Lucy's Tales From Home

 

 

 

 

You may remember them from here.  and here is the only "before" shot I could find of the island, scroll down to see.  it was quite a bit lighter, this new color is a good change. well thats it for me. stay tuned for more projects.   

pop's day dinner

Steak sandwich with herbed mayo and little corns with garlic herbed butter.

I am just lovin Martha this month.

Fini !

 

• school finished   check

• band finished     check

• jazz and recital finished   check

• track finished   nothing serious left

• necessary materials assembled and packed for adventure camp    almost

• necessary items required and done for bible camp    check

• my office cleared out for summer      check

• kisses hugs and goodbyes for the summer   check

• first aid and cpr training done for next year check

• boat load of ideas flowing out of my head for this precious time    check

heavy < SIGH > deep breath and ready to dive into a lovely summer   TRIPLE CHECK!

 

It is finally here. Next to the 3 weeks before Christmas, the BEST time of the year to me  is here... S.U.M.M.E.R.  It means so many wonderful things to me that will have to be another post. Right now I just want to show you the yummy tapas food we had instead of dinner last night. Of course Glen said it would be sooo good with some pancetta, (I didn't even know he knew what that was :) love him...☺

 

 

 

These were right up my alley. I love cannellini bean with garlic and olive oil. The recipe was from June Better Homes and Gardens. They called it Garden Sliders, that sounds sort of gross and since I changed it a bit I called them "Bruschetta Stacker's".

Basically I grilled a slanted sliced baguette with a brushing of olive oil.  Grilled up a bit of 1/4" sliced yellow squash with salt, pepper and a tiny bit of olive oil at the last minute. I sliced roma tomatoes, fresh motza cheese, english cumcumer and my own fresh arugula leaves.

I blended a can of drained and rinsed cannellini beans with a couple of cloves of minced garlic, about 1 TBS of olive oil, some oregano, basil, salt and pepper to taste. You can add whatever you like. This I set aside in the fridge while I prepped the rest.

Then you just stack em up however you like. Very satisfying to me, not a "needy" meat eater. But you could very easly slide some thinly sliced grilled steak in there too.

Happy Thursday Night......its just the best :)))))

 

 

 

 

so photogenic

 

Berries arrived!  One of my favorite things to photograph are strawberries. They never let you down, so bright and pretty.  We got them after church and made jam. I havn't made jam for several years.  I use to make freezer jam. Since it was never one of those things that I really loved it didn't give me much satisfaction, but now that I have some peeps that just really love their jam and I have noticed that I am always keeping a tub on hand for them, I broke down and made some this year. I did not want to make freezer jam, although yummy, after all the trouble I wanted to SEE those pretty jars sitting on my pantry shelves. A huge reward.

  

12 1/2 pint jars and they all "popped", (yea!) I went back and forth between the Sure Jell recipe and the one I found at Pick Your Own. I did end up using a tad mor pectin than called for, one of "Pick Your Own's" suggestions, after doing the spoon test and it was still runny and it worked out great. Its just the right consistency. BUT, next time I will definately use the lower sugar, (not NO sugar) but Low sugar pectin, spose to be just as good and less sugar is always good, right.

  

 

We bought way more than we needed. I only used half a flat for 12 1/2 pints and had a whole half flat left so we made shortcake with vanilla whipping cream.

 

This is such a horrible sad little strawberry shortcake. It was suppose to be layered all pretty with perky whipping cream, but it got all melty and the strawberry slid off the top but it was DELICIOUS, so who cares if its ugly.

  

I found these cute little labels at my local hardware in the "canning section" in between the nuts and bolts and pvc pipe, I love it. Yes, I could of made some , but these were only $1.99 and old fashioned I thought.

 

This was my dinner last night. Taylor made it. She tried to recreate her favorite salad at the local pizza place, Italia. The spinach salad, which she doesn't even like, she always subsitutes fresh greens for the spinach, she just likes everything else and the dressing. Oh man was it ever good, we threw on some grilled top sirloin, sliced thin and it was to die for. I could eat it every night. 

What are you eating tonight?

what r "u" doing tonight?

me, well I came home from school, cleaned the kitchen, went down to the chickens to let them out for a bit, gathered the eggs, only 3 today. (6 yesterday, you just never know what those girls are gonna do, we just need to keep em happy), filled their water and hoed the weeds a bit in the garden before turning on the water. Did some spot weeding in my beds around the porch and picked some flowers

 

 

right now, blooming we have peonies, a self seeded snap dragon from last year ( a free spirit, my favorite),  campanula, delphiniums and of course some roses.

 

yellow tea roses

 

campanula and the self seeded yellow snap dragon

 

I wait for these all year, its amazing to me how they start out as nothing but little nubs on the ground sprouting up with just a bit of sunshine in the Spring and now I have beautiful full dark pink blooms, so lovely.

 

this is my mantel. doesn't really do justice to the painting my big girl did for me. A painting I had her copy from Ballard design. I just lovethe simplicity of it.  A simple flower, probably a Gerbera daisy or zinnia maybe. Anyways, I love it.

 

Oh and I almost forgot as I was rearranging my mantel I was looking through my collection of pretty match boxes and look what I stowed in one. Not ONE but TWO four leaf clovers Avery found last year. Does that give us double luck? 

Happy Weekend Ya'll

must be the extra vitamin "D"

Many many ideas coursing through my little brain right now. Anticipation, relief, excitement, excitement, and oh yes, did I mention excitement?? Sorry, I can't help it. Tomorrow is Friday and then only 3 school days left!

I have been dreaming about these...

 

 

 

 

 

outdoor showers.

i sure would love to have one. i don't have any fancy pool or spa outside but gee whiz, this little set up seems simple enough just for fun. just DREAMING.

Have any of you found yourselves watching , even though you don't want to this because your little people watch it. I have to admit, it makes me stop in my tracks sometimes and laugh outloud.  I just love King Julian.

  

" of course were going to fling pooh at them"

just my sense of humor, what can I say, makes me laugh :)

I have to share an excellent tip. I have been using "Deer Off" or some such product from my local hardware store and it is very expensive and stinks to high heaven. I think that is why the deer have been leaving my fruit trees, bushes, berry plants and general yummy foilage alone this year.   Its very expensive and effective.  I found this recipe for Deer Repellent at Turkey Feathers. Did I mention how much I love this blog. So full of goodies.  I'm going to make up a batch of this stuff this weekend and I see no reason as to why it won't work as good as the stuff I pay $40 for at Home Depot.   Its the stink that does it I think....plus it needs to linger, know what i mean!

Finally some fish.

I love salmon. And if i do say so myself i make a mean baked salmon. nothing fancy, no need to grill on a cedar plank or anything. Try to find "real" salmon, trout, whathaveyou, nothing farmed, (which is pretty darned hard to find), rinse it off, place it skin side down on a foil covered cookie sheet.  I sprinkle with salt, pepper, garlic powder, lemon juice and a little dill if you want, wrap the foil up and leave a bit of venting, then place in a 365 degree oven.

I know that 365 seems wierd but, I just like that temp for everything. 350 always seems to low and 375 to high, how come no recipes ever call for 365? thats my go to temp.

Bake until fish is firm to touch, for my 1 1/2 # it took about 3o minutes and about 10 minutes rest.

 

 

Serve with lemon and the best "fish sauce" that I have come up with. I don't have exact measurements, but put "about" 1/2 cup mayo and the same amount of sour cream into a bowl. Add about 2TBS of horseradish, some dashes of garlic powder, salt, pepper, dill and some squeezes of lemon juice. mix it all up and then add more of whatever you feel is missing. I love this sauce, so fresh and yummy.

Happy Omega 3's :))

 

 

  

 

 

"Hovering"

 

Like this little guy I feel as though I have been just hovering the last few weeks.  Like some dude in a martial arts movie poised in midair, everything going slowmo.  I feel like there is a finish line but like in a bad dream when you are trying to run or dial the phone it is just out of reach and you don't get anywhere.   <SIGH>

Don't get me wrong, I'm grateful and thankful for the bounty of things keeping me busy right now, all having to do with my girls, work, friends and family. Its a busy time of year, right?   But I am a slowmo sort of girl and am looking so forward to those lovely lazy summer days to start...

  Lets move onto some garden notes...

 

someone's been eating my lettuce

 

and runner beans.

 I don't mind sharing with the occasional bunny or bird, but I hate cut worms and weevils and such. I have no ammunition against them.  I am so sad to come out each morning and see a pretty cucumber sprout eaten down to the nub. {stomping feet and shaking fists!} Any tips out there for these pesky scavengers?

On the other hand nothing seems to like my arugula

 

and that is a good thing cuz its my favorite ☺

Heres a few pics from Ave's recital last weekend. I wish I could of gotten lovely pictures of everyone because they got their nice duds on and stuff but NO ONE wanted to cooperate.

 

that's Ave in front

 

 

Proud. Literally that is the song they danced to, the "Biggest Looser" song. As many times as I have heard it and made fun of it, it made me cry when they danced to it.

On another note I have been watching and listening to the sound track of

 

Dan in real life. . I forgotten how much I like this movie and started listening to the soundtrack again. I really like it.

I am also excited to start

 

reading this tonight. Its non-fiction, which is not my usually choice, but I got it for my mom for mother's day and she said it was one of the best books she ever read, ditto for my sister. So I gotta give it a try. I know its a sad story though, most real things are, or at least bittersweet.

I leave you with these in full bloom right now...

just perfect.

 

 

an early morning

 

I got up at 5:30 this morning. Funny how when you don't have to get up early its so much easier and fun.  Today will be busy and filled with lots of activities, but right now I am enjoying a little quiet.  It is going to be sort of a grayish day with little sun, but I guess that is good since I won't have much time for watering. We have had a gorgeous week full of sunshine and I have loved every second, even when my top lip sweats:)

Last night we grabbed some pizza after Avery's track meet and went to see

 

its was really good.

I have also been day dreaming about doing this.  Have you ever heard of WWOOFing? How much fun would that be...what an experience to just pick up with your whole family and leave your life for a year to work on an organic farm someplace like this.  If I was just starting out in life I would do this in a heartbeat, I would need to take my fella of course.

This post is a mish mash of what is rolling around my head this morning so I'm going to throw in a couple of tips from my Spring cleaning a while back, why not.

Tip # 1  How to Clean a Sticky iron

 I have been doing quite a bit of applique lately and even though I try to be careful I always end ironing over the gluey part and getting my iron all gunked up. I did a bit of searching and came up with using a solution vinegar water and salt.  (I have a stainless iron, I don't think I would do this on a teflon type iron surface)

 

 

I scrubbed and scrubbed. It didn't work. Finally I just ended up using good old soap, water, scrubber pad and LOTS of elbow grease. Getting inside those little holes was not easy. That stuff is baked on.

 

After washing and making sure it was all dry I plugged it in and ran the surface over some wax paper several times. A trick my mama always does. Makes the iron surface slick so it glides like butter across your fabric when your done.

 

I know its sort of hard to tell but it is really clean now and so much nicer to iron with.

Tip # 2  Cleaning candle holders

 

Some sad looking candles by my tub

 

Ewww

After some more poking around I read about an easy way to clean out your glass holders (note* do not use this method unless you have oven proof candle holders). What I usually ended up doing was using a butter knife and chipping away at the left over wax and then trying to scrub the rest out.

 But this was fast and easy.  I covered a pie tin with foil and placed my candle holders in it upside down and put them in a 250 degree oven for a few minutes.  Remove from the oven and cool for a second, all the wax should of melted out, if not stick them back in the oven for another minute or two. When you can touch them simply wipe out the residue with a paper towel and wash in hot soapy water.

 

like new.

Have a great weekend whatever you are up to.

 

next to the last week.......

This week is sooooooo busy, I can't tell you. I'm sure many of you can relate. Monday my 6th grader gave the most awesome and composed speech for vice president of the ASB for next year that I am just filled with pride, who cares if she wins, She tried.

I am also sooooo proud of my big girl, she is on her way to great things. The world is her oyster!!

( had to have a mommy moment, sometimes i can't help it)

We have had countless band and track practices along with the car brakes going T.U. and costing $1170, ouch!! So so many end of the year activities, recitals etc etc. I have lists to keep track of the lists. BUT the end is in site and let me tell you the end means the BEGINNING of a wonderfully slooooow, fun, hot, lazy, productive, inspiring, fulfilling, & did I say FUN and BEST Summer EVER :)

 

 

THIS is beating my butt! OMIGOSH!! I have parts that are sore I didn't know exsisted. Yea, Bring It On. It is time to do it!!

 

I made a yummy dinner last Sunday...Seared Chicken with Apricot Sauce. Not something that I would usually go for but it was so tender and juicy and every memeber of this family voted to have it again. The only pictures I have are of the "Left Overs" for Glen this week. We had brown rice and sauted spring vegies & garlic sauce with the chicken. All the recipies came from the Eating Well June issue. I love this magazine, the first time I have seen it and I subscribed. Lots of good info and recipes.

My good blog friend Nan of Pots and Pins who is a cooking/baking machine inspried me and reminded me how much I love (and don't indulge in) one of my favorite foods. Rice and Beans!  For obvious reasons, carbs carbs carbs. But this recipe is so pure and delish from the same magazine, Huevos Rancheros Verdes.

 

  

 

Lots of fats and carbs of the organically gooood kind, perfect before or after a heavy 'kick your butt' work out☺

 

Blurry but you can see my scarlet runner beans are just going gang busters these last few days. Like 4 inches in 4 days! Amazing what a little sunshine will do.

 

Honeysuckle just going nuts. i love it!

 

Maxy boy chillin on the hot tub cover.  Does he look spoiled and just tooo cool....he is, hes my favorite kitty.

 

Garden. Everything is popping up, there are no no shows this year, yeah!!

 

One of my favorites

 

buttercups and blackberry blooms on the stump with my girls running around.......

 

I am always stunned by the delphiniums because I do nothing and they just grow crazy and make me sooo happy.

Happy Thursday to you and your count down to SUMMER!

 

 

 

teasing summer.....

Why is it when things should be winding down they are spiraling into a busy whirlwind of craziness...We only have 13 1/2 days of school left yet there are 2 to 3 activities scheduled for each of these days! 100% of that is due to that fact that I have a daughter that is the complete opposite of me.  She is in band, jazz, track, running for ASB vice president for next year and so so social. I am very proud of her. I have spent most of my life trying to shy away from any attention brought to myself, not my kid.  She takes her lumps and keeps on going, the only thing that seems to give her a bump in the road is her mom who points out, "didn't that hurt your feelings?", "Don't you know that they are not sincere", don't you care that they etc etc." She looks at me and says "that never even occurred to me until you brought it up." AHHh, I am messing my healthy outgoing gusto for life go get em kid up with my insecurities. I ask her aren't you a little nervous to give a speech in front of the entire middle school. Nooo, she says with a sideways twang. "That kind of stuff just doesn't bother me".  w.o.w. How did this kid come from me?  I am learning a bit from her these days.

....so about the summery stuff...

 

 

Oil cloth on the old table to rev it up a bit and a bouquet of fresh spring blooms.

 

the underside of my Wisteria

 

It was sooooo windy when I took this I can't believe it is even in focus.

Me and hubby went on a date night, whoowhoo, even though it was in the middle of the week, I'll take it!  We went to see

 

Star Trek.  I will have to admit I have always loved Star Trek. We only got a few channels when I was a kid so I saw every episode of the original about 45 times. This movie was great. Captain Kirk is so cute too. 

On another hottie note let me just add this link if you are at all as lame as me and check in time to time to see how New Moon is doing. 

 

 

homemade guacamole....mmmmmmm... on the porch...

 

my yearly sweet pea tee pee...

 

In full bloom a last year

 

does this look familiar?? My Sweet Pea Tee Pee I drew with my new toy.  Bamboo Fun.  I have enjoyed playing around with it even though I cannot draw.  There are a lot of cool things you can do with this little gadget.

 

goodnight.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

catch up

 I wanted to recap Avery's b-day party, just because the 11 to 13 crowd is sort of hard to come up with ideas sometimes. They are so in between things, still like to play make believe but trying to be all grown up and consumed with things like cell phones and texting at the same time.

 That reminds me, I hated middle school. It was the worst sometimes. My worst memory, some dumb kid, oh I do know his name but won't mention it, came up behind me and snapped my bra that I was totally embarrassed to be wearing in the first place and ripped the snaps. I don't remember what happened after that, just mortification. Seems like middle school was about being mortified about everything all the time, such drama.

Anyways, I was googling ideas for middle school parties and the Mall Scavenger Hunt came up. I showed Ave and she was totally thrilled. Besides a couple of prizes and transportation it was cheap too! 

 

I made up some questions and broke it down into 2 parts. Each part had a bonus item. These questions/tasks were designed to be inconspicuous, in other words to not bother shoppers or shopkeepers. But nevertheless right in the middle of the hunt one of the groups (we had 3 groups of 3 ) were brought back to the food court by the mall cops where myself, Taylor and my niece were camped.  Their eyes were as big as saucers and they looked scared. MALL COPS! They don't even do anything if you tell them someone is shoplifting from your store. Apparently you need prior permission to hold a scavenger hunt at our mall. So we went to the mall office and showed them our lists, after much adieu and being told that they don't even allow scavenger hunts anymore because it annoys shoppers that they would allow it this one time. OKAY, done.

We ran back and told them to keep going. I had "hunt" bags put together for each group. They contained a zip lock for their finds, the scavenger list, a pad and pen and  $5. The $ was for them to purchase something cheap and have their picture taken with it at the photo booth, part of the challenge was managing their money ahead of time to do this.

All in all it was fun, but I would of thought things out a little bit better ahead of time I think. Some things did not have concrete answers which added to a little frustration among the crew when the winners were announced. But all in all it was a hit. I gave out beach towels to the winning team. You already saw the

 

goodie bags and the malted milk ball cake

 

from "Baked".  I have to say after making several things from this cook book I do NOT recommend it. Basically because it has overly complicated directions/recipes without good results.  

 

 

I have been doing the best I can to plant things around here in between torrential rain and 80 degree days. I have given up on nursing my seedlings. I booted them outside to the cold frame and they will have to survive or die. I can't keep trucking them inside and outside everyday. I have lost my onions and had to buy starts from the nursery. BUT my cantaloupe are thriving, go figure,(they aren't even normally grown in my climate). 

We are suppose to have a 75 degree weekend ALL weekend, I have high hopes of finishing the weeding and planting the garden. 

Right now Avery is making goo, (you know that gak stuff with borax and glue), against my better wishes, (why now?), (why not now?), I am going to take a bath. That is it for this Tuesday night. 21 more days of school if you are counting.

Goodnight all.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                              

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                     

While I'm waiting...

 

I'm Waiting by John Waller

I'm waiting
I'm waiting on You, Lord
And I am hopeful
I'm waiting on You, Lord
Though it is painful
But patiently, I will wait

I will move ahead, bold and confident
Taking every step in obedience
While I'm waiting
I will serve You
While I'm waiting
I will worship
While I'm waiting
I will not faint
I'll be running the race
Even while I wait

I'm waiting
I'm waiting on You, Lord
And I am peaceful
I'm waiting on You, Lord
Though it's not easy
But faithfully, I will wait
Yes, I will wait
I will serve You while I'm waiting
I will worship while I'm waiting
I will serve You while I'm waiting
I will worship while I'm waiting
I will serve you while I'm waiting
I will worship while I'm waiting on You, Lord

This song is on my itunes, ipod, cd at school and in the car, pretty much anywhere I can hear music. Click on the link above and listen to the song while you read the lyrics. Its from the movie Fireproof.  I like the movie albeit a bit corny, but this song spoke to me and I looked for and bought it after I watched the movie. It is such a good reminder.

I don't like getting up when the alarm goes off in the morning, most of the time I don't like making coffee, making breakfast or lunches, feeding the dog and changing her water, thinking about dinner and digging around in the freezer for something to lay out to thaw, making my bed or any of the morning activities it takes to get me and my family out the door in the morning.  Every day when I leave for work I walk by my ironing board covered with fabric and longingly wish I could just stay home and sew. On the way out the door I pet Lucy as she lays in the chair knowing the morning routine and that I am the last to leave and no one will be home for several hours and she will just sleep till someone comes home. I realize that most of the time I am just waiting for the weekend. Waiting for the weekend, what a waste. So many opportunities I miss because I am focused on getting through the day. So many missed opportunities for Him to use me because I am not in the moment.

I know this song is about more than just getting through the week, but it is a "struggle" for me, that day to day, the mundane ordinary moments and routines I let slip by without embracing and making the most out of them, because that IS life. "Living in the moment", not a new concept, but one I find difficult to practice.  I always tell my girls, never wish away a day because something wonderful might happen. Maybe to you or maybe because of you for someone else. Maybe one of the best days of your life....while your waiting.

a couple of things

Just a couple of things on this beautiful Saturday morning.  First thanks to the winners, I have received your addresses and will mail your goods this week.

We survived the Mall Scavenger Hunt/sleepover party with nine 12 year olds. I will post about that soon, it was pretty funny, involved "Mall Cops" and everything:)

 

Although I think it was a bit much for Lucy, she didn't quite know what to do with herself after the circus left this morning and the clothes basket looked like a good place relax and think I guess.

I wanted to share this Last.fm if you haven't already heard about it. Its sort of like Pandora but cooler. Taylor showed me of course.

I would like to thank Lydia of The Perfect Pantry for featuring my pantry on her blog today!  Thanks Lydia !

My Niece sent me this in an email the other day, made me bawl till I looked like a puffy tomato.

and lastly I just want to say

   

Happy Mothers Day tomorrow! 

Take a load off and eat some cake, we deserve it!

  

*** Winners ***

So many great comments!! Thank you all for playing along. Boy you guys sure like your quilts and sunblock :)  After messing around with the number generator yesterday I gave up. Too techy for my brain last night. So ended up changing my own rules a bit.  I am going to choose 3 winners instead of 2.

The first winner is Jen. I asked Taylor and Avery to discuss and throw out a number between 1 and 56.  It was 42, Jen your number 42.

Another person who just found you through Sweet Tidings! What a fun idea for your Survivor giveaway. You said no food, otherwise chocolate would be my #1 luxury! So instead, I'd bring my camera and some aloe to soothe the inevitable sunburn or wind-dried skin.

• Commenter name: Jen

The second winner I chose because she just made me laugh out loud, that's you Nan.

Hey congrats on TWO YEARS!!! I have only been reading for a year and I've loved every post....I'm a Survivor fan, too...and I would take my razor and a lantern...seriously, who wants to look at underarm hair?!! And that lantern would be one that would last for the entire 3 months as it would be on every single night so I could see what was coming to eat me!

• Commenter name: nan

The third is Tami B, because I thought her suggestions were great! 

Love this...I'd take a big stack of magazines and a some glue so I could craft with all my nature finds. :) I think I could find some sort of mint leaf or something to brush my teeth with :)

• Commenter name: Tami B.

Thanks again for playing along you guys!  Winners send me your mailing address and I will get your goodies off to you next week!!!

give away "Survivor" style

I'm happy. No particular reason, which is the best way to be happy I guess, just to be happy and not have to have a reason.  It has been a good day, week actually.

I'm content.  That word use to really upset me.  I had a typing teacher in high school who I thought was pretty ridiculous even then, at 16 or 17. He was always trying to be one of the gang or cool instead of teach. I thought he was a moron. At the end of one year, I can't remember if it was my Jr. or Sr. year, he thought he would do something really cool and "label" us with a word, just one word that he thought described us, which basically was his opinion of our future. Labels are bad, very bad to the very young. I guess you can guess I was labeled with "content". Which to me translated into super boring, accept everything that comes my way whether good or bad, don't cause any waves, don't ruffle any feathers, just blend in and be happy whatever comes your way.

Maybe he didn't mean all that in that one little word, but I think he did, so it has really ticked me off for hmmm I guess about 30 years now. Wow. The thing that makes me mad is that he was partially right, I was a bit shy, but definitely not boring, I really didn't like to ruffle feathers, but that was then and now is me ☺ I ruffle lots of feathers, but I guess I still want everyone to like me after I ruffle the feathers. So in the end the *#$&&% was sort of on target.

Anyhoo, the moral of this little story is don't label people, they always have the ability to surprise you, especially with a little love, praise and encouragement.

If you can't tell already this is going to be a wordy post, you can just skip to the pictures and the give away if you want :)

Soooooo, I am embracing contentment tonight, the perfect word, content = happy.

I'm happy because...

 

I'm planting Scarlet Runner Beans just for looks in my herb garden this year. They are so vibrant, delicate and new to me!

I am also happy because:

it was 72 degrees today and warmed me down to my toes

I survived the first week of "Swine Flu" fear as the school nurse

My sweet peas are peeking up

My big girl is home tonight and nobody else and we are gonna watch a movie together

I cleaned house and changed my sheets

I have lost 13# so far

My friend that I have been praying for got a good job today, that was really really needed!

My mom and dad got home from a 2 week vacation driving all over the place, they are in their 70's and are home safe and sound and had fun :)

Well I could go on, but you get the idea. Things are in a good space in time and I thank my Savior for that and all the blessing that are mine.

Oh, oops, one last thing before the give away, sorry. I am absolutely so excited about this:

 

I remember a little buzz about this blog and book a while ago and thought it sounded cool.  But now oh my goodness. This movie is after my own heart. I saw the trailer last night while watching tv and laughed my head off. I love Julia Child. 

I remember back in high school, again 30 years ago if you need to know, Julia Child was basically the only real cooking show on tv at the time. We got all of 9 channels I think, which is what everybody got. Every Saturday I would religiously watch her. She had a combination of hilarity "on purpose" mixed with her expertise that had me mesmerized every week. SHE is the reason I tried my first Baked Alaska at 16. It turned out ok, and I was hooked! In fact I use to do a pretty good imitation of her, right Lori ;)

 

This is the FIRST cookbook I ever requested.  My Grammie gave it to me. I was 17.

 

My Grandmothers words along with my imagination at the bottom. I miss her...

 

The next book I requested, boughten this time by my sweetheart.

Those are the only books by Julia that I own.

 

Here is the link to the trailer, I connected so much with this it was extremly funny to me, my daughter says no mom its just you. Really?

Here is the trailer link, I love every minute. I think Meryl is a perfect choice and Stanley Tucci as her husband is perfect, I love him, he is one of my favortie actors. Amy I am on the fence with, keep seeing her in the singing stuff, blech. But I like her in this I think.

ONTO THE GIVE AWAYS

  

  

 

 

 

In honor of my 200th post and 2 year blogiversary this May I am giving away my 2 (two) goodies. The quilted table runner and two pretty fabric bread keepers. I will give the runner to one winner and the bread keepers to another.

So...how do you win these little goodies if perhaps you might want them????

I love Survivor since it started. I am a nerdo, yes, I freely admit it. Its sort of lame but I love and look forward to this show!  So in keeping with my love for this silly little show if you are interested in my giveaways, leave a comment naming the 2 only luxury items you would take with you on a 3 month adventure in the wildernerss. You can't count people or food, anything else is up for grabs. As for myself it would always be my "softie" which is what I call my favorite pillow and my toothbrush! 

I will keep comments open until next Thursday, May 7☺

 

 

 

 

 

 

in the bag

 

 

I made these little goodie bags for Avery's birthday party before spring break, so a while ago. Poor girl hasn't even had her party yet, its not for another 10 days. (Its going to be a Mall Scavenger Hunt theme. I think it will be pretty fun or drive me insane, maybe both.) A month after her b-day, but there just seemed to be a lot to juggle around this year. Anyway, I found Betz White's tutorial and thought it was just the ticket. So easy!! I appliqued all the girls initials on the front, very fun to do I must say.  

 

So now they sit filled with gumballs, stationary, pretty pens and giant candy bars.  I loved making these sooo much because I used what I had on hand and I could just whip them out and they were so satisfying in the end, so much fun. Well low and behold a few days later I got my copies of this

 

and this

 

just like everyone else out there :)  Its so exciting to get these and actually be able to read them. I can't wait for all the other versions to follow, yah! 

Anyway, I found a similar tutorial for a little cinch bag in the Linen Wool & Cotten.  I preferred Betz's, it was easier. In fact I found a lot of yummy things that I have been wanting to make that originated in these lovely books but just couldn't read them, until now :)

And then while cruising blogville I ran onto this SouleMama post and I think it is the best idea since sliced bread, pun intended. I had to make me some of these. What a perfectly perfect useful thing to make and give. I knew just who the first recipients would be. My lovely secretaries at school who keep me going and a float. It was Administrative Professional's day last Wednesday and I knew I was going to miss it but told them to wait till Monday morning. I went downtown to my favorite little fabric shop and got some T-towel material, washed it up and made these.

 

 

I made these cheese pies

 

 

from

 

Tessa calls them cheese pies, I want to call them moon pies :) I didn't have all the ingredients specified, I added basil instead of mint and some mascarone but her crust was so delicious, turned out perfect.

I also made Vermont Cheddar Bread

 

 

 

 

from here of course.

 

I made 3 loaves, two to give away and one for us. I could of sworn there was some left last night but when I got up this morning all remains were GONE, not a crumb left. I guess thats a good sign although I wanted just another little nibble. Hmm, gonna make this one again, for sure.

 

 

 

 

do you have a pair of these......?

 

Something that just by seeing it again after 7 months and pulling it out of your drawer you get a little thrill. Some horrible little piece of attire that you just can't part with. I can see my niece laughing now. I got these from one of her discard piles about 10 years ago. They were Capri's then. I liked them because they were too big and made me feel skinny :) I think they got tossed over to Taylor for a while and then I retrieved them and cut them into shorts.  They are almost thread bare and I can't part with them. The girls shudder when I put them on and beg me not to wear them in public...

 

but sometimes I do and I don't care, they make me feel comfy. So when they blew another hole I used some of Anna Maria Horners pretty fabric to patch em up, good for another season I'd say :))

I have been doing a lot of this

 

while running on the treadmill at home and track at our local high school on Sundays. ( Isn't that the cutest little water bottle ever, thanks Man.)  Avery actually started track this week, so while she is running, so will I, with the mom's, or walk fast :) Today it hailed, oh well.

 

Been doing a lot of this too.  Eating light and healthy that is. Keeping the sugar and carbs on the down low. I am not where I want to be yet but the scale is seeing some numbers it hasn't seen in a while. Turkey burgers on the menu tonight. I haven't had these for a while and they were yummy. Here is the recipe if you want to try em.

Turkey Burgers

1# ground turkey breast

1/3 cup minced onion and red pepper

2 cloves garlic minced

olive oil

1 egg

3 tbs 1% milk

2tbs chopped fresh parsley

salt and pepper to taste

1/2 oatmeal ground in blender or food processor to bread crumb consistency

 

I don't like my burgers crunchy so I saute in a little olive oil the onion, pepper and garlic till tender, set aside. In a medium sized bowl put turkey, egg, milk, oatmeal, salt, pepper and parsley.  Add the pepper and onion mixture. Mix all together with your hands, it will be sort wet, but turkey is dry you know, this makes for a moist burger. Form patties and fry in a little olive oil till nice and brown. Serve on whole wheat buns with whatever fixins you like.

Happy Thursday to you.

 

dream a little dream

Back during our Spring break I alluded to a little secret that my girls and I were up to.

  

 

 

 

(pretty fair pictures courtesy of flickr)

The only thing I ever really liked about the fair was meeting my boyfriends there, eating corn dogs and the food competitions. I love going through them even now, reading the names, examining the jars, labels, different concoctions, it is mesmerizing for me and I really like to do it alone, (mostly because no one else has the patience for it). I'm not a very competitive person, mainly cuz I just ain't got no athletic skills :) But I have always wanted to enter some sort of baked good, pickle or jelly in the fair. ALWAYS.

Which brings me to my topic...

 

Yep, the girls and I did this again for the second time on Spring break. The timing of this is just perfect. Gives us time to do everything last minute;)

 

They did not want me to take this picture, of course, but they are use to it by now.  When doing these competitions they have categories and specific products that need to be used and then you let your imagination go.  We made several "tests" trials, I even took some to school for review and critique.  We ended up submitting just two entries. They were due last night at midnight. I think I got the last one in about an hour before cut off. That is how we do it or should I say rollllllll.

 

 

 

 

 

 

So you can see we made all sorts of creations. It doesn't matter if we win, its just the idea, and the fun that we had doing it. Besides, if we actually did get accepted to go to the bake off I think I would need a stunt double cuz I would just freeze under the pressure :)

Ahhhh, dreams, they make life exciting.

A Quilt Festival

Without leaving my house, Yay!  I read about this virtual quilt festival on Randi's blog, I have to say, this morning and got pretty excited after I found out I didn't have to make one. Not that I don't love quilting, next to eating its my favorite ;) but I already have too many needles in the fire right now.  So I went over to Park City Girl and read all about it. Holy Crow, this morning there was only about 30 entrees, now there are almost 200!  I can't wait to look at each and everyone. 

So here is my favorite quilt of all time. Its made out of wool squares with a flannel back and crocheted edging. No, its not that pretty or unique or even "quilted" really, just hand tied. But if this quilt could talk. 

  

I have mentioned it here before.  I helped my Grandmother make this quilt and about 8 others when I was about 11.  She decided she wanted to make quilts for all the kids and she set this huge quilting frame up in her living room, it took up the whole room, she had it set up for weeks. I remember thinking that there was something really exciting going on here. Who would do such a thing to their living room? I walked to her house everyday after school and I couldn't wait to get there because she was letting ME help her make these quilts. It made me feel so special and all the talks that went on during that quilting, well that was just pure frosting. 

 When my Grandmother gave me this quilt it went into my hope chest, when I got married I put it on our bed and it has been on there through every house, every move, every child, until just this year when we got a bigger bed and it was too small. We still use it though to snuggle on the couch.  Its warn, tattered and faded from being washed so many times. 

 

but if this quilt could talk it would tell the best love stories about all the people it has touched.

Thanks for the great idea and letting me share my favorite quilt Amy. Be sure to go check out her blog to see the festival and maybe play along too!