Oh You Crafty Thang

I spent a few hours Monday whipping this baby together. Well I started Sunday with a plan (cause I gotta have a plan), followed by measuring and cutting. Then I whipped it together. Here it is:




I can hear you now. "What is that hideous thing, and what is up with all that......is that lime green?"

A year and a half ago my Mom completed a quilt for Charlotte's bed. We picked out the fabrics together and went with a lavender and pale lime green theme. Mom then gave me all the extra fabric because I was to use it to make a bed skirt. That fabric sat in a corner of my bedroom for all this time and then the mood struck me the other day, and I went with it. So I sat down and figured out what I needed to do, took measurements and then pulled out the material scraps. I was a little dismayed to find that there weren't too many large pieces. Given that I had no pattern or directions and a scant amount of fabric, it wasn't looking favorable for me. I wanted it to look like a $29.99 bed skirt from Sears, not some homemade junk.

I consider myself a frugal person, perhaps even a tad on the cheap side. It's a condition I've been dealing with since we chose to become a one-income family. I was (and still am) the queen of clearance and the guru of garage sales and Good Will. Why pay retail when you can find other people's perfectly good stuff for a fraction of the price? Well, nowadays they call this being green. Just call me a trail blazer on the frontier of environmental issues.

Anway, rather than waste gas and time to spend money on a new piece of muslin for the portion of the bed skirt that lays on top of the box spring, I was able to sew together two smaller pieces of fabric from the scraps to make the piece I needed. And with very miserly hems, I had just enough (barely) of the lavender gingham fabric I needed for the skirt drop.

I think it screams $29.99 department store bed skirt!

Giving Thanks

I hope you're able to catch your breath for a moment today to enjoy some of the many blessings in your life! I know I personally have much to be grateful for, many things that I take for granted each day. I know I'm thankful for my family, our warm cozy home, and the feast of food that I'll be diving into later today (I don't care what you dieters say; calories don't count on holidays :-D). I'm also thankful that my 5.5 year old computer is still working and giving me the opportunity to connect with you all in cyber-space. But most of all I'm thankful to Jehovah-Jireh, God the provider.

*******************************

I found myself curious about the origins of Thanksgiving Day. Sure, it started with the pilgrims, but is there more? I found the information below to be quite informative; some stuff I knew, other stuff was news to me.

Happy Thanksgiving!

*******************************

Thanksgiving Day in the United States is an annual day of thanks for the blessings of the past year, observed on the fourth Thursday in November in each of the states, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico. It is a historical, national, and religious holiday that began with the Pilgrims. After the survival of their first colony through the bitter winter, and the gathering of the harvest, Gov. William Bradford of Plymouth Colony issued a thanksgiving proclamation in the autumn of 1621. This first thanksgiving lasted three days, during which the Pilgrims feasted on wild turkey and venison with their Indian guests.

Days of thanksgiving were celebrated sporadically until, on November 26, 1789, President Washington issued a proclamation of a nation-wide day of thanksgiving. He made it clear that the day should be one of prayer and giving thanks to God. It was to be celebrated by all religious denominations, a circumstance that helped to promote a spirit of common heritage.

Credit for establishing this day as a national holiday is usually given to Sarah J. Hale, editor and founder of the Ladies' Magazine (from 1828) in Boston. Her editorials in the magazine and letters to President Lincoln urging the formal establishment of a national holiday of thanksgiving resulted in Lincoln's proclamation in 1863, designating the last Thursday in November as the day. Succeeding presidents annually followed his example, except for President Franklin D. Roosevelt.

In 1939, President Franklin D. Roosevelt declared that Thanksgiving would be the next to last Thursday of November rather than the last. With the country still in the midst of The Great Depression, Roosevelt thought this would give merchants a longer period to sell goods before Christmas. Increasing profits and spending during this period, Roosevelt hoped, would aid bringing the country out of the Depression. At the time, it was considered inappropriate to advertise goods for Christmas until after Thanksgiving. However, Roosevelt's declaration was not mandatory; twenty-three states went along with this recommendation, and 22 did not. Other states, like Texas, could not decide and took both weeks as government holidays [hey, I like Texas' idea!]. Roosevelt persisted in 1940 to celebrate his "Franksgiving," as it was termed. In 1941, Congress adopted a joint resolution setting the date on the fourth Thursday.

My Kids ArtWork

When my kids get too old to bring home handmade crafts and cards, it will be a sad day. I live for this stuff. My fridge is covered in it. I've even strung fishing line between two hooks on the walls above each kid's bed. When the work comes down off the fridge, it goes into their room to display for a little while longer.

I love my kids' artwork. It's precious to me, and each year I have the difficult task of going through the rubbermaid bin to pull out the "keepers".....the ones that will go into the scrap albums for safe keeping. The one below, a creation from this month, will make it into the scrap album. For sure.

Home Schooling

I can hardly classify myself among those ambitious and on-the-ball parents out there who are home-schooling their children. I stand in awe of what you do! I battle with Eric just to do 20-30 minutes of homework a day. I would be putting my head in the oven if I had to home-school that boy.

Charlotte, however, is a whole other ball game. She's a teacher's dream. Eager to please, hard-working, rarely complains, catches on quickly, wants to learn. How do I know this? Well she wanted to learn how to read. I have no idea how to teach a person to read, but I didn't think that should stand in her way. So I did some research this past August/September and found a program that I thought fit our needs.

Charlotte and I sit down each weekday morning after we drop Eric off at school and work on her Adventures in Phonics. She's coming along amazingly well, and this past week she read her first book to me. It was such a treat to share this moment with her. Charlotte was so proud and pleased with herself for reading a book on her own! And me? Well of course I was proud of her, but I was also just a little pleased with myself for having played a role in helping her get to this point.

I have no doubt by the end of this "school year" that Charlotte will be reading way above her grade level. She's one highly motivated girl!

I Love.....Part II in the "I Love" Series

Part I is here

I love a good fitting pair of jeans. Who doesn't? There's just something about a pair of jeans that fits you just right. Not too tight, not too baggy, doesn't gap in the back of the waist, hugs all the right curves without cutting off your circulation, the perfect shade of blue with factory fading done just so, and the length......not so long that they're dragging on the ground behind you, and not so short that they look dorky with a pair of boots with heels. These jeans simply make you feel good when you wear them. And I'm here to say that said jeans don't have to cost $200 either.

Well, I admit I've never actually tried on a pair of $200 jeans, and I'm sure I'd eventually find a $200 pair of jeans that fit just right, but since I could buy half a wardrobe on $200, I settled for trying on a pair of $48 Apt. 9 jeans at Kohl's this past September that were on clearance for $19.98. And they fit perfect, even the length which is often a problem for me since I'm 5'3.5". Petite lengths are too short (which run up to 5'3") and average lengths are too long (which run from 5'4" and up). My height isn't on the radar of clothing manufacturers. I usually settle for average lengths with them dragging on the ground because I really can't stand pants and jeans that are too short.

Anyway, these Apt. 9 jeans? I Love Them. And I fell head over heals with them when they rang up at $9.00 at the register. What's not to love?

Sweet Remembrances of Summer

It's official. The down-filled coat has come out of the closet and any hint of summer has flown off with the wind. I look at my garden, nothing but dried up leaves and keeled over stems, barren of any buds. Spring-time seems a long way off (actually, it is......5 looong months off.) It's a good thing I like to take photos; they remind me of what is dormant below the surface.

I planted this Lilac bush the year Mike and I got married. It's off on the corner of the house just a little way down from the master bedroom window, so when it's in bloom, the sweet fragrance drifts in to our room.

These may be your standard Stella day lily, but these flowers rock. They start blooming in June and the last flower I saw on it was in late October. They just keep going and going. I can see them all summer and fall out my living room window.

A new addition to the garden this year: A Hydrangea! I'm going to experiment next year with the soil acidity to see if I can turn these mammoth flowers a bluish-purple.

Now here is the most beautiful and fragrant Bearded Iris. Open your hand right now. That's how big these blooms are every May! I really look forward to seeing them each year, and wish their blooming season lasted all summer long!

My sturdy, dependable Daisies never fail me every June!

I really think these flowers got the shaft when someone named them Gladiolas. They surprised me late this summer when they bloomed. I'd forgotten all about them being in my garden!

And I think these babies are my favorite.....Peonies. Aren't they stunning? I have them in white, pale pink, and raspberry.

It's What's For Dinner

Well, OK, it was what was for dinner on Thursday, but I just now got around to getting the photos off my camera.

I like to make my own pizza. It's a lot cheaper than ordering out, and is super easy to do. I use my bread maker for the dough, and wing it on the sauce. Here we go:

Bread Maker Pizza Dough

3 cups all-purpose flour
8 oz. warm water
2 tbl olive oil (or vegetable oil)
1-1/2 tsp dry active yeast
1/2 tsp salt


Place all liquids in the bread maker. Throw in the salt. Slowly pour in the flour. Create a small well in the center for the yeast. Add yeast. Set bread maker to the dough cycle (should take about 1.5 hours.) When cycle is complete, preheat oven to 400 deg. Spray a 9x13 cookie sheet with cooking spray. Dump dough out on the cookie sheet. Flatten and spread out to fit the pan, making an edge with the dough (see photo.) Pop into the oven for 2-3 minutes.



Remove crust from oven and top with pizza sauce, about 12-16 oz. of cheese (I personally love all mozzarella with a sprinkling of fresh parmesan), plus any other toppings you like such as sausage, peppers, onions, olives, bacon, mushrooms, chicken, etc. Here I put 1/2 Italian sausage and 1/2 meatball (both precooked - had some odds and ends leftover in the freezer.) Bake for about 15-18 minutes till brown around the edges and all the cheese in the center is melted.

*****************************

As for my pizza sauce, here's one I use frequently:

1 8 oz can of tomato sauce
seasonings to taste (e.g., Italian seasoning, garlic powder or minced garlic, onion powder/diced onion, basil, pepper, and a bit of sugar to take the tartness out.)


Also, since there is a nice crusty edge on this pizza, you can dip the crusts in either leftover marinara, pizza sauce, olive oil, or my kids' favorite: melted butter with some garlic powder.

*****************************

Then for dessert I tried a new recipe out called S'more Muffins. Relatively easy to make, but does require buttermilk. If you don't have any on hand (like who does?) or don't remember to pick it up at the store, you can take regular milk and add a splash of vinegar or lemon juice to it, let it sit for a few minutes, and that'll turn it into "substitute buttermilk".

1-1/2 cups all purpose flour
1/2 cup ground graham cracker crumbs (I threw whole crackers into the blender and hit pulse!)
1/4 cup packed brown sugar
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 egg
1-1/2 cups buttermilk
1/4 cup vegetable oil
3/4 cup semisweet chocolate chips
1-1/4 cup miniature marshmallows, divided

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. In a large bowl, combine the dry ingredients. In another bowl, combine the egg, milk, and oil. Mix well. Stir wet stuff into the dry ingredients just until moistened (i.e., it will be lumpy). Fold in chocolate chips and 1 cup marshmallows. Line muffin cups with paper liners or go daring and go without. Either way, spray with cooking spray. Fill cups 3/4 of the way full, top each with 2 miniature marshmallows, and pop into oven for 14 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean. Cool for a few minutes before removing from the pan. Serve warm if possible. Yummy!!

The $152 Tooth

Eric has been losing his 3rd baby tooth (top center) for at least 6 weeks. It started getting loose in late September, but not loose enough to yank out, and then as the permanent tooth started coming in, it crowded out the baby tooth and pushed it to the front. A regular snaggle tooth it was. I constantly reminded him to wiggle that thing to loosen it up, but it was no use. That thing just didn't want to come out, despite the fact that his permanent tooth is over half way in! So I reluctantly called the dentist to have him do the deed. I had so many of my baby teeth yanked out as a child. I hated going to the dentist because it seemed every time I did, there was unpleasantness involved. I was trying to avoid this with Eric, but unfortunately he may have inherited my stubborn baby teeth.

So off to the dentist we went. The dentist did get the tooth out, but even he said it was stubborn and didn't want to come out. Eric was brave and did great, although he couldn't wait for the numbness to wear off! So we're checking out and the woman behind the counter tells me it'll be $70. I asked her if she was going to submit it to the insurance company first. She looked at me kind of funny, then printed out the statement, showing that the insurance would be billed, and the $70 was my portion of the bill. Eeek! $150 to pull a tooth out?? That 'ole Tom & Jerry method with the string and door is looking mighty appealing. Then we had to leave Eric a couple bucks from the Tooth Fairy (figured he'd earned an extra buck, ya know? Which got me to thinking that maybe I'm due some extra money for all the teeth I had pulled out the hard way. Mom?? Dad???)

Anyway, $152 later, he has a more normal looking smile, the snaggle tooth is gone, and he can eat normally again.....at least till the next tooth gets loose.

Don't Mess With The Arm

Charlotte went in yesterday for her 5 year wellness appointment and to get a few immunization shots (four to be exact.) She weighs about 40 lbs. and is 43.75" tall (she weighs about as much as Eric, lol.) A couple of the shots really hurt, making her arm very sore. Poor kid.....she was hoping they wouldn't have to go outside for recess today at school, but I suggested she could stay home with me instead. She was all over that. :-) I asked her if her arm was too sore to play a game. I was thinking a good ole fashioned board game, like Trouble, Go Fish.....Charlotte assured me that the aching arm wasn't the one she needed to bowl (on the Wii). Well, what a relief it is to know her immunizations didn't put a dent in her video gaming.

My Next Car

If money weren't an issue, and I never had to haul more than a few bags of groceries at a time, and of course if Mike or I had a job (minor details, right?) my next car would be the Mini Cooper in British Racing Green (although the oxygen blue and nightfire red are pretty cool too). It gets some great gas mileage as well (37/hwy, and 28/city, which is double what I get now.)

Only problem is the lack of rear doors, so the kids would be complaining about getting in and out of the thing, especially as they get older and bigger. "Welcome to the hardships of my own childhood", I'd say. Followed by, "Get over it." The Mini Clubman has one small rear door on the passenger side, but then the car loses the cuteness factor by looking like a midget station wagon, so what's the point?

Cute little bugger isn't it?

Not-As-Cute

Strange Website

A while back I stumbled upon a site that has an interesting concept: People take photos of things on vacation or where they live that seem to "Fail" logic, their purpose, the English language, etc. Here are a few that had me laughing (I have a strange sense of humor):

What were they thinking?!

Cinderacula

This is the first year Eric opted for a "scary" costume, and of course, Charlotte wanted to be a princess. Kudos to me for finding it this summer at a garage sale for a few bucks, lol! They sure are in stark contrast to each other.

The kids hauled in boat loads of candy last night. It'll be July 4th, 587 sugar highs, and several cavities later before they get through it all.