Happy Easter!

Happy Easter from our home to yours! We had a yellow and white/cream/linen theme for Easter this year, and I stayed up way too late on Saturday night finishing the place mats. In the end I think it was so worth it.

Joel and his chocolate bunny.

Here I am feeling very tired, but still happy that I stayed up late to finish those place mats. lol
Paper butterflies hanging from the light fixture.
Egg, provolone, and prosciutto panini.
It was so gorgeous out that we decided to end the day at the beach. It was a very relaxing way to end the day/weekend.

29 Weeks

People keep asking for pictures, (Hi, Mom!) so I thought I'd put some up for everyone to see. :)

Embroidered Fabric Boxes

I had been thinking for a long time that I needed to start making fabric boxes to house some little annoyances that bothered me. :) I found a tutorial last week (Um...I can try to find it again if anyone wants it), and changed the measurements to suite my needs. First up is a box for our remote controls. I decided to embroider the outside first to make it a little cuter.

And this little one is to throw stuff in on top of the microwave. There is always little pile of "What is this from?" up there, and at least now it looks cute. :)

Spring Coasters

I've been trying to make little changes in my living room to make it feel more like Spring. The last set of coasters that I made were orange and I liked them a lot, but since I'm trying to remove some of the orange (and they had coffee stains on them) it seemed like a new set were in order. I love this tree fabric so much and I like to use very small pieces of it at a time so it will last. :) I love how they turned out, and the rule is that you have to promise not to spill on them if you want to use one. :) Nevertheless, I'm sure the novelty will wear off soon enough, and I'll have to come up with another coaster idea in the Fall.

Gnomes

Ever since we found a second hand copy of this book, (We already had one copy, but I couldn't not buy another for only $1.00 even if it was a little beat up.) little gnomes have been popping up in the strangest places. I'm thankful though...maybe they will help keep my plants alive. I'm glad they aren't Siberian Gnomes, but the less said about Siberian Gnomes the better. Read the book if you want to learn why.

My Birdie Wreath

I've been wanting to put a grapevine wreath on my door for a long time now, but I've been waiting for a good deal on one. While in Phoenix visiting Grandma a few weeks ago, we went into a Hobby Lobby and I found one on sale for only $2.00. Yay! I decided at that very moment that I would bring it home and sew fabric birds for it. Now I know they aren't perfectly spaced on there, but they were giving me grief when I was trying to attach them. I love the finished product so much, and it's kind of a shame that it is outside my door where I don't get to see it very often. :) Make sure you check back here this week. I've got many more things to show you.

Here is Something New

I know I need to post, and I really want to but Joel has been taking the laptop to work everyday, and I can't hook our camera up to the other computer. (That's my excuse and I'm sticking to it.) Also, I've been trying to use the laptop in the evenings, but it is out of space and won't let me put the pictures on it either. Anyway, I hope to fix all of this over the weekend and get to some serious posting because I HAVE BEEN SEWING!!!

Since I can't post something new I thought I'd put up something from Christmas. :) Whenever I need to smile I watch this video. I figured that Mom, Dad, and Alice especially would like to see this one again, so here it is. Also, when I ask him to say "computer" he says "apple", so if you were wondering...Sebastian is a fan of Macs. :)

A Yummy Breakfast

This morning I woke up rather hungry, but couldn't find anything around that sounded good to eat. After a few more minutes of searching I decided to make some granola. Below is a photo and the recipe for my yummy breakfast. 

Granola Recipe

4 cups rolled oats

1/2 cups nuts

1/4 -1/2 cup unsweetened coconut

1 tsp. cinnamon

1/4 - 1/2 cup flax seeds

3/4 cup raisins, optional

1 stick butter (I think you can use less because it still seemed wet when done cooking.)

1/2 cup honey

Melt butter and honey together in a saucepan. Pour over all the dry ingredients. Bake at 350 degrees for 8 minutes. Stir, then bake an additional 8 minutes.  Enjoy!

Jell-O Pants

I decided that I should at least post one picture from Christmas... This is a photo I took of Sebastian as he was getting cleaned up after dinner one night, and it brings an instant smile to my face. It is called "Jell-O Pants" and it won first prize in our photo competition. I named it that because he had just finished eating semi melted green Jell-O with his fingers so there is Jell-O all over his pants. :) I hope you enjoy it at least half as much as I do. 

Oh, Christmas Tree

After much trouble with the Christmas tree stand, we finally got our tree to stand straight and tall. I am very pleased with how it turned out and was actually shocked to find out I had so many ornaments. I kinda went crazy last year making a bunch of them so I would have a full tree this year, and I guess it worked.



Some of my favorite ornaments all in one spot. Who am I kidding? They are all my favorites. Usually, you are supposed to put the ugly ones in the back to fill it in, but I love them all so much I had a hard time deciding what ornaments I should pick whose fate it would be to stare at the wall all holiday season. Mostly I picked the ornaments without eyes. But yes, I love all my ornaments. Well, maybe not the one of George Washington carrying a pine tree. I don't quite remember when I got him or why, but I must have learned about him in school that year. I'm not sure what the pine tree has to do with it though. ( Don't worry, I didn't put our former president on the back of the tree. He has eyes too after all. )


Here is me putting the lights on the tree. I was trying to go fast and furious because it was getting late. I don't recommend this because it makes you miss branches. Good gravy, do you know how annoying it is to go back? I didn't really go back,  instead the next time around I just went down to the branch that I had missed. Wasn't that brilliant of me. I thought so. haha I just thought of something that might make me not so brilliant. Taking down the lights.  It should be interesting because they don't go in a nice circle around the tree. What can I say, I was in a hurry and missed quite a few branches. 


Here is Joel being a champ and learning how to bend out the branches on our artificial tree. Yes, we have a fake tree, so sue me! Here is the way I see it. I have just as much of a right to have a fake tree as you do to have a real one. Sounds fair doesn't it? I love this tree because it is the tree from my childhood. Wouldn't you love to have back a tree from your childhood, but NO! All of your childhood trees are decomposed out is some dump, woods, or compost pile. haha! Yay for my tree, and thanks Daddy for mailing it to me. Now I just need to get a pine scented candle for Joel and we will be all set. I never said he agreed with me on this.

The Nap That Ended With a Resounding Bang

This evening I still had many jobs to do before I could go to bed, but I was so tired that I decided to take a quick nap to renew my energy. Some time long ago I had read about how to take a nap for the perfect amount of time and wake up feeling refreshed instead of groggy. It is a rather interesting method, but I thought I'd give it a try. 

Step 1: Get a metal spoon and a metal pan

Step 2: Get cozy

Step 3: Hold the spoon in your hand over the metal pan

Step 4: Fall asleep

The theory is that as soon as fall asleep deep enough to make your nap count, your hand will go limp causing you to drop the spoon that will then hit the pan and make a loud noise that'll wake you up.  

Anyway, it was fun to try and I think it actually worked. I didn't feel like I slept much at all, but I must have because I dropped the spoon. i.e. the resounding bang. 

I think it needs more testing, so if you give it a try let me know. :)

It's Back and I've Been Waiting ALL YEAR!!!

Guess what? Elf Yourself is back courtesy of Office Max. There system is a bit improved too because you can sign and and save your elves so you can reuse them again and again. Just don't click download because you will lose everything and they want $3.99 for it. :P

http://elfyourself.jibjab.com/view/k9qam3WJImwcL4U8nvEL

Sorry I don't have time to link that you. You'll have to copy and paste. 

I've Been Featured

Guess What?

The REAL Day #1 of the Cleanse

I say yesterday doesn't count as day one of the cleanse because we didn't get our herbal tinctures until the evening. So here is what I ate today. 

Breakfast: 1/2 cup of coffee (seriously giving up coffee is going to be the worst part) some yogurt, and 1 bite of an almond danish.

(Shannon brought pastries from my favorite place for breakfast and I only had 1 bite of Joel's. This is a major triumph for me because I have a real weakness for those puppies.)

Lunch: 1 veggie burger with a single slice of provolone cheese, and 6 Triscuits, 1 cup green tea

Afternoon: 1 green smoothie that had 1 kiwi, 1 pear, blueberries, strawberries, 1 banana, orange juice and a serving a spirulina (Alice said that it was starting to sound like the Very Hungry Caterpillar if you list off everything in the smoothie.) 

Dinner: Black Bean Salad which means...brown rice, black beans, tomato, lettuce, a little mozzarella cheese, and a small handful of tortilla chips

Throughout the day we had our tinctures and clove infusion (Which makes me want to puke! At first you think it smells like spiced apple cider in the fall, but what a laugh that is. I hate what it makes my tongue feel like), and that meant I had to eat a few more Triscuits and a pickle to rid the taste from my mouth. 

Evening: I HAD TO HAVE SOME COFFEE (Sorry, but I was getting a little crabby.) and some carrot orange juice after that stinking clove infusion. Yuck!

Note to Anja: Please tell me what I shouldn't have eaten. (Besides the bite of danish) 

I Always Leave Them

Yesterday I made pancakes. Usually I burn 3 of them. Last night I asked Mr. F. about this. 

Me: Why does this always happen?

Mr. F. Because you always leave them.

This is true. I usually leave the kitchen and surf the internet while I wait for them to be flipped. The problem is the internet has some sort of time-space-continuum issue and my pancakes burn. Thankfully I caught them before the smoke alarm went off. That noise is so piercing.

Ooh, I Found Some....Pictures That Is

Here are some visuals for you of the "Bask-a-lator".

No Cute Baby = No Blogging???

Could this be why?  Let me try to think of something... 

Ah, yes. Last night I had a bad headache. I mean a really bad headache that came from sore muscles in my neck. Joel and I went to bed about about 12:30 a.m. but I was having major problems falling asleep because my head hurt so much. We are out of Advil right now, so the pain reliever of choice (er...only thing available)  was Excedrin. I decided that I would rather be awake from the caffeine in the Excedrin as apposed to being awake with a really bad headache. Needless to say my pain quickly went away, but I didn't fall asleep until after 3:00 a.m. Joel feel asleep, and kept rolling over and telling me that I should really try to get some rest. HA!  Today I am tired and my sense of the time of day is a little mixed up. 

We just got back from a trip to our three story Target. I think I forgot to tell everyone about my three story Target. They have really special things there next to the escalators for your cart to ride up or down to another floor. We fondly refer to them as "bask-alators". Tonight we saw someone push a cart onto the bask-alator full of plastic bins and all the covers fell out of the cart and down, down, down. She quickly climbed through the swinging plastic doors that say "NO PEOPLE" to get them back, and her husband quickly started climbing back up the down escalator to help her. I started cracking up, but quickly tried to look concerned that the woman went through the "NO POEPLE" door instead. lol

Well, it is now time for my favorite time of the evening "French Press Time" . "French Press Time" is greatly anticipated as soon as the last drop of "regular morning coffee" has been drunk.

Hi, Joel here. Martha has made some insanely cute stuff lately that you've got to see. FYI.

Mushroom Moon Shop Update

There are new things in the shop right now, and also a sale going on.