aftermath

THIS IS ME.

THIS IS ME AFTER CHRISTMAS.

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nuff said

S'mores pops

 This year I decided to make something different -

something easy and fun that the whole family could make together!

S'mores pops! S'mores on a stick - oh yeah baby!

We made these assembly line style, and we had a blast!

The pics are pretty self explanatory, but you'll need:

1. marshmallows

2. hard paper sticks

3. melted milk chocolate

4. graham cracker crumbs

5. wax paper

 Put the stick in the marshmallow, dip it in the chocolate

Let some chocolate drip off, roll it in the graham cracker crumbs

 After the marshmallow is well-coated, lay it on the wax paper

 After you've made a gazillion of them, package as desired!

 This is so easy, even college graduates can manage it :)

*warning: you will eat as many as you make

 BE AFRAID. BE VERY AFRAID.

And amazingly, they were even better the next day!

So if you want some, come over and get 'em!

I'm seriously running out of delivery steam :/ 

~ 

Merry Merry!

P.S. Davy thinks he's hysterically funny by saying 

it looks like they were rolled in kitty litter...

not only were they NOT rolled in kitty litter,

but they taste freaking amazing and I mean it!

And no, I don't want a peanut!!!

Calli and Matt

Calli and Matthew performing "the First Noel"

ARE THEY TOO DOGGONE CUTE OR WHAT!

Well hold on to your skivvies and check out what's below:

SO. ADORABLE.

That dadgum Matthew! Just when I'm ready to wring his neck...

he goes and does something precious like this! AARGH! 

Holiday Repost! Best. Pumpkin. Bread. Ever.

Howdy gang! How was your weekend?! Ours was FABULOUS is so many ways!

~

Well, guess what?! I've had lots of requests to repost this recipe!

Which originally came from my friend Diana (the recipe, that is).

It's truly the Best. Pumpkin. Bread. Ever. It's smooth as silk. 

SO smooth, you could almost drink it instead of eat it. BIONIC :)

I first posted it -----> HERE <----- last July. Did you make it?

Well, it's not a gazillion degrees anymore like it was last July! 

The weather is finally cool, the leaves are finally changing color, 

and the holidays are finally here! YAYYY! 

Which means you NEED to have some pumpkin bread!

I'm reposting the recipe below - ENJOY!!!

~

DIANA'S AMAZING PUMPKIN BREAD

31/2 cups flour

2 tsp. baking soda

11/2 tsp. salt

1 tsp. cinnamon

1 tsp. nutmeg

3 cups sugar

1 cup mazola oil

4 eggs

2/3 cup water

1 - 16 ounce Libby's solid pack pumpkin

 - Mix all dry ingredients together and make a well in middle of dry ingredients and add the rest of the ingredients.  Blend until well mixed. 

 - Grease and flour pans (I use 3 loaf pans)

 - Bake at 350 degrees for approx. 1 hour - test with a toothpick for doneness.

 - Cool and remove - can be frozen

 ~

Holy freaking YUMMM!!! :)

gnaughty gnomes

So I brought my cheery little silver and red wreath inside, after I had noticed the wind had whipped it right off it's hanging wire. I repaired it with my bionic glue and left it on my dining room table to dry. No big.

As I was going about my business, I heard funny sounds. Shuffling sounds. Muffled giggling. That could mean only one thing. Gnomes. Gnaughty gnomes!  Oh, do gnomes love to hide and play tricks and be gnaughty!

These gnomes are gnew. Salt and pepper shaker gnomes from my dear friend Kerrie. I adore them! But gnew gnomes will of course test waters and push limits in their gnew territory. Everyone gnows that. Out of the corner of my eye I gnoticed shenanigans going on around the wreath. I gnew they had to be hiding! Indeed they were..... Where's Waldo style. Brilliant!  

Gnomes are very intelligent. And they love fun and games. And they're not really gnaughty even though I like to pretend they are :) Not once have I ever been tripped by a string, or discovered salt in the sugar container, or had my baby toe bitten. They're actually very jolly and helpful. 

~

So... I winked at them and they winked back. They even let me take a few photos of them hiding in my wreath. I will definitely let them stay :) 

yearly repost: Rochelle's Double Dipped Rice Krispie Treats

OHHH people... you're gonna thank me for this! Are you ever!

3 years ago I posted what has become my most popular recipe.

(and it's not even mine - it's Rochelle's!)

Time to repost it, as I do every holiday season!

Are you ready for a life-changing experience?

Alllrighty then!

 And here... we... gooooo!

~ Rochelle's Double Dipped Rice Krispie Treats ~

DOUBLE the recipe on the side of the Kellog's Rice Krispies box, EXCEPT...

use 2 entire bags of regular size marshmallows, and...

use only 10 cups of Rice Krispies (instead of the 12 a double recipe would call for)

put the entire double recipe into a 9x13 pan, and condense them till even 

melt approx. 1 lb. of bulk carmel (I used the microwave, stirring frequently)

pour carmel on top of Rice Krispies and wait until everything is completely cool

When the pan is entirely cool, cut the Rice Krispie treats into squares. *taking the entire slab out of the pan and using a large, non-serrated knife makes them much easier to cut. I cut these pretty small - you want them kind of bite size, maybe a bit bigger. I think I ended up with approximately 42 squares. That's approximate, because my family descended upon them like a freaking pack of wolves before I could count them all.

More fun a-comin! Melt your chocolate chips (again, I used my microwave, stirring frequently). I used about 1 and 1/2 bags of chips. And just on a whim, I used Ghirardelli milk chocolate chips. OH. MY. GOSH. It was amazing. Seriously, I had no idea. A-MAZ-ING.

This part is the most fun :) Just dip the bottom 1/3 of your squares in that lucius chocolate, and place the squares on wax paper. Pretty soon you'll have an astonishing army of double dipped Rice Krispy treats. Oh my...........

I just need to warn you that these are seriously delicious. Seriously delicious. There's a lot of flavor packed into those little marshmallowy, carmely, chocolaty squares! YUM. Yum infinity.

And you'd better watch out, because they will receive all kinds of attention.....

hehehehe :)

felt ornament tutorial

This was a fun little project I've been working on...

finally I am done, and now I have these cheerful felt ornaments :)

I chose my own sizes, and used mostly bottles for circle sizes.

Seven different sizes, and then colorful buttons for the middle. 

I just layered different colors on the brown or black base.

Each one came out different which made me very happy!

LOVE!!!

I used a hot glue gun to attach thin ribbon for hanging. 

Attach toward the top of the ornament so it will hang evenly.

Then hang them and *ENJOY* then as soon as possible!

They don't have to be perfect - mine certainly aren't!

But they'll still look fun and festive all together on your tree!

Check it out below!

Merry Merry!!!

cool yule

wild child's Cool Yule 2011 is HERE! 

Featuring 18 fantabulous songs that you will love!

Noteworthy is the fact that all but 3 are sung by women...

didn't do it on purpose - just the way my brilliant mind works!

So here's the lineup - get ready to have a Cool Yule:

God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen - Annie Lennox

Count Your Blessings Instead of Sheep - Amy Grant

Hallelujah (Light Has Come) - Barlow Girl

Santa Baby - Glee Cast

Cool Yule - Louis Armstrong & The Commanders

It Snowed - Meaghan Smith

Jingle Bell Rock - Rogue Wave

Happy Xmas (War Is Over) - Sarah McLachlan

Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree - She & Him

Christmas for Two - Sixpence None The Richer

All That I Want - The Weepies

Hey Santa! - Straight No Chaser

I Need a Silent Night - Amy Grant

A Mother's Christmas Wish - Olivia Newton-John & Jim Brickman

There Is a Star That Shines Tonight - Sheryl Crow

A Cradle In Bethlehem - Sara  Groves

The Cowboys' Christmas Ball - The Killers

Oíche Chiúin - Enya

Seriously, what could be more fun than these Christmas songs?!

Okay, maybe chocolate or the recent episode of New Girl...

but even those things would be more fun combined with my cd!

So in lieu of the fact that I refuse to send cards this year,

let me know if you'd like me to send you a Cool Yule cd!

Send me an email @ megibug dot gmail dot com, along with:

your Google name AND your real name (if they're different) 

and please make sure I have your entire address!

Or if you're local come grab one!

You're welcome :)

the mantle of... snowmen

I do love snowmen! They make me so happy :)

 Could any figure be more jolly and cheerful?

 So this year the mantle has been set aside for them.

And let's not forget the paper chain counting down the days

until my DANIEL comes home a BYU graduate! YAY OH YAY!

decking the halls

Hello! Our house is very Christmassy lately!

Or should I say MERRY CHRISTMASSY :)

 Yes, we have a fake tree and yes we have loved it for years.

I think this year will be it's last year though...

only a few strings of the lights work now,

and the other lights only occasionally work if you

 slide across the floor and shock them into service

with any accumulated static electricity you may generate :/

But it has been such a beautiful tree all these years

And I have such a fond feeling toward all our ornaments

the wonderful stockings we've used for so, so long

 and even my freaky Santa that scares everyone! I love him!

And one more favorite face... my gnome Rapscallion 

who watches over everything from his perch on my desk :)

~

More to come! Have you been decorating too?

cuties!

 YAY FOR CUTIES!!!

As winter approaches, the Cuties start arriving!

Colorful sweetness all in their own convenient little package!

God's little reminder that he hasn't forgotten us during winter -

especially all you friends buried in the freezing snow already!

Take heart! Cuties are back!

50 years of shenanigans

~ 50 in Frooty Pebbles Krispie Treats (thank you Tori!) ~

Yesterday I turned 50. The Big 5-Ohhh.

Or as I call it, The Big 5-NOOOOO!!!

~ Little Meg ~ 

As a kid I couldn't fathom that age. It was positively ancient.

Then I became an adult. And I still couldn't fathom that age.

So I admit I'm having a very difficult time. I didn't see it coming.

First I was in denial. Then just really, really depressed :(

~ Birthday Love ~

I made this (above) years ago. I've always LOVED my birthday!

I wait for my birthday and the holidays like a little kid.

But not this year...

~ Non-Birthday Love ~

Yeah... kind of a bad attitude lately :/ 

But knowing it was coming, I tried to be a good sport.

I knew there was not one single thing I could do to stop it.

I had to put my big girl panties on and DEAL with it!

~

All my adorable friends helped me (of course!)

They took me to breakfast, brought gifts, sent emails, cards,

texts... FB'd me, called me, stopped by with gifts & treats... 

you name it, they went above and beyond for me!

My husband and boys walked the extra mile for me too.

They helped me get the whole house decorated for Christmas - 

inside and out! Even my porch! It took almost all day :)

They listened to Christmas carols, watched Christmas movies,

and ate Round Table pizza with me (that was not hard).

~

In the end, it turned out to be a pretty amazing birthday :)

~ Me. Before I became Mrs. Puff ~

Thank you, loved ones, for being such good friends...

and for helping me and supporting me and loving me...

through this big milestone.

I may be 50 (still can't say that out loud)

but I will always and forever be young at heart.

xoxoxo