spring cleaning ...

I don't know about you guys, but I'm horrible at cleaning my home.  And organizing ... forget that.  I've been saying for months that  I'm cleaning my studio, but in all honesty, I manage to clean the house and shove everything into my studio. 

Well, I decided it's time to put a stop to it and I'm going to really stick to a cleaning routine.  I have tried FlyLady in the past, but it got to be complicated and I gave up.  Way too many lists.  So, I'm going to try this one at Just Mommies.  Consider it my New Year's resolution, so to speak.  It's a small daily list of "to do's" and if you do a little more researching on the website, you'll see that they have an organizing schedule too.  Just one small task per day.  I can handle that.

So, if you want to join me in my resolution to become more organized, leave a comment and let me know!  We can check back in with each other once a month to see how everyone is doing.

Meet Mocha ...

I'd like to introduce you to Mocha.

Our girl has been here a little over a week, and already, we're attached.  Mocha was "adopted" from a family who just didn't have the time to show her the attention that she craves (and boy, does she crave lovin'!) ... so, we met her last Saturday and she's been here ever since.


Mocha is 7 years old, and obviously, she's a golden retriever. 

To celebrate her arrival and adoption, I baked her some yummy treats (recipe below).  She munches on one a night - like dessert. 


Mocha's Munchies

Ingredients:  1 egg, 1/3 cup of peanut butter (as little sugar as possible is better), 1/2 cup of mashed banana, 1 TBSP honey, 1 cup of whole wheat flour, 1/2 cup of wheat germ,  1 cup of carob chips, 1 TBSP shortening.

Directions:  Preheat your oven to 300 degrees F.  Lightly grease a baking sheet and set aside.  Stir together the egg, peanut butter, banana and honey in a medium bowl, blending thoroughly.  Stir in the flour and wheat germ and mix well.  Turn the dough out onto a floured surface and roll to 1/4 inch thick (I tend to go a little thicker than that for a bigger dog).  Cut into desired shapes with a cookie cutter and place on the prepared baking sheet.  Bake until dried and golden brown, about 30 minutes, depending on size.  Remove from oven and cool on a rack.  Once cool, melt the carob chips and shortening in the microwave.  I found it best to do so in 25 second intervals, stirring in between.  It took about 3 spins in the microwave to get a nice, creamy consistency.  You can then dip the treats into the melted carob chip mixture, or do what I did and pipe it on to half of the treat.  You can also add a small amount of sprinkles (like I did), but be careful not to go overboard with the sprinkles.  Refrigerate overnight to set the "chocolate" and store in an airtight container.  These will last for approximately 6 weeks if stored properly in the refrigerator.

So, bake some goodies for your four-legged friends and celebrate Mocha's homecoming with us!

catching up ...

I had my graduation yesterday at school.  I'm not finished completely, but I graduated from the esthetician portion of my studies.  Whew.  So if you're wondering where I've been - that's my reason for going into hiding.  I had projects to finish, notes to finish, and finals to study for ... but for now, it's over.  At least it's over until I go back on Monday night and start the nail portion of my studies.  Can't wait for THAT graduation, because that means that I'm officially DONE!


We had some quiet holidays around here.  No big elaborate parties, but we did enjoy some simple and sweet family holiday get togethers.  We rang in New Year's Eve and then went promptly to bed at 12:02 - when did I get to be so tired all of the time?


I did manage to finish up some quilting bee blocks before the holidays started.  I still owe blocks for December, and now January.  It's my "turn" in one of the bees, so I need to get my fabric sent out - it's coming ladies, I promise!  I decided I'd use my turn to get rid of some of my stash, so the girls are going to get lots and lots of random scraps!  It should be a pretty colorful quilt when it's done.

We're also "on the market" to add a new family member in our home.  We've been doing some research, contacting some rescues, even posted an ad on Craigslist, and I think we're going to be adopting a dog soon.  We feel it's time for the boys to enjoy growing up with a dog, especially considering that the cats could really care less if the boys are here or not.  It's not much fun trying to get a cat to "play" with you. 

There are 2 really high-potential girls out there that we'll be meeting over the next few days.  Be sure to check back often to see who's coming to live with us!


Anyway, I hope you had a wonderful holiday season and are looking forward to all that 2010 has to offer!  I know we are!

A little "me" time ...

With everything that's been going on, I decided to declare yesterday a "me" day.

I spent some time in my studio. Organizing (a little bit), finding things, and testing out my machine's quilting abilities since I had to take it to the shop about a week ago ... gotta make sure that I remember what to do. ;o)

Anyway, I found enough of the quilt blocks that I had received from my group (A Piece of Work B) to complete a table topper. It was originally supposed to be a finished quilt for my bed, but I never made it that far and ended up stashing the blocks in the messed up studio as soon as they came in. Since they were scattered to the four corners, I have no idea who completed what, but the ones in this table topper are to die for!

I was able to piece the blocks together, quilt and bind this quilt all in about 8 hours. I'm so proud of myself!

As soon as I find the others (I know that there are at least a few), I have pillow plans.

So, no quilt again for my room this year, but at least my dining room table is ready for the holidays.

Ah, the holidays ...

It just wouldn't be the holidays around here unless things were chaotic. :o)

Is it just me, or is time going by WAY too fast?! It seems like I just took my Halloween decorations down yesterday ... okay, so maybe I did ... kind of.

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving dinner with our families, enjoyed some Wii competition, and pulled out the Christmas decorations.

To me, there's just nothing quite like seeing Christmas for the first time all over again in your children. Little M is finally at an age where he's starting to enjoy the sights and sounds of the holidays. He hammed it up during dinner last Thursday and kept everyone entertained. And he's starting to figure out just what the decorations thing is all about, even though he hates that he can't touch the ornaments once they're on the tree.


So, with the teeny tiny break that I have from school this week, I spent some time catching up around here. First order of business was to work on my grandma's quilt, which is also her Christmas present. I HAVE TO get that done this week!

I also spent some time getting caught up on gift wrapping ... I'm about halfway done. Whew!


And last night we spent some time cleaning up my studio. I still have a lot of cleaning to do, so no pictures of the mess for now. ;o) Trust me, you don't want to see the "before".

Did I mention I'm also SEVERELY behind in getting my blocks finished for the bees that I'm participating in? Yeah, I haven't had a chance to get those bad boys done since October! Ouch!

You are 12

It's difficult for me to realize that you are twelve. The years have flown by and I've seen you change from a baby, to a toddler, a child, and soon - a teenager. And even though I've witnessed all of this, you have made me feel young, and I love you for that.

So, in honor of your birthday, here are some things that I'd like to share that I love about you ...

You enjoy snuggling on the couch while watching movies with family.

You're very athletic and love playing sports.

When you put your mind to something - you do a great job!

You're protective of your little brother.

And you still call me "mommy", even when the other kids pick on you about it.

I'm looking forward to the next year - seeing how you change, seeing how your personality develops even further. You're my "little man" and I love you dearly. Happy Birthday!

I've stocked it!

Believe it or not, I've finally put some stuff up in my Etsy shop. There's a link to it all on the right ... be sure to check it out!

No quilts yet, but there's some cute Halloween jewelry that I made. I hope to have a quilt or two up soon.

It's that time of year ...

I am in love with Melissa's blog. Seriously. I go there, like almost everyday and just drool over her creativity. To have an ounce of her energy and ability to finish projects ... it's really awe inspiring.

Well, she's giving away one of her fabulous Halloween banners.

And I want it.

Badly.

So, I'm crossing my fingers in hopes that I'll be lucky enough to win this spooktacular banner. And if not, I guess I'll be draggin' my butt out somewhere to get what I'll need to make my own!

24 hours ...

What a difference a day makes.

Flora isn't finished yet, I need to buy more flowers, but here she is. I also need to buy another bird because the cats apparently felt that my little styrofoam bird was a chew toy. Good thing it wasn't real.

So ... now that I'm "almost" done with Flora, it's time to hit the books and get started on my notes for class.

My Flora

I am loving school so far. The people there are great, the course seems easy enough, and I'm learning something new everyday. I also get to do crafty things ... I LOVE crafty things.

We're having a contest on Halloween based on fantasy makeup. I love a challenge. ;o) Anyway, we were each given heads to make all pretty for the competition. With this in mind, I'd like to introduce you to "Flora" ...


She's not the prettiest head I've seen, but I hope to fancy her up a lot over the course of the month. Today was day one. I took her outside and spray painted her a nice, creamy ivory color. She's currently perched on my nightstand getting an "air bath" by way of my fan. I hope she dries out, I'm so anxious to paint her.

Obviously, all things quilted have taken a back seat for the time being. With the demands of school, and all the things I have to make for Christmas, well, my own fun has been put on the back burner. Oh well, at least I'm still making pretty things.