New crafty blog I discovered...

I just learned about a new crafty mom who creates cute, cute clothes!!! She even does giveaways!! Check out this current one: Rae Gun: Giveaway: Citrus Summer Ruffle Diaper It is so cute! She'll even boy-afy it....I'll have to request neutral in my entry until baby #2 comes along this August!! Now, to catch up on this crafty blog and see what inspiration awates...

Wednesday, Wednesday

It's been a week or so since last posting...I've done absolutely no crafting and took only a handful of pictures on our vacation. Why?? I don't know, I was busy I guess. We even forgot to take a group photo in front of those great big wolfs. So disappointing. I have been out in our yard cleaning, weeding, planting...it's coming together, we've made a lot of progress. We went to a bare root plant sale and got a few new things. They're all twigs right now with tiny blooms of green, but this is what they may look like someday...

French Lace Weigela, has pinkish blooms and varegated leaves, it only took about two years for our first one to fill out. I had to get a second, I like the varegated leaves.

Thundercloud Plum, right now ours our six foot tall twigs with a few leaves sprouting. Not sure how long it will take to look this good.

Red Leaf Rose, this was our free plant with purchase, they're six inches tall and about two or three twigs...they're really cute right now actually. I just don't tknow if this is the color the bloom will be.

Japanese Snowbell. Again, not sure on how long it will take to fill out and look this beautiful, ours our a four foot twig, maybe a few years. We also got a few Bristlecone Pines, they're 8 inches tall, Japanese Wisteria and a few others that I can't remember right now.

Weekend Getaway

Two more days and the whole family, including grandparents, sibling and his spouse and all three (or should I say 3-1/2) of us will be here...

And everyone but me and the toddler will get to enjoy this tornado whirly fun slide...

That's okay, we'll play in the wave pool, get dumped by buckets of water and listen to story time. And I just might get a pedicure and a maternity massage at the spa. oooOOOooohhh!!! Can't wait!

There are twelve locations (two in Wisconsin, hint, hint, Jamison's), if you want to enjoy this type of family getaway, here's a link to our family fun weekend, so you and your family can enjoy going there too.

Have a great weekend EVERYONE!!!

Grosgrain: Loose Teeth Vintage Inspired Sundress with Petticoat GUEST GIVEAWAY!!!! Custom Sized!

Grosgrain: Loose Teeth Vintage Inspired Sundress with Petticoat GUEST GIVEAWAY!!!! This dress is SO CUTE!! I would love to be able to wear it, obviously not until after August when I am no longer growing a baby. :) I may have to check out this Etsy seller and add another to my favorites!

Happy Mother's Day!

A day late, but I tend not to get on the computer whenever I'm at home because I spend my work day on the computer. We started our day by sleeping in, which was about 8:30am....yeah, no longer are the days when we sleep in until 11 or noon. Made waffles, I got to add my cinnamon, raisins and chopped apple to the batter. Mmmmm!!! Then we went for a three mile hike up north near the Little Spokane to seek a geocache. Our 2-1/2 yr. old did AWESOME! He walked most of the way, only really wanted to be carried up hill and the last quarter mile back. I was surprised at how well he did. I was also surprised at how well I did, being around six months pregnant, the one up hill part was a bit steep, it burned my legs more than my lungs, but I made it. We saw 6 wild turkeys, a white tail deer, squirrels galore, a couple red ant hills, big black beetles, and a newer deer carcass of mostly bones but had been dragged by something (it still smelled bad!), we also heard peacocks, we were near a farm at one point and they must have owned some. About a mile into our drive home, little one was zonked out. The rest of the day was pretty leisurely and lazy on my part, I didn't even get any crafting in, that's how lazy I felt. My hubby worked on our yard, he started landscaping the front. On top of it all it was sunny all day and around 70...SO NICE!! Overall it was a very lovely day, I wish I could have more like it....with absolutely no cleaning done by me. THAT was nice.

WATER!

Tonight was a help-the-hubby night...a simple task of replacing the kitchen faucet turned into a five hourish adventure. I don't think I want to even go into the details, they are too exhausting. But I will say how nice it is to have running water, you know, for the little things in life we take for granted like flushing the toilet, washing hands, getting a quick drink, brushing teeth...ALL GONE!! For five-ish hours....we obviously survived but it was not a fun time.

On a lighter note, here's my latest creation. I made if for someone only to second guess myself with the piece to the personality, so I'm not gifting it after all. I'll create something totally new that's lighter, airy-er and more delicate. I'm having a difficult time with this task...

This pretty little thing was created with a black and white lampworked focal I purchased in Wenatchee on my craft retreat with my mom, aunt and grandma. It features silver sead beads, black Swarofski teardrops, white pearls, and black and silver glass faceted crystals, plus a few other miscellaneous beads. I used beading wire which makes it a little stiff. I'm considering putting it up on Etsy, our currently empty shop. But I've had another idea for our Etsy shop, we shall see...

I really need to learn my camera settings, these pictures are not very good. Too much white, glare, and blurry. Someday...add it to my list of ideas to someday complete. :)

Experiments

Today was our "kinda second" Easter with my family. My parents came up to visit for the weekend and my brother and his wife came over, we all hung out this afternoon and I made a dinner that was supposed to be like Grandma's. We've spent all our Easter's at Grandma's house and she always made great dishes! Growing up, Grandma would occasionally make this chicken and broccoli casserole in a 9x13 glass pan. It was creamy and good and full of cut up chicken and broccoli and topped with sliced almonds. Well, she didn't remember what I was talking about and couldn't find the recipe. Between my mom's cookbook, my cookbook and both our memories, we came up with our own recipe and experimented and I was dissapointed. Grandma also always made the green bean casserole that's topped with those fried onions, so naturally I also made that, along with a vinagrette pasta salad, mandarin orange jello like salad, dinner rolls and plain steamed broccoli for the sis-in-law and kiddo. It was a pretty tasty meal!!

Experimental Chicken & Broccoli Casserole
3-4 cooked chicken breasts, cut up (I added some seasoning and cooked in a tablespoon of oil on stove top)
2 cups understeamed broccoli
2 cans cream of chicken soup
1/2 to 3/4 cup Stove Top stuffing
1/2 to 3/4 cup milk (I would make it 1 cup)
2 tblsn cooking sherry (or chicken broth or white wine)
1/2 tspn dried chopped onion (I was too lazy to sautee half a chopped onion)
1/4 tspn curry powder
1/4 tspn mustard powder
Topping: 1/2 to 3/4 cup Stove Top stuffing and 1/2-3/4 cup shredded pecorino romano (or parmesian)

1. In 9x13 pan, layer chicken, stove top, then broccoli.
2. In separate bowl, mix rest of ingredients, then pour over chicken/broccoli.
3. Top with Stove Top and shredded cheese.
4. Bake 350 degrees for 30-40 minutes.

Here's my only complaint...my brother and I thought it was little on the salty side. My mom, dad, and husband did not. I was trying to figure out if maybe I added too much seasoning to the chicken before I cooked it, which was in a little oil on the stove, or if it was the Stove Top since it has all that seasoning in it already too. I would love for someone out there to try this and report back to me with any suggestions or recommendations. Other than that, it was pretty tasty, not quite like grandma's but good enough to have created a whole new recipe that I will probably alter some more when I make it again.

ENJOY!

Happy Easter!

A little late, but that's okay! We dyed eggs Friday night with the little one, this is how they turned out. The interior designer in me just had to put them in order by color....it's always more pleasing to my eye. I look at A LOT of paint fan decks....to me, the colors needs to be orderly. So pretty!! This was our first Easter we stayed home. It was so quiet, it was almost sad and lonely. But then our friends came with their two toddlers and the quietness was gone. It's always fun to watch them play. Hope you all had a wonderful weekend!

Grosgrain: Pleated Petal Tank ANTHROPOLIFICATION GIVEAWAY!!!!

I've always been inspired by Anthropology to create my own clothing, I even have fabrics and patterns and pictures pulled together in the depth of my sewing area...I guess I'm not the only one. Grosgrain's Pleated Petal Tank ANTHROPOLIFICATION GIVEAWAY!!!! has that same feel...I would LOVE to win this giveaway. You gotta check it out and read her story about it...she did such a wonderful job! And it's not totally from scratch, she recycled an existing silk top. I LOVE IT!! How cool is that??

Featuring...

A new baby Orangutan!! You have GOT TO check out this beautiful new baby orangutan...he was created by Planet June who's been working on him for a year or so. There's more pictures on her blog, they're cute! She has so many wonderful crochet patterns, they're just awesome. Someday I hope to be able to purchase a few and make cute little creatures for my kiddies.

Happy Wednesday!