LPS Stocking Swap

Cari of Lucky Girl Gifts was my partner...I was the lucky one. Look at this loot. Awesome. She embroidered that sweet little girl and made me earrings....is there nothing she can't do?? I didn't have time to take photos of what I sent her. Hopefully, she did and got better photos than me....I was too excited and rushed so that I could open everything. Here is her blog: www.luckygirlgifts.blogspot.com . Thank you, Cari.

Naughty or Nice?

Wee one came home with this house from school last week . He was good about not touching it for about a day and then destruction....massive destruction. I'm just glad we got pictures. :)

Keeping it real

Or "When Crafing Goes Very Wrong" may be a better title. Or "Good Adhesive Goes Bad"....whatever the title is....my White Christmas tags (the first two tries) went badly. There was crying, cursing, throwing of crap tags....it wasn't pretty. The last picture shows what I ended up making....a total departure from my original idea. I finally got them in the mail yesterday. I remembered to take a picture or two.....I had etsy photos I needed to download, so it was win win. I will be updating the shop tonight and tomorrow....there are something like 45 items I need to list...it might take awhile. Some Christmas, some not. Back to work. :)

The Art of Craft 2012

I just signed up....I had to wait until Hubby got home...double check his schedule. :) I'm so excited....I've missed out on everything else. The line-up of teachers is awesome.....Kaari Meng, Charlotte Lyons (and you know I just love her), Anna Corba, Molly Meng, Pam Garrison, and Michelle Jorgensen. Boxes, bracelets, beeswax and more. Go here to read her blog post www.frenchgeneral.blogspot.com and here to just go ahead and sign up www.frenchgeneral.com . You can just take a class or two or the whole kit and caboodle. But hurry sign-ups are limited to 30 people a class. Twenty nine since I signed up for the whole kit and caboodle. I'm so excited....oh, I already said that. :)

Thanksgiving in Vegas

We drove up to Vegas to join my parents for Thanksgiving. :) Don't think I got out of cooking entirely...okay, baking...Pops requested pumpkin pies and date nut bread. We stayed at the Embassy Suites-Las Vegas. The swans live in the lobby.....Priscilla and Elvis. Hubby and Jr went sight seeing on the Strip on Thanksgiving. My parents took wee one to the aquarium at Mandalay Bay. I fell asleep watching the National Dog Show.....I woke up in time to see a terrier take it all. :) That night we hit a buffet for dinner (with all of Vegas it felt like). Friday, I got to hit a few thrift stores and snagged some awesome stuff for the shop. Jr and Hubby hit went on the Strip again and then we all went to the Hard Rock for dinner. Hubby and I hit the casino not long after that.....oy, things have changed in casinos since our Honeymoon. I felt like a total dumbass. We all went home the next day and we stopped for a potty break in Wikieup and took advantage of the photo op. I hardly took any photos....I just relaxed. It's nice to travel, but it is nice to get home as well.

Last Friday Night

We made calamari. Jr has been picking out some form of sea creature for me to fix every week for the last two months or so. This week he picked squid....yummy....for them...not me. It wasn't as bad as touching the baby octopus. We used this recipe: www.allrecipes.com/Recipe/Calamari/Detail.aspx . We added 1/2 Tablespoon of Parsley and 1/2 Tablespoon of Garlic Powder as well (the first reviewer suggested it). Hubby and Jr were very happy with the results. Still not fond of deep frying...the popping and sizzling scare the hell out of me. It was pretty cool...you could add a clump of squid into the oil and the rings would separate. It doesn't take much to get me all excited.
In other news......I stocked the shop with a whole bunch of Christmas goodies. I've still got a few more things to photograph and list...I was on a roll on Monday with the photos until my battery starting dying on me....argh. I'm still blah about no Silver Bella this year....I would be on my way to Omaha right now. Bummed..so bummed. I've got a few swaps to keep me occupied....White Christmas Tags, ABC Pages, and a stocking. I need to dig my sewing machine out of the garage...it has been there for almost a year. I need to clear off a space for it first though. :) I used up almost all the apples from apple picking....10 gallons of apples is a lot....it made 5 cobblers, 4 crisps, and 5 pies. That was 68 cups of sliced apples. Oy. I think I ate one slice of apple pie. Too many apples....yes, you can have too many apples. I learned the hard way. :)

Crafting Christmas- Amy Powers Style

It's out...the newest Inspired Ideas issue. It's happy and bright...just like Amy. If you'd like to know more...go here: www.inspireco.blogspot.com/ , but if you are ready to pony up the $3.99...go here: www.amy-powers.com/mag/christmas2011subscribe.html . All sorts of fun stuff in this issue (including two stocking ideas). Yes, I already ponied up the cash. :)

Crafting Christmas- Little Pink Studio Style

Cerri is going to have tutorials and a stocking swap and all sorts of fun stuff this holiday season. I signed up for the swap.....I've never made a stocking before...should be interesting. :) She is only taking 20 people, so if you are interested head over. www.littlepinkstudio.typepad.com

Wiener Schnitzel and Home Made Fries

I suck...no picture....too busy frying the fries. :) The wiener schnitzel recipe came from the book "Tender at the Bone" by Ruth Reichl. Really good book...she has two others as well. If you like food, you'll like her books. They aren't cookbooks...memoirs. The home made fries are what our Mom makes...she just cuts potatoes into thin pieces and fries them in vegetable oil....yummy....even better when she makes them. :)

Wiener Schnitzel

1 1/2 pounds of veal cutlets
1/2 cup flour
1 egg, beaten
1 cup finely ground bread crumbs
Salt and pepper
6 Tablespoons butter
1 lemon

Pound each cutlet thin between two pieces of waxed paper.
Place flour in a flat dish or plate large enough to hold cutlet. Place beaten egg in another dish, bread crumbs in a third. Season each with salt and pepper.
Dredge cutlets in flour. Dip into beaten egg. Dip into bread crumbs until thinly but thoroughly coated. Place on waxed-paper-covered platter and place in refrigerator for about an hour.
Melt 4 tablespoons of butter in large skillet. When sizzling, brown cutlets quickly on each side until golden. Remove to platter.
Melt remaining two tablespoons butter in same pan. Squeeze lemon juice into butter, stir, and pour over cutlets.
Serves 4.

It was pretty good...my lemon was a little big, so it was very lemony. Use a smaller lemon or half a lemon, if you don't like too much lemon flavor. I sprinkled Pommes Frites Wurzsalz on the fries after they were done frying. It is a cool seasoning from Germany...they put it on their fries. Or you can just use salt (I did that on the ones for the wee one).

Happy Birthday, Zombie Boy!

Today is his birthday..happy, happy. He is such a big boy. He still won't tolerate wearing a costume, but he wore a ton of fake blood last night. :) He had a little container of body parts to carry around with him. He finally "gets" Halloween and he went trick or treating. His Dad said he did great and was very well behaved. I passed out candy (as usual....even when pregnant to the gills...which I was with both boys....I am the candy passer outer). This is a busy week for us...Halloween and two Birthdays. :)

P.S. I don't do the decorating for Halloween....I like cutesy, not gorey. :)

It's Apple Picking Time

On Sunday, I had the brilliant idea of going apple picking. :) We went to Brown's farm which is about an hour and a half east of Fort Huachuca. We had a great time. We picked way too many apples.....I'm still figuring out what to do with all of them. If you have any good apple recipes send them my way. We sampled their apple cider (and then bought some). The boys got to see sheep, pigs, chickens, and horses. Whenever they see animals it is a good day. We hit the new IHOP in Sierra Vista on the way back. It was a good day. I meant to blog earlier this week, but I've been really busy with my shop...so exciting...I had a bunch of orders this week. If you know me.....I get all kinds of excited if I sell one thing....I sold more than one this week...so happy. I've been trying to gather up some more things to do another update, but it is slow going. I put things in safe places and then can't remember the safe place. Yes, I need safe places...wee one emptied a whole bottle of MS black glitter in my "office" the other day....argh. I got a little crafting in.....I finished a project I started months ago. There is a picture somewhere on this blog of a stack of paper and an old BH&G decorating book. Well, I can't show the finished product yet...I need to mail it to the recipient. It feels good to finish it.....I was worried I was going to screw it up. But the other day I just said the hell with it and did it. :) I wish I was like a lot of you and could just craft to craft. I need it to be for a swap or something specific. Silly, I know. Well.....back to the unearthing. :) Have a great weekend! (If you get bored pop by the shop...I still have more stuff for sale.) :)

Crock-Au-Vin

This was dinner last night. I got the recipe here www.vocalpoint.com . It was really easy and took no more than 30 minutes to prep and your house smells fantastic for hours.

CROCK-AU-VIN

4 bone in chicken legs and/or thighs
4 slices of bacon, cut in pieces
2 onions, cut in medium wedges
4 carrots, roughly chopped
3/4 cup red wine (Burgundy)
1 Tbsp flour
A few leaves of thyme

Combine all the ingredients in the crock pot, give it a brief stir to cover chicken with ingredients, and turn on LOW for 6-8 hours until chicken is cooked through and beginning to fall apart, and the vegetables are tender. If the liquid needs thickened, stir in another tablespoon of flour with the heat still on until it thickens. Ladle into bowl, top with a chicken leg, and serve with a side og green beans or a salad.

I made a few changes.....I used 6 drumsticks....there was plenty of room in my crock pot. I, also, used a few sprigs of thyme. I served it with french bread. I used Burgundy wine (in the original recipe they screwed the pooch and had Chardonnay as the other red wine choice...which is all kinds of wrong). So if you have cooked with red wine before and want to use a different red wine...go for it.

Scallop Couscous Paella

I actually made this back on the 29th of August, but never got around to blogging about it. Here is the link to the recipe: www.familycircle.com/recipe/scallop-couscous-paella/ It makes a whole lot (like ratatouille a lot), so be prepared for leftovers. :)

Two In One Day

Last Friday was OD (Organizational Day) for hubby's unit. We all wore our new ugly shirts with our call signs on the sleeves ( Secret Squirrel, Household 6, Confidential Squirrel, FOUO Squirrel). We actually missed most of it...the boys were in school and by the time we got there it was pretty much over. That was fine with us....the boys enjoyed playing in the water and we enjoyed watching them play. :) I was trying to catch up last week after being gone for a week. I got my little books done for the Halloween Little Book Swap...I still need to take a photo. I've got 27 pages to make for the Christmas ABC Book Swap and goody bags for the PC Witches Tea. Behind, behind....that doesn't include needing to update my shop. I had a whole game plan for the shop and poof those plans are gone (I should've written down my ideas...that will teach me).
Oh well.....back to work. At least I can cross update blog off my to do list. :)

The one where I explain my absence

I was doing better about the blogging and then on the 1st of September my Aunt died. I flew back to Pennsylvania on the 3rd and stayed for a week. That was the first time in 18 years that I had flown into Pittsburgh. Not quite how I wanted to come back...but hey..it is what it is. :) We had three viewings and I was bad...when given the opportunity to leave early from the last one....I took it. The service was nice and it rained at the graveside....which coming in from Southern Arizona I was loving. Rain with no thunder and lightning...wouldn't you?? My brother, sister and brother-in-law all drove up. I got to see all my cousins and their children. It was kind of neat seeing everyone together. They had a wake at the church and those church ladies totally rock.....they even had made from scratch angel food cake.

I did get in some thrifting. I have to say....I love Pennsylvania and their insanely low prices. If I had an extra suitcase....oy. I found a few nifty things....I got a bunch of vintage playskool puzzles (the wooden ones) for a quarter a piece, a vintage ravioli form for $1.99, and vintage linens/lace for 50 cents a piece. I can't wait for my parents to retire, so that I can drop the kids off and shop. :) I got the required PITT shirts for me and the boys (and a Penguins shirt for hubby...he wouldn't wear a PITT shirt even if he was naked and needed clothing). I brought home cookies which wee one helped me eat.

The another thing I love about Pennsylvania is that it is so green. It is so pretty. I didn't take as many pictures as I would have liked to, but you can see some that I did. Yes, I had to take picture of the mushrooms in my Uncle's yard. Hell....I took a picture of the grass for wee one....he loves grass and misses it. Yes, we now have some grass in the backyard....thanks to monsoon season....it won't last long though. :( The first photo is the side yard at my Grandma's house.....you can see an outline in the grass.....that used to be a giant garden. Oh well. It was a nice trip under the circumstances. It was nice to go back. It's probably as close to a home base as I have....especially after my parents retire.

I did it!

I finally updated my etsy shop. I figured it was about time. It is just a small update. I've added paper and ephemera packs (pictured above), more vintage books and a few other items. It took all morning and afternoon....oy. This has to be quick...wee one's bus will be here soon. Have a great weekend!

The Rest of Summer Vacation

I guess since as of this morning Summer Vacation is entirely over (high school started on Monday and wee one went back today) I had better finish up all the stuff from summer break. I managed to read 11 books and go see 4 movies (Cars II and Winnie the Pooh rounded out the month of July). I, also, got adventurous in the kitchen. The picture above is ratatouile. High Schooler decided one day that we should make some (he tried a grilled version at the Hard Rock Cafe in Phoenix at the beginning of summer and wanted to make the old school version)...turned out I made it...that is a lot of slicing and dicing. It made a huge ass pot. Here is the link to that recipe: www.easy-french-food.com/ratatouille-recipe.html . It went over well. About a week before that we made this www.foodsessed.com/2010/04/20/baby-octopus-with-garlic-and-parsley . Since the ratatouille I've done this www.whatscookingamerica.net/Seafood/OystersPanFried.htm and made these www.bonappetit.com/recipes/quick-recipes/2010/05/smoked_salmon_with_black_pepper_potato_chips_and_lemon_creme_fraiche Oy...that has to be this longest link ever. :) Big disclaimer here....I love food....I just don't each much of it. Everything made above was for hubby and high schooler. I got some thrifting in this summer....hopefully, I'll get pictures taken and things listed in my neglected tiny Etsy shop in the next few weeks. I'm going to go enjoy the silence some more before they return from school. :)

Mini-Vacation, Part 2

Saturday morning we headed to the Reid Park Zoo (www.tucsonzoo.org). Wee one has actually been there...that is where they had a field trip in the Spring. It is rather nice..not too big, not too small. I did take pictures of the giraffes, but about a week after we visited one of the giraffes died. :( It was starting to warm up, so we went back to the hotel for a dip (okay, I didn't..they did). Hubby and Jr went here www.funtasticks.com for some father/son bonding time. For dinner, we ran across the road to here www.monkeyburgerrestaurant.com. The burgers were excellent, they make homemade chips to go with them and they have beer on tap (not that I drink beer). We hit a few shops the next day on the way home (Trader Joe's, Super Target, a new B&N for us). It was a nice, little last minute trip.