Looking forward to:

Late Spring - 2007
[Click the photo for a larger image]

Warm weather, green leaves, bright-colored flowers, spending time outside, enjoying the patio, cutting the grass. Feeling the sun on my face.

Yes. I am ready.




P.S. I found this great picture tool on the web to get individual photos merged into one. I'm using the trial version for a few days. It is SO easy to use. I had this grouping done in 2 minutes after I installed the program. So far, so good. Anyone else using this or another program?

Spring? I don't think so ...

With snowflakes (the size of watermelons) falling from the sky, it certainly doesn't seem like Spring here in my part of the world -- Northern Indiana. In fact, we were under a winter weather advisory from 8:00 last night 'til 4:00 this morning. It snowed and rain/snowed like nobody's business.

The Robins are back and I'm sure they feel like they made a very big mis-calculation on their return flight from the sunny South. I'm guessing it's pretty tough to find worms in the ground with all this snow. But then again, I'm not an expert in the field (no pun intended!).

Have a great weekend.



UPDATE on the wife: She does not have Temporal Arteritis. Which is good news. However, we're still trying to figure out what is causing the horrible headaches. She's going to see how the next two weeks go. Our next step is a neurologist.

Shop Update

The shop has been updated.

Happy Easter !

The tradition continues:











From all of us at the Crafty Dad house to all of you:

HAPPY EASTER !

Rewind

I promised my oldest son that I would show you the backstitch pillow he made for Cousin Colin J. So...without further adieu -- the pillow:

Lightning McQueen -- A "Krafty Kid" Creation

Speaking of my krafty kid, go check out his new blog.

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.

The Luck of the Irish

Happy St. Patty's Day !

Irish or not, it's a good reason to celebrate. Especially since it's Monday and we all know how Mondays can be. Two quick questions for you:

1. Are you wearing green? Cuz if you're not, you get pinched. Lordy...do you remember that one from elementary school? [Funny thing is, I'm 46 and still wore green today. I guess old habits are hard to break!]

2. Are you having Corned Beef and Cabbage, or Irish Stew for dinner tonite? [We're having Hot Dog Stew, in case you care.]

I just KNOW you want the recipe for Hot Dog Stew. So...I'll get it all together and make that a post for later in the week. The suspense is killing you, isn't it? Seriously folks, Hot Dog Stew is tasty, easy to make and my boys love it. Three very, very good things.

BTW: If you Google "Hot Dog Stew" you won't find the version that I have. HA! You'll have to wait. And you'll be glad you did. I'll give you a hint: you'll need a large can of V-8 juice.

Okay...enough for now.

My wife says 'thank you' for all your kindness. She is doing better each day and should get her lab results tomorrow. Hopefully, it's something that can be handled with a prescription. Oh...how cool that would be!


P.S. I made a trip to the thrift shop today (please don't tell my wife). I found some really great fabric. In fact....I bought 17 yards of floral print fabric (no kidding) for $7.95 (no kidding (again)).

A Weekend for Recuperation

It will be two days of rest and recuperation for my wife. She has been having horrible headaches for the past several (I mean several) weeks. We thought it was probably a chronic sinus infection since the entire world seems to be suffering from such malady lately.

She went to the family doctor and had a CT scan of her sinuses and was referred to an Ear, Nose, Throat specialist. Turns out her sinuses are fine. However...in addition to the CT scan the family doctor also had some blood work done. Come to find out her sedimentation rate was a bit out of whack. The doctor said it was possible that she was suffering from a rare disorder called Temporal Arteritis. The ears, nose and throat guy told my wife that it was nothing to mess with. Left untreated in can cause blindness or can even be fatal. Dr. Isaacson highly recommended that she have a temporal artery biopsy the next day. So she called me at work and gave me the news. The unexpected news.

We spent yesterday morning in the outpatient surgery department. The surgery took about 45 minutes and I took her home a couple hours later. I stayed with her and did what I could to make her feel better. She has a 2-1/2 inch long incision just inside her hairline next to her ear. And suffice it to say, it hurts. Every time she opens her mouth. It hurts. The pain medicine helps, but it will be a few days before she's back to normal.

So...this will be a quiet weekend. And frankly, I'm perfectly fine with that.

ADDED: We're supposed to get the lab results no later than next Tuesday. If she has this Temporal Arteritis thing, then she'll probably have to take a steroid like Prednisone. We'll see how things go.

Colin J's Birthday Tote

My cousin's son turned 4 last weekend. And he's infatuated with the Disney Cars movie and Lightning McQueen. So...why not capitalize on that and make something, right? Right!

So...thanks for JCasa's tutorial, I whipped this up:

The pocket is a big larger than the tutorial calls for, but ... I wanted to get as much of the print on the front of the bag. Plus, it gives Colin more room for 'stuff'. And kids always have a lot of stuff.

ABOVE: A shot of the inside of the bag.

Yep: "I AM SPEED". Happy Birthday CJ.

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.)

Pitiful

It's been too long since I've posted an entry.

Trying to get some things checked off my 'to do' list so I can sit down and post something of substance. And with a photo too.

Stay tuned.

Wordless Wednesday

Sky - on the way to Auburn 12-1-07
Originally uploaded by crafty dad

Sky - on the way to Auburn (Indiana)12-1-07

Not bad for a photo taken from inside the mini-van as we made our way to Auburn.



EDITED: Yes, I realize it's still Tuesday. But...give me some literary license on this one and let's just call it "Wordless Wednesday", okay? Okay.

Nothin' says lovin'

Homemade pizza
Originally uploaded by crafty dad

...like somethin' from the oven.

Yummy. Yummy. Homemade pizzas on Sunday. Thanks Honey! You make the best-est pizzas in the universe.

Happy Tuesday

Another day, another drastic change in the weather here in Northern Indiana. I was pushing the snow blower at 5:00 this morning. Hope I didn't wake you! I'm sure there was at least six or seven inches of the white stuff on the ground. Yes, yes, it's 'pretty', but pretty don't get it. You know? It's a mess to drive in and … well, it's the end of February and it's time for ugly, dirty, muddy landscapes sunshine and warmer temps. This flaky stuff has to go!

On a brighter note: I know that I heard two Robins singing this morning. I couldn't actually see them, but I know they were out there. They have that unique chirp. You know the one? Next time I'll take my camera with me and capture them digitally.

Hope you're having a good day.

Now..go make something!

 

Chocolate banana bread

Chocolate banana bread
Originally uploaded by crafty dad

After seeing Jennifer's muffins, I had to check out the recipe and make some for myself. And...come to find out, my family doesn't really care for chocolate banana bread, so it WAS all for me. And I totally enjoyed it. You should make some of this stuff too!

Sick of Being Sick!

This flu epidemic in nasty isn't it? It seems everyone has been bitten by the ol' bug. And it's a bite that keeps on biting.

The whole month of February has been nothing but a time of germ passing at our house. We've all had just about enough of it, thank you very much.

Craft time has been almost nil due to other things [trying to get well, trying to stay ahead of projects at work (ha! good one!)].

Best wishes for a fun, crafty and HEALTHY weekend.

Vacation Day!

Yes! A vacation day. A day sans work. I {heart} vacation days. Especially the kind where I get to spend the entire day with my boys! Woo Hoo....

The boys have a 4-day weekend (President's Day Recess) so I took today off to spend some quality time with them. We went to lunch (Chinese food at New York Buffet). In case you don't know, I'm all about quantity and (quality too ) when it comes to Chinese food. There were tons of choices but we stuck with the basics:

• Chicken and broccoli
• Egg drop soup
• Terriyaki chicken (a/k/a 'chicken on a stick')
• Black pepper chicken
• Steamed rice
• Mei fun
• Lo mein

It was all very good and we all three ate for about $15.00. Not bad.

This afternoon we're going to do some house cleaning and homework. That will make mama happy. And when mama's happy, everyone is happy. :-)

Early this morning I started making a tote bag out of re-purposed fabric. I found a Vera Wang pillowcase at the Thrift Shop this week. We'll see how it turns out. If I get my house chores done in time, I'll make a trip to the Craft Corner and work on it. Stay tuned.

Hey: have a great weekend.

Now...go make something!

Craft Corner Update

As promised, here are some new pictures of the Craft Corner.

I'm not finished, but I've made MAJOR progress since the last photo I shared with you. Here's one of the sewing machines in his new 'home':

Shelves were installed on 2-2-08. I'm pretty much done with getting the pegboard permanently fastened, then the trim goes up. Then...we're 95% complete!

The Cub Scout Pinewood Derby is next Saturday. So..the Little Guy and I have been busy making his car. You can see some of our supplies on the left-hand side of this photo. We're keeping our fingers crossed on this one. I enjoy working with fiber media; however, derby cars are not my forte'. But we're getting there.

I was going to drill holes in the Formica(R) counter-tops, but changed my mind and did a much easier thing: I drilled holes in the pegboard and then fished the electric cords up, in between, the 2x4's. It works great and really doesn't look bad at all.

Thanks to my dad and my wife, this long-awaited area is coming to life. It's great to have a space dedicated to my hobby time.

Nasty Weather

Winter, winter,
why such sting?

Where oh where,
oh where is Spring?


I'm pretty much tired of the crappy weather here. Looking forward to a 'stay-at-home' weekend.