Random update

Really? Two days of warm weather and then more oscillating temperatures. It seems this end of winter has been particularly vacillating (I wanted to use the word dither here because I think it is fun to say, but it didn't quite fit).  Thrice is another one of those words which is fun to say. RC Sproul says, "thrice holy God."

I enjoyed having my windows open today and will open them again tomorrow.  Thank goodness for some glimpse of spring. My perfect temperature is right around sixty degrees. I don't like it much warmer then that.  On Thursday, I will dig my coat and boots out (which I just put away) and maybe cuddle under my new quilt that I am about to finish tonight.  Pictures are coming soon.  I have really grown to like his quilt and the binding is just taking it to another level.  I Love love it. 

A random picture of Martin asleep clutching a toy car.  As you can see I put whatever socks on him that I first grab. :) Life is too short to search for socks. 

String Lanterns

As I mentioned in a previous post, I have been helping with a wedding of a close family friend. The bride had mentioned that she really liked string lanterns as decorations and I thought that I could throw some together pretty fast. Ha ha. Two cups of corn starch, four bottles of Elmer's glue, several packs of balloons, and a pound of cotton string later, I realized it might not be as easy as I first thought, as often is with these crafty projects I get myself into. However, being a lover of paper mâché since I was a small child led me to endure and turn out quite a collection of string lanterns (17 large ones and 45 small ones). I made about nine at a time over a period of two weeks. You are right, the math doesn't add up. I took days off during the two weeks. :) 

As a scientist, I must interject here a exclamation of how amazing the properties of corn starch are. If you are in doubt simply mix a bit with a little bit of water and scrunch it with your hands. You will see that corn starch has both the properties of a liquid and a solid.  I love playing with it. 

I have included some pictures of my lanterns drying in my laundry room. You will see that Mr. B's diapers are also drying in the background (I suppose is should clear up any misconceptions about that statement and explain that Mr. B is my one year old baby. My husband gave him that nickname when he was ten days old and somehow it has stuck). I have also included pictures of them (lanterns not diapers) hanging at the wedding. 

Some tricks I learned was to dip my hands in the glue and corn starch mixture, not the string. If you dip the string it goes on to thick and takes longer to dry. If you are storing them for a while before using them, leave the balloons unpopped and it is easier to transport them. About two arm lengths do string is perfect for a small water balloon. Cut the string before you start for the small balloons. I found placing the container of glue in the sink helped to cut down on the mess. On the larger balloons it helps to pull the string from the ground if it is on a spool. 

Have you ever tried to make these? If so, have you tried to spray paint these different colors? I would have, but I ran out of time.  I rather like them white too.  

Aunt Suzanne put these flowers together and I thought they were lovely. 

My husband decorated most of the house and I thought it was beautiful too. You can see some string lanterns hanging from the lights. 

Lastly, a picture of my little family. 

Photo Friday

I will just post a few pictures on this rainy day. 

I finished one of Jared's runners. I sewed the binding on last night while he was at class. We both aren't a huge fan of the colors of this runner, but overall I think it turned out pretty well. 

Today I made blueberry almond muffins for a friend that just had a baby. The blueberries are frozen from last summer. Yum.  

And I kept some for me... 

When I cook, I always take me eggs out in a pattern. It makes me happy when they are in some sort of order. I might rearrange them sometimes if Jared takes them from the wrong place. I know, I am weird. 

Martin was helping me put my quilt layers together yesterday. I have quilted all of it but the boarder. 

Here is a close up of some of the quilting. I have been practicing different quilting designs and I like the way it looks, but it takes five times longer. I just noticed my quilting gloves in the corner if this picture - they are really dirty and need to be washed. 

Here is what the back looks like. I can't make plain backing anymore. I just can't do it.  I made a pieced backing for one of my quilts and now I am stuck designing a front and back to my quilts. 

While I am in the bathroom getting ready in the morning I put the gate on Martin's door so he doesn't get into trouble. He plays quietly with his toys while I am in the shower. Once he hears that I am out if the shower he starts to pull on the gate and talk to me. So I peak my head out the door and he makes this face at me. Then I duck my head back in and pop out again.  He thinks it is a great game. 

Enjoy your rainy Friday!!  Are you working on any fun projects? Cindy gave me a new magazine to flip through yesterday and now I am dreaming up all sorts of ideas. 

Sweet Baby Martin

I love being a mom.  It is the greatest job that I have ever done. All my engineering and efficiency training applies pretty well to this job. :) I look forward to building awesome structures and buildings and car ramps with Martin someday. But for now, I am just going to enjoy holding him. This doesn't happen very often (see precious post). I love you, my big headed baby son.  

Project update

Yesterday, while Martin napped I quilted three of my runners. I now have five runners that need the binding sewn on, which makes me very happy because that is my favorite part. I can watch Martin play while hand sewing them and since they have no intended receiver yet, I can take my time. I was going to start quilting my quilt today, however Martin woke up with a fever of 103 degrees F. 

He had his one-year vaccinations last week and the doctor said one in four usually get a high fever for one or two days, a week after the shots. He was a little whiney this morning, but otherwise acting normal. He wanted to be held a bit more than normal.  I picked him up and started rocking him about five minutes ago and now he asleep. I can't complain since he almost never falls asleep on me. What a sweet cuddly baby. He also woke up at midnight last night and I got to rock him for a while. I am thankful for those times since he is not normally a cuddler. I love when he actually wants to be held and when he falls asleep in my arms. 

 Here are my three runners. I hadn't trimmed the middle one when I took this picture.  The two blue ones are made from scraps from the wedding flags I made a few weeks ago. I practiced different styles of quilting on them , which you can see if you zoom in.  I like the feathers in the far right one. I am going to bind all of them in a blue. I will post pictures when they are finished. 

Are you working on any projects? As I mentioned I have a long cleaning  list that I have been slowly working through. I like lists. I should have posted pictures of my lists during college. It is rewarding to check things off.  

Are there any other artistic talents you would like to have? I would love to be able to paint like my sister Sarah or take pictures like my other sister Anna or draw like my brother or dance like my baby sister Hope. Maybe someday I will practice one of those things. Right now I am just enjoying holding my sleeping baby and dreaming up some new quilt designs. 

Blogs >> Facebook

I was reading through some of my old posts and I am so glad that I blogged a lot of the stuff that I did. I am also glad that my friends and family all provided comments for my blogs. This blog I have linked below is a discussion on my childhood and some of the crazy things we did. It made me smile and laugh out loud.

Best post of all time

Prince Edward Island Fashion. Don't I have the best haircut ever? I had a giant ponytail of hair down my back that was just as poofy as the top. 

I also wanted to mention a few other memories before I forget them. I might explain these in more details later.
English country dancing (especially the 4th of July party)
Williamsburg (especially the shunned homeschool trip and the bachelor pad)
Chalk lines on the bed (how did Sarah always get her own bed and Hayley and I had to share?)
Phantom of the Opera
midnight snacks
The car track and our car races (remember junky car who never made it down the track?)
The prince of Egypt soundtrack
3-D puzzles
Anne of Green Gables (that Sarah and I had to watch alone with Uncle Bill because Hayley went to bed)
The women's gymnastic team winning gold (we got to stay up late to watch the finals)
2468 girls girls girls
Watching that scary movie with Hayley, Greg, and Uncle Bill We were all on the same futon by the end huddled together.
Doll Awana
Camping at Niagra (what a beautiful Canadian basket, the speed walker)
The camping trip to Maine and PEI. Lobster claws and Green Gables.
Williamsburg another time, I forgot my coat and it was thirty degrees outside
Williamsburg again, for our birthdays (even though they were in november, march, and June we still celebrated them together with our moms, what a great trip)
Raking rocks under the porch
Aunt Suzanne used to give us fake checks and her old purses and make us pay for our dinner. I remember that in the old kitchen before the addition.
Bop-it

Thanks for all the great memories!! 

Louisiana Beef Stew

It was supposed to snow 4-9 inches today. I love snow. I have had the curtains open all day watching the snowflakes fall. What a perfect day for a cozy, warm bowl of stew or soup. I buy beef when it is on sale and I chop it up into cubes and freeze them in bags that are portioned for one batch of beef stew. I just had to run quickly to the store this morning, around seven, before it was snowing a lot, and pick up a green pepper. 

I decided to make a beef stew from  my best friend's husband, who is from New Orleans. When we went visit them he made this for dinner one night. Jared and I both like it better than regular gravy based beef stew.  We serve this over mashed potatoes or rice. I love this recipe because you throw it in the crockpot and four to six hours later dinner is ready.  So easy. 

Today I have also spent putting the finishing steps on a few runner tops and a quilt back. In a bit, i am going to pin them all together and maybe even start quilting them. 

Sneak peak of some of the projects I am trying to finish up. More pictures to come once I finish them. 

Beef stew (in crockpot) 

1 pack brown gravy

3 beef bouillon cubes

6 c. Water

1/2 lb. beef stew browned in creole seasonings

1 onion

1/2 green pepper

3-5 carrots

2 c. Green beans

Roll meat in creole seasoning. Brown meat in vegetable oil. Transfer meat to crockpot with all other ingredients.  Cook four to six hours on medium or high heat. Serve over mashed potatoes or rice. 

Did you do anything fun this snow day? I had planned on cleaning off my pantry shelves, but I saved that for another day. It felt like a sewing and cooking kind of day. :) 

Peanut Butter Cookies

I watched an episode of America's Test Kitchen that featured these cookies a few weeks ago. I have really been wanting to try them, but just had so many other things to do. I finally made them yesterday to take to a friends house. They invited us over spur of the moment (which makes me happy that they feel like they can just call us and invite us over whenever). My Dad talks about when he was little how people would just stop in for dinner or coffee.  I love that. I wish I could invite people to stop by anytime and sit on my from porch and eat these cookies with a tall glass of milk.  Alas, I have no front porch... Maybe someday.  But you can stop in for tea and coffee and probably some sort of bread or cookies. 

Anyhow, I love these cookies.  They would be even more amazing dipped in chocolate! Ha ha.  Peanut butter chocolate is maybe my favorite flavor combination. It is probably tied with mini chocolate chip. I made mine much bigger than the recipe calls for, but they still turned out well. 

ATK Peanut Butter Cookies

Makes 48 cookies (24 sandwiches)

Ingredients

1-1/4 c. Peanuts toasted, cooled, ground

3/4 c. Flour

1/2 tsp. salt

1 tsp. baking soda

1/2c peanut butter

1/2 c. Sugar

1/2 c. Brown sugar

3 T. Melted butter

3 T. Milk

1 egg

3/4 c. Peanu butter

3 T. Butter

1 c. Powdered sugar

1. Roast peanuts in oven for 8 - 10 minutes at 350 degrees. Cool. Grind to corse crumbs in food processed or blender. 

2. Whisk dry ingredients together : flour, salt, baking soda. 

3. Mix wet ingredients together: peanut butter, sugars, butter, milk, and egg. 

4. Add dry to wet. Fold in peanuts. 

5. Scoop out 1 T. Of dough onto tray. Press into 2 inch rounds with wet fingers. 

6. Bake 15-18 minutes to golden and crunchy. Since these are sandwich cookies they need to be more firm than regular cookies. 

7. While they are baking melt the peanut butter and butter in the microwave for about 40 seconds. Whisk in the powdered sugar. 

8. Once cookies are cool, scoop about a tablespoon of the icing on one cookie and top it with another cookie. Pres down gently.  I found twisting it back and forth worked well to even out the icing in the middle. 

9. Set aside for an hour. Enjoy. I thought these were better the second day. 

I also made our favorite oatmeal cinnamon raisin bread. I took a picture and will add it to the recipe. 

http://gthfaith.blogspot.com/2012/09/favorite-oatmeal-cinnamon-whole-wheat.html?m=1

My two favorite people

Does life get much better than this?

I love them both so much!!

Two New Recipes

I tried two new recipes this morning, Green Chili Cheeseburgers and Swabian Pockets. I have included a picture of the Swabian pockets drying on a cookie sheet. After they dry for two hours, I have to boil them and then serve them in chicken broth(if they turn out, I might bring them to church for the Sundsy dinner). They are from my German cookbook. They are stuffed with chicken, spinach, bread, onion, and egg. If either recipe is good, I will post the recipe later. 

This dough was kneaded by hand for 10-15 minutes. It was quite a workout.  I often marvel at the way people used to cook on the past. We have it so easy: dishwashers, mixers, blenders, ovens, etc. 

Have you tried any new recipes lately? 

Whole Wheat No-Knead Bread

This is for dinner tonight. I just took it out of the oven and it smells amazing!!! Thank you to Sarah for the recipe. It was so easy.

I made mine half whole wheat and half bread flour. I definitely recommend bread flour; it has a higher glutton mixture and thus, produces a more crewy texture.

Bread recipe

Kitchen Chair Mats

My goal is to someday make my own braided wool rugs (or several) from recycled wool sweaters.  However, since I don't have a thrift store that sells wool sweaters for cheap, I will have to wait on that goal. Instead, I have made cotton braided chair covers for my kitchen chairs. I made one the first year I was married and then the scraps just sat in my closet. I pulled them out shortly after Martin was horned and made two more.  And finally, in January, I finished the fourth one. Yay.  I now have a semi-matching set. They make the seats more comfortable and I like the way they brighten up my kitchen.  

Do you know of anywhere that sells cheap wool sweaters (as in here is a bag of old wool sweaters that have holes in them and we were going to throw them away but you can have this whole garbage bag for a dollar)? 

Have you ever made braided rugs before? I thought it was relaxing, but it took much longer than i expected.  A lot more braided cloth goes into one mat than I thought.  

Cousins

Guess who we saw last night!?! Ivy and Hazel! Martin was so excited to see little people his size. They crawled around he Taylor's porch last night (before they had to leave to go to the rehearsal). Martin was laughing the whole time. They were both so sweet to him. He was very excited. 

We got them to sit still long enough for one picture. Ha ha. Then they were off and running and crawling and laughing again. We wish we could spend more time with these cuties and their parents. 

Short Repair

I have had these shorts forever, they were hand-me-downs from Greg to Luke. I stole them from Luke a few times and he graciously gave them to me. The elastic in the waistband was completely deteriorated and they looked like this: 

 

I took out the drawstring, seam ripped the waistband, added new elastic, sewed it all back in place, and replaced the drawstring. So now for less than an hours work, I have almost new shorts. I watched the first half of Amazing Grace while I seam ripped so the time passed quickly. 

Hopefully, they will last me another ten years. Ha. I am surprised that the fabric has held up so well. 

German Potato Soup

If you make yourself some tasty homemade chicken stock and don't know what to do with all of it, here is a recipe. It is based on a recipe from a cookbook called, More With Less.  The original recipe calls for water instead of stock. That would be an even more frugal recipe. 

The cookbook was given to me by one of my favorite people and possibly the sweetest person I know, Lindy Hall. She taught a writing club for home schoolers for many years. She forced me to write at least one paper a week for many years. It did wonders for my writing. I almost went into journalism because of how much I enjoyed writing, near the end of my time in her class. However, math had the strong pull and an advisor at SU told me that I would never be an engineer or a physisist  because my SAT scores weren't high enough... That pretty much settled my path. Ha ha. I double majored and went on to get my masters in one year. I thank my parents for telling me that I could achieve anything that I put my mind to. :) 

German Potato Soup

(Serves 4)

I usually make a hearty whole wheat and oatmeal bread, also from the same cookbook, to go with this, but any hearty bread would be awesome. 

1 T. Butter

2 T. Flour

4 c. Stock or water

4 potatoes, peeled and diced

1 onion

1/2 tsp. salt

Dash pepper

1. Melt butter in pan with flour over medium heat.  Cook 2 to 3 minutes until flour loses its flour smell. 

2. Whisk in liquid slowly until smooth. 

3. Add potatoes, onions, salt, and pepper. Cook 2-4 hours. The longer you cook it, the more the potatoes will fall apart and the soup will become thicker. 

4. Serve plain or with green onions and cheese. You could add ham or bacon if you wanted it to have more protein.  

I haven't posted pictured if Martin in a while. We went to the zoo today, dressed as a fox. Aren't you jealous that you don't have a fox suit? My sister gave it to me for Christmas. 

Do you have any ways you use up chicken stock? 

Krispie Kremes

My Dad and brother were traveling near a Krispie Kreme shop today. On their way home tonight, they stopped by and dropped off a half dozen plus one (which you might notice is already missing).

Krispie Kremes are a tradition in my family. My sister used to have to go up to AI DuPont's children's hospital in Willmington several times a year. My parents would always bring us back doughnuts. On the rare occasion that we tagged along for the appointment, we would hope that the sign was turned on so that we could get a hot free doughnut.  My parents would also bring them back from vacations in Richmond and we have stopped on the way back from several concerts to pick up several dozen. 

There is nothing like a fresh doughnut. Do yourself a favor and stop into a Krispie Kreme next time you pass one and the sign is on. I love watching the machine that makes all the doughnuts. It reminds me of Willy Wonka (the old movie). 

Do you have any fun childhood memories that involve food? I have many more because we took so many tours of food plants when I was little. They were all very interesting and I still think of them when I see their products. 

Homemade chicken stock

I am a big fan of homemade chicken stock (because it tastes better, is easy to make, and is free - free stuff always makes me happy). I started buying the bone in chicken breasts and thighs. If I need them boneless for a recipe, I debone them myself and throw the bones and skin in a pot to make stock. Most of the time though I simply boil my chicken and then pull the meat off.  

Stock recipe: Just throw in some onion, celery, pepper, salt, garlic, and carrots (or some combination of those - I throw in the tops of my celery bunch and onion skins that I have saved sometimes).  Boil all of that for one to three hours depending on how much chicken you are cooking. Sometimes I throw a whole chicken in the pot. Pour the stock into containers (I use mason jars) and refrigerate. Once they have cooled completely the fat will gather at the top. You can scrape this off and throw it away or use it for dumplings or biscuits or chicken pot pie crust. Yum!! 

I included a picture of some homemade stock, yogurt, and granola that I made last week. Mr. B. loves yogurt. It costs less than half the price to make your own yogurt. Homemade granola is also less than half the cost of store bought granola and so much healthier without the extra oils and sugar and additives.  

So there are some frugal tips for the week. :) Do you have any simple ways you cut costs in your grocery bill? Does anyone use vinegar and baking soda to clean? I am thinking about starting and would love some tips. 

P.s. Happy birthday to my mother!! We love you and are so blessed to have you as a mom and grandma. Thanks for loving us so much. 

Flags

As I also mention, i helped with a baby shower and a wedding. The baby shower (a tea party which allowed me the chance to make French macaroons and petits fours) was for a dear friend who is having a girl. I can't wait to have a girl some day. I want to sew dresses and doll clothes and hair bows ... I found my American doll dress patterns the other day (for felicity and Kirsten) and almost started making a dress, which is funny since I never had one of their dolls, but my sister did and I made her doll clothes.  That is an aside. Anyhow, I look forward to having a daughter someday, yet in the meantime I will have to enjoy my friends' daughters. 

All of that to say that I made little flags for the baby shower. They were pink and purple and I failed to take a picture of them. I also made another set for another friend out of seersucker. I was asked to make some more for the wedding. So I went out and bought eight different blue fabrics and set about to making eight different little flag banners. I really like the way they turned out. The "theme" of the wedding was vintage and the bride loves shades of blue. 

She picked cornflower blue, which is the blue of my KitchenAid mixer and makes me extraordinarily happy. It brightens up my already cheery kitchen. I use it almost daily. I even have an extra mixing bowl which i use during times of heavy baking and cooking.  I highly suggest it if you plan on making a cake while your bread rises or don't feel like washing out the bowl and need to make icing for your cake. Oh, and I love that the bowls can go in the dishwasher. 

Do you have a KitchAid mixer? What color is it? Is there any kitchen tool you use or value more? Dishwasher and ovens don't count. :) 

P.S. Have you seen the glass bowls that they now sell for the stand KitchenAid? If I didn't already have two bowls, I would have to save for one of those. Also, if you have see the mixing paddle with the spatula attached, skip it. I have it and it spreads a thin coat of the wet ingredients along the bowl and you end up having to scrape down the sides. 

I am back.

I am back to blogging for a while. I have even set up posts for the next few weeks. They are of my crafting and cooking adventures of late. This year, since I have the semester off, I challenged myself to finish a bunch of unfinished projects and also to try some new recipes. As you will soon see, I have made a dent in my projects list, tried a few new recipes, have played with Mr. Baby tons, and have even helped with a baby shower and wedding. The wedding planning and projects distracted me from some deep cleaning projects, but I have managed to clean out under the bathroom sink and organize Mr. Baby's clothing. So, all is not lost and plus, making things for weddings is more fun than organizing your linen closet or rotating your pantry shelves. 

Happy readings. I hope to be more consistent in the future.  

And because my sister tells me that everything is better with a photo, here is a picture of a puppet that I made for my nephew'a birthday.

P.s. Any requests for recipes? 

I really want to make these chocolate caramel pretzels.  They look fabulous.