's Braden's brother.



And lastly, this is Dean's best friend Rishon. His birthday was ACTUALLY on Christmas, but it wasn't fair to get, Happy Birthday/Merry Christmas presents to a three year old, so his aana had it in January! He went to Disneyland a few months ago, and can't stop talking about Mickey Mouse! Him and Dean like to watch TV together!!!

Well...there you have it. Kids birthday invitations! Another fun hobby to do in the Arctic when its too cold to ski out!

A perfect hobby...

One of my many hobbies is sewing. I love skin sewing, and machine sewing...and someday I'll love machine skin sewing too! (When my AWESOME, LOVING, PERFECT HUSBAND gets me a skin sewing machine!!!)

But this post isn't about the seven rubbermade totes that house my fabric, or the two totes of skins and leather, or the five baskets of sewing supplies...NO SIREE! It's about what YOU should pack in your sewing tin! You, too, could love sewing, with a simple tin, kept in the same place, just like me!

First, you should probably find a good canvas bag. I WAS using a gap snowflake bag, but somehow my yarn ended up in there, and now, I'm using THIS: (!) A great bag to house everything.



In that bag, are my few sewing projects. When I get tired of sewing one thing, I move on to the next. Its like a workout routine. Sometimes you just get bored sewing gloves constantly...so you move onto mukluks!

I have several projects that are housed in a perfect little case. Not too expensive and readily found in any grocery store. Gallon sized Ziplock bags. :) They're perfect.



Right now, I'm working on Dean's sealskin gloves with muskrat lining...





(See honey, they would have been done LONG ago if I had that sewing machine!!!... :) )

Gramma's Christmas Present that I found out was NOT done, contrary to my hard belief that it WAS. (sorry Gramma, but you don't need these in Phoenix, Oh...and sorry for telling you what they were too. :( )





Kaisa's mukluks. Except I don't like the bottom, so I'm going to RIP the entire bottom off the other one that's done, and find some Caribou skin to use instead of the mouton and leather. Holds up better I think.



And the Kuppaqs for Kaisa's mukluks. This is the decorative trim on top the mukluks. Hers is a black and white calfskin heart pattern. (Ahlu is her Inupiaq name)...





THEN you need a nice medium sized tin. It can be from anything. Like mine, "Uncle Willy's Caribbean Rum Cake" works perfect for me.



INSIDE that tin, you want the following:

A good skin cutting Ulu...and Knife. (if you're lucky enough to have a husband like mine, who makes them!)



Small scissors, both kids scissors and embroidery scissors work well.



Alligator Clips. I use these to hold all kinds of things, from the project to a measuring tape. They work well to hold two pieces of skin together while you're trying to sew them.



Thimbles. I have two. One leather one that I LOVE (thanks Roxy!) that goes on my middle finger...and one uugruk skin one that I use on my pointer finger, when needed.





Sinew. This stuff is synthetic, but doesn't stretch, and is three strands thick. Some people like to use Dental floss, but that has a tendency to stretch, so I don't use it.



You have to cut your length and separate the three strands. Use them one at a time.



And...LOTS AND LOTS of skin sewing needles. I tend to use one for a bit, and then change, when it bends. I probably use them only two to three times before getting rid of them. I also use different sizes between 6 and 9.


(Yes, that is my ivory wedding ring in there...and a bunch of random ivory and fur pieces!)

Skin Sewing needles have a razor type edge at the tip that helps it glide through the skin easily.



And that's about it. My stuff is packed away nicely in my rum cake tin and its ALWAYS there when I need to relax and SEW! Like today, when I got a $1,200 bill for yesterday's water fiasco, and found out it'll cost between $8 and $10 thousand to fix the problem left to us by the previous owners. Yay... Needless to say, I'll be sewing a bunch within the next few days to relax!



OK, now go out and get yourself a sewing kit!


P.S. This is what Kaisa and Dean look like when I'm sewing! haha... A perfect chair!

My husband likes to fight...

He fights every Sunday. And the opponent usually wins.

Although, he does hold his own. And we do end up eating the opponent, its still a fight. Judging by the looks of things right now, I'd say, the cornstarch is up, two to zip.



Sunday's for us, if we're not at camp, mean a day of laziness. For real, I did read TWO books yesterday, and finished a seal skin hat (but I only had to sew the velcro straps on) and ate. That was pretty much it. I think I got up around 3-ish and went to the bathroom, maybe. Oh, nevermind, I went to the store and got butter and milk.



Dean on the other hand, has a fight with the kitchen on Sundays. He always makes brunch. Since the Superbowl is coming up, and the Food Network always has great Superbowl recipes, he decided to make hot wings. From scratch.



And he doesn't like to follow directions either (shame if you try to tell him what to do!) so his recipes are always super awesome, but can NEVER be duplicated. So, me, being the coolest wife EVER, !!!! (right honey!?) started writing things down for him. You know, so I could totally use them in MY cookbook someday. ( :) ) Anyway, his wings were the greatest hot wings I've EVER had. Even though mine weren't hot. You see, he loves me, so he made me my own special plate, with his own special honey-soy-Tabasco-garlic-something sauce, so my mouth wouldn't burn to oblivion with actual HOT wings!



We even dug out the Fry Daddy (or baby, or whatever we received as a wedding present from J&D, THANKS!) and some oil. (And we would have used Peanut Oil, but I don't think the store in Kotzebue even KNOWS what Peanut oil is, so we use Vegetable oil.)



The first batch was pretty good, but dang, when he started dredging the wings in cornstarch right before putting them in the fryer, HOLY CRAP it was GOOD!



I totally didn't want to be outdone (again) so I made a batch of Pico De Gallo to go with our brunch. We finished EVERY SINGLE one of those wings, and only half the Pico. Bummer.



Judging by the looks of the clothing Chef Dean finished with though, I'd say that possibly this round was a tie.