bijougirl etc.

Post Christmas Recovery

2011-12-29T17:48:00.006-06:00

The week after Christmas is always somewhat chaotic and disordered for me. I'm organized up until Christmas day...and after that... the kids trash the house, I forget to plan meals and we generally slum around the place, eating cookies and recovering from the holiday. I might post some Christmas pictures this week...and I might not.

Stockings

2011-12-13T12:46:00.004-06:00

Since Estelle is a new person, I had to make her a stocking this year. And since I made her a new stocking, Emet wanted one too. The big boys are sentimental about their stockings that I made for them when they were little, so theirs aren't getting re-made, but next year, I'll probably make new new ones for me and Seth.
For anyone who knows me, you know that I have a minor love affair with drop cloths (these are made out of them too) - and that is what I made the stocking base out of (I apologize for the terrible photos of them...) You can learn how to make the cute fabric flowers here, and the pom poms here.

Random weekend decorating

2011-12-11T13:31:00.005-06:00

Here are a bunch of random pictures from this weekend. I'm still recovering from the virus, so I've been drinking plenty of hot chocolate for my sore throat. And we seem to have a candy cane theme this year. After some annoying lighting mishaps, I decided to do red and white stripes on the tree. And I added some some candy canes to the homemade wreath outside.

Sick, Christmas decorating and hearts

2011-12-09T12:11:00.004-06:00

This has been a tough two weeks. This virus has literally squashed me with it's giant virus thumb. The past couple of days I've been struggling to put the Christmas decorations up (seems like I struggle with it every year!) I've been letting the kids do a lot of it. Which is nice... if I can let go of my Christmas decorating OCD.

Every night I've woken up in the wee hours to cough for an hour or two. Last night I picked up a new book at 2 am and I found a heart that Emet had made for me that I stuck in there months ago to use a bookmark. It was such a nice surprise. And it gave me the idea for the kid's tree topper.

How are you doing on your decorating? Are you OCD about it, like me? Do you dread it or love it?

Thanksgiving

2011-11-30T12:47:00.007-06:00

We had a really nice Thanksgiving (well, two Thanksgivings,) despite all the people (all the boys and Seth) being sick. And now baby girl has caught her first virus. So sad. But bound to happen. And I've caught it too. Insert sad face here.

Not all my pictures turned out this time, but I'll show you these.

My ever so lovely little sister:

Somebody really wants cake:

My pretty, pretty mom and her first granddaughter:

This real cornucopia so awesomely made by my very creative mother-in-law:

And a shot of one of the two monopoly games. Which lasted all day. Thursday and Friday:

I hope your Thanksgiving was great fun too. I guess this is the week I should start getting ready for Christmas. I'm sick, so we'll see. We'll see...

How to roll out the perfect pie crust

2011-11-23T16:23:00.008-06:00

I promised yesterday when I made the pie dough, that I'd show you my rolling out trick, so here it is. I used to haul out the flour, dust my rolling surface, dust my rolling pin and make a ginormous mess. But after I learned this, I never do that anymore. I think the pictures will be self explanatory.
The key to making this work is - you guessed it - wax paper. You just need two sheets. Voila.

I filled these crusts with chess pie filling. But I also love berry pies, and chicken pot pies. You can fill yours with whatever you want, but if you have a favorite recipe, send it my way!

How to make the perfect pie crust

2011-11-22T14:06:00.013-06:00

I'm a huge fan of pies. Mainly because they're so easy to make (and of course, taste so good.) A lot of pie recipes that I come across though, call for a store bought pie crust. If you know how to make a crust, you would think it's as ridiculous as I do to buy one. It's literally the easiest thing to do, takes only minutes and uses very few ingredients. It tastes better than a store bought one and it's cheaper!

I volunteered to make a couple of pies for my family's Thanksgiving dinner, so I thought I would show you how I do it.
I made dough for two crusts in ten minutes - and I was stopping to document the whole thing. You have no excuse. Here we go:

Literally all you need is some flour and something sticky to hold it together like crisco or butter and water. That's it. All the ingredients. Now, you can add stuff to it if you want to, like I did here. For instance if you're making a chicken pie, you could add a little pinch of salt and maybe some rosemary. Since I'm making dessert pies, I added about a tablespoon of sugar per pie crust (below is the ingredients for two single pie crusts) and a pinch of salt (because I like it.)

I used crisco for my crusts. If you're working with butter, make sure it's very cold, and work fast so it stays cold. Butter crusts are a little more difficult because butter likes to melt. But if you're confident in your mixing and rolling speed, by all means, use butter.

Here are the measurements for one single pie crust:

1 and 1/4 cups all purpose flour

1/3 cup crisco or butter

4-5 tablespoons of ice water

If you are making a double crust pie (a pie that has crust on the top) then use these measurements:

2 cups all purpose flour

2/3 cup crisco or butter

6-7 tablespoons of ice water

Put your flour in a bowl. Then dump in the crisco. Then use something to "cut" the crisco into the flour. Most people use a pastry cutter. I used to use a whisk, until I inherited my grandma's 50 year + cutter (pictured above.) Basically you just need something to chop the crisco into thousands of tiny little pieces while picking up the flour on the way. Your mixture will start to look lumpy. And the little lumps are good. They are what will make your crust flaky. When the crisco or butter melts in those little tiny flour pockets it will create delicious, decadent flakes. Yum.

So, make all those lumps about the same size (roughly the size of peas...or wild blueberries, which I'm currently loving right now.)

When you get the lumps all done, it's time to add your ice water. The reason you want your water cold is so that your flake lumps won't melt before they're part of the actual pie. Flakes happen in the oven, not in the bowl.

Push your flour mix over to one side of the bowl. You're going to start tossing the dry dough with the water one tablespoon at a time, and pushing the moistened dough over the other side of the bowl. This dough is not going to stick all together. It's going to have dryish pieces all over the place. Trust me though. This works. You don't want too much water and you don't want to over mix the dough. Remember, the goal is too keep those flake pockets intact.

The picture below shows me half way through mixing the water with the dough. See how it still has some dry stuff in it? That's what yours should look like too.

Now, all the water is mixed in.

Now ball up your dough (just one ball if you made a single crust dough, but divide it into two if made a double crust or two single crusts like I did.) DON'T knead it! Just press the pieces together.

Now put your ball on some plastic wrap.

And wrap it up. I like to use to the wrap to press it into a ball shape even more.

Done. Put it in the fridge for an hour or so to make it easier to roll out later, or put in there for a couple of days like I did. I'm not making the pies until tomorrow, but at least I have my dough ready. Tomorrow I'll show you an easy way to roll it out.

Happy pie baking!

Family dinners

2011-11-20T14:47:00.002-06:00

We've started doing a new thing at dinner time. Each person takes a night and prepares a 5 minute devotional. It can be as simple as telling a bible story, or reading a verse, or even sharing something that you are learning about God.
I never know if the kids are actually listening to me, so this way, they get a chance to be the "teacher." So far, everyone has really enjoyed their turns to share, and the nightly table discussions have really been elevated. I sure hope we can keep this up!
Do you do any kind of family devotional? What do you do?

I made a baby dress!

2011-11-14T11:05:00.014-06:00

Have you ever used a pattern to make clothing? I never have, until this week when I decided to make one! I never thought I could use a pattern because I always make things out of my head, but after I drew out the design for this baby jumper I realized I was going to need something to help me create it. I tend to be really ambitious when I start a new project, but I think this little dress turned out just perfectly!

I picked out some really soft gray corduroy for one side of the dress:

And some ultra feminine and washy pink batik for the other side of the dress because I really wanted this dress to be reversible. If I'm going to make a dress, I want it to be as versatile as possible and be able to transition from fall to winter to spring.

Then I drew and cut out a pattern for the front bib, the back straps and skirt. I measured it on baby first, but she grabbed a hold of the pattern piece and tried to put it in her mouth (hence the really wrinkled paper!) So I used a dress that fits her as a measurement guide.

Then I pinned the pattern to my fabric and cut out the appropriate pieces: one pink and one gray for each side of the bib, two pinks and two grays for each side of both straps and two pinks and two grays for each side of the skirt.
I didn't really chronicle the rest of sewing it together, because my brain was working overtime on how to do it properly, but basically I just sewed all the matching pieces together inside-out and then I pieced them all together, and inserted a piece of elastic in the back to make it easy to get it on and off her. Then I learned how to sew button holes - which were really difficult for me to understand until I just did it - and it was SO EASY! I guess I'm a hands on learner, 'cause it really was the easiest thing in the world with my (semi) new Brother sewing machine.

So, anyway, this is the pink side. (It's currently buttoned on the inside, because I had it on her, and I took it off without unbuttoning it and turned it inside out. But it does button on this side too.)

And this is the gray side. Please overlook the slight wrinkled-liness (yes, I know that's not a word - I like to make up my words just like I make up my patterns.) She wore it all day to church and since we left early in the morning, I didn't have a chance to get pictures of her in it until after. She slobbered on it some too...

Overall (no pun intended,) I'm really pleased with how it turned out. I think if I make another one, I'll add a bit of length to the skirt - but not too much because I want her to still be able to crawl and move around.
I'm excited about making clothes for her. I've never done this before, and it's so much fun. I feel like I have a little live doll. (The boys were dolls too...but we called them action figures.)

Ta ta for now! Have a great day!

DIY baby leggings

2011-11-09T20:29:00.005-06:00

I made my first piece of clothing for Estelle out of one of my old tee shirts that had a hole in it. I'm so pleased with how they turned out (except that I need to buy some thicker elastic for the waistbands - for these, I just used what I had on hand.) I'm definitely going to make more of these leggings for her. They'll be perfect for the colder weather. I got the pattern here.

Oh, by the way, Estelle is 7 months old now. Can you believe it?

I ate doughnuts for dinner last night.

2011-11-06T11:23:00.006-06:00

If you have kids in kindergarten through 6th grade, you can take their report cards to any Krispy Kreme and a get a doughnut for every A. Yesterday, we got a whole dozen for free. Happy kids, happy me!
Here are some more report card freebies to cash in on.

P.s. That lovely blue cast on my photos? It's from adjusting the white balance to incandescent lighting. I'm not sure if I'll always do it, but I'm kind of liking it for now. I'm struggling with finding a photographic style I like and can take (on my Nikon D60 - with the lens that comes with it.) What kind of pictures do you like looking at?

Do you love kimchi?

2011-11-06T11:03:00.004-06:00

My husband really loves a good yard sale. This week he brought home this gorgeous Korean kimchi pot. I'm not sure where I'll put it, but I think it's a great find for $5. The original owner brought it with him from Korea. Maybe I'll make some kimchi. This is how you do it.

A handy tip

2011-11-03T20:16:00.001-05:00

Did you know that if you put green onions in water they will live a really long time? I just found that out. And it makes me very happy. I think they look kind of pretty too.

It's November

2011-11-01T20:33:00.006-05:00

and the weather has been uhh-mayyy-zing.
I'm enjoying it while it lasts.

Belated Happy Halloween

2011-11-01T20:22:00.004-05:00

I'm not huge on Halloween, but the kids love it (mainly for the candy - of course.) This year I didn't decorate and we didn't carve pumpkins either. Time just got away from me. But the children didn't notice (or if they did, they were kind and didn't say anything.) They were just excited to dress up and walk up and down the street asking for sugar handouts.
I did however, do a Halloween themed dinner. Potato salad was "boiled brains," baby carrots were "roasted fingers" and I made these mummy dogs.

Unfortunately I didn't get a picture of Kaleb's zombie get-up. He was getting his face made up by Seth while I was taking these pictures and by the time they were done, it was too dark. But you may not have wanted to see it anyway...kinda grizzly.

House Cure

2011-10-30T20:04:00.005-05:00

I have been participating in Apartment Therapy's Fall 2011 Cure for your home. It has been really motivating me to do extra things around the house that desperately need to be done (see previous post...) and each day's step only takes about twenty minutes or less (unless you choose to do more.)
The flowers are from one of the days where the task was to buy flowers for your home. I picked mine from outside.

Now that I'm all motivated to do house stuff, I might take on this organizing challenge when I'm finished with Apartment Therapy's Cure. We'll see.

That's better.

2011-10-30T17:30:00.005-05:00

I gave in and cleaned the boys room. annnddd I feel so much better. Now we just need to fix the broken bed and do a revamp on their dresser (for which I've been pinning some fun ideas...)

Also, my computer is still broken, so I'll be blogging randomly whenever I have access to my husband's laptop. Please excuse my spottiness. But I do have some projects in mind, so stay tuned for future fun...

Just when I try to get my blog back on track, my computer breaks.

2011-10-24T09:37:00.001-05:00

Grant me peace and organization

2011-10-21T11:15:00.003-05:00

So, this is what the two little kids have been doing to their room since Estelle was born. (And just so you know, I recently did ALL their dirty laundry. I think half of these clothes are straight from their drawers.) They broke a bed. There is absolutely NO organization.

So, I'm contemplating cleaning it. Just contemplating though. No real efforts made to get it done other than posting this miserable mess on my blog. Part of me hopes that the boys will be horrified that I posted these awful pictures and get to cleaning it themselves. But I think I'm dreaming.

How do you get your kids to clean their rooms?

It was a steal

2011-10-20T12:24:00.003-05:00

I just wanted to show you this awesome garden table we found at a yard sale this past weekend. At first I didn't really want it, even though Seth was trying his hardest to convince me it would look cool. Then the owner yelled out "You can have it for a dollar!" What? A dollar? We'll take it!

And I'm glad we did. I think it looks great in our courtyard.

My favorite part is the lichen already growing on the top.

Do you have any super steals that you love?

Waaaahhh

2011-10-20T12:11:00.002-05:00

This is how I felt the past three days about the fact that I couldn't get our computer to work. And I had a really sick little boy.

Also, this is how she felt last week when her teeth were popping through. This is the perfect face to see them.

Weekend walking

2011-10-17T12:17:00.004-05:00

Let me just preface this post with the lament that more than half of the photos I took this weekend are missing. Gone. There's nothing there. What? I didn't even know my camera would take pictures without taking the pictures. It's not like it's a film camera and I forgot to load the film! Anyway, super huge bummer.

But at least I can show you that we went for a walk to one of our local coffee houses for breakfast on Saturday (with only one kiddo - thank's to the Grandparents.) It was so lovely and the weather was my favorite. Except that now, my allergies are kicking my rear.... sore throat of the century.

Also, our very loyal dog-cat walked with us. As always.

I love this guy. ^^^

Things I'm excited about:

2011-10-14T07:00:00.000-05:00

The leaves are turning!

The online Strong's Concordance for people like me who question "What did they really mean?" Just go back to the original Greek or Hebrew! Read more about what it is here.

This in Cover Shoot. And it comes with a free sample! Mascara anyone?

Today is the beginning of fall break for the boys. Now, there are pros and cons to this, but for the most part, I love having them home...and the fact that I can make their lunches at lunch time instead of at night when I'm tired or in the morning... when I'm also tired.

Have a great weekend!

This is my life.

2011-10-13T11:11:00.003-05:00

I thought that maybe taking pictures of it would make it seem more glamorous. But, unless you are a four year old little girl, I'm not sure you can glamorize laundry and dishes....

Just doing stuff. Like making baby food.

2011-10-12T10:25:00.009-05:00

I have to admit that having four kids can be pretty overwhelming at times. Plus I've really been slacking on exercising, so I have virtually zero energy for things like blogging. Or for anything else really.

So this week I decided that if I don't start exercising again, I was never going come out of this dark hole, so that's what I've done. And all of a sudden I decided I would take some pictures and blog again! It's amazing what a little exercise can do.

This is one of the things I've been doing with my time. Making baby food. I started giving her little tastes of things last month (at 5 months old.) Now she's eating every night.

I just puree some of whatever we are having (before I add anything to it) and put it in an ice cube tray to freeze. The cubes make perfect 1 oz portions. Right now I have carrots, white sweet potato, and avocado mixed with banana already cubed in the freezer. I thaw it by putting cubes for the next day in the fridge overnight, or by steaming it right before I feed her (I actually do that more often because I always forget to prepare the night before.)

Homemade baby food tastes 1,000 times better than store bought, and is ever so much cheaper. No joke!

It won't be long until I add some fruit at breakfast. And beginning around seven or eight months I'll start adding a little herbs and spices to her food; things like oregano, mint and curry.

Did you or will you feed your baby homemade baby food? What was your favorite recipe?

Beach baby

2011-10-05T10:17:00.002-05:00

My mom, my sister and I took little Estelle to the beach last week. We enjoyed beautiful weather, and I'm pretty sure baby enjoyed the surf and sand as much as we did.

Catch up - the 4th

2011-07-07T17:11:00.006-05:00

We picked a new spot to watch the Nashville Fireworks Show this year - the Courthouse Plaza. It was very pleasant, and the show was awesome. The kids splashed in the fountains and then we walked back to Seth's downtown office for popsicles.
Oh, and Estelle had her three month birthday!

summer fruits and veggies

2011-07-05T19:50:00.003-05:00

I know, I know, I'm a terrible blogger. By now, I'm just talking to myself. But I wanted to document for posterity's sake that I'm still actually living my life somewhat.

I finally made it to the farmer's market. So, today I made some kebabs and a peach pie. My tummy is happy. Very. That's all.

P.S. Just in case I'm wondering later what that white stuff is on the grill - it's NOT bird poop. Seth salted the grill to make the food taste good, remember?

Downton Abbey

2011-05-09T11:25:00.006-05:00

My days have been going by in a sleepless blur, which is why I've been spotty about posting. Nothing is going on over here except children eating, sleeping and growing. And their mom just trying to be alert enough not to miss it. But I have had a bit of nursing time to sit and watch some Masterpiece Classics. Downton Abbey has been one of my favorites. I'm a little more than halfway through the series, and looking forward to watching the rest. The best part is, that it's on Netflix instant watch. Have you seen it? Do you like British shows and films?

Four weeks

2011-05-02T12:30:00.012-05:00

It's hard to believe that baby Estelle is four weeks old today. She's already gained two pounds and I feel like she's growing up too fast! But isn't that the way it is with all babies...?

I love her to pieces.

The boys meet their sister

2011-04-27T12:45:00.004-05:00

Unfortunately, when Estelle was born, all the boys had colds, so they didn't get to come visit her at the hospital. Needless to say, their excitement over meeting her had a chance to build, and these are some snapshots of their longtime anticipation coming to an end. What a sweet moment for everyone in the family.

Wrapping up nursery loose ends

2011-04-20T09:27:00.005-05:00

I'm almost finished with Estelle's nursery. It got put on hold for a little while due to obvious circumstances. But this week Seth finally hung the mobile I had made and put together her crib.

The mobile was a fun project - and pretty easy. I just invested $20 in a butterfly punch and made a bunch of paper butterflies and then strung them onto a branch that Seth found for me that we painted white.

And did I tell you about the miles of tulle I was working with? Well, it was for the crib bed skirt. I'm glad to be finished with that project as well!

Now, all that is left to do in there is to hang a shelf and hang all the artwork. I figure we can take our time since Estelle is staying in my bedroom in her bassinet for a little while.

Estelle's Birth Story

2011-04-18T11:25:00.019-05:00

My water broke. Early. We had just eaten at Puckett's for a Tin Pan South show and had ambled around downtown for the Art Crawl with a couple Seth knew through work who were visiting from Los Angeles. We were in the middle of driving around showing them pieces of Nashville when I realized I might need to call the midwife, and I let my husband know. I got "Are you joking?" "no, I'm not." "Are you kidding?" "No" "Are you serious??" "YES!"

Since I was only 35 and a half weeks along in my pregnancy, the midwife told me to go ahead and come into the hospital instead of laboring some at home. So, on our way home to pick up our stuff and pack up the boys after dropping our guests off at their hotel, we sped. A little. And a cop pulled us over. Naturally. But when he got up to the car and saw me shaking, wet and holding onto the door handle for dear life, and then my husband announced "my wife is in labor!" The policeman's eyes went wide as saucers and he let us on our way without further ado.

This picture is just after we arrived at the Vanderbilt ER and they had put me in a wheelchair. We were waiting to be taken up to our room. I wish I had gotten a picture of Seth trying to carry all of our hastily put together stuff, our pillows and my yoga/birthing ball. He looked like a pack mule. And the security guards laughed at our expense when we tried to pass the ball through the entrance security window. I guess it was pretty funny...

Since I wasn't supposed to be having the baby yet, my mom and sister were both out of town. Good thing Andrea was there:

And Seth was there:

(But he didn't sleep the whole time, I promise. Although there was some time for doing that since my whole labor lasted 36 hours!)

This was about 24 hours into it when I realized I was going to have to give in and let them put me on pitocin to speed things up. I was really against it - and still am. I wish I had held out. It caused me to have to be hooked up to the bed so I couldn't move around as much as I wanted to. And it made the contractions more painful than they had to be.

Starting to get painful:

Sitting on the ball helped, aaaand it's getting more painful:

This was the last picture taken before I needed to shut the camera off and have all persons focused on keeping me focused. I asked the midwife how much longer this would go on and she said "probably three hours more." When I heard that, I just knew I wouldn't be able to do it. What no one knew, though, was that I was already going into transition and our baby would be born in the next 20 minutes. The moral of the story is: When someone asks you how much longer their labor will be in the midst of excruciating pain, you should never give an answer with the word "hours" in it. Say something like "Not very much longer," or "It will be over before you know it."

I know I don't look very happy here, but on the inside I really am. I'm just sweaty and exhausted. I got to pull Estelle up onto me and keep her there for whole hour before they took her to the nursery. In hindsight, I had a premonition that something was wrong, but at the time I was just so happy to see her and hold her.

The next time I saw her, she looked like this:

They had already intubated her and dosed her with surfactant. She was on four liters of oxygen a minute and had an IV for antibiotics due to possible sepsis. We were told that she had Hyaline Membrane Disease and that she would stay in the Vanderbilt NICU for anywhere between 7 days to a month.

This is on the same day that she was born, right after I found out where she was:

That first night she stopped breathing four times. It was the scariest time of of my life.

But prayers went out and God was there. Every day when I woke up, I would pray that God would go before me and behind me and help me through each minute. Because that is what it took. Minute by minute.

By mid week she was doing much better. She began to breath without extra oxygen the same hour my precious grandma passed away. I have a mental picture of Grandma asking Jesus face to face to save our baby Estelle.

And then, one week after she was born, they let us take her home.

Even though I'm still terrified that each noise means something bad is happening, I'm SO glad to have her here. And I truly know that God is in control and has a plan for her life. Estelle, my star.

Happy Birthday Estelle!

2011-04-14T09:55:00.002-05:00

We welcomed Amanda Estelle Holland Conley into the world at 6:52am on Monday April the 4th. After staying in the Vanderbilt NICU for seven days, she was able to come home on Monday, April 11th. So glad to have her here!

As soon as I get all the photos downloaded (and have a little time,) I'll tell you her birth story.

Rocking Chair Cushions

2011-04-01T10:28:00.003-05:00

One of my projects this week was to recover some cushions for the nursery rocking chair. Originally I had planned on just buying new pillows, but money runs out fast and it is SO much cheaper to buy the fabric and just do it yourself. Plus, I got to pick out a pricier fabric that I really wanted in a large bold pattern. (Tiny rooms look better with larger designs, don't you think?) It only took a yard because I used a fabric made for upholstery inner lining on the backs, which was only $5 per yard. The lady at the textile store tried to talk me out of using it, but how could she have known my love for using unconventional fabrics? I wish I could have shown her these side chairs...

Anyway, I think the cushions turned out nice. It was my first time tufting with hand covered buttons, too. Very fun, and very rewarding.

The Little Things

2011-03-31T10:21:00.004-05:00

When I find little play vignettes sitting around the the house, there are times when it makes me so thankful for my kids and their imaginations.
It's amazing how a cheap toy can enhance their play so much. I got them some Bendaroos for Christmas (for those of you who don't know, they are just wax covered colored strings that stick to themselves or other things, but come off cleanly.) They have played with them steadily ever since.

They have become costumes for figurines:

They are bed (and wall) decals in the their room:

And we now have about twenty Pokeballs (a much cheaper way to obtain them, I must say:)

Yep, sometimes it's the little things that make all the difference.

A tiny dresser makeover

2011-03-30T08:44:00.003-05:00

Baby girl's room was originally a walk in closet. It's just big enough for a crib, changing table, rocker and this two drawer side table that will come in very handy for storage. We sanded and primed it and painted it with white oil paint, and the drawer fronts in my favorite chalkboard paint. Also, I finally got to buy her something from Anthropolologie - the hand painted knobs! The only reason I could afford them is because there are only two... totally worth the "splurge."

Before:

After:

Eat and Freeze

2011-03-25T13:38:00.002-05:00

I'm making at least one meal a week for the next few weeks that can either easily be doubled or makes enough to separate out to freeze half. It's so nice to get meals from family and friends after a baby is born but I remember being so tired and busy nursing for several weeks after those meals run out. So I'm packing the freezer.

Last night I doubled this recipe (below.) I've also made and frozen Broccoli Chicken Casserole, and will be making Chicken Tetrazinni next week.

Artichoke Spinach Shells

(This is the original recipe - double this to freeze half.)

4 cups uncooked medium whole grain pasta shells

10 ounces frozen spinach, thawed and squeezed of excess water

3 cups shredded cheddar cheese

1 can Italian stewed tomatoes, chopped with juice

1 can water packed artichoke hearts, drained and quartered

1 cup sour cream

1/4 to 1/2 tsp garlic powder

1/2 tsp salt

Cook pasta according to the package directions. Drain. In a large bowl, combine all the ingredients. Transfer to a 3 quart baking dish and bake, uncovered at 350 degrees for 30-35 minutes or until heated through.

Nursery curtains

2011-03-24T11:44:00.003-05:00

My mom's cool retro sewing machine stopped sewing good stitches, and this time I was unable to fix it. So my sweet husband went out one night and surprised me with a new one.

I spent the whole next day making the new curtains out of white muslin and white tulle for baby girl. Yay!

These are baby boy's curtains before:

These are baby girl's curtain's now:

Eight and a half months

2011-03-22T16:24:00.001-05:00

and counting.

we're almost there!

Nursery walls

2011-03-21T10:37:00.006-05:00

All of my nursery projects are coming along v e r y

s l o w l y. I tend to be over ambitious about the things I can accomplish in a set amount amount of time with the level of energy I have. But one major accomplishment was finished this weekend! Whew. The nursery is painted (it only took me about four weeks...!)

It posed a few challenges, in that it doesn't have a door, so the wall color from the upstairs hallway extends into the baby's room. I also wanted to do a chalkboard wall behind the crib, and I wanted it to wrap the corner so there wouldn't be one wall that she could color on from her bed and one wall she couldn't (that might be confusing for a little mind...) So, I had to come up with another break in the wall. I decided to paint faux frames around the mirror by the doorway and the around the chalkboard to delineate the spaces and to make the room a little more girly (without using pink!)

First I drew out half of the design on butcher paper and then cut it out. I traced it on one side, and then flipped it around and traced it on the other. Then I used the same template to do the frame around the chalkboard.

After:

Birthday Cake

2011-03-17T11:38:00.005-05:00

I know that rainbow cakes have been done. But I've never made one, so for Elijah's 10th birthday that's what I decided to make. We talked about how God uses the rainbow to remind us that He is faithful and keeps His promises.
It was fun to make and fun to eat.
Happy birthday baby!

Close

2011-03-12T17:40:00.002-06:00

The other morning I laid upstairs listening to the early morning sounds of my children bickering, whining and eventually screaming at each other. So when I finally came downstairs to address the riot, I was surprised to find them wrapped in the same blanket and sitting in the same chair. I love watching brothers function together. *smile*

Sacred June

2011-03-09T13:36:00.007-06:00

I love going to see my sister and brother-in-law play around town. One of the best things about it is seeing them both play a gazillion different instruments throughout their show. In their own words "We have an addiction to instruments."

I captured Annalise playing several of hers (violin, mandolin and cello.) She also plays the guitar, which I didn't get a shot of. Jacob plays an upright bass and the mandolin, but I didn't capture that either. I guess you'll just have to go see them for yourselves.

In fact, you could go tonight! They're playing at Puckett's in downtown Nashville at 7pm. If you can't make that one, click here for more dates.

Pom Pom Garland

2011-03-07T14:00:00.001-06:00

The nursery linens and furniture are all going to be white, so I decided we needed a little pop of color.

I went to the thrift store and bought some jersey shirts to make into pom poms. And I made a six foot garland (three pom poms from each color) that will probably hang over the top of the double windows in baby's room. I don't know, though, I may end up changing the location - so don't hold me to it.

I got the pom pom making idea from here, only I made mine much smaller, only about 2 inches in diameter.

The boys got glasses.

2011-03-02T09:01:00.002-06:00

Aren't they adorable?

In other news, I've been working on several projects for the nursery. Only, there's always one last finishing touch that I need to work on or go out and buy. So pictures will have to wait just a little longer. I apologized for the scanty posting.... I'll start revealing stuff soon!

I'm posting this because

2011-02-24T10:39:00.003-06:00

I made it this week and everyone gobbled it down like maniacs. I don't want to forget about it. I'm definitely making it again. It's from here. Thanks, Laurie, for the find!

Apricot Lemon Chicken

Prep Time: 4 minutes

Cook Time: 14 minutes

Yield: 4 servings (serving size: 1 chicken breast half and about 1 1/2 tablespoons apricot-lemon sauce)

Ingredients

1 teaspoon curry powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

4 (6-ounce) skinless, boneless chicken breast halves

Cooking spray

1/3 cup apricot spread (such as Polaner All Fruit)

2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice

2 tablespoons water

2 teaspoons grated lemon rind

Preparation

1. Combine first 3 ingredients in a small bowl; rub mixture over chicken.

2. Place a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Coat pan with cooking spray. Cook chicken 6 minutes on each side or until done. Remove chicken from pan, and keep warm.

3. Add apricot spread, lemon juice, and 2 tablespoons water to pan, stirring until smooth. Cook over medium heat 1 minute. Spoon sauce over chicken; sprinkle with lemon rind.

Kaleb's Fox Hole Radio Set

2011-02-23T09:54:00.004-06:00

My grandfather worked as an engineer for General Motors and invented several car parts and holds more than a dozen patents in his name. My boys are fascinated by this and we're so glad to have Grandpa around to tell us his stories.

Recently he told us how his interest in engineering began when he was given the parts to build a crystal radio set. So, when science fair time rolled around for Kaleb, he decided to build a radio as well. We couldn't find a crystal to use, so Kaleb decided to make a set that was used in the trenches about 20 years earlier than the crystal sets - a Fox Hole Radio.

It was so fun to watch Kaleb figure the whole thing out and to be able to help and watch a few paper clips, thumb tacks, toilet paper roll, razor, pencil lead and wire turn into something that could pick up a radio signal. After many tweaks and experimenting he was finally able to pick up a channel! (Of course the channel had nothing on it except static - but at least it worked!) Kaleb wants to make a tuner for it so that he can try to pick up some other frequencies. So cool.

I am so proud.

bird and bee, sittin' in a tree...

2011-02-22T08:00:00.000-06:00

I was asked to make a ring similar to my bird and leaf ring, but add a bee in place of the leaf. It turned out so adorable and I love, love, love it. What do you think?

(Click here to see the bird and leaf ring, and here to see a different bee ring I've made in the past.)

2010 pictures

2011-02-21T10:43:00.007-06:00

I spent a large amount of time last week picking out and ordering almost 200 of my favorite shots from 2010. Shutterfly sent me a print promotion, so I decided to create a 2010 family photo album.

It is amazing to me, that despite how difficult last year was for us, God still blessed us with some of the most memorable family moments ever. Such is the Grace of a God who walks with us on our journeys through this broken world. I feel so thankful.

Puttanesca

2011-02-16T11:34:00.002-06:00

I finally figured out what to do with that random tin of sardines sitting in my pantry. I just substituted them for the anchovies in this recipe in Everyday Food. It was delish.

Plus, this was the dish the children are asked to make in Lemony Snicket's Series of Unfortunate Events (book 1.) That enticed my kids to want to try it. Success!

Click on the photo to enlarge.

I feel humongous today.

2011-02-15T15:29:00.002-06:00

29 weeks humongous

Iron, iron and more iron

2011-02-11T12:26:00.005-06:00

A lot of women have low iron or anemia during pregnancy and don't know it. I have anemia and know it because it's been getting worse. I spent three months taking iron supplements and eating the foods I thought would help, but I still got that dreaded test result phone call telling me that the shortness of breath, heart palpations, twitchy legs and extreme fatigue were because I didn't have enough red blood cells to carry an ample amount of oxygen to all the parts of my body. Hence - I need more iron.

Iron is one of those minerals that is not easy to absorb. In fact, I don't think I was absorbing much at all for the past several months. You can't eat it with coffee, tea or dairy - because all of these will inhibit absorption. Iron found in veggies ( hello spinach...) is very difficult to absorb with out extra help. In fact, spinach turns out not be a very good source at all. It actually inhibits iron absorption! Something I never would have guessed. Here's a list of iron absorption inhibitors:

Red Wine, Coffee & Tea
Vegetables: Spinach, chard, beet greens, rhubarb and sweet potato
Whole grains and bran
Soy products

I don't think I ever took an iron supplement or ate an iron rich food without one of those things. No wonder I kept getting worse!

These are the absorption enhancers:

Meat/fish/poultry
Fruits: Orange, Orange Juice, cantaloupe, strawberries, grapefruit etc
Vegetables: Broccoli, brussels sprouts, tomato, tomato juice, potato, green & red peppers
White wine

My midwife has change my supplement dose from 29mg a day to 650mg a day and I'm doing everything I know now to ensure it sticks. I'm really hoping for some more red blood cells to be born soon so I can stop feeling so icky.

To find what foods are good for increasing iron and what foods are not, here's some great lists and information.

Baby Time

2011-02-10T12:48:00.003-06:00

I love spending time looking through the boys baby albums. But I'm always so sad to see how much I've forgotten and actually how little photos we have of each of them. We didn't even get a professional one of Emet at the hospital - which is why his is so blurry. This makes me think I should document our baby girl's birth a little better...

Anyway, this is Kaleb:

This is Elijah: (whose poor face is bruised from a pretty traumatic birth)

And here is Emet.

Baby Clothes

2011-02-09T16:16:00.004-06:00

Old Navy is having a great baby and kid sale right now, so I bought some things for the baby. Elijah said recently that we shouldn't buy her any clothes yet because we "just don't know what her style will be." But I decided that she'll probably need something to wear while she figures it all out...

Design Mom is having an Old Navy gift certificate giveaway right now too. Click here to sign up.

P.S. I know I said I'd post the kids baby pictures today, but you'll have to wait. I didn't feel like doing it.

Genes

2011-02-08T12:11:00.003-06:00

I've really been wondering what our baby girl will look like. Will she look like me? Will she look like him? I'm kinda hoping she'll favor me since all three of our boys look just like their dad.

This is me:

This is him:

I'll show you the boys as babies tomorrow.

Blog Carnival

2011-02-07T12:29:00.012-06:00

The blog topic for Etsy Metal this month is to tell about other creative things we do besides jewelry. Right now, my main creative mission is grow this baby, but I do like to work with my hands. In fact I went to school for fine art.

Unfortunately almost all of my art work has been stashed away in the deep recesses of our attic for the last decade. But I did manage to round up one sketchbook from college. It's all pretty academic, but looking through these sketches brought back a lot of memories.

I also used to do a lot of printing. I loved lino-cuts and etching. I looked for some of my etching plates, but couldn't find any - which means they're in the attic with all of my lino-cuts and all the actual prints. The only cut I could find was the one pictured above, and it's pretty small, so that's probably why I was able to stash it in a drawer. I couldn't find any of the actual prints of it though, so you'll just have to use your imagination to picture it backwards and the lights and darks reversed.
And besides drawing and painting etc, and making babies and jewelry, I also make dinner, bird houses, and curtains: here, here and here. Making things makes me happy.

Here are some other people on the Etsy Metal team who want to show you what they make:

Kate Jones
Kathryn Cole
2Roses
Twigs and Heather
Erin Austin
Thomasin Durgin
Nodeform
Beth Cyr
Stacey Hansen
Nina Gibson
Elizabeth Scott
Evelyn Markasky
Jenny Baughman
Catherine Chandler
_________________

Italian Chili

2011-02-04T10:35:00.002-06:00

I'm going to enjoy eating this for lunch today. I made it last night for dinner. It's so hearty and easy to make. I love it so much, I've posted it before. Here's the recipe. The only thing I do different is add some salt and mix in the rice. Nom nom nom...

A Dahlia for the baby:

2011-02-03T19:07:00.004-06:00

I bought this rug today for the new baby girl's nursery.

It was 50% off on Zulily.com.

The one-eyed Sponge Bob weirdo

2011-02-01T16:09:00.004-06:00

We had a successful Sponge Bob party last night. The treasure hunt and the piñata were a hit.

My failure, however was the Sponge Bob cake. Emet has specifically asked for a chocolate cake with Sponge Bob on it.

I spent an hour mixing colors and painting a huge Sponge Bob on the top of the cake. And he looked perfect! I ran out of icing though, and ended up using some left over cookie icing gel for his eyes and mouth. Then I covered the cake topper with a cloth so as to not spoil the surprise - and when I came back a couple hours later, Sponge Bob's eye had rolled right off his head!

Fast forward all the way to after dinner - and his other eye was looking non-eyeish and his mouth was beginning to become wavy. He was just melting apart!

So, when I presented the cake, I apologized to Emet saying that he was Sponge Bob but he was melting and I'm sorry!

Emet looked at me and said, "Mom, I didn't even want a Sponge Bob cake! What I really wanted was a one-eyed weirdo cake!"

And that's exactly what he got.

Happy Birthday!

2011-01-31T08:23:00.003-06:00

5 years ago today, Emet was born. Time seems to just fly, and feel he should still be small enough to lay like this on my chest.

We already took him to Chuckee Cheese - where Elijah picked up a stomach virus despite my constant hand sanitizing routine. Today, though, we'll stay home and make whatever dinner Emet wants (He has asked for Daddy's grilled chicken and salad with ranch.) I bought a surprize Sponge Bob Piñata and I'll put together a treasure hunt for his gifts. It should be fun - even with a sick kid...

The servant's heart

2011-01-29T15:42:00.006-06:00

A very close friend of my grandparents commissioned me to make a necklace for her inspired by them. They have both lived lives that have affected so many people in a positive way - by being the hands and feet of Jesus to all of their family and countless friends. Not only is their love and generosity inspiring to others, but it's truly a testimony to the power of God's work in their own lives.

Their friend and I, together, came up with this heart pendant design depicting open hands holding fruit. The fruit of the spirit has been so evident in my grandparents lives, so I thought it was a perfect picture. The symbol of the open hands is also beautiful - because I have never known them to hold anything - time, money, possessions - back from anyone in need. In Grandma's own words "We just love to give!"

The back of the pendant says "A servant's heart." I know beyond a shadow of a doubt, when they meet Jesus face to face, he will greet them both with "Well done, my good and faithful servant."

What a blessing to hear the stories of friends and family being moved by my grandparents and to get to make a piece of jewelry about the heart the God has planted in them. I am one very lucky granddaughter.

Work hard, breathe easy?

2011-01-27T10:14:00.003-06:00

I can only manage a very small amount of work during this pregnancy, and I'm trying not to feel bad about it. Mostly I don't want to stress my body out, but also, I can't breathe with the respirator. I always wear it, even when I'm not pregnant, but for some reason when I am pregnant, I just can't get enough air. So I have to do all my work in very small increments and then go breathe awhile.

But I did manage to get a couple special orders done. I'll show you one of them tomorrow.

BirdBox

2011-01-26T11:47:00.004-06:00

I thought I would share the pictures of Seth's birdhouse. His is a small commentary on the economic climate of Nashville the past few years. It's certainly touched us - and I'm sure it's touched you too.

Flowers in winter

2011-01-25T12:56:00.005-06:00

There is nothing cuter or sweeter than a whole procession of boys coming to present their mother flowers. It's what they got me for my birthday. I love having fresh flowers in the house in January. And I love that they are the two-toned ones and yellow because 1. those are my favorite roses, and 2. they're similar to the ones we had on our wedding cake. If Seth buys me roses, he always tries to find those... so precious... and a lovely memory.

Today is my birthday.

2011-01-24T11:58:00.000-06:00

I'm just doing whatever I want to.

The Birdhouse Dollhouse

2011-01-21T16:48:00.016-06:00

It's finished. And I'm going to have to bid on it at the auction because I want to keep it so badly.

Normally I edit my photos down way better than I did today, but I couldn't choose which ones to show you because this birdhouse has consumed so much of my waking and sleeping thoughts lately. So, I guess you're just going to have to deal with a huge load of pictures. Besides, if I get outbid at the charity, I'll be glad for all these shots.

This is the back:

This is the front:

And this is the inside:

My morning

2011-01-20T10:38:00.002-06:00

I have not been drinking coffee for a loooonnnggg time. I really wanted to cut down my caffeine, and it was also making me sick to my stomach. But something this week made me decide to start drinking it again - in tiny amounts. Maybe it's the dismal weather. And the constant lure of my French press...

A sneak peek

2011-01-19T11:52:00.006-06:00

Every year, the W.O. Smith School of Music has a fundraiser by selling artist embellished birdhouses. It's called "The Birdhouse Thing."

Seth and I have been a part of it many times, and decided to do it again this year.

The birdhouse is due on Friday(!!!!!!,) so hopefully I'll get to post the full effect by then. For now, just know that I have been working many hours making tiny, bird sized furniture and accessories...

Cold week

2011-01-14T18:15:00.001-06:00

Today was the fifth day the kids were home for snow. And school will be out Monday too, because of Martin Luther King Day. Let's just say, this hasn't been the most productive week.....

A leaner pot pie.

2011-01-11T07:00:00.000-06:00

One of the things that I love to eat is chicken pot pie. Typically I just buy the frozen version so that I can have a cooking "day off" every once in a while. But recently, I read this article about the 20 worst foods in America, and low and behold, Stouffer's white meat chicken pot pie made the worst list at 1,160 calories!!!

This made me rethink my easy pot pie cooking habit and firmly decide to prepare my very own. (My new personal casserole dishes were a great motivator as well...) I made my recipe up after looking through a billion cookbook and internet sources, and it turned out great. The best part? (Besides the taste, of course.) Mine was only 463 calories per serving.
I admit, I did use some pre-packaged foods to make it, so it's probably possible to lower the calories even further. One thing I know that helped was omitting the bottom crust. When you have a great flaky crust on top - you don't even realize that the bottom crust is missing.

I'm not a recipe writer, but scroll on down if you want to see my version.

Amanda's Chicken Pot Pie

One recipe for Double Pie crust (I added mine below)

1 onion, diced

1 box of Rice-a-Roni rice pilaf

1 can cream of mushroom soup

1 can cream of chicken soup

4-5 cups cooked, chopped or pulled chicken

2-3 cups frozen vegetable mix or vegetable soup starter mix

pinch of salt

Cook veggies according to the package instructions; drain and set aside.

Saute the onion in olive oil until almost translucent, then add the rice and continue cooking according to the package instructions.*

Combine, rice mixture, chicken, vegetables, soups and salt and pour into individual casserole dishes or pie plates. (This recipe was perfect for 5 10 oz. dishes and one pie plate, or two pies.)

Top with pie crust. Flute edges and add a slit for venting. Bake at 425 for 25-30 minutes or until crust is a golden brown.

Let cool for 5-10 minutes.

*Note: I think next time I might add some mushrooms into the onion and pilaf step.

Double Pie Crust

2 cups all purpose flour

2/3 cup crisco

6-7 tablespoons of very cold water

Combine flour and crisco with a pastry cutter until all the pieces are about the size of a pea and similar in size. (You want the lumps - 'cause that is what makes the crust flaky.)

Add the water, one tablespoon at a side and fluff with a fork after each addition. I like to push all the dry mixture to one side of the bowl and the moistened bits to the other side so that I know what has been watered and what hasn't.

Do NOT over mix. It's really going to not look much like a dough. There are going to be pieces falling off all over the place - and that is good. It's exactly what you want. It'll all mash together eventually when you roll it out.

So, take half of your now flaky dough and tenderly shape it into a ball (still - don't over mix!) and wrap it in cellophane. Do the same thing with the other half. Now put both of your dough balls in the fridge. It'll be easier to roll them out when they are colder.

To roll them, sandwich them in between parchment, or sprinkle a dusting of flour on your rolling surface. Make sure your rolling pin has flour as well. Once the dough is the size that will fit over your pie plate (you'll need to cut special pieces for the personal casseroles) use your floured rolling pin to pick it up and place it over your pie.

Voila.

Easy peasy.

A snow day and Grandfather Snowman

2011-01-10T12:56:00.007-06:00

Last year, toward the end of January, we had a week of snow days. I didn't get any pictures because I was in bed, praying not to lose our sweet bundle. Seth took the boys out for several days in a row, though, and I could hear them playing from my window.

Today, I woke up feeling a bit crummy. It's funny how memories can do that - especially when you're not expecting it, or understand it. But after trekking outside with my beautiful family and building a giant snowman and watching them hoot and holler, I felt so gleeful and blessed to have my precious husband and children and so very thankful that sometimes God gives us forced family days to make new, beautiful memories.

A little shepherd's pie

2011-01-08T21:31:00.005-06:00

I just bought six personal sized casseroll dishes ($10 for all of them!) so that next time I make this, we can each have our very own.

P.s. The recipe is fantastic - but next time I'll omit 1/3 of the carrots and 1/3 of the celery and add peas.

An all white project

2011-01-05T11:10:00.003-06:00

Now that Christmas is over, I'm going to be getting started on a few projects. One of them will be re-decorating the nursery from "boy themed" to "girl themed."

Having three boys has really molded me into a "boy's mom," so I'm hesitant to fill a room with a bunch of pink. So my primary color will be white.

I'm doing white curtains, all white bedding and white furniture.

I haven't decided on the wall color, but it's a nice shade of green, and I'm thinking it will stay that way.

These are a couple of inspiration photos.

I'll probably sew the majority of the fabric stuff I need on my mom's-handed-handed-down-to-me vintage White Sewing machine.

Return of the Dapper Men

2011-01-03T19:26:00.004-06:00

Seth and I purchased a signed copy of the new award winning graphic novel Return of the Dapper Men by local artist, Janet Lee and writer, Jim McCann (who went to school with Seth.)

Little did I know that Seth also purchased one of the original pieces of Janet Lee's artwork for the book for me for Christmas! Yippee!

Watch the trailer below to see more. It's super cool.

Happy New Year

2011-01-01T00:00:00.004-06:00

I never make New Year resolutions. They're too easy to break. But this year, I thought I'd write a short list of things I'm hoping to follow through with.

1. Put flooring in the playroom (it's concrete now, and I'm hoping to put in cork.)

2. Continue to fix up the kitchen. (notice I'm not saying to finish the kitchen....ha. Can't count on that.)

3. Do some sewing for the new baby girl's room. (Yes, we're having a girl!!!! Whoopy!!)

4. Spend some quality family time together with our new bigger family (maybe a vacation???)

What are you planning on doing this coming year?

A little cuddle

2010-12-30T13:05:00.001-06:00

I feel like I'm constantly battling against the age of the video game. But when I saw this, I thought that these games can't be all bad....

Christmas

2010-12-27T12:00:00.007-06:00

What a perfectly sweet holiday.

Natural Garlands

2010-12-17T09:56:00.003-06:00

One of our advent tasks this week was to string cranberries and popcorn into garlands. The boys did almost all of it. And our littlest was the most dedicated. He strung cranberries for over an hour (nearly three feet) and strung about two feet of popcorn.

Advent

2010-12-14T08:53:00.006-06:00

This year I took an empty advent calendar and filled it with Christmasy things to do each day. Some days are simple things like "listen to Christmas music" or "eat a candy cane off the tree," and other days are a little more time consuming, like "read The Best Christmas Pageant Ever," (which I read out loud on Friday to the kids and we laughed the whole way through - except the last chapter when I cried my eyes out...) or "make cookies."

We made chocolate chip cookies first, which was fun. And then we ate some with milk, which was more fun - and then the kids turned into monkeys from the sugar and I had to make the sugar cookies by myself. But when it came time to decorate, they settled down and were perfectly calm and intent on doing their task. It was lovely. and tasty.

Family shots

2010-12-12T15:34:00.003-06:00

Seth's show was a good time to get some quick pictures of the whole family together. Since the name of his show was "White as Snow" the whole family dressed in white. And the boys all decided they wanted to wear ties with their white shirts. I thought everyone looked so handsome. I'm glad I thought to take the camera.

Christmas Spirit

2010-12-11T13:28:00.004-06:00

I've been relating to Scrooge this season. Partly because I was pregnant last Christmas too - and I remember how exhausted the season made me and I don't relish the thought of getting that tired again. And partly because the house has been total chaos with the completion of Seth's art show.

But even though I haven't been in a "holiday" spirit, I am in a " I love my kids" spirit and they've been begging for the decorations to be put up. I'm glad I started to decorate, too. Not only does it make my children extremely giddy with happiness and expectation, but their energy is rubbing off on me.

So maybe it's not "Bah humbug" after all.

White as Snow Success

2010-12-06T10:45:00.005-06:00

Seth's show was a great success. The gallery was packed with people and he sold several paintings the first night. He hired a projector and had his paintings projected onto the building next to the gallery in a slideshow. It made a cool, inviting impact. The whole night was super fun.

White as Snow

2010-12-02T09:57:00.002-06:00

We're getting ready for Seth's Rymer show on Saturday. I can't wait. You can come. Here's the info.

One Pot Chicken and Brown Rice

2010-11-17T16:23:00.004-06:00

I've had a really hard time cooking (or being around food in general) the past few months. I've started cooking for my family again here and there, but I'm still craving pretty mild foods. So I'm making this tonight.

It actually smells good to me. and the brown rice is perfect because my midwife has instructed me to eat lots of iron rich foods since my blood work revealed that I'm anemic. Find the recipe for this easy to make meal here.

It's a season, but Oh, the mess!

2010-11-13T14:20:00.002-06:00

This is what the house looks like right now with Seth getting ready for his show. It's like a cluttered maze.

I can't wait until all these paintings are finished and transported to another person's custody. Not that I don't love the paintings themselves. They're wonderful. I'd just like to stretch my arms out while I'm in the house.

Life's chaotic, at least there's a ray.

2010-11-11T11:43:00.002-06:00

My Elijah calls this "holy light." I'm glad it's shining into my house.

Pomegranate Gems

2010-11-08T09:54:00.003-06:00

I wish a person could make jewelry out of these.

They look just like jewels.

(but taste much better...)

I finally made something

2010-11-06T16:13:00.005-05:00

But it's just for myself. I've been feeling so bad lately that I haven't worked hardly at all. Seth, on the other hand is getting ready for a big art show so the house is bursting with creative energy. As a consequence I decided to make myself a cocktail ring to wear to the show. I've been working on it in very short sessions for at least a week. And I'm pleased with how it turned out.

(Sterling silver, white druzy and turquoise)

The proof is in the Honor Roll

2010-11-03T16:58:00.004-05:00

We have found that, with a child diagnosed with acute ADHD and ODD, media can equal D's and in the worst case, F's. But no media during the week = A's and B's!

Kaleb made the honor roll this week! He's so proud of himself and we're so proud too. All that hard work equals a bowling trip with his friends from school! Woo Hoo!

It's a learning curve.

2010-11-02T13:13:00.007-05:00

(me @ 14 weeks)

I've been pregnant four times. Each one throws me for a new loop, but there are some things that I've learned that I'm glad I did because they stay pretty consistent.

1. You can NOT eat for two when you are pregnant. Trust me. I've done that. You will become three people if you do that - two of yourself and one baby.

2. The best clothing investments are non maternity clothes that are flowy and stretchy. My favorite "maternity" yoga pants are pants that I have worn over and over since the birth of Emet (and that was almost five years ago.)

3. Flossing is a must when you are pregnant. I can justify an accidental flossing "skip" when I'm not pregnant, but if I go even one day of not flossing when I'm pregnant, my gums will bleed the next day.

4. Most yoga poses can be adapted to a pregnant body using props. And that's important to my state of body and mind.

5. Being pregnant makes my husband get stuff done for me. So I milk it while I can...

6. There's no shame in your belly "popping out" early. Especially if you've already had a baby - everything's already stretchy so it just happens. Embrace it.

What have you learned about being pregnant?

Happy Halloween

2010-10-31T16:49:00.001-05:00

Check #2 Off the List

2010-10-28T11:17:00.003-05:00

We rebuilt the upstairs and it's accompanying bathroom four years ago. But our lovely batheroom sink has never ever worked! This week we finally fixed it.

But we had to cut a humongous hole in the wall beside my side of the bed to do it. So now I've got to add something else to the List....arggg.

That Darn Cat

2010-10-27T18:11:00.003-05:00

I got really upset with the cat this past week so I threw him out of the house. Then he left for several days and I got sad. I don't want him to destroy the house, but I don't really want him gone either. So, what to do?

So when he finally came home,I made him a collar tag, that's what. It has his name on one side and our address on the other. Now no one will take him, and we can try to train him to go outside more often... hopefully.

My pretty view

2010-10-26T10:37:00.002-05:00

This is the view outside my bedroom window. I look forward to our maple turning every fall. The color reminds me of my favorite Pink Lady apples. I haven't had one of those in a while...couldn't find them this year...

Check #1 off list:

2010-10-20T12:45:00.004-05:00

There are tons of things to do to get the house baby ready. (O.k. the house is fine for a baby, but there are bunches of stuff I want to get done before the baby comes, and there's no better time to persuade my husband to do them than now, right?)

He finally finished painting the inside of the front portico. Thank you honey! Now, all we need is a new lantern and the house numbers put up. Oh, and perhaps a bead board ceiling??

I have a "must do" list that I'm obsessing over and a "would really like to do someday" list that I'm... obsessing over. It must be the hormones that make these remodeling ideas seem absolutely necessary and that if we don't do them I might go crazy or have to move. I'll fill you in on the lists another time. Maybe we'll get to check some things off of them. That would make me feel good. I just want the baby to have a good first impression... =D

Pieces of Our Lives Tour

2010-10-18T13:51:00.003-05:00

Seth was asked to participate in a special Amy Grant tour where she would be showing and finally, actioning off, paintings that represent some of her favorite songs. The tour began in September and will continue until the end of this month. To take a look at the artwork, or place a bid, click here. To see if the tour is coming to your city, click here.

"Helping Hand" Oil on canvas by Seth Conley

I'm not very good at blogging

2010-10-15T18:18:00.001-05:00

when I'm pregnant. I'm actually not very good at anything except for laying around and playing mind numbing card games on the laptop. Just waiting for that promised "burst of energy." When it will come, I don't know.

Better the second husband of a widow than the first.

2010-09-20T18:35:00.003-05:00

~French Proverb

Kaleb found this little lady hanging on her web in the garden today. He was able to see her alarming red underside before he ran in to tell me he had found a black widow.

I grabbed my camera to get a good shot, but was too scared to turn her over after she jumped off the web. A lovely portrait of her menacing patent black top will just have to do.

Labor Day

2010-09-08T15:10:00.006-05:00

Monday we (plus some friends with their 4 year old and baby twins, and my sister and brother-in-law) took a bunch of food to Percy Priest Lake to grill and play in the water. It was perfect weather. What a lovely day.