Making Minions

This is such an easy food craft that kids can do it.

INGREDIENTS:

WHITE (or yellow) chocolate
marshmallows
candy eyes
 Black frosting and/or molding dough
(candy sticks/lollipop sticks)
(a big cup to hold the sticks)

Optional:

fondant (in colors you want to use to decorate)

First you need to put the marshmallows on the sticks. I put them in a broad based cup to hold them while I decorate them.

You can microwave the chocolate until it is smooth and creamy. All you need is some chocolate (white or yellow), if you use white, you will need some yellow food coloring to dye your chocolate to the proper color for minions.

Then you dip your marshmallows in the chocolate and put them in the fridge to cool. Then use the left over warm chocolate to "glue" the candy eyes in place. You are nearly done.

You can decorate as much or as little as you like.

I also made a minion holder.

This came pre-packaged from the local craft store. All I was supposed to have to do was put it together.

But the instructions were in Spanish...:(

Still I tried.

But I had to ask my hubby to help and he actually ended up using his drill to make the lollipop holders larger.

Of course I had to decorate it with a little ribbon.

Another Exciting Weekend in the Kasch Household

I don't know how you spend your weekends but around my house it's one exciting adventure after another...NOT!

We seem to spend a lot of time remodeling...and this is something we've been doing for about 30 years.

Well, at least this weekend we made a little headway on the chimbrary...my little library behind the chimney.

And, when I say we I mean my hubby. He of course of was sitting up in that little space installing the beautiful wainscoting I wanted.

Here's a pictorial progress report:

An Agent's In-Box

Krista Van Dolzer is hostessing a contest and for any writers out there, it might just be worth your while to check it out.

Just pop over here and see if this is for you.

But for those of you who don't want to click over without knowing if it's worth it, here are the rules as they appear on her blog:

"The Rules

1. To enter, your manuscript must meet two conditions: First, it must be COMPLETE, POLISHED, AND READY TO QUERY, and second, it must be in one of the genres The Agent represents (which are listed at the bottom of this post).

2. IF YOU PARTICIPATED IN FEBRUARY’S ROUND OF “AN AGENT’S INBOX,” please DO NOT participate in this one UNLESS YOU HAVE A NEW MANUSCRIPT that meets the criteria listed above. I have a pretty good memory, and I will disqualify previous entries. If the entry slots don’t fill up by Tuesday, August 19, I may allow previous participants to enter, but I’m not going to make that decision right now.

3. All entries must include A QUERY and THE FIRST 250 WORDS of your manuscript. You must paste these items IN THE BODY OF YOUR E-MAIL; otherwise, I'll disqualify it.

4. THE ENTRY WINDOW OPENS AT 1:00 P.M. EDT (OR 10:00 A.M. PDT). Once the entry window opens, I'll accept the first 20 entries. I won't accept any entries sent before the entry window opens or after the first 20 slots fill up.

5. If your entry makes it in, I'll send you a confirmation e-mail with a post number. If your entry doesn't make it in, I'll still send you an e-mail, but it won't have a post number.

6. If your entry makes it in, YOU MUST COMMENT ON AT LEAST 3 OTHER ENTRIES.

The Prizes The Agent will select both the winners and the prizes. The Agent might pick 20 winners, or he or she might only pick one. The Agent might offer full requests, or he or she might only ask to see another page. It all depends on how good the entries are.

Please keep in mind that THIS CONTEST ISN'T FOR THE FAINT OF HEART. I've encouraged The Agent to treat the entries exactly as he or she would a normal batch of queries. Essentially, The Agent will be answering the question, "How much of the entry did you read, and if you didn't read it all, why did you stop?" I think this process will be instructive for all of us, but if you enter, you need to be prepared to hear exactly what The Agent thinks of your query and first page.

So get those queries and first pages polished up, then meet us back here on Monday, August 18, at 1:00 p.m. EDT! At that time, you may send your entries to kvandolzer(at)gmail(dot)com. Looking forward to it!

The Genres

MG fiction (all genres)
YA fiction (all genres)
NA fiction (all genres except erotica)"

REMEMBER THIS ISN'T MY CONTEST IT'S KRISTA VAN DOLZER'S SO IF YOU WANT TO PARTICIPATE, HOP OVER TO HER BLOG BY CLICKING HERE. 

Hawthorne Street Fair - this weekend

Hawthorne Boulevard will be closed from SE 30th to SE 38th Avenues! Sunday event highlights include: live music all day, beer gardens (located outside Bazi Bierbrasserie with a live DJ and beer tastings, and at the Eagles Lodge with live bands during the course of the day: both beer gardens are family and pet friendly, and are cash only), kids events at toy store Kids at Heart including face painting, circus activities, prizes and more! PLUS our friends at Lounge Lizard have some surprises up their sleeves! Make sure you pop on over to Hawthorne Boulevard this weekend for this fantastic street fair!

AcroYoga

Their Eyes Were Watching God

Their Eyes Were Watching God is a story about new horizons and looking for the good in even the worst of situations. It's also a story about love and looking for a connection with another person and loving them.

Zora Hurston wrote this novel in 1937 in seven weeks.

It's the story of Janie Crawford, a young black woman who grows up during the course of the book and her search for love and her own identity.

Zora was a woman who wrote this story in a time when it wasn't easy to be an African American female writer.

Though the text might take a little time getting used to, it is well worth the effort. I would rate this novel a 7-8 on a scale of 1-10. It was a little slow in a couple of spots (one being the very beginning) but over all it was very entertaining and interesting.

SCBWI Oregon Retreat

If you want to get away and relax while being productive all at the same time, then you should check out the SCBWI-Oregon Retreat:

2014 Annual Fall Retreat

Date/Time
Date(s) - 10/16/2014 - 10/19/2014
3:00 pm - 12:00 pm
Location
Oregon Garden Resort
895 W Main St - Silverton, OR 97381

A Weekend Wedding

My brother got married over the weekend and it brought the family together from all over the country...well, at least from Minnesota, California, Washington and Oregon. And it was so much fun seeing family I haven't seen for quite some time.

And it was a wonderful thing to see young cadets doing an honor guard crossing of the swords for the bridal party.

And then--of course--there was the kiss that sealed the deal, while everyone stood by and watched.

And then we partied with food and fun.

All-in-all, I couldn't think of a better way to spend a weekend.

Cooking Class

I took an outdoor cooking class

At the Farmington Gardens  

where they have From the Garden to the Table classes

It was a sunny, warm day and it was fun to sit outside and watch the ladies cook and smell the aromas floating around the air, and they even fed us what they cooked. So it was a yummilicious time.

And on August 9th they'll be having another class on peaches. Wouldn't you like to learn how to make chilled peach soup?

I think it sounds interesting.

DEMON'S INK

I'm excited to announce I've SOLD my first young adult novel: Demon's Ink!

The story is set here, in Portland, Oregon. And Mt. Tabor will feature prominently in the storyline. The main characters attend the local high school and street names and locations will be obvious to any Portlandian.

I'll post more, as I get more news. But for now, I just wanted to share my happy news with all my friends.

BIG News Coming here tomorrow

Just want you to come back and read all about it!

:D

Hope you're having as good a weekend as I am

Taking a Class

Have you ever wanted to take a class? I'm not talking about school. I'm talking about learning something you can really use in life...like cooking.

Well, I have.

And this weekend I'm signed up for my very first cooking class. Now, I've taken decorating classes, like cake decorating and knitting and sewing classes before...but cooking is something we can all use.

So Monday, I'll tell you all about it but right now I'm pretty excited about learning something new and useful.

How 'bout you? Doing anything fun this weekend?

Recycled Boots

We used to have horses. My daughter had a paint and I had a quarter horse. We used to muck out stalls and ride with our boots on and let me tell you . . . it never occurred to me to make a purse out of my old boots. But these are pretty purses and they are made from fine leather. I love people that come up with ideas and ways to reuse things and I think this is pretty creative.

The Great Critique

It was another busy Saturday morning for me. The day was filled with donuts from VooDoo and coffee brought in from Starbucks. But on top of that there were awe...mazing mentors sitting at each table to help show writers how to critique other works and how to share suggestions in a positive, inspiring way.

This event had a record breaking 57 attendees show up. And The Great Critique went from 9:30 a.m. to after noon. And some people didn't want to leave even after we started turning out the lights. It was just so much fun no one wanted to have it end.

So if you get a chance any time soon to attend one of the SCBWI events like this, don't miss it. You'll find that your time will be well spent and you won't just learn a thing or two, you might even make more than a few friends.

The Columbia River Gorge

 When you're driving up I84 from Portland toward The Dalles you will pass a bevy of waterfalls. Some you can even see right from the road. But if you pull off to the side of the road and hike for a little ways, you will find some more unbelievable falls and some breathtakingly beautiful views.

And if you want to walk just a little ways at Multnomah Falls, (yes that's a Native American word) you can see the falls drop from one level to the next.

This was how we spent Saturday afternoon, hiking the falls and taking in the views.

What did you do?

Dinner with the Danes

It was a busy weekend, filled with feasting, waterfalls, hiking and even a Great Critique.

We were lucky enough to have a couple in town from Denmark. They came to celebrate Jesper's birthday and their first wedding anniversary. So, we started the evening on Friday at Papa Haydn's in S.W. Portland.

The food was good but it was the dessert that got me going. Of course that's usually the way it is with me. Anyway, it was wonderful to share a special day with a special couple who traveled nearly around the world to share their celebration with us.

Tempting Tuesday

Do you love cake...or is your fav dessert pie...?

My hubby loves pie, while I'm a cake lady and my favorite part of pie is the crust, while my husband would rather simply eat the filling. So, it seems that we are always on opposite sides of the . . . platter.

But, if I had to choose a piece...of pie, mine would be lemon or banana cream or maybe chocolate cream of coconut cream so still not one of those berry things.

While my husband loves pumpkin (and I can't even stomach that stuff) or apple (another NOT for me).

And, when it comes to cake...I love all sorts of them, from carrot to chocolate and beyond. I can't think of a cake I don't like. And it's even better if its ala mode.

Now, why did I think about cake tonight...? It was a blog post I saw on a friend's blog. If you want to read more about cake, you can check out this blog here.

The Color Run is Coming

If you want a discount ticket, check out Living Social and this Funtastic run will take place at the Portland International Raceway.

The Color Run presents - The 2014 Kaleidoscope Tour! Amazing new participant gear, fresh music, and color crazy race attractions. This 5K Magic is coming to Portland on Saturday, September 6 at 9:00 a.m.

So, even if your not a super sprinter, you can still have fun at this run.

Hope to see you there.

Remodeling Project Making Final Progress...

This has been one looooooong remodeling project. But we are finally approaching the finish line. Of course my husband pulled off the roof and walls a couple years ago and has been rebuilding the bedroom ever since. But now he is finishing up the siding outside.

He had focused so much time inside that he forgot to finish the siding outside...or maybe he just didn't have the time. So now he's working on finishing it up too.

Here are a few pictures from the project. The ceiling upstairs in this bedroom was so low - only about 7' (Luke is 6'5") and he was hitting his knuckles on the ceiling.

So Lars started to rip it out but he wanted to see what was up there first.

Then he completely tore off the top.

But he didn't stop there. He had to tear off the wall and part of the roof...in November.

And he had to work late into the night to get the wall and roof rebuilt....because, like I said, it was November.

And Luke helped too.

Then there was insulation to put in

And walls to rebuild.

And French doors, and a balcony...

Oh, but before he built the balcony, he had to rebuild the floors

And patch a few holes.

But now that the room is nearly done, he needed to refinish the siding outside, which meant putting up scaffolding.

You can see it here at the side of the house (it's the yellow looking ladder-like apparatus).

Then Lars climbed up on it, and out on the roof.

And then he was just hanging around on the roof for a few days. And then it was finally finished out there and the boys had to take all the scaffolding down.

Now there are only a few finishing touches to complete and then the clean up...maybe this weekend.

The Diviners

Last night was book club night and it was time for the book I recommended to be discussed.

I had recommended The Diviners by Libba Bray

I enjoyed the story but my other book club members weren't so impressed with it. They either didn't like the Demon, the occult aspects or the roaring 20's. Some thought it was too long and others thought the main character seemed too grown up for a 17 year-old or too versed in slang to be a girl who just moved to the Big Apple from Ohio.

I loved little Evil, as Theta called her and Jerico and Sam...well, I guess I loved a lot of the characters and that's what makes a story good...right...or is that write ;D

New Additions to the Family

We heard there was an over abundance of kitties at the Humane Society so we went to check it out and yep, there were cages and cages filled with cute little kittens. And when I saw these two playful little guys, I couldn't get just one.

I called my hubby and said, "Can I get two?"

And I thought this picture was so funny. It looks like one is riding the other one...only backwards :D

These guys will provide years and years of fun.

DIY Cushion Cover

It's easy to make a cushion cover.

All you have to do is go to a craft store and have them cut you a piece of foam that will fit your seat, bench or chair.

Then you take the fabric you want and spread it out on the floor. Lay the foam on the fabric and cut the fabric to fit the foam.

Then you can sew the straight lines to piece the fabric together.

And to make sure the seams are straight, you can iron them into place.

And when you're all done, it will be a perfect fit for your seat cushion.

Braclets made from old belts

Camp Hollyhock makes old belts into wonderful jewelry. Look at these beautiful cuffs made from old belts.

I love how this shop uses old things and makes them into new wonderful pieces to wear and enjoy for many more years.

A dress made from an old sheet

I found this dress over the weekend at Camp Hollyhock and had to buy it. The wonderful women at Camp Hollyhock repurpose old clothes and fabric into new creative clothes.

I love how they turn old clothing into lacy, feminine pieces.

If you get a chance to stop by Sellwood to do some shopping, you have to stop by Camp Hollyhock.

Alcohol Ink Art Glass

I wanted to make an art glass piece to put into a new little window up above a door leading into a bedroom upstairs so the skylight could let light into the room but I'm not great at stained glass artwork. So, a friend told me about alcohol ink art that she had done a week or so before. She even brought over all her supplies so we could work on the window together.

It was a fun way to spend an afternoon, working on art--whether it is paper, glass or ceramic tiles.

I decided to just let little droplets fall from the bottles onto the glass. Then I let it dry overnight and finally sealed it with a glass sealant. Now, my husband is going to frame it and put it into place.

Happy 4th of July!

Just wanted to pop in to wish you and yours a happy and healthy holiday weekend. I hope it will be filled with feasting and festivities.

And that you manage to get some rest and relaxation too.