DIY Mint Candy Bowls December 18, 2012

Before anything – I’ve got to thank Tutto Bella Blog for this idea…just loved it and wanted to try and take it to another level.

This is a great inexpensive way to make something cute and personal for a small gift. I made them to give to Colin’s teachers with the gifts in them.

Anyway, here goes:

Mint Candy Bowls

You need: Starlight type mints, parchment paper, cookie sheets, a bowl and an oven

I got my mints at Dollar Tree and since I couldn’t find red and green mints anywhere, I opted for red mints and cinnamon candy for contrast.

Now preheat the oven to 350 degrees

Place the parchment paper onto the cookie sheet

Arrange the mints and candies in a circular pattern of your choice on the center of the paper. Make sure to leave a little bit of room between the mints.

Carefully place in the oven making sure the mints don’t slide too much and bake for  8 to 10 minutes. This is the the first tricky part, you have to watch them closely after 5 minutes. You don’t want them to melt too little or too much.

Take them out of the oven to cool.

While the candies are melting, take a small bowl (I used a kids cereal bowl) and turn it upside down and cover it with parchment paper. I turned the paper under the top of the bowl to hold it down.

Super tricky part now – when the candies are cool enough to maneuver without them turning into a molten mass and not so hard that they will break (I waited about 3-4 minutes), flip the parchment with the candy onto the upside down bowl, form it loosely over the bowl and let cool.

I let them cool another 3-4 minutes.

Peel the parchment off the bottom and inside of bowl and

Walla!! You have a candy candy dish!

 

I also made a couple of trays and another bowl – there was one bowl that didn’t make it. I didn’t let it cool enough before peeling the paper and it turned into a flat mess. To make the edges of the trays smooth, I used a pizza wheel to cut them about a minute or so after they came out of the oven. The trays are super fragile so be careful when using them. I find the bowls seem to be a bit less fragile but I have no idea why. Some more pics of the bowls and trays.

This was the epic fail:

 

Love Tray

The finished products – for a total cost of $6.00

 

I’m back…for whatever it’s worth January 3, 2012

I really keep saying I want to keep up with this and it’s terrible how I don’t. I’ve gone through another set of holidays without posting one thing in regards to my son, hubby, dogs (yes that’s dogs) we acquired a puppy on October 23rd. All is good in general, but I would love to keep a record of the finer points so that someday I can go back and see where we were and how far we’ve come (hopefully).

Well, we got approved for our home modification, which I hadn’t even posted about at all. Payments went up $75/month but our back payments were absorbed. Huge weight off our shoulders. Thank you to Chase Home Finance for seeing the light on that one and not letting us lose our home. I really love our house and was totally sweating the last year thinking we might lose it.

Colin is doing great! Happy, healthy, extremely talkative two year old…as in never.shuts.up. He talks in his friggin sleep. But, it’s well worth it. He has a real sense of humor and a few weeks ago I was reading him a book before bed and he flipped up his sippy cup straw and chocolate milk sort of spewed out…we both were belly laughing about it and I thought to myself afterwards how it’s all worth it just for that moment. All the pain to get here and the terrible two moments are gone in an instant when you are laughing with your son and it’s real. He loves to cook, cook, cook…everything he does is some variation of cooking. My friend swears it’s because he’s around me cooking all the time, but I think he just has a natural tendency towards cooking  – – Master Chef here we come!!

Potty training began last week and it’s been pretty good…dry for a few days, then an accident…today he pooped in his undies 😦 for the first time. But, I think he’ll get it sooner versus later and I’m not expecting perfection. He’s also in a toddler bed now. We did that the a few days after Christmas. Our house is a disaster with toys strewn everywhere, but a big part of me loves it. Can’t wait til the weekend when the tree comes down though.

And our latest addition:Stormy the pit bull/beagle (at least that’s what I think she is). Cute as a bug but what a maniac. We went into Petco and a young man was walking out with her. Of course we stopped to moon over her and heard that she had spent a week left outside in all the elements, including a Nor’Easter and fell in love. She’s a happy dog but kind of dumb…still hasn’t gotten the housebreak thing down completely and now I have to work on obedience cuz she’s starting to jump up for food, etc.

I’m going to leave it at this for now…hopefully I can do a little better this year as opposed to last…but we’ll see..no more promises to myself or anyone else. Oh yeah…and I gained back a bunch of weight I had lost so I’m starting off the new year at 179 pounds and I need to get my raggedy butt back down to 155….

That’s all folks!!

Things are continuing to look pretty good December 14, 2008

Beta was at 3800 on Saturday which is a good number, means things are progressing nicely. I have to go back this coming Friday (the 19th) for another beta and then on the 29th I go for a sono to see if the embie/baby has a heartbeat. That will be the biggie.

California was really nice. We spent most of our time with family, but we did get some driving time on the PCH in. It’s very pretty out there…but also wayyy too expensive for my taste. I’m a poor person…and I’m not sure I’d even want to be that wealthy. But it was great seeing family – we haven’t seen them since the summer.  BTW, for all the people who think the Santa Monica Pier is something they have to see – don’t waste your time. It’s an arcade and fair – no more, no less. If you go to the pier, go to see the seals, cormorants and grebes(light colored cormorant looking birds).  And the scenery…

Had a Christmas party at my house with all my local “Infertility Friends” and we had a great time. I had a house full of kids ranging in age from 6 months to 5 years and it was so much fun. Although, after 7 hours I guess Misty had had enough and she nipped at the 5 year old. I’m not happy about it, but his mother was great and totally understood that the dog was tired and just reacted to him running by. I was really upset cuz she had been really good with the kids all day….I never expected that at the end of the night. She didn’t even break skin, but it was enough to disturb me.

In other news, my sister just announced that she is pregnant. If all goes well, we will be due within two weeks of each other. I can honestly say that at first I was a little angry and/or jealous, but I seem to have gotten past it and am thinking how great it will be that these cousins will be so close in age and get to grow up together. I remember how much fun I used to have with the cousins who were around my age and I really think this is going to be a good thing.

And that’s all I got…..I now have to go back to working on my Christmas Dinner menu. We have 13 people coming over and I’m thinking of doing a crown roast of pork for dinner.

Oh and some pics from Santa Monica!

Dan and Jack at the Dinosaur!

Dan and I

A view of the Pacific Coast Highway

5dp3dt… November 29, 2008

Saturday morning and the drugs are driving me insane already.

I don’t know which is worse – the progesterone cramping or the estrace nauseau…either way I can’t stand it.

On the upside, we are going to Cali in two weeks!! Soooooooo exciting!!! We are going to visit hubby’s sister and family in Santa Monica and I really can’t wait. First, because I really miss them and want to see them. Second, cuz I’ve never been to Cali and can’t wait to see the other coast!! So, it’s very exciting stuff.

Misty’s still sort of off…and I really should be taking her for her shots today. Not sure what I’m going to do about that. She’s farting like a madman and although her stool was semi-normal yesterday, I haven’t checked todays yet. Why, oh why do dogs have to eat crap that’s in or on the ground for extended periods of time?!

In even sadder news (I’m just a happy piglet aren’t I?), a man was trampled in a WalMart on LI yesterday. And I cannot fathom how crass, rude and boorish our society has become that a person’s life is worth saving $5 on a Christmas gift. I just can’t figure it out…When did we become these monsters? How does noone care about another persons welfare at all. How do you see people knock someone over and stomp all over him and just join the throng and not try to help. Then there’s someone who videotaped the police trying to resuscitate him and was laughing…how do you laugh at another persons’ death? Yeah…Merry Christmas Everyone. 😦 Thankfully, I was working and will be working today…I have no interest in dealing with the mobs at the stores this weekend. No bargain is that important, people will just get less for Christmas.