The Next Few Days

For the next few days, posts will probably be sporadic. Joel is off of work for the week, and I need to get some work done in the evening so I am not going to have time to work on many projects! I hope everyone has a great new year!

Blessings~Shawna

Merry Christmas

I hope you all had a blessed Christmas and are able to enjoy this time of year with special family and friends! Here are some images from our day:)



Pilly hasn't quite gotten into the whole present opening thing.



Here is Pnut with her baby doll quilt. She loves to open presents!



Pilly was much more interested in the Christmas tree.



This was the hit gift of the day! We must have listened to it five times through!



Tonight we iced gingerbread cookies. "Mother, I am a professional. Don't worry about how many sprinkles that I am piling on this cookie!"



"Why yes, these sprinkles are delicious! Look how many I have scattered over the table to clean up with my wet fingers. I am only eating them to change the color of my tongue to purple."



Here are some of our decorated ones! We had a lot of fun doing it together.

We are going to Baltimore for a few days and so the posts will be on hold for a little while. Have a great weekend!

Finished handkerchief case

I only have one itty bitty project to show for tonight. I worked on something else for over an hour, but it is not quite finished. Hopefully, tomorrow.



This is a handkerchief case from Kathleen's tutorial. Isn't it cute?! It was so easy. I love this whole project. I wish more people used handkerchiefs!

One more thing.

Are you ready?

Are you excited?

I am excited but you don't seem excited enough!

It's here!



We have a stove again! We have plans for Christmas cookie making:)

Pnut's Baby Doll Quilt-Finished!

I have finished all of the girls' Christmas presents now! With two days left no less! I did want to make them stockings, I have a really neat pattern and material, but the pattern is actually in a book and has to be blown up 200% so I can't do it without that. But anyways, I finished Pnut's quilt tonight. I love these little quilts. They take me less than four hours, which is pretty good for me!



I don't think the colors show up as good as they are in real life. I entered to win Pioneer Woman's camera. I would love it! Then maybe I can get some better pictures for on here. Or possibly it would just prove that I can't really take pictures, regardless of how good the camera is!

I will get to make one more baby doll quilt for Laine for her birthday. I won some fabric from Lolly as soon as she orders more so that is really exciting. I wish that she were going to have yards of it made so I could get a lot! I think it is really cute!

In other news, we get our stove tomorrow! I will have an oven again. Pnut and I have some cookies planned. I am sure Pilly will watch, but she likes to eat things too much to do more than that! Speaking of ovens, Pnut pulled the oven door open and smacked Pilly in the head and knocked her down today. They are not allowed to play in the kitchen anymore. They just get into trouble out there! That little Pilly was walking all over the place tonight. It is so sad. She is really growing up too fast!

Ok, these late nights are starting to get to me so I need to go get some sleep. I have plenty of energy for the night, but then it disappears the next morning! Have a good sleep everyone:)

That Pnut and some more handkerchiefs

Have I introduced you to my Pnut yet? Apparently, she is from the South, somewhere around Georgia probably. I am not sure how this happened since we are from Pennsylvania. She says things like "What is that over they-uh?," "Let's go up the stay-uhs," and "Yey-uh I made that mess." I cannot get her to say it normally. If she starts saying ya'll, I am going to be sure that she is sneaking out at night.



I made these for the volunteer that rides with Joel on Mondays. He is this really neat man, somewhere around 75 years old, who does more in a day than I do. He walks every morning something like two miles, volunteers several places, runs his grandchildren around to help out his children, attends every sporting event that his grandchildren are in, all this stuff. He is really nice, and Joel really enjoys having him in the truck!

In case you didn't know, I really like polka dots. A lot. And Kacy, isn't that an awesome color green?!



Lastly, can you guess what that is? That, my friends, is the rose that my sweet husband brought me home when he walked to the comic book store today. He is a very thoughtful man!

Double Chocolate Gooey Butter Cake...and some Christmas!

I love this cake! Some people, weirdo's that they are, think that it is too sweet. Not me!! It is so full of deliciousness, and now I have half a pan of it left that I will probably eat all by myself. Not good!



1 c butter, separated into half cups, melted
1 pkg chocolate cake mix
3 large eggs
8 oz cream cheese, softened
3-4 T cocoa powder
1 box (1 lb) powdered sugar
1 t vanilla

1. Heat oven to 350 degrees and place rack in center. Lightly butter a 13x 9 cake pan. In a large bowl, stir together cake mix, 1/2 c butter, and 1 egg until well combined. Evenly pat into prepared pan and set aside.
2. Beat cream cheese on medium until smooth. Beat in 2 eggs and cocoa until well combined. reduce speed to low and add sugar. Beat until combined well. Gradually beat in 1/2 c butter and vanilla, beat until smooth. Spread over cake mixture.
3. Bake until set around edges but center is a little gooey, 40-50 minutes. Do Not Overbake! Let cool slightly before serving.

I made this yesterday for Christmas with my grandparents. We went up early to visit my other grandparents first and I made the cake at their house since we don't have our oven yet. My grandmother has a hand mixer. I am pretty sure it is from like 1956. It was terrible. I thought I was going to burn the motor up mixing just the cream cheese. Thank you Lord for my stand mixer! There was so much delicious dessert yesterday. My Uncle Roger makes a wonderful cherry cheesecake that was entirely consumed, but other than that everything was half-eaten!

The Christmas party was at my cousin Jess's house. That was nice because they live slightly closer to us so the trip back wasn't as long. We had lots of fun. I enjoyed spending time with my sister Randa and Jess. My other sister wasn't getting off of work until 4:00 so she was coming as we were leaving. The children had the most fun of all though. Jess has stairs and no baby gate so they were really happy. They were climbing them and sliding down on their bellies and probably would have played their most of the afternoon.



Aren't they so cute? Anthony was keeping Pilly from escaping!



Look at her making a break for the top with her grandmother right there pretending to watch her!



That's right Laine, you have to feed Pilly to keep her at the bottom.

It was such a nice day. I really enjoy being with my family! Unfortunately, we don't get to see them very much since we live here now and don't go there very often so I really look forward to the holidays!

Well, church was canceled because of the sleet covering the roads so we are going to have a nice, relaxing day at home!

Receiving blankets

I took a break from Christmas-present making to work on a baby gift tonight. I didn't have a choice. It has to be ready for tomorrow. In my defense, I only bought the fabric today! My cousin just had twins, and I made a receiving blanket for each of them. A friend of mine who recently had a baby raved about this large receiving blanket that she had. She actually had her mom make her a couple more because she liked them so much. She said it was so much easier to swaddle the baby in. So I decided to make them for the twins. I won't actually get to see them. I am giving them to my parents who will be seeing her parents. That is disappointing. I'm afraid to hold a baby though. It may bring back that baby desire that I successfully killed by visiting my friends that have five children. Anyways, back to the blankets. I did a zig-zag stitch in an effort to cover up my inability to sew in a straight line. Plus I think they look neat. However, I forgot how distracting that needle is when doing the zig-zag stitch. There were no major mishaps thankfully! I hope that she likes them. She should tell me that she likes them regardless of whether she does or not to protect my delicate sensibilities. Or I may just take them back because I think they are super cute!



This monkey one is for the little boy. It is my favorite out of the two. I just love the fabric! How cute is it?!



This sweet pea one is also cute. Sorry about the picture quality. Our camera is acting up and likes to spontaneously shut off. Did I mention that we do not have overhead lighting in the dining or living rooms? That makes taking pictures hard too! We will eventually get those lights fixed! Anyways, boy am I easily distracted tonight, I like this one, but the material isn't as soft and it isn't as bright. I like bright things!

Well, we have four hours of driving tomorrow for a family Christmas get-together so I guess I ought to get to bed! Happy Saturday everyone! Finish up that shopping!

Sugar Cookie Frock GIVEAWAY!!!!

Sugar Cookie Frock GIVEAWAY!!!!

Pnut's baby doll quilt

This is as far as I got on Pnut's quilt before I ran out of thread. Ran Out Of Thread! How do you run out of thread?? I guess I will just have to go to JoAnn's tomorrow night. Smirk:) I am disappointed because I actually thought I might finish this one tonight. Then I would be doing good for Christmas presents. Not so much on the stockings though. I am not sure that they are going to get done this year...I really do want to finish them though!

Today I didn't have work when I was working. I had one job the whole time! This is only the second time I have ever run out of work on this account, which isn't bad. At the job I had before, I was always out of work. So during that time, I got all of the pieces cut out. That was nice! I am liking the way this one is coming together. I wasn't sure if I really liked the hearts and the dots together since it is sort of a similar pattern, but it looks alright. I really like the sparkle stripes. It is so Pnut!

I dedicated a significant chunk of time to one of my other addictions today~Viva Pinata. That game just sucks me in. You cannot just start it and stop five minutes later. To accomplish anything you really have to play for awhile. I was successful though. I got two Cinnamonkeys to live in my garden and romance. Hahaha, you probably have no idea what I am talking about. Randa will when she reads this:)

We went to the grocery store tonight, and in anticipation of the delivery of our new stove next week (did I mention that our oven doesn't work, hasn't worked the entire time we have lived here, and our new one won't be delivered until the 23rd?), I bought stuff to make cookies. On my list were cloves and cardamom. Holy cow! The cloves were $7 and the cardamom was $12. Are you kidding me? To afford those cookies, I would have to sell them at $5 a piece. My mom is going to stop at the discount grocery store and get them for me. They sell spices there for 89 cents. It doesn't matter how much they cost at Giant, they are always 89 cents at Sharp Shopper.

I don't think that I mentioned what my dear, sweet little daughter said to me yesterday. My mom and I were at the computer while she was here on her lunch break and Pnut was at the table finishing her lunch. Out of the blue she said, "You smell like a stinky caterpillar." I didn't know caterpillars had a smell.

Have a good night!

Its a Charlie Brown Christmas!

This is our Christmas tree this year. Joel found it at the Salvation Army for $2. We have been so busy with moving and everything that there has just been no time. I actually think it is really cute now with all of the ornaments on it. I am not sure why the picture is so dark, it doesn't look that dark on the camera. We made the ornaments today, which was very exciting. I cut circles out, and Elsie colored them with markers. I also have little paper cutters that cut out hearts, teddy bears, and stars. We made some little circles with those cut outs. Then for the top, I traced the girls' hands and made angels. I connected the two angels and draped them over the top for our tree topper. Pnut loves it! Pilly would just like to get her hands on the ornaments to put them in her mouth.

Tonight my friend Carolyn came over and worked on Christmas gifts for my sisters. I would love to post pictures of them, but I can't! I may have a new hobby though:)

I really need to start Pnut's quilt. Christmas is one week away!!!

A cupboard and a wall

Sadly, I didn't get to work on any projects tonight. I had to work for an hour at my real job, and then Joel brought home a cupboard last night so we arranged that. I like it! Since it has those open shelves, I wanted to put something relatively attractive on there. Joel thought we should store boxes of food on them. He is such a man! He didn't understand why I thought that would look messy:)



One of my favorite things about this house is this wall. It is the interior/exterior wall that has this really neat old brick. I really like the way it looks. Unfortunately, the old brick likes to crumble so it has to be patched. Our predecessor patched it with cement. It looks a little strange, but I guess it is probably hard to put new bricks in.



Well, that is it for tonight! Oh, we did go to the mall tonight because B. Moss is going out of business and I got some really neat deals. I want to go back when they are closer to closing, which will probably be in like two weeks. I hope that not everything is sold out by then! It is really getting cleaned out! Okay, now that really is all I am writing:)

Tree Lighting Wrap Frock GIVEAWAY!!!!

Tree Lighting Wrap Frock GIVEAWAY!!!!

Pilly's baby doll quilt

Do you see that baby? This is her new trick. She is also walking now! She does not do it all the time, but she is getting better!



Pnut needed her picture taken too.



This is our new cupboard. Pilly can open the doors:)



This is Pilly's baby doll quilt. It turned out so much cuter than I expected it to. I am excited to do Pnut's now. Pilly's is so bright and cheerful. The small square where I sewed in the middle is a little, um, unique. It was harder than just sewing the pieces together. But all in all, I really like it!

Lentil Soup

I love lentils!! They are so good for you and really pick up the flavor of whatever you cook them with. Pilly likes lentils too:)

1/2 lb dry lentils
2 T olive oil
1/4 lb smoked ham or sausage
1 clove garlic, minced
1 beef bouillon cube
4 cups water
chopped carrots

Sort and rinse lentils. In a medium saucepan, heat oil. Stir in ham, garlic, and carrots until tender. Add lentils and remaining ingredients. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat, cover, and simmer until lentils are tender and soup get thick. Add more hot water if necessary.

We are here

We are here and connected to the internet! It has been a very busy week, and I am thankful that I didn't' have the option of working or playing on the computer. Almost all of our boxes are unpacked. There are two or three that have papers and little things that I don't know where to put. The girls are enjoying their new home. The first night Pnut said that she wanted to go home and was very upset when I told her this was our new home. She was fine soon after and has been since then. She asks about the cows and where they are, but we have some squirrels who play right outside so she really likes those. Pilly has actually had a harder time than Pnut. She is so easygoing that I thought she would just settle right in, but she has been clingy and fussy a lot. Each day she gets a little better so I think it is just taking her some time to adjust. She is not napping as well either so I am sure that plays into it!

We have had some problems as I am sure that anyone who buys a house does. The water heater has been a point of irritation. For some reason, the pilot light keeps going out. A friend who used to work for the gas company came over and looked at it and said that sometimes when they haven't been in use for a long time, the get air or particles in them and have to get that out of the system. It has gotten better, I think it has been two days since Joel has had to relight it, but we have to keep checking. We don't want to run out of hot water! The lights in the dining room and living room don't work. Thankfully, at the apartment we had lots of lamps so we have just been using those. Our friend is an electrition and said that sometimes it is the main wire and that can be very expensive to replace so we are going to have to wait until we get our tax return to check that out! We had to order our new stove, which we knew we were going to have to do. It was just expensive. And Lowes will not install it since it is a gas stove. So much for their instillation guarantee:) I really like cooking on the gas stove. The heat is so even! We just can't use the oven. I didn't realize how much I used the oven until it wasn't an option. Lowes cannot deliver it until December 23. So we have to be creative and think of some stove top meals so we don't have to eat the same thing over and over!

I love having a washer and dryer. It is great! I can do one small load of clothes a day and don't have to worry about if I can get it done during naptime or not. It is also nice to not have to take the quarters out of Joel's paycheck! The girls really like their room. It is so open. It is my favorite room. The walls are yellow and it just looks really cheerful in there. I will probably post pictures of it once I finish their curtains. I didn't get to make the curtains for our room because we found out that there is a very bright street light right outside of our room and needed something fast! I am also thankful that we are on the end so that we have windows. I like light. Our neighbor only has windows in the front. That would be terrible!

Ok. I really need to go because there are things to do. I haven't found a place to set up my sewing machine yet so I haven't gotten to use it but hopefully that will come tonight. Thanks for reading this long post!

Horrible!

We have to switch from Verizon to Comcast so now we will not have internet until next Saturday. See you next week! Maybe this will help me not be so addicted to this computer!

Dinner Party Frock GIVEAWAY!!!!

Dinner Party Frock GIVEAWAY!!!!

Fried Chicken

I know I said I wasn't going to post, but...I changed my mind. Tonight for supper I made friend chicken. I didn't know how to make this until after I was married, and I think it is Joel's favorite meal. Now that we have a pan that is not warped, I don't mind making it!

I cut the chicken into strips. I prefer breast but Joel likes thighs. I crush up saltine in a Ziploc bag and mix in some flour and salt and pepper. I beat two eggs in a bowl and heat olive oil in a pan. I put in enough olive oil to totally cover the bottom and then usually have to pour in a little more while cooking. I dip the chicken in the flour mix, then the egg, then the flour mix again. It really makes it more crispy. Then into the frying pan it goes! I cook over medium to medium low heat. I heard that cooking it more slowly makes it more tender, and I really think it does! It is really very easy and delicious!



Doesn't it look nice and crispy and perfectly golden?! This was probably the best I have made yet! This new pan makes all the difference. Our old pan used to burn whatever cooked in the middle and the stuff around the edges took forever!



This was my french fry pan for the evening. That demonstrates that we really are getting things packed up!



I had to share this picture of this funny baby. First of all, PTL that she eats her veggies! That other one doesn't eat any vegetables except for pickles and salsa! But do you notice something about her tray? We had mixed vegetables for supper tonight. Apparently, she prefers the peas and lima beans. I don't give her the green beans yet. I noticed this the other night that she ate everything green first. Later tonight I noticed that she next ate all the carrots so her tray only had yellow, and then she ate her corn. I didn't even think they could tell that much of a difference yet, or not enough to know that the green ones are the ones that she likes. I constantly underestimate how smart they are!!

Okay, now this will probably be the last post until sometime next week. Only one more day with internet, and then we are done for a few days! Hope everyone has a great weekend! It is supposed to be 34 degrees for our moving day:)

Blessings~Shawna:)

Pay It Forward Update

A few weeks ago, I posted about pay it forward here. I still have two spots open, and you have a whole year to do something for the people who participate in yours! I just wanted to put it out there again:)

A Terrible Blow

Joel set up our new phone and internet last night. We found out we will be without it until the 10th of December. Aaah! Four whole days without internet. What am I going to do? I should get lots of projects done during naptime and have a lot to post about by the time I get to come back:)

Scribble It GIVEAWAY!!!!

Scribble It GIVEAWAY!!!!

Moving

I probably am not going to really post until next Monday. We are moving on Saturday so I have a lot to do. I think I ought to put the Christmas projects on hold until I am finished packing. Have a good rest of the week!
Blessings~Shawna