This particular Blog was started as a part of a school project. I left some of the older posts below but in 2017 this will contain the traveling adventures of my family.
I hope you will join us on our great adventure next year. Some of the things that may come our way, a month in Los Angeles for me to take part in a medical trial and Cassie may decide to head to Hawaii in the fall for college.
Not much is set in stone as yet but I do know no matter what we do it will be an adventure and we hope you will join us.
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year from the Schriver girls
See you all in 2017 <3
Wednesday, December 21, 2016
Tuesday, April 19, 2016
Well I never figured out how to make the bottle caps so the paper doesn't bleed. If you know how and can give me some pointers please comment on this because I still have all the stuff to make them and they look really cool.
Relay was a lot of fun. I had a cup cake bar. I used my candy melts and made Chocolate awareness ribbon lollipops and the girls did face (and hand) painting and manned a giant jenga game. Just so you know Giant jenga is SOOOO much more fun that little game you buy in the store.
Relay was a lot of fun. I had a cup cake bar. I used my candy melts and made Chocolate awareness ribbon lollipops and the gich more fun that little game you buy in the store. My youngest is studying photography this year in homeschool so I assigned her the last to get creative with pictures while at relay and this is the result.
Relay was a lot of fun. I had a cup cake bar. I used my candy melts and made Chocolate awareness ribbon lollipops and the gich more fun that little game you buy in the store. My youngest is studying photography this year in homeschool so I assigned her the last to get creative with pictures while at relay and this is the result.
I live Tweeted and posted on Instagram the whole night long. The evening raised nearly 60k for cancer research, not bad for a small university relay. #swoop
Here are some more pictures of the fun.
Sunday, April 10, 2016
Relay for life
This weekend my girls and I will be walking in the Relay for Life at the University of North Florida campus. We will be walking in honor of my husband who lost his battle with Cancer but we will also be helping with a booth for Swag TV which is a channel at the Video on Demand company TVJax.Com that I have been working with as an intern. I am honored and blessed that they are teaming with me for this event so I really want to do the best I can to make the night a success. The booths usually sell crafts and food to raise money for their team. I took to Twitter to find some ideas.
Well maybe someone will have some suggestions to make this work. If they do I will blog about it. I hate to blog about another fail.
Relay is such a worthy cause and a super fun night. The Relay at UNF will be from 6pm till 12 am. If you get a chance to come out please do. Bring a pocket full of ones to support the booths and take part in the fun challenges. Everything raised that night will go straight to Relay.
Breast cancer has a lot of notoriety and rightfully so it is one of the most frequent cancers in women but there are a ton of other cancers out there. This is a graphic from Cancer Day and it shows you a small number of the cancers out there.
There are even more cancers out there that are super rare and the ribbons never get mentioned. My husband died of Neuro Endocrine Cancer and it was in his bones and liver. His ribbon is zebra print. Pray for cancer patient and their families and then get out and walk. Together we can see a cure for all cancer in our lifetime.
Again thank you to TVJax.com for teaming up with me this year.
All the money that is raised at Relay goes directly to cancer research. The funds Relay has raised has helped speed advancements in the cure for many different types of cancer. We walk together we will beat Cancer. Scary statistic 1 in 3 women and 1 in 2 men will have a cancer diagnosis in their life. My husband died when my youngest was 10 so we walk so that no other 10 year old will have to face 11 without her Dad.#RelayForLife donations fund research and help those touched by cancer. Donate today: https://t.co/0UHuJK0jjj pic.twitter.com/JJamrFcXpe— RelayForLife (@RelayForLife) April 8, 2016
Cool but I don't think this is a likely craft for us.Tons of great looking Etsy shops on Twitter. Unfortunately I do not have the funds to buy crafts already done.#128 #EyeBlack #For #Life #Original #RELAY #diy #crafts— DIY and Crafts (@_diycrafts) May 4, 2015
Please RT: http://t.co/1MLJUVNQDZ pic.twitter.com/jRbecXceJc
Another cute idea. I wish this came with directions.Samantha learning new crafts to raise money for Relay For Life! #raisemoney #butyakeychain pic.twitter.com/C2JAxeWkQB— MooreRelay (@RelayMoore) November 21, 2015
Another great ETSY shop but what kind of Communication Major would I be if I didn't figure out how to do this on Photo Shop? Okay Honestly I got my 15 year old to do 1 inch circles for me.25% OFF SPECIAL Inside Out Bottle cap Craft by SparklesCraftSupply1 https://t.co/HRAw2x8Q45 via @Etsy #insideout #sadness #inside-out #anger— Wendy Johnson (@sparklescrafts7) February 23, 2016
Round 1 of Relay for Life crafting did not go so well. Any suggestions? pic.twitter.com/Pj3lhDEZYQ— Cindy Schriver (@cindythechef) April 10, 2016
Well maybe someone will have some suggestions to make this work. If they do I will blog about it. I hate to blog about another fail.
Relay is such a worthy cause and a super fun night. The Relay at UNF will be from 6pm till 12 am. If you get a chance to come out please do. Bring a pocket full of ones to support the booths and take part in the fun challenges. Everything raised that night will go straight to Relay.
Breast cancer has a lot of notoriety and rightfully so it is one of the most frequent cancers in women but there are a ton of other cancers out there. This is a graphic from Cancer Day and it shows you a small number of the cancers out there.
Let's raise our awareness on this World Cancer Day! Which ribbon are you going to wear today? #wecanican #bobobobo pic.twitter.com/SWdaibrU1z— bobobobo (@_bobobobo_) February 4, 2016
There are even more cancers out there that are super rare and the ribbons never get mentioned. My husband died of Neuro Endocrine Cancer and it was in his bones and liver. His ribbon is zebra print. Pray for cancer patient and their families and then get out and walk. Together we can see a cure for all cancer in our lifetime.
Again thank you to TVJax.com for teaming up with me this year.
Sunday, April 3, 2016
Pinwheel Fun
For the craft this week I wanted to explore my new love affair with pinwheels. It is Spring and they are colorful and fun, what is not to like with them right?
I bought a huge plastic pin wheel for the front porch and wanted to make something pin wheely to put on the front door. I can tell you that what I did may never see the light of day but I had so much fun doing it I wanted to share it anyway.
Making a pinwheel- the most important thing to remember when making pin wheels is you need to start with a square. I learned this the hard way. Rectangles do not work.
I used a brown cardstock to show you the process and then got my pretty paper out for the rest.
You loosely fold the sheet into fours so that you can find the exact center of your paper.
This is a perfect use for all that cardstock that you buy to catch up the 14 years you are behind in your kids scrapbooks but you never get to it. Speaking of kid I got my 15 year old to help me out. So much concentration, even the tongue is out.
Her first pinwheel only 22 more to go.
She had a little problem with the hot glue. I have never laughed so hard then when she grumped the first one required my finger prints to stick not this one is requiring my soul. Such Drama LOL
My kids are uber artsy so I had this canvas left over from forever ago and decided to use it to display our pinwheels. It was a good idea in theory. The pinwheels are super cute but in practice not so much.
I am pretty sure this will never graced my door and the kid whose canvas this was is ticked at me now for covering her artwork from a decade ago. HMPH the end was not so great but I had an hour of belly laughs with my 15 year old so I am going to say this project was well worth it. Maybe some flowers or something can save the pinwheel monstrosity. LOL
Remember the main objective of getting crafty with your children is to have special moments with them. Even if those special moments are around how hideous your project turned out.
I bought a huge plastic pin wheel for the front porch and wanted to make something pin wheely to put on the front door. I can tell you that what I did may never see the light of day but I had so much fun doing it I wanted to share it anyway.
Making a pinwheel- the most important thing to remember when making pin wheels is you need to start with a square. I learned this the hard way. Rectangles do not work.
I used a brown cardstock to show you the process and then got my pretty paper out for the rest.
Start at every corner and cut about a thumb width from the center
Then you fold every other corner down to the center and secure. Here I used a brad but that was a lot of trouble for the others I used hot glue. If you want your pinwheels to spin you will want to use a brad with a rounded post to it.
Sunday, March 27, 2016
Getting Crafty with Google Maps
One of the assignments for my class at school was to take a list off the internet and put them on a google map using documents on the google drive. I will not kid you it took me a while to understand this but when I did, what an amazing tool to use in all parts of your life. I can see you using this to hold a progressive dinner at your church or creating a brochure for a convention telling participants the location of popular destinations near by. Heck you could use this feature for anything. I will be helping coordinate an international convention here in Jacksonville and I am excited to be able to use this to help lead people to places around town. Try it out. Go to google drive and create a spreadsheet of destinations and then you can create a google map and import into your map. You can even customize the little icons that point out where places are on the map.
Getting crafty with tech is even more fun than getting crafty with food.
https://www.google.com/maps/d/edit?hl=en&authuser=0&mid=zPbD_ueqjC4Y.kLKlqkigAmo4
Getting crafty with tech is even more fun than getting crafty with food.
https://www.google.com/maps/d/edit?hl=en&authuser=0&mid=zPbD_ueqjC4Y.kLKlqkigAmo4
Royal Icing revealed
Well last week we left off with royal icing in the bowl. I was intending to make some super adorable Easter Cupcakes but my schedule got messed up, but I did make some adorable royal icing bunnies that I had my girls help me to decorate.
One thing you want to remember when making royal icing decorations is that you make double if not triple what you need because some end up like this poor little guy.
After the bunnies dried I got some edible food markers and had my girls help me to decorate our furry little critters. This one is mine. I went with the more standard bunny. Pink ears and nose, pretty blue eyes.
My middle child who is a huge Vincent Van Gogh fan created a "Starry Night" bunny
My eldest daughter went more 21st century with a green zombie bunny.
Royal icing can keep in an air tight container for up to a year and even though a couple will break on you they are a fun way to give a child a chance to channel their inner artist and eat it too.
Don't be afraid of royal icing. Make up a batch and play around it is a fun median to make some adorable 3-d decorations .
Sunday, March 20, 2016
Easter Cookie Prep
This is part one of a two part post. I am going to make Easter cookies with my Mom and my girls tomorrow. You will see all that next week. This week I did what I could ahead of our cookie time.
I made a large batch of Royal icing. If you do any kind of baking you need to know how to make royal icing. The icing is great it is the texture of regular buttercream when you mix it up so you can use the same decorating skills you would with buttercream but after about 24 hours it hardens. You can decorate on wax paper and after it dries you can peal it off and have 3d designs for your dessert.
I am going to show you all that in next weeks blog so please check back.
Royal Icing
Your going to need (Recipe found on Wilton.com)
4 cups of powdered sugar
3 tablespoons of Meringue Powder
5 tablespoons of water (it usually turns out to be more like 10 tbs of water but will explain latter on.
You put the powdered sugar and meringue powder in the mixer bowl and sprinkle the water on top of the mixture. This step isn't in the recipe but after years of making royal icing, trust me it will stop the storm cloud of powdered sugar when you start the mixer.
After about a minute if you notice your icing looking like -
Add some more water a tablespoon at a time until the mixture is smooth. Don't worry over this step, if you do it wrong and add too much water you can add some powdered sugar and fix it.
Start mixing, slowly and steadily increase it till it is on high. Once the mixer is on the highest it can go set you timer for 6 minutes and walk away.
The meringue powder is made from egg whites and like when you make a meringue the mixing is what makes it stiff. After six minutes your icing should look like this.
The icing should make hard points. Meaning when you stick your spreader in the bowl and pull it out there should be a stiff little points. If the point bends at the middle or it doesn't peek at all then mix for another couple of minutes.
Once you are complete either use it or cover it tightly and store in a dark warm place.
There are some things to remember when working with royal icing. ALWAYS keep it covered and if it starts to get crunchy cover it with a damp paper towel. It will take color like any icing but while it waits in the pastry bag make sure the tips of the bags are in a fold of a wet paper towel.
Don't be afraid of royal icing it is so easy to work with and once it dries you can store the flowers or whatever you make in an air tight container for up to a year. So think about that child getting married in a year and she wants 19 million roses on her cake. With Royal Icing you can start now and make those dreams come true. Have fun and come back next week when we use this container of happiness.
Happy Easter and Happy Crafting.
I made a large batch of Royal icing. If you do any kind of baking you need to know how to make royal icing. The icing is great it is the texture of regular buttercream when you mix it up so you can use the same decorating skills you would with buttercream but after about 24 hours it hardens. You can decorate on wax paper and after it dries you can peal it off and have 3d designs for your dessert.
I am going to show you all that in next weeks blog so please check back.
Royal Icing
Your going to need (Recipe found on Wilton.com)
4 cups of powdered sugar
3 tablespoons of Meringue Powder
5 tablespoons of water (it usually turns out to be more like 10 tbs of water but will explain latter on.
You put the powdered sugar and meringue powder in the mixer bowl and sprinkle the water on top of the mixture. This step isn't in the recipe but after years of making royal icing, trust me it will stop the storm cloud of powdered sugar when you start the mixer.
After about a minute if you notice your icing looking like -
Start mixing, slowly and steadily increase it till it is on high. Once the mixer is on the highest it can go set you timer for 6 minutes and walk away.
The meringue powder is made from egg whites and like when you make a meringue the mixing is what makes it stiff. After six minutes your icing should look like this.
The icing should make hard points. Meaning when you stick your spreader in the bowl and pull it out there should be a stiff little points. If the point bends at the middle or it doesn't peek at all then mix for another couple of minutes.
Once you are complete either use it or cover it tightly and store in a dark warm place.
There are some things to remember when working with royal icing. ALWAYS keep it covered and if it starts to get crunchy cover it with a damp paper towel. It will take color like any icing but while it waits in the pastry bag make sure the tips of the bags are in a fold of a wet paper towel.
Don't be afraid of royal icing it is so easy to work with and once it dries you can store the flowers or whatever you make in an air tight container for up to a year. So think about that child getting married in a year and she wants 19 million roses on her cake. With Royal Icing you can start now and make those dreams come true. Have fun and come back next week when we use this container of happiness.
Happy Easter and Happy Crafting.
Sunday, March 6, 2016
Chicken Fried Steak
I took video and pictures last week when my mom made us Chicken fried steak and corn fritters. I hope you try this and enjoy it as much as we always did.
 |
| Start with a mixture of Panko Breadcrumbs and flour |
 |
| Add salt, pepper and red pepper to the mixture |
 |
| Be sure to add the salt, pepper and red pepper to the steaks on both sides |
 |
| Crack a couple of eggs and add them to the bowl. Use a fork to break the yolk and scramble them |
Get nice and brown on both sides and then add enough water to cover the steaks, replace the lid and let simmer on low medium heat until the water boils down
While it boils down you can try your hand at corn fritters
Hope your meal turns out as yummy as ours
Sunday, February 28, 2016
Grandma's Recipes
This week my Mom and I were talking about extended family. I was
born later in my Mom's life so I really don't know many of the extended family
on either parents side. Unfortunately that same disconnect holds true for my
siblings' children and their children. That made me think of how we could
bridge that divide a little, and give my Mom's grand and great grandchildren a
piece of her. They may not be in the same state as she is but they can share
some of the family stories and recipes that we grew up on.
The first recipe that I am going to share is for Peanut butter
candy. My Dad had a huge sweet tooth and every time he got hungry for something
sweet he would ask Mom to make a batch. Mom would pull out her old tattered
cookbook and set to work. Us kids would gather around once she poured it into
the plate to lick the spoon and the pot (yes it is that good).
I plan on sharing over the next three weeks, several of
Grandma's recipes. I have one more recipe on tape of Chicken fried steak with a
side of corn fritters, but computer problems won't let me upload it tonight
maybe by mid week. I was running out of space on my computer so I had to export
this in a smaller format, but I hope you are still able to hear and see Grandma
as she walks you through the most popular Smith recipe ever.
I hope you enjoy Grandma's Peanut Butter candy. The plate in
this video was a quarter gone when we wrapped it up and went to bed but there
was only two pieces left by morning :) Enjoy and come back for the Chiicken
Fried Steak and Corn Fritters and our next video session we will capture
Grandma's Sour cream Pound Cake.
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