Monday Was My Birthday...

Sunday our parents came over to our house for a birthday cook out. We had hamburgers with all of the fixin's. I was craving that for some reason... but boy did I eat too much! My eyes are bigger than my stomach!! Cory's mom made an oreo ice cream dessert... my mom made the cake... which meant, I ate even more! (OI!) It was a nice time though and I got a lot of sewing stuff! Yea!
Then on Monday... Cory took the day off to spend with me. He found a listing of different art studio/shops about an hour or so from here that we thought we'd check out. So we drove eastward and used the GPS to find these places. Unfortunately, of the 5 places we tried to go to... all of them were not clearly marked as part of the "tour" and we didn't want to go up to someone's house! That's what they were! People's houses... without signs or anything! So we kind of just nixed that idea and went to some different shops that I already knew about. We also went a little out of our way to visit my grandparents former cabin, which was sold not long after my grandpop passed away 7 years ago. I had been wanting to go back for a long time--but couldn't bring myself to do it. So we went and I sat on the swing set awhile. (There is a community pavilion and playground right near the house--but it's pretty much out in the middle of nowhere so it wasn't like there is an abundance of traffic through there). Here is a pic of the cabin--I didn't want to get too close and have the people freak out about a stranger snapping pics! (you can see the jungle gym from the playground) After stopping by the cabin... we went to a cool antique place and then drove out to a restaurant in a nearby town that my grammie used to take us to when we were growing up. (Guess I was a little nostalgic that day!) This place has a bunch of cool old carriages, sleighs and buggies on display! After a nice late lunch, we headed home to relax! It was a great day... especially getting to spend the day with Cory!!
Today, I am headed out to my dad's garage! Hope you have a good one!

Motivation, I Lack.

So, today... it's humid. It's sticky and hot. I have a headache. I really just feel kind of gloomy and BLAH! I have managed to take the dog for a walk, shower and dress, of course... and browse the internet, do some dishes and bake. But I really just feel like going upstairs and turning on the fan to nap awhile!!
Anyway. If you read my post from last week, I mentioned briefly about having to have an ultrasound on my kidney. The results are in and everything looks normal. PHEW! But that still doesn't help in the case of the hurting back. So, I went on Monday to get some X-rays on my back and I am waiting to hear the results for those. I'll keep you posted.
Now... onto more interesting things... like a CHICKEN COOP! Yes, that's right. Cory and I are getting chickens. Thanks to my mom who has been keeping them while they get their feathers, Cory's dad was able to build us a coop to put in the back yard. I still have to get some stain on the outside of the thing... and Cory and his dad have been working on the run (when it's not raining). So tonight we take a trip to Lowe's to pick up a few things and then Tractor Supply to get a chicken feeder, waterer and food. We may even have the chickens here tomorrow! Which is sooner than expected, but my mom is having a hard time containing them all!

A little earlier today, I decided to try out a recipe for Nun Pastry. I had NO idea what I was getting myself into with this... but it wasn't a hard recipe at all and it was quite delicious!
You take a cup of milk and a stick of butter in a medium pan and heat it until boiling. Then you dump 3/4 c. of flour in all at once and stir with a wooden spoon until it is basically a big sticky ball! Remove from heat and let cool 5 mins.
Then you add 4 eggs--one at a time, stirring for a minute with each one!
This is what it looked like after all of the eggs were in and stirred!
Then you put them in 12 greased muffin cups (make sure even the top of the pan is greased since the pastry's puff up!). Sprinkle with a little sugar.
Bake at 375 degrees for 30 mins. Then pull out of the muffin pans and enjoy!
The recipe said you could serve with honey... but I decided to try a little homemade raspberry jam! Very very good!
I thought this would be more of a dessert type pastry... but it tasted very eggy (obviously since you put 4 eggs in as the last step!). I would recommend these for a breakfast or brunch and served with a variety of jams or jellies!

Now, one last sneak peek before I go... This is the fabric I plan on using to make another apron! I think it will be cute! (Crossing my fingers!)
Have a great day!!

Would you like a spot of tea?

Today was my nieces 8th birthday... and my sister threw her a Tea Party with a few friends. I went to have my ultrasound--won't know results on the kidney stuff until the doctor calls--and then went to my mom's to help with some Tea Party Prep. Then I went out to my sisters to help with some more Tea Party Prep and eventually stayed out there all day to help out with everything while my mom took my nephews (to keep them out of our hair while we were having "girl time"). Earlier today I posted about making my niece a Tea Cup Cake... but that kind of fell through since I left the cake and icing at my mom's and didn't end up going back there since I was helping at the Party. So I left it up to my mom to decorate the cake and this is what she came up with. Not quite the "dainty" tea cup I had in mind... but it was still fun and cute! The handle was made out of a couple of daisy cookies... and there were some care bears thrown in there around the cup.

Here is a picture of one of the favors on the table. There was a real tea cup with blueberry tea, 2 rock sugar stirrers and a friendship bracelet (handmade by moi!)... tied up with tulle and decorated with a teapot cookie cutter and bright green ribbon. The girls were eager to open them... but we told them that they had to wait until they got home!They took their little place cards from tables and stuck them in the tulle to keep track of whose tea cup was whose!!

The girls thought that my sister's chickens were pretty neat... so they went out to feed them some scraps!

Here is Madelyn blowing out her candle.

After the tea party... we got things ready to go their families pavilion for the birthday dinner... and I got some pics from out there that I wanted to share!

Here is Madelyn and Cory tossing the football around--and Jax zoomin' in--so Cory faked him out with the ball.

And here is Mad when she was opening the gift from me and Cory (the skirts I'd made her).

And here she is opening a Webkinz from my parents.

Over all it was a really sweet party, the girls had fun... and it was just beautiful weather!! For more on the Tea Party... check out my sisters post HERE!

A Little Geocaching Adventure

First of all... I want to say HAPPY BIRTHDAY to my niece who is turning 8 today! My sister is putting together a Tea Party Birthday for her and some friends... so I decided that I wanted to try to make her a birthday cake for later on this evening when we get together with family for dinner. It supposed to be a 3D teacup on a saucer... but I'm not sure how it will turn out! It may end up turning into something else if I can't get it right! I'll post pictures when I complete it!

So the other night a couple of friends came over. I made pizza and cookies. We just hung out and chit chatted. Well, somehow they got on the topic of Geocaching. So Cory got online to look up if there were any in our area! We saw that one was at a nearby park... so we scrounged up a few treasures of our own to share and headed out! We didn't have a GPS--but this one seemed easy... so we figured we'd try it out.
Here we are when we got there. Is this the Cache? Seems way too easy to have found it as soon as I got out of the car! So we looked around for about 20 mins. Checking under plants, in trees, under stones, etc. Finally we decided that the little treasures in the flowers had to be it. So we went back to exchange treasures! (Which happened to be a Mega Block Man and a little tool box toy)
I wouldn't want to be die-hard into Geocaching... but I think it would be fun to get a cheap GPS and any time we go anywhere... see if we can do a couple of little searches! Has anyone else ever done it!?

One last thing before I go. Today is the day I have to have an ultra sound on my right kidney. I slept horribly last night just thinking of everything that could be wrong! So please keep me in your prayers this morning. I go in at 9:30AM and I'm pretty nervous!

A Couple of Easy and Tasty Recipes!

Last night Cory and I were going to eat some left over goulash for dinner. I figured I'd try to add a little extra to the meal... so I went online and found this really easy recipe for bread sticks! They were so easy and good... I thought I would share. Not only were they good with our pasta dish... they would probably be even better dipped in pizza sauce!

Soft Bread Sticks
2 1/2 c. Flour
4 tsp. Sugar
3 tsp. Baking Powder
1 tsp. Salt
1 1/3 c. Milk
6 T. Melted Butter

-In small bowl, combine first four ingredients. Gradually add milk and stir to form soft dough.
-Turn onto floured surface. (I found that the dough was very sticky--so I added extra flour all over the outside of the dough so that my hands didn't become a sticky mess and it was easier to handle--I had no problem after that)
-Knead gently 4-3 times. (Again, add flour if you end up with some sticky parts)
-Roll into a long rectangle. (You will want the dough to be about 1/2" thick)
-Cut into 24 bread sticks. (More or less depending on how thick you want them to be)
-Place melted butter and 2 T. garlic powder in a 13X9 pan. Place each bread stick in the butter and turn to coat. Place bread sticks on a large cookie sheet 1/4" or so apart. Sprinkle with Parmesan Cheese, optional.
-Bake at 450 degrees for 14-18 mins.

Another great and easy recipe is perfect for the crock pot! We are having it tonight for dinner! This recipe is just kind of by personal preference depending on how much you want to make. We don't make a ton since it's just the two of us.

Salsa Chicken
2 Chicken Breasts
1 Jar of Salsa
1 Can of Whole Kernel Corn (optional)

-Toss chicken in the crock pot, pour salsa and corn over chicken and cook on low for 8 or 9 hours. You can't really hurt it. So if you go to work and leave it in the crock pot until you get home... it will still be just as good! I wouldn't recommend putting the chicken in frozen unless you are home to cook it on high for a few hours and then switch it to low for the remainder of the time.
-Cook some rice (the kind you can microwave in the bag is fast and tasty).
-Serve the chicken and salsa over the rice.

ENJOY!

A Handmade Birthday Present!

Just wanted to share a snapshot of the skirt I made for my niece's birthday this coming Monday! I have some fabric to work on another as well... but this is the first and finished product! I am so excited! I never knew how much I'd enjoy sewing!
I'll post a pic of the next one when it's completed as well!

Also, a note... please say a prayer for me on Monday. I have to go to the hospital to have an ultra sound on one of my kidneys. I am trying not to be freaked out... so I would appreciate the prayers!

***UPDATE***
Here is the 2nd skirt I made! It is TOO cute! I like it a lot better than the first!

The New 'Do

So... I knew I've needed to get glasses for awhile... but I wanted to wait until after I got married since Cory's work carries vision on their insurance plan. Last week or so I went in for my appointment and sure enough... I am near-sighted. Yesterday I got the call to come pick up my glasses (getting contacts on Friday)... so Cory and I drove out. Let me tell you... I CAN SEEEEEEE!!! I actually started crying when we walked out of the place and I could SEE! Really SEE!! I am still getting used to it--with a headache here and there... but WOW! What a difference! Also... yesterday I got my hair cut! I usually go out to my aunt... and I was in town... but she was totally booked. I was really antsy to get it cut--so I called up a woman I know from church and she graciously squeezed me in. I got 6" cut off and boy does it make a difference! Here is a pic (horrible since I had to take it myself... but you get the idea of the glasses and hair)...

I went to the Craft store today and got some items to work on a new project... so I'm hoping to start that tomorrow!!

Taa Daa!!!

So here it is... my latest creation... which actually wasn't as hard as I was expecting! It took me a little while because I was having issues with my sewing machine... but once I got that figured out--it came along pretty smoothly! I enjoyed it... and I used a pattern!!! (I always loathed using patterns, mostly because I never understood them and they seemed like a hassle. But now I'm all for them!)
Here are some shots compliments of my model... Cory... in his PJ's... LOL!
(I absolutely LOVE the flounce!)
Thanks to my mom for picking up the fabric. I think it's pretty cutie-patootie and I she did a pretty good job! By no means am I a master seamstress... or even a semi-good one. This was the first time I'd sewn really... all by myself. So... I hope to practice some more and maybe move on to some different things. I have some cousins and friends getting married in the next year--so maybe I'll keep practicing with the aprons and give them away as bridal shower gifts or something! :)
Hope everyone had a lovely 4th of July!!!

Sneak Peek of my Latest Project!

Here is a sneak peek of what I plan on working on today. Sometimes, when it's rainy and dreary... it's hard for me to get motivated to work on a project. I would rather just curl up on the chair and read a book (which I may still do later). But today... I wanted to try something new! Check back to see the finished product! (Might take a few days depending on how things go... but I would be thrilled to finish it all today!! We'll see!)
Have a nice day!