Ugh...

Jenny from Jenny, Jenny Who can I turn to... tagged me for a blog post called "Keeping It Real."

Jenny called it a "babe tag" and I've decided to call it "ugh" because that's about what turned out!
Here's the rules:
Take a picture of yourself right now.
No primping or preparing.
Just snap a picture.
Load it on your blog.
Tag some people to play, too.
That's it, easy peesy.


Luckily I put SOME make-up on this morning, but my hair still looks yucky! Oh well!

Here's goes! I tag:
Jill at 11.57 Microhertz
Brenna at Casa Castaneda
Gisele at Glazier Family
Brianne at It's me...BREE-in
And
Jana at The Robles Family

Good luck to you all, and can't wait to see your pictures!

Sunday Breakfast

Dale and I decided to make a big (well, not a bagel or some cereal) breakfast on Sunday. I don't really like pancakes, and neither does Dale, but I wanted to try to make some with these pancake "cookie cutters" that my mom bought me years and years ago. I think they turned out pretty! And they were tastey too! A little syrup and some banans- yummy!

Project Progress

I'm pumping out old projects that have been sitting in my sewing room for a LONG TIME to clear my mind for the Pay It Forward Giveaways that I'm doing. While I have some ideas for a few things to make, I'm still racking my brain for the rest of the ideas. To get the creative process going, I'm trying to make another quilt! Here's the hodge-podge stack of fabric that I'm using. These are leftovers from the last quilt I made, with some other scraps, so I'm being frugal and trying not to spend any money this time! I'll need to buy the batting, but I'm ok with that... There are a few Alexander Henry's in there (my favorite fabric ever!) and then some garage sale finds, remnants and quarters collected from every where, and a few JoAnn's fabrics. I've actually put together the top of the quilt this past weekend, and I'll hopefully figure out what I want to do for the backing in the next few days. You'll just have to be surprised when it's all finished!

April Fool's 2009

Apparently Dale doesn't like April Fool's day because he thinks that pranks are SO not funny. Needless to say, sewing his underwear shut last year didn't go over well. This year I decided to stay away from pranking Scrooge and make one of those fun April Fool's dinners instead! We had Cake and ice cream for dinner!

It's really hard to get mashed potatoes to look like vanilla ice cream and chocolate syrup, but it works.

The lovely meatloaf cake with mashed potato frosting- complete with candle.

Yummy! I really do love meatloaf. Dale doesn't, so I guess the joke really was on him!

So YUMMY!

I made some home-made, from scratch (I'm proud of myself, ok?) cinnamon rolls last weekend, for the first time ever! I don't know why I haven't sooner. I guess they just take so much time. By the time these were finally done, I was about to chew off the dog's leg, and Dale grabbed a roll before I could even get the frosting on! But they turned out really great! I tried this recipe because she claimed that they were 30 minute rolls, make at a moment's notice rolls, which they WERE NOT. Yes, I had them rise in the oven like she asked, which helped the rising to only add up to 30 minutes, but then there's the whole mixing and baking time involved. Anyways, if you have the time, or actually want to get up early (who does that?) to make some warm rolls for breakfast, these turned out amazing. The frosting was so SO good. However, the recipe calls for only 3 1/4 cups of flour. Maybe I made them on an exceptionally wet day (when is it not, here in WA?) but I needed about 6 cups, and even then, the dough was gooey. Let me know if you make them!

Another New Curtain

So, in between the days of being sick, and not being sick, I've managed to finish this long awaited project. Not that this took me forever, it didn't, but when you're down for a few days at a time, on the good days you've got to catch up on laundry, ironing, and other house cleaning. We have this back door with a window, and at night, we'd like a little more privacy. Not that I don't look great in my underwear, but Dale just didn't want any way for the neighbors to peak in on him. He's shy.

The curtain is rolled up during the day and we let it down at night! So far, I haven't gotten sick of rolling it up every morning to let in the sun. Maybe when the sun starts hiding again, I won't enjoy it so much.

Here's how it looks at night, bad pictures and all because of the awesome lighting!

I used a black and white gingham, super heavy duty curtain lining and white grossgrain ribbon. I'm really happy with the results!

Tabula Rasa

IF you happen to actually see my blog by visiting it, and not on a reader, then you'll notice that it's boring now. No cool, colorful layout. Not that it was crazy and fabulous before, but now, it's really blank. My blog is almost a year old and I haven't changed it once since I started. I need some new blood. I'm starting over, tabula rasa. Any ideas? Where are some good layouts to be found?

Boy Gifts

My friend Laura is having her second boy here pretty quick, so I wanted to whip up something for her that might prove useful. She already has everything from the first boy- it's tough to think of new things to get for the second! I decided to try and make, what I've seen called "wet happened" bags. Never having seen one in person, just online, I just kind of went with it. I made the pouch (about 9"x14") and lined it with iron on vinyl. The only thing that stinks about the iron on vinyl, is that you can't put it in the washer. It has to be hand washed, or just wiped clean. Not so nice for a "blow-out bag," as I'm going to call it, but hey, it's something to put those dirty clothes in.
I did a freezer paper stencil on the front with a dirty onsie (as you can see). These things are great! This is where I first learned about freezer paper stencils, and I love them! You can draw your own pictures, trace photos, print off your computer onto the freezer paper, or if you have one (I don't, very sad), one of those Cricut thingys. Then, I made a burp cloth out of some of the left over fabric and a cloth diaper. Those things are great for burp cloths. Dale has requested that I made at least 10 for our new baby. I'm waiting to see what "it's" going to be before making them. So anyways, happy 2nd boy Laura!
I have another friend who's having a second boy... any good gift ideas?

16 Weeks

Dale took this photo for me on Monday, when I was officially 16 weeks! There's not much there, but I feel like a blimp. Isn't it crazy how a few pounds, a full bladder, couple days of constipation and bloating can make you feel so huge and uncomfortable? I'm SOOO looking forward to being hugely pregnant. So there it is, the first sign of a bump. I know, most of you can't see it, but really, my stomach tends to lay much flatter...
I'm so excited for the little kicks to get much harder so Dale will finally be able to feel how strong this little monster is. I get some good surprises every now and then. Last night, we could actually feel the baby, not moving, but "he" was hanging out in a good spot where I could poke at "him." We'll hopefully get our ultrasound in about 4 weeks, and then we'll know what "it" is! I'm hoping for a boy, and of course, so is Dale, so keep your fingers crossed. We've got some fun names picked out either way.

The Rain

Most of you probably remember on Friday, there was a period of about 10 minutes where the rain just came down in buckets. I've never really looked at the windows here when it rains, but this time, I really noticed the water RUNNING down the window. I wanted to share this picture, to show my family in AZ, just how hard this rain was coming down (and literally 10 minutes later, the sun was shining). You can see there are no "drops" hitting the window. It was raining so hard, it was just like buckets of water were running down the windows. Kind of cool.