Is it to early for christmas???

   I'm getting excited Christmas is right around the corner! Looking forward to baking, decorating, wrapping gifts & so on. Over the weekend I decided to make a snowman with sticks. It came out so cute and the boys now want to make more.  Simple and easy to make..

1st step get to 2 sticks across ( cut the sticks about 3/4 long)

2nd step glue 7 sticks long

3rd step make glue the hat across

4th step add another strip stick to the hat.
5th step paint and add the wiggly eyes, nose and mouth
6th step hot glue a ribbon behind to hang

taa daaa all done

Simple and fun to do with kids!
Thanks for stopping by!


Marianthi

Pumpkin or Banana Caramel Cake Roll??

   Pumpkin or Banana cake roll?? Hmm, I love both but no one in my family likes pumpkin roll cake. This banana roll works out perfect for the holidays for me.  My 2 picky eaters at home even ate it.  This recipe was given to me by one of my friends who is a chef.

Cake recipe
1 cup cake flour
1/4 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda
2 eggs

3/4 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon grated lemon peel (optional)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 cup mashed ripe banana (about 1 medium)

3 egg whites
1 tablespoon confectioners’ sugar

Oops Forgot to add the banana's to the first picture..

  In a small bowl combine the flour, baking powder and baking soda.
  In a large mixing bowl, beat whole eggs for 5 minutes add 1/2 cup sugar, vanilla ,banana and lemon peel.
 In another bowl beat egg whites on medium speed until soft peaks form.  Gradually beat in remaining sugar, a tablespoon at a time, on high until stiff peaks form.

Add flour mixture to banana mixture. mix gently until combined.
Fold in egg white mixture.
 
Make sure baking pan is coated with nonstick cooking spray with waxed paper .
Spread into prepared pan.Bake at 375 degrees for 10-12 minutes or until cake springs back when lightly touched.
Let it cool 5- 10 minutes

Get a kitchen towel and wet it lightly. Place it on counter and dust with confection sugar.

Turn cake onto a kitchen towel.

Slowly peel off waxed paper.  Roll up cake in towel jelly-roll style. Let it cool.

Filling ingredients
4 oz cream cheese
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup  whipped topping
1 tablespoon confectioners sugar
2 tablespoon caramel ice cream topping

   Beat cream cheese and brown sugar until smooth and sugar is dissolved.  Beat in vanilla fold in the whipped topping.  Unroll cake and spread the filling.  Roll back up, sprinkle with confectioners’ sugar and drizzle caramel  topping.

Don't do what I did.  My cake was still warm and the caramel just melted down so fast. Wait completely for cake to cool before you add the filling. I was in the rush cause my baby was waking up.

Thanks for stopping by!

Marianthi

Homemade Clay hand print..

   I love making homemade clay. We use this recipe for hand prints and many holiday ornaments. This time we made the hand prints for all 3 boys. Very simple and easy to make.


            RECIPE

          4 cups flour
          1 cup salt
          1 1/2 cups water

  Combine all ingredients and knead for a good 10 - 15 minutes


  Roll the dough out and get your cookie cutters or whatever else you can find for cutting.


  If you plan to make ornaments, take a straw to  make a small hole so you can hang it or put a ribbon. Next prick with a toothpick all around so you don't get air bubbles.

Before you bake it, make sure you place it on a non stick baking pan or Pam spray or cookie sheet.   Bake at 300 F for about 20 minutes until golden.

 Last paint with acrylic paint.

HAVE A GREAT WEEKEND!

Marianthi

Natural Bean Jewelry

  I was looking for something original for the upcoming holiday gifts. Tiff over from www.stringbeansinc.blogspot.com makes handmade beautiful bean jewelry. Check out her blog on natural beans. She has many creative styles. The quality is great and customer service is superb.

Thanks for stopping by!

Marianthi

Fall wreath

   Hello everyone, hope you all having a great day. I know I'am. Busy with kiddos, projects, home & so on. Well, I finally decided to make a fall wreath. Since, living in Florida our fall comes later..LOL I would say November.  Today its 93 degrees outside. Do you call this Fall season? nope..lol
  Either way the whole project cost me $8.00. It was simple, easy & cute to make.

   Have a great day!

    Marianthi

CVS deals

Had a great shopping today!

 1 jumbo pack huggies $9.00
 pediasure $10.00
1 huggies wipes $6.00

  Coupons
 free jumbo huggies diapers _$9.00
 -$2.00 huggies coupon for wipes
 -$2.00 pediasure coupon
-$10 Ecb


TOTAL OOP $2.54  and got back $10.00ecb back..

Have a great monday
thanks for stopping by!

Marianthi

Bench ..from wood Pallet

   I rescued 2 wood pallets from a warehouse down the street from me. I knew exactly what I wanted to do with them. So, my hubs decided to help out. He decided to make it his way instead of my way. I will have to admit, I love it!   So, here it is!

   Isn't she a beauty! So far so good Hubby!!

      A welcome sign I made while Hubs was cutting the wood.

     Here she goes!!! It turned out beautiful!!!

     The whole projected cost me nothing!
Have a great sunday.


thanks for stopping by!


Marianthi

Glowing mason jars..

    Last night, my kids wanted me to tell them silly stories. Once, I put baby down for sleep. I went in the kitchen and got 1 glowing stick and 2 mason jars. I cracked open the glow stick and poured it into the jars shaking them so they can spread everywhere. Took them in my kids room to surprise my boys with glowing mason jars. OH seeing them so happy and smiling from ear to ear.  They totally loved it. So, they closed there light in their bedroom and tv and we told each other little stories...It was so much fun!!

   
    Just one warning if you try this. Be careful when you crack open the glow stick it stained my shirt. So carefully open it!

    Here is a close up one!

 Have a great weekend!

 Thanks for stopping by!

Marianthi


ANOTHER UPDATE.
  make sure you wash the jars the very next morning! Or other wise it stinks and sticks. So wash the very Next Morning!!

Homemade vanilla extract ...

   This delightful homemade vanilla extract is so easy to make! I've been wanting to make my own for such a long time. I had the liquor on hand but had to wait until I got out to an international store to buy Vanilla beans in bulk since Publix & other grocery stores only have 1 per dry bean for $6.00 dollars (CRAZY RIGHT?).  Last night I made a ran to the international store and got a pack of vanilla beans there for $18.00 dollars. So, today I made it. I needed 2 mason jars, vodka, rum & my vanilla beans. I decided to try both rum & vodka to see which I like best.

    First use a sharp knife, slice the beans open lengthwise to expose the seeds. Put the beans in the jar and fill it with your choice of liquor. Close the jar, shake it a few times and store it in a cool dark cabinet. About, every once a week give it a good shake. Give your vanilla extract a good 2 months or longer.

   Here is the recipe I did
1 cup liquor (your choice Rum, Vodka, Whisky)
3 vanilla beans

     I placed my kids stickers on my jars. R=rum V=vodka... :)


   Now will wait 8 weeks and get back to you and let you know which one was my best!


Happy Wednesday


Marianthi

Depression

    I needed to come out and write about Depression. This is one horrible disease. I've passed through a Severe  depression myself. Now I  that I am a survivor of it. No one will understand the disease unless you walk in their shoes. When I tell people I had severe depression back in the days. They said you never acted like I was depress!

   As I'm writing this story I will keep it short. Depression started taking over me before 2005. IT got worse from the years I start to write about.

 Back in 2005, I just came back from my vacation in Greece. I realized I had a cold and I was loosing my hearing. When I got back I finally took the right medications and got better, but something still didn't come back. I could not hear so well. So, one day I told my husband something is wrong with my hearing I need to get it checked. Well, to my surprise I lost 70% of my hearing from both ears. So, what's next? Hearing aids. Boy, I hated wearing them. I tried to get used to them and it took a very long time. Besides, my hearing at the same time I found out I was pregnant with our 1st child. Instead, of being happy I was scared, sad, mad at God. Why, I lost my hearing at the same time I just had gotten pregnant.???

   To fast  forward my depression started to get worse.  After, my son I got pregnant again and miscarried my 2nd baby at 3 months. That took another hard hit on me. Depression started hitting me severe I got pregnant right away again with my 2nd son. I was trying to be happy again, but depression was taking an edge of me. I started to hate everything n MYSELF. After, birth I lost all my weight that I gained with my 2nd son. Slowly, depression was eating me inside it got worse. Depression made me to hate things around me. Deeply, I had gone to the darkest shadow in my life. Feeling lonely, hopeless, feeling I was putting to much weight on my family, felt unloved and so on.I had gone so bad with it that I even thought of taking my own life.Yes, the thought of taking my own life. I even tried to plan how to my own life.

    I realized that I haven't gone to church the way I used to nor I have prayed one time through all this ordeal. One night I opened my drawer and saw the bible and some other monastery books I had. Realized, right there I haven't prayed to God for any help. Why, because the devil was inside me trying to have me take my own life. I opened the book and started praying and tears came running down my cheeks. I begged deep down to God and asked him to forgive my sins and to help me. From that day on. I started to pray constantly, crying and repenting to Him for my sins. During, these days asking forgiveness Demons were constantly besides. THe ugly dreams had many nights. I kept my faith in God.

 After, a month of crying to him, praying for forgiveness and going to church.I started to feel calmer, peace and coming to realize life around me is truly beautiful! My husband was with me in all this. He tried so many ways to help me and when he saw that I started to pray, he joined in with me and together we started to take our family to church every Sunday.  Since, I started to fight my depression,  But something was still missing inside me. I was not happy on the way I looked and needed to come and tell people about my hearing problem. I gained 20lbs back through all this. My husband started looking into some natural ways to fight depression. He told me to exercise or find a hobby. Many many times he told me this, but I did not listen. Finally, I find out fish oil & St. John wart were good and natural supplements to fight depression. I did take St. Johns wart for only 2 weeks because I started to read bad reviews on it and the pill was huge for me to swallow. Since, I gained so much I knew I had to lose weight. Finally, broke down and got into a diet and exercise that I stuck to. It was hard at first but having faith in myself for the first time I knew I can do it!

   I remember clearly when I said this to my hubby and mother on October 1st, 2009. On October 2nd, 2009 I woke up took the boys to school and right away I started to walk. I walked every morning and evening. Along, with exercising I prayed a lot. I got up earlier every day to make sure I said my prayers before I went out and exercise. In 2.5 months I lost all my weight and felt a whole NEW life ahead of me. I want to Thank my husband who was with me through all this by my side. But what really helped me was praying and finding my true self and exercising!! I'm so thankful, I never took depression pills and I was able to beat my depression the natural way. One more thing I almost forgot to write. In the beginning of 2010, I told my hubby lets try for another child this year. He was scared that it might lead me to depression again, but I encourage him. In May of 2010 we found out we were expecting our 3rd child whom today is a healthy 8month old. I prayed &  exercised everyday through my pregnancy. I proved my husband that depression will not get me again.  Now He truly believes me and I really defeated my depression on my own.  As I said earlier I know a couple of people trying to outcome depression and I'm trying my best to be with them and help them get out of the dark shell.. I try to encourage them and tell them that they can do this without doctor's prescribing pills.

   Please. If you or someone you know is depressed, help them to get out of their dark shell. It is a very very dark lonely place to be in. The demons take over your life. God helped me when I started reaching out to him.
  He was there for me and also helped me realize I need to love myself first before I can love my family. Depression is a choice the person makes. I choice to live and fight the demons in me. Just like people t call themselves cancer survivors I tell them I am a suicide survivor.

  
  
 
Take your life day by day and with praying and repenting you will find your heart calmer & peaceful!

Thanks for reading

Marianthi

Atlantic Hosiery

    This is the kind of place I love to discover. A huge warehouse full of exercise apparel , underwear's, bra's, pj's & a little kids clothing. Thanks to my friend Ana telling me about this place. I spent $45.00 worth of garments & clothing with 2 bags full.

    This isn't Victoria Secret quality, but still good enough, cute & cheap! I recommend this place for everyone that lives in Ft. Lauderdale & Miami areas. The brand names they have are so many, Bali, Wonderbra's,Jockey & much much more..

Address to this place is in 13449 NW 42nd Ave, Opa Locka, FL

Have a great Day

Thanks for stopping by!

Marianthi

Getting ready for Halloween...

  My sons were asking me to make some Halloween decorations. So, I decided to make a couple simple crafts. A ghost canvas foot prints & wiggly eye's wreath. They came out so cute!


They are so simple to make!
First is the canvas ghost foot prints of you kiddos!

    1 Canvas your size ( I used a 8x10)
    Black paint
    White paint
    Ribbon
    Staple gun

I do not have a ribbon on this one due to the fact my hubby wants it in his office just the way it is. NOW gotta make another one for home!

This 2nd project I did is the wiggly eye wreath.
All you need is
    12inch Ring board. ( find at any craft store)
    wiggly eyes
    Paint
    Glue
    Ribbon

Happy Thursday,
Thanks for stopping by!

Marianthi

Homemade Liquid Hand Soap..

  This weekend I was on vacation with my hubby. We were in the lobby room because hubby wanted to ask for something. I sat down and skim through a couple magazines. One page caught my eye's was on making your own hand soap? It seem so easy. It only needed 3 ingredients. The reason why this caught my eye was, that I have so many bars of Ivory soap on hand!   Since, no one in my family cares about a bar of soap, why not try to make a hand liquid soap? Right??

  Well, I used Distilled water, bar of soap, &  glycerin (this is optional).

So, last night I decided to try and make it and see how it works out!

Here was the recipe I got from the magazine. I did it a little bit different..


Recipe says to use
1 cup grated thinly bar of soap. ( I however grated the whole bar came to 1 1/2 cups)
4 cups of Distilled water ( since I was using a little more of soap I decided to put 5 1/2cups of water)
1 tbsp glycerin ( I did not use this plus this is optional)

I know a lot of homemade soaps uses essential oils which I had in hand and put a few drops of Lavender to my soap. ( Again this is optional)

First, grate the bar of soap thinly. I used Ivory bar of soap and the whole bar came to 1.5 cups. I used the whole bar instead of 1 cup.

In a large pot add 4 cups of distilled water till about to steam.Then add 1 tbsp glycerin ( I did not use this), & your 1 cup grated soap. Stir till soap completely dissolves. Remove from heat and give it another couple minutes to stir.

Starting to steam  put grated soap now & stir

Soap dissolved really fast & stir a couple more minutes

Let the soap cool completely. I left mine for over an hour. Again I gave it another good stirring, then poured them in a hand soap container. The rest I saved it in a jar for later use.

My soap did come out a little bit watery, but next time I will put only 4.5 cups of water and see if this makes any difference. In the end, this cost me nothing, since I already had everything on hand!

Have you experimented with homemade liquid hand soaps? If so what's your favorite recipe?

Pleasant SURPRISED Vacation........

   Hello everyone! Hope you all having a great Labor day weekend! One thing I know for sure I had a surprise vacation my husband had planned for us. He told me on Thursday that on Friday we are leaving and I had to pack.
  Where to? He did not say a thing more. So, Friday comes I  pick up my boys early from school since my MIL does not drive.
   Off we go to who knows where. Hubby, drives towards Naples. I'm like where we going still no word from him. Well, exactly 3 hrs driving we get to South Sea resorts in Captiva Island! I was in shock and surprised he set this up for me! With our crazy life style at home this gave us the opportunity to rest, catch up with things in our minds, clear our minds, and so on! One thing in mind I have everyday is Thanking God for blessing me with an Awesome Husband and Amazing kids! Faith is what keeps love strong. 

 1st day we got there.

 Enjoying the walk at the beach and watching the sunset

The view from our room!!! Sunrise

Manatee

Eagle

The shark I caught!! Sike someone else caught this in our villa..

Want to thank my husband for this great vacation he planned for us!! Love you so much!

Have a great Labor Day weekend!!
Thanks for stopping by.

Marianthi