Friday, April 25, 2014

Spring CRAFTS

Oh, Heeeeey!!!  Is it me, or has it been forever since I have made a serious craft post?  I know, you are thinking, "Walking through your neighborhood is awesome.  I love trees, nature, bushes... but when can I see what you are working on?  What are you making?"  I understand fully.  I went through a dry spell that lasted about two weeks.  I didn't know what to do. 

I couldn't think of what to make and when I came up with ideas, I didn't know HOW to make it.  So then I went to Pinterest.  Oh goodness!  Pinterest is the Holy Land of Procrastinating, Bullshit, and complete Wasted Time. In the past week or so, I must have made 400 new pins, gotten 100+ new followers, and found hoards of ideas.  But did I make any of the awesome things I found?  Uh, no.  Not really.  Not at first!

Thankfully, I snapped out of it and went back to doing WHAT MAKES ME HAPPY!  I love to be creative. I can pour a day's worth of drama, confusion, exhaustion, disappointment, and unregulated energy into a project.... or projects.

So without further ado, this is what I have been making. Wait!! Please be advised that this is photo-heavy.  If your PC is old, rickety, and slow, come back when you have time for the pictures to load.  If you are impatient and not craft-passionate, you may not want to continue because you will get bored.  If you are extremely craft-passionate, RUN AWAY because this post is loaded with pictures AND links to the tutorials so you can make these things too. BOOM!  That just happened!  Have fun......

I found these bunnies here on Pinterest.  The link to the picture does not work, so there was no pattern.  I put a piece of tracing paper up to the computer screen and used that as a guide.  These are magnets for my Little Darling and Kiki to play with for Easter.  But I forgot that I made them, so they're just getting them today. Ha!  Still cute.  Still loads of fun.  And it gave me a great idea for some games to make in the future.



I saw this awesome tutorial on how to make lace crowns here on Pinterest.  The link is to a great tutorial in a blog, and it's so easy to follow!  So I decided to have a go.  I have to make some adjustments, but it was a quick and fun project.  I will likely make more for my Little Darling and Kiki to play dress up.

 
I beaded the flowers in the middle.  That's my first time trying to "bead" anything.  I'm content with the way it turned out.  As for adhering all the other bling and whatnot: HOT GLUUUEEE!!!  Yes.  Glue.  My Little Darling was such a Pretty Princess in her crown today.

 
I have been completely obsessed with making flowers!!  I found several tutorials on Pinterest.  I will share them one by one, I guess.  The flowers on the crown can be found in this tutorial here. Straight forward.  Easy.  I made the shape of the petal on a scrap piece of paper and it worked fine :-)

I made these for my Little Darling's Easter headband, which turned out AMAZING!  I was really happy with it, considering I had never made a cloth flower before.


The tutorial for the large flower can be found here. The smaller one was just a ribbon that I made into a flower and put an embellishment on. That was purely instinctual.  I had no idea it wouldn't look crazy. 


These are some flowers that I made from this tutorial. They are so easy!  I am going to try my hand at making my own buttons so that I have something to put in the centers of these flowers, so stay tuned for that.  Then, I am putting them on headbands. My Little Darling loves to accessorize with headbands!




And what would life be if I weren't HOOKING??  So, you know I had to try my hand at making a a crochet flower.  This tutorial was so easy.  The yellow flower is the first I made.  I used a fine, baby yarn and an H-8 hook.  I didn't realize that 39 petals would be that huuuuge! It's almost as big as my hand.  I have big man-hands!  The purple one is made with 24 petals and an H-8 hook, but the yarn isn't as fine.  It's not quite worsted weight, but heading in that direction.  The green one is 24 petals, G-7 hook and fine baby yarn.  That was so much information.  I just want to give you an idea of what to expect when you begin to create a flower that looks reasonably small from the pictures in the tutorials. 


As you can see, the flower lies better with more petals.  I am going to try this again this weekend with different hooks and yarns.  It's such  an easy pattern and really quick to make!

I have several other flower tutorials on my board.  I am not sure how it works, when you follow someone on Pinterest, but I think this is the link to my Pinterest profile.  You can follow the crafts board here with some flowers and other fun Makes. Flowers can also be found on my "Hair", and "Crochet Ideas" boards.  I know.  Spread out, but once you learn to make one, the concept is the same for all the projects.  Cut a circle, fold it, sew it.   Or you can just stop by to see what you might like and repin at your leisure.  I hope everyone gets out and tries at least one of these projects!  I love to see different spins on the same ideas, personally.

And what about a blanket??  Yea!  I got one of those going too!  Hahahaha!



I started this two years ago.  I made a handful of squares, with the plan of turning it into a twin-sized quilt for my Little Darling's bed.  I quickly realized that building a blanket that large out of these 4 inch squares wasn't something I would be able to do.  Last spring, I picked the project back up and started again, making more squares with plans to make a baby blanket for a friend.  I got distracted and forgot about it.  In the past few weeks, I have finished all the squares I need for a cute baby blanket.  I need to assemble it and throw a boarder on there.  Wish me luck!  I am in the home stretch.  Just need to cross the finish line.  Do you ever do that?  Start something, lose interest, repurpose, lose interest, finish it?! Now, I have NO purpose for finishing this blanket, other than it's full of spring colors and it brings me happiness to have all this color in my life.

In keeping with the Spring Spirit, I made some spring envies for my pen pals.  Ok, I LOVE LOVE LOVE snail mail!  I love it!  There is nothing better than getting a hand written note in the mail from someone far away.  It makes me feel special and loved.  I love meeting new people and sharing with them.  I also really get tired of seeing bills all the time.  Like, I get it, I owe you all money!  Jeez! 


If you ever find yourself wanting a template for an envelop, leave me a comment.  I have several templates that I can scan and email to you.  And if you want me to MAKE some for you, leave me a comment :-)  I just might!

And lastly, I just have to add an update on my adventure with transitioning from paper towels to cloth napkins.


Our spring colored set came in about two weeks ago.  I LOVE THEM!  First, I was disappointed about the grey, but then I looked outside this morning.  Although it's a perfectly sunshiney spring day right now, this morning it was gloomy and grey.  So I guess this napkin fits!

The transition has been simple.  I haven't bought paper towels in a month.  We have kitchen towels and rags for cleaning.  We have these for eating and small table spills during dinner.  We saved money and helped the environment.  And it was all so easy to do!!!  I highly recommend it!

Well, I have to get some dinner cooked.  I hope everyone has had a great week and has something fun planned for the weekend.  I love being lazy on the weekends, personally!  Let's find out just how lazy I can be!

Wednesday, April 23, 2014

Doing What I Want

Well, I found out last night that the Spring Back Your Body Challenge is actually coming to an end here soon.  For some reason, I thought it was for 12 weeks or something.  That's what happens when I am indecisive about jumping on a bandwagon. Maybe it was just 4 weeks.

This challenge is over for me regardless.  I genuinely enjoy being active.  I love to work out.  I love pushing my body to its limits, building muscle and endurance.  But I don't like being competitive when it comes to my body image.  I don't like feeling under pressure when it comes to working out, like I have deadlines and expectations to meet. 

When I was a kid, growing up, my father would always complain that I would only do what I wanted to.  I didn't do things I didn't want to.  There has to be some sort of personal investment, gain, enjoyment, or I wasn't having it!  Well, Daddy, NOTHING HAS CHANGED!

For about 9 days, my life was: 5am wake up, workout, 6-7:15 gym workout.  Walk at least 2-3 miles at some point in the afternoon with my Little Darling and Kiki.  Eat bland ass, low cal shit all day that left me HANGRY. And grumpily sit around all day because I was exhausted from working out, early rising, late nights, lack of food, and allergies.

Yea... No. In my Whitney Houston voice, "Aww, Hell-to-the-Naw!"

So last night, it all hit me.  Everything became overwhelming and I found myself praying, while on the toilet.  Yes, I am at peace in the bathroom, so that's when I pray, read, and check Instagram.  What can I say?  I'm a Busy Mama!!  Anyway, I prayed for guidance.  Although I saw noticeable changes physically in this past week, I was not feeling every happy.  And when I looked at my life, I realized that I am overwhelmed, stressed, exhausted, and irritable.  I had so little to show for how hard I was working.

Well, I think my prayer was answered in those quiet moments. I have been working hard, but only in one aspect of my life.  I have never been good with balance and creating serenity in the midst of chaos.  I have never been good at throwing a big change in the middle of my routine either.  Getting up before the sun for 2 hours of working out straight off the bat each day and trying to happily function was No Bueno!

My apartment looks like a chaotic, frantic war zone.  Nothing makes sense, as though a bomb exploded and threw everything all over.  I've got equally large piles of clean, dirty, and "to iron" clothes.  I have no clean dishes.  Yea. None.  You wanna eat?  Locate dish, wash, proceed.  In the process of trying to find time to be creative, I have turned our dining room into an explosion of the cluster-fuck variety with seventy-eleven craft happenings.......that just aren't really happening.  We don't eat there.  Hell, I haven't cooked anyway!  We have eaten out so much in the past week, which yes, completely undoes all my efforts in the gym.  But I am hot and tired by nightfall and I don't care anymore.

So today, after really praying about it, I chose to do ONLY things that I want to do and things that make me happy.

I woke up super early, 5am, still. But rather than working out, I took some time to pray and sketch.  I sipped some tea until I was awake enough to get some work done on projects that were hidden under mess.  Then, I woke up my Little Darling and we did some gardening.

 The Hubs and I try to grow our food as much as possible in the summer.  This year, we even tried our hand at making our own planter box, which is cheaper than buying a bunch of pots.

 We have spinach, broccoli, loads of strawberries and tomatoes, sweet peppers, parsley, cilantro, basil, kale and I got some cucumbers last night.

It's true... I shouldn't take pictures of myself, first thing in the morning...with no make up... before the sun is fully shining.  But, what the hell, right?  The gate is for squirrels and birds because we live near a tree and they chomp on our produce all summer!




Since we are not "For Serious" gardeners, so we bought gardening toys.  And they happen to work excellently!

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and Barbie Princess helped me to plant these cucumbers this morning!  And they are safe for my Little Darling to use as well.

After gardening, we had breakfast and started homeschool lessons.  I worked on cleaning.  I'm shocked at how much more energy I have, when I start an early morning with things that bring me peace of mind rather than a work out.


Then, we took a break and went to the local bakery.  We are friends with everyone who works there.  I am not sure if that's necessarily a good thing, but it is what it is.  They know us and we spend time talking, whenever we go, which I am afraid to admit is usually daily.  Without feeling bad about myself, I ate a giant cookie!  I couldn't eat the second one.  A week with hardly any sweets made that one cookie hard to handle, but I wanted it and I enjoyed it.

And then we just walked around, checking out what new nature has been sprouting in this late spring season.  I cannot wrap my head around the fact that May is quickly approaching and we can barely break the 50s in the mornings here.  The evenings are far more pleasant in temperature, but I am extremely grateful for the SUN and the NATURE regardless of the temp.

I love being outside.  I love witnessing the miracles of spring.  I mean, everything wilts, loses it's leaves, and freezes over each year.  It's a miracle to me that every spring we can be reassured that all this beauty returns.  I can't bring myself to ever take it for granted.

I love the leaves that are just now coming in on the trees...


 
I love the leaves on this tree below...  They are just now coming in and they are so small. The leaves actually are larger than my head!  I haven't noticed them in time to see them sprout in the past.  I just assumed that they showed up, large and in charge, at the beginning of each spring.  I'm reminded that everything starts somewhere, as something small.  And that with time and nourishment, it can grow into something wonderful and magnificent.
 
 
I love the baby pine cones that are coming in.  For some reason, each spring I find a new reason to be amazed.  I have never noticed baby pinecones before.


 The flowers...  The unusual, tree flowers.  I love the ones that can only be enjoyed for some time before they all wilt away and we're left with nothing but leaves the most.  These flowers are beautiful here.

And lastly, I am excited to see the Evergreen trees rejuvenating and sprouting new leaves as well.  Simply beautiful!  Green is my favorite color!



I haven't given up on my fitness goals, but I have given up on being hard on myself.  The world is such a judgmental place.  The very least we can do is Love Ourselves.  I am still an active person, but I am not focusing on weight loss for the moment.  I am focusing on establishing a routine that keeps me happy, my family's needs for my attention well met, and allows for me to have the things I WANT::  Prayer, Peace, Art, Nature, Love. 

Happy Wednesday to you!

Monday, April 14, 2014

Spring Back Your Body Challenge (SBYB): Week 1

It's a happy, rainy Monday in my city.  I am thankful for the rain.  I have been outside and running around like a crazy person since last Wednesday or Thursday.  It feels great to be getting back into homeschooling now that spring break has ended. I thought I would be more irritable, but I am all right with it today.  The rain helps.  I have no desires to be outside.

Something else that I am getting back on track with is my fitness plan.  I keep falling off the wagon and getting back on, and the scale does a lovely dance between less than 200 lbs.... and right back to just over it.  I got really inspired over the weekend, and decided to dive in headfirst this morning to jumpstart (or REstart, rather) my fitness routine.

There is this group on ...YouTube?  I believe it's there, but maybe also Instagram.  People are doing the "Spring Back Your Body" Challenge.  I have been added to groups like this in the past and I never kept up with it, so we will see what happens here.  I do know that it is important to let everyone know what your goals are so that you feel some pressure and accountability.  That's what this will be here...  Just a place for me to document my progress and set some goals.  Unfortunately, what few readers I have will have to suffer through these unartistic and non creative post.  Hopefully, someone will feel inspired, though. I only plan to post once per week.  I will be honest, reading post after post about how much someone weighs, what they ate, and the workouts they did is BORRRING!!!  Even though I read loads of such material on a regular basis.  It's still pretty fucking boring.

Don't ask why, but I feel the need to quickly clarify something about myself --- I am not unhappy with myself.  I have a fitness goal that I want to achieve so that I can regain my confidence.  Wanting to feel more confident is not the same as discontentment.  I am happy and healthy, but I can see several areas that I would like to transition from *happy-fluffy* to *HAPPY TONED*. 

All of that being said, let me clue you in on my plan: 
WORK OUT, EAT WELL, DRINK WATER, GET REST

Yea... that's kind of all I got.  If you were expecting that I had some sort of special recipe for success, well, I don't.

I have a checklist of workouts that work your whole body that I will do daily.  I know there are several approaches to how you should schedule your workouts.  I am doing what works for me.  And right now, I need to get used to moving my ass on a daily basis.   If you are interested, leave a comment or contact me, and I will email you the checklist as well :-)  Share the wealth!

I am doing this in addition to an hour of cardio at the gym.  It'll be a combo of elliptical, bike, and treadmill, depending on how my knee is holding up.  I also live near a variety of parks, so I will be out with friends and my Little Darling "Getting our miles in", as we like to call it.

What am I eating?  I am going to try and stick to a 1500 calorie budget.  Right now, some days, I eat twice this, and some days, I only manage enough time to eat half of this.  I think that forcing myself to maintain this plan will help me have more energy and curb cravings for sweets...  mmmmmm Sweeeeetssss....

For the next three weeks (I am breaking everything into 3 week time frames) my meals will be:
Breakfast:

Any kind of eggs (scrambled, fried, poached, boiled) on multi-whole grain toast (NO butter or cheese) and some tea.  I usually drink Black spiced tea, but I will be alternating between that and some detox tea every morning.
 

Lunch:  (Option 1) Chicken/Fish with steamed mixed veggies and a quinoa/brown rice mix.
             (Option 2) A salad, comprised primarily of mixed greens and cucumbers with a vinaigrette dressing and maybe an egg if I am starving .... which I was today!!

Snacks:  I don't snack.  I don't buy snacks. I have fresh fruit for my Little Darling and Kiki, but I never snack.  After working out in Beast Mode today at the gym, I came home  ravenous, so I will have to do something about that.  Maybe some fresh veggies, since I am not the biggest fan of fruit.
Until I get some ideas together for snacks, I am just going to drink this tea

I make it on ice with some honey and a little sugar.... I simply cannot drink tea without some sort of sweet something happening.  Otherwise, it just tastes like grass to me. LOL.

That leaves me about 600 calories for dinner, which will just be some soup.  Usually, by the time dinner rolls around, I am BEAT!  I am exhausted, hot, brain dead, and irritable.  I enjoy cooking, so I still prepare a family meal, but I am excited about not having to go all out each night because I won't be eating along with the fam. I am the Goddess of healthy soup recipes.  I can pull a low cal, healthy, filling soup outta my ass like nobody's business.  So that's what it'll be for dinner for the next 3 weeks.  I'll share recipes, of course.

Also-----  WATER, WATER, WATER!!!!!!!  I'll be aiming for 60 ounces per day.  I'll have three 10 oz glasses of lemon water (eeeeew!! ß I HATE lemon water.  It's my least fave, but really good for detox & bloating) in addition to three 10oz glasses of plain water with my vitamins, with meals, and during workouts.
 

 For me, it's easier to just stand there and drink the whole glass of water.  Lord knows I can chug a 10oz can of Coca-Cola in a blink!  So forcing down some water should be just as easy, right?  I hope so!

My stats for right now:
Weight: 198lbs
Waist: 35.5"
Hips: 44"
Thighs: 26"

Let's see if there is any difference in these numbers by next week! 

Happy week to you all.  And if you have ANYTHING to share (fitness inspiration, blogs you like, advice, recipes, workout ideas, or even just YOUR PERSONAL GOALS) PLEASE, PLEASE share with me!!!  I would be really grateful.  It takes a village, people!

Thanks in advance and GOOD LUCK with whatever your goals are this season!

Tuesday, April 8, 2014

Lost & Found

I have been impossibly lazy today...  I mean, there has to be a special sort of crime offense related to how lazy I have been.  I wish I could chuck it up to not getting to bed on time last night, but I have insomnia.  I am a functioning insomniac.  I wish I could chuck it up to the episode of craptastic weather we've had here.  Actually, that's what I am going with!!  I have a sinus headache and my whole face, ears, nose, and throat are all throbbing.  Not even to the same beat.  Just random pulses.  Because of this, I have spent most of the day in bed, only getting up to hug my Little Darling, check on her, and feed her. 

I have had a busy weekend.  We were blessed with some lovely weather this weekend.  Can I just take a small moment to acknowledge something about myself?  I realize that, when I am getting into a new project, I HYPER FOCUS!  I mean, I don't want to eat, drink, sleep.  I don't want anyone to talk to me, so I am extremely bitchy for no reason other than to deter people from wanting to come around.  I am like a rabid squirrel, all cute and minding my own nutty/craft business until someone tries to pet me, and then my razor sharp, disease ridden teeth come out and I go cray-cray.

Fortunately, The Hubs adores me, even in my "crazy artist" mode that I go into.  There really is someone for everyone, I tell ya!  He risked his life to break me away from my latest projects and made me go for a walk. We walked for about 2 hours, pushing Kiki in a stroller, as our Little Darling ran around, picking flowers.

It was fun, and honestly, my brain needed the break.






These are some of our findings on our impromptu nature walk.  I found this scrapbook paper in my huge pile of papers.  Thousands of sheets, to be honest.  This is my favorite set.  I can't seem to bring myself to make anything out this cardstock, so it's usually just featured as the background in photos.  I would never say that I hoard things, but I know that I am the hardest core of hardcore paper collectors.  I *heart* Paper.

These flowers and branches we found were everything this weekend!  Such beauty!  I love the beginning of spring.  I seem to forget, every single year, that all this beauty and nature exists.  Do you ever feel that way?  I think I forgot about all of this especially this year because our winter was extra long! 

Sorry about the over-exposure in the photos.  As I have mentioned so many times, I live in a cave, with terrible lighting.  However, I am really excited to announce that I have PHOTO EQUIPMENT!  WOOT WOOT!!!!  I have been waiting to buy lights, backdrops, a tripod, and photo editing equipment for YEARS!  And now, I have........ Such a scary realization!  However, my true anxiety and apprehension lies in trying to figure out how to work everything!  I am a "tech-tard", so if you hear a wild, waling sound in your city, just know that it's me, BumbleBri, screaming out of frustration.

This weekend didn't just bring loads of photography equipment, I also got CLOTH NAPKINS!


The quick story behind the cloth napkins:  My friend *S* and I were shooting the shit one afternoon and we both agreed that we are too poor to be throwing money away in the form of paper towels.  So we talked about buying kitchen towels and rags in place of drying our hands and cleaning with paper towels.  Then, *S* tells me of her plan to buy cloth napkins, which I honestly had never thought of.  So I took her glorious idea and used a $50 gift card to Bed Bath and Beyond that I won at a real estate event hosted by some other friends last year.  I managed to score 50 cloth napkins and still have enough money on the gift card to pay the taxes and shipping + handling. 
SCORE! Ker-CHING! 
Yea, I did a cheer and a series of old school dances from the '90s (running man, sprinkler, cabbage patch)  I also have a stack of 20 spring colored napkins (pink, lime, sky blue, bright yellow) in addition to the autumn colored ones.  I love warm, autumn colors, but I know my Little Darling loves *All Pink Everything*.

If you are a mama on a budget, this is the BEST investment.  Nothing bothers me more than literally throwing away money!  If anyone is ever interested, I might (MIGHT!) post a tutorial on how to make your own cloth napkins.  It's reasonably easy and before I remembered the gift card, I planned to just sew my own stash.  Hoo-ray for saving money AND the environment  ðŸ˜‰

... So yes, I am well aware of the fact that it has been a while since I have posted about projects.  I have been working on so many different things!  But, for today, I will show something that I lost a long time ago.

About 3 years ago, I worked on what might have been the ugliest crochet project I planned on giving away. 


Uhm, needless to say, I changed my mind about giving this to anyone because it's ugly.

So I am taking this apart, what's left of it, and combining the yarn from this project with a huge bag of miscellaneous yarn scraps and making this


Simple granny hexagons.  I don't think I will have enough scraps to turn this into a blanket, but I can certainly make my very first pillow cover.  I am so nervous about it.  I have no clue about how to turn this into a pillow cover, but I suspect by this time next week, I will have figured it out!


This is what I have so far...  So let's see what happens in the next week or two.  Who knows, making pillow covers might be my next obsession.  As if I need yet ANOTHER ONE!  Ha!

Happy Tuesday to you!!!

Thursday, April 3, 2014

100 POSTS!

Yay!!!  Today is my 100th post! If I were cool, I might have planned this out better...  If I were cool, I might have something special to report or some amazing project to show.  If I were cool, I might have gotten together a giveaway...  Uhm, but I'm not.  Ha!  We all know I am not.

I actually just wanted to stop here to document one of my favorite recipes... and then I noticed that this will be my 100th post.  I LOVE FOOD!  I love to cook and bake and EAT, so I guess it seems fitting that this milestone would be captured and remembered by food :-)  I am not complaining about that one bit!

Today is rainy day number two in my city.  I am not complaining about that either.  For me, as a mom, I am not able to just sleep the day away, like I used to do when I was younger and single.  But the same concept applies, while we are home on spring break.  Rainy Day = Do Nothing Day.  I am letting my Little Darling and her buddy in crime, "Kiki" do their thing today, as I catch up on domestic responsibilities.  I thought I was caught up at one point...

Next thing I know, I look up, and HOLY MOLY!  I realized the load in the dryer had been in there since... how long?  Who knows, but the dryer full of towels, socks, and undies was almost empty.  That means, we have run out of clean things and have been using what's in the dryer so much that we have used an entire load without my ever having bothered to fold it!  So yes, laundry is so going to happen today.  I also have other things to do... Boring things.  Housework, to me, is so mundane!  I love having it done though.  I think better with a clean an organized space.  I just don't want to be the one to clean or organize! Why can't there be some trading system?  I love to cook, and in exchange for cleaning services, I will meal prep for a family.  Bam!  Problem solved.  Mystery Family is well-fed for a week, and my apartment is cleaned for the week.  I wish!!

Yesterday, was a play date.  That really translates into "Children, occupy yourselves with play while the moms gab for a few hours".  I loved it!!!  My friend *S* is literally one of the coolest, most intelligent, and hilarious people I know.  She's so laid back and down-to-earth. She and her family are truly a joy to have around, and so easy to spend time with. No make up, No dress up, No fuss, No concealing the hot mess you might truly be, and No judgment.  I love, live for, and CRAVE those sorts of relationships!!!

In honor of my getting to spend time with *S*, I made an apple cake...  I mentioned before that I love to bake :-)

This apple cake comes from a recipe that I found somewhere years ago.  I wanted to make it, but I didn't bother until about 6 months ago.  Since then, I have changed so much about the recipe to make it taste the way I want.  So, because of that, I will post how *I* make the cake, rather than the original recipe.  If you want to know about that original recipe, leave a comment or contact me, and I will give it to you.  So, without further babbling, here's my recipe for APPLE CAKE!

Ingredients
3 medium Granny Smith apples (I imagine you can just use for your favorite apple.  This is mine.)
2 tablespoons cinnamon (If this seems like a lot, use less.  Cinnamon is good for you!)
1/2 cup Original Bisquick mix
3/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup heavy cream
1 tablespoon melted butter/margarine
2 eggs

(Optional) Streusel Topping
1/2 cup Original Bisquick Mix
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup chopped walnuts and pecans
1/4 cup wheat germ
2 tablespoons margarine

Prepare the batter:

1. Preheat the oven to 350° Farenheit
2. Peel and cut your apples
I slice my apples nice and thin after they're peeled.  I don't like apple chunks in my desserts.

3. Sprinkle the apples with the cinnamon and stir with a spoon to evenly coat the apples.  Set the apples to the side.
 

4. Mix the Bisqick, sugar, heavy cream, melted butter, and eggs in a bowl with a fork or whisk until completely blended.  It should be similar to the consistency of cake batter, but a little less thick.
 
5. Prepare your pie dish. I used a 10 inch pie dish. And yep, I am poor, so no fancy shmancy prep here.  I used BUTTER, baby!  Smeared that pie dish with good, old margarine :-)
 

Make the Streusel (Optional)
 
 

Mix all the ingredients together.  I do not like large chunks of walnuts, so I chop mine down further.
 
Is it me, or do the walnuts appear to be in the shape of a heart?  Ha :-)  That's how much I love baking!!

After you have everything in a bowl, use a pastry cutter or a fork to further break down and combine the ingredients for the streusel.

Put It All Together:

1. Place a layer of apples on the bottom of the greased pie pan.
It doesn't have to be a perfect layer.  Over-lapping is fine. 

2. Pour the batter over these apples and then place the rest of the apples into the batter.  You will have much more apples than batter, and that's perfectly fine.

This way, the apples won't all be on the bottom, which makes it difficult to get a nice, clean slice of cake.  The batter won't all be on the bottom, which makes this pastry too "cakey" and the batter turns brown during the long bake period.  So: Layer of apples, pour batter, add the rest of the apples.  Perfect combo.

3. Cover with the (optional) streusel topping

 
4  Bake at 350° Fahrenheit for 45 minutes.  Let it cool, and enjoy!!
 
It will look like this.  Sorry, no cute food play pictures with this one!  I was in the middle of having talks with friends when I noticed... that the cake was gone!  Ha!!! 

Everyone really enjoys this apple cake.  Either that, or I have VERY GOOD FRIENDS!  I am sure it's the latter, but that doesn't mean the first statement is any less true.  So this is for all the friends who have asked for the recipe :-)

Have fun with this and GOOD LUCK!