Coffee Toffee

I made this toffee as a holiday gift for friends at work. It was my first attempt at toffee and it turned out great! I'll definitely make this again. Enjoy!

1 cup (2 sticks or 8 ounces) butter
1/2 cup light brown sugar
1/2 cup white sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons molasses
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 teaspoons instant espresso powder
1 cup semisweet chocolate chips
1/2 cup chopped hazelnuts (toasted, skinned and cooled) or another nut of your choice

Line a small baking sheet with parchment paper and set aside. In a heavy saucepan with a candy thermometer attached, melt butter, brown sugar, white sugar, molasses, salt and espresso powder together over together. Cook over medium heat, stirring occasionally with a whisk until the temperature approaches 250 degrees, at which point you should stir constantly until it reaches 300 degrees.

Pour immediately into the prepared baking sheet — you can spread it more evenly with a offset or silicon spatula. Sprinkle the chocolate chips over the toffee and let them sit for a minute until soft, then spread the chocolate evenly over the candy base. Sprinkle the chocolate with chopped nuts and then, if you’re as impatient as we are, you can slide the sheet onto a cooling rack in the freezer until the toffee is set.

Break into pieces and store in an airtight container. If you’re kitchen runs warm, you might prefer to keep it in the fridge so the chocolate doesn’t get soft.

Testimony

One of the web wizards at the Ballard campus, Haden Sutton, recently updated the pastors and staff page on the Ballard campus website. In preparation for the update, Haden asked us to videotape the abridged version of our testimonies.

Trying to narrow down all that God has done in my life to a few minutes is a difficult task. I'm continually reminded of his mercy and grace each day. But the video below captures some of the highlights for those who are interested (or who just want to see me be nervous on camera).

In the Tank

Well over seven hundred people have been baptized at Mars Hill this past year. It's been amazing to see God change so many lives and an honor to get to help perform some of those baptisms the past few weeks. Standing next to someone in the tank and holding their hand as they profess that Jesus is their Lord and Savior never gets old.

The video below is from last week. Pastor Bubba starts off by recapping the day and then you get a front row seat as eighteen people are baptized. (See if you can find the one where I almost slipped and fell on my butt.)

The Web Economy

Mashable, "the world's largest blog focused exclusively on social media news," has quickly become one of my favorite blogs. Pete Cashmore does a great job providing helpful news and information for utilizing various forms of social media, as well as technology in general.

In a recent blog post entitled, "Twitter Ads are Evil: Here's Why," he explains what he calls the "web economy." According to Cashmore, the web economy is built on trust and attention. He says that "Brands need to befriend us, build relationships, and offer so much value that we broadcast our positive experiences out to our own networks of trust. They might entertain us. They might help us. They might become enablers of our own personal goals. And when they do, we’ll return the favor. 'Spend your attention on this', we’ll say, 'It’s important!'"

Before reading this, I hadn't really considered the power and influence individual consumers have thanks to the internet. I'm not entirely sure what to make of it at this point, but I thought I'd share this in the meantime.

What are your thoughts? How have you seen this in action?

Thanksgiving

We had a great time this past week. Mackenzie's sister, Katie, and her husband, Brent, were in town from Kansas City. We stayed busy, but also enjoyed some quality time together.

During the week, we took an Argosy cruise through the Ballard Locks, went for a hike at Rattlesnake Ridge, took a tour of Safeco Field (and saw Ichiro!), and enjoyed tons of food.

Extreme Kitchen Makeover

Okay, so it wasn't that extreme, but we've definitely enjoyed the results. Mackenzie had been wanting to replace the floor in our kitchen for a few years now, but I was convinced it wasn't going to be worth the hassle. As usual, I was wrong. Not only was the Allure flooring from Home Depot inexpensive, it was also easy to install (I should get paid for this promo). Honestly, the hardest part was just finagling the stove and fridge out of the kitchen.

After installing the floor in just under three hours--nearly half of which was spent over-thinking the process--the floor was completely installed. Mackenzie then painted all the walls and molding. I know what you're thinking: Why on earth did you paint after installing brand new flooring? Well, I only had Saturday to contribute to this project, so my part needed to be done first to allow Mackenzie to paint on Sunday and Monday.



Again, I was pleasantly surprised with the outcome. I always have a tough time envisioning the finished product based on a tiny sample of paint color and flooring. Honestly, I didn't expect the paint color to be so vibrant. Mackenzie tends to like blues and greens, which is somewhat contrary to what you'd expect to brighten and warm a home in the Pacific Northwest--particularly during the soggy, gray winters--but it actually does the trick.

Overall, it was one of the smoother home improvement projects at the Ellis household. Typically, I get impatient with Mackenzie's numerous questions throughout the process, and she gets frustrated with my impatience (rightly so), but in this particular case, God allowed us to be gracious with each other and actually work well together.

I can't say I'm in a rush to start another project, but I'm pleased with the way this one turned out.

Yard Project: Raised Veggie Beds!!

We often refer to our house as Ellis Orchard, because of our two prolific fruit trees in the backyard. Now, however, we will have to start refering to it as Ellis Farms. This weekend we built and planted two 8' x 4' raised vegetable beds. (By we, I mean Cliff.) It was a project, but fun to do and the finished product is awesome! So in a few months we will harvest: tomatoes, sugar snap peas, brussel sprouts, yellow squash, zucchini, broccoli, celery, onions, bell peppers, 2 varieties of lettuce, blueberries, strawberries, rasberries, and blackberries.

Of course in order to grow veggies, you need soil. We were surprised to learn how expensive dirt is to have delivered to your house, so being the deal seekers we are, I got on CraigsList and found free dirt. Not only was the dirt free, but the guy was also willing to deliver it to us. Now that is a deal! So, Thursday afternoon, we came home to a very large pile of dirt. Emphasis on VERY!

The next morning we laid out our boards, and then Cliff made the raised beds. Gunner was a huge help as you can only imagine. :)

After the bed frames were constructed, we staked and leveled the beds, and then made them very sturdy by screwing the frame to the stakes. Then we filled the beds with dirt, compost, and finally with the veggies! We can't wait to harvest our crops.

Swan Lake

Yesterday, because I have a very kind, loving husband, we went to see the ballet, Swan Lake. It was so beautiful and incredible to see such precision. Even though I knew the music because of years and years of ballet class, I didn't know the story of this ballet.

Essentially, it is about a prince who must get married. He falls in love a woman who is a swan by day and a woman by night. Then he is dooped into believing he marries his love, when in fact the local sorcerer plays a switcharoo.

Thanks, honey, for loving me enough to endure the ballet!! I appreciate that you went without one complaint and a lot of smiles. I'm a lucky girl.

Good Friday and Easter Services

Our church, Mars Hill Church, is streaming the Good Friday and Easter services live! Check it out.

http://www.marshillchurch.org/live

In the Word

For pretty much my entire life, I've neglected reading my Bible. My laundry list of excuses included....

-I'm too busy.
-I don't have time to read.
-I don't know where to start.
-I can't get up even earlier than I already do!
-I'm tired when I get home from work.
-etc., etc., etc., blah, blah, blah...

My desire to read my Bible does not stem from a religious desire to earn God's love, because that is not possible; it comes from a response to the call to know Jesus personally and in order to know Him, I have to spend time with Him. What better way to do that, then to read His Book?

Since February 1, I've been reading my Bible just about each morning. It is a treasured start to my day that really prepares me for eight hours filled with 30 children.

Cliff suggested that I read through the Bible in a year. (He knows how much I like to make lists and check things off to feel a sense of accomplishment.) I've tried this before, but this time around, I prayed that God would give me the desire to seek Him each day, and He has. So, with my Daily Reading Plan in hand, I gave it a go. I've currently read Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and have just started Deuteronomy.

My prayer is that I continue to meet with Jesus each day. By God's grace, so far, so good.

Oh how fast they grow...

I guess dogs and kids both grow so fast....can you believe Gunner is 10 months old? He is also huge! :) He has been a great addition to our little family.

Christmas Cards

I love coming home from work, especially this time of year. After letting the troops out to potty in the back yard, I race to the mailbox to see the Christmas cards that arrived! Then, while Gunner and Tucker compete for my attention, I read each word of the letters and enjoy those charming picture cards.

I also love sending cards...hopefully yours arrived safely! :)

Delicious...?

I am continually amazed at what a nine month old lab will eat. You might think that Gunner would be interested in steak, fresh fruit, and chocolate...and you'd be right. But with a little discipline or an attempt at it, we've managed to make sure that he doesn't jump on the counter or eat off people's plates. Yet, he finds the oddest items to ingest.

This morning was no exception.

Each morning, I hop in the shower after dragging myself out of my snuggly, warm bed. Only to be greeted by two overly energetic creatures, tails wagging. In the 10 minutes I'm in the shower and Cliff is in bed, we trust Tucker and Gunner to behave themselves. Usually, all is well, and Gunner relaxes in the steamy bathroom on the bathmat. This morning though, I got out of the shower and things were too quiet. Well, except for the munching sound I heard coming from the living room. Hmmm????

Getting dressed as fast as possible, I went to investigate. My dear, darling marshmallow colored lab, who truly has a "puppy dog face" was eating a RAZOR!!! A RAZOR! Of all things to find in the house, what drew him to an old, green woman's disposable razor! And don't think for a second that he ate the handle...oh no! The handle was intact. The head of the razor, metal and all appeared to be in the gut of my creature! Because I'm the fabulous dog mother that I am, I wondered briefly how he had managed to eat such a thing and of course how he would poop that out without completely demolishing his inner "duct work." Then I just assumed that after eating a million tree branches, socks, foam from Tucker's bed, rocks, a basket, and I'm sure more, that he'd be just fine.

So that is the assumption that I'm operating under. If that doesn't end up being true, I'm sure our vet will enjoy a very expensive visit! :) Oh let's hope not...

National Boards!!!

Cliff and I both passed our National Boards. After a year of intense work...300+ hours of writing, reading, and study, we passed. We submitted our 100 pages of writing and took our 4 hour test in March. At 6am on Friday, we logged into our profiles on the National Board of Professional Teaching Standards website and after a few nervous dry heaves found out that we passed! When that "Congratulations" screen popped up, we both thought we would instantly die of relief and excitement.

Woohoo!

If you have no idea what I mean when I say, "National Boards", click here.

Three Blind Mice? No, Three Wild Dogs...

Sabre, Gunner, and Tucker...

Here are our two crazy critters with their best friend, Sabre. They stayed over at Matt & Courtney's for the weekend, while we were out of town. As far as we know, they all survived!

Back from Vacation!

We just got home from a wonderful three week vacation! We went everywhere, or so it seemed. Our trip started in Omaha, NE, where I was in my friend Amanda's wedding. Then we drove to Kansas City with Katie and Brent. We had such a relaxing week hanging with them in their gorgeous home near a lake in Kansas - it was such a treat.

Then from the quiet relaxation of their house, the four of us flew to NYC for quite a four day experience! We had such an amazing time...doing all the "touristy" things. We saw the Statue of Liberty, Ellis Island, Ground Zero, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Central Park, the Empire State Building, Rockefeller Plaza, went to The Lion King and ate amazing food! It was a very special and memorable trip with them.

From NYC, Cliff and I flew to Birmingham, AL, and drove to Huntsville, AL. We stayed with some dear family friends there, and I was in another friend's wedding (Hannah). From Huntsville, we flew to KY to spend time with Cliff's brother, Mark. We had an amazing time touring around the beautiful state of Kentucky, with quite a fantastic tour guide. :)

Our last leg of the trip was to Indianapolis to spend a brief night with Cliff's parents in their new house. It was so fun to be there to see how much they've already done to their new home. We spent time with family and friends we haven't seen in a quite awhile - it was a treat.

We had a wonderful trip, but it was nice to arrive home to our two pups and lawn that looked like the jungle. Tucker was exhausted from spending time with Mimi and Grandpa and our friends Katie and Ryan from church. Gunner stayed with our friends Matt and Court and their black lab, Sabre. He has grown SO much! It was shocking to see him, but such fun to see him grow. We love our boys. (Pictured below: Sabre and Gunner)

Snuggles...

New Baby!

Well, a four-legged baby. :) We welcomed Gunner into our family on Tuesday night. He is a very sweet boy. After looking for a puppy for about a year, we finally came across Gunner's litter. There were 11 puppies born to Gunner's mom, Josie (a black lab/golden retriever mix) and Gunner's dad, Dodge (a purebred chocolate lab). Even though both mom and dad are black, Gunner and 3 of his other siblings were golden. We love him dearly.

Tucker is extremely patient and we are thankful for his instruction and modeling for Gunner. Come by and meet him anytime.

We're DONE!!!

We officially finished the National Board process this morning. As of 11:04am, we both completed our three hour computer based essay test. This portion of the National Board process is worth 40% of our overall score. The huge portfolio we submitted at the end of March was worth 60%. Whew!

We both feel like this has been a valuable experience, but a huge investment of our time and energy over the course of the last year. While we don't find out if we passed until late November because of the huge volume of writing that actual people read and score, we are excited to be done! Some people thought we were totally insane to both be doing this at the same time. All the nights we sat on the couch typing next to each other, it made it easier to accept, because I didn't feel bad that he was on his own...we were both focused on our computers! :)

As to our celebration...we went to lunch after the test and then came home and took a nap. Sounds like a perfect way to celebrate to me!!

If you wand more info about the process we went through, check this link out...
http://www.bsd405.org/default.aspx?tabID=1525

Great place!

Last night we went with some friends to happy hour and then to a local pub. Cliff and I had never been to this place before, even though it is only a few minutes from our house. The Beveridge Place Pub was fantastic! It is newly renovated with a very cozy feeling. The rustic hardwood floors were covered in interesting rugs and large comfy chairs and couches were spread throughout. They had a shelf full of games and cards. (We played quite a few rounds of Jenga!) They had two pool tables, darts, checkerboard tables, and foosball. They serve only beer and wine (no margaritas for me), but had tons of local brews on tap. Cliff was of course thrilled. :) You can bring in your own take-out or order pizza and have it delivered to the pub! We loved this!

The best part though was that you can bring in your four-legged friends! There were at least 5 dogs in the place last night. All of them were super friendly and very chill. Tucker would be a bit much we think, but we are planning to take him and Sabre on a quiet night. Anyone who comes to visit, we're taking you! It was such an awesome place - packed with people, but a very relaxed atmosphere. Loved it!