Crochet Needle Case

 Yesterday was a rainy, windy day, with no kiddos, and Jim sick, so I decided to do some sewing.  I've stored my crochet needles in a pint mason jar for quite a while now. On the to-do-list for ages has been a crochet hook case.  I needed something that could be plopped into a project bag for on the go, or easily carted from the studio, to the snug, for crocheting in front of the TV.   This cheery, plum blossom fabric remnant was leftover from another project, and it's one of my faves, so had envisioned it for the needle case exterior.

 Then, last week I found this little fat quarter fabric and loved it!  I thought it would be the perfect interior coordinate.  There are lots of crochet hook case tutorials on-line, but I just winged it on dimensions and style.  The top folds over the hooks to hold them in place, and then the whole thing is folded in 3 1/3 sections.  The last one being a flap with a button closure.  Initially I sewed the button on for decoration and was going to put a snap underneath, but changed my mind, so have to re-position the button, and make a loop for it.
 I'm thinking a couple of my crocheting friends, (who don't read blogs,)  could do with one of these for Christmas.

Bathroom Re-vamp

Snowball Effect

One morning, when the girlies were sleeping over, they were in brushing their teeth, and there was a crash in the bathroom.  The Dollar Store glass that I keep my toothbrush and the toothpaste in, had accidently gotten knocked out of the medicine cabinet into the sink.  I was totally ready to go in an clean up the broken glass;  I wasn't prepared to find the cheap glass still intact and a hole the size of my fist in the bathroom sink.  After shopping around, and not finding what we were looking for,we had to order a new sink.  The bathroom needed repainting, so what better time to do it?  We had also discussed replacing the chair-rail above the beadboard wainscot, to match what we had done in the mudroom and the "snug", so added that to the list.  When I was getting ready to paint, Jim mentioned......again .... how badly we really needed storage in there.  So we took the wainscot off under the stairs and knocked some holes in the drywall, checking to see if there was free space there or if it was taken up with duct work from the furnace.  It was free and clear.  We took out the middle stud, and made room  to put this little 2 drawer base in to bring the storage dresser up to proper height.  I had prayed for favor, and the Lord blessed us with both this little base and a perfect storage piece.  It fit exactly between the two studs, and the total height and depth were perfect for the slant of the stairs! 

We're really happy with how it turned out, and felt like we'd reached our objective in making it seem  like it's always been a part of the house. ( I've always liked  old houses with cool built-ins.)  A reality in a lot of old houses, and particularly this one, is a lack of proper storage for today's lifestyle..What I was amazed at, is where I'd had all of the stuff stashed that I managed to fill these drawers with!  The hair clippers and cold medicines were able to be re-located from the hall closet, the toilet paper from the utility room, etc.  A bathroom product reunion.  Yay!!

Precious People

It's always amazing to me, how in the tapestry of life, the threads of peoples lives are woven in parallel rows, having acquaintances in common, being involved in the same type of activities, and yet not being aware each other.  And then one day, the threads intersect, and a wonderful design emerges.
I met with these two today, to go over plans for their wedding.  They are such a cute couple, and I'm so glad the Lord has brought them together.  It's an honor to be taking their wedding pictures, and I'm praying the Lord will help me be able to bless them.

Good Eats

 We celebrated Jim's birthday with football, chili, cornbread, and Texas Sheet Cake.

 A Fall morning breakfast.  Love love love steel cut oats, and Costco has started carrying them now! YAY!

In the Fall and Winter, I sort of lose my desire for salads.  Today I made this Spinach with Roasted Veggie Salad, and we both reeeeeeally liked it.  I tossed quartered baby portobella mushrooms, sliced red bell peppers, and sliced wedges of sweet white onion, together with salt and pepper, and a couple of Tbs. Olive oil.  I roasted them in a 400 degree oven about 16 minutes.  Then I tossed them with Wishbone light balsalmic w/basil vinegarette.  Then I tossed in the spinach, dished up and garnished with olives and cheese.

Liliana ~ Two Months Old

Pumpkin Pie French Toast

This morning the girlies were here after a sleep-over and no school, due to Parent/Teacher Conferences.  I'd been wanting to try making this Pumpkin Pie French Toast for breakfast.  It was a big hit.  Everyone loved it.

South Santiam

The Fall color was so pretty in the morning going East, over the Pass last weekend, but we were sort of rushing, so I didn't get pictures until on the way back.  The color didn't seem as vivid on the way West, in the afternoon light.  I love Fall, and I love the South Santiam, curves and all.

Early Thanksgiving

 I made these little acorn cookies I saw on Pinterest, and they were a tiny part of a constant barrage of food this past weekend.  Mom was every bit the stereo-type of the food pushing Mama!  We all had fun working in the kitchen together.  It was like old times.

 We spent the weekend playing prison warden/babysitter/medical team to Dad.  He had sprained his foot pretty bad on Thursday.  We took turns ordering him to sit down, tormenting him with icepacks, and pushing ibuprofen at him.

 (Aren't they cute?)
Auntie S came over and had dessert with us.  Uncle G was sick.
Mom is recovering from her latest surgery soooo well.  She's been working very hard at her physical therapy.  We're all really proud of her!

(Our very own Personal Shopper)  She brought us girls, early Christmas presents, and we had a fashion show. She knows all of our taste and color preferences so well, and she's so generous and thoughtful.   

This weekend was a great idea Peg! It was the first time we'd all been together in eight years.
We all have so much to be thankful for.  God is so good.

Sneak-a-Peek

We've got more irons in the fire than a blacksmith at the Kentucky Derby.  I've still been piddlin' away at the studio, in addition to working on bathroom storage, etc.  Anna saw the studio a couple of days ago, and said "It's just YOU, mom!" I assumed that she meant the decor, but later wondered if that was presumptous of me....maybe she was referring to the stacks of unfinished projects waiting to be finished!  I had thought it would be fun to make a design on the door window.  After going through supplies, there wasn't any etching stuff left, after-all.  It's spendy, and permanent, so decided to just use the same white interior latex paint I had used in the room.  I painted the design backwards, on the inside of the window.  It's not as awesome as imagined, but can stay for now. Actually it's pretty subtle during the day.  (This pic was taken about 8pm.)
I had been feeling sort of crummy last week, but snapped out of it just in time to go to a Dinners for 7, that our church was doing.  We had signed up on the list.  Our hostess had called us and invited us, and assigned a food for us to bring.  We were supposed to bring potatoes.  I took party potatoes and because they are a cholesterol nightmare, thought maybe there should be a healthy alternative.  So I also fixed Ina's Roasted Winter Vegetables.  It was a nice relaxed evening of getting better acquainted with new friends, and re-kindling old friendships.  This is going to be a very jam packed week, but hopefully I can finish up some of these loose ends and post some pictures of something actually DONE!

Krispie Treat Punkins

Made a little after school snack for the girlies today.  I froze some for the other Grands.  Hope they will be ok.....have you ever frozen krispie treats before?  Do they turn out alright?
Some of you have been wanting to see finished project pictures....believe me, that makes two of us!
Progress is in the making, but seems like it's taking baby-steps.  Maybe I could get more accomplished if my mind wasn't always drifting to vintage travel trailers, amber birch curved paneling, marmoleum, jacks, hitches, curb sides and street sides, skins and wheel wells....

Fall Days

Fall days, cool and overcast, just seem to call for caramel, cinnamon, and nuts.  This recipe for Sticky Bun Breakfast Ring is very similar to the Swedish Tea Ring that our family has made for years.  It calls for canned biscuits, but as far as convenience biscuits go, I prefer Walmart's frozen buttermilk biscuits.  (They don't have as much chemical taste) I used 8 of them, and defrosted them carefully, in the microwave first. Jim really liked this.
We've had lots of Dr. appts. and re-model-y things going on around here lately.  Not that blog worthy unless you like looking at pictures of dismantled chair rail, wainscoting, and huge holes knocked in the drywall.  Yesterday, I guess we could've done sequential pictures, so you could watch the drywall mud dry. ;-)

Destruction Derby

I've been a slogging blogger lately.  Things have been really busy.  Tearing up everything you own is time consuming!  Saturday, Jim and I went out and worked on the little trailer.  No phones, no place we had to go...we actually got tons accomplished:
We tore out the ratty old dinette cushions, curtains and rods,  the green astro-turf, and the mattress.(oh, and 2 pair of dirty socks!)  It already smells better in there! (well, actually maybe not much, yet)
After removing many old rusty screws, we finally were able to take out the old cabinet above the sink and stove.  We tore out old wiring, and the wall between the bathroom and the bed.  Included in that was the removal of the bathroom sink, and it's plumbing.  We were on a roll....we went under the trailer, and disconnected the blackwater tank (sewage tank) (thankfully the trailer had been out of use a long time, so no odor), and removed the cracked grey water tank.  Topside, we pulled the showerpan/blackwater tank.  There's a whole pile of cuphooks, that have been removed...that, and the cobwebs are probably what was holding the place together.  We vaccumed, vaccumed, vaccumed....

Sunday, we had a good service at church.  The worship and sermon all wove together, about Christ being our sufficiency.
Sunday evening, Joel cooked dinner for us; wonderful Chicken Fried Rice,  Chinese Barbequed Pork, and a yummy zippy sauce to put on things.
Monday; In the house we were supposed to paint the bathroom and replace the chair rail at the top of the beadboard wainscoting.  As we were removing the old chair rail, Jim brought up the subject of bathroom storage again.  We did some further investigation, and decided to do some built-ins in a wasted space under the stairs.  The beadboard was removed from the area, and there are now big gaping holes in the bathroom drywall under the stairs.  I was given the task to figure out what to put in the hole, (since I'm the picky one), so off to town I went.  (Today, we will start working on it, and see if the plan works.)  We know we're good at tearing things up...let's see if we can put anything back together!

Cinnamon Roll Pancakes

This morning I fixed a yummy breakfast.  It was fun cooking bacon Joel and Anna gave us, and making these cinnamon roll pancakes, cracking up, while listening to "Diary of a Wimpy Kid" being read to me.  These pancakes are very good, especially with a nice glass of really cold milk.  Mine didn't turn out as perfect and pretty like Recipe Girl's, but they tasted fine.  My cinnamon filling was too runny.  After the first one, I drained off some of the excess melted butter, before squeezing the filling on. One pancake per person is plenty.

Camping Chronicles Conclusion

You did realize this was all headed somewhere, right?

I can't wait to show y'all this...

I'm so excited.....

I just can't hide it....

 When this broken window is repaired.....

  when new jacks, tanks, and battery are in place.....

 when the green grass carpet is gone, the plumbing and wiring are repaired,
and everything is gutted and re-done...

When it has new tires and it's all repainted and has a cute little awning with party lights....

Won't it be just darling?!

(I've already looked up the treasured campsite # to reserve it.)

*I know...AGAIN with the "happy as if they had good sense"; right?*

Camping Chronicles #6, etc. etc.

Once upon a dandelion, the little family was increased by 2 more daughters.  There were further camping adventures.  It seemed there were crazy things to happen when tent camping; even in the presumed safety of their own back yard.  The youngest daughter and a cousin slept in a tent in the orchard, only to be startled by the scream of a cougar.  The Mama heard the sound, in the house, as she was getting ready to go to bed, for the night.  She threw the front door open just in time for her daughter to come running in.  She ran to help her niece, who was calling "help...help!"  After quickly ripping the niece's hair out of the tent door zipper, where it had caught, they both ran to the safety of the house.

The last Tent Camping trip the family would take together, was after the first-born daughter was married.  They went to the coast, they had a confirmed reservation, they got there early, and everything was great.  The weather was exceptionally warm and beautiful.  They decided to take a night-time stroll down to the beach.  As they passed through the campground, the last camp spot, sat on a little dune, overlooking the water.  Parked there, was a cheery little camp trailer, with a party light trimmed, awning.  It was just indescribably... perfect.  The little Mama ... I ...  was smitten.

Camping Chronicle #5

[Google images]

When the Baby girl was three years old, the family decided to travel across the U.S. to visit Grandparents.  They planned to drive all day, and camp at night.  There were some pretty crazy complications, which  I won't get into here, but it led to another late night adventure.  As they finally began to set up camp in the dark, all of the other campers were already sleeping.  The little family had outgrown the pup tent, so they had borrowed a large 2 room tent from friends.  Unfortunately, it had been a last minute decision, and they had not done a set up, trial run. Now, how on earth to get this tent up?!  Finally out of fatigue and frustration, they gave up, found the doorway of the collapsed tent, placed  their sleeping bags inside, and pulled the tent over them. (Something like the google image above)  (Ironically, most of the "collapsed tent: images I came across on-line, involved drinking or drugs...)  That also seemed to be the initial assumption of the amused and inquisitive onlookers in the morning.  The little family just shrugged it off, laughed with the crowd, rolled the tent up and went  on their way.  (Happy, as if they had good sense!)  After a nice days drive, before dusk, they found a nice little campground and stayed on cots in a very comfy little cabin.

Camping tip:  Never, NEVER, never, leave your sense of humor at home, you're gonna need it!

Corn-Crab-Cakes

Anna gave us some fresh crab Joel's Dad had caught.  It was really nice crab, but didn't go with the menu plan at the time, so I picked it all out of the shell, and froze it.  Today was "tailgating" day and Jim was watching football in the snug.  Not really feeling in the mood for doing the chili or brats thing, decided to make corn-crab-cakes and homemade tartar sauce instead.  I used this recipe.  I chilled the patties before cooking them.  It called for separating the cornbread stuffing mix, and patting the patties in half of it before frying.  I suggest putting all of the crumbs in earlier, all at once, as a binder, and slide the patties straight into the oil, with less messing around with them.  The first ones I did as directed, fell apart easier.  The ones I didn't coat, held their shape better.  They were really tasty, Jim really liked them, and didn't even miss the chili!