The Twilight Chicks

Marissa, Mandy and I all got Twilight inspired shirts for the premiere. Mandy's and mine both say Bite Me...don't you just love that phrase!!

Twilight Saga: New Moon Party

My friends and I got together and had a New Moon party before 3 of us went to the midnight premiere! It was sooooo much fun!! Mandy did a fantastic job decorating with the ideas from Maggie's Dinner Dates. If you haven't seen the movie, it is well worth it. I didn't like the first one (though it has grown on me in the last year), but I adore this movie!! New Moon is my favorite book, and they did an excellent job making the movie true to the book. I can't wait to do this again in June for the Eclipse premiere! BTW, the paper in the corner is my winning perfect score NM quiz. Yes, I am a nerd!! LOL

What big eyes you have!

This year for Halloween, I pulled out our old costumes and gave them an update. Some of you may remember when I made these several years ago. Sam is the woodcutter and I am Red Riding Hood. This year I finished our costumes by hemming Sam's tunic and adding an axe. For myself, I made the apron and vest. I also had to cut my cape down 2 sizes so it wasn't so big. The bottom left is the scene I painted and put in the back of the Mazda to decorate for the Trunk or Treat. If you can't tell, it's the Wolf jumping to eat you! Sam asked where his body was, I told him to shut up. LOL I initially thought of cutting out the mouth so that you had to reach in to get the candy, but thought better of it. The children are friends of ours. The adorable, Mia, was also dressed as Red. Her mom has pictures of the two of us together. Her older sister Olivia was a fifties girl. Isn't she just gorgeous?? Mandy and I were talking about how she was going to have her hands full once Livvy is old enough to date. On the other side are my sweet friends Megan and Anna. Megan is an elephant, but poor thing hated wearing the turtleneck. I totally sympathized. I hate wearing turtlenecks too. Anna was great! She's a monkey, and I wish I had taken a picture of her feet, b/c her mom had made the cutest monkey shoe covers to go with it! I talk about these kids alot! So now, you have a face to go with the names and stories. Ü The top is of Marissa and I. She was dressed as a gypsy. I love the bright colors. You'll have to go to her blog to see the awesome costume she made for her husband. He was a very classy pirate! Sorry Jim, I didn't get your picture. All in all we had a fun time. We only had 12 trick or treaters on Halloween night, but that's ok. Now to pull out the Thanksgiving decorations! I love this time of year.

Labor Day (has sound)

Upcoming Projects

I love when Joann's has a pattern sale! I've been watching for a Simplicity sale because I wanted to make the pajama pattern. Have you noticed that it's hard to find cute nightgowns that are not grandma gown, but not teenage nighties? I love this pattern and can't wait to make it! Well, the sale was 5 patterns for $5, and I wasn't sure if you got the sale price if you bought less than 5, so I picked out the other 4 patterns. I'm totally syked to start these. Especially with some of the fabric I pulled from the remnant bin.

Happy Fall!

Ok, so I haven't blogged in a while. I've been working on the same project in craft group for 3 weeks, and I didn't actually finish the project before that. That's not entirely true, I did complete a pair of baby shoes (so cute!!), but they don't match, so I'm still trying to figure out which one I did wrong. Ü Here is my new rag wreath. I painted the turkey and then tied all of the wreath. It's a great project for leftover fabric,or in my case, fabric you inherited from your grandma that is out of date. Love you Grandma, but some of these fabrics were blah! Anyway, super easy project, just a little time consuming.

Yum, Cheesecake!

I love Bakerella's blog! She has such cute ideas and is a really talented food photograper. (I am not, which is why you get one picture out of the eight I took!) I decided to try her recipe for cheesecake and it turned out. Even if it does have the rather large pacman mouth crack in the side (looks around innocently). Sam and I made this last night and it was really easy. I did some research on how to prevent cracking and most people suggest a waterbath when baking. I'll have to try that next time. I'm thinking about cutting it into slices and freezing them b/c I love love love frozen cheesecake!

Update on the Pizza

It was delicious! The one I pictured wasn't quite cooked long enough, but the other two were better. None of them were particularly crispy on the bottom. I think next time I'll cook them on the bottom rack so the bottom will cook faster than the top. Homemade pizza is definitely being added to our fav list! BTW, does anyone have a good recipe for a pizza sauce? The ones I find are always too thin and too bland. I don't want my pizza to taste like a can of tomato sauce.

Our Garden 2009

We realized the other day that we hadn't posted anything about our garden this year. This is really surprising because our home improvement project was to redo the patio this year. I really like how it turned out. The tall side fence was solid when we moved in, but we took down the slats and Sam reattached them in the open pattern here so that we can get some sunlight and air in the back. There were pavers covering the 2nd half of the patio, but between Maggie being out there (ew!) and the fact that they were not put on a bed of anything, they had to go. We put some sand and pea gravel in instead. Sam built me the large planter. Didn't he do a beautiful job!! And you've got to love my city, Lee's Summit gives away compost for free! So that's what we filled it with. This year we started with plants from Wal-Mart. I won't do that again. While some plants are doing well (the zucchini, tomatoes & cantaloupe) others look sick and/or strange. The cucumbers are curling. It's so strange. In all the times I've grown cucumbers, I've never had them grow like this. The one I picked last week looked like a Zat gun! Next year, I will plant from seed and go for a bush variety. The butternut squash looks terrible.
(it doesn't help that when it was growing across the ground, Maggie trampled it one day), but it is really producing. At last count, we had 6 squash growing! I thought the zucchini would never produce, it kept blooming flowers and then dying, but we finally have 3 zucchini growing. I LOVE NATURE, it's so cool as long as I don't have to spend too much time in it! The green beans have been my biggest disappointment. They really look sick. I wonder if they need fertilizer or something. I'll have to try a different variety next year. I planted the peppers by the tomatoes, but I don't think they get enough sun since the tomatoes went crazy!!! I've already majorly cut them back once, and I may do it again before the season it over. Then comes the canteloupe. I think that's the prettiest plant we have. We've already had to redirect it from taking over the tomato cages and Maggie's doghouse. We have about 5 canteloupe growing. Here's the pickle, only Sam eats canteloupe! For me they are a definite YUCK!! I'm going to have to research ways of preserving canteloupe or give them away. Any suggestions?
I had to include this photo b/c I really like the squash flowers and you can see a new squash growing in the uppper left side.

Here's what's growing so far. This is our roma grape tomatoes, a butternut squash, a cantaloupe and a funky cucumber. We also have some greenbeans and zucchini. Oddly enough, our basil did not come up, so I'm going to try herbs in the house next.

Homemade Pizza

I was so pleased with this that I had to share it. This, my friends, is my very first homemade pizza that I made entirely by myself. Not so impressed? You have to understand that Sam is the bread maker in our family. I have only recently begun to examine if I have breadmaking skills. Now, I tell you, things are definitely looking yummy. Does it taste good?? Who know...it's still cooling downstairs while pizza #2 is cooking. Ü

Hippity Hoppity Hop

I love this pattern! For the next couple of weeks in craft group, we're crocheting. I found some really cute patterns on etsy.com. This pattern was actually sent me for free from a kind seller as a bonus pattern. I love how it turned out. It's a little big for the doll (meant for a 6+ month old), but the doll is the closest sized model I had. Now to go shopping for yarn to make the rest of the patterns!

Monogram Picture

It's crafting Wednesday again! This week I found this super cute idea on A Feathered Nest. I'm particularly pleased with how it turned out for a couple of reasons. One, I completely freehanded the letter and the leaves (my printer is currently out of ink so I had no choice). 2nd, with the exception of a frame, I had all the supplies on hand! I love free crafts! Marissa came to craft group this week and made some super cute cards & tags. I wish I had been in the frame of mind to take a picture before she left. I really liked how the turned out. Now off to find an idea for next week.

Where we are on Baby Quest 2009

As most of you know, Sam and I have been working with a Reproductive Endocrinologist for the past 9 months, trying to get pregnant. While, I'm enjoying being on the drugs that stabilize my PCOS symptoms, the other drugs have been hard. Mostly because they mess with my head, and I can't think straight. The last 2 times we've had an IUI (insemination), Sam has called everyday to ask me if I'd remembered to take my drugs. The ones I've taken everyday for that last 9 months. :) So, anyway, after 3 unsuccessful tries of insemination, our doctor suggested that we stop wasting our money going that route.

The next thing to try is invitro (IVF). Since our insurance doesn't cover this, and we've pretty much wiped out our savings with these last procedures, we're in a holding pattern for the moment. IVF will cost us approximately $10,000. We're trying to save all the money we can right now, and will be cutting back on a lot of things. The good thing is that we have to keep our high speed internet connection for Sam's work, so I'll still be online to keep you up to date on our blog or emails! So anyway, that's where we stand right now. We'll keep faithful that someday we will have children, and do our part to pay the doctors to make it so. Thanks for all your support through this. I'll update again when we have more news.

Update on Ribbon Coasters

So I finally got around to polyurethaning the ribbon coaster today. Total bust! The ribbon curled in on itself. YUCK! So I tossed it. Good thing I didn't enjoy making those. LOL Stay tuned for this week's attempt at cute felt monogramming.

More Potato Stamping

I've been at it again with the potatoes! Our ward (church for all you non-Mormons out there) had it's annual Christmas Enrichment activity this weekend. I taught the potato stamping class, and we had such a good time. I decided to try some new designs. I came up with the bee there. I think that next time I'll put the wings on either side of the body. My favorite is the carrots! My friend, Mandy, really liked the picture from the internet, so I decided to try them. So easy to cut out and so cute!! (I still think they look like feathers, but I love them anyway!) I'm thinking about putting some onesies up on Etsy. Let me know what you think.

Ribbon Coasters

I haven't updated in a while, but I wanted to share this weeks craft. We made coasters out of curling ribbon. It was kind of a pain, and your hand really cramps up. However I think it's a cute idea. Marissa made the one on the left. I really like her color combination. I went for a rainbow theme, but it was not as effective as I hoped. We still need to polyurethane them, but I was done for today. You can see the instructions at Chica an Jo.

My adventures in cooking part 1

Ok, our Stake Presidency issued a 90 day challenge to become more self sufficient. To do so, they sent a letter laying out some goals for families to work towards. Some of those goals were to bake bread and make meals completely from scratch at least once a week.

The meals from scratch wasn't really that much of a problem for us b/c Sam and I have been slowly moving away from using mixes recently. The bread was more of a challenge as I have never made bread by myself except for sweet quick breads. (I make a mean chocolate chip pumpkin bread...YUM!) So a couple of weeks ago our RS set up a breadmaking class at church, and I successfully baked 2 loaves of white/wheat bread (under supervision). So, last Wednesday for craft group, we decided to try making bread on our own. I found a new recipe that you're supposed to be able to completely make in your Kitchenaid. It was a Honey Oat Wheat bread. Let the games begin...first, I think this recipe was for a bigger Kitchenaid than mine. So kneading it was a trick, but I succeeded. Feeling pretty good about my new breadmaking prowess, I was just about the put it to rest and rise, when I noticed that I had forgotten to add the eggs!! So, back in the bowl it goes, I crack in 2 eggs and start the mixer again. It starts splattering eggs all over the place!!! Ahhh...so I quickly add more flour, and finally get an acceptable lump of dough again. I put it in a bowl on the stove to rise a little worried about what the 2nd knead has done to it, but it rises, albeit slowly. I punch it down, shape it up and put it in the bread pan and set it for the 2nd rise. At this point everyone has left to finish at home, and the oven is no longer being used. I went ahead and turned in on to 375 in preparation for baking and so the stovetop will be warm to aid in rising. They rise beautifully and I am once again excited. I put them in the oven to bake know that the oven should really be nice and hot and set the timer for 40 mins. The fact that I've forgotten something is in the back of my mind, but I ignore it.

Ding...40 mins. Woo hoo fresh bread, by myself!! I open the oven and they're not brown. WHAT??? I touch it and it's still doughy. I look at the stove and realize that somehow I turned the oven off!! So I turn it back on (I really should have removed the bread, but I didn't). Set the timer for another 40 mins and wait. Ding...this time the house smells like bread, good sign. I open the oven and the top crust is a little darker than I would like, but since I'm cooking in glass pans, I can see the sides are brown, so it should be done.

I pulled to bread out of the oven and slide the loaves out of the pans and onto a cooling rack. Worried about if they're done, I immediately slice into one loaf to see what all my goofs have done to it. It looks and tastes fine. A little chewy, but good. Then I look at what I just did to the loaf. In slicing while it was still hot, I've squished the loaf! Oh well. Guess if I make all the mistakes the 1st time, maybe when I make bread for this week, it will go better! LOL Here's a picture of my squished loaf.

Pretty Clipboards

I wanted to do something different this week, and I got a new calling on Sunday as Primary Secretary. So like peanut butter goes with chocolate, I think being a secretary goes with having a clipboard. Of course I can't just have a plain clipboard...what's the fun in that?!? So this week in craft group we covered clipboards to make them pretty! I made the turquoise and orange one, and my friend Marissa made the rainbow/red variety. I love them, and can't wait to use mine to pass something around on Sunday!!

Superheroes to the rescue!

I just adore this week's craft!! I found an adorable pattern at pukingpastilles.com for a reversible superhero cape and we made them this week. My girlfriend, Mandy, made the girl version, but had to leave before she finished. I can't wait to see hers as well.

Bandana Pants

Today in craft group we made bandana pants (shorts). It was a super simple pattern I found at http://blueyonder.typepad.com/photos/bandana_pants/. You just need 2 bandanas and some elastic for the waist. So cute and so much fun to make!!

More baby crafts

This week for craft group I went back to a baby craft. I saw this idea on Handmade By Jill's blog (see link on side for some really cute ideas). This was really simple, but so cute!!

New Skirts for tax day

Today's craft was to make new skirts. After much fussing I finally finished mine. Here's what it looks like. I should have made the elastic waist a bit tighter, but hopefully I'll be needed more room in my waistband in the near future. As it is, it stays up, so I'm not sewing the elastic again. I plan on wearing it to the temple of Saturday. As this is my first skirt, I'm pondering tucking away another skirt just in case! LOL

Homemade Bread and Butter

All you LDS folks out there know that this past weekend was conference weekend. For my non-LDS friends, twice a year we have a two day general conference where we receive instruction from our general leaders of the church in SLC. Sam and I have the BYU channel through our cable provider, so we watch conference at home. That's a lot of time at home! Between sessions on Sunday we decided to try our hand at some bread and butter. We'd made bread before (this was an old mix we found in our food storage), but we'd never intentionally made butter before. Anyone who was friends with us during our foray into ice cream making knows that we unintentionally made really sweet vanilla butter no matter what ice cream recipe we used!! The butter was so easy to make! We used 16 oz. of walmart brand heavy whipping cream as our base. I let the cream come to room temperature (about 90 mins) and then dumped it into my food processor. Turned on my most beloved appliance and about 3 mins later we had butter!! I saved the leftover liquid to make pancakes with later this week, and began washing the butter.
It only took 2 rinsings to get the water clean. I didn't do a great job squeezing the excess rinse water out, so it's a little moist. We added a pinch of salt (literally Sam pours a small amount in my hand) I'd guess that it was about 1/8 of a teaspoon and stirred it in. Sam can't really taste the salt, but I can. In the end we made about 7 oz of butter. Next time we're going to try cream from a local dairy to see if it's any different. Yum and easy! You can't get any better than that!

The Finished Quilt

It's Wednesday, and as promised here is my finished quilt. Can I just reiterate that it gave me fits and like Tiggers with honey, I definitely don't like quilting!! LOL I cheated and didn't lay it flat for a more flattering (and mistake hiding) picture! Yes, I'm vain, what can I say.Ü Now where is that baby to wrap it up in??

Happy Happy Birthday, Sammy, dear!

We celebrated Sam's birthday last week and he's made it to 35! Wow that's old! LOL I tried to recreate his old Trailblazer on his cake, and think I did a pretty good job, but man did my hand ache afterward. Mother nature decided that he needed 4 inches of snow for his birthday, which made helping a new member move in so much more enjoyable. His present from me he actually got early, because I got us tickets to go see The Phantom of the Opera two days prior. No matter how many times I see it, it's still so beautiful! He had fun talking to friends and family on the phone and opening his gifts. Maggie got a gift too. Sam's mom sent a Clemson colored gecko for the animals to fight over. Of course with Maggie there is no fight. If she wants it, its hers. Obviously, she wanted it. All in all it was a fun day and I'm so happy that he was borned 35 (count them 35 WOW) years ago. Ü

Baby Quilt

Ok, so those of you who watch my blog regularly, know that I usually post what I made in craft group on Wed or Thursday. Well, I took the pictures last week, but was slack about posting it. I found a fat quarter pack at Wal-Mart that I totally feel in love with! I decided that I would try my very first quilt. Let me just tell you that I will NEVER EVER complain about the price of a quilt again!! It's a pain!! I don't know how people find this calming and therapeutic??? I learned that I can't cut straight (even with a rotary cutter and ruler) and I can't sew straight. Sure you look at my strips laid out on my table waiting to be sewn together, it looks like it matches up...oh ho...but when you actually sew them together, you learn that some of them are wider than the rest and throw all your corners off! ARGH you shout (and the dog looks to see if you've finally lost it) I actually got farther than this last week. I started machine quilting it, but had to stop when I ran out of white thread. Sadly, I've been to Wal-Mart at least twice since last Wednesday, and haven't remembered to buy more thread. I will finish it in craft group this Wednesday and will publish the photos of the finished project. Needless to say, I ask that
you not look too closely, but treat it as abstract art. Now, that I've determined that I'm not doing this again, what am I going to do if I have a boy?? No worries, I'm sure I'll come up with something, and as I'm not pregnant yet, I still have time. Ü

The Last Onesie

I had one last onesie left over, so I decided to do a second embroidery. I found this butterfly in a Precious Moments coloring book. I just scanned it into my computer and resized it to the appropriate size. I think it turned out really cute. It's kind of sad to not have anymore onesie's to decorate. Guess I'll need to come up with something else to work on. Today for craft group, I'm helping a girlfriend with her current beading project, so no pictures of finished projects. Still trying to figure out what to do next week. I just picked up to adorable fabric, and I'm thinking about decorating some burp cloths. I'll have to wonder around the internet and see what strikes me!