Another Day Off

Today I had another day off. I really didn't get much accomplished. I feel really crummy when I don't get things done on my day off. I know that it is completely my fault for just sitting around all day and not getting anything done. I think I need to set some goals for myself so that I'm able to get organized and get to work.

I was also really inspired today by Rebecca Sower's last couple of posts on her blog. She is so full of good things. She is a real woman of God and her posts and everything that she does reflect that. I think that I really need to unplug for a couple of days. The tv, internet and everything "plugged in" seems to suck people away from things that are important; projects, chores, people. I think a couple of days without at least tv and internet would do me a lot of good. Maybe next week ...

The one thing that I did get done was to go through all of my old magazines. I pulled out all of the inspiration/ideas/patterns/decor/recipes that I thought I might want in the future. I put them into a notebook that I got at Target. It was actually kind of satisfying being able to see all of that inspiration in one small notebook. I will keep adding to it in the future. It was kind of fun because even though I didn't use any scrapping supplies, it really does kind of look like a scrapbook.

Lately I have been in the mood to make real food. Last Saturday I made some cream of broccoli soup. From this recipe on Allrecipes.com. I didn't have celery, so I didn't use it. It turned out pretty good. I got broccoli at Target for .50 and I had to use it up!

Last night I also had some rotisserie chicken that needed to be used up. There wasn't enough for both of us, so I pulled out this recipe all from Allrecipes. I added mushrooms and onions and used 1% milk instead of whole cream. I LOVED this recipe. We are fighting over who gets to take it to work tomorrow!

That's all I have for tonight. I hope everyone has a great evening!

Busy Week

It has been over a week since I've posted! Wow, time goes by fast.

On Saturday I had friends over and we ate and crafted. I think more talking and eating went on than actual crafting, but that's what normally happens at these events. It was fun to hang out with friends.

I had Monday off for President's Day and I ended up finally meeting with my friend Lisa! She was so generous to offer to show me the ropes of selling some of my creations. She even brought me some awesome gifts! A headband (almost like this one...go buy one from her!!) and some super cute magnets that she made and also this book. I've read a lot of it already. It has lots of good advice. The thing that freaks me out the most is the tax stuff. I need to just sit down and do it and remember to keep all of my receipts and I'll be fine. The main obstacle now is coming up with a name. If anyone has any suggestions, please let me know! Here are some specifications I have: (I know, I'm really picky!)

• I would kind of like it to be old or vintage sounding because a lot of the things I make tend to look that way.


• It would be nice if it somehow had meaning. I was going to name it "Harriet and Lucy" because those are the two great grandmas that I remember, but those names might be in the mix for any future children we may have and I don't want my store to have my kid's names.


• I don't want it to encompass any certain craft or material. For example nothing like "Becca's cards" or "Paper Palace." If I ever decide to branch out to another medium I want to be prepared. Not that I'm ever going to make it big-time, I just want to be prepared! If I name it "Matt's Metalworks" I don't think I would be able to market my new line of patchwork pillows very well.

I've been thinking of a lot of names and I think after this weekend I will have it all nailed down...unless someone comes up with a better, more unique one!

The other day I borrowed my mom's bread machine and baked some bread. I had the bread machine do all of the work and then I put it into the oven. While it was cooking it smelled soooooo good. It was awesome when we ate it right out of the oven, but after it got cold the texture wasn't very good. I don't think it raised (rose??) enough in the bread machine. I think I'm going to try it again sometime and use some of the allrecipe tips on not using the machine at all.

Here is the original recipe I used:

Jo's Rosemary Bread

INGREDIENTS
1 cup water
3 tablespoons olive oil
1 1/2 teaspoons white sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1/4 teaspoon Italian seasoning
1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
1 tablespoon dried rosemary
2 1/2 cups bread flour
1 1/2 teaspoons active dry yeast

DIRECTIONS
Place ingredients in the pan of the bread machine in the order recommended by the manufacturer. Select white bread cycle; press Start.

That's all I have for tonight. If I don't post before the weekend, I hope everyone has a great one!

Wednesday Day Off

I had the day off today and I got a lot of projects done. Here are some of the things that I've been working on today and this week. It felt good to be creative!

Tag: Avery, Patterned Paper: K & Company, Chipboard: Making Memories, Stamp: Hampton Arts, Ink: Delta, Paint: Plaid, Ribbon: Michaels

Cardstock: Neenah Paper, Die Cuts With a View, Stamp: Inqueboutique, Brads: Joann's Scrap Essentials, Labeler: Rotex Futura, Ink: Hampton Art, Pen: Sakura

Cardstock: Neenah Paper, Patterned Paper: K & Co, Chipboard: Making Memories, Buttons: The Paper Studio, Stickers: American Crafts, Brads: Joann's Scrap Essentials, Paint: Plaid, Ink: Delta,

Cardstock: Neenah Paper, Patterned Paper: K & Company, Merriam Webster Dictionary, Vintage Velvet, Chipboard: The Paper Studio, Stamps: Autumn Leaves, Hampton Arts, Brad: CK, Ink: Stazon, Delta, Paint: Plaid

Cardstock: Neenah Paper, Patterned Paper: K & Company, Chipboard: Making Memories, Stamp: Hampton Arts

Cardstock: Neenah Paper, Die Cuts with a View, Patterned Paper: K & Company, Merriam Webster Dictionary, Punches: Marvy Uchida, EK Success, Brad: K & Company, Ink: Delta, Stazon, Stamp: Delta

I don't have much to say today. Not much is going on here. It is snowing tonight and it is supposed to add up over night. The drive into work tomorrow will be fun! We get to pick up our car tomorrow! It will be nice to have two cars again.

I hope everyone has a nice evening!

Flikr Favorites

1. palma tote, 2. inspiration mobile, 3. Soap, 4. n.49 (água e sal), 5. My Bella Crocheted Baby Dress, 6. Banksy, 7. houses of Bryggen, 8. for my sister, 9. Water Canvas, 10. Untitled, 11. Tiny Mittens, 12. Scrap mittens, 13. Recylced Sweater Stockings, 14. Button, button, who's got the button?, 15. Untitled, 16. :::::, 17. technicolor garden, 18. Saartje's Bootees, 19. Cherry Blossoms ..., 20. 'I love you more...' felt art close up, 21. Corazón al cuadrado / Hearts x2, 22. Purse in Guacamole Green, 23. craft show mini totes, 24. pink patchwork tote, 25. fruit fly !, 26. embroidery art pieces, 27. Tela, 28. San Stefano, 29. *garden*, 30. drops of purple petals, 31. button wreath, 32. Uniform shoes, 33. Little spool and fabric tree, 34. Boat, 35. camilla, crazy dot, 36. emmeline apron reverse side with tie in back

These are just some quick favorites from flikr. Does anyone know why those two white boxes are there? Those images show up in my favorites when I'm on the site...hmmmm......

Crunch and Munch

Tuesday night Jeremy and Nathan decided to go to the Republican Caucus for the first time. (I was babysitting Noah for the evening) I think they were both excited about finding out what it was all about. This is Nathan's first Presidential Election and he had gone to the Ron Paul Rally at the U of M on Monday night. He had a huge Ron Paul lawn sign that he put in the windshield of our car right before they went in. This is what they found when they came back to the car:

I don't know if someone purposely did this because they didn't like Nathan's sign or what. To me it looks like whoever did it knew that they did it (how could you not know that you hit a car this hard?) and they chose not to leave a note. Jeremy took it in to get an estimate today and the insurance company is supposed to contact us by tomorrow. I also called the high school today to see if they have cameras in the parking lot. The officer ended up talking to Jeremy again and he said he would look at their tapes to see if anything was there. Hopefully he will find something! If not, I guess we are out our $500 deductible.

On to lighter things - we went to Cub Foods last night and I had my whole shopping trip planned out. I think I had a coupon for every item I bought! I am so dumb that I took a picture of all of the food I got.

Here is a list of it all:

3-Boxes of cereal, 2 - Cake mixes, 3-Frosting tubs, 3-Pizza crusts, 2-Gordita kits, 2-Packages of deli meat, 2-Packages of fresh chicken breasts, 1-Bag of chips, 1-Loaf of bread, 1-Can of olives, 1-Can of mushrooms, 1-Bunch of bananas, 20-String Cheese (from Target)

My grand total was $15.32! I think that's pretty good considering the chicken itself was over $13 if I would have paid full price. When we were checking out the teenage cashier looked at Jeremy and said, "Man, it's like you're trying to game the system." and "Is this necessary?" Jeremy just looked at him and said, "Yep." It really helps that Cub lets you use their coupons and also manufacturer coupons. Plus they had a deal if you buy 10 selected items you get $10 off your meat purchase. Nice.

Ok, that's enough rambling on about my shopping! The last news of the day is that today we had a meeting at work and every one's hours were cut to 30 hrs per week. I guess I wasn't surprised at all. I'd heard rumors about it. I think I will be taking one day off per week and starting the day at 8:30. That day off might give me some time to do more home cooking and some crafting. I'm thinking about opening at Etsy store and I think this will give me time to do that.

On that note I will end. I have laundry and other things calling my name. Tomorrow is Friday!!

Weekend Activities

This last weekend was a busy one!

I guess Friday night was low-key. We went to work out and then came home and watched tv until bedtime. It was a nice night.

Saturday we went to Jeremy's grandma's house in Cannon Falls to help clean out one of her bedrooms. Jeremy's sister Katie is going to be coming home from California to live with her. It was fun to hang out with his family. His mom, aunt and grandma and I had fun going through vintage clothes and fabric.

Here are some of the things that I got to take home. I can't wait to start creating some great stuff with all of this stuff! Above is a stack of the fabric and aprons that I got.

This is a small piece of a quilt that had long ago been ripped apart for another project. This piece is about a foot long. I have no idea what I'm going to do with it, but I thought it was so beautiful that I couldn't pass it up! It lookes like the whole thing was done by hand. I can't imagine how many hours it took to make a large quilt like this. I made a quilt when I was in 7th or 8th grade and it seemed to take forever! I did hand quilt it, but I just did a very simple block that wasn't very elaborate. I would love to know if this fabric was taken from old garments or flour sacks.

This is just a glimpse of a small apron that I got. It is really wrinkled and it needs to be washed. There are a couple of small rips, but I still think it is so sweet. I think I might hang it up somewhere in my kitchen.

I also got some fun old books; a Christmas book with songs and poems, "Self Instructor to Elocution" and "The Popular Ettequite Book." They will look great on the bookshelves in the living room.

We had an yummy meal of chili and homemade bread after we were done working. Carol and John got a bread machine for Christmas and they made an awesome, HUGE loaf of wheat bread. They had the machine do all of the mixing and rising and then they baked it in the oven. They said that their secret ingredient is oatmeal. I guess it makes it really moist??? It has really gotten me in the mood to make some homemade bread! I think I might ask my mom if I can borrow her bread machine to experiment. If anyone knows of any terrific recipes, please let me know!

Yesterday we went to church and after that Esther came over for lunch. Jeremy made us pancakes and bacon! Later we went to Sara and Eric's house for the SuperBowl. I brought homemade salsa and guacamole with chips and Sara had made tons of chicken wings with all different flavors of sauce. None of us were too into the game, but it gave us a good excuse to hang out.

As I read over this post it looks like all we did this weekend! I guess it was a good weekend. :)

I hope everyone has a good Monday!