Thursday, July 30, 2009

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!
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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.
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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.
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Monday, July 27, 2009

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
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Thursday, July 23, 2009

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!
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Wednesday, July 15, 2009

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.
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Monday, July 13, 2009

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.
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Wednesday, July 8, 2009

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.
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