Raspberry Lemon Bars and Sewing Projects

I finished a sheep, bib, and burp cloth for a shower I am going to this weekend.  I made the burp cloth girlish on one side and boyish on the other side because they aren't finding out what the baby is. :)   The bib is from some of my favorite fabric. I bought three or four yards when I was pregnant with Martin.  I made his curtains out of some of it. 

I also made raspberry, lemon strudel bars for the shower. They are in the oven right now.  I will post the recipe if it is delicious.  

Martin played happily while I baked because I made him eggs and waffles for second breakfast at 9:00.  He woke up at 5:30 this morning.  That extra half hour has made the day seem so much longer.  

Sloppy Joes and Homemade Rolls

Here is just a picture of the rolls. I will post a recipe later.  They are delicious. 

 Sloppy Joes

From ATK of course (they added an extra garlic clove and used water and tomato sauce, I just added extra tomato purée)

Warming don't overcook the meat in step one.  You want it to be pink and then cook in the sauce. 

2 tablespoons vegetable oil

1 medium onion , chopped fine

1/2 teaspoon table salt

1 cloves garlic

1/2 teaspoon chili powder

1 pound 85 percent lean ground beef

Ground black pepper

1 teaspoon brown sugar

1.5 cup tomato puree

1/2 cup ketchup

1/4 teaspoon hot pepper sauce

4 - 6 hamburger buns

1. Heat oil pan. Add onion and salt cook over medium heat, stirring occasionally, until onion is soft, about 10 minutes. 

Add garlic and chili powder and cook until fragrant, about 30 seconds. Add beef and cook about three minutes. 

2. Add 1/4 teaspoon pepper, brown sugar, tomato puree, ketchup, water, and hot sauce. Simmer until Sloppy Joe sauce is slightly thicker than ketchup, 10-14 minutes. If it cooks longer, you might need to add more water to thin it out. 

Target

For dinner tonight I am making risotto with white beans and spinach.  It is pretty much amazing, melt-in-your-mouth.  I am serving it with some sort if chicken and green beans.  Yum!! 

I don't use a lot if coupons because I find it takes too long to match them up and organize them.  I would rather be sewing or reading or playing with Martin.  However, I do read hip2save (a deal blog) almost every day and when I see a group of good deals, I sometimes buy stuff. I forgot to give the cashier two of my coupons.  Grr.  But still I bought all this (and a four pack of play-duh) for $8. The spaghetti was 26 cents a box. 

One of my favorite quick way to say money at Target is to use their app, Cartwheel.  I get 5-10% off diapers whenever I buy them. I also text target certain words and they send back coupons (I read about which words to text them on hip2save).  And Target lets you combine Target coupons, found on their website, with manufacturer's coupons, found on other sites.  Normally, I just use the Cartwheel app.  

Hooray for Target.  I also got 5% off my diapers today and a $10 gift card when I bought two packs.  

Attic Room

Jared and I talk about changing around the rooms in our house a lot. We only have two bedrooms and a small attic space, but we think we can fit at least four or five kids in this house.   We are both big fans of this book series called, The Not So Big House and I love the blog Apartment Therapy. They both have amazing ideas about making the smallest spaces both useable and comfortable.  They both make the point that it is actually greener to have a small house and give pointers on using ever inch of space.  

My kitchen is pretty much, spot on, designed, layed out, and organized as they say. It was before I read their books and posts. It is my efficiency engineering coming out. :) 

However, the rest of my house still needs some work, especially my bedroom. A goal of Jared and mine is to decluttering and organize the bedroom this spring. We are starting by building a desk and buying a old filing cabinet (which Jared sanded down and painted this weekend and will be bringing inside tomorrow). Maybe I will post some before and after pictures. 

Anyhow, we both think the upstairs little attic space (that currently holds Michelle's guest bed (which is the most comfortable bed in our house - I read up there a lot), our tv, and my sewing room) would make for a great master bedroom or kids bedroom. Here are some inspirational photos I found. The first is my favorite!!!! 

The nails in our ceiling are starting to work their way out of the drywall and someone made some small dents in it moving furniture around, so this wood covered ceiling would be amazing. I love white painted wood.  I would love to have  hardwood floors painted white in my house. Ps.  This would be like waking up in a bed and breakfast every morning.  I LOVE this room. 

A skylight would be so great.  Again, I love the wood. I love this room too. Do you think Jared would go for separate beds? I wouldn't always be stealing the covers. 

For the kids... I love built in beds.  

Oh, and a window seat (with a built in bed because that is so practical) because I just love them. Someday I want a front/back porch (with a few rocking chairs) and a window seat. It will complete my housing dreams.  That is pretty much it. I don't care about a larger house or a bigger kitchen or anything else.  I just want a window seat and a front/back porch. Both places would be so relaxing to read and enjoy my morning cup of tea.  Lovely.  And I have schemed several ways to fit a window seat in my house.

Do you have any dream features of a house? 

The Problem of Pain CS Lewis

I just finished The Problem of Pain by CS Lewis. I highly recommend it.  I have other quotes to share, but I thought I would start off with the last paragraph in the book.  I just love the way Lewis writes.  The more I read Lewis, the more I am glad I named my son after him.  :) 

"The size and emptiness of the universe which frightened us at the onset of this book, should awe us still, for though they may be no more than a subjective by-product of our three-dimensional imagining, yet they symbolize great truth. 

As our earth is to all the stars, so doubtless are we men and our concerns to all creation; as the stars are to space itself, so are all creatures, all thrones and powers and mightiest of the created gods, to the abyss of the self-existing Being, who is to us Father and Redeemer and in dwelling Comforter, but of whom no man or angel can say nor convince what he is in and for Himself, or what is the work that he 'maketh from the beginning to the end'. 

For they are all derived and unsubstantial things. Their vision fails them and they cover their eyes from the intolerable light of utter actuality, which was and is and shall be, which never could have been otherwise, which has no opposite."

Homemade Wipes

So I am trying out a recipe for homemade baby wipes.  If they work (and by work I mean, don't get moldy) I will keep making them since they are super easy.  If they do get moldy, I will try using distilled water and vinagar before giving up.  

Recipe

2.5 cups water boiled or distilled (to remove bacteria that can cause mold, who knew?)

2 - 4 T. baby soap

1 - 2 T. baby oil or olive oil

Some recipes call for optional aloe ad since I have an aloe plant, I broke off a few leaves and squeezed them in.  I felt like a real hippie.  

Mix all of that together in a bowl.  Cut a roll of paper towels in half.   Stick one end in the mixture.  Flip over after a minute or two and let them sit until fully saturated.  

If you have a bowl with a lid or a round container, you can simply take out the cardboard roll and pull from the middle.  I stacked mine in sheets in an old wipe container.  

We will see what happens.  Updates will follow.  I love the way they smell and they work fine.  I will do a cost anaylsis later.  I am guessing they are at least half of the cost of the wipes I buy at Sams club (which smell funny).  

Have you ever tried to make wipes or any other cleaning products? 

Curl

This little curl always sticks off the back of Martin's head after a nap.  Ha ha.  Maybe he will have curly hair someday like Jared and me.  :) 

Photo Friday

We took some selfies this afternoon right before naptime.  Martin usually comes up and lays his head on me or the floor a couple times in a row. That is how I know it is naptime. He plays in his crib with some toys for 15-30 minutes and then falls asleep. 

He is such a ham. 

And I love being his Mom.  He is such a sweet, great kid...

Even when he tried to eat the window blinds.  It looks like I caught a fish.  What a weirdo. I discourage chewing on the blinds, but this looked so funny that I had to take a picture.  

I am about to pack the Mr. Baby bib up in the attic with most of his 12 month cloths.  He is wearing 2T in most of his shirts now! Ah! 

This last picture is from this morning. He loves to pull things out of the cubboards.   His new favorite is this container of beef bouillon cubes.   He opens them up and dumps them out and then puts them back in.  He played with them for at least twenty minutes today while I made dinner.  Who needs toys? 

More Snow, Chicken Pot Pie, Groceries, and Bagels

This didn't upload yesterday. So I added a two pictures this morning of after the snow of my front and back yards. 

My backyard. 

It is snowing again today.  Why is it snowing?  I hope my daffodils are okay.  They haven't flowered yet.  Some of the creeping phlox have bloomed. This is one of my favorites because the whole thing turns purple for a week or two.  So pretty. The snow just started sticking. Poor little flower. It will soon be covered. 

Martin and I ran to the grocery store early this morning to avoid the crowds of milk and bread buying crazy people.  Beef was on sale. I bought a bunch to chop up and freeze for future beef stews.  We should have gone to Bible study this morning, but I was concerned Martin might have what Jared and I had and kept him home.  He is acting perfectly happy and normal, but his diapers have been smelling really strange. 

After we came home, I made chicken pot pie for dinner tomorrow while Martin fed himself. He has started using his fork and spoon pretty well (well enough to get food in his mouth).  It is wonderful. He makes a mess, but he is 75% self fed. From the pie dough scraps I made pigs-in-a-blanket for lunch (I have never made them before.  They are so easy). 

I also made a batch of whole wheat bagels.  I made half of it plain and half cinnamon raisin.  If I really like them I will post a link to the recipe later.  I was thinking of making bagel pizzas out of some of the plain ones.  We will see. 

Tonight we are going to celebrate my baby sister's birthday with my favorite Ruby Tuesday's smokehouse burger (bacon, cheddar cheese, onion rings, and barbque sauce) and cake batter ice cream cake. She has good taste. Happy Birthday, Hope.  Martin is especially thankful for you. You make him laugh and it is so much fun to watch. 

The burger is a running joke in my house because I ate it while I was going into labor with Martin. I ate the whole thing plus green beans and fries.  I had wanted a burger so badly all day and Jared had to work late that night and we didn't get to the restaurant until 7:30. I thought something weird was going on, but I had just seen the doctor that afternoon and she said I was definitely not in labor.  Ha ha ha. They admitted me to labor and delivery at 8:59 pm and Martin was born at 7:30am.  Jared laughs because I had to keep pausing from eating during the contractions.  He started looking at me and asking, "Are you alright? Is this a contraction? Can you talk?" They started off 8-10 minutes apart (and pretty minor), but by the time my burger was gone they were closer to five minutes and coming like clockwork and I could definitely not talk during them. I am so glad Martin is here and no longer a little alien inside me.  I know my mother and many other women love the feeling of a baby moving inside them, but I found the whole thing really really creepy.  

Here is to Hope and good food and babies, who as one of my friends puts it, "are better out than in." Happy birthday, little sister.  Have a great 18th year.  I love you. My baby is awake and I have to feed him and bathe him before your party.  :) 

Front yard.  Too bad the Christmas lights still aren't up. Our house looks like a little gingerbread house when it snows.  I love it.  Random fact: the light post out front has never worked. We have tried all the light switches in the house.  

Chipotle

This weekend I went to the MNA mercy conference in College Park.  The night before I tossed and turned all night; I was up at least five times.  I kept thinking, I can't do this.  I can't go. I have been sick all week and now I am not sleeping. So I prayed at 430, that when I woke up with my alarm that I would feel awake and that I would get a close parking spot (I know, so selfish, but I felt so weak).  My alarm rang at 5:11am and I was able to get up and I was at the conference on time, I got the last close parking spot, I stayed awake for all the workshops and speakers, and I was able to stay until the last speaker finished at 9:00pm. It was a huge blessing to go and hear about all the ministries in the church and to be inspired. It was also encouraging to be able to worship with 400-500 people from various churches.  

I slept like a rock on Friday night and made it through the Saturday sessions as well. On the way back home I stopped at the ghetto chipotle, the best chipotle ever and bought a burrito. 

It was huge and bursting at the seams.  When I buy them in Salisbury the staff always makes me feel guilty for asking for two kinds of salsa (tomatoes and corn) and the burritos are so small and they are grumpy and slow. Although this burrito is an smaller size for ones I got in college, most were much bigger (we, my friends in engineering and I, had a contest to see who could get the biggest burritos, if they had to get a second foil wrap because one didn't cover the whole burrito, you had bragging rights.  The lady grabbed a third foil wrap by mistake once and I bragged about having a burrito so big that I needed three foil wraps), it was so much better tasting than the Salisbury ones.  I plan to measure and plot the burrito sizes of all future purchases. :) I am such a nerd. This one was 10-3/4 inches around and 7-1/2 inches long. 

This is one of the sketchiest places (well, there are a lot of sketchy places in the DC area).  I was followed around the grocery store, that is right next to this store, and asked out by some creepy, foreign dude for his friend, who stood down the grocery aisle and waved to me.  So creepy.  Needless to say, I never shopped their for groceries again. But they make the best burritos.  

Oh, and I saw this on my drive in to the conference on Saturday morning.  There is something about DC that fills me with national pride.  You can see the Capitol and Washington monument off in the way distance. This is New Hampshire avenue.  

Life Recently

Martin discovered the front camera and it makes him laugh at himself. He is such a ham. 

We (Jared and I) have been eating a lot of these and drinking this. We both woke up Sunday morning with some sort of vicious stomach bug.  

Jared was eating food by the evening, thankfully.  I threw up nine times or every time I tried to drink something.  It was pretty rough. I lay on the floor and cried a lot. Monday morning I kept my first crackers and juice down. I even had a half of a chipotle burrito for dinner.  Jared was especially sweet and washed dishes and clothes and made me food. I pretty much lay in one place all day, which is what I plan on doing today too (other than chasing Martin if he does something mischievous).   

My parents took Martin for most of the day yesterday and Sunday night so I could get more rest.  My mom also made me chicken noodle soup.  My parents sent me updates. 

Martin loves spending time with them. Look at that messy hair. 

I am sorry there are no recipe or sewing updates.  They are more interesting, but I thought I should blog something.  It had been a while. I hope you all are well. Oh, I forgot to mention, we got six more inches if snow Sunday night and Monday.  It was so pretty.  I love snow.  

Happy Pi Day Yesterday

A pie for pi day! I took this to a party we went to on Friday evening.  It is a giant cookie, but it is made in a pie dish, so it sort of counts.  

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!!