Servings: Makes about 2 pounds
Serving Size: 1/16 of a recipePrep Time: 10 minutes
Cook Time: 5 minutes
Total Time: 15 minutes

Ingredients

3 cups (18 ounces) semi-sweet chocolate chips (or milk-chocolate chips)

1 (14-ounce) can EAGLE BRAND®Sweetened Condensed Milk (NOT evaporated milk)

Dash salt

1/2 to 1 cup chopped nuts (optional)

1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Instructions

In heavy saucepan, over low heat, melt chocolate chips with EAGLE BRAND® and salt. Remove from heat; stir in nuts (optional) and vanilla. Spread evenly into wax paper lined 8- or 9-inch square pan.

Chill 2 hours or until firm. Turn fudge onto cutting board, peel off paper and cut into squares. Store leftovers covered in refrigerator

Notes: OTHER GREAT FUDGE FLAVORS: Chocolate Peanut Butter Chip Glazed Fudge: Proceed as above but stir in 3/4 cup peanut butter chips in place of nuts. Glaze: Melt 1/2 cup peanut butter chips with 1/2 cup whipping cream; stir until thick and smooth. Spread over chilled fudge.

Marshmallow Fudge: Proceed as above but omit nuts and add 2 tablespoons butter to mixture; fold in 2 cups miniature marshmallows.

Gift Giving Tips: Create delicious homemade gifts by serving up several varieties of this fudge in decorative tins or boxes. Simply wrap up individual pieces of fudge in colored cellophane, candy wrappers, gold and silver foil or place in candy cups and arrange in gift boxes or bags.

Nutrition Amount Per Serving: Calories 315, Fat Cal. 153, Total Fat 17g (26% DV), Sat. Fat 7.8g (39% DV), Cholest. 9mg (3% DV), Sodium 63mg (3% DV), **Potassium 149mg (4% DV), Total Carb. 28.8g (9% DV), Fiber 2.4g (9% DV), **Sugars 26g, Protein 3.5g (7% DV), **Vitamin A less than (1% DV), **Vitamin C less than (1% DV), **Calcium (2% DV), **Iron (12% DV), **Thiamin (4% DV), **Niacin (4% DV), **Vitamin B6 (3% DV), **Magnesium (17% DV), **Folate (5% DV). Percent Daily Values (DV) are based on a 2,000 calorie diet.

** Nutrient information is not available for all ingredients. Amount is based on available nutrient data.

 

Something very touching happened today. My daughter and I went to Michael’s craft store with my mom this afternoon. We had just been talking about how difficult it has been for my mom this time of year because my step-dad had died on the 9^th of December last year. As we were walking to the van, after shopping, we stopped to pet a little Chihuahua dog that a couple of sweet ladies had brought with them. We told them that we almost brought a Chihuahua (dog sitting) shopping with us too, and the younger woman explained that the dog was a therapy dog for her mom. She had just lost her husband last year (on the 12^th)  and she was having difficult time with the holidays this year. We told them that my mom was going through the same thing. The older woman (around my mom’s age) went to my mom and gave her a big hug. I think we all had tears in our eyes. I know that I did. It was so sweet. My mom and the woman talked for several minutes about their struggles with losing their husbands. Then they both ended their conversation by saying that they were going to both try to enjoy this season no matter what. Then we all said goodbye.

That was such a perfect moment at such a perfect time for my mom, and I’m sure for that other woman as well. The connection they had was so powerful. It’s amazing how these moments are arranged to comfort us. I think it’s just what my mom needed to get her through this week. :^)

Well, we didn't get to see the famous frown that the Moon, Jupitar, and Mars made tonight. We did catch the three of them mingling together, however. It was just clear enough here in southern California for us to see the trio glowing overhead. It was pretty darn cool!

This is how it looked after I used lots of contrast in PhotoShop. Kinda' neat, isn't it?

Even after living in this valley for over 18 years, I have to say that the sonic boom that we heard/felt yesterday had to be the biggest yet! It shook our house so much that it felt more like an earthquake!

Yep, it was the Space shuttle Endeavour touching down at Edwards Air Force Base, not too far from us. Wow! It was something else!

It never matters what time of the day it is, it's always time to explore and learn. Sammy loves quiet time in the room in the evenings where he can finish up some lessons. Here he's working on his A is for Adam coloring pages.

I love sunsets! I call the whole family outside for these events! These were taken from our front yard.

I just had to share this really cool news. This is straight from the HSB Company Porch blog.

"The Old Schoolhouse^® Magazine is having an amazing sale on subscriptions during their annual Black Friday Sale November 26 – 30. For those 5 days only, they are drastically reducing their one-year subscription price to $7.95! That's the price you would usually pay for just one issue at a bookstore!"

You can't beat this deal! Go to the HSB Company Porch to find out more about this amazing offer, plus contests and other exciting sales and specials going on during the Black Friday Sale! Check it out now so that you have a chance to win a copy of TOS's newest E-Book, What About Socialization? Dispelling the Myths .

Have fun!

Dani Johnson will be speaking on a live online broadcast tomorrow afternoon! I’m so excited about this because I love Dani Johnson! If you haven’t had a chance to listen to her, or read any of her books, you should go register now to sign up for her webcast that will be aired  tomorrow, (November 15th), around 7pm EST (4pm PST, 6pm CST). Oh, she’s great! Talk about inspiration! After I read her book, Spirit Driven Success, I realized so many things about myself and about what I was suppose to be doing that I wasn’t doing. Actually, just letting the world go by without participating as much as I should have. It opened my eyes to see that I had God-given talents and that I was actually suppose to be using them!

Dani is a true inspiration, and very anointed. If you’re free tomorrow afternoon, and want to see what I’m talking about, just stop by Dani’s site to register.

I had the pleasure of reading this great e-book by Paul and Gena Suarez, creators of The Old Schoolhouse Magazine. This book is absolutely a necessity to have if you are preparing to, or are already, homeschooling high schoolers.  There is so much wisdom and advice given from some very insightful homeschool parents through out this book. Even after homeschooling 3 graduated kids, and one now in high school, I learned a lot just from this great read! Why wasn’t this written 5 years ago? Although I love what we're doing in our homeschool this year, so far, I think I'm going to add on a couple of things that I learned about in this book. I especially loved the sections on creating an entrepreneur and exploring apprenticeship. That's where our homeschool journey is focusing right now. I want my son to get a great start. He's very talented and focused on his drawings. I'm sure it's going to lead him to some sort of career in animation art or game development somewhere down the line, and this book has offered some great ideas for me to use.

Well, I just started working for TOS, and although I’ve loved the magazine for many years, I have to admit that this is the first e-book by them that I had actually read. I just had to give a review about it here since I was so pleased with it.  I think I’ll be doing a lot more reviews on products in the future. It’s a lot of fun to find something that you really like that can help you with homeschooling. This book is a must have!

I wanted to share this exciting news with my blog readers. I'm just amazed at how God works. A few months ago I had a stirring within me. I knew that something was about to happen in my life, but I didn't know what it was. I wanted to do something to be able to help my husband, Gil, with paying the bills. He works hard and has a few health problems. About that time my mom told me to read a book called The Spirit Driven Life by Dani Johnson. I didn’t want to read it, but I knew that I should, because when Mom tells me to read something, it usually changes my life in a good way. I did read it, and it changed the way I look at how to handle life with the gifts that God has given me. I learned that it's a sin to keep your talents to yourself and not to use them for good. God wants us to use our talents to honor Him. In the process, He will guide us and bless us.

After I had this realization, I woke up one night with a thought that I needed to open an online homeschool store. I thought it would be an auction site for homeschoolers to be able to sell homeschool supplies and curriculum. I didn’t know that what was about to happen was actually what God was leading me to.

One morning, in my email, I got a newsletter from The Old Schoolhouse magazine that mentioned a marketing class. I emailed Gena, the publisher, and I was sent 2 more emails of questions before I was accepted into the class. I was one of 30 other ladies selected out of about 125. I knew that God wanted me in that class for a reason, but I didn’t know exactly why.  A handful of the students were going to be offered contracts with TOS. 

During the third week of our four week class I applied for a job working with HTML. I was four days late in applying because I had spent the whole week with Gil in the hospital. I didn’t think I would have a chance, but I had to try anyway. Surprisingly, I got an email a few days later requesting me to be interviewed by phone. After 2 phone interviews I was hired on as an assistant in, GET THIS, the TOS online store! After I was hired I realized that this had to be the online store that God had given me word about a few months earlier. Going into the marketing class, I thought I would be writing ads or developing graphics for ads. I never expected that I would be working in the online store. Not only that, but under a wonderful team of Christian women that I already just love.  The person that I will be working under is such a sweet and fun person. I couldn’t ask for better. The whole experience with the TOS marketing class has blessed me so much. My classmates are all wonderful, and I’ve made some lasting friendships, I know it.

God never ceases to amaze. Never give up. Don’t get discouraged. Always listen to Him, and use your talents for good. God is good, life is good!

The other night when I was tucking Sammy into bed, he asked me "What's at the bottom of the universe?" I told him that there is no bottom or top to the universe, it goes on forever. He didn't like that answer, so he said, "I'm not going to sleep until I know what's at the bottom of the universe!"  I tried to explain to him that our human minds just can't grasp the thought that the universe goes on forever, just as there is no end to eternity, and God was always there. Numbers go on forever, and so will we. Of course that didn't help matters any. He still wants to know what's at the bottom of the universe, and he wants to know who made God. I suppose he'll keep asking me these questions until he realizes that he'll just have to wait to be able to understand all of this someday.

The night before last I was telling Sammy about the elections. He was pretty interested, so I went on to tell him a little about the two main party presidential candidates. Then I asked him which one he would vote for, Obama, or McCain. He said, "I want to vote for McCain!" I asked him why, and he said, "Because he sounds like a candy cane!" LOL! Okay, that's good enough logic. Maybe I can somehow use candy as some sort of demonstration on the universe too. I think this kid needs to start studying atoms soon, just to take his mind off of what he can't understand.

Well, talk about a crazy week. Yesterday had to be the calmest day that I had in 9 days. Gil was in the hospital for 5 of those days. Sammy had an asthma attack, and I had a million places to go to get Gil the proper care that he needed. I think that things are settling down now. Although i do need to clean the house. My brother is coming in from Idaho next week. Oh, and the elections! I need to go over what I'm voting for.

I haven't mentioned that I'm in a marketing class that The Old Schoolhouse magazine has been nice enough to offer to 30 of us homeschooling moms. It's been a great experience. We're going into our final week of class, and we just turned in a couple of assignments last night. That's another reason why I can't sleep. There was one graphic on a sell sheet that got mangled during it's conversion to a different format. I'm a bit of a perfectionist, so it's bugging me a little. That sounds weird, I know. I had a great partner, Anne, who is very talented and was a pleasure to work with. She was willing to put up with me all week, too.

Another reason why I couldn't sleep was because I was hungry. Those skimpy ground turkey tacos that I made for dinner just didn't cut it. So, I'm munching on Frito's and drinking a glass of milk. Hey, I had to make it healthy, right?

Well, it's 3:40 am. I have a busy day, so I'll go try to go back to sleep. Looking at my dogs and cats sleeping, it sure must be nice.

Have a blessed week, all!

Well, it never fails. Every singe year that I can remember,  growing up in southern California, there's always been a fire going somewhere in the southland during at least one week in October when our Santa Ana winds kick in.

I think our family has been suffering from post southern CA fire allergies and lung problems this whole week. Sammy had an asthma attack one morning, and we didn't even know that he had asthma. Gil came home from work feeling very sick after driving through some burnt parts in L.A.. We've all been coughing, sneezing, eye rubbing, and stuffed up for a last few days. All of my vacuuming and dusting doesn't seem to be helping. I think we need one huge vacuum cleaner from heaven to clean up this air quality mess.

Photo from  Earth Observatory website

Brittany had a job last weekend. She had to take care of this precious little Chihuahua puppy that belongs to her Uncle Vince. The only hard part of the job was letting it go back home.

I must be a real nut because I soooo look forward to our library's annual Buck-A-Bag book sale! Jason and I went this morning and here's what we got for $4.00!

 I didn't count, but I believe there are about 80 books there for Sammy.

He sure was excited when he walked into the room! He couldn't wait to start reading!

I found this random log cabin on the internet and it's pretty close to my vision of what I would like to finally settle into someday.

This is pretty close to the view that I dream of.

Sammy learned about rainbows this week. If you ask him what a rainbow is he'll tell you that it's God's promise to the world that He will never flood the entire earth again. He will also tell you that water drops are tiny prisms that reflect light from the sun that makes the colors of the rainbow. I wasn't surprised that he remembered all of that, but I was surprised that he remembered the color order on the rainbow when I saw his painting. What a memory!

We recently celebrated Brittany (now 18) and Sammy's (now 5) birthdays. No big parties or anything, just nice little relaxing celebrations.

This has been something fun that we've been doing on our way to my mom's house for the past week. Honda made a commercial on one of our roads recently. They constructed the road with groves that cause a musical sound as you drive over it. The song is William Tell Overture and it's really cool! We crack up every time we drive over it.

Here's a Youtube video that someone made of themselves driving on the musical road. Don't forget to turn off my blog music over to the right!