Holy crap...

I don't blog for a month or so and everything has changed.  Egads.  Let's see...since March 12th- I've read eight books, baked a crap load (scones, muffins, cakes, quiches), drove my boys to Phoenix to meet my parents for Spring Break, went to two zoos and one aquarium,  we had a quick 10 day visit with my hubby (before he left for another 7 week TDY), made two wreaths, donated a bunch of stuff, and watched a lot of tv.  I haven't made much (other than the two wreaths) ,but I'm hoping to...I bought two different journal kits.  I've never made one, so it will be a good challenge.   I'm alive and tired.  I have enjoyed the baking.  We need soldiers though....I miss baking for soldiers.....maybe our next duty station (if we ever get out of here).  I can't make any promises, but I'll try to blog more.  :)

Best Soup Ever (so far)

I've made this soup four times. That is how much I like it (and it has been soup weather here in Southern AZ...quite a bit in the last month or so....it's that friggin wind). It is Creamy Potato Leek soup. It has 5 ingredients and is pretty simple to make. It is a bit chunky, but we like it that way. I top it with cheddar cheese. It reheats well. I like the slightly green part of the leek as well....crazy I know.

CREAMY POTATO LEEK SOUP

8 potatoes, peeled and cubed

4 cups chicken broth

1 pound of bacon, cut into 1 inch pieces

3 leeks, sliced

1 cup heavy cream

1. In a large saucepan or stockpot, bring potatoes and chicken broth to a boil. Cook until potatoes are tender. Meanwhile, place bacon in a large, deep skillet. Cook over medium high heat until evenly brown. Drain, reserving 3 Tablespoons of grease and set aside. Sautee the leeks in the frying pan with the reserved grease 8 to 10 minutes.

2. When potatoes are tender, stir in the fried leeks, heavy cream and bacon. Stir to blend and remove from heat. Serve hot.

Here is the orginal link: http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Creamy-Potato-Leek-Soup-II/Detail.aspx

That way you can read the reviews (in case, you like to make substitutions....I don't). Go make a pot....it is that good. That is saying a lot coming from me the Food Lover Who Doesn't Like To Eat. There is no salt and pepper in the recipe...I add both...I add freshly ground pepper to the broth and potatoes while boiling. The salt I add as I'm scoopping it into the bowl. If you have a Trader Joe's nearby....go and get their sea salt and pepper grinders.....they are refillable and are only around $3.00 each. They have a smoked salt and a pink salt ones as well. I love Trader Joe's. :)

French General, Part Two

Well, here it is....the rest of French General. Wee one (after the stomach bug made it's rounds through the family) brought home a chest cold and felt the need to share that as well. Hubby is gone.....for weeks and weeks.....oy. Someday I will feel 100% and get my shit together. I do have a really good recipe to share...I have a picture to go with it....it needs to be downloaded. So simple, yet something I have yet to accomplish. Have a great weekend!

French General, Part I

This is French General. Totally awesome. These pictures show the wall of beads and buttons. It is on the left hand side. The beads and findings are done by color....so cool. It took three shots to get the whole bead portion. The last picture is of the buttons. You can see that cabinet in the second picture. www.frenchgeneral.com

Better Late Than Never

I figured I'd start with the people. :)

Top Photo (l to r): Kaari Meng, Charlotte Lyons, Pam Garrison
Second Photo: (the totally awesome) Dawn

Third Photo: Michelle of Paper Tales

Fourth Photo (l to r): Chris, Terri and Terry

Fifth Photo (l to r): Me, Lonnie Jenck, Julie Baxley, Cheryl Stoneham

I didn't get as many pictures of people as I would've liked....I was busy talking, crafting, eating and drinking.

This and That

Time always goes so fast...when you are on a deadline. :) My Vintage Christmas ABC Pages were due to the hostess on the 20th....I got mine in the mail on the 19th. I had T and V.....T ended up looking like something to hang in a man cave. :) I included a little tree trimming kit, so that everyone can do up their tree how they want. The pictures suck due to the fact that it was a Thursday and I have a limited amount of time on Thursdays (early release day for the school...I hate early release days....we didn't have those growing up). I had to get them packed up and mailed. I love how my V page turned out.....I stickled the edge of her tutu....it's all sparkly. You probably can't read it, but it says, "Visions of sugarplums danced in their heads." above the velvet.....there aren't a whole lot of V words for Christmas. :)

My swap partner, Cari, from the stocking swap posted about what I sent her...go here for the scoop: www.luckygirlgifts.blogspot.com/2012/01/last-of-christmas-swaps.html . I happy she liked everything and I have to say I love her new header. :) I need to remember to bring her little piece of embroidery she made me to LA with me this weekend. I think it would be perfect in one of the projects (actually...a few of them). I really need to start thinking about what to bring with me. I am excited. It's Charlotte Lyons for goodness sakes. I just adore her classes...she's a nice woman as well. I'm excited that Pam Garrison is co-teaching that class....I never managed to take a class with her at Silver Bella. I'm going to bring my camera...I just hope I remember to take photos....I never remembered to at SB. :) Last, but not least- I marked everything down in the shop...no coupon codes to remember. Everything has been marked down by 50%....I figured it would be easier for shoppers. So, hopefully, you'll take a peek and see something you can't live without. :)

Adventures in SLC Bluegirl Style

When we figured out that we were going to Utah for Christmas.....I decided to convo a fellow etsy seller and blogger, Julie Collings (http://www.theadventuresofbluegirlxo.blogspot.com/ ), to ask her for a list of favorite haunts. She obliged (thank goodness) and gave me a list of places. We got a late start (Hubby was nice enough to take me) and hit all but one thing on her list. Here is the list (just in case you find yourself in SLC):

Capital City Antiques (http://www.capitalcityantiquemall.com/)- 959 South West Temple, SLC

I loved this mall....they had great displays, but not too much. I found some great smalls here.

Decades- 627 South State, SLC
We both loved this one. All that vintage clothing....it was awesome. The prices were not bad either. If I didn't have a little Mr Sticky Fingers....I would have bought all sorts of stuff.

Retro Rose- 207 East Broadway, SLC

All their displays were color coordinated- too cool. :)

*Jitter Bug Antiques- 243 East 300 South, SLC

It is a few steps away from Retro Rose....all sorts of vintage toys, ephemera, and other gooodies.

A stop at the Anthropologie at Gateway Mall.

Not the best Anthropologie that I've been to, but they were having a sale...I got a shirt and a copy of Anthology.

Vine Street Antiques- 4854 South State Street, Murray
This was my least favorite.....they had great displays of vintage toys, but were overpriced. No picture...it was too dark.

The * was for the fact that it wasn't on Julie's list. It was fun and nice to see the city from someone else's prespective. :) If you get the chance to try that in a similiar situation, you should.

The reason for the late start...the day before, my Father, took Jr and me on a marathon thrifting session. We started at 0800 and came home after 2100...we hit 10 Deseret Industries, 2 Salvation Army stores, and 2 Savers. It was insane....do not attempt that ever. Oy. I didn't find much for the shop...mostly things for myself. Lots of books. I love books. :)

I'm Having A Sale

I decided to embrace some of the new technology that Etsy has and made a coupon code (I know it's been available for a few months now...give me a break). If you use NEWYEAR20 you can get 20% off anything in the store. I've still got Christmas/New Year's items, loads of trim, some fabric and fun vintage items. www.MayMouse.etsy.com Go check it out...I need to make room for the new old stuff. :)

A Year Ago Today

We moved to Arizona from Georgia. I can't believe it has already been a year...oy. We got back from our trip on New Year's Eve.....I figured we were on the road last year, so we should be home for this one. Utah was cold...not as much snow as I had hoped for, but enough that the boys could throw snowballs at each other (and their Dad). It was nice spending Christmas with my parents. I've got photos....I just haven't downloaded them yet. My Dad took me on a day of thrifting that lasted around 12 hours, 280 miles, and 15 thrift stores. I found a few things for the shop, but for the most part it was books....lots of books. Some for me (Nancy Drew, Hardy Boys, Trixie Belden and Agatha), some for wee one's school bus, some for my b-i-l, and some for hubby and Jr. I, also, had a special trip into Salt Lake just to go to shops recommended by one of my favorite bloggers. We all went and saw "Alvin and the Chipmunks: ChipWrecked"...it was cute and wee one really enjoyed it..he kept screaming "Alvin" and "mango and banana"...he knows his fruit. We had two bottles of German wine, that we had my parents bring back for us and have been with them since 2004. Good times. I promise a better post in the future....still getting back in the groove of things....first day where all of them are in school/work....it is so quiet....that is a good thing. :)

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. :)