Living In Domesticity

Homemade Wheat Sandwich Bread

2011-07-28T06:02:00.000-07:00

I have been on a quest lately to come up with a really good sandwich bread recipe that not only meets the requirement of being healthy but also edible by kid standards. Store bought bread is convenient without a doubt, it also has a lot of junk in it. Most supermarket brands have high fructose corn syrup in them. Did you know that when you make bread the amount of sweetener needed is very small, just enough to feed the yeast. My recipe has 2 tbs of honey for the entire loaf. So the bread companies are putting high fructose corn syrup in because they are too cheap to spring for the tiny amount of more expensive, better quality sweetener. Not to mention preservatives, that don't really seem to work that well considering my bread lately has been moldy after a couple of days.

Homemade bread may seem very daunting, but it really is easy, especially if you have a bread machine. You can do this in a kitchen aid mixer fitted with a dough hook or by hand if you don't have a bread machine. With the machine it takes only a few minutes of my actual time. This recipe was adapted from The Bread Bible but I did change a few things.

2 2/3 c. all purpose unbleached flour
1c. whole wheat flour
1/2 c. buckwheat flour
1/2 c. flax seed
2 c. warm water
1 1/2 tsp yeast
1/2 tsp salt
2 tbs honey

In the pan of your bread machine or your bowl if not using the machine combine the flours and flax, make a well in the center and add the honey, yeast and salt followed by the water. Set the machine to the dough cycle and leave it alone. If mixing by hand or machine mix ingredients until a smooth ball of dough forms and let rise for 40 minutes. After the dough is done, remove from machine or bowl and punch down on a floured surface, the dough will be slightly sticky. Place in a well greased loaf pan and cover loosely with oiled plastic wrap.

Let rise for 50 minutes. Meanwhile heat oven to 375 and place racks on the lowest two positions, place a cookie sheet on each rack. When the dough has risen, very carefully remove the plastic wrap and gently but quickly score the top with a sharp knife.

Very gently place loaf pan on top of the top cookie sheet in oven, pour 1/2 c. ice cubes onto the lower pan and gently close the oven. Let bake for 50 minutes. Remove from oven and remove loaf fro pan to cool. Let cool two hours before cutting. Keep bread tightly wrapped and it will keep for 3 days.

More Homemade Yumminess

2011-07-21T07:49:00.000-07:00

Even though it is unbearably hot outside this week (heat index of 110) I've still been spending a good amount of my time in the kitchen. I try to avoid the oven though. I'm still working my way through the Eating Well cookbook, which I love and yesterday I checked out a book on making bread and one on ice cream as well. So this is what has been in the kitchen the last two days.

This morning the kids wanted chocolate chip pancakes and I happily obliged. I was so happy to have local farm fresh milk, eggs and honey to use in this recipe.

Pancakes
1 1/4 c. all purpose flour
1 1/2 c. milk
1 egg beaten
1 tbs honey
1/2 tsp salt
3 tsp baking powder
2 tbs canola oil or butter
1/2 c. dark chocolate chips

Mix all ingredients together in bowl, the mixture will still be slightly lumpy. Spoon 1/2 c per pancake onto either a hot griddle or pan.

This was my crazy amazing breakfast. Irish oats with farm fresh blackberries and drinkable peach yogurt. This tasted like dessert, it was sooo good.

Blackberry Peach Oatmeal
1/2 c. irish oats
1c. water
handful of fresh blackberries
1 tbs agave nectar
1/2 c. drinkable peach yogurt or kefir

Place water, oats, agave and berries in bowl and heat for 3 minutes in microwave. Stir and let cool for a minute, then add a few more fresh berries and pour the yogurt on top.

This was last night's dinner. I made the mozzarella burger from Eating Well although I changed the recipe quite a bit. I added in some steamed green beans and a little leftover orzo from the night before.

Mozzarella Burgers
1lb lean ground turkey
2 tbs Italian seasoning
2 cloves garlic minced
2 tsp Worcestershire
salt and pepper
1/4 c. mozzarella cheese plus an additional 1/4 c for the tops
foccacia bread
Muir Glen Pizza sauce
1 tbs lemon zest

Mix together the turkey, spices, Worcestershire, garlic and lemon zest. Make into 8 thin patties. In the center of 4 patties add a spoon full of cheese top with another patty and press the edges closed. Cook until done through. Place cooked burger on top of a thin slice of foccacia and top with the pizza sauce and a sprinkle of cheese.

A Day Of Food

2011-07-20T07:29:00.000-07:00

I've really been enjoying the slow pace of summer and making nutritious meals for my family. I've been trying to make a new recipe every day and I'm trying hard to keep those recipes healthy and full of local fresh veggies. So I thought I would share my day in food with you guys.

For breakfast I had banana bread oatmeal.
1/2 c. Irish oats
1 c. water
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp nutmeg
2 tsp agave nectar
1 banana
7 walnut halves

In a bowl combine oats, water, agave, cinnamon and nutmeg heat in microwave for 3 minutes. Stir in sliced banana and walnuts

For lunch I had a homemade veggie burger with some shreds of local cheddar cheese on it.
2 cooked red potatoes
1/2 c. black beans
1/2 c. irish oats
1/4 c. shredded zucchini
1/4 cup shredded carrots
1 clove garlic
seasonings to taste ( I like McCormick Hickory Maple)
sometimes I add a little egg if the mixture doesn't want to stick together

Puree all ingredients in food processor until no large lumps are visible. It will be like a paste. Spread four equal size portions into burger shapes in a hot greased pan. Cook until firm and brown.

For dinner we had 'Disappearing Zucchini Orzo' from "Animal, Vegetable, Miracle"

Finally this is what dessert has been looking like in our house these days.

-Kim

Shoe Giveaway

2011-07-15T13:17:00.001-07:00

Danielle at Sometimes Sweet is hosting a great shoe giveaway all this week. Make sure you stop by and sign up!

Power Smoothie Recipe

2011-07-07T06:35:00.000-07:00

Well I've had a whirlwind week here at the abode. The 4th of July was tons of fun, so much so that I took no pictures at all! I was just so busy being. I wish I had in hindsight. We also started doing p90x this week. Today is day 5. Let me tell you it is not for the weak of heart . I have had some days were I've made it all the way through the grueling hour plus workouts and some where my body has given out before the end of the tape, and I literally mean that. I haven't just given up my arms have given out. I'm trying to push myself for as long as I can in each workout. Last night was by far the toughest and it was the one I was most looking forward to, Yoga. The Yoga is 1.5 hours long, I only made it through about 35 minutes of it which was all plank and downward facing dogs into runner pose, with a few warrior poses thrown in. My arms were trembling and I just could not do one more. I wish I had stuck with it, my husband did and said that as soon as I left they stopped doing planks, of course. With that being said I've been reading Tony Horton's Bring It book, and I really like his philosophy on food, I've been trying to get rid of so much processed unhealthy food for more whole foods and natural foods. I feel so much better when I don't eat bad and getting rid of the artificial sweeteners, caffeine and garbage makes me feel great. So this week I made a little jaunt to Whole Foods to get a few things and made my take on a power smoothie. I don't use protein powder in mine but I do when I make my husbands, but for me it's too many calories. I made this yesterday afternoon before my workout and it gave me such great energy, better than an energy drink!

Power Smoothie Recipe
4 oz. Strawberry Kefir
5 frozen strawberries
7 frozen blackberries
1 package or serving Amazing Grass Chocolate Flavor
1 tbs Chia Seeds soaked in 2 tbs water
splash of skim milk if needed to thin

Pour everything into your blender and puree until smooth.

Back on Track

2011-06-27T19:03:00.000-07:00

Well, I lost 2 lbs this week getting me to the 50 lb mark! I also bought a new pair of Reeboks, tossing out the old crappy New Balance. Such a difference. Today I did Yoga with the kids and then the treadmill and topped it off with weights. I also should say that I have thrown the Candida diet out the window. I tried I really did, but I wasn't doing good. Part of my success at Weight Watchers has been eating a good breakfast with lots of fiber. It's really hard to get enough fiber on such a limited diet. I'm glad I went back to eating normal, I feel better. I have been changing some foods, trying to find better alternatives. I use to eat a lot of Fiberone bars, but recently switched to GNU bars, they are all natural and have more fiber and no high fructose corn syrup. I also switched to Kashi bars for snack bars. This morning I had a bowl of shredded wheat with kefir and a banana, so good and so filling. How is your week going so far?

New Shoes?

2011-06-22T08:37:00.000-07:00

So this morning I woke up bright and early, donned my workout gear and went downstairs to do my Bootcamp video. I was about 10 minutes in and in the middle of doing jumping jacks when I felt a pop in my knee and couldn't do another jumping jack. Also my feet were killing me after only 10 minutes. I'm 100% sure that it's my shoes that are to blame. I've had the same pair of poorly fitting New Balance for the last 5 or 6 years (sad, I know) They give me no support, it feels like I might as well be wearing flip flops. They are too wide and too big and just bad. I have another cheap pair of tennis shoes from Target (also at least 4 years old) that are too small and hurt my toes when I wear them. I think I'm just going to break down and get a new pair and I guess I'll stick to Yoga and weights for a few days until my knee feels better. Anyone have any good suggestions for shoes?

Quinoa Breakfast Porridge

2011-06-14T05:34:00.000-07:00

Well on my quest to find suitable foods for this Candida diet I have found breakfast to be the hardest. Most mornings I just drink a glass of Kefir and call it a day. After a while though, that gets pretty boring. So I decided to try out quinoa for breakfast. In case you don't know about quinoa let me fill you in. Quinoa is a grain-like seed that can be cooked as you would rice, it is also a rare complete plant based protein, containing 12-18% protein and having a balanced set of amino acids. It is a good source of fiber, phosphorous, magnesium and iron and it's gluten free. It's pretty much a perfect food. We often make it for dinner with lots of veggies, beans and a little chicken. This week I bought a box of it and cooked the whole thing so I would have it ready in the fridge. So one morning for breakfast I mixed a little unsweetened coconut milk, stevia and fresh berries into and heated it up like you would oatmeal. At the end I added a little cinnamon. It was really good although the texture took a little getting used to, and I was really full all morning. If you have never tried quinoa before I can't recommend it enough, it's such a versatile food.

Weight Watchers Update

2011-06-13T05:44:00.000-07:00

Had a great week this week. I weighed in yesterday and lost 3lbs!! I think doing the Candida diet has made a difference. I'm still doing Weight Watchers but I've cut out most of the sugar and all of the bread. I've been trying really hard on the Candida diet but I've decided there is no way to go cold turkey on it. I've been easing myself into it. I've had a few slips I ate a regular tortilla, a scoop of ice cream and some balsamic vinegar dressing, not together of course :) Those were my big slips, so not too bad for a week. I've been eating a lot of quinoa, veggies, kefir and brown rice cakes, tortillas and crackers. I've eaten a ridiculous amount of cucumbers, they are just so good. As far as workouts go, last week they were all in the pool, except for one day when we went to the zoo and I counted walking the zoo as a workout. It was in the upper 90's here all last week and that was all I could make myself do. I did do strength training a few days, but this week I really want to make sure I'm doing it everyday switching between legs and arms. So looking forward to another good week this week, we're off to the zoo again today.

Candida Diet Day 1

2011-06-08T05:51:00.000-07:00

Have you ever had that moment where you realize something so obvious that that you feel kind of dumb for not thinking of it sooner? I totally had that moment this week. I've been battling a really bad sinus infection that I'm sure was allergy induced. I am seriously allergic to mold. When I was tested the doctor had to redo all of my tests because I reacted so strongly to mold that it covered all the other test marks. So knowing this I try and avoid mold. I don't go into the basement or damp areas, I wear a mask when raking leaves and I take an allergy medicine every day. Yet I still end up getting sick from my allergies a lot. I always have this drainage going on. So here I am making something to eat the other day and I had this realization that I never considered the foods I eat as a culprit in my allergies. I mean hello, cheese and mold go hand in hand!

I started reading up on it and found that a lot of people have relieved themselves of their allergy symptoms by following a yeast free/mold free diet. It's kind of extreme, there is a lot that you can't have. You have to avoid sugar since it feeds yeast and mold in your body, a lot of fruits are out since they have high mold contents, basically you can have berries. Starchy vegetables have to be avoided for the same reasons. Peanuts, out. Breads or anything made with wheat or oats, out. Dairy, out. The good news is that vegetables are in and beans are okay as long as they are made from dried and not purchased canned. Meat and eggs are okay and kefir and yogurt are in. Stevia is the only sweetener that you can have. Most nuts are okay and grains like brown rice, buckwheat and quinoa are all acceptable. I have been thinking for a long time about giving up dairy since it absolutely kills my stomach and makes my drainage way worse. So I don't think that will be that bad. I also can't have caffeine, so no coffee, which is also okay because every time I drink that I feel terrible also. I can drink water and ginger tea and some almond milks.

After thinking about my day and how I eat I've realized that i really only need to make a few changes. This is what my typical meals look like and the Candida/Mold free changes that I hope to make;

Breakfast:
I always eat a fiberone bar and banana

Candida/Mold free switch will be 1 cup Kefir or greek yogurt and berries.

Lunch:
I most often have a lo carb tortilla with black beans, peppers, lettuce, onion and a tiny amount of dressing.

Candida/Mold free switch will be either finding a buckwheat tortilla or skipping the tortilla and adding extra lettuce. The dressing will have to go but I'l either replace it with a dressing made from greek yogurt or a squeeze of lime.

Snack:
I usually have either kefir, yogurt or carrots dipped in a greek yogurt dip.

Candida/Mold free switch: I'll probably just switch the carrots for bell pepper strips.

Dinner:
I usually have a lean protein (chicken, fish, beef) and veggies. Sometimes we have pasta or wraps.

Candida/Mold free switch: I'll be eating more brown rice and quinoa in place of pasta and as I said I'm hoping to find a tortilla substitute. We usually have fish that has a very light breading so that's out. I also love potatoes so that will probably be the hardest thing to give up. I'll be increasing my intake of greens, broccoli, squash and green beans.

Dessert:
This is the tough one. If I have dessert I usually eat a weight watcher ice cream. Ice cream is my weakness, even though my stomach hurts every time I eat it.

Candida/Mold free switch: I'm hoping that I can find a sorbet that is made with Stevia that would be awesome or maybe a coconut milk ice cream with Stevia.

So anyway, I'm headed to Whole Foods today to see what I can find and to get some Grapefruit seed extract since I keep hearing how great is is for sinus infections. I'm at least committed to giving this diet a good try while maintaining my weight watchers diet. If it made a change in my life where I didn't feel sick all the time it would be worth giving up any food.

Weight Watchers Update

2011-06-06T06:00:00.000-07:00

I was back on track this week at my weigh in and lost 2lbs. I worked out quite a bit this week and would have worked out everyday if I hadn't ended up with Strep throat and a crazy bad sinus infection mid week. I spent several days just lounging since any movement caused a serious amount of coughing and sweating. I did follow the plan very carefully and tried to stick to mostly whole foods. I ate a lot of red, yellow and orange peppers, pineapple, black beans and bananas this week. I also tried salmon burgers for the first time and they are delicious. So this week I am trying to get back on track with the workouts, at least doing weights for strength and some pool workouts until the coughing fits subside and I can start doing some treadmill and boot camp workouts.

Deals From This Week

2011-06-02T08:00:00.000-07:00

This week has been a good week for deals on my end. I broke down and bought a few dresses from Avenue this weekend since they had summer dresses on sale for 14.99 with an extra 25% off and free shipping which made them 11.24 each. Can't beat that! I also went to Walgreens and bought 38 dollars worth of merchandise which included: 2 Axe deodorants, a Gilette Fusion Razor, 2 Suave lotions, 2 Suave Conditioners, 4 packs of Orbit gum and a pack of Cottonelle Fresh Wipes. My total after coupons and two register rewards from the previous week was 7.12 and I got 8 dollars in register rewards to use on my next purchase. So far I'm having a great week for deals, what are some good deals you have come across?

Weight Watchers Update

2011-06-01T07:02:00.000-07:00

(image at weheartit)

This week was rough. I didn't lose anything at my weigh in Sunday. I know it was because I didn't pay close enough attention to my nutrition. I'm not going to make any excuses for myself, the week was really busy with my husband out of town and preparations for my son's birthday party and I let that get in my way. I know better and this week I'm kicking it up a notch and making sure I follow the program to a tee. I want to be down 50 lbs by my daughter's birthday on June 20th, so I have a few lbs to lose over the next few weeks. Wish me luck!

My Fitness Routine

2011-05-31T10:28:00.000-07:00

(image at weheartit)

I'm just going to go ahead and state the fact that I hate working out. I've tried and tried over the years to get into a fitness routine, but I just hate doing it. I know that it's something I have to do if I want to reach my fitness goals. I don't really want to be thin and flabby I'd like to be a healthy weight and fit. I'm never going to be one of these people who exercises for 2 hours everyday. I read an interview with Gwyneth Paltrow recently were she talked about the fact that she does 2 hours a day 6 days a week and she says that is doable for all women. Well maybe for all women who have a nanny and a housekeeper. I'm aiming for an hour a day at least 5 days a week. If I only do 40 minutes though then that's fine too. I've been going between working out in the pool with pool dumbells where I do water jogging, swim laps and do strength training in the pool to doing the treadmill and strength training with weights. The husband and I are also doing crunches before bed. I can do 25 right now and my goal is to add on 5 each week. I'm also doing some modified push ups, and hopefully soon I can do the real thing. I've also been trying to incorporate fun things into working out. Both of the kids are learning to ride bikes without training wheels and let me tell you running behind them holding onto their bikes is quite the whole body workout! We also bought a zoo pass so hopefully I'll be hitting th zoo at least once a week and getting a workout walking through there. It's definitely going to be a challenge over the summer to get my work out in with two kids home so I'm sure I'll be getting more creative with the workouts as time goes on this summer.

Weight Watchers Update

2011-05-17T08:30:00.000-07:00

So this Sunday when I weighed in I had lost 3 lbs. I was kind of surprised because the week before I only lost 1. I've been pretty consistently losing 2 each week, so maybe it just balanced its self out. So that brought my weight loss to a total of 41 lbs. I'm loving that I'm losing weight and I feel so committed to weight watchers but I have been struggling with the fact that nothing fits. I don't want to keep buying a new wardrobe every 2 months. I've been getting a few pieces as I go down each size. I'm officially down two sizes. I'm just trying to imagine the awesome wardrobe I'll buy when I reach my goal weight :)

-Kim

Summer Shoes I'm Dreaming Of

2011-05-10T04:23:00.000-07:00

Oh if I had a million dollars I would spend a big whopping chunk on shoes. I've been drooling over a lot of cute styles for summer this year. In the past I've spent the summers in flip flops, but I'm really trying to branch out and honestly so far this year I haven't even glanced at a pair of flip flops. So here are some of my favorites for summer and I've put them together with some cute outfits to show how I would wear them. I tried to keep all of the items under $50 dollars.

Look 1: The Flat Sandal
Keeping the little black dress casual and fresh with flat braided sandals, pops of color, a straw bag and a denim jacket.

Sandals by Urban Outfitters
Totes by Nine West

Look 2: The Wedge Sandal
I would keep these towering wedges simple with a maxi dress and earthy jewelry.

Wedges at Piperlime
Necklaces by Forever 21

Look 3: The Sneaker
I love the look of the classic Ked sneaker in red, I would pair it with some ethnic inspired jewelry and punches of turquoise.

Cardigans by Gap
Sunglasses by Old Navy

Look 4: The Colorful Flat
I would pair this mustard flat with navy and gold.

Tees by Talbots
Flats by Kimchi & Blue

-Kim

This Weekend in Pictures

2011-05-09T10:15:00.000-07:00

We had the best weekend. Friday afternoon was spent at the park playing and taking a walk around the lake. Saturday we cleaned out the flower beds, hit the Home Depot for some pretty new flowers and planted all of the pots and beds. Tim surprised me with tickets to see Junip this coming Saturday as my Mother's Day present. It was really sweet, and it happens to be on the same day that we had our first date eleven years earlier and at the same place. Sunday I got up and cleaned and then my mom and dad and sister and her family came over for lunch and then we went for frozen yogurt, but the frozen yogurt machine was broken so that was a bummer, but the kids had ice cream so they were happy. After that we walked across the street to a flower market and my mom and dad let the kids each pick out some flowers to buy for my sister and I. Later we came home and the kids played for a while and then we went over to the church next door and the kids practiced riding their bikes. It was the first day for Iris without training wheels and while she was a little scared at first she was doing pretty good by the time we left. Harper was riding his balance bike and the kid is a little demon on it. He figured out how to ride with his feet up and was cruising all through the parking lot. He was even going down hill and through puddles. It was a great weekend spent with my family and just hanging out with the kids.

I drank too many of these, they are so good but they don't sell them in our city so Tim buys them when he's away on business.

Iris having fun on the swings in the park

H hanging out in the tunnel

I love this little face

Daddy and Iris

Love

Harper made me this at school on Friday. So sweet.

My little garden helper

My big garden helper :)

bugs.

Homemade pizza on Saturday, yum.

Strawberry shortcake for dessert.

Sunday bike riding.

Iris, getting the hang of it.

How was your weekend?

-Kim

My Best Coupon Deals of the Week

2011-05-06T06:10:00.000-07:00

Hey all, here is a round up of the best coupon deals that I actually used this week. I know there might be better deals out there but I want to show you what I actually did.

Target deals

Deal 1: I bought two sets of Old Spice body wash, they come with one full size and one half size and can be found on an endcap at Target. The price is 4.00 for each set, which is already a good deal since one bottle is normally 4.00. I used a BOGO coupon found in the 5/1 newspaper and a 1.00 off coupon found in the Target coupons that were in the 5/1 newspaper.

2 sets- 8.00
-4.00 (BOGO)
-1.00 (Target Coupon)
= 3.00 for two sets of body wash

Deal 2: I bought two boxes of John Frieda Foam Hair Dye. I used two 5.00 off coupons found in the 5/1 newspaper plus two 5.00 off Target coupons found on their website.

2 boxes John Freida Hair Dye- 23.98
- (2) 5.00 (5/1 paper)
- (2) 5.00 (Target online)
= 3.98 for two boxes of hair dye
* bonus, they give you a 5.00 giftcard when you buy two boxes so you actually end up making a dollar off this deal.

Deal 3: I bought ten Weight Watchers Smartones frozen meals on sale for 1.89. I used a 3.00 off 10 coupon found on the Weight Watchers site.

10 Smartones- 19.80
-3.00 (ww printable)
=16.80 for 10
*bonus, you get a 5.00 giftcard when you buy 10 so they actually end up costing you 1.18 per meal.

JCPenny Deal

If you got a 10.00 off of 10.00 coupon in the mail you only have a few more days to use it. They have lots of jewelry on sale for 50% off this week so I bought a cute charm bracelet and pair of Liz Claiborne Earrings.

Charm Bracelet 18.00 - 50% off = 9.00
Earrings 10.00- 50% off = 5.00

Total before tax=14.00
-10.00 coupon
=4.00

So those are my favorite deals of the week, I hope you are getting some good deals with your coupons!

House Party!!

2011-05-05T05:01:00.000-07:00

Are you down with House Party? If you haven't heard yet this site works with companies to offer up party opportunities. All you have to do is go to their site and register. After that keep your eyes open for a party that you are interested in hosting, apply for it and then wait. After a few weeks they will let the chosen folks know. If you are selected you get a party package for the item you are promoting.

I hosted my first House Party this past Saturday for Weight Watchers Ice Cream. It was a pretty great experience. They provided me with coupons for all of the ice cream, a few items to help with the party and some fun activities for my guests. We had a great time hanging out and eating some yummy snacks. One of my favorite activities was making inspiration boards with the ladies. We cut out magazine pictures and words that went with our goals and made little collages. Mine is hanging on my fridge and every time I see it I remember my goals.

Check out some of the fun pictures from my House Party and head over there now to register for yours.

inspiration boards

girls working hard

strawberry shortcake kabobs

Drink bar

All the yummy goodness

-Kim

A Moment

2011-05-04T06:57:00.000-07:00

I took a few minutes this weekend to walk around the yard with Iris and take a few pictures of this ever growing, sweet girl. Almost seven. I really can't believe it. We picked a pretty white Iris while we were out there. I only have a small patch of these but I think I might plant some more colors this year. The yard is in full bloom and even with the weeds attempting to take over it is lovely. I hope we get some relief from the rain that we have been having so I can spend some more time on these walks with my loves.

-Kim

Dresses for Spring

2011-05-03T06:47:00.000-07:00

Since I have been losing weight I've been needing some new duds. The problem is I don't want to shell out the money for said duds when I'm only going to get to wear them for a month or so. I've been shopping thrift stores pretty frequently and have managed to snag a few good items but the other day I realized I could still wear a few of my dresses from last summer if I added a cardigan or belted them. So I decided I'm going to try and buy more dresses, I think they'll get me farther on my weight loss and hopefully help out with my goals to be a bit more stylish. So these are some of my very thrifty favorites for curvy girls from around the web.

I love this maxi dress at Forever 21. Can you believe it's only 22.80?

I love the color of this jersey dress at Old Navy. 36.94

I love the colors and pattern on this cute dress from Ruche. 38.99

I always need another black dress and I love that this one isn't sleeveless. Available at Kohls for 22.49.

I really love the colors in this dress. I don't think I've ever worn a white dress before. Forever 21 27.80

If I had a little more money I would buy every dress at eShakti and this one is my favorite. 59.95

-Kim

I'm Back!!

2011-05-02T08:41:00.000-07:00

Anybody who still bothers to read this probably knows that I started blogging over at D.I.Y. Louisville late last year. I'm busy as a bee over there blogging about crafty and local stuff and had pretty much abandoned this blog. Much has been going on in my life and I see blogging here as a new opportunity to journal the many thoughts I have everyday. So be prepared, I have lots to say. You probably won't be seeing much crafty stuff here, but you'll be hearing a lot about my current weight loss plan, my family and kids, my thrifty goals, my crazy ass ideas and maybe you can struggle through some pictures of me as I attempt to be more fashionable.

So first things first, I have been on Weight Watchers since January. I really can't believe I had let my self get so out of control. My weight was crazy. I had been eating fast and bad for years and dealing with my emotions by shoving food in my face. Since January I have lost 37 lbs and I feel so amazing. It's been hard, I've struggled with new ways to cope with my emotions and learning to eat for fuel not for fun. I love Weight Watchers, I have tried so many diets that didn't work because they were diets. I think it's impossible to stay on a diet for your entire life. Weight Watchers has been slowly teaching me how to eat to be healthy. I still have along way to go to reach my goal weight, like about 75 lbs. I hope you guys will join with me as I reach my goals!

So I'm sharing a terrible picture of myself from November 2010 that made me want to cry and one from Easter 2011.

Starting:

I'm in the cranberry dress. This is at my sister's wedding. She has also lost 35 lbs since then.

Current:

-Kim

Tutorials for Christmas

2010-12-08T09:57:00.000-08:00

Instead of double posting I'm giving you a link to head over to the D.I.Y. Louisville blog, where I have been busily posting some great tutorials for inexpensive Christmas gifts. There are a lot more to come also and you don't have to live in Louisville to become a fan of our blog, we have interesting stuff for everybody!

-Kim

Christmas Around the The House Part: One

2010-12-07T13:23:00.000-08:00

I love Christmas. I love decorating for it and thinking up new ideas and new projects, and I especially love that feeling I get when the house is decorated and I can sit on the couch under a blanket drinking a peppermint mocha and enjoying the glow of the Christmas tree. So I thought I would share some of the decorating I have been doing around the house. Follow me.

The tree in the living room, is done in all brown, with a little gold and red thrown in and a woodland theme. That is if the forest were covered with glitter.

A closer view of the tree.

The fireplace and stockings.

The arrangement on the mantle

My new favorite decoration, love this little guy.

A little Christmas vignette.

The other end of the mantle.

Tomorrow I will share the dining room, which is completely different from this room in every way. Think pink!

Kim

I'm a Sucker

2010-10-28T11:37:00.000-07:00

Ever have one of those days when you have to check your back repeatedly to see if anyone has taped a sign there that says "SUCKER"? I'm sure many of you know how I feel, you get stuck doing everything under the sun, for other people who have no idea of the amount of work they are asking you to do. I can't tell you how many times I get suckered into doing something in a week by people pretending to pay me a compliment, example; "Oh, hey Kim could you help me out? I was going to do this myself but then I thought, Kim can do this so much better, I'll ask her" Which in reality should read "I was going to do this myself but then I thought, this is hard. I can probably talk someone else into it, oh look here comes Kim" Maybe I'm being a little sarcastic, but I just can't get over how often this happens to me. The thing is if it were actually something that I thought the person wasn't capable of doing and I could, I would be all about helping out. Usually though it is just some either hard or boring task that nobody else wants to do. The worst part is I just can't seem to say no. The words literally seem to get stuck in my throat. I want to say it so badly, I'm up to my eyeballs in work right now, so saying no occasionally would be awesome. I just start imagining the person thinking how mean I am and telling everyone how I refused to help. I really don't want to be that person, I want to be the helpful person, I want to volunteer, but I need people to stop taking advantage of me. Sorry for the rant, but I bet you understand.

Kim

D.I.Y. Louisville Blog

2010-10-26T05:26:00.000-07:00

We are up and running at our new blog for D.I.Y. Louisville, please head over there and follow us for all the information on this really cool group. We'll also be having lots of crafty information and projects coming up! Don't worry, I'll still be posting here too!

D.I.Y. Louisville

2010-10-21T11:38:00.000-07:00

I'm really happy and excited to announce a new project started by myself and Julee , D.I.Y. Louisville. D.I.Y. Louisville is a group dedicated to crafters and artists with a love of quirky, alternative, unique arts and crafts. We'll be having meet ups every other Thursday starting in November at the Sunergos Coffee on Woodlawn at 6 p.m., you can bring your small works such as knitting, drawing, embroidery, sewing, jewelry, etc or just bring yourself and hang out. This will be a great opportunity to meet other like minded people and discuss ideas, order some great coffee or tea and just hang out. Also, we have a Facebook page, so make sure to add us and check out all the info there.

Fall Party!

2010-10-19T13:26:00.000-07:00

On Saturday we entertained about 25 of Tim's work friends at our home for a traditional Kentucky style fall party. What does that entail you may ask? Well in our case, it included burgoo, bourbon, cornbread, red velvet cake, lots of beer, pumpkins and a bonfire, to name a little. I really wish I had better pictures of the event, because I really liked how it all turned out but my camera battery died just as guests were arriving so all I have are the pictures of the details, no guests. For those of you unfamiliar with burgoo, a traditional Kentucky dish, it basically is a stew that consists of many types of meat, preferably smoked before hand and lots of veggies and you have to cook it forever, Tim cooked ours for about 10 hours after the smoking of the meat. So basically he cooked for two days on this.

It's kind of spicy and usually served at large gatherings. A lot of churches and festivals serve it here in Kentucky. Ours included pork, beef, lamb and chicken, okra, carrots, corn, potatoes, onions, tomatoes, hot peppers and maybe a few other things. I'm happy to post a recipe if anyone wants to make this, warning though it serves about 40-50 people. The bourbon of course is another traditional Kentucky item as bourbon only comes from Kentucky. The cornbread and red velvet cake aren't strictly Kentucky fare, but definitely southern favorites.

For my red velvet cake I iced it with a traditional cream cheese frosting and then made some white chocolate ghosts on sticks to decorate. To do this just line a cookie sheet with parchment, lay your sucker sticks down on the parchment and using a squeeze bottle filled with melted white chocolate free hand a ghost shape. Make them fairly thick so they don't break when you lift them off the parchment. I used a toothpick dipped in black food coloring to make the eyes.

I also made Reese's cupcakes which are to die for, basically take a brownie mix, make it according to directions and tin each of 12 cupcake liners cover just the bottom of the liner with batter. Place an entire full sized peanut butter cup on top of that and then cover with more batter, filling up about 2/3's of the liner. Bake 10-15 minutes or until set. I iced mine with a peanut butter buttercream icing.
Peanut butter frosting
1 stick softened butter
3/4 c. shortening
1 c. peanut butter
4 c. powdered sugar
1 tsp vanilla
mix the shortening, butter and peanut butter until fluffy, add the vanilla and then the sugar. You can add some water a tsp at a time to thin it out if need be.

And the Paula Deen Pumpkin Trifle was really awesome too!

I'm also including some pictures of the house decorations. Later this week I have to get some of the outside, since Tim did a great job out there and it looks really cute.

Wreath I made.

The kids made these with some help from daddy, they are just big pieces of tree bark, painted.

Slow Poke Farm

2010-10-18T17:41:00.000-07:00

I love this picture, they look so uncomfortable!

Let me start by catching you up a little. I had been feeling sick all week and was just getting worse instead of better, so Thursday night I decided to go to Walgreen's and see the Nurse Practitioner there. After waiting an hour and a half to see her, she told me that I had bad ear infections in both ears and a throat infection. She prescribed some meds and sent me on my way, stating that she was pretty amazed that my ears weren't causing me a lot of pain. Well almost as if on cue they started to that night and have continued to all weekend. Friday morning came and I had promised my niece that I would go on her field trip to the farm with her, and I don't break my promises to kids if at all possible. So I drug my sick, coughing, wheezing self and Bug out to Slow Poke Farm in Shepherdsville, KY. The kids had the best time, they picked pumpkins, went through a hay maze and a corn maze, took a hayride, got to feed cows and chickens, roll pumpkins down a hill and play in baby pools filled with dried corn. I however, found myself choking on hay dust and clinging onto the side of the hayride truck while somewhere around 5 to 7 children stroked my hair in a weird way, still haven't figured that out. I'm sure I would have normally loved the experience, because it really is a nice farm, with lots to do, just not while you are ill. Oh, and the funniest part of the day for me, was watching the parents get freaked out by the chickens running around loose. There were parents running from chickens and screaming, hilarious, especially for a girl who grew up with chickens. So that was my Friday, I also spent that evening doing some serious baking for our fall party, but I'll catch you up on all of that tomorrow. For now enjoy the pictures from Slow Poke Farm.

Bug getting completely licked by a cow tongue!

Bug showing no fear of the chickens, he wanted them to eat from his hand.

Halloween Dress Up Time!

2010-10-11T13:11:00.000-07:00

It's that time of year again. Time to make, buy or put together a Halloween costume for yourself or the kids in your life. In my house there is usually a great deal of discussion about what to be starting in the summer. Sweets usually changes her mind at least 3 or 4 times and refuses to settle on anything easy or normal to do. This year her top contenders were a monster based on a picture she drew, a jug of milk, Sherlock Holmes or her final decision which is Velma from Scooby Doo. I know I could in all likely hood just order a Velma costume from some place but I love making their costumes. Bug has already insisted on the store bought Wolverine costume, much to my dismay, so I was pretty insistent my self on making the Velma costume. Although most of what I have done is just putting together bought articles of clothing and a pair of glasses my husband found in the basement, at least its not plastic and polyester. In the past we have had a handmade green and pink sequined dragon, a panda bear, a parrot and an organ grinder monkey, just to name a few. Sweets was even a full on witch for her first Halloween when she was 4 months old, my mom made the dress and the tiny little witch hat. Oh, and I can't forget my dear husband who really has the most outrageous of the costumes year after year, including a pumpkin headed scarecrow, a chimp in a diaper, a male prostitute, a drunken hobo and a monkey in a white suit. Just to clear things up, only the scarecrow was worn around children. :) So all of this has me thinking about good, unique, D.I.Y costumes and considering I happen to have a few in my Etsy store and on Ebay right now, I thought I would share.

Barbie costume, for the glam girl-1991

my Etsy

Vintage Gypsy or Square Dancer - 1964

my Etsy

Vintage Rainbow Brite Costume- 1984

Ebay

Adorable gnome costume

Simplicity

Another cute gnome and mushroom

Simplicity

So just a few cute, unique options to choose from. Also I'll be adding a lot more costume patterns later today, including a vintage Minnie Mouse pattern, Pink Panther, Tom Arma and more, so check back!

Halloween Sundaes

2010-10-08T17:12:00.000-07:00

The kids are having a sleepover with their cousin tonight and this is what's for dessert.

Trick or Treat Inspiration

2010-10-07T14:39:00.000-07:00

Well today I made an attempt at getting the Halloween decorations out of the basement and it was an epic FAIL! After about 3 minutes of being down in our scary basement digging for boxes and only finding part of the decorations, I was in the middle of a full blown allergy attack. I usually avoid the basement for this fact, since I am deathly allergic to mold/mildew, but for whatever idiotic reason I thought I would give it a go today, big mistake. So upon realizing that most of the stuff had gotten wet when our basement flooded earlier this year, I managed to get a couple of salvageable items and the rest is pretty much history. So now I am going to desperately try and make some decorations before the fall party that we are hosting for my husbands work colleagues next week. So I'm making an inspiration post of ideas I like. I'm really into black and white and pumpkins this year.

trick or treat banner

paper decorations how to

Now I have to get away from the computer and get started!

Kim

Best Ever Fall Cookies

2010-10-06T17:05:00.000-07:00

Let me start with an apology. Seriously I have no idea what happened to September. I meant to blog, really I did. Things just got busy, my schedule has been hectic, but I am finally starting to get the hang of it. I spent a lot of time outdoors, some of it working taking family portraits and some of it wandering alone and even a little of it camping with my family. There was peace to be found amongst the insanity and I honestly feel so much better and more centered now. I can see clearly. I have ideas, lots of them and I'm ready to get down to business. Fall feels refreshing to me and I am excited about all of the projects I want to take on. So I apologize for the missing person act, I promise to not let it happen to often in the future.

Now on to the Fall goodness. Oh, I love Fall. I love pumpkin spice lattes and caramel lattes and pumpkins and pumpkin flavored baked goods and Halloween and Halloween candy and, well okay you get the picture. So to really get into the swing of things I felt compelled to make the most awesome fall cookie ever. It really is so good and the flavor is dead on Fall. The only thing I wish was different is the slight cake like texture. I have yet to incorporate pumpkin into a cookie and not get a cake like texture, I think it has to do with the moisture content of the pumpkin. But the taste makes up for it and a lot of people seem to even prefer that texture in a cookie.

Best Ever Fall Cookie

2 1/4 c. all purpose flour
3/4 c. brown sugar
3/4 c. white sugar
1c. margarine softened
2 eggs
3/4 c. canned pumpkin
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp vanilla
1 tsp all spice
1 tsp nutmeg
1/2 tsp cloves
2 c. semi sweet chocolate chips
2 c. butterscotch chips
1 c. pecans
In a bowl combine softened margarine and both sugars and beat until fluffy. Add in eggs and vanilla stir until combined. In another bowl combine all dry ingredients and mix until combined. Add to wet ingredients and stir until combined. Add both chips and nuts and stir by hand until ingredients are incorporated. Bake on ungreased cookie sheet 8-10 minutes.

Oh and just because I think these recipes look super yummy for fall and I love the cute blackbirds I am sharing these Paula Deen Recipes that I am planning on using for a big fall party that we are throwing next week.
Blackbird Pie

and this amazing looking pumpkin gingerbread trifle

Curves and Chaos Ultimate "SWAG" Giveaway

2010-10-04T06:10:00.000-07:00

The awesome Monique from Curves and Chaos is having a massive "SWAG" giveaway. You can win a prize package full of great stuff including a $100 dollar TJ Maxx gift and Torrid prize package. Just hop over to her site and follow the rules for entry. There are several ways to enter!

My World

2010-09-08T17:14:00.000-07:00

I have been out of sorts this past week. Things are insanely busy around here although it feels like nothing is being accomplished. My day is broken up into barely usable segments since school has started. I leave to take Bug to school at 8:30, drop him off at 9, get back home at 9:30, then leave to get him again at 11:30, back home by 12:30 then leave to pick up Sweets at 2:00 and get back at 3:30. I'm not really complaining, I knew that lots of driving was part of the deal with moving to our current area and having the kids go to the schools we have chosen, it really is worth it. I haven't felt mad or anything like that just out of sorts, kind of lost in all the shuffle I guess. So I really don't have a big post to share with you, just a reflection of my week.

I've been working on a little of this

These are for a special present that I'm working on for my niece.

Some of this.

I bought a lot of cool vintage items for my Etsy shop and a few for myself like this cool chair.

Celebrated my birthday with a lovely coffee date with two of my favorite people, Julee and Grace. Julee gave me this cool vintage Pyrex and a pretty vintage apron, because she's cool like that.

Then there has been a little of this or maybe a lot.

Which has helped me to cope with the kids playroom.

The load of laundry that is coated with red crayon.

the bag of fiberfill that the kids dumped in the living room so that it would look like it was snowing and the entire roll of toilet paper that bug unrolled, stuffed in the toilet and then flushed. I took a picture of this, but I have some manners so I won't show a picture of my toilet of here. :)

I hope you have a great week and I'll try and get it together for a long post about the birthday party we are having at my house this weekend for my niece.

Kim

I Sold My First Cake!

2010-08-31T14:22:00.000-07:00

Well the title pretty much sums it up. I had my first cake order from my sisters work for a coworkers birthday. I was so nervous, I don't by any means think I am a professional cake decorator. It's something I like to do and would love to get better at. Anyway, they wanted a 40th birthday themed cake and this is what I came up with. It's a chocolate cake with buttercream icing, and fondant and buttercream decorations.

I used this recipe for the cake from Smitten Kitchen. It was a great cake very sturdy but maybe not the best for carving as it was a little crumby. The scariest part of this whole thing for me had to be driving the cake out to my sister's office. Every bump I drove over nearly gave me a heart attack, but we arrived with both myself and the cake in one piece. I got great compliments on it when I dropped it off and overall feel pretty good about the whole experience. The pictures are pretty bad since I was too scared to move it to better lighting!

In other news, my new Living in Domesticity Etsy store is up and running. You will find great vintage house wares, sewing patterns and accessories along with some handmade items. Keep checking back as I will be updating the shop's inventory regularly.

Kim

KY State Fair

2010-08-24T08:22:00.000-07:00

Every year I look forward to the State Fair. It's crowded, hot and overpriced, but there is something I just love about all of it. I think it's the fact that for one week all of the normal handy work that gets overlooked has it's moment in the spotlight. People are lined up to ooh and ahh over cakes, cookies and jams. Folks mill about inspecting the details of quilts, hand made dresses and baskets. The farmer's have their own wing to show off their prize animals and the gardener's get to display the fruits of their labors. What other time is this kind of thing celebrated? There is also the added draw of all the weird and unexplained items that tend to creep out at the fair and the fun of finding those craft items that cross the bridge from folky to creepy. So despite the 100 degree temperatures, the four dollar soft drinks, hordes of people and Bug laying on the dirty floor crying because he didn't get something, I love the fair. So here are a few more reasons why.

See this lady's huge rabbit, see the even bigger pile of rabbit fur that she is brushing out of it? Yep, you

can buy piles of rabbit fur at the fair.

Sooo pretty! Vintage button collections have their own category at the fair.

Giant talking Freddy. In case you haven't seen him before, there is a booth that interacts with the crowd via Freddy.

Funnel cake, nuff' said.

Bug didn't feel as if the normal fair food had enough calories, so he invented the nacho cheese covered hot dog.

Neil Diamond Christmas tree. :)

This amazing vintage kitchen set up. I wish I had all of this!

Sweets showing off my dad's blue ribbon. He made the belt.

Yeah, here is an example of one of those items that crossed the bridge into creepy town.

Ummm....

I think I should give knitting another go, it may be my key to a blue ribbon in the fair.

I think this is suppose to be Homer Simpson, I think.

No words, for this.

Giant inflatable colon.

Free prostrate exams.

This guy.

Ugly lamp contest.

So these are just a few of the awesome things to be found at the KY state fair this year. Do you check out your state fair every year? If so what is your favorite thing about it?

Kim

Back To School

2010-08-17T17:13:00.000-07:00

Image via Weheartit

Today was the first day back to school for us. I wish I could say that it was an easy day filled with lots of wonderful new experiences and it probably was for my kids, just not me. Here is a little breakdown of the day from my view.

6:30 am- The strange Bali wood sounding alarm on my phone wakes me up. It feels like I've only been asleep for five minutes.

6:40 am- Wake up Sweets and get her dressed, smoothly.

7:00 am- Some how we are already running a little behind, I make lunches and warm up some muffins I had froze. I get the muffins way too hot in the microwave and have to wait even longer for them to be cool enough to eat. I drink a diet coke. No time for breakfast for myself. I can feel the anxiety start to settle in my chest like a weight.

7:15 am- Out the door and headed into rush hour traffic for our half an hour drive downtown to Sweets school.

7: 50 am- No place to park close to Sweets school. Have to park a few blocks down and walk with both kids and all Sweets stuff.

7:55 am- My husband is waiting for us outside of school and we hurry in to put Sweets stuff away and snap a quick picture of her before she rushes into her classroom.

8:00 am- We walk out and I ask my husband if he thinks she is okay. Then I say " I feel like I am forgetting something". He says "You just feel that way because you are leaving your kid". The anxiety has turned into a ripping feeling deep in my chest.

8:10 am- We decide to go to McDonalds for a coffee since Bug doesn't have to be at preschool until 9.

8:30 am- We head down the road to Bug's preschool. I feel like I am taking shallow breaths and there is not enough air in the world for me.

8:45 am- We arrive and head into the school, taking a few pictures on the way.

9:00 am- The class heads outside and Bug runs for me. He starts crying onto my shoulder and hugging me. I try to walk him outside and one of the teachers takes him from me. He is wailing. The ripping feeling feels so strong I have to fight the urge to grab him and run. Moms aren't suppose to leave their kids while they are crying. Every fiber of my being is saying this is wrong. I know what everyone says and what I have read and what my husband is saying to me. I know that it's teaching him independence and that he will learn a lot and that he is good hands. But my heart hurts. Bad. Like it's being ripped out.

9:15 am- The director reassures me that he will be fine, she says I should call in an hour and check on him. I have tears running down my face and they are only the beginning. I feel a huge grief filled wail lurking in my throat. We leave and go sit in the car to watch him on the playground. He is still crying, I watch him fall down to the ground and put his hands over face. My whole body aches. My husband is reassuring me. I ask if we can't just take him home. He doesn't need preschool. I am convinced. My husband says no, just give it time. I am trembling. I can't take it.

9:45 am- Bug gets up from the teachers lap where he has been crying and moves to play with another kid. He is done crying. He plays for a few minutes and then the class goes inside. I still feel a terrible torn feeling.

10:20 am- I get home and I am lost. I don't really know what to do without someone to care for. I do some dishes and straighten up.

10:45 am- I call the school. The secretary goes to check on him and says he is doing great. He has been working and playing with other kids and no more crying. I feel relieved but not really better.

11:00 am- Talk to my sister for a while on the phone. Do some other stuff around the house, check my email and read a few blogs.

11:30 am- I leave to go pick Bug up he is only half day and gets out at 12.

12:00 pm- I arrive at school and the kids are back on the playground. Bug sees me and doesn't even react. I go in and say hi and ask him if he is ready to go home. He says no. The director tells me he has had a great day, no crying, played with friends and did lots of work . I am really proud of him. I never doubted that he could do it, I doubted I could. We go home and he tells me all about school and his new friends over lunch.

2:00 pm- I think this day has been a big adjustment for all of us. When I tell Bug that we have to go get his sister from school he throws a huge screaming fit. Eventually we make it out the door and are back on the road to downtown.

2:38 pm- Sitting in car line waiting for Sweets. We pick up the kids in an alley behind the school since it's in an urban downtown environment. They have no parking lot and the car line is not organized. It is marked in the alley as a school zone. As I wait a "lady" gets out and approaches my car. I ave to use that term lightly. The terms that really apply and are somewhat appropriate for this post are prick, douchebag, crazy asshole and/or jerk. Pick whichever you like. She starts yelling at me about blocking the alley. I mean really yelling. I try and explain that it is a school pick up zone, that this happens every day. You might think the giant line of cars in the alley would be a tip off. I can't take it, I want to scream or punch her. I have a sleeping toddler in the car and this nut job is yelling at me! I pull off and drive around the block back to the alley. I'm now at the end of car line and have to sit in the street waiting to turn into the alley.

2:45 pm- I actually get Sweets and she tells me that school was awesome and she is sad to leave. I'm not surprised really since she has always loved school.

3:30 pm- bedtime
Got home, made the kids snacks, listened to their tales of the day and started to sort through the mountain of paper work that Sweets brought home. Bug throws a huge fit because he wants nachos. I say no, because he already had two snacks and we have no nachos. Massive screaming fit that I can't even hear myself talk over. I can tell that the tension and stress I have felt all day is equally shared. I muster up the energy to vacuum. That is about all I have in me. I did vacuum the stairs and get all the cobwebs.

Sweets pulls out a bunch of my fabric. I ask her to pick it up. She ignores me and keeps watching her cartoon. I ask two more times and then turn off the t.v. Cue giant screaming fit from Sweets. I send her to her room since she is being really rude. She goes upstairs and throws a bunch of shit at me from the top of them. I calmly tell her that she has to stay there until her dad gets home. I'm turning things over to him. I'm done. She continues the kicking and screaming for the next 15 minutes until dad gets there and talks to her. Meanwhile Bug cleans up all of her stuff without being asked. I guess school at least taught him one thing today.

Dad tells Sweets to write an apology letter to me as punishment. She does and I shit you not the letter said "I am sorry, blah, blah for making my brother pick up my mess" Okay, don't even try and be nice, I see how it's going to be.

We eat supper. Hamburgers and fries. I managed to make dinner too.

I am so exhausted, not tired just wiped out. This day has been super emotional for all of us, except maybe the husband. He seems to be fine.

I hope tomorrow is better. Right now I need a cupcake and a glass, no make that a bottle of wine. They should have support groups for parents whose kids are going to school. Or maybe pass out cupcakes and bottles of wine to them. That would help and I have two kids so I would get two cupcakes and two bottles of wine. That would be tax money well spent. Or better yet we could get sponsors. I can just see big vinyl banners in front of the schools, 'Jack Daniels Welcomes You To The First Day Of School'. I'm pretty sure I'm on to something here.

Sorry if this is crazy rambling nonsense. I just really needed to get this day out of my system.
Kim

4 Simple Goals

2010-08-16T13:52:00.000-07:00

I read Elsie's blog 'A Beautiful Mess' on a daily basis. At first when I saw her 4 simple goals post I didn't think much about it. As the week has wore on I have found myself thinking more and more about things I want to do and equally important, things I might actually find time to do. I really tried to pick 4 realistic goals, simple enough that I will accomplish them.

1. Master an at home manicure/pedicure.
I love having my nails done, it makes me feel happy and put together and it's a little me time. I don't love paying crazy amounts for a manicure every week or fake nails. So I have been watching YouTube videos on manicures.

2. Take a creative writing class.
I have absolutely no reason to take this class other than I want to. I always enjoyed writing in school and I would love to do more of it.

3. Make dinner with my kids at least once a week.
Sweets went to a Montessori school for two years and Bug starts tomorrow. It's always amazing to see what the kids are capable of when they are given the opportunity. In a Montessori classroom the kids prepare their own snacks and practice a lot of simple 'practical living' works that teach coordination and responsibility. I don't think I've done the best job of encouraging my kids to do house things, simply because it's easier if I do it myself.

4. Yoga, once a week.
I really enjoyed doing yoga at the YMCA. Unfortunately I have no time to get there. I added a few yoga dvd's to my Netflix.

So there you have it. I think my goals should be easily accomplished if I can maintain some sort of focus (hard to come by these days). I did give myself a manicure today, and it's getting there

(ignore how weird this picture looks, it is crazy hard to take a picture of your own hand)

Kim

Yikes

2010-08-12T16:54:00.000-07:00

My car read 104 degrees as the outside temperature. I am pretty sure I have never been this hot before. No matter what I do I just feel gross. It's pretty hard to make an effort to do anything and I hate feeling this lazy. I'm looking forward to the fall and making some changes and finding some new opportunities. I need a new wardrobe, a new path, a new hair cut, a new workout routine, a new plan. Summer, I'm completely over you, hit the road pal.

More Photography

2010-08-12T05:50:00.000-07:00

Apparently when I say I am through with photography, I lie. A couple of weeks ago I did a wedding shoot for my husbands cousin. It was fun, but insane. It happened to be the hottest day of the year at 97 degrees and felt like 107 with the heat index. I think I was close to heat exhaustion after shooting for almost two hours in the sun and then another few hours in the chapel which while it was suppose to have air conditioning, it was reading near 90 in there. Also I didn't bring water. I guess I assumed there would be some there. There was a water fountain but it's pretty hard to keep running inside for a drink while you are suppose to be working. When I got to the reception I drank 3 diet cokes in about 5 minutes. Lesson learned, always bring your own water.

That said, it was a beautiful wedding and I was happy to be a part of it. I also made all of the bouquets and boutonnières and even though I was a little out of practice I loved the way they came out. I even made two garters for the wedding, but I didn't get a great shot of those. I'm always happy to be a part of weddings, especially when they are for two lovely people who are obviously perfect for one another. Emily and Shane, thank you for letting me be part of your day and brush up on some of my rusty skills. I know you are going to be crazy happy together!

Kim

Chicken Three Easy Ways Part Two and Three

2010-08-10T05:12:00.000-07:00

I'm telling you what, making all that chicken on one day saved me hours of cooking for the rest of the week. On day two of the chicken we had chicken nachos, super easy, you don't even have to turn on the stove if you don't want, I'm sure you could microwave the chicken if you like. The kids thought this was awesome. Nachos for dinner? I thought it was pretty awesome too. The third night I had planned to make a shepherds pie, but unexpectedly we had a kid free evening so went for Mexican again. Most of the time my kids won't touch stuff like this so it was nice for us to have something we like. I made chicken Mexican rice. I served it with a side of lettuce and some leftover tortilla chips. It was super yummy and took about twenty minutes. So while I only expected this to be food for three days we had a ton of rice left over so we had chicken and rice burritos last night. So four nights of food! I can't wait to do this again. I'm loving just being able to throw something together in a hurry. Here are the recipes.

Chicken Nachos

1/3 of cooked chicken
2 tsp cumin
1 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp onion powder
salt
pepper
1 tsp sage
1 tsp Mrs. Dash Southwest Chipolte
1 can black beans drained and rinsed
shredded lettuce
shredded cheese
salsa
sour cream
tortilla chips

In a hot pan combine chicken and all seasonings, cook for ten minutes or until heated through. Lay nachos on plate and put 1/2 c shredded cheese on top. Place in microwave for 30 seconds to melt cheese. Layer black beans, salsa, lettuce and sour cream on top. Enjoy!

Chicken and Mexican Rice

2 1/2 c rice cooked to instructions (I don't use instant, but you could)
1/3 of leftover chicken
2 tsp cumin
1 jar salsa
1 tsp onion powder
1 tsp garlic powder
salt
pepper
1/2 chopped onion

To cooked rice add all ingredients and cook until warmed through.
Serve with a side of lettuce and tortilla chips and top with cheese and sour cream if desired. You can also use this as a burrito filling.

The Best Homemade Waffles

2010-08-09T06:52:00.000-07:00

I have been looking for a waffle maker at the yard sales I frequent. That is where I like to pick up kitchen stuff that I'm not sure if I'll really use. I bought my bread machine at one about two years ago for five dollars and it had never been opened. I figured a waffle maker is one of those things people buy, never use and then sell for two dollars a few years later. Well all summer I have looked and not found. So I mentioned this to my mom. The next day I went to her house and she handed me a waffle maker. "Here, I bought this a few years ago, made waffles once and never used it again." Yeah! The funny thing is, we went to a yard sale later that day and saw a waffle maker. So I came home and looked at waffle recipes online and then got up this morning and threw some stuff in a bowl sans recipe and came up with some really yummy waffles. Most of the waffle research I did suggested that adding seperate egg whites that had been beaten to soft peaks was the key for crispy waffles. I can't say for sure, but it seemed to work because these were crispy on the outside and fluffy inside. I'd still like to try yeast waffles and see the difference between the two. I plan on making some of these this week in bulk and freezing. Sweets loves waffles for breakfast and these are far more nutrional than store bought frozen waffles, cheaper too.

Best Waffle Recipe

2 eggs seperated
1 c. white flour
3/4 c. whole wheat flour (I like Hodgsdon Mills Old Fashioned WW Flour)
1 3/4 c. buttermilk
4 tbs. butter
4 tsp baking powder
2 tsp vanilla
2 packages stevia ( you could use sugar, a couple of table spoons)
optional- 1/2 c. mini chocolate chips

In a bowl combine egg yolks, vanilla, stevia, milk, butter and baking powder. Stir until combined (I use a whisk). Add both flours and stir until combined. In a seperate bowl beat egg whites until soft peaks form. Fold into batter. Optional, add 1/2 c. mini chocolate chips. Sweets loves hers with chocolate chips and no syrup. Spoon batter into greased waffle maker. I cooked mine for about a minute and then checked them for brownness. I got eleven waffes out of this recipe but yours may vary depending on the size of your waffle maker. You can keep these warmed in an oven until ready to eat to help keep them crisp.

Have any tips on adding nutrional value to these? I was thinking of adding some flax seeds and maybe bumping up the WW flour. Leave me a comment with your tips.

Kim

Chicken Three Easy Ways Part One

2010-08-05T07:32:00.000-07:00

I have a confession, I like to take the easy way out when it comes to cooking sometimes. I love the idea of being all Martha and such but I'd also love five minutes to sit and read a good book occasionally. Plus after making breakfast, lunch and all the snacks in between I'm just pretty worn out on the concept of cooking an elaborate dinner for the family. I still want them to have a nice meal though. I'd also like to keep our spending in check. So I set about to make a few easy meals that seem spectacular (or at least to my family).

At the store this week I bought a whole chicken, about five pounds and a package of chicken thighs that were on sale, there were five of them in the pack. The whole chicken was about five dollars and the pack of chicken thighs was right about at three. I threw them all on the crockpot with some rosemary, thyme, garlic and onion, set it to high and let it cook all day. When it was done I got out two plates and separated the skin and bones from the meat. I do this fairly carefully because I don't want any skin in mine. Then I strain all of the broth left in the crockpot and put it in a bowl in the fridge. After a few hours the fat rises and you can skim that off and discard. Now you have enough chicken for at least three meals and broth for one. For my first meal I made Chicken and Dumplings. It was easy and fast I swear. Here is the recipe.

The stuff floating in the stock is chicken

Chicken and Dumplings

1/3 of previously cooked chicken in chunks
stock from cooking chicken
3 c. water
1 bay leaf
onion powder
garlic powder
sage (dry)
parsley (dry)
1 bag frozen mixed vegetables
salt and pepper

Dumplings

4tbs melted butter
1 1/2 c. buttermilk
2 c. flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1 tsp chives (dry)
1 tsp parsley (dry)

In a large stock pot pour stock and add chicken, bay leaf, parsley, sage, onion powder, garlic powder and salt and pepper. I don't measure these but a tsp of each is probably about right. Let come to a boil and add mixed vegetables. Reduce heat. Meanwhile make your dumplings. In a medium sized bowl add flour, baking power and salt, stir to combine. Mix herbs with melted butter and add to flour mixture, stir with a fork. Slowly add the buttermilk a little at a time, stirring with fork. When mixture starts to come together I switch to my hands and work the dough till all everything is combined. It should look like biscuit dough.

You can drop your dumplings by a spoon into the stock, but I like to form mine first. I take about a table spoon and a half of dough and form it into a log shape.

When all are formed drop them one by one into the chicken and vegetable stock. Put a lid on and let simmer for 20-30 minutes stirring gently once or twice during cooking.

To test for done, remove one dumpling and cut in half, it should look like a cooked biscuit on the inside, not doughy. The stock will thicken up from the flour in the dumplings and you now have chicken and dumplings.

This was really easy. Making the dumplings takes less than five minutes so don't be intimidated. While the dumplings were simmering I read my good book :) Oh and by the way, Happy 100th Post to me today!

Organix Coconut Milk

2010-08-02T16:08:00.000-07:00

I have long hair. It is about to the middle of my back. It's also colored, although I try to only do that every three months or so to ease the strain on my hair. This summer has been hell on my hair. It is so dry and brittle right now, I hate it. I have tried deep conditioners, hair masks, moisturizing shampoos, staying out of the pool, air drying instead of blow drying and everything else. My hair is also really thick, but not coarse. With it being on the dry side I have also been dealing with frizzy, fly away hair and no shine. I keep buying stuff but nothing really helps. I have bought products that claim to help fight frizz, control thick hair and add shine. I have bought everything from cheap drugstore hair products to expensive salon brands. Still not happy.

This week I once again found myself staring at the vast product selection in the aisle at Target determined to try something else. I settled on a new hair masque, that I haven't tried yet but will review when I do and Organix Coconut Milk- Leave In Nourishing Milk. The Nourishing Milk comes in a spray bottle and you just spray it on your hair and leave it in. It contains organic coconut milk and egg whites, which are suppose to help strengthen and moisturize your hair to prevent breakage and is sulfate free. I used it as soon as I got home and could not believe how good this stuff was. My hair felt so soft and was shiny and strong feeling. No more brittle scratchy feeling hair. I made my husband feel it I was so excited. It also has a great smell. Not like suntan lotion which is how a lot of coconut things smell to me, but like some yummy coconut baked goods or something. I kept smelling my hair all night, which is sort of a weird thing to do when you are out in public on a date! I've since been using it every day and am so happy with it. I spray it on my hair either wet or dry and brush it through, I try and spray a little extra on the ends. I can't wait to try the rest of this line of products. No they didn't pay me to try this or give it to me free, I just figured there are a lot of ladies like me out there who keep throwing away money trying products that don't work. I hope this little review helps you out, I plan on doing some more in the coming weeks. UPDATE, I went and bought the Organix Shea Butter Shampoo and conditioner and the Coconut Milk Mousse today and can't wait to use them!

Kim

HELP! Baking Substitutions

2010-07-27T14:18:00.000-07:00

I'm sure we have all been there before. You decide to bake something and half way through realize you are out of something that the recipe calls for. I know it happens to me, actually a lot more than I like to admit. While sometimes the only answer is a quick run to the corner grocery, there are times when a substitution can be just what you needed. There are a few things that I don't like to try and substitute, they are baking soda and baking powder, I don't ever try and use one for the other and really there is no substitute for these, unless you want to risk some flat baked goods. Also making sure that they are fresh is important. But for most other common items there is a substitute available. So why do I bring this up now? Well Sunday morning saw me with a need for pancakes, from scratch. I was sure we had everything. Wrong. With half of the ingredients in the bowl I realized I only had a cup of milk left and about three tablespoons of butter. Uh-oh. These pancakes were getting made, I had promised them and nothing, I mean nothing was going to have me dragging two kids to the store first thing in the morning. So I improvised. Water for the rest of the milk, oil for the butter. They tasted the same, I could not tell a bit of difference. So it got me thinking about other substitutes and I figured if I need them so do you. So I have put together a handy little list of common substitutes to help you out with any baking crisis. Also check out the pancake recipe too, so yummy.

Cornstarch- 1 tbs= 2 tbs flour

Balsamic Vinegar- 1 tbs. = 1 tbs cider vinegar + 1 tsp white sugar

Brown Sugar- 2 tbs. molasses + 1 c. white sugar

Butter- 1 c. = 7/8 c. vegetable oil, for salted butter add 1 tsp salt

Buttermilk- 1 c. = 1 tbs lemon juice or vinegar plus 1 c. regular milk

Chocolate- 1 square(1oz) unsweetened chocolate= 3 tbs cocoa plus 1 tbs butter

Corn Syrup Dark- 1 c.= 3/4c. light corn syrup + 1/4 c. molasses

Corn Syrup Light- 1 c. = 1 c. honey OR 1 c. white sugar + 1/4 c. water

Cream (heavy)- 1 c. = 3/4 c. milk + 1/3 c. butter

Cream of Tarter- 1 tsp = 2 tsp lemon juice or vinegar

Egg- 1 egg = 3 tbs. mayonnaise OR half a banana mashed with 1/2 tsp baking powder OR 1 tbs baking powder + 1 tbs oil + 1 tbs warm water OR 1 tbs baking powder + 1 tbs apple cider vinegar + 1 tbs warm water

Garlic- 1 clove garlic= 1/8 tsp garlic powder

Herbs- 1 tbs fresh= 1 tsp dried

Hot Sauce- 1 tbs = 1 tsp cayenne + 2 tsp vinegar

Milk- 1 c. = 3/4 c. water + 3 tbs butter or oil.

Oil- 1 c. oil= 1 c. applesauce OR 1 c. Sour cream OR 1 c. yogurt

Pumpkin Pie Spice- 1 tsp= 1/2 tsp cinnamon, 1/4 tsp nutmeg, 1/8 tsp cloves, 1/8 tsp allspice, 1/8 tsp ginger

Sour Cream- 1 c. = 1 c. yogurt

Wine- 1 c. = 1 c. apple juice

Pancake Recipe
3 c. flour
7 tsp baking powder
2 tsp salt
2 tbs sugar (I used stevia)
2 1/2 c. milk ( I used 1 c. milk plus 1 1/2 c. water)
2 eggs
6 tbs melted butter ( I used 3 tbs butter and 3 tbs oil)
mix up until just blended, mix will be lumpy. I like my batter a little thinner so I add another tbs water to thin it out. Spoon a laddle at a time into a hot greased pan or griddle, flip when you see bubbles (apprx 1 min). cook other side for 30 seconds and remove with a spatula onto a plate. This recipe makes 4 big portion or six smaller ones.

I hope this list comes in handy. Now I'm off to make dinner, looking at those pancakes has made me hungry!

Kim

Dreams of Fall

2010-07-22T14:31:00.000-07:00

I am longing for Autumn and cooler, lazier days. You know that saying 'The lazy days of summer', well whatever. Summer means no free time in my experience. With two kids at home, tons of yard work and all of the summer events, we have no time. Today I found myself wishing I could fast forward just a bit, because I really want to decorate/finish some rooms in my house and I know I won't have time to do the work until fall gets here. The main room in my sites is our down stairs bathroom. It sucks. I mean really. It's a long cave like room with crappy lighting and a sink mounted to the wall with all of the pipes hanging out, no storage and poorly laid cheap white tile on the floors that looks nasty. The wall color is about the only thing I like, it's a pretty blue. With that said let me give a little background about our home sweet home. We bought this house almost three years ago. It was built in the 1920's and had been allowed to go into sever disrepair by the owners. Some how they lost the house and it was bought at auction by a contractor. He "renovated" it and sold it to us. You'll notice that renovate was in quotation marks. That's because all of the work was done by some scary hillbillies that obviously had no idea what they were doing. After we moved in, I would say within a month the floor in the kitchen started cracking, we discovered that none of the tile floors had ever been sealed (try getting that grout clean), the floor in the laundry room started coming up and the walls started cracking where they had done a poor job patching it. Fun right? Being that we moved in with a baby who was only a few weeks old and no money, there wasn't a lot we could do about it. So far all we have done is fix Bug's room and paint it and I just yanked up all of the flooring in the laundry room. We have done tons of outside stuff, because we live on a forested acre that doesn't take kindly to being ignored. It's a constant battle to keep from being overgrown. So, where was I? Oh yeah, I'm going to do some stuff this fall, I can't take it any more, even if I have to do everything myself, it's going to happen. Oh and it has to be cheap, like crazy cheap. So I am making a little inspiration post to help keep me on track and so my husband can see what the heck I am talking about.

These are the floors I want. I'm going to do either the whitewash Pergo or the driftwood Pergo.

I really want to find an old dresser that I can turn into a vanity, it would save a lot of money and be a lot better quality than the vanities in my price range at Lowe's. I may paint it white.

See that super dreamy mirror collection, I would love to do something similar on the wall opposite the vanity.

I'd love to find a vintage quilt rack like this to keep towels on.

This room is just perfect in my opinion. Unfortunately we have a half bath, no tub, no window and no room. Sigh.

Love this bath rug from Target.

This is a wall box made from old shutters, I would love to make something like this to hang above the toilet for more storage.

Love this trash basket, they have bathroom accessories to match at Amazon.

I really love this chandelier from Lowes.

So that's about it. Big fluffy white towels, maybe a cute white birdcage to sit on the vanity. Hopefully most of this stuff can be found at yard sales and via Craigslist with the exception of the floor and rug. So any good suggestions for my bathroom makeover?

Kim

Oh Bother, A Pooh Dress And Pattern Review

2010-07-20T10:43:00.000-07:00

Last week I set about to make a little present for a special friend of mine's 2nd birthday. I've been hoarding this sweet Winnie the Pooh fabric for years. It's not the kind of stuff I usually buy, I'm not really one for character fabric. I thought this was cute though when I bought it, I like the colors and it was printed with a pooh border at the bottom and the flowers got gradually bigger at the top so I treated it as three kinds of fabric, the bottom, middle and top. I used the bottom border for the skirt of the dress, the smaller flowers for the bodice and the bigger flowers for the handles of the purse. I used a pattern bought at a yard sale for this jumper and wanted to give a little review, I made McCalls 8495 I'm sure this pattern is out of print, but could be purchased from Ebay. The dress itself went together very smoothly, one of the easiest I've ever done. The pockets another story all together. They are patch pockets that have a tie at the top. I swear the instructions pretty much just say sew them together. I had to stare at them for a good hour before I finally figured out how they went together. That drives me crazy on patterns, when they show detailed drawings and instructions for the simplest things and then just glaze over the hardest part of the pattern. Sheesh! Anyway, I used another pattern for a sun hat, Mccalls 5084. It went together really easy, but the pattern sizing was a big problem. I ended up having to remove an entire section of the crown to make it fit the brim, with the extra crown section in the crown was far too large for my six year old.. I also made a cute little purse to go with it. I don't have a pattern, but here is a link to the process. When it was all said and done, I was pretty proud of how it turned out, sewing for little girls is fun. I wish Sweets would wear stuff I made! Best compliment received was from the husband who said, "it looks professional" when I showed him the finished dress!

Homemade Granola

2010-07-13T17:57:00.000-07:00

The husband and I love granola. We eat it every morning. He likes a sprinkle on top of his oatmeal and I like mine with vanilla yogurt and some fruit. The thing I can't get over is how crazy expensive it is. We buy ours at Aldi's and it still is twice what cereal cost. I made granola bars once before and they were easy and delicious, you can find the recipe here. So after figuring out what would go in a basic granola I realized it should be really cheap to make a bunch. Most of the basic ingredients you might already have. You can pretty much add whatever nuts, seeds, and dried fruits that you like and pick your favorite liquid sweetener, I use honey, but maple syrup, agave and molasses are also good options. I used canola oil as oil is traditional in most recipes to help bind it together, I have seen some recipes that call for fruit juice and I'll probably try that at some point. The basic formula for making your own granola is 1 part oil, 1 part liquid sweetener, 4 parts grains, 1 part fruit, 1 part nuts/seeds. You can of course add more or less to taste. The oil and liquid sweetener need to stay pretty close to this ratio if you want to have clumps.

Here is my basic recipe

4 c. whole oats
1 c. canola oil
1 c. wheat germ
1 c. honey
4 tbs brown sugar
4 tbs. splenda
1 c. raw almonds
1 c dried cherries
1 tbs cinnamon
( I added 1 c. of dried sweetened coconut to half of this batch)

mix all of the ingredients together in a large bowl and put on a baking sheet with sides in a single layer, for this amount I baked it in three batches. Bake at 350 for 20 minutes or until golden brown. Stir the mixture every five minutes. Let cool. Store in airtight container. You can freeze this too.

Photography

2010-07-11T08:58:00.000-07:00

I haven't done much photography lately but this week I got to take some pictures of my beautiful niece and sister and brother in law. Their first family pictures. It was fun but way hot. Even though I don't do it much any more I still love photography, what I don't love is how back breaking it can be. I think most people imagine being a photographer just involves holding a camera and snapping pics. The truth is you may have to hold that five pound camera for hours in 100 degree weather, on your knees, back, stomach, on the dirt, on the concrete, whatever it takes to get the shot. When I worked in a studio it was the most grueling job I've ever had. My knees were covered in bruises constantly and I can tell you that after doing a wedding shoot for 5 or 6 hours your back, neck and feet are screaming. But anyway I still do love it just not as a job, and really how can you not love results like these?

Kim

Yum

2010-07-09T17:32:00.000-07:00

With temperatures at nearly a hundred this past week heavy foods have not been on my mind. This is what I have been eating for breakfast and sometimes lunch and dinner. Vanilla yogurt with an assortment of fresh fruit and granola. Right now I'm baking a giant batch of homemade granola, so look for that recipe in the next day or two. What are your go to meals when the temps soar?

Kim

The Husband is Pretty Crafty Too.

2010-07-07T18:29:00.000-07:00

Or at least handy. I always show you my handy work or occasionally the kids, but what about the husband? Well he always has a least a few projects going on and I repeatedly find myself feeling grateful that he is so handy. Living in an old house on a good size yard (1 acre) we are never without something that needs repairing, sprucing up, cut down or replaced. We rarely call a repair man any more. Over the years the husband has taught himself how to do pretty much everything you can think of. He fixes the air conditioning, the car, the leaky basement, landscapes, plumbing issues, the pool, the computer and everything in between. As we speak he is outside battling nearly 100 degree weather trying to fix our central air and an hour before that he was removing the alternator from one of our cars. I'm sure a lot of people wouldn't call this crafty, but I think it takes a really creative mind to be able to figure all that stuff out.

So I wanted to share with you one of the projects he finished over the holiday weekend. When we moved into our house the front had some massive flower beds that were very poorly landscaped, with plants that were far too large for flower beds (crepe myrtles) and pretty much everything was just done really shabby. The landscape fabric was coming up and it was on a slope with nothing to contain the mulch so it all washed away. Finally in our third year here we got around to fixing it. The husband found a lot of rock on our property and used it to create a smaller bed, bought some other rocks and made a second tiered bed and then planted and mulched those areas and filled in the remaining space with sod.

It makes our house look a million times better and I am so proud of him and all the hard work he does. This was really back breaking work in hot weather and he even tolerated "help" from Sweets and Bug, he's the best. I wish I had some before pictures but we of course didn't think to take them, just imagine a giant over grown mess :)

I love you babe, seriously you are the best. Thanks for all you do.

Kim

Happy Belated 4th of July

2010-07-06T10:52:00.000-07:00

Hey everyone. I hope you had a great, long holiday weekend. We sure did. I had meant to post this a few days ago but for some reason Blogger was acting up and I was unable to log in. But better late than never, right? So our weekend was filled to the brim with activity, it was both fun and exhausting and you'll probably be seeing posts about it for the next week! But first things first. On the 2nd we hosted our annual fireworks party. We have one every year and the date coincides with the church next door's big fireworks show. So we have some friends over, make lots of food and drink some cold beers. It's a great day. This year the weather was perfect, the company even better and the fireworks spectacular.

I worked all day Thursday baking and decorating and rediscovered my love of making sugar cookies and decorating them. This is something I plan on doing a lot more often in the future. I also made red, white and blue cupcakes, a lemon- cherry layer cake and a few cute decorations. I admit that I didn't make nearly as many of the decorations as I had originally planned on, but time got short and I found some cute stuff to buy. Anyway, Happy belated 4th of July everyone!

Kim

Attack of the Marshmallow Martians!!

2010-06-28T07:13:00.000-07:00

I don't know about you guys, but here we are on our three millionth week of summer vacation. Okay maybe only week three, but it feels like three million. Things are already starting to get pretty stale. I'm kind of at a lost on what kind of activities to do with a three and six year old. I can come up with all kinds of stuff individually, but it's hard to get stuff they both want to do. I've been reading some chapter books with Sweets and having her draw pictures associated with each chapter, but Bug well he pretty much just hangs off of my leg or arm and says "mommy, mommy, mommy" the entire time I'm reading. I guess the Narnia series really isn't his cup pf tea yet.

Sweets would be happy with endless hours of crafting everyday, but she is more interested in the advanced crafts these days, sewing, knitting, working for hours on one detailed drawing or days on a comic or book that she is writing. This is great except for when you figure in a three year old who wants to do exactly what his sister is doing, EXACTLY. I mean no substitutions, if she has a needle he wants one. I'm all for letting him give it a shot within reason, but he gets furious when he can't do it just like she can and that leads to major tantrums. The only thing they do agree on is swimming which we do as much as we can, but even that gets boring after a while.

So I have been searching for crafts they can do equally and baking seems to be one that works pretty well, although we really don't need another batch of cookies in the house. So as I was looking through the baking cabinet the other day I had an idea. I grabbed a bag of marshmallows, some cereal, chocolate chips, icing, mini baking cups, candy and cocktail umbrellas and set up some plates.

I took each kiddo a plate and said "build something". No rules, no guidelines, just make something. Bug ate his first few marshmallows. After he was full he was ready to build. Sweets started the Martian idea and the kids just rolled with it. After about 45 minutes of peaceful play we had a row of sticky marshmallow Martians. Best part, they ate them later on, so I wasn't left with yet another craft project to find a spot for. These are great for little ones, because everything sticks to the marshmallows since they are a little sticky. Next I want to get some big and little ones and straws and let them build like that.

So what are your good tips for keeping kids of different ages busy over the summer?

Kim

4th of July Inspiration

2010-06-14T08:17:00.000-07:00

After having a full week of recuperating from the kids parties I have officially started the planning for our 4th of July bash (technically 2nd of July bash). Initially I had planned to reuse a lot of the decorations from the kids party, but I just can't shake the urge to have patriotic colors. We are planning to do a similar soda bar set up and instead of a candy buffet a dessert buffet. I think I am planning to use red, white and aqua or sky blue, just to mix it up a little. I also would like to use bandannas as most of the fabric. So I thought I would put together a little inspiration post for myself and maybe it will help you guys prepare for your parties also.

Martha

Martha Strawberry and cream dessert

Taste of Home Cupcakes

Country Living I would just use blue and red

Cupcake Kabobs

Lovely Bunting from SpringChick on Etsy

Martha

So that's all for now. Surprisingly I didn't find a lot of awesome ideas for this. Most stuff is a little too red, white and blue for my tastes. Martha really has the most and best ideas for a 4th party that is still pretty. I have a lot of my own ideas floating around in my head too, so I think I can successfully pull off a lovely red, white and blue party.

Kim

Sweet Shop Party

2010-06-11T06:23:00.000-07:00

Well I'm finally getting around to showing you the details of this party. I guess I'm still recovering from the massive exhaustion. So when I asked the kids this year what kind of party they would like the response was "candy". Okay, I can run with this. So after hours of looking at ideas on line I started to piece together a rough outline of what this party should be. It couldn't be too girly since we have a joint party and it needed to stay in the range of reasonable cost wise. I decided on a sweet shop theme complete with a candy buffet and a soda bar.

The decorations came together from supplies already in my stash and actually turned out way better than if I had planned and bought new materials for them. I made two fabric banners, using primary colors and brown bias tape/quilt binding. These are super simple to make. I just cut out triangles from my fabrics using pinking shears, and then sandwich them between some bias tape and stitch. I also made two banners using ribbon, paper, fun foam and pictures. For the first of these I simply cut out circles of foam and attached them to the ribbon using clothes pins. I alternated with pictures of the kids for a personal touch. For the second I wrote out 'Happy Birthday' onto the foam and paper circles and tied them onto a length of ribbon using small pieces of ribbon and rick rack.

My biggest project for the party kind of fell into my lap. I was generously given a charm pack of Moda's 'Hello Betty' fabric and it just called out to me to be part of this party. It has such a cute retro feel to it. I used pretty much the entire pack plus a few squares from my stash and just started piecing them together. I did rows of five squares across until I got to about 70 inches long. Then I sandwiched my top with some fleece ( I didn't have any batting and actually prefer quilting with fleece) and some vintage backing fabric. I then machine quilted the whole thing and used some store bought binding in chocolate brown to tie the whole thing together. This is one of my favorite things I have made so far and even though it was intended for the party, I'm sure it will be a permanent fixture on my dining room table!

For the candy buffet I bought a few glass containers at different stores around town, not spending more than five dollars a piece. For the rest of the containers I used stuff I already had; iced tea glasses, a trifle dish, plates, cake stands, etc. You can really find a lot of this stuff in your cabinets. I bought candy at Cracker Barrel since they seem to have a really good selection of vintage style candy and it's not too expensive. I used candy sticks, lollipops, twizzlers, zots, candy buttons, candy bottles, lik n dips, candy straws, airheads and some handmade candy. I bought a few things at the dollar store also. I put out little bags so that people could take some home with them, but we were still left with more candy than any family should have.

The soda bar was something I saw a picture of on line and loved. We have done old fashioned bottled sodas at parties in the past and they were always a hit. This time I just covered a small table with fabric added a little sign that read 'Soda' and then arranged the sodas ( about 50) on the table in rows. I finished it off with cups and straws. I found mine at the grocery, Cracker Barrel (they charge a fortune for them, be warned) and even Marshall's. I love how they look all out on the table and I refrigerated mine to make them cold before hand. They only stay that way for about an hour though so having some ice on hand is a good idea. I'm looking for some skinny oval shaped galvanized buckets to use for this the next time so I can keep them on ice.

The other miscellaneous decorations I made included two door signs that looked like lollipops and some paper medallions. It was a tiring day but a perfect one. The weather held out and the kids had a blast in the pool, folks left in a tired sugar haze and I had two very happy kids.

Thanks for letting me share!
Kim

Candy Cakes

2010-06-07T16:49:00.000-07:00

This past weekend we celebrated Bug turning 3 and Sweets turning 6 with an old fashioned sweet shop themed party. Which would explain why I have been neglectful of my blogging as of late. I made everything for the party and will be sharing all of the details with you this week. The first thing I have to share with your are the cakes that I made. I only recently got serious about learning cake decorating. In the past I just did whatever worked. I really have wanted to take a class but unfortunately time hasn't been on my side with that. So I did what I usually do when I want or need to acquire a new skill, watch Youtube. This might not be the most conventional method of learning, but it works for me. So after a few videos and reading up on a few different sites I hit Walmart and picked up a couple of new cake tools. I already had in my possession some decorating bags, basic tips and couplers. I bought an angled icing spatula, a cake leveler and a fondant smoother. I made a basic butter cream icing based on several different recipes I saw on line that I will post here. The technique that worked best for me was to use a crumb coat, then apply a second thick coat of butter cream, smooth the best I could with the spatula and then let it crust. After that I laid a Viva paper towel onto the cake and went over it with the fondant smoother. This produced the smoothest butter cream I have ever accomplished. I found this technique everywhere, so just Google smooth butter cream and you will find dozens of how to's. After that I decorated the cakes to the max with lollipops, candy sticks, suckers, gum balls, candy bars, rock candy, smarties, gummy bears and sprinkles. The kids loved them and I was super proud. I should also note that I made the cakes the day before I decorated them and it made it not quite so exhausting. The blue cake was two layers of chocolate chip cake and one layer of devil's food cake. The green was red velvet.

Here is the basic recipe I followed. You really need to add the sugar cup by cup to see how much you need you can always add more or add a little water if you need to thin it out. This recipe is for a shelf stable butter cream or one that doesn't melt and turn rancid sitting out in the heat. From what I have learned the sugar preserves the butter. Using Crisco makes butter cream so much more stable than using butter alone. I know a lot of people think that is gross and I used to also but seeing the difference it makes in the appearance of the cake I can say it's totally worth it and the icing was great tasting also. This does not make a pure white frosting for that you will need to use just shortening, sugar, clear vanilla and clear butter flavoring and meringue powder.

I c. Crisco
3 sticks butter softened
2 tsp vanilla
I bag or 4 cups confectioners sugar
water if needed (you can use milk if you are not concerned with making it shelf stable)
2 tbs meringue powder

Cream the butter and Crisco together. Add vanilla. Add sugar 1 cup at a time. Add meringue powder. Stir until well mixed and at the right consistency. Use or refrigerate.

Craft Room Part 2

2010-05-25T07:54:00.000-07:00

Well my craft area is finally complete. I have a few more things I'd like to do on the kid side but I'm happy with my half. This past weekend I finished moving some stuff, hung up my art/inspiration wall, painted shelves and hung hung them along with a board that holds my tools and inspiration pics. I am so in love with this space. Before I was in a small corner of our bedroom. It was more of a chore to craft there and now it feels like fun. I am so inspired in this space, I love looking at all my art. It's the one area of our house that I can say I decorated just for me. My husband bought the shelf and storage boxes as a mothers day present and everything else was either made, thrifted, already owned or came from TJMaxx/Marshalls. So without further ado here are the pictures.

Another shot of my reupholstered chair, just because I love it so.

Close up of the shelf, I keep the bulk of my craft supplies here and all of my favorite fabrics.

The sewing area. I've had a lot of questions about my machine and it is a vintage Emdeko, probably early 60's. It belonged to my grandmother. It is a great machine, very heavy duty. If you ever find one I suggest grabbing it up.

My ironing area, and a peek at the shelves. The holders are just food cans covered in scrapbook paper.

My shelves and storage board (TJMaxx) it has loops with snaps for all my scissors.

The art area, I made everything with the exception of the bird plaque.

One of my favorite projects from this room. I took a cute purse that was too small for my stuff, cut off the handles, shortened them and sewed one back onto the back as a loop to hang it from. Now I use it to store all my papers.

Another view.

Now to sew some presents! I hope this gives some inspiration on how to set up a craft room on a low budget (I spent about 150 total) and in a small space. If you have any questions or want more specifics on anything seen let me know.

Kim

List Trouble

2010-05-24T14:36:00.000-07:00

Hi, my name is Kim and I am a chronic list maker. It's true I make lists. Lots of them. All of the time. It's kind of sick. I don't just make an occasional to do or grocery list, oh no. I make detailed crazy people lists and I'm actually pretty proud of it. It may be a little over the top but it's how I function. I make lists about birthday's and parties, gifts, chores and shopping. Then I also like to write down all of my ideas, like every one, in detail, with sketches. I like to write down my plans, each day. All of the things I need to do, what I'm going to eat for each meal. I think you are getting the idea, I write down a lot of stuff, but it does keep me grounded and focused as I'm a person whose mind tends to wander off quite a bit. The big problem with all this note taking was the fact that I took notes on everything, no scrap of paper was safe and I usually ended up losing half of my little lists and notes and remaking them. I have been doing this for years and can't believe that it just know occurred to me to buy notebooks. I bought two, a small one and a larger one to keep in the craft room. I can't believe how much more organized I feel. It's also inspiring to know that I have that little book and pen in my purse and can jot down ideas. I find that I'm coming up with more ideas or maybe just remembering more of them since they are in my little book. I've also started writing down my budget and all of my spending which is super helpful. Yes, I do know that most people are using their fancy iPhones and what have you for such tasks, but the husband won't buy me one so for now I use paper and pen. So I know this post isn't very crafty in nature as I didn't make the notebooks out of used cereal boxes and line them with paper made from dryer lint or anything, but it does make me more organized, which in turn makes me more crafty! As I've mentioned recently I'm all about the organization so what are some of your favorite organization tips?

Also in other news I have been updating my Etsy shop quite a bit and there are lots of fresh new things for sale. Here is a little sample.

Kim

Fugly To Lovely- Ironing Board Cover With Tutorial

2010-05-20T16:24:00.000-07:00

I'm embarrassed to admit that this ugly ironing board has been following me around for the last 8 years. We found it in our basement of our first house, which to me says it was too ugly for the previous owners to take with them. It is vintage, and we know I love vintage, but there is a point where no matter how vintage it is it's still gross and ugly. As you can see it has the ever elusive strawberry tree on it and is a lovely shade of poop green. God only knows why I have allowed this to hang around in this state for so long, I guess nobody but us ever really saw it. But things changed as I moved it down stairs this week to my new craft area. I mean the strawberry tree cannot coexist with Liberty of London, it just doesn't happen. But while it is ugly it is also very sturdy, folds up and is sort of a necessity if I want to sew. I figured chances were slim of finding a new cover for it since it seems bigger than the ones you can buy now. So I let the wheels of creativity turn, busted out some fabric from my stash and went to work. I figured why not share how I went about it with you lovelies.

Step one: Get some fabric, I used a cotton gingham, but ended up putting a second piece under the liner since I could see through it. So you may want to use a heavier weight home decor fabric. You need enough yardage to cover the length of your board plus about 8 inches. I used about 2 yards. My boards measurements were: 15x55 inches.

Step two: Lay your fabric on top of your board wrong side up. With a marking pen, sharpie, crayola or what ever is handy mark a dashed line around the shape of your board onto the fabric.

Step three: Once you get the shape marked lay it flat and mark four inches outside of your dashed line all the way around. You are basically adding a four inch seam allowance to the basic shape of the board.

Step four: Make a 1/4 inch hem all the way around and stitch. You could skip this step and just press it but I find it's easier to get the elastic through if you stitch it.

Step five: Fold down about 1 1/2 - 2 inches to make a casing, press and pin. Stitch all the way around leaving a 2 inch opening at one end. When going around the curved areas I sort of made little pleats to keep it rounded and take up the excess fabric. I'm sure their is another better way, probably clipping it or something like you do when making clothes. But this worked and doesn't look too bad so meh.

Step six: Attach a safety pin to one end of about 2 yards of 3/4 inch wide elastic. I found the wide elastic made it stronger and not so flimsy if that makes sense. Thread it through your casing. Sew the two ends of elastic together where they meet. Sew up the opening.

Step seven: Try on your new cover and if you're like me marvel at the fact that it actually fits and looks good!

Step eight: Have small children demand that you put a large piece of fabric over your hard work and allow them to use your ironing board as a fort!

So now I want to get the husband to spray paint the legs for me, because he does a much better job at it than I do. He has patience for an even coat, I pile it on and end up with crazy drips everywhere. But for now it is so much better than it was! I hope this helps some of you out to maybe cover an ugly board or one that has been burned. I swear it is so much easier to be inspired when you are working in a lovely space. If you have any questions I'm happy to answer them!

What's Happening?

2010-05-19T07:06:00.000-07:00

My pretty organized cabinet.

Pretty new marker and colored pencil bins. These are cans from peanuts covered with scrapbook paper.

This week has been crazy for me. Lots of running about to school functions, the welcoming of my new niece on Mother's Day, dealing with cleaning out our basement and flooding of our basement (although the husband did most of that), planning a birthday party for the kids, organizing anything not tied down, moving my craft area to a new room and designing my new space, making two new areas for the kids to play and a myriad of craft projects to complete the above listed projects. I have been busy, busy. I've literally sat down to write this about 5 times, getting a sentence here and there! So anyway I thought I would share some of the highlights of what I've been up to. I'm sure you will be seeing many more updates about this craft room/playroom area that I am doing as it appears it will be several weeks in the making. I had originally planned on doing it in a weekend, but I was a little over enthusiastic. Basically we took our sunroom which use to be a playroom for the kids and took everything out and made a giant playroom for them in the basement. Then I took half of the room and made an arts/crafts area for the kids, a reading area for the kids, a shelf for Bug's trucks and a table for Sweets tree house and all of the Calico Critters and Puppies in My Pocket. The other half of the room houses my bookshelve with all of my crafty stuff neatly organized and my sewing area. I'm knee deep in this project right now and have a lot I want to do. I've been getting a lot of my organization ideas from here: http://j-a-girl.blogspot.com/

Here is the new crafty shelf

The kids art shelf

A piece of embroidery I made for the wall

Details: I used a free pattern from Andrea Zuill available here: http://zuill.us/andreablog/2008/03/27/aprils-free-pattern-ready-for-on-that-is-a-bit-more-difficult/
I embroidered this on a piece of vintage sheet.

My newly reupholstered vintage office chair

Details: I bought the chair for 19.99 at a Peddlars Mall, along with a still in package vintage sheet for 6 dollars and after lots of cursing, removing a thousand screws, bending some dangerous looking hooks out, cutting, stapling and re-screwing in a thousand screws I have my new adorable office chair. I LOVE it so much! The sheet was a full size too, so I have plans to make an Amy Butler gumdrop pillow for the room out of it also.

So that is what I have been doing, what's new with you?

Cold Brewed Coffee

2010-05-06T08:22:00.000-07:00

I am a huge fan of those overpriced iced coffee drinks that are usually full of sugar and fat, but not a fan of the 5 dollar price tag. A few weeks ago I ordered a skinny one from Starbucks and I swear it came in a child size cup and they charged me fifty extra cents for soy milk making it five dollars and fifty cents. I drank it in three drinks and swore never again. I had tried before to make them myself and while they tasted good they weren't coffee shop good. Then I stumbled across the directions for cold brewing coffee at SmittenKitchen. I tried it the next night, brewing 1/3 cup of coffee with 1 1/2 cups cold water in a bowl overnight or twelve hours. I honestly didn't think it would make that big of a difference. The next morning I sifted it through a coffee filter, fixed two glasses up half coffee, half cold milk, some ice cubes and in mine a little stevia and a shot of sugar free chocolate syrup. I added a straw, since I wanted to feel like it was coffees shop like. I took a sip and oh, my, goodness. Heaven. It tasted just like the coffee shop I literally drank it all before I had a chance to snap a photo. The husband enjoyed his also and we did it again the next night. I am going to be brewing my coffee every night like this so I can have my delicious sugar free, fat free coffee drink. Next i am going to try the cinnamon version and I'm going to be on the lookout for a sugar free caramel syrup. If you love iced coffee you have to try this.

Teacher Appreciation Week- Days 2-5

2010-05-05T07:37:00.000-07:00

So initially I had only intended on giving the teachers one gift this week, until when they thanked me for Mondays gift the teacher said, " Thank you so much, we wouldn't even had known it was Teacher Appreciation Week if it hadn't been for you" what?! Apparently we are the only parents who gave them anything this week. Come on folks it's public school, you're kid goes for free, cough up a few bucks and get the teachers a little something! GEEZ. So I immediately came home and set about ideas for everyday of the week. I'm only doing everyday for her two main teachers. So for day two I baked some homemade bread, ran to the store and grabbed some gourmet jams, came home and found some new dish clothes in my crafting bin and used the clothes to wrap the bread in straight out of the oven. I tied a ribbon around it and a cute little hand drawn tag and ran to school. The bread was still warm when I got there and the teachers seemed stunned. "But you already gave us a gift" they said. I replied with "you deserve something everyday". People passed by and commented on the smell of the bread. It was great and they were super happy.

Today Sweets took in little bags of gourmet nuts with a hand drawn tag that read 'We know sometimes the kids may drive you NUTS, but thanks for all you do' I didn't get a picture of these. For tomorrow we have some beautiful little notebooks I picked up with a tag that says 'Just a little note to say we think you are special'.

Friday is an aromatherapy eye mask with a gourmet chocolate bar attached and the tag 'You deserve a break, thanks for being so special'.

In slightly related news, I have found the most unbelievable blog. I heart it big time. It may be my first official blog crush. This lady is kind of my hero and when you see her amazing ideas and adorable home you are going to love her too. She pretty much has revolutionized the way I think about organization. This weekend things are going to change around here. After reading all of her posts on organization I went into my bathroom last night and pretty much cussed it out. I told the cabinet that it was a disgrace and the shelf should be ashamed of itself. Just wait until I start with the cabinets downstairs, they'll never want to show their faces around here again. I've been running around saying "organization station" like a crazy person. So any way check her out please I promise you will not be sorry! Just a Girl

Kim

Teacher Appreciation Week- Don't Forget!

2010-05-01T16:19:00.000-07:00

Next week, May 3-7 is Teacher Appreciation Week. I personally think that teachers are some of the most important people in our kids lives and we should do everything we can to help make their jobs easier and show our appreciation. I'm not sure about in the past but this year the celebration happens to fall on the same week as Mother's Day. So if you are like me you are probably feeling a little pressed for time and money. I hit the stores today with a couple of ideas, but no real direction. I figured I would know a good idea when I saw it. I also had five teachers to buy for. Sweets has two teachers in her class room and a music, art and P.E. teacher who she sees on a daily basis. I couldn't leave anybody out, she loves them all and they enrich her life so much. So after walking around aimlessly for an hour or so ( I had to decide on Mother's Day gifts too) I finally stumbled upon some cute reusable water bottles. Oh, I should also mention that part of my criteria included no junk, nothing with apples on it, no mugs or anything else they have an abundance of and no big boxes of candy. I figure they probably get a lot of crap every year ( no offense, it's the thought that counts) so I wanted to get them something they would use. These were really nice bottles but they only had two and the price wasn't really affordable enough for me to get five of them. So I bought the two for her classroom teachers, picked up some individually wrapped chocolates and some energy jelly beans ( who knew?) and headed off to the dollar store. At the dollar store I found reusable water bottles that were just plain and grabbed three. I then got some packs of gum which came five for a dollar, some boxes of individual packets of lemonade which came ten for a dollar and some granola bars ten for a dollar fifty. I then headed home and added some individually wrapped tea bags, some packets of stevia and individual packets of coffee. It filled the bottles up perfectly. I had bought some little bars of chocolate to add to them but they didn't fit through the opening. So next I went to Avery Print and Design which is a free site where you can design cards, flyers, stickers whatever and print them on Avery products. I had some double sided business cards so I used a template for that with cute little flowers. I then changed the text to add the teachers names and a message which reads "Just a little something to get you through the week". I printed them punched a hole in the corner and tied them on the handles, then I added some pretty ribbon and done! I think these came out cute and are perfect if you have a lot of teachers to give to, they would also be good party favors. I'm going to really have to come up with a good idea for next year when Bug starts school and we have nine teachers total to give gifts to! Sorry about the photo quality, I took these on my craft table and apparently the lighting in there is the worst ever!

Thrifty Finds

2010-04-27T08:06:00.000-07:00

This weekend the husband and I actually got to go thrifting sans kids. They hate the whole yard sale experience and taking them to Estate sales is really hard, since they are crowded. This weekend we drafted our plans on Friday, wrote down directions, dropped the kids off early Saturday morning and headed out. Unfortunately it was a rainy day and a lot of sales had been rescheduled. We still managed to hit a church yard sale, two estate sales, a garage sale and two thrift stores. We had a pretty good day find wise. Most of my favorite finds of the day came from a thrift shop where I found a set of twenty-two handmade vintage napkins that look like they were never used. Twenty-two, can you believe it? I had planned on making some napkins for us to use to cut down on the waste in our house, but this find was so great now I don't have to! Oh, and they were 4.98 for all twenty-two, plus a 25% off discount that they had on linens that day! At the same thrift store I also scored a beautiful handmade stained glass window quilted pillow for 1.98 and a handmade quilted table runner for 1.98. SCORE!!! They had several handmade quilts also, but they were in really poor condition. I also found a few vintage hankies at an estate sale and we got a few books too. The husband's big score was a giant speaker of some sort that he got for five dollars. He has big plans and I'm going to try and support them unless they involve an ear piercing home theater.

So now I am off to work on some new updates for my Etsy shop. Remember the camera bag I told you about yesterday, well I made another, better one last night and drafted a pattern for it. I added a strap to this one. I know lots of people sell stuff like this on Etsy, but I have to destash some fabric and mine is different so hopefully I will sale a few. I'm also going to be making some wristlets and maybe a few other little items. I'm trying to sew at least one thing per day. So, yeah I'm going to work, but first I will tackle the treadmill because I have to.

What good thrifty finds have you had recently? What new projects are you working on? Let me know I would love to hear!

Kim

Shiny Purple Vinyl- The Toddler Messenger Bag

2010-04-26T10:49:00.000-07:00

This week I set about to finally make a project from "One Yard Wonders" which I got for Christmas. I had promised Sweets that I would make the "Toddler Messenger Bag" for her to use as a bag for her Leapster, months ago. I bought the fabric a few months after that and it sat there staring at me until I finally decided to put it to use. The pattern was really easy, but I have to say that while I consider myself an intermediate level sewer I had a few problems with the instructions, maybe it's just the way my brain works but when I was trying to construct the bag I screwed up a few times because the directions made no sense to me. I finally just followed the few pictures provided and was able to piece together what I was suppose to do. I used vinyl for the first time in this project and found it super easy to use and I like the results a lot! I didn't use the Velcro that it calls for in the directions but opted for a button and buttonhole instead, mainly due to the fact that I had no Velcro. I'm glad I did though because I like the looks and it makes it a little more secure. Another tip I have about this pattern is that is is intended for a toddler and has no adjustments on the strap, after making it, it fit Sweets perfectly and she is almost 6. It's a little too long for Bug who is almost 3. All in all it was pretty easy after figuring out what they were trying to say and it makes a really cute little bag for kids. The inside is made from some adorable forest animal fabric that I think is Michael Miller, but I cut off the info so I'm not 100% on that.

After making this I had quite a bit of the purple vinyl left over and set about to make a cute camera bag. I also had a little scrap of this darling house fabric that ended up being exactly enough for this little pouch. I used an oversized button and buttonhole for the closure on this too. Its perfect for my camera and super cute. I'm working on a pattern to make one that has a removable strap. If it comes out well I may add a few to my Etsy shop. I have tons of cute fabric that needs to be used!

Thanks for looking and if anybody knows the name/maker of either of these two prints I would love to know!

I Want.

2010-04-23T06:50:00.000-07:00

Just in case any one was wondering what I wanted for Mother's Day here is a suggestion.

TOMS in red canvas. Really, really want these and they support a great cause.

Or

New boyfriend jeans, these are from Old Navy.

Pancakes

Frozen yogurt

What do you wish for?

10 Things

2010-04-20T14:48:00.000-07:00

I saw this on The Freckled Nest blog and decided to play along. So here are my ten things with pictures.

1. Favorite Hobby
Making insane cupcakes!

2. Favorite T.V. Show
Always.

3. Favorite Restaurant Food
4. Favorite thing to shop for

I love shopping for home stuff.

5. Favorite animal
Huckle

6. Favorite song

7. Favorite word
8. Favorite recent YouTube video

9. Favorite Movie
10.Favorite childhood memory
Spending time with my grandma.

This was kind of exhausting!
All photos found via WeHeartIt.
Kim

In Bloom

2010-04-20T07:06:00.000-07:00

This is normally my favorite time of year. I love being outside, working in the yard, planting pretty things and trying to get/keep our monster of a yard from overtaking us. Things have been a little different this year. I've done almost nothing. If I am outside for more than a few minutes I am miserable. My allergies are terrible this year. I've heard that this will be one of the worst years for seasonal allergies and everyone I know is suffering. I have tried everything and now I'm just trying to make due. The husband bought me some allergy masks over the weekend to try so I can still do some of the yard stuff. I gave them a try yesterday when Bug and I went out and tended to some of the pots. We went to a plant sale over the weekend and I bought a few things, basil, lemon grass, chives, mint, a few woodland plants for the forest and a couple of annuals to help fill out the pots. We did three pots yesterday and it felt so good to get that little bit accomplished. I did my pots a little bit different this year as we have had some issues with drainage in the past. I added a layer of drainage rock in the bottom then my soil and plants. Hopefully this will help some. I'm trying to do a few little things outside each week. So here are some pictures of the pots we have gotten finished over the last few weeks and a couple of gratuitous shots of my lilac that I dug up as a start from my great aunts last year and some cute little white flowers I planted last year called 'Candy Tuft'.

Best helper ever.

Pot prep.

Chives

Lilac

'Candy Tuft'

Kim

Happiness

2010-04-19T07:30:00.000-07:00

First things first, this is about the only time you will ever see me get serious on this blog. Second, I really struggled with the idea of posting this or not for a few reasons. Third, this is just my opinion and I need to get my thoughts out, maybe somebody else will find it helpful or at the least interesting. If you are still reading I appreciate that. This blog post is a continuation of my brain as of late.

I have been doing a lot of thinking about happiness and how we get and stay there. This has been a process for me that started about two years ago. I have a lot and so do a lot of other people but that isn't a key to happiness. I realized I was unhappy and for the simple reason that I was allowing myself to be unhappy. When it comes down to it happiness is in internal thing, it's up to us. We simply have to decide to be happy, to choose a path of peace, love and joy. There are things in life that we can't control. One of those things is other people. I have only recently begun to accept this. It was hard for me, I thought I could. If I only showed enough compassion, forgiveness, love, surely I could help them change. Now I realize that free will is what makes us, be that good or bad. Sometimes all you can do is forgive, sometimes forgetting is not good for your own health. I am by nature a person who forgives and forgets, so this is hard for me. I'm not perfect, I don't claim to be and I know I never will be. But I am choosing happiness. If that means making some hard choices to stay on that path for myself and my family, I will deal with that. I am on a journey to wisdom, love and peace. Change happens within. I am not the person I was ten years ago, five years ago or even one year ago. Hopefully I am changing for the better. I feel like I am on the right path, I have more patience, more wisdom, more peace than I have ever known. I hope that I can continue on this path and know true peace someday. When my first child was born I said I would know success as a parent if I taught them one thing, empathy. I have added to that, now I hope to show them how to know happiness within them selves, to seek out wisdom, to know that patience is a virtue and peace a blessing.

This is my mantra:

I am choosing to let go of those things which I can not change. I am choosing to know love and let go of hate. I am choosing to find peace and tame chaos. I am choosing to listen to my heart and hear what the hearts of my children and husband have to say. I am choosing to remember the gifts I am given everyday and to show gratitude. I am choosing to see the beauty in simple things, to cherish moments of quiet and solitude. I am choosing to surround myself with wonderful hearts and beautiful smiles. I am choosing to embrace life, to ride the wave and know that I gave it my all. I am choosing light. I am choosing forgiveness. I am choosing happiness.

So if you have managed to stick with me through all of this, I hope it makes some kind of sense. I wish you joy today and always.

Kim

Baby Cakes

2010-04-18T15:09:00.000-07:00

Bug woke up with a craving that had to be filled. I heard "I want a cookie" and "I waaaaaant a cookie" and "sniffle, sniffle I sniffle want sniffle a cookie sniffle'. Finally after all of that the fact of the matter was, I NEEDED a cookie too, darn it. So into the kitchen we went to check the cupboards. I've been living like a hermit lately due to the crazy high levels of everything I'm allergic to outside. So I was not going to the store if I didn't have to. We had all the basics, but the only chocolate chips I had were mint and I knew that would only add to the crying so I did some quick thinking. I decided to use my general double chocolate cookie recipe minus the chips and turn them into a sort of sandwich cookie, mini whoopie pie type of thing. And since I don't know of a better combination in the world than peanut butter and chocolate the filling is a peanut butter cream cheese mixture. Pretty yummy and yummy to look at. These make me want to try macaroons really bad just for the look of them. I think that shall be on the agenda amongst other things. Oh and if you look close you will see Bug's sneaky little fingers reaching in for one on the bottom photo. :)

Baby Cakes Recipe

2 cups all-purpose flour
2/3 cup cocoa
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup (2 sticks) butter or margarine, softened
2/3 cup granulated sugar
2/3 cup packed brown sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 large eggs

Mix butter, and both sugars until light and fluffy. Add eggs one at a time until blended. Add vanilla. In a large bowl mix remaining dry ingredients together. Add slowly to wet ingredients until combined. Place on ungreased baking sheet, in 1 tbs balls. i like to lightly press down the balls since these don't spread very much. Bake 8-10 minutes. My rule of thumb is to get them out when I smell the chocolate, since it can be hard to tell when chocolate cookies are done.

Peanut Butter Filling

1 package cream cheese softened

1 c. peanut butter creamy

2 c. confectioners sugar

1 tsp vanilla

milk if needed to get right consistency

Beat cream cheese until smooth, add peanut butter and stir until well combined. Add vanilla and sugar until the consistency of toothpaste. Spread a dollop between two of the fully cooled cookies and sandwich together. Get big cup of milk or if you are like me big cup of Diet Coke and enjoy!

Check It!

2010-04-17T17:51:00.000-07:00

Just found this adorable giveaway at this blog and had to share. These are so cute. The giveaway ends May 1st so hurry!

Thrifty Finds

2010-04-17T17:18:00.000-07:00

I found it!! After my "Coffee Table Inspiration" post I went to a few of my favorite haunts looking for something that would catch my eye and be easy on the pocketbook. My first few stops were pretty unsuccessful, but then I hit a Peddler's Mall type joint that I've had good luck at a few times in the past. About two aisles in I saw it. This wonderful vintage wicker trunk. It was hiding in an unsuspecting little booth and it's perfect. It is in the best condition and has the most beautiful brass hinges, closure and handles. There are little birds and butterflies engraved into them. I have no idea of the date on this piece, but my guess is maybe 70's but could be older or newer. Best part, it was 30 bucks!!! I couldn't have even bought a cheap wicker ottoman at Target for that.

So after my sweet find I browsed some more and found some great Pyrex bowls. I got three, one aqua colored with an Amish print and two with a 'Gooseberry' print, one yellow and one white. I needed some serving dishes and these are just right. I absolutely adore the graphic style of the prints on these and seriously that aqua is crazy good! So all in all a very successful shopping trip and a happy me with a slightly spruced up house. Sorry about the picture overload.

Kim

Coffee Table Inspiration

2010-04-16T07:17:00.000-07:00

We need a new coffee table, bad. We have a lovely one right now that we picked up at an estate sale a few years ago, vintage and a perfect fit for our living room. But it has screw on legs that were not meant to withstand the constant torture provided by two kids who have been seen sitting on it, shaking it, moving it, ramming Power Wheels into the side of and using it for the occasional horse barn or dog house. The husband has fixed it a few times now, but it just keeps getting worse. It's currently in a precarious leaning position and looks like it will lose that leg any day now. So I have been daydreaming of what I will get to replace it, I'm going to attempt some shopping this weekend if I can control my allergies for that long. I have visions of a statement piece, something that sort of ties everything together. It has to be sturdy, easy to clean and safe for the kiddos. Oh and a little storage wouldn't be to bad either. So here are a few ideas of things I think might work. Which one is your favorite?
Image from Weheartit

This one from Williams and Sonoma
This lovely blue one found here here
This amazing shadowbox coffee table, that wouldn't last a day with my kids but I still like it
Something like this?
Or this? (Pottery Barn)
I know I won't be buying any of these overpriced tables, but I have a few of my favorite spots to look in for deals and hopefully I can find something that is as inspiring as these. Keep your fingers crossed for me!

Kim

Owl Baby Shower Part 2

2010-04-07T12:46:00.000-07:00

I'm finally getting around to posting the items that I made gift wise for my SIL's Owl themed baby shower. As you can probably guess I based my gift theme around owl's also. I was lucky to find a few cute store bought items to help round out my basket, but most of the big items were handmade. My biggest contribution to the basket came in the way of my first serious quilt. I've made some other semi quilts, but this time I actually pieced it, made a sashing and quilted and binded it. I finished a few days before the shower, barely. I learned one lesson from quilting this, quilting is for people with more patience than me and a whole lot of free time. Any way here are the pics and explanations.

Owl themed baby quilt

Hair bow holder

Strawberry taggie blanket

Embroidered owl t-shirt

New Shop Updates

2010-04-05T14:33:00.000-07:00

I'm making cute stuff for this summer, check it out. Keep checking the shop for new stuff all this week!

Happy Easter!

2010-04-05T07:13:00.000-07:00

Nothing says spring more than some unbelievably cute kids in their Easter finest!
Daddy and Bug hunting for eggs.
Easter cupcakes (idea from Bakerella)

Beautiful Sweets, in a dress!

This is how we spent a beautiful, happy, Easter Sunday with family.

Raspberry Shortcakes

2010-04-02T07:04:00.001-07:00

I love strawberry shortcakes, they are one of the cutest desserts I know of and they always invoke memories of warm spring and summer days for me. My mom use to serve them when it was warm, the typical store bought little cakes, strawberries with glaze and some cool-whip to top them off. They were delicious, some times simple is good. I still occasionally make this variety for my family minus the glaze and I've even done super fancy ones where I baked my own shortcake. This time however I wanted something cute, easy and a little different. I went the route of raspberry shortcakes. Everybody in my house loves raspberries, Sweets can eat a container all by her little self. These were super fast to make and tasted so good. Here is the recipe.

Raspberry Shortcakes- makes 12 mini shortcakes

fresh raspberries

1/2 package cream cheese

1 c. confectioners sugar

black raspberry jelly- melted

pound cake- store bought or homemade

small amount of cream or milk

vanilla

In a bowl mix softened cream cheese with the jelly and vanilla until combined. Add the confectioners sugar and beat until combined. Add cream until the mixture is the consistency of toothpaste. Cut pound cake into squares to fit a cupcake wrapper.

Layer a square in the bottom, top with a tsp of raspberry jelly.

Pipe the cream cheese mixture on top of the jelly (about 1 tbs) top with fresh raspberries.

I hope you make this with your family today and remember you could easily substitute pretty much any berry. Or think outside of the box, how good would these be with orange marmalade?

Kim

I Won!

2010-03-31T15:22:00.000-07:00

I received a lovely package full of paper crafting goodies this week from a very sweet lady who writes a lovely blog. Give her blog a peek.

Cutest Thing Ever!!

2010-03-31T07:46:00.000-07:00

Teacup pig!! Seriously I can't stand it these are the cutest things ever! If I had a thousand dollars to mindlessly blow you would for sure see my carrying one of these around in a purse. Love it!!!

Curry Chicken Salad

2010-03-31T07:13:00.001-07:00

Yummy, yummy! This chicken salad is soooo good. I don't know if I am even a person who is generally fond of chicken salad, but this, this I love. I found the original idea via taste of home, but like I usually do I glanced at the recipe and then several days later just threw some stuff in a bowl to make it. This is silly easy and I'm going to make it again for Easter. It makes a lot of sandwiches and I had enough left for 3 days of lunches after we had it at the shower. I served it on little rolls but for myself I just ate it with some sea salt crackers. This keeps really well and I think it's better to make it the night before so the flavors meld. So here is my basic recipe for this, but like I said I didn't really measure and I don't think you have to, just eyeball it!

2 cans of chicken- make sure it says chicken breast

1 c. dried cranberries

1 granny smith apple chopped into 1/2 inch pieces

2 celery stalks finely chopped

1 c. chopped pecans

a few tablespoons of mayonnaise (just enough to coat everything and get it nicely combined, you don't want to drench it)

2 tsp curry powder or more to taste

mix it all up, refrigerate and serve on bread, rolls, lettuce leaves or whatever you like!

Owl Baby Shower

2010-03-29T10:28:00.000-07:00

Hoot! Hoot! This weekend I hosted a baby shower in honor of my dear sister-in-law. The theme was owls with pink, green and brown since that is also the theme for the babies room. I also threw in some strawberries for good measure because really could it be cuter than owls AND strawberries! Finding pre-made owl decorations was pretty much out of the question so I had to get crafty and you know how I like to get crafty! Here are some of the items I made.

Strawberry Fabric Bunting

Owl Cupcakes and It's a Girl Cupcakes- Chocolate With Vanilla Buttercream

Owl Cupcake Stand Topper

Owl Stir Sticks

Fabric Table Runner and Flower Arrangements With Painted Owl Masks

Decorated gift bags

I also made a bunch of cute items for my present and some yummy food, but I'm going to split those up in a couple of other posts. If you would like to know about the table dressings, I made runners for the main dining table and buffet and then just used fabric scraps as the runners for the little table and food table. We also hung tissue paper puffs ala' Martha and some cute store bought owl items that I found at Wally World.

I Flippin' Love Spring!

2010-03-24T12:38:00.000-07:00

Awesome yellow shades from Anthroplogie (note- these are too pricey for me! I also found this cute pair at Hot Topic, for just 10 bucks!)

I am unbelievably happy that spring is finally here. I hate winter with a passion. I know I must have SAD because I feel like crap all winter, uninspired and lazy. Then as soon as the temps reach 60 or so and I see a little sunshine, I feel awesome. I've been out busting my butt in the yard the last couple of days and rockin' out the sewing machine and pretty much bursting at the seams with energy (probably partially due to my new addiction to energy drinks). My mind is full of things I want to do and buy to freshen myself and home up for the warm weather. So I thought I would share some of the things that are inspiring me these days. Oh and since I always feel like blogs that do this are just filling up space when they don't have anything to write, I want you to know that I have been working like a crazy person and have a ton of new craftiness to share but it is for an event this weekend so I want it to be secret until then. Also I tried to only pick stuff I might actually be able to afford!

1. Navy stripe purse from Bayanhippo on Etsy. I love this!

2. Havainanas from Piperlime, I'm asking for a pair for Easter. I love me some flips!

3. Miss Kim Lilac, I mean how could I resist? I bought one last year and I'm keeping my fingers crossed for blooms this year.

4. Anything with Popsicles on it. I especially love this dress from Crazy8 and I think I may have convinced Sweets that wearing a dress isn't that bad.

5. Frozen Yogurt. Last year we discovered that our little ice cream joint carries frozen yogurt in about 30 different flavors. I can't wait to go.

6. Kids Shovel from Lowes- I think every kid needs a real steel shovel that they use to dig in the ground

7. Floral head scarf- I use to wear these all the time, and I'm really feeling it again this year. I don't know where this one came from but Target has some great scarves in their Liberty of London collection here.

8. Essie nail polish in Looking For Love.

Love Bug

2010-03-22T16:09:00.001-07:00

kids
Originally uploaded by kimar9791

I have been trying to slow down and savor the little moments that are so easy to overlook. These days our schedule seems rushed and with two kids who both have strong independent personalities the moments of peace are limited. So when they have those cherished moments of playing peacefully together or sharing something, I want so badly to make it last. I like to watch quietly from a distance and maybe snap a photo or two and just let them be happy, together. This photo was from a few weekends ago when they stumbled across some ladybugs that had made their way into the playroom.

Cupcakes From Hell- Strawberry Chocolate

2010-03-10T07:15:00.000-08:00

I love making cupcakes. Usually I find them to be much easier than a regular size cake to both make and decorate. This would be the exception. I made these chocolate strawberry cupcakes from cupcake bakeshop this past week. Let me first say that I highly recommend all of her recipes, they are delicious and she really tests them out. But she calls these cupcakes a simple recipe and folks they are anything but. The basic make up of these is a homemade chocolate cupcake stuffed with chocolate strawberry ganache, topped with more ganache and then some vanilla butter cream. Sound easy? Well I started at 8 in the morning and finished up 24 of these at 2 p.m. Her recipe makes only 8 so I did triple her recipe. I also had a hard time with getting the ganache to set up properly so I added a little more chocolate and for the inside filling I whipped it, which in case you didn't know is something you can do with ganache. It makes a consistency close to chocolate mousse. I took these to a little birthday gathering and they were all gone, I didn't even get one. So I can't personally vouch for these but everyone told me they were awesome and the cupcakes I've made in the past from this blog have always been great. I loved the look of these, very simple and clean. I think I'll be decorating more cupcakes this way come summer, I think raspberries or blackberries would look lovely also. So all in all if you have a day to dedicate to these go for it, they are sure to impress.