Sunday, March 1, 2009

Overcompensating

After my little guilt trip the last couple of weeks about doing all these handy dandy things I've been reading about on OTHER PEOPLE'S blogs - I think I subconsciously turned myself into Julia Child AND Martha Stewart today!

I started the morning with a major baking session. The family awoke to the wonderful aroma of:

A dozen Cinnamon Swirl muffins
A half dozen Banana Nut muffins
2 dozen Peanut Butter cookies with mini Reeses peanut butter chips
A batch of brownies


Don't be too amazed, as all of the above were NOT from scratch! But it was made with love, all the same! :) The cookies are already gone, and a major dent has been put in the muffin stash...



Not to be outdone (by myself!) I then moved on to some homemade bread

2 French Baguettes
Cheesy Onion Focaccia bread


The baguettes never even made it off the cookie sheet, warm bread and butter is a big hit in this house! The focaccia bread is more geared to grown up taste buds, so it has lasted a little longer.



I got the baguette recipe by way of MommySnacks - it can be found here: http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/French-Baguettes/Detail.aspx - I've made them twice, and they've disappeared both times!

The Cheesy Onion Focaccia was a first timer for me, but I'll defintely be making it again - find it here: http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Cheesy-Onion-Focaccia/Detail.aspx

Up to my eyeballs with baking (and washing the dishes associated with it) I decided to move onto a few crafty ideas I've had on my To Do List...

We've had two memory boards sitting up in the attic, since they were too good to throw away but the color schemes didn't really match any room in the house. So the girls and I took a trip to Joann's and they each picked up some fabric, ribbon and buttons in colors to match their rooms. Then, back home to put together these:

Abby's:



Meredith's:



Sorry, no before pictures...I haven't gotten that good yet! And I'm not sure of the specific website I got this idea from, I've seen it done on a few...

While we were in Joann's the girls fell in love with some glittery tulle that was on sale, so I agreed to splurge so we (I) could make some tutus. One done, one to go...

Meredith's:


(Yes that is a can spray paint on the plywood floor! We are in the process of re-doing Abby's room!)

Yet again, I can't recall the website I saw the directions on - but it was really easy - I simply measured a strip of elastic around Meredith's waist and knotted it together. I then cut strips of tulle, about 2" wide by a foot long (I didn't bother to measure, just eyeballed it). Alternating hot pink and purple strips, I tied them onto the elastic using (what I believe is called) a reef knot. It wasn't too long before Meredith was sliding it on! And it hasn't been off of her since!

I got a little sick of the knot tying, though, so Abby's will have to wait a little bit (hers is going to be yellow and orange).

Enough crafting for one day, I guess...On to cooking supper! I was craving one of my favorites - Sausage with potatoes, onions and peppers:



I've never had a 'real' recipe for this - I kind of make it up as I go along. I dice whatever potatoes I have in the house (tonight about 6-8 small red ones), slice some onion, and green pepper (when I have them, which I did tonight!) - then throw them all into the big frying pan with some olive oil and and Italian seasoning. I cook them about 15 minutes, then slice up 6-8 Italian sausages and add them to the pan. I cook it all together for another 15-20 minutes. Spoon it into a bowl and enjoy. I've finished one helping while writing this, and will probably go back for another (if there's anything left when I go into the kitchen to check)!

I think it's finally time to relax a little! And I should probably go do a load or two (or 5) of laundry...Then again, we just got word that school is already cancelled tomorrow because we are expecting 12-15 inches of snow starting tonight - Maybe I should make the kids do laundry all day tomorrow! Woo hoo! That would make for a fun Snow Day - Sorry kids, Mommy played all day, so you get to do her chores!

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