Phoebe's Potato Fantastic

On TV, I saw a recipe I wanted to make. I remembered how to make it and wrote down the ingredients. My mom got them and we made it.
I altered the recipe from TV. It is very similar to the one on TV. Here is how we prepared it.
We boiled potatoes. After they were fork tender, Momma cut them into bite size pieces. We put them in a bowl. I added cheese, butter, salt and garlic. After that, we put them in a frying pan and added bacon bits and stirred them together. We then waited 10 minutes. After the 10 minutes was over, we flipped it over bit by bit. Momma let the other side brown until Poppa came home. Before Poppa came home, I smeared sour cream and parsley on the potatoes and bacon. Momma and I were very excited to finally try it because it looked so good. It tasted really good.

I am sure it will be something I will make for my children.

Thing 1

If there would have been t-shirts for Phoebe saying Thing 2, this would be the outfit for the girls. Also, the BlendTec road show is at Costco. That is live entertainment right there!

Handsome Prince Frogs

I got a cool mold from Bake It Pretty of frogs and made cream cheese mints for Dad & Karen's visit. She calls him her Handsome Prince. What better sweet treat to serve than this?

4oz of cream cheese will make a vat load of mints! There was no way I could mold up all of it. So, here is what I made and the rest was rolled into flavored logs to slice up.

Note, black glaze isn't sufficient for decorating the eyes. It just got absorbed. But hey, they were still some tasty eats!

Bread Bowls

I have blogged about making artisan bread and the cost of each loaf. No more library waiting time, no more floury notes-I used my Borders 40% coupon and the book is mine! Mwah hahaha! Having book in hand, I upped my game and made bread bowls to serve chili. Oh, what a tasty treat! I got so stuffed that the bottom of my bowl was left uneaten. Phoebe loved the insides. Mike was happy to have me so happy over bread. Tim was visiting and he ate the entire thing! I will take that compliment, thank you very much!
Phoebe and I made four loaves from a batch of Boule basic. You can see the shaped loaves, my opened book, stash of Girl Scout cookies (do you need any? Let me know!), and the lid to my container. I wrote the basic recipe on the lid so I wouldn't have to keep referencing the book. Currently, a very, VERY messy corner. I will have to do something with all those cords.
You can see my chili setup along with my yeast that I keep in the freezer in a vacuum bag.
Finished loves! I just cut the tops off, cut a circular shape out, used a large serving fork to loosed the inside bread without mashing it, and filled with chili.
This was so good and easy. It did take some scheduling, but the results were dynamite!
When you visit, let me know if you want some tasty goodness in bread!

Crochet kimono for Renée

So, the crochet bug got a hold of me while doing the rag rug. I got a crochet kit at the 1/2 $Books and it included all the necessary items to make this cute kimono crochet jacket for Renée. We have gotten a chance to use it since the weather turned chilly while Dad and Karen were here. It fits her just right. It won't fit for long the way she is growing, though!
With all the computer work I do, I had forgotten how enjoyable it is to really create from strands something so stout. I have been sewing and all, but tatting, knitting, and crochet offer a wonderful satisfaction since a fabric is created. If I could ever get my hands on a loom, I am sure I would absolutely love it!
In my youth, I got to spin my own yarn to finger knit from Aunt Melba. I vividly remember doing it and the pleasure I felt.
I wanted this project to reflect the sensation I had while making it. I took extra time blocking it out and it really made the final result something of which I am proud.

Weave stops bullet

This is hilarious! Hair woven so well that the woman's head is bulletproof.

The woman's ex-boyfriend shot at her through the back window of her car. During the filing of the report and medical check, the spent bullet was in her weave! All she suffered was a headache. Come on now, that could be the result of a tight weave and not the bullet at all.

I really like how they have inside commentary from a local hair stylist about that weave.

This whole idea could be the next special power on Heroes: Lafawnduh and her helmet hair.

What to do with wood?

I got these wood trays salvaged from retail unused bliss. Basically, these were used for clothing display, but once the displays get redone, out these go. It isn't very often that you get really cool, good-looking trash like this! But, let's face it, they are big, wide trays. I can't put a cast iron pot on it since they aren't that strong. I was going to put a lazy susan on it to use for game, but they were too thin. So, I slapped on some scrapbook paper I liked and hung them in my bedroom hallway. I put a tiny, white flower button on the nail to add a little more jazz and cover up an ugly nail.
I am thinking of rotating them to hang diagonal for some real spice!

Toga! Toga! Toga!

This is the cutest blanket from Sheila! It is LSU colors, but we let that slide-hehehe!
It has an embroidered fleur-de-lis on the corner. I miss all the little emblems of Louisiana. I am surrounded by lone stars now!
The edge got my crochet curiosity growing as it is finished off with crochet lace with a purple ribbon woven through the lace. It is so pretty and dainty, yet modern and fun. Now, I must learn to crochet lace to use up all the tatting cotton I have just dry rotting away.
Isn't Renée cute as a button all bundled up in it toga style?

Chess tournament

Phoebe attended her first chess tournament. What an event! There were 5 rounds and it lasted all day. Thank goodness our friends' son also attended. We split the parental duty of being there for the entire tournament.

Rag rug

We need a few rugs in the house and I have old crib sheets that desired to be more. The elastic had worn out and they gathered together and voted unanimously to become rag rugs.
The starting point was cutting up the strips. I used my green self healing sewing mat and a rotary cutter to make them 3/4" wide. (notice the ink stains that came out with Dyson carpet remover and some detailed scissoring.)I started crocheting and adding the strips in, but I really didn't like the weird little tails hanging out that weren't caught in the stitch. I decided to assemble all the strips and make a ball of rag yarn. I cut slits into each end, overlapped two strips, fed one up through the cut, gave it a good tug, and got a longer length. Detailed instructions are at Craft Stylish.
I used this pattern for the rug and stopped when I ran out of 2 crib sheets of yarn. It was a perfect size to put in front of Phoebe's bathroom sink. I put a piece of slipper sole fabric I have in my stash under it too keep it from shifting or slipping out from under foot. It is cool stuff because it has little rubber bumps all over it.
There is the finished product! Super cute!

Visit of a Thousand Pancakes

Okay, not really a thousand, but we got treated to IHOP twice during Dad & Karen's visit! Oh man, IHOP has these killer butterscotch pancakes that are to die for! Or, more grammatically correct, pancakes for which to die.

Renée reacted just like Phoebe to her Grampa at this age. There is something about Grampa and his mustache that make those babies so happy! She smiled and make her fun coo sounds. Phoebe got her fill of playing Littlest Pet Shop with Nan, I won a few games of Gin against Dad, and Mike returned home from his Big Bend adventure all tanned and tired! What a great weekend!

iPhone case

Well, a new 3G iPhone was needed. I won't go into all the details, but water damage will render an iPhone totally useless. We can't even use it for a reliable digital clock. All that works is the home button, and all it does is click down.

While using my new phone, the screen would go black at odd times, wouldn't go black when it was supposed to, and would seem to lock up after calls. I thought there was something really wrong it.

I found a reference to the sensors change of placement between the original and 3G phones. I supposed the erratic behavior was due to my case covering the new phone's sensors. An alteration to my case was needed.

My handy dandy Crop A Dile to the rescue! This craftilicious tool has come in handy so many times that it was worth its purchase at Hobby Lobby with a 40% off coupon (not full price; let's not get crazy now!) It has 2 hole punches: 1/8" and 3/16". I used the 3/16" to make my holes.
I made 2 holes next to the existing ear speaker area to expand out that opening and reveal the 2 stacked sensors. I then smoothed out the edges.
Next, I made a single punch for the lone sensor. This went through the embedded cover-closure magnet. The coolest shower of sparks occurred when I made the punch! It was a time when I wish I were filming the transformation! A bit of clean out of the new hole and the case is perfect! A bit more razor work will even out the ear speaker area and really make it look like I purchased it that way.

It works fantastic. I am not experiencing any of the strange behavior. Thank goodness!

For those of you thinking of updating or getting a new iPhone, read this iFont blog entry to learn about the codes found in the last firmware update that demonstrate the possibility of a new iPhone coming soon.

Shout out to the Davis World

Whoo hoo!
Thanks for following along in our adventuresome world. If there is something Mr. Jr needs that I can sew up, let me know. I can always use a project that doesn't stay at my house.
If you haven't started following along, please visit your google settings so I know you are reading!

site to check out

A site I got turned onto from the Silver Creek blog is Hulu.com
That is a cool place that is essentially a warehouse of online video content and can queued and run back to back. I like that I can watch 2 or 3 shorts while I nurse Renée and don't have to reach over and mess with the keyboard or trackpad.
Check it out.

Happy Valentines Day

Here is my Valentines gift! Two great informational pieces you must know:

• Make brown sugar with white sugar and molasses (I use cane syrup). I put a hefty tablespoon per cup. If you don't like the dark brown sugar flavor, lighten up how much you use. Honestly, I just put how much the recipe calls for in my mixer and then dump in some cane syrup. It's all good, baby!
  

• Freeze cookie dough ready to bake. Make a batch of cookies, scoop on parchment paper mushed close together, freeze. When needed, pull out, thaw and bake. I write the contents and baking instructions on the outside of the ziplock I store the cookies in. The extra time melds the flavors for a dynamite flavor!

What secrets do you think others can't live without?

Golfin' with the girlies

I really like the mei tai I made. The workout I get walking around with Renée is amazing! Add to it the Onbag and a bottle of water and, well, I am a pack mule! A comfy pack mule at that.
Here I am wearing it all on a chilly, windy day. I want to make some little slide on pockets to hold stuff. You can see Phoebe's flip video hanging off the strap there.
What I really like best is having my hands free to sneak in a sweet hug from Phoebe and get the love from both my special girls!

Barney: Hired

We have a great fondness for How I Met Your Mother. While we love it, I don't like that the content is on at 7:30. Why oh why can't there be some kid friendly content? For crying out loud, even commercials are ridiculous! We no longer have cable television and only get broadcast. Why should I pay for repeat shows galore (Spike TV is CSI-TV and TBS is Law&Order-TV) and stupid ads in the middle of the day for fso-called family friendly shows. I am no prude, but I would like to relax and not have my 8-year-old ask me about terminology I would rather leave mystical until she's 30!
I like the site Common Sense Media for information and reviews about movies, shows, and even websites. It is cool that it lets you view it by age and sends me emails about appropriate things for Phoebe. If only I could get it to cross with Netflix. These are the ideas when I wish I were a computer hacking genius!
To get back to the beginning-How I Met Your Mother. Barney Stinson is one of those character culture heroes. Ab Fab's Edina and Patsy, Lady Chablis, and Barney. Great prepostery from that bunch. Check out Barney's video resume. I need me one of these.

Make your own baby legs

Baby Legs are the coolest! Little leg warmers for babies! How cute! Whoa, momma, stop the truck. Did I read that price right? Yep, you did. Gotta learn to knit, crochet, or hey, reduce!

Socks, socks, socks.
Them I love.
Striped and pictured.
Toes that are warm.

When a beloved pair of socks can no longer be repaired, why not reinvent them? I asked myself this question concerning my toe socks and came up with this tutorial.

Items you will need:

wide elastic (You don't want it too thin as it might really cut into those precious little baby legs. I used 5/8" braided and it works.)
toe socks (These have no heel section, they are a straight tube)
sewing skills (You could hand sew these, that is why I put skills and not machine. Heck, even if you don't have skills, you could hack at this and still get it right!)
scissors (Again, not actually something you need. If you are hungry, don't value your teeth, and don't have them, feel free to gnaw at 'em)
pins
willingness to make it through one pair

Cut off the toes. Notice the sad little piggy. :-(

Seal the ends with a serger or zig zag stitch. Pictured here, I am serging, but found the zig zag to produce a better finished edge due to the stretch.
Measure around the fattest part of your baby's thigh (for us it was 8-1/2 inches). Cut a length of elastic measuring 1 inch more than your measurement. Sew that length into a loop, overlapping each end 1/2 inch. Lay this over the end you previously sealed, fold over the elastic toward the inside of the sock, and pin. The fold should extend past the edge of the elastic by at leat 3/8". Using a stretch stitch (zig zag, triple zig zag, long length straight stitch), sew the folded edge down ensuring you don't catch the elastic. You might have to stretch the sock or elastic a bit to make it fit properly. If it gets wonky, don't worry as the sweater-esque fabric will hide it. The picture shows the pinned in elastic ready to be sewn on the machine.
Repeat process for other sock.

These can be worn with the original band or the newly created band on the thigh. It offers a bit change. Here is another pair I made but held off on the elastic. They need elastic if that end is going on the thigh, but these are the same pattern either way you put them on.

Where do we get our craftiness?

Yeah, I wonder where our crafty nature derives, mmm hmmm. We love the great demonstrations of love we get from our grandmothers!

During Nanala's visit, she assembled this quilt and matching pillowcase using fabric Phoebe chose. It's great that Phoebe actually saw Nanala work at the sewing machine. I know she has a greater appreciation for this gift, especially so because she got to pick out the fabric!



Momo fandangles those cubes of notepaper from her bank. They are perfectly square and because of the weight of the paper, make a substantial origami product. Nanny got to learn while helping Momo finish it.



Nan has to keep herself busy during those long, boring DVD movies! Here are 3 fleece-tied blankets. Don't you just love the fun prints? I have some of her awesome knitted hats she made that I must learn how to do myself. Lies can't be told-I have been known to wear Phoebe's, too.

Scientists are currently studying our family to determine which gene affect craftiness. What can we say, it is in our blood!

The First aRRRR

Okay, I had to go a little pirate speak with the title which references Reduce, Recycle, Reuse, Renew. Often, I only see three of these four, and the one that gets dropped is reduce.
With the current economic climate (geez, that phrase aint' gettin' old, huh?), reduce is paramount! Isn't it great, you can help your pocketbook and the environment by not getting that cheezy piece o' plastic crap?
Having a baby sure does add to the list o' junk, too. I have been working hard on getting by with the bare minimum and finding new ways of making that which essentially would fill a landfill otherwise.

For starters, of course, are the cloth diapers. These bad boys are all the rage now-a-days and the price reflects. Even a regular old flat fold can make you think twice and wrap your baby's butt in an old t-shirt. I did in fact do that when I made my own from recycled garb, but really, I need flat folds. How can I reduce and still get my flat fold?
Solution, I got some rags from the diaper service so danged cheap it'd make your head spin. Unfortunately, they were indeed rags! I washed them initially and there were little cotton hairs all over the washing machine! Little good they did in that state. Ingenuity to the rescue: they started their diaper lives as 4x8x4 but will live out the rest of their lives as 2x6x2 because I removed the top damaged layer. Now, used with her EC belt, Renée enjoys their slightly diminished size.

Her play area is currently decorated with the fabric crawfish boil, Louisiana felt book, doll houses, and gifts. But, she needed a bit more fun and after reading some theory of Montessori, we implemented the mirror from off our wall and mobile made of paper plate and ribbons. That mobile hangs from a heating vent and has a clip on the end. When we need a change, unclip and add-on. Phoebe is currently coloring in patterns for the next paper mobile. Beware, though, fountain pens get easily mixed into markers and cause messes.

Some other ways we reduce is to ask for glassware at restaurants instead of the kids plastic cups, use our stainless steel water holders instead of hormone altering, bad molecule leaching Nalgene (no, I'm not bitter), and use the library and Netflix more for our entertainment needs. What else can we do?

Something up my sleeve-PRESTO!

Renée is practicing her upcoming magic act. Unfortunately, the binky is a pretty large item to hide behind an ear.

cool pan

Cool baking online shop, Bake it Pretty, I found from a link at Crafty Crow. Look at this cool fleur de lis pan! Ah, grape, lemon, and lime jello to celebrate Mardi Gras!

Throw me something, Mista!

Answer to other joke

My mom is grumpy most of the time because she lived in Colorado and the abominable snowman lives there .

Internet joke

via Sciencepunk

Collapsible pouch

Along with the Onbag I made (previous post), there were instructions to make this sling pouch. It is so danged cool! It lays flat and expands to house what you need.
I made one for all my baby wearing items. I also made more to provide storage for our stuff. Here is one flat and another one filled with my winter gear. We get frustrated looking for our hats and gloves and scarves!

Mike can use them for his upcoming Big Bend hiking/camping trip to house raingear. I can install some snaps or attach them to his pack with pack ties.
I love organizing accoutrements like this, especially when they fit the bill so perfectly, and these do. They puff out into a boxy shape that appears neat.