Menu Planning

I don't think this is my first Menu Plan Monday, but it has been quite awhile. Menu Planning is something that I used to do all of the time and have become a little (a lot) relaxed on lately. I based my menu this week on what we have in the house and that I can easily make this week with out purchasing a lot from the store. I do have to get a few items, but this will be a very frugal week. I hope that I can pull a menu together next week with the same concept.

Monday - Baked Mostaccioli with Sausage (leftover from Sunday)

Tuesday - Oven Fried Chicken with sweet potatoes and broccoli edit: Really good and we ended up having a salad instead of broccoli

Wednesday - Beef Roast with potatoes and carrots edit" we ended up having hamburgers and tater tots, I forgot to take the roast out of the oven in time and it was not thawed.

Thursday - Hoppin John Soup with Rice and Sweet Corn Muffins

Friday - Pizza

Saturday - Baked Potato Soup with Bread Bowls

Sunday - Kathy's Delicious Whole Slow Cooker Chicken served with Rice


Want to see more menu ideas head on over to I'm an Organizing Junkie and check out Menu Plan Monday.

16.5 things to do before I turn 34...

The new year is fast approaching us I am not a resolution person, well, let me say that I am the typical resolution making person, make them on January 1st and by January 15th they have gone by the wayside. This year, I’m not making any resolutions but I am going to make a list of 16-1/2 things I want to do before I turn 34. That gives me 5 months from today. My 34th birthday is May 23rd.

There are many people out there that make lists of things that they want to do or need to do. I am a list maker (not necessarily a list completer) but feel that I need to do this to feel better about myself.

The year 2008 has been a pretty tough year on me and my family. From the flooding of our basement to the most recent of my diamond popping out of my engagement ring and all the stuff that happened in between. I have been pretty hard on myself, my husband, my friends and my kids. I really don’t blame anyone, there is really no one to blame, life happens and it really happens for a reason, what that reason is I’m not sure but I do know that it will be shown to me at a later date.

Here is a list of the 16.5 things I want to complete before I turn 34.

1. Write a list of all the bad things that happened to us in 2008 and burn them in the fireplace. Let’s forget about them and start anew.
2. Pay off 2 credit cards.
3. Make plans to spend some time with my close friends (Kristi & Nancy we need to work on this).
4. Complete 2 of my quilt projects that are started.
5. Read at least 1 book a month for 5 months (Jan, Feb, Mar, Apr, May)
6. Send a care package of baked goods once a month (Jan, Feb, Mar, Apr, May) to an unsuspecting recipient.
7. Make a craft once a month with the boys (Jan, Feb, Mar, Apr, May)
8. Read 5 times per week with the boys ‘
9. Send birthday cards (Jan, Feb, Mar, Apr, May)
10. Make weekly meal plans (and stick to it) for 6 weeks.
11. Set up a savings account with automatic transfers from our checking accounts for Christmas next year.
12. Organize my storage closet, the one that houses all of my fabrics.
13. Plan a family outing once a month to someplace fun (Jan, Feb, Mar, Apr, May)
14. Do something creative every week.
15. Make a minimum of 1 block a week on my Baby Jane® scrappy quilt. (This one will be a challenge I’m sure!)
16. Hang my coffee cups under my counter. (They have been sitting there waiting to be hung since I received them for Mother’s Day)
16.5 Participate in the Cookie Carnival each month (Jan, Feb, Mar, Apr, May)

Some of these will be easy for me…some of them will be a challenge. I’m also going to try to be better about posting pics and pieces of our everyday. As I said above, 2008 turned out to be a really hard year for us, not necessarily bad we learned a lot from what happened to us, but definitely hard to handle. Of course, once this ambitious list is complete, I’ll have to come up with 34 things to do in my 34th year….hmmmm, maybe I should start thinking about that!!

My mantra for the last week (besides the prayer to St. Anthony) has been “All will be fine in 2009” and I truly believe that!

This That and the Other....

Is hosting a GIVEAWAY! And all you have to do is leave a comment on her blog voting for which Name you like for her weekly Quilt/Sewing Blog Feature. Isn't this adorable! This cute little table runner is what you can WIN!!!

My personal choice is "Press Her Foot Friday". But she has a lot of cute names to choose from. That's just the one that caught my attention.

Holiday time

I have been working on my gifts lists for the upcoming season and am going to be cutting into some fabric today for a few gifts for some girls on my list. I am going to try to make as many gifts as I can this year and must get a head start.

Here is my list so far:

2-3 Ragged Squares Quilt
Several sets of Patchwork Towels
2 Rocket Ships
a few crayon rolls that I gave a few Christmas' ago and have decided to do again
Silhoutte pictures of the boys for the grandmas
Tree pencil toppers for the boys' classmates at Christmas (on need to do 50)
And a few of these bags as gifts as well.

That's just the start of my list. Along with some other projects I'm working on. I think it will feel good to make as many gifts as I can this year. I need some ideas for teacher gifts, I definitely need for and perhaps 2 more for the girls in the office at pre-school. Any ideas??

I'm still here...kinda

It's been a busy month. School started in August, back to work for me, birthday party in September, run, run, run, run, an order for 20 witches, 20 frankensteins and 6 cats that turned in to me getting another order for 40 witches and 40 frankensteins, 2009 document prepartions for another job and then the daily household stuff, laundry, dishes and sometimes vacuuming. The house isn't dirty but I wouldn't call it clean.

Here are some things that I worked on during my absence:

My dining room chairs BEFORE:
and AFTER:

And this is a birthday cake that I did for M's 6th birthday. He's really into Star Wars right now.

And just another snapshot...he had 5 friends come over and they all kept taking the figures off. I finally told them that the next person that removed one would lose their fingers. They stopped, thank goodness.

And now my external drive is not acting right so I cannot upload any other photos. I'll have to wait for S to look at it. It probably came unplugged again. More pictures later, maybe next week.

Storage Cubes

I was not feeling well today and didn't feel like doing much in the line of housework. I do have to go into work and thought some relaxation was necessary. Crazy Mom Quilts is hosting "Gifts to Create for Christmas '08", she is posting tutorials for different handmade gifts.

One that looked easy enough to complete in a small time frame was the Storage Cubes. I already had precut fabric squares, a few boxes in the recycle bin and a remnant of some plastic vinyl. I set out to work. It took me a little less than an hour to complete this project.

Here is the finished storage cube.

I like it, no I love it. The tutorial was easy to follow with clear directions. I'll be making some more of these cuties. And maybe some of the ones that nest.

Some Fun on Labor Day

A quick break from refinishing my dining room chairs. S and the boys have gone fishing and I have been sanding and decided to take a quick break. I found this over at Monica's and thought it would be fun!!

1. In Wendy's Garden, 2. Strawberry, 3. Taylorville High School, 4. Flores do cerrado 623, 5. ~~ When The Sun Goes Down..... ~~, 6. Sweet Iced Tea, 7. the sun over tuscany, 8. White Chocolate Strawberry Shortcake with Creme Fraiche, 9. SOMEWHERE IN THE SUN, 10. Duomo, Gubbio - Italy, 11. So close, So far.., 12. SQALwk2

Here's what you do if you'd like to participate:

Here’s how it works:
a. Type your answer to each of the questions below into Flickr Search.
b. Using only the first page, pick an image.
c. Copy and paste each of the URLs for the images into fd’s mosaic maker. Choose 3 columns with 4 rows.

The Questions:
1. What is your first name?
2. What is your favorite food?
3. What high school did you go to? (or, What year did you graduate high school?)
4. What is your favorite color?
5. Who is your celebrity crush?
6. Favorite drink?
7. Dream vacation?
8. Favorite dessert?
9. What you want to be when you grow up?
10. What do you love most in life?
11. One Word to describe you.
12. Your flickr name. (kid version: favorite animal?)

That's it!! Have a great Labor Day!!!

Quilt for Charity #1

I've talked of my fabric stash, but have yet to take a picture of it. Well, someday I will, just not today. This quilt was made from fabric from the stash.

A somewhat close up of one of the blocks.And finished. I think it needs some sashing around the outside. It measures 30" x 35".

And one more somewhat close up.

The second one is started and I’ll show pictures later. AmandaJean is having a Baby Quilt week. She's making one quilt top a day all week. I won't get that many done, but I hope to get the second one finished.

Look out kindergarten....

the first of the Snow boys arrives this year. He's anxiously awaiting the first day. A little upset because I had him moved from afternoon to morning, which means no bus. But mom is working 3 afternoons a week in an after school program through church and no one will be home to pick him up. It works out best for all of us!!!

In a few short weeks, we'll be celebrating his 6th birthday. Here's to great new beginnings!!

A steal of a deal if you ask me...

How much did you spend on those??? That is the question I was asked when I came home with all of these flowers. 2 dozen roses and some spring/summer beauties. Last year, I frequented the Farmer’s Market almost weekly and would spend $12 on 3 beautiful bouquets. This year, I have not been able to frequent the market as much. Why? Work on the house and to be honest, it was getting to be too expensive to take the kiddos. 3 bags of small popcorn, some produce for 1 maybe 2 night’s meals, flowers and bread for one meal, was costing $40-$50 dollars. That is half of my grocery budget for the week. And I know I could have done without the flowers, but they were just so pretty and every room needs some flowers and I just couldn't say "NO". Without the kiddos, I could have spent less and will probably go a few more times before the summer is over to try to get some of the fall bounty when it comes in.

Anyway, I digress; I was in my local Aldi’s on a Thursday morning just before lunch. They sell fresh bouquets of flowers for $2.99, you can choose from a dozen roses or whatever there mix is for the week. On this Thursday morning, the bouquets were marked down to $.75, yep, that is 75 cents for a bouquet. I bought 2 for me and 1 for my brother-in-law to take home to his very pregnant wife (which he kept forgetting so I ended up putting in a vase). I was very happy that I picked up 2 dozen roses for $1.50.
The flowers lasted for about a week and then were discarded. But I will be on the look out at Aldi’s for the extremely cheap flowers again (and if I just need a pick me up $2.99 is not so bad either).

Homemade Samoas

My cousin came up for a visit. She was "home" for a little vacation (I can't wait for her to be closer to "home"). She and the kiddos came to visit us and she sent me an email that said, "When I am there we have to make these". I headed over to Not Quite June Cleaver and thought sure why not!

So while the kiddos played: we went to work...Let me start by saying, these should have come with a WARNING! You must not make these on a hot and humid day when the air is not on (because they were smoothing the walls in the basement, creates a lot of dust). You must also prepare for a bit of time, as they are time consuming. With all of that said…..They were AWESOME!We used semi-sweet chocolate instead of dark chocolate. We also had to resort to the refrigerator to get the chocolate to set up, only because it was so hot & humid. We also decided that if we were to make these again we would dip the bottoms in the chocolate before we put the caramel on top; maybe it wouldn’t be so messy, but then if the air was on and it wasn’t so hot & humid they may not have been messy. And as the baby slept we continued working.

The day after we made them, they were perfectly fine. The humidity had dropped and the heat had dissipated. I was able to put the cookies into a container with wax paper between and they did not melt.I highly recommend trying the recipe! I don’t think you will be disappointed.

Stronger

I love Jewel, her music, her poetry and just her honesty. I am intrigued by the song "Stronger Woman". There are many days that I struggle, I sometimes feel I'm not a good enough mom, wife, daughter or friend. This song, to some, may be interpretted as a woman leaving an abusive relationship, but for me, this song represents that any person can find the inner strength to overcome whatever hurdles they have been presented with. The following is the chorus:

I'm gonna love myself more than anyone else
Believe in me, even if someone can't see
A stronger woman in meI'm gonna be my own best friend
Stick with me till the endI won't lose myself again, never, no
'Cause there's a stronger woman,
A stronger woman in me.

For me the song represents leaving the depression behind and pulling myself up off of the bottom and finding myself all over again. At times I feel lonely, sad, miserable and just rotten. The past few weeks have been a turning point, I told myself, the house cannot take care of itself, the babies NEED you to be STRONGER. I started digging myself up from the ground. I also need to take care of myself and "be my own best friend". Life gets in the way of the things that we love, life tries to take over and sometimes you just need to take a step back and say "Wait a minute, is this going to make ME HAPPY?" and when the answer was "NO" then I chose to decide to do something that makes me Happy.

My house had been turned upside down for 9 weeks, can you believe that 9 weeks! In that 9 weeks, what have I done. Not a lot except pouting and feeling sorry for the way my life is. Is the end in site....you bet it is, my list is made of the items that need to be completed before my big guy's birthday and we have a house full of people. A few things each day will get the job accomplished.
Over the past few weeks I started to take control again, I tackled the laundry, dusted (and the drywall dust just keeps coming back), mopped the floor, cleaned the windows (it's so nice to have the sun shining in clean windows). I have taken small steps, but I'm going to continue to add onto those steps until this HOUSE feels like my HOME. Ever since we moved in I felt like we were living in someone elses home. Not any more. It is finally starting to feel like HOME. The paint is all US, the dining room I can't wait until it is done.
And ultimately this well help me dig myself even further from the hole that I feel I have been living in. Here's to happier days, lots of sewing (in my new sewing space) and a renewed feeling of who I am!!!

(PS The random photos are of the kids working in the demolition of our basement)

Babies, babies and more babies - quilts that is

The month of August is a busy baby month. Two of my sister-in-laws are due within 2 days of each other. And two mom’s at church are due within days of each other. I have been busy, planning and working on their quilts.

The first quilt I completed was for my brother and his wife. They are expecting a little boy around August 18. The theme for the baby’s bedroom is Ducks and Frogs. I had something in mind with bears but once I knew what they were decorating with I headed to my favorite fabric store to pick up some fabric. Not much out there in Duck and Frog land, but I did come away with some prints in flannel. And a nice bright, neony, green somewhat solid. Away I worked at completing the Zig Zag Quilt over at the Purl Bee. And the finished product.

Back of the Quilt

Folded FrontClose up front
I even attempted to get creative out of my box. I have seen several cards made from leftover scraps of fabric. I found an old thank you card and then stitched together scraps from the quilts. I then wrote a little saying and printed it and then stitched it onto the card.

Front of card

Back of card
Inside of card

The next quilt’s I am working on are for ladies at church. I’m going to alternate pinwheels and solid blocks in a pink and white with bears, because that’s what I have in my stash. Those are in progress but here are photos of the fabric.

And one of the blocks.

I have also completed a quilt for my brother-in-law and sister-in-law, however, I did not get a picture of it before I gave it to them. We will be visiting perhaps this weekend to see the new baby and I will ask if I can snap some pictures of it.

Cookie Carnival July - Blackberry Almond Bars

It's cookie carnival time. I am participating in a monthly cookie carnival hosted by Kate over at The Clean Plate Club. Anyone that knows me knows that I love to make cookies. Friends and family have all been recipients of the Christmas Cookie Baskets and have even purchased a few to pass on. It just seems natural for me to join in a cookie carnival.

This month’s cookie, well, is a bar. Hmm, is a bar a cookie you ask? Sure! It is in my book anyway. I make chocolate chip cookie bars and use the same recipe, just throw the dough into a pan and let bake, sometimes it’s just easier that way.

My first attempt (yes, there was more than one) was for our family reunion on the 4th of July. I made a quick call to my mom to see if she had any of the “main” ingredients. We checked everything off except for the fruit, which I was bringing from home anyway, and the almonds, no problem those are in the pantry as well.

I get up the morning of the 4th to make my dessert, to realize the almonds are at home. No problem, I’ll just adjust the flour and go from there. I should have read the directions better, need a pestle and strainer. Hmmm, not happening at mom’s we’ll just dump everything in. Baked and it actually turned out well. So well, not a picture was taken.

That’s why I had to make it again. Here is the recipe:
BLACKBERRY ALMOND BARS(williams-sonoma)
INGREDIENTS:
For the shortbread:

* 12 Tbs. (1 1/2 sticks) chilled unsalted butter, cut into 1-inch pieces

* 2 cups all-purpose flour

* 1/2 cup ground toasted almonds

* 1/2 cup granulated sugar

* 1/2 tsp. salt

For the blackberry curd:

* 2 pints blackberries

* 4 eggs

* 1 1/2 cups granulated sugar

* Pinch of salt

* 1 Tbs. fresh lemon juice

* 4 Tbs. (1/2 stick) unsalted butter, at room temperature, cut into 1-inch pieces Confectioners’ sugar for dusting
DIRECTIONS:
Preheat an oven to 350°F. Lightly butter a 9-by-13-by-2-inch cake pan.
To make the shortbread, in the bowl of a food processor, combine the butter, flour, almonds, granulated sugar and salt and process until small lumps form. Sprinkle the mixture into the prepared pan and press evenly into the bottom. Bake until the shortbread is golden, about 20 minutes. Transfer the pan to a wire rack. Reduce the oven temperature to 325°F.
Meanwhile, make the blackberry curd: In a food processor or blender, puree the blackberries until smooth. Pass the puree through a chinois set over a bowl, using a pestle to press on the solids and extract as much juice as possible; discard the solids. You should have about 3/4 cup juice.
In the top pan of a double boiler or in a nonreactive saucepan, whisk together the eggs and granulated sugar until blended. Then whisk in the blackberry juice, salt and lemon juice. Set the top pan over but not touching simmering water in the bottom pan, or set the saucepan over medium-low heat. (If using a saucepan, take care not to heat the mixture too quickly.) Cook, stirring constantly with a wooden spatula or spoon, until the mixture is warmed through, 1 to 2 minutes.
Begin adding the butter a little at a time, stirring each addition until blended before adding more. Continue cooking, stirring constantly and scraping the bottom of the pan, until a finger drawn across the back of the spatula leaves a path, 8 to 10 minutes more. Immediately remove the pan from the heat. Pass the curd through the chinois set over a bowl and let stand for 10 minutes. Whisk to blend, then pour the curd over the shortbread, spreading it evenly to the edges.
Bake until the curd is set, about 30 minutes. Transfer the pan to a wire rack and let cool completely. Cut into individual bars, cover and refrigerate until ready to serve. Dust the bars with confectioners’ sugar before serving.
Makes 20 bars.

I did make a couple of changes though, based on what I had at home. I used a bag of frozen mixed berries (raspberries, blackberries and blueberries). And, I did not strain the pureed fruit but let it cook a little longer on the stovetop until it became thicker. I followed the rest of the directions.
The kids insisted on helping. They turned the food processor on and off for me. And as the curd was setting, they stirred it to make sure “it was cool enough.” The bars turned out great!!!!
The kids loved them, my husband loved them and as aforementioned my family enjoyed them at the reunion.
Can’t wait to see what August brings us!!!

A sigh of relief....

it's done. The basement that is, well, the contractor work is done. We still have some work, but I don't care how long that takes, we can at least use the space. I will have several posts coming up. Although the blog received a break, I didn't stop thinking of things to write and didn't stop taking pictures!!!!

I can relate...

Have you ever just needed to laugh and you stumble upon something that makes you do just that. Well, I stumbled upon We Are THAT Family . As I'm reading some of her entries, I thought to myself, I can SO relate. I particularly laughed at this post Is That Bad? Why, well my kids could say chicken nugget quite early, and when I've been busy doing something they (meaning all 3 of my guys) have gotten into the pantry and made a mess with hmmm, flour, cornmeal, marshmallows, sugar, pecans (you get the picture). Anyway, I needed a good laugh, a good chuckle and a break from all the stresses. I'll be visiting her again, I'm sure, because the drama's not over in this house nor is the end in sight. A friend keeps telling me, "Wendy, it can't get any worse." And I keep saying, "Oh, I don't know about that." The good thing about all that's been happening, I get a small sewing space for myself in the basement. The kids are going to lose some play / storage space, but they are gaining a BIGGER closet to store their toys in.

No sewing has been going on (and I have 3 quilts to finish up this week) due to the dining room is currently not a dining room but an empty room. I'm pulling the wallpaper down. Why did you add that to your list you ask? Perhaps it's because the previous owners decided to wallpaper over wallpaper and it was falling down. Since the ceiling has to be painted (because of the water leak from the shower) I decided that it was a good time to just do the entire room, get it over with and that's one less room I have to do later.

This is what I'm doing today

My friend Amy recently moved to Wisconsin. She fortunately has not be affected by any of the flooding. She is coming into town today because she had tickets to go see Wicked. She had an extra ticked as her niece was not able to go and asked if I would like to go. Of course! I have a neighbor girl coming over to watch the boys, dinner's going in the crockpot and well, the carpenter can let himself out (he's my brother-in-law).

A bit of work to get done before hand. Have a great day!

Why is it

the last few times I have made a cake, the darn thing sticks to the bottom of the pan and then when I tried to take it out it fell apart. It's so frustrating. For Father's Day, I made an Italian Cream Cake. Now mine did not look like the picture. Nope, I had to put it piece by piece on the platter, try to put the frosting on it and then add another layer. Did I take pictures? Of course I did, can I show them to you? Of course not, that part of the computer has been taken down as the remodeling of the basement starts tomorrow. The cake tasted really good, but it looked really awful.

On to some crafting news. I have been taking time for myself to quilt. Last week I put together a summer table topper. The week before I started and finished a quilt for one of my newest nephews that is due in August. His baby shower was the first weekend in June. I also finished up my neighbors quilt for her daughters bed, she is supposed to purchase the fabric so I can make the second one. I am going to make 2 baby quilts for Project Gabriel at our church. We have 2 expectant mothers that the ministry is helping and the church is having a baby shower for them. Since I won't be able to go, I am donating 2 baby quilts. Both are having girls which is refreshing from all the boys tuff I have to make.

As I said above, remodeling starts tomorrow in the basement. I took some cute pictures of my little construction workers yesterday, but alas, cannot post them. (We may hook the PC up in the bedroom so that we don't lose internet as well, which means I may have access to pictures if I ask nicely.) The dumpster arrived today and the boys and I have been carrying drywall out in short batches. They get bored and well, my back starts to bother me, so I have to stop and do something else and then start again. Hopefully, it won't take long. We knocked the walls down, that was an all day job and put a little money back in our pockets. We ended up getting a dumpster, but by me shopping around I found a great deal on one (it was $200 less than what our garbage company was going to charge us). We bought our tile, it was on sale, original price $1.09 sq ft and it was on sale for $.77 a sq ft. This week ceiling tile is on sale for 15% off, guess what we'll be buying this week. Drywall, does it ever go on sale. Probably not. And then, we are going to save on the paint because we are painting it ourselves (with a bit of help from my cousin who graciously offered to help out).

I still have some catching up to do on the SQAL that I'm participating in and the QAL I never completed, as well as some more blocks for Dear Baby Jane.

Have a great day!!

Sums it up!

I may not be better than other people, but at least I'm different.

-- Jean-Jacques Rousseau

Parasols, Polka Dots and Pink Lemonade - 20 questions

I'm participating in a swap that the Sweet Goodness Girls are hosting over at Sweet Goodness Swaps. We've been asked to share the answers to some questions and since I have been having a hard time getting a post together, I thought this would be the perfect time. Oh I have plenty of things to write about, it's getting things in order that I'm having a problem with. And on a side note, if I disappear in about a week and don't respond to emails and the such it's because we may not have internet access while our basement is being refinished. I've been told it's a 3 day project, but I have my doubts. Anyway, onto the answers to the questions.

1. What is your favorite Summer Drink(s)? Pink Lemonade, Strawberry Lemonade, any kind of Lemonade!!
2. What is your favorite Summer Activity? Relaxing outside with a good book while the kids are playing and seeing a baseball game!
3. If you could spend a lazy afternoon reading, what would be in your hands? John Grisham (his new book awaits to be read, it's sitting on the bakers rack). I take recommendations and like to read a lot of different books.
4. What is your favorite type of craft/art medium? Quilting, Sewing, Knitting, Crocheting
5. What is one art/craft supply you absolutely have been dying to have or try?
6. What are your favorite colors in our 'rainbow sherbet' theme? Pink, lime green, yellow, orange, aqua (or blue) I just picked up fabric (on sale) in Pink, Lime Green and Aqua all are varigated and have different tones of each color in them to make a table runner.
7. What is your favorite sweet treat? Lemon Ice (we just made some last night) and Strawberry Shortcake.
8. Are there any craft or art supplies you would NOT be interested in receiving? I'm not a scrapbooker.
9. What is your favorite song today? Home by Blake Shelton, Better Get to Livin' by Dolly Parton and Jesus & Gravity by Dolly Parton and Kenny Chesney (any of his stuff)
10. How do you 'pamper' yourself during the hot summer days? Taking care of the toes, polishing and moisturizing because I'm not much of a shoe girl in the summer months but prefer sandals.
11. Do you have any kidlets or pets? Yep, 3 boys (ages 5, 4 and 2) 2 Shih tzu dogs (both male) and a Beta Fish appropriately named Hamm Snow and yes it's a male.
12. What is your best potluck dish for summer get togethers? A Cauliflower Broccoli salad. Chop up a head of cauliflower and some broccoli crowns (about the same amount as the cauliflower) and then shred 3 carrots. Toss together so they are mixed. Mix together equal amounts of mayo and sugar (I start with 1/4c each) and then add some milk to thin it out so the dressing is pourable. Pour over the veggies and mix. Refrigerate to let the flavors blend and enjoy!!
13. If you could take a summer vacation anywhere, where would it be? I haven't been to Myrtle Beach in a long while and would like to go back. We like to go to Palm Beach Shores, FL and go there pretty regularly. And Italy is on my list of places to go!!
14. Describe your decorating style. Does that say anything about your personality? Country, Traditional. We have a lot of pictures of friends and family scattered about the house. It's a mish mosh of things that we enjoy.
15. What are your initials? WLS
16. Why do you like to join swaps? It's fun to send items away, it feels good! and it's fun to get surprises in the mail rather than bills all of the time.
17. You have 25 dollars to spend just on you for a little treat. What do you buy? ((you can list more than one thing) I'm not sure, maybe fabric to add to the collection, but something that I normally wouldn't buy.
18. What's one craft supply or art supply you absolutely can not live without? Fabric and thread
19. Who's the last person you hugged? The baby, he comes and gives random hugs and usually needs a kiss to!!
20. What's your favorite number and why? 4. I'm not really sure why. Maybe it's the number of close friends I have, maybe it's the number of children I always wanted to have, maybe it's a friends birthday, it's a number that has stuck for quite sometime and a number that when asked to give a number that first comes to mind.

That's a bit of information about me. Hopefully I will get some snapshots up of the stuff I've been working on, but with the way things have been going I'm not too sure. Maybe our string of bad luck is running out, if it happens in 3's then here they are:
1. Shower leaked into the dining room. Had to repair the wall in the bathroom and the ceiling in the dining room.
2. Basement flooded - In the process of getting the basement refinished. All furniture and stuff has been moved , I'll update more on this later.
3. My shelf / rack in the closet fell off the wall - Still trying to remove all of the clothes and sort through so the rack can be reinstalled.

Have a great Day!

Just a list

Wow, I didn’t mean to not be posting. But we were gone on vacation and the week we came home I had several things going on (I thought the week would never end). But today, I just have list, a list of things that needs to get done today or at least this week. I’m sure as the week goes the list will grow, but I have a few things that I need to focus on. Here goes:

• Laundry – Fold and put away 3 loads of colored clothes
• Laundry – Wash, dry and put away 1 load of colored and 1 load of whites
• Vacuum – Downstairs and upstairs
• Sweep – kitchen, foyer, living room, dining room, laundry room and bathroom
• Mop / Polish – kitchen, foyer, living rm, dining rm, laundry rm and bathroom
• Clean kitchen – counters, wipe down cabinets
• Hang cup hooks to hang coffee cups
• Clean laundry room – is it just me or does cleaning the laundry room make doing the laundry easier? And it seems that this is the room things just get dumped.
• Tupperware – sort and deliver items from party
• Hem pants – for my neighbor’s husband 9 pairs pinned, now just to stitch
• Bedding for neighbor’s daughters (they purchased pre-quilted fabric and it just needs made into their bedding)
• Star QAL – Weeks 4, 5, 6
• QAL – Weeks 6, 7, 8
• Dear Baby Jane – 3 blocks
• Baby Quilt – work on blocks some more
• Pa’s Quilt – wow, this has been on my list and really just needs to be finished.
• Mom’s quilt – again, just needs to be finished.
• Begin working in the basement - I need to start cleaning and throwing away now that the insurance company has been out (and denied our claim) so that we can figure out what needs to be done.

Well, I guess all of this won’t be completed today, but a big portion of it will. I also need to upload pics from the camera from our trip to the Wisconsin Dells and our trip to visit my family this last weekend. And it has a picture of the quilt I started and completed last week for a baby shower. Hmmm, I can finish things when I put my mind to it.

Have a great day!!!

SUMMER of ME!

With all that's been going on in my house, I have been neglecting the part where you are supposed to take care of YOU! This is something that I struggle with a lot though. I take care of everyone else and always leave me for last which means that I normally don't take care of me. I have struggled with my weight for many years now, I finally it all figured out when I found out I was pregnant with wonderful E. And needless to say, it has all went downhill with him. I did lose a few of the pregnancy pounds, found out we were moving (when he was a mere 18 days old) back "home" and I started spiraling out of control. Before I knew, we had been here 2 years and in that 2 years I gained 30 pounds. None of my clothes fit the way they used to. My "fat" clothes don't even fit.

I have been a Weight Watchers member before and that's how I lost. I rejoined but am still struggling to lose. I have been gaining and losing the same 5 pounds for 3 months. I came across a little challenge over at Baby Tea Leaves, that I found through 5 Minutes for Mom.

My goal is to lose 5 pounds by the end date of July 25. I don't have a big plan for that time, but I would like to lose 10 pounds August 31, that is my 15 year class reunion and my friend and I are leaving the hubbies at home with the kiddos and going alone. I'll be posting on "Fat Fridays" about my week.

I know I need to exercise more, I know I need to make wiser choices in my eating and I know I need to get my water in. I just need to focus on a goal and go for it.

Country Living Magazine

Picture from CountryLiving.com

My husband collects the Coke Reward Points and just after Christmas asked me if there were any magazines that I would like. I said I'm not sure (I was already receiving 6 magazines, 2 of which I don't really know how I ended up receiving them) and so he started rattling off the names and when he said Country Living I said I would like to get that one. Yes, I know that's a lot of magazines and most of them get flipped through, so more than others and when subscriptions run out I won't be renewing the majority of them. And yes, I recycle them I either offer them to friends, the library or to our church recycling bin (the parish school is part of a recycling program that earns dollars for education).

I received my Country Living magazine on Monday and happened to be going into work that day and stuffed it in my backpack. I don't recall which page but I remembered seeing an article about a juried exhibit of quilts at the International Quilt Festival in Houston. This link will take you to the article. Basically, the Country Living Classics exhibit is going to be a selection of 30 quilts that have been submitted by readers that will be shown at Festival. They are looking for Classic Country Quilts of all sorts. Read the article for more information. No, I will not be submitting any quilts for consideration, but I think there are a few people that should.

Good Luck!!!!!

I've had a few requests about the Free Fabric I received from Sew, Mama, Sew. You can purchase the fabric at the Sew, Mama, Sew Store. I received my Hancocks of Paducah catalog in the mail and was browsing through it and found the fabric in their with all of the other fabrics from the same line. So here is some more information:

The fabric line is called Flutterby by Tula Pink for Moda Fabrics. It is premium 44" cotton.

I also like to shop from Emerald City Fabric & Craft LLC, they have an ebay store and have the above line in a charm pack. You can bid on it or you can buy it now. Just thought I'd let you know. Wherever you may decide to buy from, the prices are all comparable.

Quilt a Long Progress

An update of sorts, the basement is drying out. I'm not sure how long it will be this way. And now that the kids shouldn't play down there, that is where the kids want to play.


I am participating in a Quilt A Long hosted by AmandaJean over at Crazy Mom Quilts. This link will take you to a picture of what the fiinshed quilt will look like. If you remember, I was also participating in one prior to the holiday season last year. I posted about it here. Well in usual Wendy fashion, I didn't finish it. The holiday craziness caught up with me and well I didn't work on it. When AmandaJean announced she was having another quilt a long, I felt bad participating after having not completed the first one. But I decided to participate anyway and work on the first one along side of the second one.


Here are pictures from the first one:
Week 1

Week 2

Week 3

Week 4 (and my favorite so far)

Week 5 (not as difficult as it looks)

Yep, it's may and I'm working with Christmas colors. Crazy isn't it.

And now for the current one. I am really liking the fabric that I chose for this one. I almost want to make 2 of them. But don't want to bite off more than I can chew. I have several projects started and all are making progress but none are completed yet.

Week 1 SQAL

Week 2 SQAL

I have not completed week 3 yet, but will work on it sometime this week, maybe today. I need a break from cleaning (hehehehe). I have also prepared the fabric for the setting blocks, but have not worked on any of those yet.

I am still working on Dear Baby Jane no new pictures to post because the scanner is not attached (because of the basement conditions). And my pictures of those tiny blocks come out dark. I'm still behind, almost caught up, maybe a Dear Baby Jane catch up day is needed for me, hmmmm.