Under Construction

Tall, cheap and lazy (but not necessarily in that order)

Lazy: Haven't taken the dry cleaning in for weeks
Tall: About 5'9'' (but still the shortest in my family)
Cheap: Recently purchased new (pants) suit on clearance at Ross
Cheap/Lazy: Have never found looked for a tailor in my neighborhood
Lazy: Have never learned to actually do my own tailoring

Problem: I have to wear a suit to a meeting tomorrow
Second Problem: I didn't really think about this until 10 p.m. tonight

Nobody look at my pants under the table.

Calendar of children's art

This project is 100% instant gratification.

Between Biscuit's  new school and newfound fascination with art projects she's developed quite a "body of work."  Simultaneously I've decided that living without a wall calendar isn't going to work for 2008 but the freebee calendars I've received are too ugly to display in my new kitchen.

So I grabbed some double stick tape and solved all my problems.

From random Italian restaurant advertisement calendar....
to display of my daughter's fascination with Ed Emberley:

For odd sized art, I used scraps of construction paper to cover the calendar and then added the art:


You'll notice Biscuit's modern, white-on-white approach to the dog painting.

This whole project was made even EASIER by the fact that my free calendar was 8.5x11 inches and we usually use standard size paper for our "art."

Seriously, all I did was use double stick tape to put the art on the pages

This took me less than 10 minutes. I left several months blank to fill in with new art as it arrives home and filled in December with last year's glitter extravaganza

This silly project made my day. If you still need a calendar, or if you're staring at ridiculous images from the calendar your realtor dropped off, pull out the tape! (I'm sure gluesticks would work as well and larger art can be trimmed to fit)

Enjoy!

Announcements

1. Sign ups for "Thing-a-day" end soon.  I signed up. The site seems to imply you need to be an "Artist" but I hope that's not true. We'll see if I stick it out.

2. There's a pillow case challenge going on at Handmade Parade. I started talking smack over on Lauren's blog so now I have to come up with something really spectacular to make with a pillowcase. There's pride on the line (and $50!)

Crud, I forgot the other one. There were three announcements when I thought of this post this morning.  Hmmm...

It's raining here. And I have to go back to work tomorrow. Whine, whine, whine (wine, wine, wine??)

Happy Monday to ya.

Technically frosting

A long (long) time ago I made cupcakes with the Barefoot Contessa's chocolate ganache frosting (minus the coffee granules so this was the easiest thing ever). The cupcakes were so-so but the frosting was spectacular. I had 3/4 of the frosting left so I tossed it in the fridge.  Tonight I pulled everything I could think of out of the cupboards and made the stickiest, mushiest, yummiest truffles ever.

(My fridge has surprisingly good lighting.)

We have: cocoa, walnut, coconut, butterscotch and peanut butter all firming up in the fridge. I'm definitely offloading these on my mom when she comes to visit tomorrow.

The more things change, the more they stay the same

A sick day almost exactly 2 years ago after a trip to Portland.

Today.

Other than the use of the big girl bed, everything in that post from February 2006 is about the same. Oh, and I rarely blog about home improvement these days.  Being able to look back like that makes this blog worth it.

Good Blogs

A few blogs I've been enjoying (that haven't made it on the blog roll 'cause I'm lazy):
Pioneer Woman. I think everyone reads it already but, in case not.
Here be Hippogriffs (aka: Julia) She just had twins and new babies are neato
Design Sponge Dang this site has some pretty stuff and inspiration. But with many, many posts per day, I'm trying to avoid it.
Aunty Cookie I'm not that into the "30 days" thing she's doing right now but she's a hilarious blogger and I love her fabrics
Notten My sister's friend's blog. Apparently she takes my recipe recommendations and just started a blog.

Turns out it can be tough to write decent blog content when you work full time and occasionally try to feed your family. I've been in a rut lately. What, you couldn't tell? Anyway...

Biscuit was sent home sick today (cough, fever). She and Mr. H are asleep in her bed (again). It's cold and rainy. I know, I just went on vacation so I really can't complain but I'm feeling a bit lazy and burnt out.  Someone on NPR was saying something about "Janufeb" and how this time of year is depressing. Maybe they were right.

So here's a funny photo:

"Biscuit and her Grammie eat one another"

Oh wait, one more funny photo

"While waiting for the professional photographer"

So I was just about to hit publish when I heard Biscuit crying and coughing. I got there and gave her a hug just in time to get puked on. Motherhood is so glamorous. I'm calling it a night.

Loot

You can read the blow by blow of our trip to Portland here but I can summarize: it was a trip any husband would hate. Three days, four fabric store trips, several kid/toy store trips, one bead store, two yarn stores, umpteen bus rides to the 'burbs for more fabric stores and two trips to the donut store. Well, the boys might have liked the donut store.

This pile is from the Knittn Kitten. Wow is that one ugly website but one fantastic idea for a store. I totally want to open one in Sacramento. Let's call that business plan #687 that will not be realized. (if you are an angel investor, call me, I have several business plans...)  Right, the loot. You can see the prices. The cheater cloth in the back was $3 for 2 yards. Bargain city and who can resist a gingham eyelet?

Then we went to Fabric Depot

If you read a lot of crafty blogs you've no doubt seen the Portland blog crew going on and on about Fabric Depot. It's worth it. It's not inexpensive but they have EVERYTHING (except silicone impregnated ripstop nylon--sorry, dad).  For MLK Day EVERYTHING was 30% off. I think I showed a lot of restraint. The cherry is a baby wale corduroy for a coat or jumper for Biscuit. The muslin and canvas are for a plan I'm hatching to screen print my own fabric. The toweling is just because I've never seen it anywhere but online so had to get some.  The tools, oh, I don't know, 50% off, I'm married to a woodworker, a half yard didn't seem excessive... And no sales tax in Oregon!

All the light colored fabrics are in the wash now. I'm getting better about washing fabrics before putting them away. Nothing more annoying than having inspiration strike and not having your fabric pre-washed.

So it's time to switch the load to the dryer and watch some Project Runway. I love my DVR. Happy Thursday!

Portland

Here's the postcard version:

We're having a great time in Portland! Light rain, cold weather, lots of fabric and craft stores and great company!  Check out her blog post for details.

Wish you were here!
Melissa

Hot date

Mr. H had a crazy, busy, long day at work today so I picked up Biscuit and took her out on the town. We went out to a (semi) fancy dinner at the Creperie where she ate an adult portion of quiche and fruit and I had a crepe. I swear the kid has a hollow leg lately with all the eating. Other than throwing her napkin once and chewing on a sugar packet she was a perfect lady.

We came home and made a pie for daddy.  She was so helpful.

Eating the sliced apples

Measuring and mixing

Describing this piecrust as "awwwesome" (her favorite adjective these days)

"prinkling" the topping

We popped it in the oven during bathtime and she was sound asleep by the time I drizzled the caramel topping:

This was the recipe I used.

Verdict: I ate the caramel and walnut part and it tasted delightfully caramel appley but it was too sweet. It was also too runny (perhaps letting Biscuit measure the flour was a bad idea). I give it a B+

So, as I recall, this used to be a crafting blog. Not so much lately but I've been on a baking kick and there are only so many hours in the day.  Tomorrow we're off for and early birthday dinner in San Francisco  and Friday I leave for a girls-only long weekend in Portland with my friend so I'll probably see you next week.  Have a good one.

Makes 1004

This is the "BEST PEPPERNUT RECIPE" and, according to my grandma, it makes 1004. I've never counted, we eat them way too fast for counting.  Mr. H calls these cookies "devil buttons" because they are so addictive. So even though Christmas is long gone, I figured I should really share the recipe with the world.  (please note, these won't compete with FANCY Christmas cookies anyway)

Here are some hints to make your peppernut baking go smoothly:

• You can find anise oil cheap at iHerb.com. (it's not $0.30 for 2 teaspoons but it's cheap enough) One bottle will make plenty of batches and the shipping was quick and cheap.
• If you don't like anise flavor (black licorice) you won't like these cookies.
• Bake at 350 degrees (not 325)
• Squish them really flat so they get crispy
• Only make half a recipe--you'll eat them all and 1004 cookies is obscene even if they are small (they're more the size of a nickel than a quarter)
• The dough freezes fine, the cookies don't

A bit of history and translation of my grandma's hand written notes:

• "Suzy can eat!" refers to my cousin Suzy with a severe egg allergy--these cookies have no egg
• "Irene's favorite" my maternal grandma was named Irene and she usually made these. But I was told the recipe was from my paternal grandma.
• But this recipe says it's from Ruth Moore who apparently lived on my Grandma's street and went to church with her (so says the note).
• Clearly I have no idea where this family recipe is from. If you have something similar in your family, let me know!

Enjoy!  And if you want more nostalgic family recipes, check out this post at Posie Gets Cozy.