Homemade Greek Yogurt Bars

So...I saw this somewhere, but I don't remember where. If it's your site I saw it on, please let me know in the comments, so I can link to you. I believe it was a random post of facebook that I saw it on though.

I made Homemade Greek Yogurt Bars! They are pretty good.

Take a 9x9 glass, or metal pan, and spray it. Coat it with Greek Yogurt. We used plain, with a few drops of NuNaturals Orange Liquid Stevia. You could use flavored Greek Yogurt as well. I was just trying to use less sugar. The layer thickness is up to you. Ours was about 1/2 inch thick. I wanted it thick enough for the topping to stick to it.

The toppings are up to you. Get creative! 

I used: 

• One bag of Made in Nature dried Cinnamon, Raisins, and Apples.
• One cup of Nature's Path, Organic Flax Pus, Pumpkin Flax Granola Cereal - I found at Costco
• 1/4 cup blueberries
• Sprinkled sliced almonds

Other ideas for toppings are:

• Pumpkin Seeds (they were already in our granola)
• Walnuts
• Cashews
• Dark Chocolate Chips
• Other Dried Fruits
• Other Cereals

The options are truly endless!

Freeze the bars. Take them out about 10 minutes before serving them. They are really hard to cut right out of the freezer.

They make a great after school snack. They are also great as an extra protein at breakfast time. 

Leather Conditioner and Cleaner Review

Another product that I got from Leather Nova is Leather Conditioner and Cleaner. It's so nice to be able to clean and condition all at the same time. I don't have to use 2 products when I use this!

It comes with an application pad; just like all their other products. 

Other traits of Leather Nova Conditioner and Cleaner:

• It's made in USA. I like when products are made right here. 


• Their premium ingredients effectively remove dirt and stains from leather surface. I did have great success cleaning my leather sofa. Generally on the last cushion it gets hit the hardest with dirt. Isaak likes to cuddle with me on our couch. Since we have all wood floors, our feet pick up everything.


• Adds vital nutrients to nourish the leather and keep it soft and supple. The conditioner and cleaner made our leather just look newer.


• Protects leather from future tear and wear, Prevents premature drying or cracking.


• Manufacturer Guarantee: Leather Nova backs their products with a 365-day Money Back Guarantee, no matter where you buy our product. If you're not satisfied, simply contact us and get a full refund.


• It's non toxic, and environmental friendly. Allergy approved.

The cost isn't bad at all. Especially since you only need to buy the one product. It serves two functions: Cleans and Conditions. It's $29.95, and on sale for $19.95. Get it while it's on sale. I don't know about you, but when I've looked at other leather cleaners they are super expensive. It's good to know you can get what you need for a reasonable price.

It Cleans: 

Leather and vinyl surfaces (except Suede and Nubuck.)

What do you find yourself cleaning the most in your house?

 
 

I received one or more of the products mentioned above for free. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I use personally and believe will be good for my readers.

WW: Puzzle Murals {Linky}

Every year I make 2 gigantic posters, then cut them up into pieces for my students to get 1 piece of the big image. They don't know what the image is at first. They each get two different techniques to create their images as well.

I used images from my last vacation, but edited them to make them more colorful.

Mountain Ewes on top of Pikes Peek:

I did make the bright colored triangles in Photoshop.

This one turned out bad! I was not impressed at all! The main focal point is horrible! :(

Crow in an old window in Mesa Verde. It was on their Balcony Tour:

I did not do the graffiti.

This one turned out great! I was really impressed with this one. It looks better than the original. :) How could 1 turn out so bad, and another so great?

Here's a few close-ups of my favorites:

Impressionism

Collage Paper

Painting on Pumice

Junk (the pink lines are cigarette butts, and the green is broken glass)

Cross-Hatching on Paper

Watercolor

Chalk Pastels

It's a Busy One

I swear I'm trying to get caught up. If you remember last week was midterm time. Midterms time, and final time is so busy. Yesterday my grades were due, but I had so many late projects handed to me at 5 on Friday. Much more late work turned in than I've ever had. I spent much of the morning yesterday grading. Then another instructor and I hung up 2 gigantic murals each student did a little section of. Maybe I'll share that with my WW. I have yet to decide.

This last weekend we got 2 big boxes of organic nectarines and apples from The Fruit Club.

Do you have The Fruit Club where you live? They go to spots where fruit is ripe, and fresh, load up, and travel to different spots to sell the fruit.

Source

They Fruit Club got into town later than expected. I pretty much had to process a HUGE box of nectarines right away. I'll use them for smoothies during the winter months. Now my freezer is packed with nectarines, shredded zucchini, chili peppers, June Berries and more. When it gets colder, I'll make June Berry Jam all one day. I also processed 2 pumpkins. We've had pumpkin seeds, pumpkin soup, pumpkin muffins, and pumpkin smoothies. I'm sure I'll have to make pumpkin something else tonight. The pumpkin puree needs to be used up!

Here's My Schedule This Week:

Monday: I made a spaghetti squash pie, processed nectarines, graded, hung up murals, and picked out awards for students - who's work gets put up front in the lobby.

Tuesday: I have to work on finding videos to introduce the Creative Cloud for Macs. I have to go grocery shopping during lunch. I have no other time to do it. Daddy has a meeting, and many more Tuesday nights called Artist Inc. It's like school, except he didn't have to pay for it. He just applied to it. I'll try and make pumpkin bread.

Wednesday: The boys have  jiu jitsu.

Thursday: I have a home party to go to for jewelery. I really hate home parties, but I feel obligated to go. Especially when Daddy makes jewelery. I'm sure I'll feel obligated to get something. At least the earrings I bought from them before are one of my favorite pairs. I plan on getting earrings, and stashing them away for Daddy to get me for Christmas. I'm practical like that. Daddy hates when I get my own Christmas presents. Let's just face it - I get most of the shopping done myself.

Friday: The boys have a Fall Festival at school. Prior to that I'll have to fix their costumes. When? I have no idea. Isaak snapped his elastic in the foot part of his Superman costume, and Mica whipped his whip too hard, and wants it fixed. He's going as Indiana Jones. I keep changing my mind as to what I'll be. I think I'm going as Coraline, but how to fix those buttons to my eyes will be hard! I most certainly will not sew them on - Ouch! Nope, I'll have to find away to glue them to my eyebrows. I may change my mind again. I have a few costume choices.

Source

What's your week like?

Sing, Sing a Song Saturday

Sing, Sing a Song Saturday is all about me discovering something that is different. I don't want to post things that you and I have more than likely heard before. I want to find something different. It could be from another country, someone singing from the streets of NY, and more.

One of my favorite movies is Amélie. If you have never watched it, it's a must see. I never thought I could love a movie that has subtitles. In fact when I found out it had subtitles I went to put it back on the shelf. A guy in the store convinced me to buy it. He said it's really a great movie. I caved. I was so glad he influenced me to get it. It's a movie about a girl - Amélie that tries to do good for people. She's not trying to get attention. In fact most of the things she does good for people is purely anonymous. She sort of sits on the side lines to watch how the people react to her good deeds.

Source

In the movie there is great piano music that plays thoughout different parts of it.  I never looked into who played the music. The artist's name is Yann Tiersen.

He plays the guitar, synthesizer or violin together with intruments like the melodica, xylophone, toy piano, harpsichord, accordion, and typewriter. He started learning piano at the age of 4, violin at the age of 6, and classical training at several musical academies.

Yann Tiersen will be undertaking a unique cycling and signing tour across Brittany, France.

Check out Yann Tiersen's website.
Check out his Facebook page.
Check out his Twitter page.
Check out his YouTube Channel.

Random Tid Bits

1. Freelance journalist Ashoka Mukpo, who contracted Ebola in Liberia, arrived at the University of Nebraska Medical Center the other day, becoming the second patient with the possibly deadly disease to be treated in Nebraska.
   
   Why is he being sent to Nebraska instead of some other facility? Because we have really good hospitals here. The hospital they are sent to is the largest of four high-level biocontainment patient care units in the U.S. There's a whole article about it here. I do have to say I hear a lot about this. Not only is the media covering it, I have a childhood friend that's an Infectious Disease Doctor in Pediatrics. She covers Enterovirus, and Ebola on her Facebook page. 

I do worry sometimes about my kids getting Enterovirus. All you can do is wash your kid's hands a lot. Life can't and shouldn't stop.

The hard thing is having a nephew that has a compromised immune system. A virus like that could kill him. Later this month he's having another surgery. I know we're supposed to stay away if we have runny noses. My kids, and I with allergies are always stuffy this time of year. We seriously wouldn't go anywhere if we waited for our stuffy nose to go away. I've been horrible about trying out those edible oils. I forget to take them, and when I remember it's at a time when I'm not at home. Anyhow I need to get on the bandwagon of trying them. If they are bullsh*t I'll soon enough find out.


2. I was contacted by my older sister on Tuesday night to make 2 batches of cookies for my Mom and Brother-in-law's birthday get together this Friday. It's a busy week anyhow. At first I was thinking, How will I ever get 2 batches of cookies done?
   
   1 batch was Chocolate Oatmeal Cookies. Those were pretty easy. No thinking involved. Just time consuming.
   
   I was asked to make lemon cookies I've made before. I had no clue what lemon cookies they were talking about - honestly. In the end I just made a batch of sugar cookies with lemon extract instead of vanilla extract. I'm hoping that's what they are talking about. I was going to do fall cookies, but thought lemon with fall shaped cookies would be weird. Chocolate, pumpkin can be added to fall cookies, but not a lemon flavor. Biting into a cookie shaped like a pumpkin that tastes like lemon is odd. Maybe I over think things. In support of the lunar eclipse I did moon, star, and rocket shaped cookies. This image is from a long time ago. The stars in the sky are star cookies. I did a bunch of man on the moons to. They are 1/2 moons with an edible eye added to them. If I think about it, I'll take a picture.







3. It's midterms this week where I work. I've been trying to keep up with blogging, but I have a few reviews to write. It's busy at home, and on days that I don't teach.
   
   I'm pretty sure I'm one of the more unpopular teachers in first year; right about now. 

Why?

A) I critique them honestly.

B) I grade them honestly.

C) My midterm and final exams are around 100 questions. Another instructor here has 20 questions all true and false.

D) In the 12 years of working here I made one mistake that another instructor makes yearly. Instead of printing their grades out with their I.D. numbers I printed them out with their names. I guess a bunch of students thought I did it on purpose. They were oh so mad. Rightfully so. BUT instead of talking to me about it, they wrote a note on top of the grades saying something so awful I'm not putting it on here. 1 student informed me, I thanked her, took the grades down, printed the right copy, wrote a note apologizing, and added points to their last project. I also had a little talk with them in class by apologizing again. I'm not above apologizing. I explained how easy it is to do what I did in the grade system we have here. I mentioned that I'd never do something like that on purpose. I think of grades like paychecks. I would never share how much I make with others; I would never share grades either. I think sometimes students think teachers can't/shouldn't make mistakes. We're humans after all. I didn't bring this up, but in some other colleges, instructors do print student's names and grades; to put right up on the wall for everyone to see. I don't think that's right. I don't think it's right to rip up artwork in a critique either. I've heard of that being done in the past as well. So I messed up. Messing up is something many of them do on a regular basis - trust me. Still, somehow I feel like I have to earn their respect back again. That awful letter still sits in my mind. There's about 3 people I've talked to here that think I'm making too big of a deal about this. Maybe I am. I like to make things right. I don't like messing up.


4. I'm really impressed with my boys this year. Every day they come home with a green dot for good behavior. I'm glad they are taking school seriously. They are pretty good students. 


5. My kids have a new Librarian at school this year. Mica and Isaak tell me she's strict. She expects things out of them without communicating what she wants. I'm sure she's a good person, maybe just not good with kids. It's too bad because their Librarian before was a great story teller. Isaak told me that the new Librarian has never read 1 book to them. I think that position should be someone nice, and inspiring to kids. Kids should want to read.

Leather Conditioner & Restorer Review

If you haven't read the post before this, I strongly recommend you do so. It's a review of Leather Nova Leather Cleaner. Leather Nova also sent me Conditioner and Restorer. That's what this post is about. Ive been trying to do some fall cleaning each weekend. Last weekend it was time to clean our leather furniture.

It can be used to condition and restore all types of leather and vinyl surfaces.

It works on all the following:

• Interior car seats
• Motorcycle seats
• Sofas, couches, furniture
• Boots, shoes
• Wallets
• Purses
• Leather belts
• Saddles and other sporting and equestrian goods

I'll be using it mostly on my leather sofa, and sofa pillows. 

I like that all their products come with a rag, or sponge that is appropriate to use with the cleaner, or conditioner. I never know what to use exactly. This cleaner comes with a sponge. They have it covered. It's applied in a circular motion after the leather has been previously cleaned.

Here are the Before | After Shot

I think it did a really great job! It's wiped away all along the bottom of the couch.

It will not only protect new leather but restore old leather to near new condition. It also restores the natural smell of leather.

This product is great to touch up and restore existing leather material, as well as protect it against future damage. Applying the conditioner once a month is recommended for maintenance, especially to help make the leather material repellant against water.

Comes in an 18 oz spray bottle. It's sold on Amazon for $29.95, but is on sale for $15.97!

Fall cleaning just got better.

Not suitable for suede, nubuck or microfiber.

I received one or more of the products mentioned above for free using Tomoson.com. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I use personally and believe will be good for my readers.

Leather Cleaner Review

I've been trying to do some fall cleaning each weekend. Last weekend it was time to clean our leather furniture. 

I received Leather Nova Leather Cleaner for review. 

It penetrates the material deep down to tackle and remove dirt, grime and oil.

It is great for cleaning all types of leather and vinyl including:

• Interior car seats
• Motorcycle seats
• Sofas, couches, furniture
• Boots, shoes
• Wallets
• Purses
• Leather belts
• Saddles and other sporting and equestrian goods

I'll be using it mostly on my leather sofa, and sofa pillows. 

I like that all their products come with a rag, or sponge that is appropriate to use with the cleaner, or conditioner. I never know what to use exactly. This cleaner comes with a free microfiber towel for cleaning. They have it covered.

Here are the Before | During | After Shots

I think it did a really great job!


Comes in an 18 oz spray bottle. It's sold on Amazon for $29.95, but is on sale for $16.95!

Fall cleaning just got better.

Not suitable for suede, nubuck or microfiber.

I received one or more of the products mentioned above for free using Tomoson.com. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I use personally and believe will be good for my readers.