Breast Cancer Benefit Baskets

Here are gift baskets I made for a benefit people were having for a lady at my mom's work....

Lilac Basket

Book Basket

Planting a Cure

Popping in a Cure

Baking in a Cure

French Toast Casserole

When I woke up this morning I decided to create a breakfast I saw on Pinterest and since me and Adam both love french toast this sounded like a great idea....


Recipe:

• 5 cups bread cubes
• 4 eggs
• 1 1/2 cups milk
• 1/4 cup white sugar, divided
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 tablespoon margarine, softened
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Lightly butter an 8x8 inch baking pan.
2. Line bottom of pan with bread cubes. In a large bowl, beat together eggs, milk, 2 tablespoons sugar, salt and vanilla. pour egg mixture over bread. Dot with margarine; let stand for 10 minutes.
3. Combine remaining 2 tablespoons sugar with 1 teaspoon cinnamon and sprinkle over the top. Bake in preheated oven about 45 to 50 minutes, until top is golden.

6 servings 

It takes a little bit of time but over all it was pretty easy. I also used my silk vanilla milk instead and omitted the vanilla extract by doing so. 


I did forget to set the oven 25* less than what the recipe called for so it only took 30 minutes. The outside was a little crunchy (my mom suggested I cover with aluminum next time). The inside was a little bit more soggy than I would have liked also (I can't stand anything soggy but Adam and mom liked it). Overall the taste was yummy. 


<3 Nik

Coupon Organization

So I am a huge planner... For example I have planned George and Samantha's entire summer break from field trips, cooking, science and art activities. All I need is for their mom to let me know what day their sporting activities are on and when.

Living at home my mom mostly takes care of the coupons and grocery shopping. I figured since I will be moving out soon I need to get a coupon system set up. I hate using those expanding file folder things bc they never stay open. So I found an empty box laying around the basement and decided to make little folders to fit in it.... Here is the outcome.

I made a folder for all the different categories plus:
*Air Fresheners & Candles
*Baby (even though I don't have one yet but it would have messed up the tabs if I didn't make it now and 2 years from now I needed it. Told you I am a huge planner).
*Bags
*Baking
*Batteries
*Beverages
*Bread
*Candy & Gum
*Canned Foods
*Cereal - General Mills
*Cereal - Kashi
*Cereal - Kelloggs
*Cleaners
*Condiments
*Crackers
*Dairy
*Frozen
*Health Foods
*Hygiene - Dental
*Hygiene - Other
*Jelly / Peanut Butter
*Makeup
*Meat
*Medicine / Rx
*Mexican
*Office Supplies
*Paper Products {T.P., etc.}
*Pasta
*Rice
*Salad Dressing
*Seasonings
*Sauce
*Snacks
*Toys
*Vitamins
Additional categories I made for specific stores:
*Bed Bath & Beyond
*Craft Stores
*CVS
*Kroger
*Target
*Walgreens
*Wal-Mart
Other categories:
Restaurants -- Gift Cards

I also made folders for different memberships so we can set the money aside ahead of time. This way when the membership fee is due we wont be searching for the money.
Sam's Membership
Moose Membership

<3 Nik

Layney's TuTu - Item for Sale

So one of my friends wanted a TuTu for her little girl's 1st birthday.... I thought it would be hard to do so I was a little nervous to do it at first. I actually went to the fabric store to go get supplies for a different craft and while I was there I was why not it's worth a shot. Here is the final result of Layney's TuTu... If you would like to order one Please e-mail me at dream.lovehope@live.com with the subject line Sweet Dreams Crafts. 

$10.00






<3 Nik

Sweet Cupcake - Item for sale

Me and my boyfriends mom were shopping for craft ideas and this is one of the many we came up with. This would be an adorable decoration for the summer time... ONLY $15.00 and it's yours....

Just e-mail me at: dream.lovehope@live.com with the subject line sweet dreams crafts (this is so I don't think its spam).

<3 Nik

Specialty Order Form

If anyone would like to order a gift basket here is an order form you can fill out and e-mail me @dream.lovehope@live.com

Please let your friends know :-)

<3 Nik

Stranger Safety

George is going to be 5 this week and Samantha is going to be 3 at the end of the month. It is a really great time to go into more detail about stranger danger with George. Since Samantha wants to do everything he does she is learning the basics but might not comprehend everything he does.

The kids mom got a DVD it is for ages 4 and up. The video is called The Safe Side: Stranger Safety. The company also has one for Internet Safety. These video's were created by John Walsh and Julie Clark. I have had a little time to check out the website www.thesafeside.com which has more resources for families and teachers to download. We have not had time yet to watch the video but when we do I will give you my opinion on it and weather or not the kids liked it and understood it.

So George has sat down with his mom and watched the video this past week... I saw him on Thursday and he could not wait to watch it again. I didn't actually get to sit down and watch it with him but he could already tell me so much about it and the clips I did see were great. This video his kid approved!!!! 

<3 Nik