31 October 2012

. . . you know the drill . . .

. . . here's the thing . . .
. . . up until monday, 
i thought i wasn't going to be home 
on halloween night . . .
. . . i underbought 
as far as candy is concerned . . .
{i knew bill wouldn't want to answer the door a thousand times 
and sitting outside all evening isn't really an option for him}
. . . and i hadn't bought 
any pumpkins at all . . . 
{my dad would be seriously disappointed in me}
. . . so today, 
i repented of both sins . . .
. . . i stocked up 
on twice as much candy . . . 
. . . and, after staging 
an internal battle, 
i resigned myself 
to carving some pumpkins . . . 


. . . first stop ~ home depot . . .
. . . no pumpkins left there . . . 
. . . but i did buy a cordless drill 
just for me . . . 
. . . i mean, what's a girl to do? . . . 


. . . since, you know,


. . . also fresh out of pumpkins 
were fry's and wal*mart . . . 


. . . thank heaven 
for the overpriced pumpkin patch . . . 
. . . it wasn't too bad . . . 
. . . 3 for $20 . . . 
{i even found some that weren't completely rotten 
from sitting out in the sun for a month}
. . . moral of the story? . . .


. . . don't leave 
such important purchases 
'til the last minute . . . 
. . . halloween waits for no one . . . 

{spooky nearly full moon}

. . . two hours of shopping for them . . .
. . . two hours of carving, 
scraping and drilling . . . 
. . . two hours of glowing . . . 
. . . and these three pumpkins 
are now in the green trash can . . . 
. . . i learned many years ago 
not to leave them out overnight . . .
. . . one word: teenage gremlins/
 smashing pumpkins . . . 
{okay ~ that's four words}


30 October 2012

. . . bloops! . . .

. . . if boy oops! are boops! . . . 
. . . and girl oops! are goops! . . .
. . . then i'm going to refer 
to the newest in the oops! lineup 
as bloops! . . .
. . . blanket oops! . . . .
. . . bloops! are 100% cotton gauze
 swaddling blankets . . . 
. . . perfectly sized for newborns 
who love to be wrapped up 
burrito style . . .
. . . these are super lightweight . . .
. . . with just the right amount 
of crinkly stretchiness 
that makes it easy 
to get that wrap 
nice and tight . . .


. . . bloops! are finished 
with a narrow rolled surged hem . . . 
. . . bloops! are reversible . . .
. . . this first batch of bloops! 
are available 
in basic baby colors . . .
. . . pink, blue, and {my favorite} white . . .
. . . the white features 
allover floral embroidery . . . 
{hard to photograph, but really pretty} 


. . . bloops! are nice for those times
 when you'd rather not wrap up baby 
in jungle animals or dinosaurs . . . 
{#notusuallyafanofbabyishprints}
. . . introductory price 
through the end of 2012 
is $10 each . . . 


29 October 2012

. . . another yummy salad . . .

. . . and i'm pretty sure it's 
mostly kind of gluten free . . .
. . . how's that for commitment? . . .



. . . this salad fed two of us,
but could have easily fed three . . .
who knew? 
. . . ingredients in bold . . .

•2 boneless skinless chicken breasts

marinate at least one hour (up to all day) in:
•2 tablespoons gluten free soy sauce (the brand i found is called san-j tamari gluten-free soy sauce)
•2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
•1 teaspoon minced garlic
•fresh ground black pepper

grill (to keep it from drying out so much, we like to grill about five minutes per side, then finish with a meat thermometer [165ºF] in a foil covered pan in the oven.) 
let rest 10 minutes.
slice.

meanwhile . . . 
cook and crumble about half a package of kroger bacon (i always slice into half-inch pieces then cook the whole package and save some for breakfast burritos. only now they're called breakfast tacos. no more flour tortillas.)
wash dry and shred two hearts of romaine lettuce.
•dice one bartlett pear 
•and one honeycrisp apple.
•1/2 cup craisins
•1/2 cup chopped pecans
•2 ounces feta cheese
•6 tablespoons brianna's poppy seed dressing
•2 tablespoons newman's own light balsamic vinaigrette

in a large bowl, mix lettuce, pear, apple, craisins, pecans, bacon and feta.
in a separate small bowl, whisk together dressings.
toss salad with dressing.

transfer to a platter.
top with sliced chicken, kosher salt and fresh ground black pepper.

inspiration here.
pinned here.

28 October 2012

. . . mandersras . . .

. . . happy twenty-ninth birthday,
 amanda joanda . . .
. . . we're proud to be your parents . . .


. . . and we love the way 
you always manage 
to make us smile . . .


27 October 2012

. . . i'm trying . . .

. . . but it's kinda confusing . . .
. . . something about old dogs 
and new tricks . . .


. . . let's just eat corn tortillas, 
corn tortilla chips and corn chex 
for every meal . . .
. . . mmmkay? . . .
. . . with a couple of honeycrisp apples
 thrown in for good measure . . .


. . . i need to know where 
the udi brand of gluten free bread 
is sold . . .
. . . i've heard it's the best . . .
. . . i also might have to get some 
stronger reading glasses . . .
. . . food labels and teensy print 
seem to go hand in hand . . .


26 October 2012

. . . row row row four . . .

. . . if you have eagle eyes, 
you might have spotted 
what i was working on 
at quilt group . . .

{that's my empty chair on the upper right}

. . . it was the first chunk of time 
i'd had since row four came out 
a couple of weeks ago . . . 
{when i was otherwise occupied}
. . . apples and cores 
and leaves and stems . . . 
. . . in a nod to animal prints, 
{since my butterflies have cheetah bodies} 
i figured why not 
green zebra striped 
apple leaves? . . . 


. . . i only made two mistakes . . . 
. . . and i'm leaving them both in, 
by cracky! . . .
. . . upside down numbers 
in the granny smith core block . . . 
. . . and the leaf on the right side
 instead of the left 
in one apple block . . . 


. . . oh, well . . .
. . . two places for the evil spirits 
to escape . . . 
. . . right, peg? . . .

. . . here're the first four rows 
all together . . . 
. . . and wouldn't you know it? . . . 
. . . row five is available now . . . 
. . . i'm always running behind . . .


{total number of pieces in row 4: 141}
{total number of pieces in rows 1-4: 428}


25 October 2012

. . . october quilt group . . .

. . . i ask you ~ 
what could be better 
than eleven friends sewing, 
talking, and lunching together? . . .
. . . not much . . . 
. . . i've said it before 
{and it's still true} 
that this is about my favorite day 
of each month . . . 
 . . . we were missing 
a couple of friends . . . 
. . . it's even better 
when they're with us . . . 
. . . hopefully next month . . .


. . . gina amazes me . . .
. . . her brain goes 
a million miles a minute . . . 
. . . she never stops . . . 
. . . designing and testing patterns, 
thinking about the next quilt show,
 scheming ways 
to get rid of her enormous stash, 
and planning a quilters' cruise . . . 

. . . and i'm all "i pieced an apple" . . . 
{actually several apples and cores and leaves and stems. 
and they're really darling! i'll show you tomorrow.}
{besides, my finger hurt.}


. . . but, let's be honest . . . 
. . . the real reason we get together 
is for the lunches! . . .
. . . this month's was provided by janet,
 who is obviously 
trying to raise the average . . . 
. . . everything was delish . . . 
. . . won ton tacos . . .
. . . genius! . . . 


. . . it's easy to see 
why i look forward 
to the fourth wednesday 
of every month . . . 


24 October 2012

. . . i didn't call 911 . . .

. . . but apparently, 
according to my new friends 
at the fire station, 
some people do . . .
. . . and, yes, these nice guys 
will actually come to your house 
to cut off your wedding ring . . . 
. . . i opted, during a phone call 
to check their availability, 
to save them the trip . . .


. . . and they are jokesters . . . 
. . . on the phone, 
one of them asked me 
if my ring was really stuck 
or if i was getting divorced . . .


. . . trust me . . . 
. . . it was stuck . . . 
. . . i hadn't worn it in a month . . . 
. . . not since i made all that jam . . . 
. . . i think it must have been 
the acidity in the fruit . . . 
. . . and the fact that 
i peeled three boxes of peaches 
by hand . . . 
. . . my finger was irritated 
when i finished, 
but nothing like this . . .
. . . so i gave it a month to heal . . . 


. . . then on sunday 
i put it back on . . . 
. . . and all this happened 
in just three days . . .

{you can see the injuries i sustained from the mini jaws of life}

. . . i'm bummed about my broken ring, 
but windex didn't work . . .
{think my big fat greek wedding} 
. . . ice didn't work . . . 
. . . vaseline didn't work . . .
. . . and it was super painful . . .
. . . i'm relieved it's off . . . 
. . . and in case you're wondering . . .
. . . the firemen were cooking
something with bacon for dinner . . . 
. . . i still smell like it . . .


23 October 2012

. . . switcheroo . . .

. . . the contracts had expired 
for most of the users 
on our family cell phone plan, 
so we decided it was a good time 
to switch providers . . . 
{fingers crossed for better service, please!}
. . . it didn't hurt that 
four of us had birthdays 
about that time, either . . .
. . . after nearly a month, 
we finally received 
our fancy new phones . . . 
. . . one word: backordered . . . 

. . . then i thought, 
"how hard can this possibly be? 
i'll just log into iTunes, 
back up my old phone, 
then plug in the new one 
and transfer all my info. 
i'm a big girl. 
i can do this" . . . 
. . . yeah, right. guess again . . . 

. . . my version of iTunes 
needed to be updated . . . 
. . . i tried . . . 
. . . i really tried . . . 
. . . but the operating system 
on my computer was too old 
to support the new iTunes . . . 
. . . so then i tried 
to update the computer . . . 

. . . and then i gave up . . . 

. . . brent to the rescue . . .
. . . it's great having 
an IT person in the family . . . 
. . . he spent a long time 
on the phone 
with a tech support guy . . . 
. . . we learned that 
the update i need 
is no longer available 
as an online download . . . 
. . . i need to purchase a disk . . . 
. . . a disk they could have to me 
in a couple of weeks . . . 

. . . what the ____? . . . 
. . . but for an addtional $8.00, 
i could get it faster . . .
. . . JUST SEND THE DA*N CD . . . 

. . . the good news is, 
even though i'm still waiting 
for the CD, 
this cute package 
arrived in the mail . . . 
. . . complete with washi tape . . . 

. . . and even better 
once i opened it . . . 
. . . megan was again 
a photoshop whiz . . . 
. . . designing exactly 
what i requested . . . 


. . . so even though 
it isn't really working yet, 
at least my fancy new phone 
looks adorable . . . 

. . . go here to see more
vintage printage creations . . . 

{*=R, of course}


22 October 2012

. . . 'til we meet again . . .

. . . seems like this is becoming 
more and more common . . . 
. . . i suppose we're just at that age . . . 
. . . saying goodbye 
to our sweet parents . . . 
. . . everyone pictured here 
has lost at least one . . . 
. . . this beautiful morning, 
was a celebration of the life 
of arliss ellsworth . . . 
. . . julie's mom . . . 

{l-r: koko head, julie ellsworth logan, todd lorenzen, 
robert charon, julie petersen, julie woods, and me}

. . . and though the occasion is sad,
 there's just nothing 
like seeing dear old friends . . . 
. . . we all grew up 
in the same ward . . . 
. . . we've known each other 
for over forty years . . . 
{our photographer remarked that a few years ago, 
he wouldn't have had to back up quite so far 
to fit us all in the photo. 
the nerve!}
. . . and, oh, the stories we can tell! . . . 


21 October 2012

. . . the "c" babies . . .

. . . first is colby . . . 
. . . miraculously eating 
real people food . . . 
. . . chick-fil-a waffle fries 
to be exact . . . 
. . . you know ~ 
since at age fourteen months 
he finally has four teeth . . . 


. . . all that messy eating 
necessitated a bath . . . 
. . . with new tub toys, of course . . .


. . . second is cameron . . .
. . . just proving that 
wasn't a fluke . . . 
. . . he makes this face 
all the time . . .

. . . tonight, though, 
it was chocolate coated . . . 
. . . and why, you may ask? . . . 

. . . from sharing a scotcheroo 
with "c" number three . . . 
. . . uncle chris . . . 

. . . funny babies . . .
. . . all three of 'em . . .