Happy Friday!

Hey bloggers!  Another week has flown by.

Still haven't made anything, but I did make a trip to the thrift shop today and found a great deal on some good-looking fabric.  A big bag of it for just $2.19.  Some of it looks VERY promising.  I'm seeing tissue covers, key fobs and lanyards in my future.  Stay tuned.  (But please don't hold your breath, okay?)

While you're waiting (ahem) I thought I'd share four of my summer time favorites.

My two favorite kids and my two favorite veggies.   My youngest son looks like he's being attacked by the Killer Tomato plants....honestly, they have gone crazy with all the rain and humidity we've had.  Typical weather here in Indiana...what can I say?  Now...if all those hundreds of little gems would ripen, we'd have a heyday (and a tummy ache too).

Enjoy your weekend!

December's "Freebie Friday" Announcement

Freebie Friday Coming Up!

The December "Freebie Friday" will be another book (yes...I like books...and I hope you do too). This is a brand new copy of Eduardo Xol's Home Sense -- simple solutions to enhance where and how you live. Photography by Doug Myers. The ISBN is 978-0-06-124976-1 for those of you that might be interested. Eduardo is the designer from ABC's hit show Extreme Makeover: Home Edition.

Some photos of the inside of this beautifully-photographed book.
[Click on the image to get a better view.]

So...how do you enter? It's easy:

STEP 1. Make sure you're signed up by using the form over on the right-hand sidebar of my blog. I just need your name and your email address. That keeps you in the running for the Freebie Friday giveaways;

STEP 2. Leave a comment on this post.

The fine print:

The deadline for the drawing is midnight EST on Friday, December 18, 2009.

The winner will be drawn over the weekend of December 19 and 20.

The winner will be announced on Monday, December 21st.

Since it's the 'most wonderful time of the year' everyone is invited to join in the fun. Whether you live in the US, Canada or anywhere else in the world. Sign up. And Good Luck!

Speaking of books. What are you reading these days. I recently re-joined the Good Cook Club and got four books for $1.00 each. And..I bit the bullet and bought a fifth book for 1/2 price. ('Cuz I'm a sucker for a good deal.) Here's what has my attention:

Currently on my night stand.

• Alton Brown's Good Eats [ISBN: 978-1-58479-795-1]
• Diane Phillips: Slow Cooker: The Best Cookbook Ever [ISBN: 978-0-8118-6657-6]
• The Deen Brothers: Ya'll Come Eat [ISBN: 978-0-696-23397-5]
• Barefoot Contessa (Ina Garten): Back to Basics Fabulous Flavor from Simple Ingredients [ISBN: 978-1-4000-5435-0]
• Elizabeth Yarnell: Glorious One-Pot Meals [ISBN: 978-1-60751-581-4]
• The Ellie Krieger book, The Food You Crave [ISBN: 978-1-60085-021-9] was a gift from my wife. (Thanks Honey..I love it!) She bought it at the Cleveland Clinic when she was there a few weeks ago for a follow-up visit with the neurologist (for the horrible headaches and sharp pains in the right side of her head.)

In between the One-Pot Meal book and the Food Network magazine is Bon Appetit.

I also subscribe to Food Networks magazine. Mmm, mmm, good.

I guess you might say that food is on my mind these days (every day people, EVERY day!). But... honestly...my wife will be going back to her five-days-a-week work schedule after the Holidays. So...one of my New Year's resolutions is to help with dinner. It's tough for us to figure out what we're going to have for dinner some nights. I thought some fresh ideas might get me in the mood for helping out. We'll see how it goes.

Hope you have a good week. Remember: do something crafty!

P.S. Sorry about all the different photo formats. I was having fun with Picnik today.

Just Another Manic Monday

Hey bloggers! Welcome to another week of fun and excitement (well...I hope so anyway!)

We spent the weekend at the lake. Nice weather. Warm days, cool evenings. Perfect. I'm just having a really tough time dealing with the fact that it's August and the boys will be going back to school on the 18th. Bummer. They don't seem as bothered about it as I do. I guess that's what happens when you get older. Oh. Well.

The new sewing machine is really nice. I've not had a lot of time to test it out, but so far, so good. Very nice machine. Has a great needle-threading option (great for aging eyes), has a needle-down option (always a good thing) and also has a thread cutting function (very cool!). I'm working on a tote bag with a musical theme. It's a vintage-ish piece of fabric I got from a sweet, little old lady in Michigan. She's closing down her sewing business and is going thru the de-stash process. Bless her heart! She didn't have too much for me to choose from, but I found a few things. I'll share a photo of the bag once it's a little further along.

My wife found some wild raspberries at the lake and suggested I take the boys berry-picking. So...berry-picking we did. And the camera went along with us. Here are some shots from our little nature walk.

Until next time, have a great day!

Food, Flowers and Frivolty

Not much going on 'craft-wise', so I thought I'd share some more photos from this past weekend at the lake.

Saturday morning we went to the Farmer's Market and they were loaded with vendors and customers. Just the way I like it! We found lots of fresh veggies. Not too many tomatoes yet (we bought the best we could find), but plenty of summer squash, onions, zucchini, green peppers and cucumbers.

Farmer's Market Fare

We bought several and later that day Crafty Mama cooked them up on the grill. Excellent. The boys and I kept saying, "Oh my gosh..this is so good" all through mealtime. (What a great way to make Mama proud: compliment her cooking. Oh yeah!)

Chicken Kabobs, Onions and Green Peppers on the grill

Here's a big shout out to Linda (our neighbor at the lake) and her beautiful lily.

Linda's Lovely Lily

OH, and I'm am doing my part to stimulate the economy. It's been a while since I've added to my family of sewing/craft machines. So....I ordered a new combo sewing and embroidery machine from my favorite shop. Ken's Sewing Center is the best place to find great machines at great prices. Give them a call or look them up on the web. They are also on eBay. Their seller ID is "easyterms". They always have lots of great stuff for sale. Prices are low and many times they offer FREE shipping. And they have nice warranties too. Can't pass that up.

Here's the cool machine that I bought:

Brother Sewing/Embroidery Machine (Model HE-240)

Happy Hump Day. We've made it halfway through the week. Can we do it? Yes we can!

Take care!

Wonderful Weekend!

Hey...hope you had a great weekend. We certainly did. Spent Friday and Saturday nights at the lake. Weather was a bit iffy, but pretty much okay. We're still dealing with bare floors in the kitchen of the park model. The estimate to have it replaced was enormously-large a bit more than we expected, so we're going to do it ourselves. (Oh boy!)

Son No. 2 went swimming while Crafty Mom and Dad sat in the sun and looked at magazines. Which just happens to be one of my favorite things to do. It is total relaxation for me. And the wife and I needed some of that. My wife cooked chicken over the open campfire and it was EXCELLENT. As she was tending to it, Grandma and Grandpa Cook (no relation to either of us, but two of the nicest people we've met at the lake. My kids have 'adopted' them and we call them Grandma and Grandpa) pulled into our site on their golf cart and gave us some wonderful chocolate dessert. Not sure what all was in it, but it had a yummy crust with pecans or walnuts...chocolate pudding and Cool Whip. It was g-o-o-d. Along with chicken, we had green beans, a baked potato and a very simple (I like simple) salad of Romaine lettuce hearts.

Sunday was the family celebration for Son No. 2's birthday. He turned NINE. (Holy cow, where does the time go? Famous parental question, right?) This fall we'll have a high school freshman and a fourth-grader living with us. Geez. He got lots of greenbacks which (I'm sure) he'll spend on baseball, football or basketball trading cards.

The family get-together was a hit. The weather cooperated so we spent the afternoon outside on the patio. The kids played on the swings, kicked a soccer ball around and had a great time. The grown-ups sat around and chit chatted about all the things grown-ups chit chat about. Then it was time for ice cream and cake. Son No. 2 is a big Colts fan, so the cake was white icing with blue trim and a Colts emblem on it. He loved it!

Here are few photos from the weekend:

[Click on the collage for a larger version.]

1. Rose bush that's LOADED with blooms this year.
2. A peony bush...almost all done with blooms..but still pretty enough for a photo.
3. Up close and personal: peony flower.
4. Sleepy boys on Sunday morning at the lake.
5. Crafty Mama's open-fire chicken (YUM-O).
6. Grandma Cook's chocolate dessert (also YUM-O).
7. Son No. 2 in the pool.
8. Salsa, chips and some other goodies.
9. Simple: Romaine lettuce (love that stuff).

Happy Easter Weekend

Photo from last year's trip to Toledo Zoo (Butterfly House)

Hey bloggers, just wanted to pop in to wish you a very Happy Easter. It's been awhile since I've posted (which makes me very unhappy). Life has been a bit crazier than 'normal'. I'm never quite sure what 'normal' is these days. But...anyhow there just seems to be too many things to do and not quite enough time to get them done. It's a constant struggle, isn't it? Geez!

We're having a small Easter dinner gathering with my dad, my sister-in-law and her daghter and three grand-kiddos. Dinner will be somewhat atypical (we're not doing ham this year). My boys have decided they no longer like ham. Hmmm, whatever! So..we're having Sloppie Joes, green bean casserole, homemade macaroni and cheese, along with some veggie snicky-snacks. I'm going to make a batch of pickled eggs (my grandma's recipe) and I'll bake the traditional lamb cake. The Wilton cake mold works great. If you haven't tried it, don't be afraid -- go for it. Just make sure you grease and flour the top and bottom pieces. Or you can cheat (like I do) and use Pam or Pam Baking with flour already in it. They work great. There are way too many nooks and crannies in a lamb cake mold for me to brush vegetable shortening all over.

If I get real creative (read: have time) I will dig out my pastry bag and large star tip and make the cake look extra nice. If I'm feeling lazy or don't have the time, I'll just frost the littel guy with my offset spatular and we'll call it 'done'.

My wife and I are going to cut back on the candy we put in the boys' Easter baskets this year. They just don't need all that sugar. My wife (the Tax Accountant) has to work tomorrow, so ... if I wake up early enough (note to self: wake up early tomorrow) I might whip up a pair of boxer/sleep-shorts for the boys. We'll just see how things go. And..I really was planning on cranking out a baby bib for Ava (our niece). I really appreciate my day job, but darn! sometimes it gets in the way of my creative side. By the time I get home each night, my butt is dragging. Sorry for venting on you like that. Does anybody else have that problem? Caffeine only works for so long. If you have the magic answer to get more things done, please share them with me and the blogosphere.

Have a GREAT weekend!

The Wearin' of the Green

Happy St. Patty's dad bloggers! Are you wearing green? Or...do you enjoy being pinched?

The wife and I started the day out with McCann's Quick Cooking Irish Oatmeal. It's good stuff. One cup of oatmeal to two cups of milk made PLENTY for the two of us. I added raisins, flax seed, a sprinkle of sugar and a bit of milk to my bowl. Yummy. A great way to start any day!



Enjoy your day and may the Luck of the Irish be with you!



Learn more about this fun holiday here.

Science Fair Project - For Son No. 1

 

The "Before" picture:  nice, healthy, green plants

The project?  Acid Rain and its effect on plants.  Start with five great-looking plants and water them each with a different combination of water and vinegar (to imitate acid rain).

 

What do you get?

This:

 

The "After" photo. Acid Rain is not a good thing.

Okay...we're off to get some photos printed and to make a trip to Shipshewana, IN.  One of our favorite places to go.  Amish country.  Northern Indiana (where we live).  We'll be stopping at E & S Sales (bulk foods, tons of flour varieties, herbs, spices, etc., etc.) and Yoder's Meat and Cheese Shoppe.

The weather has warmed up considerably.  It's now 12 ° F outside, which is WAY better than -16 ° F which we encountered yesterday morning.

Hopefully, I'll have some craft time later today.

Have a great day!

Trader Joe Loot

Hey bloggers!

We were in Indianapolis the weekend right after Christmas. As a last-minute gift, my wife and I surprised our youngest son with tickets to a Colts game. He is an AVID fan of the team and has been begging to see a game. So....we were going to be in Indy that weekend anyhow. So yeah, we bought tickets. And yes, we sat in the nosebleed section, but we had a great time.

While we were in the capital city, we also went shopping at a couple malls and found a Whole Foods and a Trader Joe's. We are pretty much in love with the Trader Joe's store. The closest one to us is in Chicago. That's about two hours away. That's a little bit too long of a commute to get groceries in my book. It would be great if they'd open a store in our neck of the woods. I've heard about the store, and have read several blog posts about them. Their stuff is GOOD.

Take care!

Hungry? Dinner is Served

It's a pasta casserole that Crafty Mom put together.  Yumilicious!  That's the best word to describe it.

Thanks honey!

Strawberry Jam Forever

Alicia inspired me to make strawberry freezer jam. My mother-in-law used to make it and I remember how much I liked it so, I thought I'd give it a try.

After my trip to the grocery store to get strawberries (on sale for $9.99 for TWELVE pints), a five pound bag of sugar, two boxes of Sure-Jell pectin, and some new plastic containers, I set out on my adventure.

My first thought was: what in the hell am I going to do with TWELVE pints of strawberries? But...then I collected my senses and moved ahead.

One of the twelve pints of berries.

The recipe is simple to follow. But...may I suggest that you use a large mixing bowl [larger than you think you might need, okay]. Because I doubled the recipe that Alicia pointed me to and, lets just say the bowl was VERY full of berries and sugar and pectin syrup when I was done.

Fourteen cups of strawberry freezer jam.

The jam has to "sit" for twenty-four hours. Then it's ready to be refrigerated, frozen or ... eaten. I will be doing some of each. Guess what I'll be having for breakfast tomorrow? Yep: toast with strawberry jam. Yum.

Oh, and the rest of the berries? They are being used as (1) toppings for ice cream, (2) quartered and put in a bowl with lots of sugar on top. [And will later be put on top of short-cakes or biscuits.] And (3) some are just being washed and eaten, sort of like this:

Fresh berries and whipped cream.

UPDATE: Here's the link for the Strawberry Freezer Jam recipe from Kraft Foods.

For Sea Mystery

Pizza pans are "Chefmate" from Target.

The recipe:

Preheat oven to pizza crust directions.

• 1 pkg. Boboli (thin crust; 2 in a package) pizza crusts
• lightly brush crusts with olive oil
• 1 jar of Ragu Pizza Sauce (homestyle) (spooned evenly over crusts)
• lightly sprinkle oregano, basil, garlic powder, and black pepper over sauce
• add your favorite toppings (Italian sausage, pepperoni, green pepper, onion, etc.)
• 1 pkg. (2 cups) Kraft shredded mozzarella cheese (divided evenly over the two pizzas)

Bake according to pizza crust directions.

Enjoy!

Hot Dog Stew -- The Recipe

As promised, here's the recipe for Hot Dog Stew:

1 small onion finely chopped (OR 1 T. onion flakes)
1 green pepper, chopped
1 can V-8 or vegetable juice (tomato juice works in a pinch, but V-8 is best)
2 beef bouillon cubes
4 carrots, cut up like thin coins
2 t. oregano
1/4 t. garlic powder
1/4 t. black pepper
1/4 t. parsley flakes
1/4 t. celery seed
1 pkg. hot dogs, cut up like coins
1-1/2 cups frozen peas

Simmer all ingredients (except the peas) until the carrots are about five minutes from becoming tender. Then add peas and simmer until done.

Like most dishes with tomato sauce in them, this is best the next day.

I'm sure it's high in sodium, but you should try this stuff. It's really tasty. And my kids love it. And that's a wonderful thing!

Enjoy.

Son #1 Makes Principal's Honor Roll

Warning: Proud parents ahead. [And another food photo!!]

Woo Hoo! Kiddo #1 made the high honor roll for the second trimester:

Pre-Algebra: B
Band: A
Honors Language Arts: A
Art: A
Science: A
Honors Social Studies: A

Way to go dude!

Sausage on 1/2 (for Kiddo #2); Sausage, Green Pepper and Onion on the other 1/2.

In honor of his achievement, we had pizza from Michael's Italian Restaurant (our favorite -- thin crust with tangy sauce. Love. It.)