Only 85 Days!

There are only 85 days until Christmas. Can you believe it! I can't. I have made the official list of who gets gifts. Man, that's a chore! Then I started on the closet to inventory already purchased gifts, not as many as I normally have. That SUCKS! Now I am working on the ideas for gifts to give. Not many ideas are happening. I actually have 3 list for the gifts, things to buy, things to make and things to cook/bake. So for it is gift cards to Food 4 Less for everyone! LOL!

Really this is what I am hoping to have done before Christmas.




Unfortunately the are all for me! Not a gift in the bunch. I am having a few thoughts on gifts to make, if I can find the time.

I have already received one shipment from ABC of stuff I have ordered for gifts, mostly stocking stuffers and containers. I did order another fake tree and it is on the way. I can't wait to get it! It is very different then anything you have seen. I am thinking we might have a holiday party too. Nathan when will you be here? I also have a list of stuff to order from Current, mostly filler stuff.

I still need to figure out what we are wearing for the Christmas photo and when to get it done. Update the address list for the cards and figure out a count. Start decorating November 1st. Then it is time to wait patiently by the mail box for one of my favorite gifts, The Texas Anderson's Christmas CD. (That's a hint guys!)

So did you know Christmas was around the corner? Are you ready? Are you making any gifts?

Laney's Luscious Lounge Wear

On Sunday I went to Quilt In The Garden and bought the most wonderful flannels. As soon as I saw them I knew Laney needed PJ's out of them. The flannels are Fleurish Flannels by Valorie Wells, she was the featured artist at the quilt show. The flannel is so soft, I am thinking I might need a set of lounge wear too.

I still need to do the buttons on the top.

I Feel The Pressure

All my friends have blogged today so I must. So this one is for Aunt Steph and Uncle Victor.

First for Aunt Steph the girl has more shoes than she will ever need. I think the count in her closet might come close to the count in yours. She wakes up and demands to have a pair of shoes. She has figured out how to put them on herself. The better part is she will bring you your shoes if you don't have a pair on. She is learning how to throw the perfect fit. We have taught her that she must kick her legs as she screams at us. If she is standing she stomps her feet. But sometimes the fit calls for it she throws herself to the ground and kick her legs. We are encouraging her to pound her arms too, she hasn't caught on yet.

Uncle Victor she is becoming quite the foodie. She goes to the fridge for Sheese(cheese) constantly. She even does the "Happy Sheese Dance" while you get it out for her. Cheese is one of her favorite foods. She loves biscuits too, we have to stop her at 2. She will eat almost anything. Roast beef lunch meat is the ONE thing we have found she wont eat. She loves veggies, fruit, and nuts. You now have another one for Starbuck's in the morning. That is an Aunt Linda thing not the Mom's.

Update-
While typing this Poop also found a stick of butter that I am bringing to room temp to bake with and started eating just butter. She ran from the kitchen so I couldn't get it off her fingers. At least Grandma Delaney had a slice of Genova with her stick of butter.

End of A Weekend...

I have been some what productive this weekend. First of all I had the weekend off! Yeah ME! I also got in a ton of sewing time. Yeah ME! Third Nikole came to watch Poop so I could sew! Yeah ME! I also did 6 loads of laundry. Not so much fun.

I did get in a lot of sewing time though. I got step 4 done on my mystery quilt Guilty As Charged, the next step comes out on the 30th and the final step on Halloween. It has to be a complete top and turned in by 5pm on November 9th to be in the contest. Wish me luck! I also got binding and a sleeve on the quilt I had Gina quilt for me. Pretty amazing for me, I hate putting on a sleeve. Gina did wonderful hot pink feathers on it for me. And the third items I worked on was some baby stuff for Cy. I covered the edge on 3 cloth diapers for burp rags, I made a pleated ruffle and put it on a furry blanket and to complete the set I made a diaper and wipe carrier (it needs a better name).

I also got to go to Quilt In the Garden in Livermore today. I got to chat with Valerie Wells about baby stuff, say Hi to Alex Anderson and then I was in time to take quilts down form the trees. I might have pictures of that later in the week.

Scott has started the houses in West Sacramento, so this was his last weekend off for a while. Can you believe someone is actually building a house right now!!! There are two houses and they will be rentals when they are complete. We are hoping that will be around Thanksgiving.

5 Years and Counting...

Does anyone else remember how freakin' hot it was that day?





Where's Waldo? For that matter where are you?





Are we done yet?

Life Skills

Poop turned 18 months at the beginning of the month. WOW! I was worried for a few days that she might be a little behind. She doesn't know her ABC's, she can't sing Twinkle, Twinkle and she's not Potty trained. Then I started thinking about it, when was the last time you had to sing the ABC's or Twinkle, Twinkle on a job interview? At least she is trying to figure out how the toilet works, and when you tell her she needs a dry butt she walks to her bedroom.

I have taught her some life skills though. When you asked her to find a diamond she looks for earrings and wedding rings. She knows the she's (cheese) and uice (juice) are in the fridge. She gets her own fork for dinner each night and puts it in the sink when she's done. Scott has taught her to haul out the garbage, they each take a bag. Also she learned how to use a screwdriver and hammer. And to always have an extra cordless tool battery. Most important is get the credit cards out of dad's wallet and give the money to mom.

Hump Day!

Today for most is hump day, for me it is Saturday and Sunday rolled into one. Since it is my weekend we are working on getting my Studio put back together. I have hung the sheers that will now block off the closet and started to put my books back in the bookcases.

We went to Ikea last night for new shelves and bookcases but the did not have the shelves I wanted in black. For now I am using the old ones and waiting to decided on what to do with them. I did buy and new chair for sewing. I can't wait to get it put together. It has wheels!

Since I am handling all my stuff, I really want to spend the day creating and not cleaning. I have some great projects to finish and others just waiting to be started! I can't wait! I have also found 10-15 quilt tops that are in 1 of 3 stages: needs borders, sandwiched but not quilted or waiting to go to a quilter. I wonder if I can find one. HMMMM!

The Armoir is half way to being painted. Every time I do what Scott says needs to be done before painting, he tells me there is more to be done. Example he says to sand off the shiny finish. I do that. Then he says that it needs sanded again. I do that. Now he is saying to sand it again with a finer grit. I snapped. Without yelling and providing Saturday entertainment for the neighbors, I explained that he is not communicating what really needs done. He responds that he told me to sand it. I said "I did sand it!" I then had to explain that when he told me "I need to sand it before I painted it." That I took that to mean that I need to sand it 1 time in order to paint it. I then asked "Exactly how many times and with what grit do I need to sand the armoir before I can paint it?" Now it has changed from "I need to sand it" to "I need to sand it 3 or 4 times before it can be painted." Needless to say the Armoir is not going into to Studio this week.

Update on the 21 day challenge, we made it 13 days before we ate out. Last night since we went to Ikea with our friend Joe we picked up Mc D's on the way. We will be cooking dinner at home tonight though, Peach grill Chicken and brown rice.

It's that time of year

Every September I get into a baking mode. It seems like the "thing" to do. I start going through the cookbooks to see what new things I can try to bake. I keep a stack of recipes from Food network that I collect though out the year. I purchase gift containers to put the Christmas baking in. I start making a list of cooking tools I need. My friends get calls/e-mail to be recipe testers.

This year is no different. Chris I will be baking brownies for you. The Red Velvet Cupcakes will have Green Cream Cheese Frosting when Nathan gets here. Chocolate Chip cookies lite on chocolate chips heavy on the walnuts for Joe. Mom we're doing up a batch of Peanut Butter balls. I need to do a few batches of Jelly, pepper, pomegranate, maybe something else. It has been a while since I did a batch of truffles too, Uncle Victor's birthday is coming up!

As for new recipes to test I have a few from Ina, Linzer Cookies, Coconut Macaroons and a Crostata. Betty's new Fall Cookbook looks very promising. I am trying one from there tomorrow. Also I am trying a few from Jaime and Bobby Deans new Cookbook, everyone needs to buy a copy of it. They have their recipe for Mac and Cheese in it, YUMMY!

So when you see me buying 20lbs of sugar, 5 lbs of butter, another 5 lbs of Crisco, and flour by the sacks, remember I am making it for you. I also take request.

21 days...

So theory is that it takes 21 days to form or change a habit. IF you do something for 21 continuous days it will then become habit for you to do it.

With this said tonight is night 8 of cooking at home. Now I did not set out to prove the 21 day theory but we will see what happens. The 18th will be day 21.

Some of you may remember that it was our New Year's Goal to cook dinner at home one night a week this year. August we kind of slacked off on that. We are back on track and even ahead of the planned goal. We have even made a small dent in the freezer. The flip side of this is that we may have put a few restaurants out of business.

I have even baked dessert a few times. These are the Red Velvet Jumbo Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting I made yesterday, from scratch.



I challenge you to take on the 21 day theory. Cook, clean, exercise, eat veggies, whatever make a change.

We're Back!

I had a wonderful birthday. I got to have dinner per-party with Diana and Margie. Then 12 of us went to Dinner My Way to do some meal prep. We had a blast! In fact we had so much fun some of us are going back on the 28th.

We had a great time on the cruise. Before we even made it out of Long Beach the guys were asking "When are we going again?" I asked if we could make it out of LA before setting a date. We are planning to go again next year. So all of you who said "I wish we could go" start saving up! We are leaning toward summer, pre hurricane season. I really would like to enjoy the pool on my fifth cruise! By the way all of you with small children the Ocean Adventure Club is for 3 and up also the price for the cruise is the same for kids and adults. Poop will be staying home again.

Speaking of Poop she is 18 months now. Man where did the time go? She is getting more teeth, like she didn't have enough to bite me with already. She talks lots now, we can even understand some of it. She can bark like a dog and is learning to say moo. She is very tall. We have her check up in a few weeks so we'll see where she is comparred to other kids. I will get her pictures done soon I promise.

Now for the Studio update...it is in progress. No, really I am trying to have everything out by Thursday, my next day off. That way we can start painting and get trim installed this weekend. Everything has to be in the room by the 14th. That way our guest can come into the house instead of hanging out in the front yard. I promise pictures soon.