rain, sewing, and the Oscars

It's not often that I spend the day in my P.J.'s, but that's what I'm doing today. I did take a shower and put on a clean pair, but if all goes as planned, I wont be putting on real clothes today for 3 VERY good reasons:

1. It's a rainy, cloudy day, perfect for doing nothing much in particular.

2. I have an injured knee that is requiring ice and immobility, thanks to yesterdays BIGGEST LOSER CHALLENGE. (HA! Can you believe that I actually have a sports injury?!)

3. The Academy Awards and all the hoopla that goes along with it are on all day long!

Years ago, I was part of a group of friends who really took the Academy Awards seriously. We always had a viewing party of some kind. One year we all dressed up in our best "Red Carpet" attire. We would fill out ballots at the start of the evening and I won $200.00 one year for a perfect score! The friend who was always the instigator of all the fun had an uncle in the movie industry who was a member of the Academy. All members receive copies of the Best Picture nominees ahead of time and my friend would bring these to the party. We topped off the evening with a showing of the winning movie. Sadly, this friend passed away several years ago and that was the end of the parties. We tried the next year, but it was just too depressing.

So now I watch the show all alone in my room in front of my sewing machine. The last few years I made myself several kind of appetizers to eat while watching, and since I have no friends or family members that enjoy this watching/eating ritual with me I mostly finished off the goodies by myself (60 lbs. overweight? hmmm...wonder how that could have happened) But this year, thanks the the VALLEY'S BIGGEST LOSER, I'll be having a big healthy salad instead, which doesn't sound like near as much fun!


Hopefully I'll get several of these projects done today while lounging around in my P.J.'s trying to keep ice on the sore knee:

1. 2 flannel baby blankets for my long-distance Friend. His sixth Granddaughter will be born next week.

2. a bunch of Little Girl Aprons for the ETSY shop. I've had several requests lately for these so it seems like the perfect day to stock up on the Etsy inventory.

Well, I'd better finish this post because I see that there's Red Carpet activity starting already at only 11:30 a.m. for a 5:30 show!

I'ts going to be a full Oscar-Show-watching day!

my "dull and boring" life.....

Every so often on a Monday morning, when I'm asked how my weekend went and I reply with the usual "sewing, cooking and Grandkids", I get the response: "That's all? Again?....Don't you ever want to have more of a social life and get out and do things with people? (translation: have a date?)

Are you kidding me? Where would I squeeze in time for anything (or anyone) else? As a longtime single Mimi to 5 busy Grandkids, 2 that live in the same house with me and 3 that are only 2 miles away, when would I find the time? I may once have suffered an empty nest a long time ago (my "baby" turns 29 this month!), but does this nest sound empty to you?......

#1 runs Cross-Country with the Freshman team at the High School

#2 has taken dance lessons for 7 years and is currently taking Contemporary and Hip-Hop at a nearby Dance Studio. Her hip-hop team just performed for the opening of the new Michael Jackson movie at our local movie theater.

#3 is playing soccer

#4 just started Gymnastics and is crazy about it! Her Mother has to drag her out of there when her session is over!

#5 is playing his first year of T-ball

With games and meets and performances and helping to drive to practices when some of these things overlap, I barely have time to sew aprons or make soup!

Some of these activities are finishing up this week but I'm sure new ones will be starting up any day now......

Empty Nest? HA!!.....(and I wouldn't have it any other way)

Soup Du Jour #3 & #4

Soup #3

The fact that the weather was back to 92 degrees this weekend did not deter me from my Soup-making frenzy!

The family was away for the weekend, leaving me with the house to myself, so on Friday I decided to make some "What's-in-the-Cupboard?" Soup The rule is, no going to the grocery store, just use what you have on hand. A good way to clean out the fridge and pantry....

In the fridge:

half a COSTCO CHICKEN

side note: Seriously, is there anything better than a Costco Chicken? I mean, for the price and convenience you can't beat it! And those are good size birds, too! My Chef Son gets annoyed with me when I buy them instead of making them myself ("Mom,it's just so easy to do it yourself"), but I've tried, and I honestly can't get as good a result. I can get at least 3 meals out of one chicken and half the time I use the carcass for making stock, so I really get my money's worth, so there, Son! KEEP UP THE GOOD WORK COSTCO!

from the pantry:

from the crisper and herb garden:

Boy this was tasty, even in the 90plus degree weather! (I remain hopeful that winter will really get here!) And it was even better the next day for breakfast.

There was still plenty left for the Fam when they got home, too.

Soup #4

While I was looking for ingredients for Soup #3, I found a ham bone in the freezer. "Bone" is not really true, there was a lot of meat on there, too. With some herbs from the garden and a little more help from the pantry and crisper I had a pot of Navy Bean soup ready when the Family got home on Sunday.

even the little ones ate this one (no visible vegetables!)

A little dessert from the pantry, too....cake mix cookies.

I wonder just how many meals I could come up with without going to the grocery store? Hmmmmmmm........a worthy and frugal goal, I think. We'll just see........

more benefits of a two family household

Living with Son & family in our 3 generation household has certain benefits. Some of them are obvious, like the financial ones, and getting to be part of the Grandkids daily lives, and not having to do much yard work (hee, hee...I HATE yardwork!) But some of the benefits are a little more subtle, like having access to food that I wouldn't ordinarily fix for myself......

Today my Sunday is going exactly as I like it.....nothing is expected of me today from anyone else so I have plenty of time to catch up on my sewing projects and watch a stack of movies that I've been wanting to see....MEANWHILE....downstairs, Son & Family have a house full of friends over to watch football and eat snacks!

Now, I don't care anything at all about football, but I do care about football FOOD! Son has been in the kitchen all morning stirring up all kinds of fabulous smelling things (the smell seems to collect at the top of the stairs right outside my room) and I know his friends always bring snacks to share, too.

Let's just take a little stroll down there and see what's going on, shall we?

AH HA!! Just as I suspected....lots and lots of deliciousness...

we have Velveeta Cheeseburger dip and Cream Cheese w/Salsa



Little Smokies in grape jelly sauce



two kinds of wings: BBQ and Buffalo

and Cupcakes with sprinkles

....and what do we have here? A cooler in the family room? What could be in here?

of course, football beverages!

And apparently, football watching has changed since I was a child....now with Fantasy Football Leagues all over the place you have to bring your laptop with you so you can monitor things as the game progresses...football seems too complicated to me anyway, and now this!!

Well...that's about all the football stuff I can take. My snacks and I are going back upstairs to the "Studio".....

AHHHH.....the perfect Sunday afternoon.....my sewing machine, several movies to watch, and a plate of yummy snacks....

LIFE IS GOOD!!

Kid Food

Some of the Grandkids came over on Saturday for a sleepover. Instead of the usual Tostadas, I thought I'd try out some new food ideas on them.

I saw this idea somewhere on the internet and it sounded very kid-friendly, but I had no idea how BIG these would go over!!

CORN DOG MUFFINS......

To your favorite cornbread recipe, add about 1 cup shredded cheese (we used cheddar) and 2-3 finely chopped hot dogs. Bake in a mini muffin tin and serve with your favorite Corn Dog toppings for dipping.

OH MY GOSH! I cannot tell you how much they LOVED these silly little things! Everyone had their own favorite dipping sauce or created their own......equal parts yellow mustard and honey seemed to be the favorite.

...served with cold glasses of milk and watermelon wedges........."Mimi! This is the best dinner ever!!"

For dessert we had homemade Root Beer Float Popsicles made in my new freezer pop molds:

I gently stirred some melted vanilla ice cream into a can of root beer and it sort of separated itself into yummy layers

Another big hit! Everyone voted for keeping these recipes and having them again very soon.

For breakfast the next morning they happily finished off the rest of the muffins and watermelon.

You know, as miserable as dinnertime can be when serving kids something they don't want to eat, the opposite is so true when you discover a new favorite! Such enthusiasm!

Ok, so it wasn't the healthiest of dinners, but I say let their parents feed them healthy at home....

SCORE!! MORE BROWNIE POINTS FOR MIMI!!

Maid Service anyone?

I was doing a little weekend house cleaning this morning and since I was doing the chore I absolutely hate the most, it occured to me how funny it is that we all have our most hated chores and those we don't mind so much, and how much they vary from person to person....

I HATE VACUUMING THE STAIRS!!#&!#

We have dark carpeting (and 2 pre-schoolers) and it doesn't take long for the stairs to get covered with stuff. I actually sort of enjoy vacuuming the rest of the house, which is every other day with this carpet, but the stairs are evil!! They get done MAYBE once a month. In between I use a sticky lint roller when I can't stand the lint and blonde hairs that really show up on dark plum carpeting. Is there some kind of magic vacuum or appliance that would make this any better for me? Any one have any suggestions?



I ENJOY DOING LAUNDRY (really!)







I think it's the organizational aspect, the sorting, time planning (catch the dryer before cycle ends....I can't handle wrinkles!), folding, hanging........When my laundry is done I really feel like I've made a grand accomplishment!



I HATE EMPTYING THE DISHWASHER!

I don't mind washing dishes by hand or loading the dirty dishes, but....well, I have no explanation for this one.

I LOOK FORWARD TO CHANGING THE BED!

This one's obvious....wouldn't everyone have fresh, clean sheets every night if they could? This one also feeds into my liking to do laundry, a double treat for me!

This carries over into yardwork as well...I LOVE mowing the lawn, but I hate everything else about gardening and yardwork (don't even get me started on pulling weeds!)

I've been asked many times how house cleaning works in our 3 generation household. How did you decide who does what? Who cooks? Who cleans the kitchen or mops or dusts? The only explanation I can give is that we've never even really talked about it....if someone sees something that needs taking care of, you just do it. It's that simple. Everything seems to get done without any problems. It's been working for us for 5 years now, probably because we all seem to have different likes and dislikes so it all evens out! (except I have a feeling Daughter-in-Law hates vacuuming the stairs as much as I do!!)

I'm going to add a Gardner and a Maid to my wish list for when I win the lottery...but I'd probably just end up being one of those people who thinks they need to clean up before the maid comes!

Weekend update & a movie review

Well.....I didn't quite meet my entire sewing goal for this past weekend, but close enough for my own personal satisfaction, and that's what counts here, right?

3 out of 4 Chicken aprons completed:

I especially like the one with the yellow trim. The yellow fabric reminds me of corn or chicken feed, so I think the two fabrics really compliment each other. All are for sale in my Etsy shop. (Kathi D. don't you need a chicken apron?)

I also finally made myself my flannel grasshopper pillow case, that I originally posted about here a long time ago

it only took all of 8 minutes....well, actually 8 months and 8 minutes!

(ATTN: Heather...spoiler alert!)

I didn't get everything made for Christmas that I wanted to, so I'll be mailing off a box of Avocados to my Sister in Seattle and including this tote bag made from a re-usable shopping bag with photos of her kids appliqued on both sides

and 3 furry fleece scarves, one for her and one for each of her 2 youngest daughters.

so Heather, if you're reading this, keep an eye out at the end of week for a PERISHABLE package from me.....don't let those avos freeze on your front porch!

********************************************************************

"MAMMA MIA!"

OK.... so I watched MAMMA MIA while sewing on Saturday and I defy you to see this movie without wanting to do the following;

1. ....plan a vacation to Greece IMMEDIATELY! I've alway wanted to go there anyway and now you just try and stop me!

2. .....be best friends with MERYL STREEP! I read on IMDB.COM that Olivia Newton-John and Michelle Pfeiffer were both considered for the role and the producers didn't originally want Meryl Streep, but she really pushed hard for the part and she was GREAT!! You can tell she (and the whole cast) are just having a blast making this film! (if you love movies and don't visit this site regularly to check out every movie you watch, bookmark it and start using it. The trivia on each movie is the best part!)

3. ....start going to Karaoke....and believe me I've never in my life cared anything about Karaoke! I don't even sing to myself when I'm alone, but suddenly I understand how people can be obsessed with Karaoke....YAY! for ABBA!

This was such a fun, uplifting movie. It wasn't the best thing to be watching while I was trying to sew, it was too distracting! I usually put on something that I've seen a dozen times and can just listen to, so when the sewing was done I watched it a second time to give it my full attention!.....I'm going to watch it one more time tonight before I return it to Granddaughter. Definitely 2 thumbs up!!

....what an excellent weekend!

chipping away at the "stash"

I guess I should inventory my extensive fabric stash more often.

Last weekend I completed 6 Valentine-themed aprons using only fabric I discovered I already owned.

Sorting through my 1 yard cuts (I always buy 1 yard of everything) I found several chicken fabrics...I didn't even know I liked chickens, but apparently I do! All of these came from my stash except the yellow....I bought that yesterday to complete the set.

Goal for this weekend: 4 chicken aprons for the ETSY shop and 2 other small projects to tuck into a box of Avocados for my sister in Seattle.

The house is quiet (the family is away), I borrowed a "MAMMA MIA" DVD from oldest granddaughter after reading this on Kathi D.'s blog, and I'm settling down right now for an afternoon of sewing aprons and watching a happy movie....

LIFE IS GOOD!

The Sweet Hearts Collection

Mission accomplished!!

I got all six aprons finished by 11:00p.m. Sunday night....

Five for the ETSY shop (I'll be posting them on Wednesday)

and one for my partner in the Sugar & Spice Apron Swap. As soon as I finish a couple of other little projects to complete her package, I'll be mailing this one off to New York, along with some avocados.

Some of these have my new adjustable criss-cross straps that I "borrowed" from Lucy over at My Byrd House....Thanks for the idea Lucy!! This apron style is sooo comfortable....no neck strap, which can be bothersome. It also makes the apron more flattering to a fuller figure (trust me, I know...)

It sure feels great completing a goal you set for yourself, even something as small as completing 6 aprons in a weekend.


Starting with the small goals and working up to the bigger ones......that works for me!!