Stuff That Makes Me Drool

I've been surfing the web tonight since Joel fell asleep, and I found some more stuff that I totally have to make.

• Bunny Bowling
  
  
• A Growth Chart
  
  
• Office Chair, recovered
  
  
• Fabric Piggy Bank

I wish there were more hours in the day!

Menu Planning Monday: Mexican Week

Phew. This is my third meme today. Check out my Make Something Monday Meme and my Made Do Monday Meme and show me some bloggy love :)

Back to the Menu Planning.

Introducing...... (cue the trumpets, stage left)

Mexican Week! (We're going to be so sick of Mexican food by the end of the week...).

I can never exactly say when the leftovers will run out, so I'm not going to commit myself to making certain dishes on certain days of the week. Instead, here's some things I'll make this week, whenever I feel like it.

• Nacho Rollups made with salsa rather than taco sauce, as long as I can get to the store and buy some eggs.
  
• Mexican Shepherd's Pie (because we have some mashed potatoes leftover from yesterday's steak dinner... yum!). It's easy to make. Make like you would a normal shepherd's pie, but I add in corn and taco seasonings to the meat.
  
• Ham and Salsa Muffins, complete with homemade English muffins to use up some yeast that's probably already gone bad
  
• Texas style lasagna (note to self, pick up cottage cheese when you go buy eggs)
  

Meme-y Monday

First up is a WIP that I started last night. I was so very inspired by Jodie over at Vintage RicRac. She cuts the selvedge off of fabric and then pieces it together to make such cool stuff like doll quilts, scarves, and even upholstered furniture. WOW. Check her out, for sure!


This is the beginings of a hybrid project. I'm combining two things that I wanted to try. One, the selvedge thing. Two, this water bottle sling.

Next up are some Cloth Baby Rings which are harder to make than they look! I'm not sure that I like them. I guess it depends if my son will play with them or not :)


Lastly is the kiddie apron bonanza. I had so much fun making this red and blue one for Joel, that I decided to make some more!




This one will be for a little girl in our family.


I tried out a new stitch on my machine, but the thread matches so well you can barely see it.


What did you make today?

Make Do Monday- Screens

My screens need replaced. Practically every one in the whole house has at least one hole in them, through which bugs are entering the house. Ugh. Replacing the screens may be easy (there was a Home Depot clinic on it yesterday though we didn't go) however with my recent layoff, I don't feel like spending the money on it. I even know that they sell those little screen patches because I've used some in the sunroom, however I don't even want to buy those. (Can you say cheapskate?)

The solution? Tape of course. My husband went around the house, taping shut all the holes. We'll see how long that lasts! I would think the rain would render them useless, however it hasn't happened yet. Keep your fingers crossed for me!

Seal of Approval

I think he likes it!

Ouch

I think I broke my toe. It really hurts :( Yes, I would like some cheese with my whine. And it's my right foot; my foot I use when sewing! That's going to put a damper on my plans this evening. I was in a sewing frenzy.

I guess I'll just post some links to things I want to make.

• Cloth baby rings
  
• Fort table cover
  
• Selvedge chair and dress (Ok I won't actually make this but I thought it was the bomb diggety. Maybe I'll make something small with selvedge. Like a potholder or something.
  
• Trash bag for the car
  
• A skirt from Jason's never-to-be-worn-again Hawaiian shirt
  
• Clothespin people that are adorable as wedding cake toppers. Hubby won't agree to a second wedding, so I could make some little super heroes instead
  
• Reusable sandwich wrapper
  
• Handmade Father's Day cards even though Jason didn't get me anything for Mother's Day. My first Mother's Day. Not even a card.
  

Stash Busting: Crinkle Toy and Toaster Cozy

I've been a busy bee around here. During naptimes, I've managed to sew a few more things, using only fabric and ribbons already in the stash.

Problem: Ugly-as-sin Toaster Oven


Problem Solved: a slipcover!


I also followed Joy's tutorial to make some baby crinkle toys. My little one hasn't woken up yet so I've yet to find out if he likes them.


This red and white polka dot fabric began life as a skirt. I thrifted it awhile back for the fabric. Aren't red and white polka dots the best?


I'm such a packrat. I keep ribbons off of gifts, and even though they have text on them, I incorporated them into this project. Waste not, want not, right?!

99 Bottles of BBQ Sauce on the Wall

99 Bottles of BBQ Sauce,
Take one down,
Pass it around,

98 Bottles of BBQ Sauce on the Wall!

Hello to my friends and followers at Gap Inc Direct! Jason tells me that some of you (okay one of you) are quite enamored with my blog. I'm quite honored! I must tell you that it makes me feel like quite the celebrity. I'm practicing "the wave" .... you know the one, right? The one where the girl who won Miss Pork Festival stands on a float and waves that fake wave? Yeah, that could be me alright.

Anyway.... Jason told me I need to post about the BBQ Chicken- Asparagus Pizza in case any of you drop by looking for the recipe. Sorry I don't have any photos of it. I always mean to photograph my creations however I'm such a pig that I simply cannot take the time to take pictures of my food. Once it's out of the oven it goes promptly into my belly.

Without further ado, here's the recipe:

I used two store bought crusts like Boboli (though I used the Meijer brand). On top of that, I put a layer of shredded cheese then one chopped and sauteed onion (half an onion on each pizza). Next goes on a mixture of 2 cans of asparagus (though fresh would have been way better), about 2 lbs of cooked, cubed chicken, and a bottle of bbq sauce (about 18 oz). Finally top with parmesan cheese, and bake as directed on the pizza crust packaging.

Now breathe in the aroma of the pizza as it bakes because that's the best part! Okay, that's almost the best part, second only to the taste of it as you scarf it down!

Sewing up a Storm as it storms

Rain, rain, go away. Come back another day.

I can't stain the deck because it keeps raining. At least that's my story and I'm sticking to it...

I stayed in today and sewed, sewed, sewed. T-3 came over, and we disassembled our bridesmaid dresses (T-2 got married, congrats!!) and turned them into, drumroll please....

Brrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr....

Tree skirts :)

We tried to follow this tutorial, however it just didn't turn out large enough, so we started to improvise. T-3 recommended that I use the shawl, cut it in half, and create a ruffle out of it. Superb idea, T-3 :) And then I decided to make a bias tape and use it to cover the unhemmed edge of the center circle. Here's how it turned out:


After T-3 went home, I worked on a few other things. Here's a long sleeve shirt of Joel's that I turned into a short sleeve shirt for summer:


Last but not least I started making a chef hat and apron for my little one. I realize he's not even four months old yet, but I like to plan ahead ;) One day all too soon I'll have a little tyke helping me in the kitchen as I bake homemade brownies, fish sticks, and macaroni and cheese. Yum. Except for the fish stick part.

Kathy, the author of the tutorials, did an A. W. E. S. O. M. E. job. They are so easy to follow. I actually followed a tutorial correctly for once. I shouldn't say that quite yet since I'm not finished. There's still plenty of time to do something wrong, er I mean different.

Here's the hat


And here's the first step of the apron

Notice the red fabric- it's the lining to the bridesmaid dress. I'm getting a lot of mileage out of that fifty dollar dress! I also cut out all the tulle fabric and kept it for some future project, kept the zipper, and am giving all the boning to T-3 because she wants to make a corset. The truck fabric were curtains thrifted a couple months ago. There's tons of it left.

Here's the apron almost complete. I'm on the final couple steps. I don't have any D rings, and so I had to stop for the night. All I have to do is attach the short strap to the upper left, and attach the front of the apron to the red backing.


I'd love to stay and chat but I have a breast pump that is calling my name ...

An Eco Friendly Funeral?

I’m a cemetery buff. I admit it. You may think it’s weird, but it’s true. I love cemeteries and have ever since I was little. My grandma’s farm was right next to an abandoned one-room white church and small cemetery. My mom and I used to walk up to the cemetery and wander around looking at the graves. My dad used to mow the cemetery when he was younger. (Although this is where my dad’s ties with cemeteries end. My mom and I are working on him though!) Enter husband who also loves cemeteries, and you have the perfect family. For Mother’s Day, we went to a cemetery near my parents’ house that we had never been to before and saw some beautiful architecture, flowers, shrubs and graves (see below).

I ran across this website the other day, advertising an eco-friendly burial. It’s located just miles from where I grew up. I never knew such a thing existed. “What is it?” you ask. It’s a burial that doesn’t use a vault or embalming fluid, nor a tombstone. Everything is biodegradable. Basically it sounds like they just dig you a hole in the middle of a field or a forest, lower you in, and then cover you up with dirt.

Now don’t get me wrong. I love eco-friendly things. But as a traditional cemetery person, I just can’t jump on this bandwagon. I don’t like the idea of cremation either. I want to be laid in the ground and have a nice tombstone so my descendants can find me a couple hundred years from now. The genealogist in me just can’t imagine being buried without a marker.

What do you think? Yay or nay for eco-friendly funerals?

Baby Pics

I'm in the mood to post baby pics of my little sweet pea. Please bear with me, this will only last a moment!

The cousins, born 2 1/2 months apart. Mine is the shrimpy one!

The cousins again, after Joel had gotten a little bit bigger.

Projects One, Two, Three

Here's what I was up to yesterday and the day before, in case y'all are interested!

Feed the baby. Burp the baby. Change the baby. Pump breastmilk. Repeat. Repeat.
Put baby down for a nap. Get some me time. Yay!

Work on the kid stove:


Feed the baby. Burp the baby. Change the baby. Pump breastmilk. Repeat. Go to CVS and Walgreens and get some amazing deals like free-after-catalinas Colgate toothpaste (savings of $4.50). Hit a couple thrift stores looking for Hawaiian shirts for a themed wedding this weekend. (Found one for hubby and a dress for me though I spent ten bucks... a little more than I like to spend at a thrift store)

Baby fell asleep in the car so I get some more me time. Make a kid tool belt (Why am I having such a hard time finding a toy hammer? I saw one the other day at a thrift store but it was too babyish and didn't fit in with the other tools I had already thrifted). I altered the instructions... more on that at a later date.

Not quite finished- still have to attach the strap to wrap it around the waist. Aren't all the thrifted tools cool? Each one was about 50c.

Baby wakes up hungry. Feed, burp, diaper, pump. Put dinner on. Watch Life After People with hubby. (That show is fascinating). Hubby watches the rugrat while I have some more me time.

Do a wardrobe refashion. Take a beach coverup that doesn't fit, cut out the middle, and sew the hip part back on underneath the bust to make a tank top for this still-fat-after-pregnancy belly.

I know it's hard to tell, but this is not quite knee length.

The finished product! It hides the chubby belly pretty good. Good as can be expected, anyway.

Tough Meat Tuesday

Memes are all the rage now, aren't they? I had never even heard of the word "meme" until a couple days ago! I actually had to go to Merriam-Webster to even find out what it is. (I know I'm a dictionary nerd).

What about Tough Meat Tuesday? That's one that I don't think exists yet. With the current economy being what it is, we should all be making use of cheap meat. There's lots of people who do meatless days (especially Meatless Monday) but my hubby is a carnivore. He likes his meat, and I couldn't stand to watch his sad little face if I were to sit a vege pizza or some kind of tofu burger in front of him once a week.

Today I'll be crockpotting some pork shoulder to make barbecue pork. What's going on in your kitchen today?

Dung Bunnies. (Bunnies made of Dung). And a Kid Stove.

Yes, you read that right. I just had to share this with you. I've been surfing the web since Joel fell asleep, and I ran across this website that sells rabbits molded out of horse manure. Apparently, you put them in your garden and over the course of the year, it disintegrates and fertilizes your plants. I know that manure makes a great fertilizer; this takes it to a whole new level.

In other news, I'm in the process of crafting something! I haven't done anything crafty lately, and I was feeling the itch. I was in a felt-food-making-frenzy this past winter, and I knew that I wanted to make a little kitchen to go with it. I found this today, and it serves as the inspiration for what I'm currently making. Basically you take a plastic container and add the red coils for the burners, and voila, you have yourself a kid stove. Mine's a little different than hers. She used paper to create the stovetop, however since the plastic container I'm using doesn't have a clear bottom, that would not have worked for me. I am using the blue plastic container that the wet swiffer refills come in. I know, those things aren't very eco-friendly, however back when Licorice the Rabbit (not to be confused with a dung bunny) was alive, they were what did the best job at cleaning up after him.

First I spraypainted the swiffer container's lid black. Next I tried red pipe cleaners to make the coils, however that didn't work out too well. I switched tactics and instead grabbed a small round butter lid and spraypainted it red. I'm still waiting for it to dry, but once it's dry, I'll glue it down to the black surface with some craft adhesive. I also will need a second one, but that will have to wait until I finish up the next tub of butter. I also used a cap from a 2 liter of pop, spray painted black, as the knob to "turn on" the burners. I am planning on gluing it down, however then it will not turn. If you have any ideas as to how to make it turn, please let me know!

Here's some half-way done pics:

What $2.52 Can Buy You

Yep. It's quite the haul, isn't it? The cheese was 2/$3. The coffee filters were 99c. The soup was on clearance for 80c. The toothpaste was $4.50 but you got $4.50 back in Register Rewards so it's like it's free! The deodorant was on sale for $2 plus I had a 75c off coupon. I used $8.50 in Register Rewards (RRs), so I only had to pay $2.52 OOP (out of pocket).

Now I can't get that song out of my mind. You know, the one that goes, "Get down with OOP! Yeah you know me! Get down with OOP! Yeah you know me! ..." Oh wait, it's OPP. Nevermind.

Menu Planning Monday: 5-18-09

For those of you who are visiting me from orgjunkie.com, hello! Let me introduce myself briefly. I'm a new SAHM to a beautiful little boy. I've been on maternity leave from teaching since my son was born in February and since then have been laid off due to a levy failure in my school district. My husband's salary is only about half of mine so needless to say, we're living pretty tightly now!

I had my first menu planning experience when I was in middle school. My best friend was in charge of cooking dinner every night for her family. Her mom was a dietician at a nursing home and so she was probably used to coming up with meal plans. She would write everything out on a calendar and post it on the fridge so her daughter knew what she was supposed to make each day.

Fast forward 15 years. I've embraced it on and off for several years, however now that I'm a SAHM, I'm going to stick with it! (I think). Wish me luck :) Without any further ado, on to the meal planning.

Due to the fact that we have not one, but two weddings to attend this weekend, plus one rehearsal dinner and a graduation party, I don’t have to cook a whole lot this week. I think that three homemade meals will be enough, and leftovers will fill in the rest.

BBQ Pork in the crockpot to use up a bottle of barbecue sauce, and Jenny’s Baked Oatmeal Bars.

Extreme Nachos, consisting of some tortilla chips (we currently have 2 ½ bags to use up), ground turkey browned with taco seasonings, cheese, and salsa. I first made this in eighth grade for Spanish Class when everyone would bring in a Spanish or Mexican dish, and we would party like it was 1999. Even though back then 1999 would still be five years in the future.

And for dessert and/or breakfast, something that really doesn’t go with nachos but does use cereal (which is always a good thing when you’re trying to use up twenty boxes):Breakfast bars.

And last but not least: Chicken and rice with Asparagus Sauce that uses several egg yolks. To use up the whites, I’ll make Egg Drop Soup and Egg White Cookies.

What to do with those Envelopes

You know, those envelopes that come with each and every bill... and since I've given up on paying the bills, those envelopes are really starting to stack up.

JUST KIDDING! I pay my bills, I promise. I just pay them all online so I don't have to use the evelopes. Also don't have to spend $$$ on stamps. Cha-ching!

Every week I grab a few of those freebie envelopes and use the blank white side to write down my grocery list. (I use one envelope per store). Then you can slip the coupons into the correct envelope, and voila, you're organized! (And if you have some double-secret-probation* coupons that you don't want other nearby shoppers to see, you can use those security envelopes with the blue or black lining!)

Now if I could just stick to my lists and to my budget...

*Sorry for the Animal House reference. I have it on the brain right now because we were talking it about it yesterday at my friend's graduation party. Toga! Toga! Toga!

I'm BA-ACK

I finally did it tonight. I dragged the beast back out and did some sewing. The other day I thrifted a few things of clothing for Joel (the winter clothing), and one of the pieces I bought was a 3-6 month long sleeve onesie that I knew would fit him this summer. I figured it would be an easy fix to cut off the sleeves and make it a short sleeve onesie. Here it is:

Yes, it's the Cleveland Browns. Yes, I know they suck. But hey, how about those CAVS?! (Just a side note, my brother's girlfriend went to high school with LeBron James. He also lives a few minutes from my parents' house. That's my claim to fame. Okay it's my six-degrees-of-separation claim to fame).

After I finished the onesie I decided to get started on these undercover crates. Go check out Laura's blog. She's one heck of a crafter!

It was hard to get anything done because Joel didn't want to take a nap. I discovered that he is fascinated with long, skinny pieces of fabric when dangled in front of him. It gave him about twenty minutes of pleasure as I wore my arm out waving it around like a madwoman.



I've got two crate slipcovers done; one to go. I think I'm done for the night though. I'll probably work on it next week, possibly for "Tackle it Tuesday."

Here's some pics!


I really hate sewing sometimes.


The finished product. Toy storage for Joel! The orange fabric I acquired years ago when my then-boyfriend's uncle got sent to prison (true story). The sports fabric was a thrifted find. It's a jersey knit sheet and was in excellent condition!

Picnic Graduation Par-TAY

My friend is graduating from Columbus College of Art and Design this weekend. Woot, woot! Congrats T-3 :) In order to celebrate, we’ll be having a picnic at the park. I’m in charge of making egg salad and Watergate salad. I think I’ll also whip up some Special K cookies or some Chocolate Covered Corn Flakes to use up some of the twenty-five boxes of cereal we have in the cupboard. (okay, I’m exaggerating… we actually only have twenty boxes of cereal).

We actually do have twenty boxes of cereal… yikes! Someone needs to put the brakes on buying cereal, huh? Maybe there's a ten-step program I can enroll in or something.

Do you like deviled eggs? No? What about these deviled eggs? Even if you don’t click on a any other link on this post, you need to check out these deviled eggs. You won’t be sorry! You will feel complete after checking out these deviled eggs 

Slaving over a Hot Stove

Before I get into using up what's in my fridge, I have to share something I saw on tv with you. I was up with Joel, flipping through the channels (nothing good on HGTV or the food network) when I ran across a movie with "The Mac Guy" (Justin Long) in it. He was this loser high-school dropout with the mullet to end all mullets. He had this shirtless space-cadet-of-a-friend, and they were trying to figure out how to make money without getting a job. The friend recommended buying things at thrift stores, painting them white, calling it "shabby chic," and selling it on ebay just like his mom. YES! They should have went that direction with the movie. Instead they decided to come up with a Sasquatch plot. It would have been much better if they followed them around to thrift stores and watch them paint furniture, don't you think?

I really need to get out my sewing machine. It's still been put away since my friend's shower back in April. I just can't bring myself to drag it all out because I'm so happy with the cleanliness (I am not a clean seamstress. I make a terrible mess!)

So I guess I'll blog about some recipes that I've prepared lately. I have tons of BBQ sauce to use up (seven bottles I think). I actually even bought another bottle last night because I had a dollar off coupon, and the bottle was only eight cents after the coupon!

The other day my mom sent me home with some grilled chicken. I sliced it up, added some BBQ sauce, tossed it into a tortilla with some sauteed green and red peppers and onions, and some shredded cheese.... easy peasy meal, and it was delicious! I ended up making too much peppers and onions, so I had to come up with another recipe to use it up.

Next up: breakfast burritos. My mom also sent me home with some hashbrowns. I made some scrambled eggs and half a pound of sausage and mixed it with the hashbrowns and sauteed peppers and onions. We used the leftover tortillas, and it was fantastic :)

But alas I still had peppers and onions left, not to mention half a pound of sausage, so today I made up some meatloaf. The best part is- it used up the barbecue sauce too!

I also have a couple cucumbers to use up (and some sour cream), so I figured I'd also make gyros with that delicious cucumber sauce. I couldn't find lamb at the store (nor did I really want to pay for it), so I found a recipe that called for ground beef (I used ground turkey). It said to bake up a meatloaf, slice it thin and stuff it into a pita with the cucumber sauce.

And last but not least, I made some candied citron coffee cake to use up the rest of the sour cream. You know me- I can't follow a recipe to save my life! I didn't have enough butter, so I used more sour cream than it called for, 1/2 cup less flour, extra candied fruit, no nuts, and no almond extract (I couldn't find it... I wonder if I ran out). It's still in the oven, but it smells pretty tasty!

So what are y'all cooking? Do you have any good bbq sauce recipes (or Salsa recipes) for me to try? (I have just as many jars of salsa as I do bottle of bbq sauce). If so, leave me a comment with the recipe or a link. Thanks!