I could make this, right??

Yep, planning Ben's birthday "party" already. C'mon it's only 4 months away!!!  As you may have guessed, it's going to be pirate themed.  Since there are no kids his age that I know of (yep I am that anti-social), it will be a family party, so if any family wants to come visit over the 4th of July or after you can be part of the swashbuckling soiree.  So I thought for his gift I would get him a treasure chest toy box for all his cars and "guys" and then it would be a cute boy accessory for his room when he actually has his own some day.  So, do you think I can make this??
Doesn't look too hard and I have a saw now.  Just don't know if it's worth my time, but I love custom and making stuff they can have forever. This is her etsy shop.  Reasonable price, so maybe just leave it to the experts??  I actually just have no idea the cost of wood. That's my thought.

Refreshed

Ok, Disneyland is a crazy place and it was a long tiring day (like 12 hours in the park!!!) only to get up and do it again the next day.  I realized I no longer have the stamina of my 20 year old body where I could work a 12 hour shift standing all day and then go out all night and wake up and do it again. By 10am the second day I caved in and bought a $3 coke.  By 4 my feet were aching and I was finding excuses to sit. By 10pm you couldn't pay me to drag my kids on another ride.  It was great and we had a blast.  I am feeling refreshed and ready to  do the same old monotonous things again.  I am not saying I am making Disneyland a regular trip for us.  Once every 2 years is enough.  But I am saying a night or 2 away from my house anywhere is a good idea.

I made these therefore...

I thought I would whip up this treat that I saw a picture of on another blog or something and clicked on it because it just looked sooo good and then I just had to make it once I saw it.  YUMMMM!!  I didn't have whipping cream, so I just melted a spoonful of peanut butter with a large handful of chocolate chips.  Yep, that's how I measure stuff.  I wanted it to harden because I am going to pack them up.  We had "tested" the brownies with just the pb filling and ended up eating like 1/3 that way, so that measurement of chocolate layer was perfect what was left in the pan.  Her recipe looked a little more soft, and I knew those wouldn't pack, so maybe next time I make these I will follow her recipe.  Because I will be making these a lot!!!  Phil wanted it to be an inch thick like the picture on her blog.  That was a little much for me.  And these are the perfect brownies even if you add nothing to them.  If you like peanut butter and chocolate, you should make these. Here's my attempt at a brownie stack picture.

Since I am eating these brownies, I have been exercising again (and for lots of other reasons, but brownies is definitely a good one) I bought on Amazon on demand Jillian Michaels 30 Day Shred. I love Amazon VOD because it goes to my Roku and then I can watch it on the TV without the computer.  Makes it nice.  Back to the workout, I have only done it twice but man, that is a good 20 minute workout.  I have only done level 1 and there are 3, so I can't wait to work up.  My butt and calves and chest hurt when I am doing the weirdest things, but that pain makes me feel good.  You know that feeling!!  So looking for a quick good workout, try it.  It is like $5 for all 3 on Amazon VOD.

Ben did it

After how many tries and bribes, he finally pooped in the toilet.  I managed to forget to buy diapers when I made my shopping run down to Target, but I am glad.  Maybe we will no longer need them!!!  I am officially out of baby stage when I say there may be no need for diapers anymore.  Nice.

I think this is what it comes down to

I have a sewing machine and some skills, so new jeans that I debate about keeping because of the gap, I am fixing you, thanks to this tutorial

pics

Here is a little collage of the pics of Amelia's dress I made. Yay for a cocktail of oxy clean and shout and a good chance that they were washable crayons. The stains came out, no problems.

 When I was fitting her in it, she requested that the dress touch the floor. I made it as close as possible without being too ridiculous. I am happy.  Now she has lots of room to grow in it since her shoulders seem to stay the same size, even if she gets taller, it will still be a reasonable length. Seriously, I plan on her wearing this dress for the next year. I usually don't like making sleeves, but these were so easy and came out pretty cute. I used a New Look pattern of just a basic dress and then made up the bottom part and added the skinny belt.  I didn't have quite enough yardage to make the lining the blue color, so the inside is lined in the brown, but it looks nice because if it's turned up at all, you see no seams and lovely brown.  This although, made it a little trickier when I added the zipper, so it's a little wonky, but you would have to know to look.  And mostly when you take it off, it's noticeable. She mostly just wants to twirl in it and bends down to make it touch the floor when she's standing.  She loves it too.
Next, the princess shirt and Minnie headband I made her.

Yep,I made a shirt. Why, you ask? It all started when I thought it would be cute to have a stenciled picture of  Zurg (the evil nemesis of Buzz Lightyear from Toy story 2) on a tee for Ben.  He loves scary guys and robots, so Zurg is the coolest. Plus he needs a new favorite tee. I can only wash his current favorite the monster shirt so many times a week!!  When I said I was going to make Ben a shirt, of course Amelia needed one as well.  So I agreed.  We went to 5 different stores with Amelia (before lunch, so could have been a disaster, but they were really good, but that shows you how committed I am to please this girl) to find her a Disney Princess shirt. Every store was out of her size.  Lots of options, no sizes for her. Apparently disney princess shirts in size 4T (even 3T and 5T were out) are a big hit. Every store had a minnie mouse shirt or just one princess. And super cute ones to boot, but she was set on a princess one with 3 princesses or more. I ended up getting one at target that fit her criteria but it was in size 2T. I figured it would be a backup. Yes a 2T fits her, but it is snug and when she raises her hands, a little short. Basically she would wear it for Disneyland and nothing more. Plus it was a little see through and short sleeved and it is supposed to be a little cold and rainy.  It was not going to work.  So I took a picture from the internet and printed it out then held the shirt over it on a window and traced Belle with fabric markers. I figured if I didn't like it, I was about to toss this shirt anyway, I was out nothing. I ended up kind of liking the uneven hand drawn quality of it. Amelia loved it, so that is all that mattered.  She wanted 2 more princesses, but I had a limited color palette, so I agreed to add Ariel.  It was great because her red hair covered up a stain!!  So yucky shirt, now her favorite and good enough for our trip.  Cost me nothing. Yay!!
And you already know about my troubles with the headband.  Geesh.  Now Disneyland attire done. (did I mention, we found Ben an off the rack, pre-made shirt at Target with every Toy Story 3 character including mr potato head dressed up as a pirate.  Talk about the perfect shirt for Ben and me, no sewing or drawing necessary.  If he's not being a robot, he is being a pirate, and he's a mighty good one too.

Status Report

Here is my status update in red and green.

1. Finish the sash and post pics of the adorable dress I made Amelia.  It has been raining like cats and dogs and extremely overcast, so it's not been ideal picture taking weather.  I thought maybe after she wore it to church today I would just snap one to get the idea, but when I picked her up from her class I noticed red on it, then inspected closer and closer and saw color crayon marks EVERYWHERE on the front of it.  I have no idea how she did it.  I think she must have been laying on her drawing and it rubbed off or leaning on the crayons.  It is everywhere.  So, it is being stain treated and I hope that it comes out, otherwise I will feel like it was a total waste!!
2. Cook something new and bake something new.  I am undecided about the treat, but leaning towards this BBQ chicken braid  Made the braid, and it was really good.  Can't go wrong with anything wrapped up in that bread recipe.  YUM.  Also, baked my staple, blueberry muffins.  I had some lemon lime icing left over from who knows when and I love dipping muffin tops in that icing, so it was a great use of stuff I had on hand and doubled as a treat and breakfast.
3. Wash both our cars and SCRUB my nasty house.  Seriously I would be ashamed if anyone came inside. I did scrub my house with the assistance of the family.  It has been very clean all weekend.  But, due to the torrential rains we are having, we did not wash the cars, but all the bird poop has rinsed off on it's own.  So thank you mother nature. 
4. Finish up my bookkeeping job. Not started yet.  Procrastinating.  Maybe tomorrow?!?!
5. Make some shirts for the kids for our trip to Disneyland next week.  Yep, last minute going to Disneyland with my brother.  I'll post about it on my other blog. But I am giddier than I should be. Instead of a shirt for Amelia, I made her a mickey mouse headband.  Turned out cute, but that bugger took me 2 hours to figure out and it's still not the greatest, but it will do.  Lots of throwing away and starting over.  You would think the mickey mouse shape would be the easiest thing to create, but apparently for me, it was near impossible.  I finally had to trace one off the internet.
6. Play tennis or go on a walk. Did neither, rainy.  But Phil and Amelia did, does that count??
7. Buy a swimsuit so I can stop obsessing and wasting my time when I could be crossing off my list!! Done and I took Claire's advice and found a coupon code for $20 off and free shipping (they charge 14.95 for shipping. yikes)  So with what I saved, I let Amelia pick a swimsuit and still came out under the original price.  I am very happy and can't wait to get them.  Phil said he didn't like the blue color, so I opted with the classic black.  Although I was wanting to do something fun, I think I will be happy with the versatility of black to mix and match with other suits later. Now I need it to warm up and stop raining!!
8. Try and get Ben to poop on the toilet.  (I hate potty training him.  It was too easy with Amelia)  No luck here and I am kind of the verge of giving up.  He doesn't care, so should I??  I got him a pack of pixar character underwear and he seems much more motivated, but coming from totally unmotivated to a little bit motivated seems like a big step.  I hope Ben doesn't turn out to be our Buster from Arrested Development!!
   
   By the way, these pics are our backyard.  It totally floods anytime there is any sort of rain.  The white strip on the bottom of the picture is our back door!!!  In this case, it is annoying we rent, because I would rip up the concrete in no time and it would get rid of the flooding problem.  Not to mention, it would just be nicer to play on.  But not my house, not going to do anything.  Just hope it doesn't come in!!!   

 

On my list for the weekend:

1. Finish the sash and post pics of the adorable dress I made Amelia.
2. Cook something new and bake something new.  I am undecided about the treat, but leaning towards this BBQ chicken braid
3. Wash both our cars and SCRUB my nasty house.  Seriously I would be ashamed if anyone came inside.
4. Finish up my bookkeeping job.
5. Make some shirts for the kids for our trip to Disneyland next week.  Yep, last minute going to Disneyland with my brother.  I'll post about it on my other blog. But I am giddier than I should be.
6. Play tennis or go on a walk.
7. Buy a swimsuit so I can stop obsessing and wasting my time when I could be crossing off my list!!
8. Try and get Ben to poop on the toilet.  (I hate potty training him.  It was too easy with Amelia)

I could keep going, but I think this will be a reasonable list to tackle along with all the other day to day stuff  like feeding my family, a million trips to the potty, laundry and trying to have a little fun so I am not the task master all weekend. I am posting this so maybe I will have more accountability to actually finish this list. 

Gearing up for summer

I am coveting a new swimsuit. This is why. I hate my butt in swimsuits, so I always wear shorts over them.  The pair of shorts I wear now have been with me when I was a size 10, thru the Marshall Islands and thru 2 pregnancies.  Needless to say they are shabby and stretched out and can fall off if I move in the wrong way.  That proves to be a problem since last year my swimsuit bottoms got thrown away when the elastic dried out and cracked.  That tells you how old those were too. If I want to go swimming, I have to go commando, and with kids climbing on you, not such a good idea.  Luckily my pool last year was fairly private and I found myself alone most of the time, so crisis avoided.  Oh, and I don't get in the ocean no matter what, so no need to worry about that at the beach. My swimsuit top accommodated breastfeeding chest, and those who have experienced that know when you're done, they are no where near the same size, so if I move the wrong way, you may get to see more than you bargained for, or maybe just what you are hoping for!!!  So I think this year it is time to invest in a sensible, classic, yet flattering swimsuit.  I replace them every 3-5 years but I wear them almost every day in the summer.  I am a total beach girl. My sis came for a visit a few years ago and had a cute one that she got on Lands End.  I decided to go into Sears and try one on to see about size and fit and fell in love.  Hugged everywhere perfectly, covered everything perfectly, and just made me feel good.  NEVER have I said that about a swimsuit.  I came home to look on their website in hopes to find a good deal on last years, but I am just in love with the one I tried on, I don't want to be disappointed with getting something different that I didn't try on. So, long story short, I want the one I tried on, but it is $114 for the 2 pieces!!!! So is spending that on one swimsuit too ridiculous???  I guess I just need to hear from someone (other than Phil who just tells me what he thinks I want to hear) that it's worth it.  I can get a gift card with my credit card points, so that will take it down $25, and that makes me feel a little better about bringing it under $100.   Here is a pic on someone.  I like the top and print of the first girl on the left and the skirt and color of the second girl on the left.  Cute huh!!  Ok, a little mommy, but I like these girls don't seem that old. right!!!

When you get a bag of oranges......

...make orange rolls!!!!
I got a bag of these and they were too ripe to peel and eat.  So I used them up in my favorite way.  Is it bad that I see fresh fruit as a delicious dessert, never just to eat fresh???  I also made a pitcher of fresh orange juice, nothing added and it was delicious.  Kids can't get enough.

I decided to try this recipe from Mel's Kitchen Cafe blog because I love her recipes and I have to agree with her that I prefer an orange roll to a cinnamon roll any day.  I even thought I would try the figure 8 shape twist she does.  Since I had to make it dairy free, I made a few adjustments and the dairy free margarine just was too runny and oozed everywhere.  This is what I end up with in my oven.  But they looked cute, just not full of ooey gooey orange stuff. So the second pan I made traditional cinnamon roll style and that was a little better.  Note for next time.

Since no one in my family thinks orange rolls are as good as I do, I have managed to eat most of them.  I think the key to the perfect citrus anything is the zest. I zested 4 oranges instead of 2 because mine were home grown and had a lot of spots on them.  But I also like it really zesty.  Can't you just smell that??? mmm.

Luckily this made only a rather small batch (unlike the cinnamon roll recipe I normally make which I only make if I can give half away it is so much) and we had some visitors for dinner last night who took a few off my hands.  This is all that's left, but not for long!!!! Try not to lick your screen.

Got to be a good sign

I found $5 in a pair of capris I haven't worn since last summer.  I am hoping that means this is going to be a good day!!  If only they were interest accruing pants.

So excited

I just got this and can't wait to get it and make some shoes.  I have wanted to new shoes for a while and just hate everything I see or how much it is, so I am hoping I can customize some shoes just to my liking.  Keep you posted.

If you had.....

So I like playing this game sometimes.  If you had a choice between this or that, what would you choose.  Well, if you magically had just enough money to pay for something extra every month what would it be?  Big or small, whatever.  Mine, a personal chef.  Yep.  Someone to come and cook healthy meals that are safe for Amelia and that tastes good and I don't have to figure it out.  I just don't want to make it and plan it and be at the grocery store every 2 days buying fresh ingredients.   I want to eat healthy and I like the idea of home cooked fresh ingredients, I just don't like figuring it out and shopping for it. And, maybe if Amelia grew out of her allergy I might like it much better, because that's really the big hurdle for me.  But Philip and I reflect to a pre-Amelia cooking life of fettuccine alfredo and white pizza's and ridiculously decadent desserts all the time and we were our heaviest.  We have now referred to that time period (or those clothes we still have from them) as our fettuccine alfredo bodies.  Not interested in going that direction either. I love cleaning and I love laundry, so having someone clean my house feels kind of like taking away my fun of housekeeping.  We have yet to be responsible for a garden, so maybe that might be something I change my mind about someday, but I did love doing yard work as a child and teen, so I can imagine that I would still love that.  Plus, since I cook a hot meal 2 times a day at least 5 days a week, sometimes more, I think that would give me so much more free time.  It feels like I get dressed, clean up breakfast and then it's time to start making lunch and then when that's done, I better make sure I have stuff for dinner, clean it all up, defrost for tomorrow, and it just feels like it never ends and someone is always hungry for something I don't have.  Cooking.  Blah.  Maybe we should become one of those raw vegans who don't eat anything cooked, then I would never have to prepare a meal.  Just wash and serve.  Ok, cooking sounds better.   So what's yours??

argg

Projects without pics, I hate that.  But you get the joys of hearing about what I have crossed off my list without the proof.  I re-purposed a pair of Phil's jeans into some for Ben.  I did take pics, but I did not finish yet so I am saving them for a real post. The reason I didn't finish, I made them while my kids were napping (Amelia fell asleep reading a book behind our chair in a corner.  It was kind of cute and unexpected but nice) When I tried them on for Ben they were huge on him.  It was frustrating, but I knew I should have tried them on before I finished but I thought since I used a pair of his jeans as a pattern they would fit.  Lesson to learn, always try them on before I finish.  So I have unpick all the waistband and side seams to take it in and I was just burnt out of the mess of sewing at that point.  But, they are soo cute.  Can't wait for the final result. 
I also made some baby gifts for a friend of my sister's.  A really cute bib and a teething block and crocheted teething rings. Kind of a teething gift set.  They were all pretty cute, so I hope she likes them and the baby too. I was attempting to make a fabric ring stacker without a pattern, but could not figure out how to make it work without tons of hand stitching and my hand stitching never holds up, so I abandoned that idea at like 10pm and did the teething rings instead and was really glad.  I haven't completely given up on the ring stacker.  Just need a pattern or hours of trial and error. 
I also made a new bed for Amelia's dollhouse since attempt #1 was horrid.  I got a saw for my birthday, so it was fun to use.  The bed needs another coat of paint and lacquer today before I can take a pic of the final product.  I also made it a lot smaller so it fits in the house much better than the first and thicker wood so it's sturdier.  But I couldn't get the legs in with nails or the wood will just split, so I need to get some itty bitty screws.  But for now, it's more of a sleigh bed that sits on the floor.  Amelia likes it, and that's all that matters. So I may just leave it.
I also attempted a few new recipes and no one in family cared about it or liked it and this is why I hate cooking.  If they like chicken nuggets, pbj's, taquitos and potstickers better than fresh asparagus and provolone stuffed chicken breasts (yes I made that and it was delicious to me so I guess it wasn't a total waste) then why bother??  And that is also why I bake.  No one turns down fresh rolls, muffins, cookies or my attempts at new recipes of pistachio chocolate cake or chocolate marshmallow cookies. Nope, just the healthy fresh stuff.   This leads me to my next post I think.