The Little Mermaid and a Blue Monster

Good Mother... Bad Mother

Good Mother: Made pumpkin bread with Talia. She was very involved-- did almost everything herself.
Bad Mother: We used a mix. I hate baking, don't you know that?

Result: It was fantastic. Incredibly moist and just perfect all over. Now I can't stop eating it.

White Bean Rosemary Stew

This is so fast and easy-- you might actually have the ingredients on hand AND there is only one pot to clean. It's pretty yummy too. Ron requested leftovers for work and, if anyone knows Ron, he NEVER eats leftovers. I can't remember what cookbook this recipe originates from because I've been using it for so long... Serve it with a green salad and maybe a baguette to soak up the broth.

White Bean Rosemary Stew

olive oil
1 onion
2 cloves garlic
1 cup vegetable broth
2 cans white beans
1/2 tbl rosemary
salt and pepper
1 jar roasted red peppers
2 tbl balsamic vinegar

1. saute onion and garlic; 5 minutes
2. add vegetable broth, white beans, rosemary and pepper; simmer 10 minutes
3. add red peppers and balsamic; 2 minutes
4. salt and pepper to taste

Goodness to Dish Ratio: 4/1

More sick house

Hopefully Talia is all better. I think we played with every toy in the house over the last few days.

Pinky Purple Paint

Painted T's room pinky purple. Almost a week later and it still stinks like fresh paint. The room looks totally different; better, I guess. I also made her some curtains. Heart fabric lined with a total blackout lining. It has a cute trim at the top that has hearts and beads, but that is obviously overwhelmed by the size of the curtains. I made felt hearts and stuffed them, leaving an opening on the side and put them on the end of the curtain rod. Don't know how I came up with the idea but it totally works. Not exactly sure why I insisted on making curtains though. They are not that cute and certainly didn't save me any money. My plan was to sew the curtain to the lining all the way around so I never cut of the selvedge. I ended up just sewing the top so I could pull back the blackout lining, leaving the heart fabric as shears to let the light through. But of course all I can see every time I look at them is the obvious selvedge with the words "Printed exclusively for Joann's Fabrics" staring at me.

Preschool Musical

Went to a High School Musical themed birthday party today. Made this shirt for Talia to wear-- and amazingly she agreed!

I embroidered this!

election day shirt for Marley

I made this shirt for my niece Marley-- it says "Bush is a doodyhead"

Brussels Sprout Tree

Have you ever seen such a thing? We enjoy Brussels Sprouts so I bought them in their natural state at the LAST outdoor farmer's market. I printed out a few yummy sounding recipes but we've stuck with the tried and true:

Roasted Brussels Sprouts

Brussels Sprouts
Olive Oil
Salt and Pepper
Parmesan, optional.

Throw them in a Pyrex, coat generously with olive oil, salt and pepper and roast them at 450 degrees or so for a while (30-40 minutes?) until they are sufficiently charred. Add thin slices of parmesan if you want. Yum. This recipe applies to many other vegetables, such as broccoli, cauliflower and others.

Goodness to dish ratio: 4/4. It's only one dish but it's a bitch to clean. Try an SOS pad. I never knew what they were until this year. Love 'em!

Sick House

Talia has a nasty cough (a croupy cough?) and fevers. Alex is fine-- so far. Slightly runny nose maybe. We haven't left the house in a few days. We've watched way too many movies (Cinderella II and III, Tarzan, Nemo, Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast, High School Musical) I've almost finisheda quilt for a friend-- it took me WAY longer than I expected, as usual. It's a surprise for a birthday so I won't post any pictures of it here yet. It came out... ok. It's hard to sew with two kids needing my attention CONSTANTLY. I'm still sewing the binding on.

"Hike"

These days a hike means pushing two sleeping kids in their strollers. Talia refused to use a stroller from the age of one until now. She ses her brother in a stroller and wants to ride. Whatever. It was a nice day and the trees still have some color. Our friend Corey visited from Chicago.

Happy Half Birthday!

This is definitely my favorite time of development. Every day Alex tries something new or learns something new. He now sleeps in his own room, sits in a high chair and eats food (sort of), sits up by himself (my favorite!), babbles and blows raspberries, really plays with toys, moved up to sized 3 diapers and is now starting to wear 9 mo clothes. He's super cute and has become a really good baby! We are finally settled in as a 4 person family. Alex really loves his big sister and we all adore him.

Talia's Puppet

I was wondering what was taking so long in that Art Studio! Every week at school she was working on the same project. I like quick and easy projects with fast results so I was a little impatient to see this masterpiece. Finally, the puppets were revealed! Very cute, definitely worth waiting for.

My first swap: items sent

This is the package I sent for my first swap. So much fun! It was so interesting to just be given a name of someone to send items to. I looked at her "profile" and also her blog and tried to come up with some fabric I thought she would like and I really think it went over well. In the process I got to rediscover some fabric (the navy and maroon batik print which I bought in India in 2003 and was always afraid to cut). I think I have enough left to make a shirt from a new pattern I bought-- if I ever get around to it! I'm working on a lot of projects right now! The recipient of this package sent me a really nice thank you email and it just feels... good!