The Sparkly and The Pretty

People like to assume that I'm stupid.

Heck, why not? Among my favorite things I can list cupcakes, glitter, Hello Kitty, and the color pink. I think it's funny as hell when I see someone fall down. I mean, I feel bad for them, obviously, but I still laugh. Since I'm being honest here, I'll admit that I usually laugh like an idiot when I fall down too! I like to watch music videos. Makeup makes me happy. I don't get into politics and try to avoid watching the news if at all possible.

There's a columnist for our local newspaper here who keeps a blog that I love. She posts about places she visits and fun things she finds to eat, do, and buy around the Valley. She has a lighthearted style and I've learned so many wonderful things on her blog. If you were reading my blog last fall/winter, you probably remember me referring to Jaimee Rose on more than one occasion. I used to read her weekly column in the Your Essential Style insert that came out on Thursdays when I was in college and now, I read her blog. I even met her once when I was working at the now defunct (HAHA) Recollections in Scottsdale.

What I'm saying is, I'm a fan.

The world and people being what they are, of course, not everyone is. I got a little note on my Facebook wall yesterday asking me if I had seen Jaimee's post that day from a sorority sister who is also a reader. Since I had just gotten up, I had yet to see it so I clicked on over, but the comment in question was already gone. I asked my friend what it had said, and the gist of it was that the commenter called Jaimee an idiot, a terrible reporter, and compared her to a Kardashian. Unfortunately, I've seen these sorts of comments on her blog before. I don't know how she handles it, but I guess it comes with the territory. Still, it's a reminder that people can be just so mean when under the comfortable blanket of Internet anonymity. It also seems a bit ridiculous because if you think about it, a lifestyle reporter who goes on about politics or the state of the world is probably in the wrong line of business, you know?

I found myself with this incident popping into my thoughts off and on all day yesterday, and finally realized that it probably had a lot to do with me being able to identify with the situation. I like pretty things, I talk about lighthearted subjects, I don't have ambitions to be a scientist or an engineer, ergo, I must be an idiot too.

I remember coming to the realization that my best friend's mother felt that way about me when we were in high school. I also remember how mad she was when I scored one point higher overall than her daughter did on my ACT, and how she made my friend take it THREE MORE TIMES in an attempt to get her to beat my score, which by the way? Never happened. Her daughter was the class valedictorian. She took all honors and AP classes. She was going to be a biochemical engineer! Me? I wanted to teach kindergarten and liked (still do!) to watch Speedy Gonzales cartoons.

Well, guess what world? It is possible to be smart and like what some consider to be frivolities. My IQ is a respectable 135, and while that won't get me into Mensa, that's nothing at which to shake a stick. I left college with a 3.6 gpa and that was AFTER failing an entire semester due to a nervous breakdown. Since I was only halfway through, that means it was entirely possible for me to still graduate with honors. I scored in the 99th percentile of the language portion on my ACT in high school, and my vocabulary is indeed quite large. My grammar and spelling are decent as well.

You know what I don't have? The pompous ass attitude that some people feel they need to adopt when they think that they're smart. I don't have anything to prove. I am just me, and for the most part, I'm okay with that. I like that I bring the sparkly AND the pretty. I like being a stay at home mom. I like making crafts, I like wearing pink, and I like chick lit.

Oh, and I like Jaimee Rose. I think she's a pretty smart cookie.

ABC - The Aftermath

As I stated way back at the beginning of the month, my motto for the month was ABC - Always Be Crafting. I may not have crafted every minute of every day, but man, it sure felt like I was coming close sometimes! I had so much to get done before family came to visit. Being on a very strict budget made it all the more necessary to stick with it as well. Here, in no particular order, are the projects that I can remember off the top of my head. I'm pretty sure this is almost all of them.

Pajama pants

I wanted us to all have matching pjs on Christmas morning, but it's really hard to find ones that come in both adult and infant sizes. I'm sure even if I were to come across them, they would not be cheap. I also have a problem buying things in holiday themes because then you can't wear them past the end of the holiday without looking like a total doofus. I ended up buying three pairs of men's pj pants on sale for $8 a piece at Target and making the third pair into baby pants using the directions in The Creative Family. I'm not so good with the pattern making though, so the baby's pants fit a little bit big and had to be pinned up in the back. That's okay, it just means he'll grow into them, right?

Knit washcloths

I made both my mother in law and my sister in law a half dozen each hand knit cotton dishcloths. I switched to these myself from cellulose sponges a few months ago, and we love them! They're textured just right to make them great for scrubbing, but they won't scratch anything. They're better for the environment because they're reusable. You just toss them in the wash at the end of the day so you don't have a sponge in your sink breeding bacteria. Some people think you can toss the sponge in the dishwasher and that sanitizes it, but oh, is that a yucky, yucky myth!

I forgot to take a photo of the finished ones. Duh.

Baby Non-Skid Socks.

Bubba was slipping and sliding all over the kitchen floor when it got cold enough so that he needed to wear socks. Someone told me that if you put puff paint on the bottom of them it would make them non skid. I also read it in Parents magazine, so I decided to try it. Not only did it not work very well, the paint peeled off after a couple of washings!

I like to call these his "Bad Word" socks.

Pinwheel Quilt

I don't even know if I should count this one. I bought the fabric, cut the squares, started sewing and pressing and sewing and piecing... and then ran out of time. I even managed to get about half of the actual pinwheels completed using the directions on V and Co's blog, but I was insane to think that I would be able to finish a full sized quilt in time for Christmas with all the other stuff I had going on. As a result, my sister in law and her fiance received a box with all the pieces and a promise it would be done in time for the wedding in May.

Felt Food

Now that Bubba as a play kitchen with pots and pans, I decided he needed some play food to go along with it. I know there are tons of play sets available out there with play food that are very reasonably priced, but the problem is that they're usually A) plastic and B) made in China. I'm not giving that to my baby who still feels the need to shove everything into his mouth! EW! There are some wooden ones that I liked (and plan to get in the future) as well as some really nice felt food on Etsy, but they're also kind of spendy. It's just not in the budget right now.

Fortunately, felt is super cheap! So is embroidery floss. I actually happen to have a ton of both in my stash of craft supplies already (I bet you're so surprised) so I decided to make up some things. I didn't have patterns, and just was winging it. I looked at photos of felt food on Flickr for inspiration. There was also a couple of orange wedges and a few slices of tomato for the sandwich that I didn't photograph because they were done after I took the photos. Oh, and the syrup on the waffle is detachable!!!

I sewed all these by hand while watching Bewitched on Hulu, starting with the first episode. That's also how I passed the time for a lot of my knitting!

Glitter Buckles for Ribbon

When I saw these on Jaimee Rose's blog a few months ago while going through her archives, I knew I had to make them. She said she paid $12.50 for eight of hers at a local shop called Melrose Vintage. Again, not only am I poor, but I am cheap as well, so I made some. I sketched out my own pattern before learning that Martha had one available on her site. Duh. I then traced it on scraps of chipboard leftover from other projects. Next, I took a Bic Mark-It marker that coordinated with the glitter I was using for that particular buckle and used it to color in the edges of the chipboard. Finally, I took Stickles and covered the fronts of the buckles. They had to dry overnight because I put a really thick layer, but they were worth the wait because the Stickles don't flake loose glitter everywhere like regular glitter and glue does.

My favorite ones were the ones made with the Platinum Stickles and gray Mark-It. The Black Diamond didn't turn out very well. I think it would have worked better if I had colored the chipboard base black before covering it in glitter. After they were dry all I had to do was thread some wide ribbon through them. These would be great for gifts that had to be shipped because they look pretty and you wouldn't have to worry about the bow getting crushed.

Cake Pops and Cake Truffles

I decided to stop calling them "Cake Balls" and start calling them "Cake Truffles." I think that sounds nicer. I had someone order some cake pops, and had a lot left over. Then I ran out of sticks so I had to switch from pops to truffles.

Pops are DEFINITELY easier.

Stockings

Since family was coming over, we were going to need more stockings! No way in hell was I going to pay $15 each for six new stockings (because you know they HAD to match) so I started to troll local thrift stores in search of fabric to make into stockings. I found this large lime green check for $5 and had enough to make them all with some leftover. I got the red burlap at Hobby Lobby for $3. Grand total - $8 for six new, MATCHING stockings. Not bad!

Tamales

I'm counting these as crafting because they are a LOT of work. I had my friend (pictured above) over to help. This was only my third time making them myself, and it was SO NICE compared to last time. I had the stand mixer to make the masa instead of having to hold a hand mixer. I had the Multi Pot which held a lot more water under the steamer basket and needed less monitoring than the smaller pot I used last time. I also had better help - he didn't whine and complain the whole time and was eager to learn. That's always nice! We made about 8 dozen, which isn't a lot compared to what some people made, but we also only ever had two people at a time working on them.

I just lack a posse of tias and cousins to help, I guess.

Peppermint Marshmallows

Another thing I got from Jaimee Rose. I tell you, that woman is a bad influence on me! The recipe is from Martha, the containers are from the Dollar Tree, and the labels I made in Photoshop and punched out using my EK Success scalloped punch. I was surprised at how easy they were and am no longer a candy-making virgin. I even have the candy thermometer to prove it!

Sugar/Gingerbread Cookies

Again, technically not a craft, but still requiring a lot of time and work and some level of craftiness, so I'm counting them! I made so many of these. Some were sold, some were given as gifts, many were eaten. I hung most of the gingerbread ones on the tree in lieu of ornaments this year as I didn't want the baby knocking any of my ornaments off and breaking them.

Ornament Wreath

Yet another thing found by Jaimee Rose, this wreath was made using the directions given by Eddie Ross on his blog. I was lazy and skipped the hot gluing part, and regretted it when I lost a couple ornaments. I used shatterproof ones I got for $10 at Target. If I put this out again I'll go back and do that step. I also ran out before I completed the loop and just filled the gap with a big-ass bow.

Christmas Cards

I went super simple this year - the boy's photo with Santa photoshopped into a simple background with a short greeting. I made them 4" x 6", sent them off to Walgreens with a coupon code, and had them printed for ten cents each. They were then mounted on a rectangle of plain white cardstock to make them feel more "finished" and mailed out in envelopes that I ran through the printer.

Play Kitchen "Art"

I made this little sign in Photoshop for the baby's play kitchen. It got printed out here on photo paper and then put into a frame that my husband found at the Walmarts for $3.

So there you have it - I spent more hours making stuff than I did sleeping. Come to think of it, I didn't sleep a whole heck of a lot this month. There were more than a couple of all-nighters pulled. It's the only way I was able to work without Bubba Grabby-Fingers distracting me. I would just take a nap with him in the afternoons to try and catch up a little. I had a few moments here and there where I worked on my own December Daily album. I do still need to wrap that up though, as having family in town puts a serious halt to projects like that.

People are always asking me how I find the time, but the truth of the matter is that you find time for what is important to you - this was important to me. If you think about it, I really don't go out much, I hardly watch television, I don't go to the gym or work out at all, and I don't have a job besides caring for my child. I decided that since I wasn't very good at anything else, I was going to rock this domesticity thing as hard as I could.

Next month though - I'm taking a break! HA!

Umami

One of the things that I said I wanted to try to make was the Truffled Parmesan Popcorn recipe that I found on Jaimee Rose's blog last year. My mother in law gave me a jar of the Truffle and Salt for Christmas, so I decided that the time was now! Per the suggestion on her blog, we headed over to TJ Maxx on Friday where I poked around and found a bottle of white truffle oil. It was six bucks! That's cheaper than my regular olive oil, so kick butt.

To make the popcorn, first gather all your ingredients:

You're going to need 2-3 table spoons of truffle oil (although you can use regular canola oil if you're fresh out of truffle oil), 1/2 cup popcorn kernels (I used plain old Orville Redenbacher), and some Truffle and Salt. It's a little bit spendy, but you just use a teeny bit so that jar will last a long time.

Sidenote - if you're still making microwave popcorn, STOP! That stuff is laden with chemicals and all sorts of nastiness. You can make perfectly tasty popcorn in a plain old pot. If you're worried about it being fat free, you can always buy an air popper.

Off my soapbox now! :)

Oh, and you're going to need a whole lot of grated Parmigiano Reggiano. If you're still eating the stuff in the green can, well, I'm sorry. Do your taste buds a favor and get the real thing. Sure, it costs more, but a little of this goes a LONG way. Jaimee's recipe said to use two cups. I think I did about a cup and a half, because I just eyeballed it. There was a lot of loose cheese at the bottom of the bowl when we were done eating, so next time I think I'll just do about a cup's worth and see how that is.

Go ahead and put the oil and popcorn in a large, heavy bottomed pot. It doesn't need to be preheated. Place it over medium heat and cover it up. Give it a good shake every few minutes so it doesn't burn. At first, you're not going to hear anything and you're going to think to yourself, "Well CRAP, this isn't working!!!" Then you'll hear a pop here and there. Eventually they will pick up steam, and then after a few minutes the pops will start to space out again. When there are 3-5 seconds in between pops, it's done. Take it off the heat.

Go ahead and pour a third of it into a huge bowl. You're going to want a really big one so you have room to get it all mixed up! Sprinkle it with a third of your grated cheese and a couple of pinches of the Truffle and Salt. Repeat this two more times until all the popcorn and cheese are in the bowl. You want to work quickly while it's still warm so that the cheese can stick to it better.

This makes a lot of freaking popcorn. It's very savory, so while you won't get full eating it, you definitely get a good mouthfeel from this. I was worried I wouldn't like the truffle because I never had it before and it smelled really strong, but there is so little in this that it's manageable. In fact, some baby was VERY fond of this and couldn't get enough!

Now, before anyone panics that I was feeding my one year old popcorn, I just want to let you know that I am well aware that children should not eat it until they're four or five due to it being an extreme choking hazard. I didn't give him any of the parts with the hull (brown hardish part), opting to just pull off the big fluffy white part from the tops. I then smashed them flat between my thumb and forefinger so that they were less fluffy and round, and therefore less likely to get lodged in his windpipe. I also made sure he drank PLENTY of water.

So, what's up with the title of this post?

You know how when you were a kid you learned about the five senses in school? When you got to the sense of taste, you learned that your tongue has the ability to distinguish between four types of flavors - sweet, salty, sour, and bitter. Well, the Japanese believe there is a fifth taste, and they call it Umami. The best way to describe it is a certain kind of savoriness. Parmesan cheese has it, and so do tomatoes and mushrooms. It's found in foods high in a certain chemical called Glutamate - that's right, the natural version of good old MSG (monosodium glutamate).

This is why I think people who claim to be "allergic" to MSG are full of crap. If you can eat tomatoes and sushi (seaweed is high in glutamate), you can eat MSG. If you feel gross after eating foods containing MSG, it is probably because of another reason, such as you can't handle the gluten in the soy sauce, you're allergic to tomatoes, or you just plain ate too much. A true MSG allergy is rare.

Now, does that mean I'm going to go out and say it's okay to eat a bunch of it? Of course not! MSG is the man made version of glutamate, much like high fructose corn syrup is the man made version of sugar. I like sugar, but I try to avoid foods with HFCS. The same goes for MSG. It does mean, however, that I do cook with tomatoes even though I don't like them, because they add that savoriness to foods that isn't necessarily a tomato flavor. Then I just pick those bad boys out of my serving! HA!

Next up, I'm going a different direction with my popcorn - White Chocolate & Peppermint Popcorn! I already picked up a few boxes of candy canes on clearance to try it out.

Saturday

This morning, we hauled our butts out of bed early (for us anyway), loaded up the boy into the car,

Nailbiter at a year and a half. Terrible.

and headed up to Scottsdale to check out the Old Town Farmer's Market.

I must have some sort of tv version of a Farmer's Market in my head, because every time I go to one they always seem kind of lame to me. Either that, or our Farmer's Markets around here just suck. Who can say? All I know is that it seems to me that a Farmer's Market should sell less crap like soap, bibs, or dog beer and more stuff from, you know, FARMS!

There was one awesome booth that did have a great selection. Even better, almost everything was organic and the prices were stellar. We got some cute (yet slightly creepy) fingerling potatoes, a Granny Smith apple (to make into panini with brie and ham), a couple of leeks (for Pioneer Woman's Potato Leek Pizza), some fresh basil (going to try Kate's tomato sauce and pizza too), and some carrots. While we did see these:

And they were very pretty, I just can't bring myself to eat "wrong" colored food. Carrots are supposed to be orange, not yellow or red. Asparagus is supposed to be green, not white. Potatoes are supposed to be a whitish yellow, not purple. Corn chips are supposed to be off white, not blue.

So, I got regular, orange carrots. I'm boring like that.

I also bought, and ate, my very first macaron ever from Essence Bakery. I had no idea that they were that big. I always pictured them to be maybe an inch and a half across, but this one was 2-3 inches easily. I got a caramel cream one, per recommendations (I think it was Jaimee Rose? Maybe someone else on Twitter?) and was only disappointed because we bought just the one. Boo.

After that, as we were driving home, we passed by this huge antique store that was having a vendor fair in their parking lot. I'm all about digging though other people's old crap to see what I can find, so we stopped. I got two awesome pair of vintage clip on grandma earrings for $9, and four milk glass bowls for $5. They were marked $12, but I haggled a bit.

My husband bought a Metallica CD. He's not much into antiques.

Since we were there, we decided to check out the inside of the building as well. There were so many random things in there, including:

A genuine moonshine still. Every household should have one, right?

It's funny how delusional some of the sellers in that place were. I mean, I get that old things are kind of rare and therefore have value. Maybe I have been spoiled by Goodwill and eBay, because it seemed that most things were priced outrageously! For instance, I've had my eye out for a milk glass juice reamer. I found two there and both were priced at $65. That's ridiculous! You can get them on eBay between $10 and $20 usually. Both of them were really dirty too. I found milk glass mixing bowls for the old Sunbeam mixers, bowls that I currently own, for $12 - $20 each. I paid no more than $5 each for mine. These little individual metal Jello molds were priced at $3. I must have thirty of those things around here, and there's NO WAY I paid that, or would pay that, for one.

Crazy.

After we left the antique store, we realized that the only thing we had eaten that day was the macaron, so it was off to find lunch. I was bad and broke my fast due to my poor planning and desire to get our behinds out the door in a timely fashion. No way was I going to make it all the way home to eat! We took a little drive into Mesa and on a whim stopped at Cafe Rio. I had heard of this place before from reading peoples blogs, but I myself had never been.

I am so very sorry for that mistake now. The sweet pork barbacoa was AMAZING. We both got tacos, but next time (and there WILL be a next time) I'm definitely getting the salad. We all shared some chocolate flan with strawberries for dessert.

It was a nice Saturday, spent out with people I love. :)

It's Beginning to Look A Lot Like Christmas!

Our new carpet is finally in and we were finally able to get our Christmas tree up!

(The photo looks good, but the attempt to have the baby put the star on top of the tree was not so very successful, let's just say)

We spent all weekend moving furniture back into the living room and making sure everything was placed just so. I rearranged a few things in here and changed how the books were placed on the shelves. Everything also got a good cleaning and all the wooden furniture got polished with a 50/50 mixture of lemon juice and olive oil. I'm telling you, that stuff works SO much better than anything you can buy, and it's all natural.

After all of the business stuff was done, we got to work with decorations. I decided not to put everything out this year because of Mr. Bubba Grabby-Hands. The tree is up, but it has no ornaments. I plan to put gingerbread cookies with white icing on it. That way, if he gets any off and breaks or eats them, it's not a big deal.

I hung the felt circle garland I made last year over a mirror, between the two tall bookshelves, and a faux pine garland on the shelf over the television. I've been clipping the Christmas cards we've received to it using teeny clothespins. Remember when those were THE thing in scrapbooking? Yeah, they were in the jar with my watch crystals, ha ha!

Here is a photo of the Eddie Ross wreath that I talked about in my last post. You can see that the bow just fills the blank spot in the wire. I know that purple in the ribbon doesn't really match, but I had this small piece that was just enough for this and wanted to use it up, so there you go.

Last August we found a Playmobil nativity at a local toystore, so I bought that. I feel it's important for Bubba to grow up knowing the meaning behind Christmas, and not just the Santa part. I didn't put out everything, because it has a TON of teensy parts. Just the basics, plus the larger animals. The baby Jesus is still in the box and won't come out until Christmas day.

I baked a whole slew of gingerbread (for the tree mostly) and sugar cookies yesterday, and stayed up all night icing them. I'll take photos of them tomorrow morning before I bag them up for delivery. I think they came out really cute. I posted some bad iPhone photos of them on Facebook, so if you're my friend on there you can check them out.

Tonight I decided to try something completely new - marshmallows! I've never attempted any sort of candy making before, because working with molten, bubbling sugar scares the crap out of me. I think I've mentioned before just how clumsy I am! Nevertheless, since Jaimee Rose said they were easy, I decided, what the heck? So there is my "New Thing" for December.

I've never worked with the unflavored Knox gelatine before either. It's really weird and smells funny! I also had to run to Michael's to pick up a candy thermometer. I have so many thermometers in this house, but due to never having made candy (not even fudge) I didn't have one of those. Hooray for 50% off coupons!

I doubled Martha's recipe, and I'm happy to report, they came out wonderfully. They're big, so you would only need one or two for a mug of cocoa. They're a slightly different texture than store bought ones, and are flavored with a teeny hint of peppermint. I swirled on red food coloring, per Martha's instructions. Word to the wise - when the woman says work quickly, do it! on one batch, the coloring set on top too long and it sank through to the bottom of the marshmallow mixture, resulting in the color not being swirled through. When I cut them apart, there were these tiny wells of red color that made them look like they were bleeding!!!

I bought the jars at Dollar Tree, and plan to make labels for them and hand them out as gifts. I think I may have to go back and buy a few more.

So that is Christmas here so far! I'm working on my December Daily, and I'll try to post what I've done so far soon. No promises though. I still have quite a bit of sewing to do in the next ten days so I'll be very busy. We've also got tamales coming up this weekend!

It's the most BUSY - uh, I mean wonderful - time of the year!

Operation First Birthday

...is in full effect!

We decided on a theme (monkeys) and a color scheme (teal and yellow). I've made the invitations, and mailed them all out. I've started to get RSVPs. I ordered the party hats, napkins, and favor boxes (yes, I got lazy because I only needed ten) from First Wishes. I've priced out other items we'll need from Party City (such as napkins, plates, flatware, etc) so that I can comparison shop at Walmart and Target. I decided to bake sugar cookies decorated with monkeys to add to the favor boxes. I made "thank you for coming" stickers for the treat bags (purchased at Michaels, same ones I used for the apple muffins) in Microsoft word and have them ready to go. I also made a big bunting in the party colors with Bubba's (real) name on it. I updated the "wish list" in the sidebar on Bubba's blog. I decided to make cupcakes instead of a big cake. I then decided to make a small "smash cake" for the baby.

It is his birthday, after all.

On Wednesday, my husband took the day off work so we could meet with the deacon at church about starting marriage prep. (I know. Long story.) After we were done, we took a nice LONG drive from east Mesa into central Phoenix and headed to the cake supply store for a few items. Here's what I got:

A tub of chocolate fondant, to make more skeleton cookies. Plans for a cookie decorating class for my mom's group is in the works. This fondant actually tastes pretty decent!

A bag of white candy melts, because I don't have a lot of faith in the flavor of the edible Wilton products. I have plans for these bad boys, oh yes I do.

A edger thing for when I'm feeling too lazy to properly smooth the sides of my cakes. It happens.

A set of oval cookie cutters. I love these graduated sets in tins because they give you plenty of options and make it so easy to top your cookies with fondant on lazy/no time having days. Of course, after I opened the package, I discovered this:

Every other cutter has a fluted edge!!! It didn't say that anywhere on the package and they were in there with the cutting edge facing down so you couldn't tell. I was pissed at first, but then I decided they had possibilities. Besides, the one I really needed for the party was the largest size, and thankfully, that one is not fluted.

I also got these:

Mini loaf pans! I'm so making apple bread and banana nut bread and zucchini bread in these bad boys to wrap up for gifts. When I get more money, I'll pick up another set, I think. Tonight, this pan will be used for individual turkey meatloaves. Yum.

Speaking of gifts, I also got these:

Cute pink bakery boxes! I plan on folding them inside out so that the kraft brown is showing on the outside. I also got a bigger box to hold the smash cake for transporting it to the party, and some plain cardboard cake rounds because I was running low on those sizes.

Since we were already in Phoenix, we decided to head over and check out this candy shop that I read about on Jaimee Rose's blog. She's a reporter for the Arizona Republic and a total shopper/party planner/gift wrapper extraordinaire.

I got awesome cupcake liners in blue and yellow, this really cool tissue fringe wire ribbon that I plan to use for decorations, and a sparkler wand in the shape of the number 1. SO FREAKING COOL. It's so hard to find nice cupcake liners with good saturated colors that aren't printed with some cartoony design, unless you go online, of course. I didn't want to do colored icing for the cupcakes, because that much dye isn't good for babies. Now the punch of color will come from these! Yay!

I'm trying to get my act together so I'm going to be a busy girl next week. I can't believe my baby is turning one already!

Blog Sale - Halloween!

I kept saying I was making stuff to sell, then I never posted anything else about it because I am a slacker like that. Well, here it is!

Quilted table runner - $30

The edges are a little wonky, but hey, so am I. Think of it as "rustic," haha!

Fabric "Happy Halloween" banners - $20

I made three, and they're all slightly different. Please specify if you want banner A, B, or C.

A - orange pom pom trim

B - Black pom pom trim

C - Black lettering

Onto other crafty stuff I've been up to lately -

This Halloween banner was a commissioned piece:

It's REALLY long! Here's a close up of one of the flags:

It's made from various patterned scrapbooking papers. The pleated circles were hand pleated using strips cut from an old dictionary. Last time I did one of these I put it together with glue dots and liquid glue. This time I used the hot glue gun and it was so much easier and quicker!

The letters were mostly cut on my Silhouette. I'm absolutely LOVING the software update for that thing! This is the same font as the used on The Nightmare Before Christmas. The cardstock is Creative Imaginations and is really pretty. It's glossy and has silver glitter embedded in it. The only problem is that it's really thick and even double cutting didn't make it so the machine could cut it out. I ended up having to finish them with an X-Acto knife. I outlined them in my favorite platinum Stickles.

I used a Fiskars punch to make the tops for the bunting, and my Epic Six to cut out the scalloped circles behind the letters. I also used a Fiskars punch to make the circles that line the edges of each flag, and then sewed them in place on my sewing machine. The ties that connect the flags are strips of leftover fabric from my banners that I frayed before tying into granny knots.

Finally -

I was so excited to see pumpkins at the grocery store this weekend that I had to buy a little one for my mantel. I decided to go with a white one, a la Jaimee Rose. I hand painted (yes, because I am insane) our monogram on it and topped it with a black and white gingham bow. I just tied the bow and stuck it in place with a straight pin. The font is called ALS Script. I did leave off the hanging thing on the crossbar of the F because I didn't like how it looked. I just love how my pumpkin came out!

I'm still looking for leopard print tissue paper to cover that orange Funkin. I have searched Target, the Walmarts, Michael's, Joann, Hobby Lobby... nada. Anyone see it somewhere?

Today

Outside my window - One severely overgrown, flowering aloe vera plant. I bought this thing for 99 cents at Ikea, if I remember correctly. What started off as a scraggly little plant has now been transplanted several times and is currently too big for the giant pot in which it resides. I don't know what to do about it! It sent up it's shoot/stalk thing and is now flowering. I wonder if that means it will die soon?

Also, about 50 bajillion baby aloe plants. I'm running out of pots and I don't like aloe vera THAT much. Anyone want some? :)

I am thinking - I have so much crap to do that it's making me feel bad about the stuff I want to do, so neither is getting done. I think I'll make a bunting for my living room mirror and shun housework tomorrow.

I am thankful - For my husband. He's very helpful.

From the kitchen - Today I baked some bread and made some more sorbet using the organic strawberries I got from McClendon's at the farmer's market on Saturday. These berries tasted way better than the ones from the grocery store! I also made a pitcher of lemonade. Did you know my husband had no idea that lemonade was just lemon juice, water and sugar? When I expressed my incredulity at this, he stated that when he was a kid, it either came out of a can found in the freezer or from a packet of Kool Aid.

I'm wearing - Jeans, a teeshirt, and my vintage pink apron. No shoes. Glasses of course!

I am creating - Today I did the baby's silhouette using the instructions Jaimee Rose posted on her blog a while back. He turned 18 months on Sunday and I wanted to capture him at the end of his babyhood. He's a toddler now, can you believe it?

I bought the frame for 50 cents at a thrift shop and spray painted it black. Factor in the two sheets of cardstock I used and this project still came in under $3.50. The hardest part of the whole thing was getting the child to sit still facing the correct direction for long enough to get a picture! I ended up playing YouTube videos on my laptop.

I am reading - The Omnivore's Dilemma. It's long and I only get to read a few pages at a time before some baby boy comes and wants my attention. I'm learning a lot from it though.

I am hoping - That I can be productive tomorrow. I seem to accomplish little on the days I run. Those people who say exercise gives you energy must be smoking crack, because it wears my butt OUT.

I am hearing - YouTube videos on my iPhone, being played by Bubba via the Kideos app.

Around the house - There are lots and lots of Hot Wheels scattered about.

One of my favorite things - naps. Sweet, sweet naps, all snuggled in bed with my boy. They're a double edged sword though, because then you wake up and are all like, OH CRAP I shouldn't have done that because I have so much stuff to do!!!

A few plans for the rest of the week - Bunting! Waffles! Cookies! Laundry! Bathroom cleaning! Running! Farmer's Market! Pizza! Maybe some homemade playdough - we'll see.

A picture to share -

My boy, he is naughty. I had my husband pick up some WASHABLE markers on his way home from work so that the next time this happens, it won't be such a big deal.

Getting Ready for Fall

In most of the country, people find themselves anticipating spring. They've spent all winter cooped up and long to get outside and see a sky with a shining sun, as they are tired of seeing gray day after day. This welcome change makes them want to clean up their homes, to air them out after they've been closed up so long, to start anew.

Well, here in the stupid desert, it's exactly the opposite. Spring marks the beginning of the end of the good weather for us, and heralds the beginning of summer. With temperatures that stay over 100 degrees for well over four months, with many of those weeks hovering between 110 and 120 degrees, there's nothing to love about it if you ask me. Everything dies in your garden because it's too hot. You don't want to go anywhere or do anything because it's too hot. The air in your home gets stale because you can't open windows or doors because it's too hot. You don't have any extra money because your electric bill is sky high from the AC unit working overtime because it's so hot.

It's miserable. I laughed when I read this tweet by local journalist Jaimee Rose on Twitter because it's so true. Every August inevitably finds me longing for Halloween, because that's when the weather finally cools off around here. True; some years we will get one cool week at the end of September or at the beginning of October, but it always gets hot again until Halloween rolls around. Therefore, Halloween is the date I look forward to every year.

I just feel like I've spent too long sitting on my butt, not wanting to do anything, not wanting to go anywhere, just not being really. I sleep in way too late, take naps most days, cook as little as possible. My craft room is a mess. Heck, my whole house is kind of unkempt at this point. Things aren't working here so it's time to regroup and come up with a new plan of action.

Enter the following:

I've been seeing tutorials for these binders and "life organization systems" on lots of blogs, but the first place I really noticed the idea was on Blue Eyed Bride's blog. It seems to really be working for her, so I figured, what the heck. Unfortunately, I don't really have the funds to go out and buy a bunch of stuff to put this together, or to be able to buy one of those snazzy Erin Condren systems, so I am going to have to get creative here. I may have a budget of $0, but I also have a craft room full of supplies and tools, and a printer with paper and ink.

The first thing I needed was two binders. I decided to use this blue one that was a gift from my friend Cicely as my Household binder and then this plain white one that was laying around for the Recipe binder.

I started out by working on the Household binder. I wrote down a list of everything for which I'd like a tab. After I had my list, I wrote them down in the order I'd like them to appear in my binder.

**General - Under this tab I will have an emergency information sheet, as well as an address book section. I have a master address list on my laptop, but I want something for the people with whom I'll want to interact with on a regular basis. You know, the Christmas Card List people.

**This Month - In this section I'll have a "month at a glance" page, followed by daily pages outlining my daily tasks and with space for any other important notes for the day, such as appointments, reminders, etc.

**Master Calendar - In this section I'll have a "year at a glance" page along with a perpetual calendar containing my list of important dates to remember like birthdays and anniversaries.

**Meal Planning - In this section I'll have my meal plans for the week along with any grocery lists.

**Budget - Here I'll keep a checkbook register so that it is easy to just glance and know more or less where we are financially. There will also be a log of what bills have/need to be paid, and of course, a budget IN WRITING.

**Bible Verses - This is something Erin had in her binder that I thought was a great idea. One of my goals for the next year is to finally buckle down and read the whole Bible, cover to cover. I'd like to have a place to record verses that really speak to me. Also, I haven't memorized anything in years, so I think this would be a good way to get back into that. It's good for your mind.

**Projects/Goals - In this section I want to have a list of what things I want to make, or have started making and need to finish. I have so many unfinished projects that it's really hard to keep track of them all! Hopefully this will help to keep me on task, especially with the holidays coming up.

**Sawyer - I don't know what will be in this section yet, but I felt like he needed a tab. Maybe home pre-school projects for the week? We'll see.

**Party Plans - I have wild fantasies of having lovely parties one day, so this is where I'll put those ideas together.

**Gift Ideas - I've mentioned before that it's birthday party season here for us, and as soon as that starts to wind down it will be time to start thinking about Christmas. This section will include a worksheet to keep track of what I've bought, what I'd like to buy, and what I need to buy, as well as if I've mailed/delivered the item.

Since I ended up with ten topics, I pulled out ten sheets of cardstock and punched holes in them with the 3-hole punch.

I made up little quatrefoil patterns in Photoshop in the colors I used for my divider pages. I typed out my different topics on each one, printed them on cardstock, and then punched them out with a McGill tab punch.

If you wanted to do something like this yourself, you could also just print the pattern for the tabs onto the backside of some pretty scrapbooking paper, cut them out with scissors, and add your labels with pen or a label maker. I can email you a jpg of the tab pattern. Just send me an email.

Fold your tabs in half with a bone folder. I ran mine through a Xyron sticker maker machine, but because it had a repositionable cartridge they ended up not sticking very well to my divider pages. I will skip this step on the next binder. Instead, I just stapled them in place with a flat stapler and they were fine.

Doesn't that look all nice and professional? Certainly nicer than those primary colored plastic ones from the office supply store, if you ask me! I put some clear page protectors in the back, just in case. I don't know what I'll use them for, but if I need them, they're there.

Tomorrow I'll show you the pages.