I Love This Photo II

I Love This Photo

Katie and her daddy doing the dishes.

I love this photo.

There's nothing else to say.

Click to play | Make your own Smilebox

A Day With Grandma?

Katie and I made a dash into Wal-Mart this afternoon. Once we picked out our grapes and hamburger, we were greeted by a bubbly and enthusiastic cashier. She started a conversation with Katie and ended up asking, "So, are you enjoying your day with Grandma?"

Huh? Katie looked at the cashier like she was speaking Chinese. (Good girl, Katie!)

I had to enter the conversation at that point. "She's enjoying a day with Mommy."

"Oh, I'm sorry," she replied.

I didn't mean to make her feel bad. Granted I AM old enough to be her grandmother--barely. But why do people just assume that because you aren't a very young person that you must be a grandparent? Am I being over-sensitive here? (It's quite ok to say that I am!)

This happens at least once a month. Looks like I'd be used to it by now!

Etsy!

I have my Etsy shop open for business! Like eBay, once you get going, the listings are fairly fast and easy. I made an Etsy button for my sidebar, but can't figure out how to make it "live." If anyone knows, please enlighten me! For now, you can click here to see the store.

As I said in my post yesterday, now is a GREAT time to start online Christmas shopping!

NOTE: Rebecca told me how to make the Etsy button live! Now it works. Be sure to check out Rebecca's blog. She takes amazing photographs!

eBay

I've been working on listing hairbows and headbands on eBay. Check them out here! (Our eBay id is "peppermintstreetboutique" and you can always look us up that way.) I hope to get a lot more listed in the next few days. Once you get started, it goes fairly fast.

Has anyone out there in Bloggityville ever bought or sold anything on Etsy? Have you even HEARD of Etsy? It's a website to buy and sell handmade items. I hope to open a store site there in the next few days. I'll post about it when it happens.

In the meantime, now is a great time to start your online Christmas shopping....HINT, HINT!

Works for Me Wednesday: Pizza Cutter

A few weeks ago I wrote about one of my favorite kitchen helps: food scoops. This week I'd like to introduce you to my next favorite kitchen utensil: my pizza cutter!

Pizza cutters are for more than cutting pizza. They neatly cut the crusts off bread. (What is it with kids and crusts?) It slices sandwiches into bite-sized pieces. It makes short work of cutting meats like bologna (not that we'd EVER serve that around here! :-), pancakes, waffles, cheese, and just about everything else, including pizza, that kids need to have cut up for them.

By the way, it doesn't work so great on hotdogs.

Check out Rocks in My Dryer for other great Works for Me Wednesday tips!

Banana Bread.....Yummo!

We love bananas around here. Luckily, we’ve been able to get bananas for a decent price lately. When they start to get brown spots we all know banana bread is in our future! Here’s my favorite recipe. It originates from The Taste of Home Cookbook.

Banana Bread

¼ cup butter, softened
¾ cup sugar
2 eggs
¾ cup mashed banana (about 2 medium)
½ cup sour cream
2 ¼ cups all purpose flour
1 t cinnamon
¾ t baking soda
½ t salt
½ cup chopped walnuts

In a large mixing bowl, cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition.

Stir in bananas and sour cream. Combine dry ingredients and stir into banana mixture just until moistened. Fold in nuts.

Transfer to a greased 8-in. x 4-in. loaf pan. Bake at 350 for 1 hour or until a toothpick inserted near the center comes out clean. Cool for 10 minutes before removing from pan to a wire rack to cool completely.

Perfectly acceptable adaptations:

If you don’t have sour cream, use yogurt. In fact, I think we prefer this over the sour cream.

If you only have one banana, make up the rest of the ¾ cup with applesauce.

Add 1 cup of semi-sweet chocolate chips with the nuts. Or use vanilla chips. Or butterscotch chips.

Leave out the nuts completely!

Make muffins or mini-muffins. Adjust baking times.

I had some leftover Cinnamon Life cereal that I crushed up and sprinkled on top of the muffins tonight. I don’t recommend doing this with the bread because they’ll burn due to the longer baking time.

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This bread freezes well. In fact, it’s better the day after you bake it. Just wrap it up in foil after it cools and try to keep everyone out of it!

What am I Going to Wear?

I cleaned out the girls’ closet the other day, culling out things that are too small for Audrey, and clothes that are too small for Katie, but Audrey will be able to wear in a year or so. The girls had been at their grandparents’ house for an overnight stay. When they came home and looked in the closet, Katie exclaimed “WHAT HAPPENED TO MY CLOTHES? WHAT AM I GOING TO WEAR?”! Granted, I’d taken out about two-thirds of what was in the closet, but there were still plenty of things left hanging.

When Kim and family were visiting the other day we were talking about what is needed versus what we THINK is needed, especially where things like clothes and shoes are concerned. She told me of a little rhyme that she thinks in Amish in nature:

One to wash,
One to wear.
One for church,
One for a spare.

Four dresses. That’s it.

I’ll be the first to admit that I love dressing my girls. I love buying clothes….making clothes….finding great deals on clothes. Can we get through a season with four dresses each?

(When I say “get through” it sounds like it would be a great sacrifice on our part. I don’t want it to sound this way at all. I want us to be thankful for what we have, not always looking for more. I don’t think it would be easy to have just four dresses per girl, and I don’t think it will happen this year. Also, I’m not suggesting that this is for everyone.)

It seems like our house is getting smaller and smaller. The real problem is that we are accumulating more and more stuff.

How much do you think is enough as far as clothes and shoes are concerned?

Sandy Hannah

I just had to show everyone in Bloggityville this picture of Hannah. She's the daughter of our friends, Kim and George.

Hannah fell face-first into the sandbox here last week. She was covered, but still smiling! Isn't she a doll!

Happy Birthday, Miss Katie!

Miss Katie turn the big FOUR on Saturday! She's growing up so fast.

She and Daddy made the cake that she picked out herself: Funfetti with M&Ms on top. Mamaw and Papoo came, along with cousin Kyle, and G-ma. I think her favorite part of the day was playing with Audrey and Kyle.

(Cousin Kyle and Miss Audrey)

She informed me she wanted a kitten for her birthday. She was already planning to name it Cupcake.

Oh my.....

Soda? Coke? Pop? .....Other???

This is by far the most interesting map of the United States I've seen in a L-O-N-G time. (At our home, states are mostly referred to as a "red or blue" state. Politically speaking, of course.)

So, what do YOU call a carbonated beverage? Is it a coke? A soda? Pop?

According to the map, my county in Indiana goes by "pop". I think that's what we always called it when I was growing up, so it makes sense to me.

(By the way, my dad always drank Pepsi, but we called it "pop". We kids got one glass a week while we ate a bowl of popcorn and watched The Carol Burnett Show. ....Memories... But I digress...)

Somewhere along the line I started calling it "soda". I think it happened during my short stint as a nanny in New Jersey. Look at New Jersey....the entire state thinks it's "soda".

I noticed there is category for "other", and there are a lot of "other"s in places like North Carolina. What is "other"? Someone from a bright green county please enlighten me!

How does the map match up with what you say at your home? Is it a coke? A soda? Pop? Other?

I'm off to consider other earth- and mind-shattering questions....like what to make for dinner.

Frugal Friday--Saving on Milk

We drink a LOT of milk around here! Rick and I have to have three cups every day because we've both had gastric bypass surgery. Not to mention the girls drinking milk, cooking, having it with cereal, etc. With milk pushing $4.00 per gallon in our neck of the woods, we've made the switch--to powdered milk.

Before you turn up your nose and make an "Ewwww-w-w-w" sound you should try it! If you mix it up the night before and chill it well, you will not be able to tell the difference between it and the skim milk you buy in jugs. I promise!

Here's the best part: You can buy a box of powdered milk that makes five gallons at Aldi's for around $9.00 which works out to $1.80 per gallon. The only way to beat that is to buy a cow!

Head on over to Crystal's Blog for more Frugal Friday tips!

ZZZzz-z-z-z-z----z--z-z-z-----z-z-z-z--------

I haven't done any posting for over a week!

I've been recovering from my second knee surgery. It wasn't bad in the beginning, then it had to be drained last week. There is just one word for that--PAINFUL!

Since then, I've been on pain medication--and I'm allergic to it. In fact, I've somehow become allergic to all prescription pain medications. So, instead of NOT taking anything, I take it with two benadryl. Know what happens when you take benadryl with a pain medication??? You sleep. You keep sleeping....then you sleep some more.

This sleeping has my body's internal time clock all messed up. Now my days and nights are confused. So, I sleep all day, then I can't sleep at night! I spend all night trying to go back to sleep and doing quiet, non-brain-stimulating things. For me, blogging is VERY brain stimulating. Hence, no posts. (Please, someone comment and say you noticed I hadn't been posting!!!)

Now it's time to go listen to some quiet music, read a little, tend to the girls when they awake during the night, play with the kitties, weave some headbands (I can to this in my sleep now.)....

Works for Me Wednesday: Food Scoops

I have two scoops that look like extra-small ice cream scoops—the old-fashioned kind with the squeeze handle. The smaller of the two belonged to my grandmother. She was a cook at sororities and fraternities at “a major university”. She bought the small scoop when she worked there. It makes cookie baking so easy! Just scoop out the dough, squeeze the handle, and voila--uniform cookies that are fast to dip out! (Anyone who’s been through 4-H Foods Division I knows how important uniformity is!) This small scoop holds about one measuring teaspoon. It’s just the right size when you want bite-sized cookies: baby or wedding showers, cookies for small children, or when you want a recipe to yield more actual cookies than the recipe states.

The larger of the scoops says “40” on the inside. That must have something to do with the size, but I’m not sure exactly what it is. I’m guessing it holds about two measuring tablespoons. This scoop is great for “normal”-sized cookies. Again, it makes scooping fast and easy. This scoop is also wonderful for muffins: two scoops of muffin batter in a regular-sized muffin tin is just the right amount for perfect muffins, regardless of the recipe. They’re never too small, and the batter never runs over the sides.

These scoops are also great when you’re making cookies or other recipes that require rolling food into balls. Just scoop out the food, plop it on a piece of waxed paper or a cookie sheet, then roll it into a rounder ball. No food gets under your fingernails…I just HATE it when that happens! I do this when I’m making peanut butter cookies or meatballs. No digging into the food with your hands!

Making cooking more uniform, less messy, and easier….that Works for Me! Be sure to check out Works for Me Wednesday at Rocks in My Dryer for more great ideas!

I'm Officially Addicted...

Hello. My name is Dana and I'm addicted to headbands.....

I'd been seeing these woven headbands all over the Yahoo! boutique message boards so I went on a quest to find the instructions. There are several out there, but I chose the directions from Little Cans of Beans.

The directions are easy to follow and have photos showing every step. Changing the colors of the ribbons and the initial placement will give you a different design every time. The variety of available ribbon colors is virtually limitless giving you endless design potential.

The headbands are also very inexpensive to make. I bought the plastic headband forms from The Ribbon Retreat for less than $.50 each. I used less than 3 yards of 3/8" ribbon costing less than $1.00 total. These would be easy to make for sale at boutiques, schools, daycares, eBay, or even etsy!

Yes, I can see an addiction forming......

(The photo isn't the greatest. The colors used were black, orange, deep purple, and neon green.)

WARNING: Addiction Possibility Ahead!

WARNING: Making this project could become addictive!

Now that I have the legal stuff out of the way, take a look at this beaded headband I made today! The instructions came from The Ribbon Retreat.

Using beads I already had was my first challenge. I had a bunch leftover from a project I did last year so they soon became scattered all over the dining room table. Of course, the girls were FASCINATED by all the pretty little beads and wanted so much to "help" momma!

The second challenge was working with jewelry findings. I had no idea what a crimp bead was nor how wire is gauged. Once that was figured out, the next part was fun.

Making this first headband took about 35 minutes with a few interruptions. The next one should be faster. The instructions say the materials cost $12-$16 per headband. The main cost would be the glass beads they recommend. The beads I used were plastic and less expensive.

I could see making one of these to match each of Katie's dresses. Not to be forgotten, Audrey could wear it as a necklace. You could make one tiara-style and put ribbons hanging down the back. Every little princess would love having this for dress-up time.

It's a Boy!

After adopting Roxanne a few weeks ago, we decided to bring Vinnie home too. He's a real sweetheart and has adjusted very well! He like's to sleep in "Rick's chair" and is a real cuddler. Fuzzy still hisses at him occasionally, but doesn't put much effort into it any more. Vinnie just doesn't care! His "real" name was Sven, but the girls were having problems pronouncing it and kept calling him "Fin". It was somehow changed to Vinnie and it seems to fit him well.

I would say we are done adopting kittes...however...there are two kittens at the rescue who are at the least, blind in one eye. They are siblings from the same litter and are 4-5 weeks old. While the last thing we need is two more furbabies, we don't want to see them separated. They may be coming here once they are weaned.

Kids and kitties...I just can't resist!

On a Roll

Using scraps of fabric leftover from my purse project last weekend, I made this cute crayon keeper. The instructions came from here.

The best part about this project is that the keeper will match my purse. And we all know how important it is for kids' playthings with to match your accessories!

Seriously, crayons are very inexpensive now with the back-to-school sales going on. These would make great frugal stocking stuffers or terrific birthday presents for kids of all ages.

Sewing time is minimal. Fabric usage is also minimal. It would be very easy to make this bigger (for 24 crayons), smaller (for 8 crayons), or even for markers. It would also be easy to customize this for a Dora the Explorer fan, SpiderMan, or or even Cinderella fan. The possibilities are endless!

On a side note, why are the 24-count crayons $.09-$.12 per pack right now and the 16-count crayons are almost $1.00? Doesn't make sense, does it? I bought a dozen 24-count packages and gave the extras for my girls to use.

Pattern Review: Sweet Pea Purse

I belong to several Yahoo! groups that deal with sewing and/or boutique clothing for children. Most of the sites highly recommend the patterns from You Can Make This. I decided to purchase this purse pattern and give them a try.

I ordered this pattern in the middle of the night and the file was immediately available for download. The instructions were very clear and there are lots of photos to help you along.

I chose several prints with chocolate brown, pink, and a light teal green. I added the teal fabrics at the last minute because I felt my fabrics were too "matchy-matchy". With the exception of the lining and backing fabrics, it takes less than a quarter yard per choice.

This pattern introduced me to fusible quilt batting. It's the coolest thing since sliced bread! It makes the pieces easy to handle and machine quilt (all straight stitching) because the layers don't slide! I can't wait to try this stuff with other projects.

The purse also uses a magnetic snap. It was very easy to install and makes the finished purse seem so.....finished! This little detail gives it a professionally-made appearance.

I did deviate from the pattern just a little. The main thing I did was to NOT make the strap. The strap instructions that come with the pattern are great, but I had a purse with a removeable handle that matched perfectly. I made little loops and sewed them in then sewing the lining onto the outside then clipped the handle on. This way I'll be able to make more purses in lots of colors and just clip the handles off and on. (I'm thinking of looking at thrift stores for more purses with handles like this that I can use!) I also put two pockets on the inside instead of just one.

While this pattern is fairly easy, you do need a little sewing experience to make it, in my opinion. The batting-backed pieces along with the interfaced pieces make for some bulky handling (but that's what gives the bag structure). I plan on using up my scraps and making a few more of these gems in the near future!