Baby Brother

BG has ocaasionally asked where her baby brother is. I told her he is still in heaven and we have to wait for Heavenly Father to send him down.

Today I asked her if she wants a baby brother or baby sister. She says she wanted a baby sister because boys stink. Who can argue that logic?!

Featured Artist

Today Allison from Allison Kelley Designs has featured me on her blog as an Etsy seller. Click on over to read the interview. And be sure to check out her stuff, she has some amazing jewelry.

Vinyl Giveaway

My cute and talented cousin does vinyl lettering. She makes all kinds of cute plaques, signs, boards, etc. She is doing a giveaway for either a family plaque or a baby stats board. Go here to check out her stuff and enter to win. You know you want one, (I know I do!) so go enter (I already did).

This Blog is Brought to You by the Letter S

After seeing a super cute decorating idea on Our Cozy Nest, I immediately emailed my mom and asked her help in making it. It involved sewing and I know zippo about sewing, not to mention the fact that I don't own a sewing machine. Nicole had made these really cute monogrammed letters and framed them and I knew I needed one.

Mom reviewed her directions and decided on a different way to go about the project. Who am I to judge? I told her I would do whatever she told me so whatever way she thought was best, I would comply. (Aren't I a good child?!) We picked scrap fabric that matched my house from Mom's stash. For those of you who quilt or know anything about sewing, we paper pieced the fabric. Basically after printing out my letter really big on the computer we sewed the fabric directly on the paper. Then we cut out the letter.

After cutting an identical S in an iron-on material (Wonder Under?) we ironed it onto a black background. Then Mom used her fancy machine to sew a cute stich around the outside. Wa La! I'm so excited about it. I just need to get it framed and hung on the wall.

Asparagus is Yummy!

I love springtime for many reasons, warm weather, sunshine, no inversion. One other reason I love spring is because it means asparagus is in season and I love those green shoots. I wanted to share one of my favorite recipes for asparagus because it's not only delicious, it's easy too. If you are anything like me, easy is essential after getting home from a long day.

The recipe is from the Nordstrom Friends and Family cookbook. If you don't have this book, I highly recommend it. I don't think we've ever made something we didn't like. But be warned - most recipes call for heavy cream. It is now a grocery staple for us.

I was going to take pictures while I was making it by my camera was all the way upstairs. So I didn't.

1 box farfalla
2 minced garlic cloves
3 TBSP olive oil
1 bunch asparagus - tough ends removed and cut into bite size pieces
Snap Peas (or snow peas, we've used both)
3 Cups Heavy cream
1 Cup grated Parmesan cheese
Salt & Pepper

Cook pasta until al dente. Drain.

In a skillet heat oil, add garlic and cook for a minute. Add asparagus and peas and cook until bright green (4-6 min says the book). Season with salt and pepper. Add the cream and simmer until reduced by half. (The book says this will take 3 minutes. I have NEVER gotten it to reduce by half so after about 10 min I give up and move to the next step.) Add the cheese and mix until thickened. (This part will actually happen and quickly.) Pour sauce mixture over pasta and mix well. Eat!
Looks yummy right? How can anything covered in cream sauce NOT be delicious!

Plated heaven. You may be wondering if this is a child-friendly recipe. Scroll down and you can see BG's plate at the end of dinner.

Then again, that child will eat anything! Go try this recipe and let me know what you think. Personally I will never turn down fresh veggies and carbs covered in creamy goodness.
Oh, and just a side note, this doesn't keep well. It's best eaten the night you prepare it. We usually end up with leftovers, but the oil separates from the cream in the sauce and it's just not quite the same.

The never-ending To Do list

Today's Work for Me Wednesday is about list making/remembering/keeping.

I am a list maker. I like the organization of notes all written in a straight row with pretty boxes off to the left. I also like seeing my productivity as I check things off. Unfortunately, I'm not great about actually writing down my lists, so I have many mental lists floating around in my head. Mental lists are bad if you actually want to remember what is on those lists. (Funny sidenote. After telling BG one day my grocery list was in my head, she now asks me frequently if "It's in you head?" Yes, I wonder that myself sometimes!) Even when I do write them down, it's typically on a random scrap of paper that will get lost along with the vital information. Recently I have been feeling a bit overwhelmed by my disorganized to-do list methods. So much so, that I downloads a To Do List app for my iPod. Today I started adding items into the app.

It's a bit daunting to see that I have 15 items on my list after thinking for about 10 minutes. I'm sure I'm forgetting some (or many) that will come to me at the least convenient time. Looking over my 15 item list, 6 of them are related to my latest attempt of a successful business -register with the city and state. The other are mostly random things needing doing in my life - buy BG black shoes for the wedding.

This list does not even include my normal everyday activities - laundry, housework, dishes, etc. Mostly because I like to see things get checked off my list and those are never ending tasks. Also no matter how hard I try, I won't forget them so they don't have to be on a list to remember them.

Since I won't (hope not to) lose my iPod, my list should remain secure inside. I hope this Works for Me! Click on the link for other great ideas.

Just thought of one more while writing this - take dry cleaning.

Great Morning

It a rare occasion at our house to have a pleasant morning. Our mornings are usually fill with tears over taking off jammies, going potty, putting on clothes, choosing socks, doing hair, and brushing teeth. By the time we get downstairs, most of BG's fight has been spent and she is pretty happy. But oh, how I dread waking her in the morning.

Today was a welcome change. She is happy and pleasant, willing, and cooperative. We only had to pick new socks once and she brushed her teeth all by herself while I did her hair. We got out the door on time and there was no fighting.

In an effort to encourage this behavior, I praised her the whole time about what a good girl she was being. I fully intend to tell Daddy tonight so he can praise her too. Aaaaahhhhhhh..... Why can't all mornings be like this?

Writers Workshop - Who You Hurt

These week Mama Kat has some great prompts. I choose number 2.
-Tell about a time you hurt somebody that still bothers you to this day.

It was 8th grade. I was awkward and trying to fit in. I was trying to be cool but wasn't. I wanted to be accepted.

In a gossipy conversation with I can't even remember who, I called another girl a name. A bad name. I called her a s-l-u-t. Word got back to her about it and she confronted me. This was a "popular" girl who also hung out with the "gangster" guys. The conversation went something like this.

Her: You calling me a slut?!
Me: Yay, I did.
Her: I'm NOT a slut. Do you even know what a slut is?
Me: I've never looked it up in the dictionary. (At the time I thought this was clever, because I indeed had not, but I didn't really know what it meant, other than it was derogatory. I was hoping this would look better than admitting my unintelligence.)
Her: Well, I'm not one! Don't you dare call me that again.

The friction between this girl and I grew other the next few months and she started spreading rumors that she was going to beat me up. I was scared. I did the only thing a sweet, naive girl could do - I called her at home and apologized. I think I caught her off guard but she accepted my apology and the rumors stopped. We never became friends.

Why do I still feel bad about this? It was over 10 years ago. Maybe because it's the closest I ever came to a fight. Maybe because I was really scared of her and her friends. I'm not sure, but looking back, it was stupid and I do feel bad for calling her names.

Go visit Mama Kat to get the prompts or read other's stories.

Star Commenter

My lovely friend bestowed an amazing award on me a while ago. Thanks Annike!
I have a few people to thank for this award.

First off, I'd like to thank all of you great bloggers who write things worthy of commenting. I'd like to thank my employer for not providing sufficient work to keep me off the blogs all day long. And I'd like to thank my parents for giving me genes that lead to a brain incapable of sitting still for longer than 2 minutes without getting bored. All of these have been major contributor into my receiving this award.

I see the flashing red light now so I'll step off the stage.

Not Me Monday

I did NOT eat a whole roll of Girl Scout Thin Mint cookies the day our 12 boxes arrived. I did NOT eat more after I got home that same day. My husband did NOT complain when he couldn't find the stash after I put it in the freezer. I am NOT keeping track of how many boxes we have already eaten.

I did NOT spill wood stain on the deck while giving my shelves a second coat over the weekend.

I did NOT stay up really late with my girlfriend scrapbooking Saturday night. This did NOT lead to me skipping church to sleep in.

This blog carnival was created by MckMama. You can head over to her blog to read what she and everyone else have not been doing this week.

Happily Gaining Weight

My 12 boxes of Girl Scout Cookies have arrived! Aaaahhhhhh.....

Don't bother me. I'm eating cookies.

Office Elements

I have been working on decorating my office. I have several elements purchased that just need to be put together. I thought I'd give you a sneak peek of some of them. So, in no particular order....

Looks fun right? JM cringed when he saw my latest buy - the curtains. I think his exact word were "The 70s called. They want their curtains back." I admit that they are a bit 70s-esk, but I really like them. I wanted pops of orange and this may turn out to be more orange than I bargained for. We'll find out if/when they ever get hung. I got them for a great deal at a model home estate sale and couldn't pass them up - even if they are a little loud.

Apparently..

Wood stain stains other things too. Like porcelain sinks.

I bought two bare wood shelves several weeks ago and have been waiting for it to get warm enough to stain them. Saturday was the day! I was so excited and stained them a beautiful dark brown. They are going to go in my office.

After working, I took the brush to the bathroom to rinse it out. I rinsed as much of the stain out as I could then started washing the sink. But the brown sludgy stuff wouldn't budge. Uh oh. JM has specifically asked me not to get stain on anything other than my shelves (like he had anything to worry about?!). I quickly shut the bathroom door and told JM I needed to run to Home Depot to get some paint thinner to clean my brush.

When I got to the Depot, found the paint thinner, and asked the paint people if it would remove oil-based wood stain from my sink. I got a lot of "oohhh, that's not good" and "if it doesn't ruin the finish on your sink" kind of comments. Great. I bought it and went home.

On the way home I was pondering how I was going to get the sticky, brown stain from off my hands. I may be home improvement challenged, but I know better than to put paint thinner on skin. I fell back to my mom's tried and true advice. If it's oil based (grease, etc) dish soap will take it out. I then got to wondering if dish soap would work for my hands, would it work on the sink too?

I got home, grabbed the dish soap and ran upstairs (whew, JM hadn't left the basement). Wouldn't you know it? The dish soap worked on the sink! I had to scrub a bit, but not too bad. And the little bit that I couldn't get off? A tiny bit of paint thinner did the trick.

I am now one home improvement project smarted with nothing ruined to show for it. Hurray!