30 days of thanks… day 1

Posted on November 1st, 2011 in blog, family, homeschool, Lana Bella by jenni

Yes I know two posts in one day. I just wanted to say even though today I feel quite under the weather and have a to do list 84,000 things deeps that will never get finished I am thankful.

I am most thankful today for hot cups of tea with herbs thoughtfully added by my dearest lexi to keep my chest spasming down to a minimum and my voice from sounding like a 90 year old chain smoker all the time. I am so glad that she has been with me though my herbal journey and may not know exactly why she chooses the herbs she does but does so intuitively and from her heart and soul. Be on the look out for items in her own shop as well I know she has plans and much like me has so many ideas she is having trouble figuring out just exactly where to start!

 

Thank you Lexi I love you!

Wordless Wednesday

Posted on September 7th, 2011 in blog, family, homeschool, Lana Bella by jenni

Moments around our house on this rainy afternoon.

Menu Plan Monday … September

Posted on September 6th, 2011 in blog, family, homeschool, Lana Bella by jenni

Yes I know most people just post what they are eating that week but well there are many kids in our house and because  of the dynamics of a military budget I plan for about a month at a time. I will link to anywhere I can for a recipe though I do tend to tweak them a bit for our family and will try to notate when I do! You will even see a few recurring recipes from last month. You will also note a few times the kids will be on their own as I will be at a couple craft shows this month.

Week 1 (I”ll include what we had Thursday – Saturday here too)

Thursday September 1 Family Fun Night home made pizza & a movie!

Friday September 2 Switched! Chicken Burritos Ala Aunt Cheryl’s crud every one of the teens/20 somethings living in the house brought extra people home for dinner and I only took out 4 chicken breasts and have to feed everyone way! Also works wonders for the large family on a budget!

Saturday September 3 Steaks & french fries I was so tired I forgot to make a vegetable!

Sunday September 4 Yum Yum Ribs & Corn were on sale at the grocery store so guess what we had. With some cinnamon baked apples too!

Monday September 5 PW Mac & Cheese  because really who doesn’t love mac & cheese! The best part was Aidan who had never had home made mac & cheese ever before said it was the best mac & cheese he has had in his whole life.

Tuesday September 6 Stone Soup aka Vegetable Beef Soup. Its one of our family favorites we love the story and I love little hands helping and grabbing handfuls of various foods  to help make soup.

Wednesday September 7 Lazy Girl Lasagna I stumbled across this recipe for a white lasagna in a now forgotten magazine. Sadly I lost the recipe a move or so ago however I have tweaked it over the years anyway come back soon and maybe you will find this little gem posted.

Thursday September 8 Steaks on the grill (this is really selfish of me really so i can eat the yummy cold leftovers with a salad tomorrow for dinner)

Friday September 9 Family Fun Night home made pizza & a movie!

Saturday September 10 Autumn Pork with Apples. There are tons of recipes out there but how can you go wrong with pork & apples.

Week 2

Sunday September 11 Chianti Marinated Beef Stew From Lexi’s Giada Cookbook. Lexi will be making this with my Mom while I’m at a show! YUM can’t wait to get home and have some.

Monday September  12 Cheddar Broccoli Soup with warm cheddar rolls. This is one of Rory’s favorites, he loves broccoli broccoli soup.

Tuesday September 13 Fish with vegetables & garlic dill potatoes.  Simple. Easy. Yum.

Wednesday September 14 PW Chicken spaghetti  Yes I know it was on the menu last month too but its simple easy and filling.

Thursday September 15 Shrimp Scampi My favorite thing about this is how Aidan was so against the vegetables in it in the beginning but now they are BFFs.

Friday September 16 Family Fun Night home made pizza & a movie!

Saturday September 17 Meal in a Packet. Yup Each kid gets a piece of foil and gets to make their own packet of meat, veggies & seasonings then to the Grill they go.

Week 3

Sunday September 18 Paula Deen’s Chicken Pot Pie yes another recipe that will be coming back again this month and probably next month too its that good!

Monday September 19 Zuppa Toscana again because its just that good. Plus I still have sausage in the freezer so it makes it cheap too!

Tuesday September 20 Breakfast for dinner! YUMMY YUMMY! Who doesn’t love eggs, bacon, sausage & cinnamon raisin challah french toast for dinner?

Wednesday September 21  Marlboro Man’s Favorite Sandwich ok so basically I only came up with about 5 new recipes this month apparently.

Thursday September 22 PW Penne A la Betsy this one will be new this month but the pictures looked just amazing.

Friday September 23 Family Fun Night home made pizza & a movie!

Saturday September 24 LEFTOVERS clean out the fridge kids!

Week 4

Sunday September 25 Sausage & Peppers in the crockpot. MMMM I think there will be fresh bread made too.

Monday September 26 Clam Chowder New England style of course.

Tuesday September 27 Farmer’s Wife Baked Chicken & Roasted Vegetables.

Wednesday September 28 Carmelized Pork Medallions.

Thursday September 29 PW Mac & Cheese Again I know TWICE in one month its like crazy around here! Seriously thought Lexi & Brenna weren’t home for the first time.

Friday September 30 Family Fun Night home made pizza & a movie!

Saturday October 1 Citrus & Honey Marinated Grilled Chicken.

Do you menu plan? What time/ money savers do you have?

Packaging Revamp…Soap Bars

Posted on September 2nd, 2011 in blog, family, Lana Bella by jenni

Well last we spoke I had a few ideas I was pondering. I bit the bullet and headed over to Etsy to hire someone to do the job after I realized it was beyond my skill to get it the way I wanted. After a couple hours of looking and getting sidetracked the way I often do when looking at Etsy I decided upon Meredith of Jack & Molly. I couldn’t be happier. She dealt with my non technical thing-a-ma-bob speech and walked me through how I needed to explain what I was trying to explain. I’m pretty sure she face palmed a few times at my sketches and wacky ideas. In the end though I’m so excited to unveil my new soap packaging!!! I’ve even taken her advice and started putting a clear coat on ALL my labels to help protect them.

So they have a piece of fabric, some decorative tissue tape (which may be changed later for a ribbon or eliminated when print fabric is used) and the new fancy label with a decorative swirl that will be changed depending on the bar of soap being wrapped!

While I was out there taking the pictures of the new labels this cuteness occurred that I thought I would also share with you as a special treat!

 Finn posing after yelling “take picture me” .

Rory riding his bike not to be outdone on the cuteness factor.

So what do you think of the new packaging?

New Small Body Butter Jars

Posted on August 18th, 2011 in blog, Lana Bella by jenni

I’ve been waiting patiently since December when I started getting low on my stash of the cobalt blue glass jars I use in my body butters to come back in stock. THREE different suppliers have told me they would be in as early as this past March so I waited… and waited… and waited some more. Recently I’ve been told there is an industry wide shortage and they don’t know when they will be back in stock. I can find them at one place but they are 3 times more than I’ve been paying for them and if I bought them the price on the body butters would more than double while the size stayed exactly the same. That was not ok for me. So I’ve been debating what to switch them to while secretly still hoping they would get the beautiful blue back in.

 

Today after the orders were shipped I had to make up some new body butters in the new jars that arrived just yesterday to finish filling orders. Here is how they turned out.

Not too bad if you ask me. These jars are shorter than the old blue ones but larger.

The bonus for you is they hold about 50% more product!

They are really growing on me. Eventually the large body butters will be in their large counter parts but I still have a few of them left.

What do you think?

Why I’ve been so quiet

Posted on August 18th, 2011 in blog, Lana Bella by jenni

So as I had posted previously I had run a second Heartsy deal to try and offset the oversupply I had from Artscape. In about 48 hours I had around 135 orders between Heartsy and my regular orders. This is the second and smaller batch of orders awaiting pickup. I still have about 20 more to package up right after I finish this cup of coffee that will get me through the day and I’ll be totally caught up and thinking about the fall line.

The cute toddler however does stay here. For counting sake there are 53 packages on the table labeled and ready to go.

So what would you like to see while I’m finishing up the fall line?

While I’m at it what do you want to see in the Winter line?

Wednesday Wishes

Posted on August 10th, 2011 in blog, family, Lana Bella by jenni

I have to honestly say a major wish of mine has come true. We have all six of our kids living full time in our house. The last of our kids to come live with us was my oldest daughter Brenna, who arrived Monday afternoon.

Meet Brenna.

This post can be a bit of a “Two For” you get to meet Brenna AND you get to continue the house tour with her room.

Little has been shown of this room til now mainly because it was only painted in her choice of color Sherwin Williams Free Spirit , and had a bed thats it.

After a quick trip to the neighborhood big box store to get some bedding I think its cute. Not that it would matter what I thought her being 18 and all.

The view from just inside the doorway. That quilt hanging at the foot of her bed I made that when I was all of 17.

From the corner next to her bed. I guess I should have closed her door there to the right for the sake of the pictures but  didn’t think about it til now.

Here is the view from her closet. Its hard to imagine that less than a week ago this room was totally an empty blank canvas.

This is the little surprise that Brenna brought along with her. She really is a sweet little kitty and Finn loves that she is mini sized & he can carry her about.

What wishes do you have?

Recipe … Red Beans & Rice

Posted on August 8th, 2011 in blog, family, homeschool, Lana Bella by jenni

In keeping with sharing our menu for the month last Monday I’ll share one of our recipes with you today, or at least the way I mostly do it anyway. I tend to improvise in the kitchen a lot. I also had intended in getting lots of step by step instructions for the recipe but honestly Lexi & Aidan did most of the prep work while I showered, changed sheets and other household stuff getting ready for the hubby to come home! Also some of the amounts might be a little odd as I eyeball it and adjust while I’m making it because I’m cooking for such a large family.

Ingredients

3 tbs oil

1 large onion chopped

1 1/2 c chopped celery (or whatever is left in your fridge that your kids haven’t snacked on)

4 cloves garlic minced

2 bell peppers chopped (or whatever makes it in the pot due to snacking kids)

1lb kielbasa or other smoked sausage

1-2 c diced/chopped leftover ham or pork pieces (optional but so yummy)

~~~~~

2 ham hocks

4 cans rinsed & drained red beans (I usually just soak beans & eyeball enough to feed people images show cannellini beans because thats what I had)

1 tbs thyme

1 tbs parsley

pinch paprika

3 bay leaves

2-4 c chicken broth

salt & pepper to taste

1 lb dices/chopped leftover ham pieces

Instructions:

Sauté everything above the ~~~ until browned. When that’s done add all the remaining ingredients. Simmer slowly for an additional 2-4 hours. I usually cover it but that just because balls and airplanes tend to go flying at my house and I don’t feel like picking them out. When its about time to eat make up some rice using whatever way you like to cook it we usually need about 4 cups uncooked rice here in order to have some for leftovers the next day. Trust me you will want leftovers the next day.

Feeds 6-8 hungry Feingold’s with enough for leftovers the next day for most of the kids.

OOPS guess I should have remembered to take the photo BEFORE serving everyone dinner.

So what’s cooking at your home? What easy meals do you like to make?

House Tour … Lexi’s Room

Posted on August 7th, 2011 in blog, family, Lana Bella by jenni

I know we’ve seen all the bits and pieces of this one. The quilt, the curtains, bits snuck in now you can see it almost all put together.

Here you can see the quilt & the curtains on her bed.

To match the embroidery work on her dresses Wendy also cut some little dresses in vinyl for her walls. They came out absolutely darling if you ask me.

A close up of some of the dresses. I wish you could see her wall color better in the pictures but I just can’t get it to photograph well.

You can see the top of her dresser and the edge of her desk and a surprise piece of artwork.

Here you can see the lovely quilt shop print that coordinates with the quilt dresses and the vinyl dresses. In case you want one of your own stop by A little Sweetness and get one for yourself.

There are a few little touches still in progress but this is girlie’s room as it is now.

Heartsy

Posted on August 7th, 2011 in blog, Lana Bella by jenni

Well barely down from the whirlwind of the first heartsy deal back in April, the move, Artscape and here I am full circle jumping back in to the Heartsy ring. You might ask why. The simple reason is I over made for Artscape. I didn’t know ahead of time there were going to be 7 yes seven soap vendors at Artscape and went a little nuts making! So to clear out the studio and make room for new fall goodies I’ll offer another hands down awesome deal!

 

Its supposed to be available to the vip’s today and go live tomorrow. Have fun!