family:outing solar eclipse

I went with my family to a quiet little beach cove out in Point Reyes called Chicken Ranch Beach. 


We had a lovely family BBQ. 
At home, we marinated chicken, prepared salad, cooked rice and sliced fruit. 
At the beach, there wasn't much to do. The rice was still warm, the chicken strips were defrosting and marinating in BBQ, Apricot jam and dijon mustard sauce. After my husband barbecued, I plated the warm half white, half brown rice with chicken strips hot off the BBQ and a mixed green salad combined with pomegranate infused cranberries and almonds topped with poppyseed dressing and sprinkled with Point Reyes Original Blue Cheese. 


A side note about the cheese: Besides it being a fantastic farmstead cheese, the cows are raised on our family's ranch so it's extra special to us. As for the salad, I just put all our ingredients for the salad in a bag, shook, then plated and we were all set for a fancy beach dinner.


The beach is sheltered so that it wasn't too windy and the kids were able to play in about ankle deep waves while dad bar-b-qued. This beach was also the perfect location for viewing the solar eclipse; the first annular eclipse since 1994. We look forward to seeing the "Ring of Fire" again in 2023. My daughter asked if we'd save our viewer but I think we'll probably make a new one.


We made the viewer at home and brought it with us. Everybody at the beach was interested to see the partial solar eclipse so it was fun to share with other people.

Simple Solar Eclipse Pin Hole Viewer

• 2 card board sheets
• duct tape
• small square of foil
• push pin
• white paper

1. cut 2 large sheets of cardboard
2. tape a sheet of paper on one
3. cut a square in the other cardboard
4. tape tin foil over the square
5. push pin through foil to make a pin hole

You now have a viewer.  It was simple to make and worked perfectly!

magical splatter paint butterflies

For mother's day I woke up to an amazing orchid display. My husband saw it and thought of me because of the hand-painted butterflies. Of course I looked at it and was amazed but then immediately thought of an art project that I did with my daughter's 3rd grade class. They were learning about Jackson Pollock and had the opportunity to try out splatter painting. It was really fun but wouldn't it be magical to decorate the classroom with butterflies cut out of their splatter paints. Maybe I'll suggest it for my son's class when he's in 3rd grade.

my mustache

The girls LOVE the mustache.


I thought my young girl scouts might think it funny to have little mustache pins. So I made a little template for them to cut and make into a swaps. My daughter brought her mustache pins to a huge event celebrating 100 anniversary of girl scouts. She exchanged her mustache with an older girl who then calls all her friends over to see her new little friend. The big girl hugs my little girl and tells her I'll never forget you and takes a picture with her. I wish I had the picture because the story is so funny and my daughter was so proud that this big girl was so impressed with her. I do have a picture of the mustache though and I have a free little template for you. enjoy.

Rainbow Unicorn Swap

Remembering back when I was 10, I loved unicorns and rainbows. So I designed a fun little unicorn with rainbow ribbons for my girl scout troop. The girls are going to a huge event to celebrate the 100th anniversary of girl scouts. All the girls will have cute little things that they made to trade with other girls called, "swaps". My troop will have the unicorns and a couple other swaps. The girls are so excited for this and can't wait to see what other girls made. 


For pattern go to craftsy

Sue's Crock pot Chili Chicken Tortilla

         yumminess in a pot. Thank you Sue.

• package of fresh corn tortillas (i use them whole or you can tear....)
• can cream of chicken soup
• can of mild chopped chilis 
• cooked chicken 
• 2C shredded cheese
• 1 cup of milk

Then start layering the ingredients in your crockpot....I try to end with tortillas/cheese on top.

Pour milk over top

cook on low for about 2 hours....

If you want to do in the oven....just bake in a casserole dish for about 45 minutes at 350 degrees just till everything is hot 

mango salsa

A sweet and savory recipe from my mom.

• mango
• avocado
• can rinsed black beans
• cilantro diced
• red onion diced
• olive oil
• apple cider vinegar
• salt/pepper
• a little onion powder

breakfast for the whole family

I got this recipe from a friend who got it from a friend and so on. It has been modified and modified some more, I'm sure. What I love about this type of cooking: it's not exact, make it to your liking. To me the proportions I am recommending make for a sausage bread pudding with perfect texture. My family all agrees that this will be breakfast at our next camping trip.

• 1 pkg mild Italian sausage
• loaf of sliced sourdough bread
• 2 cups shredded cheddar cheese
• 5 jumbo eggs
• 2 cups milk
• salt pepper

the night before…

• spray 9" x 13" baking dish with nonstick cooking spray
• lightly butter bread and cut into cubes, place in dish
• Cook sausage and drain
• Arrange sausage over bread cubes
• Sprinkle cheese
• Beat eggs and milk, salt pepper to taste
• pour over sausage, cheese and bread
• Cover with foil and refrigerate overnight

in the morning…

• Bake uncovered at 350 for 35-45 minutes