Years ago, I saw the movie "Legacy".  It is a story about Mormon Pioneers making their way to the Salt Lake Valley.  The main character, played by Kathleen Beller, marries a stone mason.  It is a beautiful love story.  They are driven from their homes in Illinois by angry mobs, and as they traveled across the plains, the US government asked for 500 the men of the church to join forces with them in the Mexican-American War.  As her husband joined the company, leaving his wife to travel with her aged father and their young children, he promises that he will return to wherever their home would be.  She sobbed in his arms and said, "Wherever you are is home to me!"  I have always remembered that line.  If you have ever lived the military life and moved from place to place to wherever your husband is stationed, and you have to be apart from him for various lengths of time because of his service, this quote may take on new meaning for you and you can feel empathy for what those pioneer women had to go through. I learned long ago that it doesn't matter where my husband I live, as long as we are together.  So, to make a long story short, that was the inspiration for this plaque for our bedroom.

         I went to Michael's the other day, and these wooden sign pieces (similar here) and the scroll saw cut words were on sale for 50% off!  I painted the word red because I wanted it to pop from the rest of the picture.

     Before penciling in the letters on the sign, I marked where I wanted the word "home" to go so that I could fit the words around it.  I just used a pencil to mark the height and width.  Then I lightly penciled in the words before painting them.  Remember that the technique is to write the word, then go back and make a thicker line wherever there is a down stroke.  

       I am a little embarrassed about my writing because I am just learning how to do it, but because this was such a personal message, I wanted to do the writing myself.  It was also more difficult because I decided to paint it, rather than using a sharpie.  
       After the paint was dry, I used little adhesive dots to stick on "home".  I wanted it to stand up away from the wood just a little .   They are hard to see in this picture, but they really come in handy for so many craft projects, I always keep them on hand.

             One thing I have also learned is not to be afraid to try new things.  It doesn't have to be perfect, it just has to be something you like! If I decide I want to redo this lettering, I can sand it a little, paint over it, and do it again!  But, for now, we are enjoying it in our room.  My husband wanted to know if I really meant it, and I asked him if I hadn't already done it. He knew I had.  We are so blessed with our own beautiful love story! 

Don't forget to subscribe to get access to our first printable that also has hand lettering!  

​Today, I had a serious problem. I really wanted chocolate. And cookie dough. And cheesecake. And something a little salty. (I also wanted pie- but that problem will have to wait another day for a solution.) I know I'm not the only one who feels this way sometimes. Or all the time. And the solution seemed simple enough. Cookie Dough Cheesecake! Yum! Except, then I found out I had one more problem.
If you've ever made vegan cheesecake before, you know that most recipes require soaked cashews. I didn't have any of those because I eat a whole bag in three days. So, I messed around with the recipe so that there are no nuts required! Yay!

The recipe is pretty much just like making regular cheesecake. I just made them cupcake sized because I wanted to eat them sooner. The recipe will work just the same if you decide to make it full size, it just may need to chill longer. Another option is to use canning lids like mini spring form pans like we did in this post.

​So the first step is to make your crust and fill the cupcake liners with it. Be sure to press the crust down evenly the whole way around.

Next, you will stick that in the freezer. While it's chilling, you can mix together the filling. You can find lots of vegan friendly chocolate chips. For a non dairy alternative to cream cheese, I used Daiya brand plain cream cheese spread. For non dairy milk, I used flax milk. (Flax milk is my new obsession. I think it's sooo good!) But, these are just my preferences and you can use whichever brands and products you prefer!
Once the filling is finished, it will be a little bit sticky and look almost whipped. I scooped it into each liner on top of the crust using a cookie scoop. There was about 1 tablespoon in each cup. Then I added some more chocolate on top. Stick that in the freezer for another couple hours.

After that is done firming up, they're ready to eat! I think these came out tasting so good, and they look so cute. They would be fun to have for a party or just if you want to control your portion sizes! (Just kidding, I ate like three of them.) This one batch made twelve mini cheesecakes. Try them out and let me know what you think in the comments!

                Wouldn't these be cute to use to display your Hot Cocoa Bombs or these delicious cheesecakes?  You can order them from Beau-coup!

     Find more vegan dessert options here and here! 

So, St Patrick’s Day is coming up, but you don’t want to be drowned in green. That’s how I feel anyways. (My brother and sister-in-law would probably love it though because they love green). It’s not that I hate green there’s just so many other things to love about St Patrick’s Day.  It’s one of my favorite holidays and I’ve come up with some fun ways to celebrate the day that not only involve green but all the colors of the rainbow as well!

Additional Ideas:
 
For a date- Cozy up with your sweetheart watching “Darby O’Gill and the Little People”, you can stream it on Amazon! You can eat chips and dip and mint Oreos. A nice stay-in date.
 
For Kids- There’s not much I would change except maybe changing out the music. Flogging
Molly is a bit of an adult band.
 
 
Hope you guys can use some of these ideas to make your St Patrick’s Day fun! Let us know if you do. Or if you have any fun ideas to include in the celebration.

                 As I work on Friday Fave's posts, it makes me realize one thing, Fridays come around really quickly! Sometimes, coming up with a question is harder than you might think!  Take this past week, for example.  It was Presidents Day on Monday, so I thought, maybe I will ask who was everyone's favorite President before the year 2000. (I didn't want to get too political).  But I realized that all of us would probably choose George Washington, so that wasn't going to work. Those thoughts made me start thinking about history and I thought, "Why not, What are our favorite Historical Books?'".  Madalynn didn't really like that idea because she prefers science and science fiction.  On the other hand, Lindsey had so many books that she loved that fit the historical genre that she had a difficult time choosing.  Alicia had quite a few as well, but one of the ones she mentioned interested me so much that I encouraged her to choose it.  We decided to narrow down the choices to nonfiction only this week.  Fiction will have to be an entirely different post.   If you want to see past Friday Fave Posts, click on that link.  So, here goes!  This weeks question is:

What is your favorite Historical Nonfiction Book?

       This week, we will begin with Maddy's fave because she found a way to combine her love of science with history.  She chose  The Hot Zone:  The Terrifying True Story of the Origins of the Ebola Virus by Richard Preston.  The title is self-explanatory.  This book tells the horrific story of how a deadly virus from the African rain forest made its way to Washington D.C.  Madalynn said it was intense and fascinating. It is recent history, but history none the less.  

               I am going next because I have talked about my choice before, in a previous post, about my 10 Books to Read Again and Again.  It is  The Hiding Place by Corrie Ten Boom.  Her book takes place in Holland during WWII.  Her family hid Jewish people from the Nazis until they were caught and  Corrie and her sister were sent to a prison camp.  In spite of the many hardships she faced, her faith never waivered and her courage never failed.  The story is both heart wrenching and inspiring.  If you haven't read it, you must. You really must.  I think I may just have to go read it again now, because I am thinking about it. 

            Next is Alicia's choice.  She is also a science loving daughter of mine! (She is a science teacher!)  The book she chose is Galileo's Daughter by Dava Sobel.  This book is based on 124 surviving letters from one of Galileo's daughters to him.  She was a nun in a convent and she changed her name to Maria Celeste in honor of her father's work.  The story of the book is more about Galileo than her, but her letters give insight into his character.  His letters to her were presumably burned after death by the convent in order to avoid association with Galileo. Alicia liked this book because it brings a different view to the whole situation of religion vs. science.  It doesn't vilify either side.  It is easy to read and understand even for those who do not feel they understand science. It shows how Galileo, although persecuted by the Pope, still had faith in God and was supported by other Bishops and Priests in the church.  It also shows that the  story depicting the Catholic Church vs Galileo is much more complicated than one might think.  

             Since Lindsey had such a difficult time choosing just one book this week, we told her that she could be the one to cheat and pick two books.  
             Like me, Lindsey loves books about WWII.  So, it isn't surprising that one of her picks is from that time period.  She chose Christ Stopped at Eboli by Carlo Levi.  This is the story of an Italian man during Mussolini's fascist regime.  He was banished to the south of Italy with other exiles and spent a year living there in bad conditions.  He learns a lot about humans and has a lot of time to think about whether it was worth it for him to speak out against his government.  Lindsey likes this book because it is shows another aspect of how dark and bad the actions of people like Hitler and Mussolini can be, which serves as a reminder to us all to always stand up for what is right. 

           Lindsey's top choice, and also a choice that each of us would also make, is The Book of Mormon:  Another Testament of Jesus Christ.  This book contains the ancient history of the America's and teaches what the roots of our nation really are.  Most importantly it shows that we have a Heavenly Father who loves all of His children and He wants all of them to have the gospel of Jesus Christ.  It teaches that we choose our course in life.  We get to decide how we want to act, and then we must receive the consequences of those decisions, whether they are good or bad.  (Hint: It is always a good decision to keep the commandments.)  Lindsey says, "The teachings in this book shape everything I do and I love it and read from it every day."  I love it, too.  I hope you will read it and find out for yourself the truth contained in it.

             Whew!  Those are our  Friday Fave's for this week! It was hard work to narrow down to these choices, but I think there are 5 good ones here!  I hope you find something new to read in them!  Let us know if you have any good Historical Nonfiction that we should consider as well!  
​             If you have already read all of these, here are some other suggestions that we have made in the past:

The Top 10 Books You Will Want to Read Again and Again

​Best Books to Read on Kindle

​Happy Reading!