Noell, Nancy, Renee and Lain were discussing the I-Top brad making tool by Imaginisce.  They pointed out that economically it didn’t make much sense since a pack of brads pre-made to match paper is often cheaper and provides you with more brads. My immediate thought was that if I buy a some paper and the matching brads, lets say the brads came in a set of 8… I will probably make one or maybe two layouts with that line of product. What are the odds I will use all 8 brads?? So realistically about 4-6 of those brads will be wasted, either given away or thrown away. Which means the $5.99 I spent originally for 8 brads was now $5.99 for 2-4 brads. With the I-Top, you can just make the brads you are going to use, therefore eliminating the waste and in the end making it more cost effective.

Ingredients:

• 625g flour
• 150g sugar
• 16g  powdered vanilla
• salt
• 165g butter
• 1/4 liter milk
• 42g yeast
• 25g ground almonds
• 250g sour cream
• 2 packets of vanilla pudding
• the appropriate milk amount based on pudding packages
• powdered sugar

Instructions:

1. Mix 500g flour, 75g sugar, 8g powdered vanilla, and a pinch of salt.
2. Add 75g butter. Cut in with pastry blender.
3. Heat milk and dissolve yeast. (follow directions on yeast for the proper temperature, do not overheat)
4. Knead into flour mixture.
5. Let rise 30 minutes.
6. Make the dough into 10-12 patties. (hamburger like)
7. Let rise 20 minutes
8. Work 125g flour, 75g sugar, 8g powdered vanilla, pinch of salt, almonds, and 90g of butter into streusel.
9. Sprinkle on dough patties.
10. Bake at 350F for 25 minutes. (bake times vary, start checking after 20 minutes to be sure bottom isn’t burning)
11. Let cool and cut in half. (cut horizontally to form something like a hamburger bun)
12. Make pudding according to package directions then beat in sour cream.
13. Spread pudding mixture on the lower half of the schnecken replace top and sprinkle with powdered sugar.
14. Enjoy!

Well last week I had Jason go get dog food, and he had a temporary mind lapse and got the old dog food. I said no big deal they could get through one bag of it, and guess what, Penny is throwing up again. The bright side to this is that it justifies our decision to spend more on dog food. I was cautious about spending more $ for the rest of our dogs lives, but it is nice to see that it actually makes a difference in their health.

From this

to this

http://www.flickr.com/photos/debann/sets/72157603347155896/

http://feenysfunhouse.com/

http://twitter.com/feenycat

Feeny, originally uploaded by DebAnn18.

]]> http://www.debann.com/2010/01/04/feeny/feed/ 0 http://www.debann.com/2010/01/01/good-morning-2010/ http://www.debann.com/2010/01/01/good-morning-2010/#comments Fri, 01 Jan 2010 13:41:26 +0000 DebAnn http://www.debann.com/?p=1098 So the start of a new year… and yes the start of a decade, even though it’s not the decade most people think it is…. That one starts at the end of this year, but either way, it’s been 10 years since something.  10 years ago I was preparing to finish my senior year of high school. Looking forward to college, and looking forward to going to the same school as Jason for the first time ever.

For New Years Eve Rachel and I watched Glee most of the day at her house… Then I had to go do a little emergency babysitting because Kirsten accidentally cut her hand. So I got to give L a bath and put him to bed one more time in 2009, kinda nice. And Jason went with me since he picked me up from Rachel’s, and he got to play with the train table.

Everyone’s favorite 26lbs cat, Feeny, is taking this weekend to have an expensive 5 star vacation at the vet. He started throwing up the other day – then yesterday he was abnormally crabby and still throwing up a little. He was even crabby when I combed him which is very rare. So we decided bringing him to the vet then was cheaper than an emergency vet over the holiday weekend… and its good we did. He has crystals in his urine, very common for male cats… But he needs to be monitored over the weekend and then have his kidneys tested to be sure there was no damage… And then he may need a diet change from here on out, but we will see….

I didn’t make it until midnight in the central time zone, but I watched the ball drop in New York… Good enough for me. I go into 2010 hopeful. I am starting the 365 photo project again – I am hopeful I will finish it… 2010 may be a year with a lot of change – and I hope it will be good; for everyone.

1. Matters of Faith – Kristy Kiernan
2. Your Hear Belongs to Me – Dean Koontz
3. Plum Lucky – Janet Evanovich
4. Little Bee – Chris Cleave
5. Naomi and Ely’s No Kiss List – Rachel Cohn
6. Nick and Norah’s Infinite Playlist – Rachel Cohn
7. Godmother: The Secret Cinderella Story – Carolyn Turgeon
8. Outlander – Diana Gabaldon
9. Loving Frank – Nancy Horan
10. In Hanuman’s Hands – Cheeni Rao
11. The Reader – Bernhard Schlink
12. Life of Pi – Yann Martel
13. Relentless – Dean Koontz
14. The Women – T.C. Boyle
15. Love or Something Like it – Deirdre Shaw
16. A Big Little Life – Dean Koontz
17. Say When – Elizabeth Berg
18. The Art of Racing in the Rain – Garth Stein
19. Full House – Janet Evanovich
20. Full Tilt – Janet Evanovich
21. Full Speed – Janet Evanovich
22. Full Blast – Janet Evanovich
23. Full Bloom – Janet Evanovich
24. Full Scoop – Janet Evanovich
25. Dragonfly in Amber – Diana Gabaldon
26. Breathless – Dean Koontz
27. The Girls from Ames – Jeffrey Zaslow
28. Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland – Lewis Carroll
29. Through the Looking Glass – Lewiss Carroll

As far as a favorite I don’t think I could pick one… It was a good year for reading. I started the Outlander series by Diana Gabaldon – they are long books 800-900 pages each… So far I am really enjoying the series but I try to squeeze a few small books in between each book…. I also REALLY love some of the dog books I read this year, The Art of Racing in the Rain and A Big Little Life are amazing and inspirational for anyone who has had a dog in their life… Also – I’m not as big of an Evanovich fan as it looks… I just can’t turn down books that are handed to me and I like to get them back to their owner ASAP. But her books really do make for some good light reading between some of the “heavier” books I’ve read this year.