Mexican Hot Chocolate Cookie recipe

i had a friend from college email me last night looking for this recipe....i found it and instead of just emailing it to her, i'm going to share it with ALL of you!  here ya go...

1 C flour

1/2 C + 1 tbs unsweetened cocoa powder

1/4 t baking soda

1/4 t salt

1/2 C + 1 tbs brown sugar

1/2 C + 1 tbs sugar

6 tbs soft butter

1/2 t cinnamon

generous pinch of: black pepper and cayenne pepper (yep, you read this right!!)

1 t vanilla

1/2 overripe banana (i used an applesauce cup last year)

heat your oven to 350 degrees

(ewww, picture before we painted the cabinets and got rid of the purple plastic counter tops!)

combine: flour, cocoa, baking soda & salt- mix with a whisk and set aside.

combine sugars, mix well.

in a separate bowl beat butter till creamy and add sugars, cinnamon, peppers and vanilla. beat on high for 1 min. now beat in the banana.

add the flour mixture and beat on low just until it's incorporated. 

role into 1 inch balls and put on a greased cooking sheet.

bake 12-14 min.

get ready for some spicy goodness!!! (makes approx 16 cookies)

DIY Christmas mirror ornaments

darling and i made these the other night...AT night.... hence, the really icky pictures!  but, disregard the pics and make the easy-peasy ornaments!

Here's what you need:

✪ package of mirrors (easy to find at places like hobby lobby!). for every 2 mirrors, you'll get 1 ornament. the bigger mirrors can be heavy, so if you have a REAL tree (like we do this year) make sure they're not so heavy they pull down your branches.  though hard to believe, i had a whole lunch meat container FULL of different sized mirrors (don't worry, the turkey was gone).

✪ E-6000 glue (hot glue is not good for this craft!)

✪ silver string or fishline or whatever you want to use (we used some silver elastic string)

1.  put some E-6000 on the back of 1 mirror (this stuff smells NASTY)

 2. put a loop down into the glue, smear it around a little to make sure the string gets nice and gluey.

 3. stick the other mirror on and press GENTLY! be a little careful, these ARE glass!  gosh, do i even have to say that? you're smart!! just like those tubes of cream for vaginal yeast infections that warn you not to eat the stuff!  thankfully, they say that as i've often contemplated using it as toothpaste! geesh....

 4. hang on tree!  i find that more is more and more is better in the case of mirror ornaments! i say add so many that people feel like they need a polyester jumpsuit and ABBA playing!

~Merry Christmas~

It's beginning to look a LOT like Christmas!!!!

lawwwwd..... it's glittery up in here!! 

 thankfully, i have been up to my eyeballs in paint and glitter! i've been doing pretty well with my initial ornaments and have been painting, glittering, packing and shipping!

(yes, i blurred her address, i don't have some freaky pen!) 

 Whewww....

i have pre-painted letters that are READY to go, or i can do a custom letter/letters for you! just go HERE: chinamommy on etsy

i'm not just doing letters, here's a peek into my glittery studio

yes, i have found glitter in my mouth, yes, i have found glitter in my eye and no, i will NOT mention the other places it's creeped into....cough, cough!

come on back tomorrow for an easy DIY mirror ornament tutorial. seriously, i'm going to write it now so i don't forget....

~Merry Christmas~

Oops, i did it again....

so last week i'm at burlington coat factory looking for a coat for darling.  of course we ended up in house wares and there they were.... light blue drapes by waverly and not just any light blue drapes, they had PUT A BIRD ON IT!  they only had 1 panel, i NEEDED 3.  after i tore the dept apart looked through every bin i realized they indeed only had 1 panel, so i bought it.  the following day i went to the burlington on the other side of town, got there 10 min before it opened and was AMAZED at the people waiting to rush the doors, it was weird. i tore to the back of the store, because i was convinced they were all there to grab my bird panels! 

 they had them, they had them, they had them!!!! 

and guess how many? 

2!

 yep, just the amount i needed.  so now i am the owner of the ONLY 3 bird panels in west michigan.  i get them home, i hang them up and.... they don't match my wall color. 

this is the picture they show on waverly's site

yuck, they are NOT that horrible 90's country blue color and i had to go look at them to see if that was REALLY even the pattern, it is.  in reality is is a beautiful light tiffany blue, i love them, but...

Oops, i did it again.... you see my problem is this, i'm dreaming away....can't you see i'm a fool in so many ways...this is just so typically me...

thanks Britt, Britt for describing my decorating issues with the perfect lyrics!

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this is the before, when apparently more was...well, too much!

this is after: pattern OVERload

the paint color is off, the banner needs to come down, the prints are too much together, i need to get curtain rods and i have now lost my way with this room.... i swear this room makes me feel like someone has a hand mixer in my brain!  

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my decorating style is ADD... i don't do well with NOT being able to take $15-20 grand and pay someone else to do it (not that i've ever done this, but i'm pretty sure that would be my BEST option), the mister doesn't do well with handing me 20 grand for decorating.  

thankfully,

i found a wonderful site houzz

ideas for your home out the ying-yang!

i'm off to study it.

opinions are welcome...

Giant Corn and Cyber Monday!

i hope you all had a wonderful thanksgiving, i got felt up by a baby.

not sure what she was looking for, but i am quite sure she never found it!

(sorry the resolution is really high on this photo...does that make it download really slow for you? i don't know how to make it "littler")

the giant corn? 90% off at hobby lobby and worth every bit of that $1.89!! and yes...originally $18.99 for giant corn, who knew there was such a market for giant veggies!  even though i am a potty talker (i have brothers, what can i say?), i will refrain from speaking of what could happen the next day if someone would eat giant corn like this... (insert immature giggling at this point!).

it's cyber monday, is anyone shopping??  what are you shopping for and do you have any deals to share?  or are you psycho and went out and got pepper sprayed at walmart thursday night?

Paint and Glitter and Letters and Tulle, oh my....

i'm up to my eyebrows in all those things! i've been painting initial ornaments for several days and am getting ready to ship a box out to mississippi.... sending them out to my southern belle pal, angela!  pickles on pizza.blogspot

don't ya love when you find someone online, become great (if unmet) friends, share the love, and help each other out?  angela and i have always been blogging/biz buddies; bouncing ideas off each other, promoting each other's items and blogs, and shops, it's a wonderful thing!!!  well, my friend angela has got herself in a little bit of a (good) pickle and it's not on a pizza!  see, this busy junkin', repurposing, vintage gal has got herself a booth at a local antique mall but she did a flea market last weekend and sold herself silly!  in the meantime i've got a house of goodies and no booth, so.... i'm sending her a box of glittery goodness and we're going to fancy up her wonderful, rusty vintage goodness with a little chinamommy glitter glam! Yee-hawwww!

don't worry, there are still some in the shop! chinamommy

let me hold you over with some cuteness

AND, give you a code to get 25% off this aMaZIng skirt from 

Shabby Apple, the Industry skirt!!

go HERE

just enter the code "day11"

now, excuse me while i get back to my breakfast

and back to packing!!

Shabby Apple Savings, day #8!

Just in case anyone wanted to get in on a GREAT saturday deal on shabby apple

25% off this GORGEOUS party skirt!!!

here's the direct link right HERE make sure when you check out you use the code: "Day8"

and, if you get this skirt, i'm gonna need pictures!!

happy saturday, we're off and running!

Random Friday...

1. it's day #7 of the Shabby Apple "12 Days of Christmas" discount codes!  look what you can save 25% on today....

click HERE and then type in "day7" to get 25% off this gorgeous holiday dress!!

2. i just got back from running 4.2 miles. my running buddy is still not back at it so i did it alone... well, i did have biggie and Sir-Mix-a-Lot to keep me company... the music i listen to while running is just plain embarrassing and seriously, some of the things those rappers say....lord, wash their mouths out with bleach!

3. it's cold here ane when you are a wimp like me, you need to have the right gear. so i made arm warmers. asics arm warmers run around $25!  Mine... $1.50!  Want to make some of your own?  Come back next week and i'll show you how!

4. speaking of cold, look what my yard looked like on November 10th!

that's our (outside) kitty: Petunia Cakes

5. darlings new hat

much cuter on HER!

6. loving this new nail polish

sally hansen insta-dri in "coco a-go-go".  don't judge it based on my shabby looking nails... i've been wrist deep in paint and glitter

7. this is my dining room table this week

it's making me crazy!! i've been painting ornaments like a mad woman and since today is sunny, i have got to get pictures taken!!!

8. how cute is this bunny we saw at a local farmer's pumpkin patch?!

9. i bought these boots

i got black, but black was hard to see... they're minnetonka on zappos:HERE

10.  are these cute, or what??

hop over to her shop HERE!

i use to work with deb and she is SO talented.  if you need something custom, she'll hook ya up!

happy weekend friends!

Thanksgiving ideas and...Shabby Apple deal-of-the-day!

1st GREAT idea for Thanksgiving?... save 25% on this dress to wear to your feast!

go HERE! to save 25% off the Cider dress and make SURE you use this code at checkout: "day4"

isn't it cute?

this code is good ONLY today, the 15th!!

2nd idea: an easy-peasy Acorn Tree DIY!

Acorn Tree?, i think that's called an oak tree, but not today!

grab: a branch, leaves, glitter, acorns (you hoard them like i do don't you? if not use felted acorns you can buy on etsy!), twine, glue gun, a tall (kinda heavy) vase and some mod podge! 

 you really want some dry floral foam down in your vase to anchor your branch.  i squeezed some glue on the branch before i stuck it in the foam and then let it sit while i moved on to the glitter steps!

 what is a holiday without glitter? a lame holiday, that's for sure!  i pulled the caps off the acorns (make sure you lay the caps next to the acorns, i was going to put nuts, but i know how SOME of you girls are...). paint the caps with mod podge and sprinkle with glitter!!!!!  i used Martha Stewart glitter in brownstone. 

 while the glitter was drying i tied little bits of twine to the branches and sprayed it with...

 clear acrylic spray. i don't know why...to seal it?!  

 before i glued the caps on, i glittered the acorns with Martha Stewart glitter in turquoise, 'cause TURQUOISE acorns, duh!!  i used the glue gun to glue the caps on and....

 i put a spot of glue on each cap then pressed the twine into the caps.  i also added some leaves around the base of the twig.

 purty, hun?

this isn't that hard, and you wouldn't HAVE to add the glitter, but why you wouldn't i have NO idea!!  it does take a bit of time to add the glitter and let it all dry, but trust me, while it's drying you'll have plenty of glitter to clean from every inch of your bod, every corner of your kitchen, and (if you're lucky) off the dog!

Shabby Apple Savings, day #3!

Eeek, you are gonna squeal when you see the DEAL OF THE DAY from Shabby Apple

Tambourin Skirt-go NOW! 

(part of the green leaf collection)

25% off this FABULOUS skirt,  today ONLY November 14th.

just use the link above AND the code: "day3" at checkout!!!

Now, is this a PARTY SKIRT, or what?

If you've ever wished you could shimmy with the Fitzgeralds and Josephine Baker at one of Cole Porter's infamous parties, you can now bring yourself one step closer with our Tambourin #18 skirt.  This fully-lined cotton sateen skirt sports tier after tier of flapper fringe that shifts and swings as you saunter your way through the streets (of old Paris?) in search of the next great dinner party. Cut in a classic pencil shape and falling just to the knee, it is a seasonless surprise at any special event. 

98%Cotton 2% Spandex shell,

Green Leaf dresses are EXCHANGE only!

ready to buy? and save 25%?

go HERE!

(don't forget you can use the "blackout" code through November 23rd to get 15% off ALL BLACK DRESSES)

Come on back tomorrow and see what's next!!  Plus some fun Thanksgiving decorating ideas!

Need a party dress for the upcoming Holiday's? Like Shabby Apple?

 i have exciting news just for you!! if you're a fan of shabby apple clothing, get ready for some FABULOUS savings!  they are offering specials through November 23rd, special savings DAILY that you can take advantage of through my blog!!

Today ONLY

(Sunday-November 13, 2011) 

you can take 25% off the French Quarter Dress

here's a little information straight from Shabby Apple

As French as Champagne! Cream lace covers the champagne satin lining ofthis incredible creation.  A mandarin collar, cap sleeves and achampagne satin sash complete the look.  With a side zipper and apoly-blend liner with just enough stretch, this dress will feel like adream and will have others exclaiming, “tres jolie!” . Fit Notes: This dress follows our Fits Generously size chart. Skirt hits below the knee. **DRESS HAS A FAIR AMOUNT OF STRETCH.  WE RECOMMEND ORDERING A SIZE DOWN IF YOU ARE BORDERLINE ON YOUR MEASUREMENTS** To care for this dress, hand wash cold and hang to dry. Sizing concern? Not the right dress for you?  Return your dress and Shabby Apple will ship you a new dress for FREE!

To take advantage of this special, use THIS LINK! and use the code: "day2" to get 25% off!!

and because i am 1 day behind on this special "12 Days of Christmas Savings", I have another special running all the way through November 23rd:

15% off ALL Black Dresses from Shabby Apple

for this special, use the above link and use the code: "blackout"

What are you doing?? GET SHOPPING!!  

and remember, if you have any questions, contact me here:

chinamommy_04@yahoo.com

if the French Quarter dress isn't for you, come on back tomorrow and see what's next!

xoxo

Initial Christmas Ornaments, now in the SHOP!

it's that time again.... time to start thinking about CHRISTMAS!!  but then again, if you were in hobby lobby in July,  you've already started!!  i'll be filling the shop with my initial ornaments again this year.  all letters will be available (even x, y and z!) and i'll do custom colors for you!  here are 2 examples from last year

 and

if you need a great little personalized gift for under $8, you're in luck!

get them here:

chinamommy

Get in my BELLY!!!

if you follow me on pinterest, you may have seen these

lemon ginger potstickers!  

if you don't follow me on pinterest....well, not everyone can be cool!  

just kidding, you CAN be!  if you need an invite to pinterest, let me know at: chinamommy_04@yahoo.com

anywhoooo.... to give proper credit to this lovely lady, you can grab this recipe over at: ourbestbites 

the picture is her's too.... because the last thing you want me to do is start trying to take photo's of what i cook, trust me!

let me interrupt right here and let you know i was planning on blogging about all my fabulous auction finds here today.  1st off it turned out to be an estate sale in a teeny tiny house. i showed up at about 9:30, had to wait 2 HOURS to even get in the house, got hit on by an old man and then bought NOTHING!  as i stood in the cold i saw person after person leaving with everything i wanted... it was a total waste of time, sadly! so today we'll talk about what i ate last night-enjoy...

last night darling and i made these for supper, she is quite the dumpling filler, let me tell ya!  i would have taken pictures BUT... i didn't realize my printer was out of ink and i'd have to keep running over to the computer to check the next ingredient and the next step!  i burnt off my supper before i ever ate it!  i'm going to tell you what i did a little differently: i used a can of white meat chicken (cause it's SOOO easy), chopped up cabbage, water chestnuts, ginger and green onions then grated a little lemon peel and mixed it together.  and then i followed her directions!  i did not measure anything out too much, just kinda cut and dumped-it came out fine!!  it does take a little time, but let me tell you... it was so worth it!  i had plenty left over since we used an entire package of won ton wrappers and i can hardly stay out of them today!  if you're looking for a great supper idea, give this a try and stop by our best bites and let them know chinamommy sent you!

i'm having some girlies over to get our craft on this weekend, i've got to go dig out the crafting area!!

Happy Hump Day!

Gone Junkin'

i'm off to go get some junk!  want to see what i could come home with? 

Go HERE: estate sales

if you take a look at this auction, you can sign up with your address and get a notification of when and where you can go get your own bunch of junk!!! i bet your mister will be as thrilled to hear this as mine was last night! he could hardly stand it!  i think visions of "hoarders" danced in his head!  if you are on pinterest.com you KNOW why i have got to get to this auction and buy as much junk as possible! i mean, look at this stuff:

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if you're not in on pinterest, let me know! email me at chinamommy_04@yahoo.com and i'll send you an invite, 'cause you gotta be invited to our special group!!

xoxo

wish me luck with the junk gods!