flurrious food

Today we had another taste  HUGE helping of Old Man Winter [I may post some pics tomorrow]. They were calling for blizzard conditions so we remained inside all day. Daddy made the girls pancakes for breakfast. The girls baked a Red Velvet Valentine's cake with dark chocolate icing and sprinkles. For lunch, I made a Moroccan Lentil Chickpea Soup with crusty-buttered bread (Wegmans recipe... my new favorite grocery store). This recipe calls for some lovely, fragrant spices including turmeric, cumin, cinnamon, coriander and cayenne pepper... A Perfect Soup for a cold, snowy day.

photo courtesy of Wegmans

While I'm on the subject of FOOD (one of my favorite pass-times), Wegmans opened a store in our area a few months ago. I'm beginning to rely on the Wegmans for planning my menu. They make it so easy by including the recipe, photos, and pictures of the ingredients in their magazine... and the best part? When you walk in the Wegmans store, the display items include the ingredients for the recipes in the magazine. Even better, there are coupons in the magazine for a good-bit of the ingredients. It makes grocery shopping for specialty items EASY. A grocery store that does marketing right!

 

our sliding glass door is beyond the cake stand... notice all the WHITE!

My winter wish is for Old Man Winter to go slip sliding away. I'm looking forward to Spring!

Stay Warm,
xo

Sew-mestically challenged & Hooked on Friday

For Christmas last year, my hubby bought me a Singer Precision sewing machine.
Why? Because I was going to use it as a scrapbook tool! Isn't that why everyone buys a sewing machine?
... A month prior to Christmas, I returned from a weekend scrapbook retreat. A friend brought her sewing machine to the retreat for anyone to use. I went crazy sewing paper & velum pockets on my 12x12 pages the entire weekend. It was my first time using a sewing machine since junior high school. I used the pockets to store my girls (daycare) report cards, ultrasound pics, etc. As you can see from the scan below of my scrapbook page... my sewing skills need some work [lots of crooked zigzag stitches].

(above pic - Ultrasound pic of Sophia sucking her thumb @ 19 weeks :)

Boy is she a beauty.... sitting there never used on my scrapbook desk for the past 7 months....

THEN... A couple months ago, I came across this Etsy shop "Little Fish In A Big Pond". They have wonderful Do It Yourself (DIY) kits. The fabric choices are simply wonderful. The kit has everything you need, except for the sewing machine, iron and scissors. I decided that this would be a great way to learn how to sew fabric [vs. paper], but at the same time have something to show for it.... soooo I bought two Parisian Dress kits - one Medium for Sydney and one Small for Sophia.

Finally, a couples months later on a rainy day (TODAY!), I decided to go for it. [I figured that I better do it before the sizes I bought are too small for the girls]. First, I had to learn how to use my new sewing machine... which took 15 minutes tops. THEN without even testing my sewing skills on test fabric, I opened the "Little Fish Big Pond" DIY kit and got down to business.

The instructions were easy to follow and the fabric is all pre-cut making it easy for a beginner like me. The end result after a couple hours (with multiple interruptions and a PB&J lunch for two little girls) was an adorable summer dress that Sydney loves. Yes, the seams are not perfectly straight and I had to pull a few stitches and redo a couple times, but I am happy with the end result - a sewing course, a cute summer dress and a happy little girl [all for $15!]. Next up, Sophia's dress... since I had a practice run, I'm guessing that it will take me half the time of the 1st dress?

Below is a pic of the dress kit: thread, ribbon & fabric comes in a tiny little package with a 2-sided page of instructions... THAT's IT!

This soon will become Sophia's dress....

Today's finished product... Sydney's blue/green dress....

hemming the arm-holes was probably the hardest part... if you blow-up the next pic you can get a better look at the stitching....

From these pics of Sydney you would think she's done this before!! She was a great little model for my 1st sewing project.

Check out the Parisian Kits here!

Don't forget to stop by Hooked on Houses for the Hooked on Friday blog party!

Have a great Friday!
Susan

Horsing Around

A couple weeks ago, Grandmom arranged a "wash Sebastian" activity for the girls. Sebastian was a little riled up for reasons that I cannot mention (trying to keep my Mom out of hot-water). The skittish pony did not keep the girls from hosing & sponging him down. It was a good lesson in teamwork :). After trying to clean him, we rewarded him with ginger-snap cookies then we saddle him up. The girls enjoyed riding him. As soon as we let him lose in the field, he rolled in the mud!

Sydney washed Sebastian with a sponge
Grandmom held the lead rope
Mommy hosed him

and then Sophia squeegeed the excess water and toweled him off-

Sophia is very comfortable in a saddle... she has no fear even when she's bouncing all over the place-- I can't believe she is only two! The learn so much so fast.

Big ol' friendly, ginger-snap eating Rita:

Two new colts with their mamma's

My nephew Chase... butterfly's will stay on his nose for hours... weird!?