I am in looooove! and a giveaway!

My new Keurig coffee maker arrived! I am so in love! It is AMAZING! It's fast, quick, quiet, easy, fun, delicious!.... I could go on and on and on but let me just show you the pictures....

You can make hot tea, iced coffee, regular coffee, hot cocoa... you can buy their K-pods or use your own coffee with the removeable filter.

Here I am making hot cocoa with one of the Green Mountain brand cocoa. This was probably the BEST cup of cocoa I have ever had!

1.) Put the pod in the filter

2.) Select the size cup you want it brewed in.

3.) Press the brew button and watch it fill up!

3.) Enjoy! I love the froth it left on it!

And now the giveaway....

I wish it was me giving this away but it's not. Five fabulous bloggers are giving away HP TouchSmart 600 PC. Anyone can enter... visit each blogger to enter their giveaway. Good luck!

The giveaway is being hosted by Stephanie, Jen, NieNie, BooMama and Kelly.

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You can also win a year of handmade vegan soap delivered straight to your door! These soaps are beautiful and come with names like Gardenia Chamomile, Rose Vegan Handmade Soap, Limoncello Handmade Soap with Coconut Milk, Lemon and Lime... and many, many more. Visit DeShawn's blog to enter until December 15!

Halloweens Past

Halloween is just around the corner. Where did the year go so fast? It seems like I was just putting my tree up and in a few weeks I will be taking it back down! KellysKorner is hosting Show Us How You Live Halloween costumes. Last year my girls decided not to celebrate Halloween by dressing up and trick-or-treating. They did the research and together they decided against it. And that's fine with me. I can't argue an educated decision. This year they are forgoing it as well. BUT that doesn't stop them from going to Haunted Houses and watching Halloween movies! LOL!

So these are their costumes from a couple of years ago. I look at them now and my babies seemed so young. I still can't believe my husband allowed Sierra to dress like french maid! He wouldn't even allow her to wear lip gloss but she can dress like that?
Lena, Sierra and our neighbor Lauren (in white)
The girls again. I love the look on Lena's face.

Lena-poo posing!

Now it's CC's turn.... she doesn't look 11 does she? (She's wearing MY fishnets and MY heels!)

The girls with voodoo daddy!

The three musketeers. CC and Lauren used to be best friends. The past year or so they just quit talking to each other. Each girl blames the other and I never found out what really happened. I've heard that friends come and go in your life and they serve a purpose while they are there. I wonder what Lauren's friendship with Sierra taught her.

I used to call Lauren (in the middle) my other daughter. She was with us ALL the time. She didn't have a stable home life, it's really very sad. She would call me "Mom" as well.

I LOVE this picture!

CC... she wanted her face painted like the girls on Marilyn Manson's "Mobscene" video. This was the best I could do given the limited amount of face paint I had. She's supposed to look like half skeleton.

Lena was a gothic princess. I think her face paint looks more like a vampire. She wanted to be the Corpse Bride but we couldn't find an old wedding dress to dye in time.

One more pose from Lena.

And Sierra bowing out!

I don't know why, but Halloween is my favorite holiday! I love to drive around and look at

everyone's decorations! Do you dress up to hand out candy? Does your family stick with a theme or each do your own thing? Don't forget to stop by Kelly's and see everyone else's Halloween costumes!

Show Us Your LIfe - Fall Decorations

I love fall and I love decorating for it. However.... my husband doesn't see the point in it...so..... I don't get to do too much. I had been wanting to redo my mantle for quite a while so I went to Michaels and came back with the following.
I will start off with the befores....
The mantle was just a hodge-podge mixture of Russian nesting dolls, Russian eggs and a porcelian Russian doll, drawings from my girls, gift cards (the only place I couldn't lose them) and even coins and batteries! LOL! Something needed to be done!

The "before" view from the right side.

The "before" view looking from the left side.

My mother in law bought me these candle holders. I love them!

I bought these hurricanes many years ago and knew I would use them eventually. I think they go very well here.

The right side. Do you see the hidden pumpkin?

The centerpiece was actually a little wreath. I pulled the natural leaves and stems through and then added a floral centerpiece through the middle.

The lace is actually a real shimmery brown. It matches perfect! And of course a pinecone! The finished product. Do you think it still needs something?

My floral fall arrangement.

The colors in my living room are mostly espresso, gold and creme. I wanted to add a punch of color...enter the maroon sunflower.

I love pinecones and I love hiding them in all my arrangements.

The friendly witch next to the tree. The one on the porch fell over.

Scarecrow family and a cute lighted pumpkin.

These decorations were taking while walking around our neighbor hood. It's been pouring rain here and I haven't been able to go outside and take a decent picture of our outdoor decor. This weekend is looking to be nice so hopefully I can get that posted soon.

Thank you so much for stopping by my blog. Don't forget to stop by here and here to see more of everyones lovely decorations! I hope you all have a wonderful weekend!

Tiramisu Brownies

This week at Kellys Korner she is showcasing desserts. This is by far one of my most favorite recipes... Tiramisu Brownies.


I first made this for a Girls Night In and it was a success. I did make a few minor changes this time and I think it turned out better, but I will be listing just the regular recipe and notate my changes by the pictures. And there are many pics after the recipe...so scroll down!


The recipe:

12 squares (1oz each) semisweet chocolate
1 cup butter softened
*******
1 1/3 cups plus 1/4 cup sugar divided
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8 eggs
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1 cup cake flour
1/4 cup instant coffee granules or espresso powder
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2 cartons Mascarpone cheese
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
*******
1 teaspoon baking cocoa


In a large microwave-safe mixing bowl, melt chocolate. Stir until smooth; cool slightly. Beat in butter. Gradually beat in 1-1/3 cups sugar. Add six eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition.Combine the flour and instant coffee granules; add to the chocolate mixture. Beat on low speed just untill combined; set aside.

For filling, in a small bowl, beat the cheese, vanilla, and remaining sugar and eggs until smooth.

Pour 4 cups of chocolate batter into a greased 13-in. X 9-in. X 2-in. baking pan. Spread with the filling. Top with the remaining batter, spreading evenly to completely cover filling.Bake at 350 degrees for 45-50 minutes or until center is almost set and brownies begin to pull away from the sides of pan. Cool on a wire rack. Dust with cocoa. Cut into squares. Store in the refigerator. Makes 3 dozen.


12 1-oz squares of semi-sweet chocolate

into the bowl

and then melted

add the softened butter

6 of the 8 eggs

beat in one at a time

even the girls got in on the fun

they love to cook

this is the rest of the sugar and instant coffee.. (I added 1/2 cup instant coffee instead of 1/4)

pouring the flour mixture into the chocolate batter

we were supposed to me mixing with the mixer but I forgot and they turned out just fine

the mascarpone cheese

the cheese, other 2 eggs, vanilla (here I put 3 tsp and 3/4 cups of sugar)

I remembered my mixer....

spreading the 4 cups of chocolate batter into my pan (see how loved my pan is?)

the cheese mixture going on top

spread evenly over

the remaining chocolate batter over the filling

out of the oven and dusted with cocoa

ready to eat

These are so easy to make and so very delicious. I found this recipe in the Christmas dessert section of one of my cookbooks. I think it fits the holidays just perfectly! You will be sure to get many, many compliments.

I took some to work today and it was a huge hit! Everyone loved them and kept coming up to me to tell me how good they are. When I came home there were only about ten brownies left!

I use a slightly larger pan to bake them in because I like them a little thinner.

Thank you so much for stopping by my blog! I hope you enjoyed it. And I can't wait to read all of your delicious recipes!