Renewed Desire to Cook...

I have been gone for so long. School absorbs me this time of year. Now that our concerts are out of the way I can do some of the extras such as cooking. I LOVE to cook I HATE to clean up the mess. Did you just say, "ugh, me, too!!" I go in spurts. Sometimes I can be really interested in trying new recipes, new ingredients, and then sometimes I am just bored. A friend of mine introduced me to the website SimplyRecipes . I have been trying out new recipes from this site for a couple of months. I was surprised to find that my family loved the Chicken Marbella. Individually the ingredients don't sound great to me but when they are cooked together we love it. I would really like to start an herb garden. I have tried this in the past but it doesn't last very long... I am thinking about yeah, but first I am not cooking for a small army and second my lot could probably fit inside this garden. Details, details...

I Got NOTHIN'"

Please tell me I am not alone... I am dragging through these final weeks of Winter. I miss the sun, I am sick of my winter wardrobe, tired of wearing 10 gazillion layers of clothes, bored with my home decor in the transition...Ugh! I am just not inspired. I WANT to create but nothing is catching my eye...I got NOTHIN'! To make matters worse, we are expecting 9 inches tomorrow.

I am thankful that February has marched right on. I am thankful my 10 yr. old son achieved superior ratings at our music festival. I am thankful the Lord has blessed me with a FULL private studio schedule, even in these tough economic times. I am thankful my husband has a job and was recognized by his boss this month for a job well done. I am thankful my 6 yr. old is reading everything in sight and has mastered his addition and subtraction facts. I am thankful to watch the Olympics-what fun!

I am late in showing my projects, of course, what else is new...anyway, here are a couple of things I created in February
I made two of the wreaths, one for my classroom and one for home. I was inspired by Jen at tatertotsandjello like so many others. I got 25 personalized Valentine's candies done for my private studio students. Boy, some of them were so sad their names were so short. It pays to have a traditional name like Katherine sometimes, just maybe not in Kindergarten...I copied the idea from http://cookingwiths.blogspot.com/2010/01/diy-personalized-valentine-treats.html

Baby Shower Gifts

I had several babies to celebrate in January!! The pattern for the sweater came from Debbie Bliss' book "Essential Baby" I didn't use cashmerino, instead I went to HL and got the "I Love This Yarn" cotton in pink and brown.

The crate has hanging folders for each year of baby Maddie's life through 12th gradeto hold all of those art projects and mementos. Thanks for the idea from Becca of Blue Cricket Design.

My first attempt at digital collage

So I haven't shown many pictures of my house. I have never done the collage like so many of you have so I thought I would give it a try. We are sick here...bronchitis, double ear infections...ugh! Lots of couch time...glad I took these pictures a couple of weeks ago cuz you KNOW my house doesn't look this neat today!

Wet Mittens and Boots Solution

Ya see, I live up here in WI and this is what it looks like at my house right now...Our house was built in 1858. It is one of the older homes in our city. We had the maple floors redone a few years ago and they are one of my favorite features in the house so I try to take good care of them.
So I think I have shown this to you before but it was in the summer and you weren't thinking about mittens, gloves, and boots. I would love to say that this was my idea, but no, Martha thought of it first. To keep our wet stuff off of the hardwood floors I put out this boot tray with river rocks I bought at the dollar store.
The rocks drain the water off of the boots.

The shoe tree is great for the mittens. Set on a radiator they dry them quickly. Since I am a private music teacher I have MANY families in and out of my house daily. These solutions really save my hardwood floors. See my holiday decorating remnants. Don't worry, I am not one of those who keeps their tree up until March. I just haven't made it to the foyer yet. It was the first week back in school: I will get there...

Tis the Season to Knit!

I wish I could do this as often as the rest of you out here in blogland. It was a busy December filled with directing concerts, family gatherings, sledding and snow removal. One of the ONLY things I love about January is that I have more time to knit, sew, create and read. Here is my latest project. I plan to line these with fleece I got from the remnant bin at Wally. I used Bernat's free felted knit mittens. The pattern called for Lana but the yarn has been discontinued. I used some yarn from Knit Picks.

Christmas Decoration Exchange Party 2009

You have to understand I am not a big party attendee and I am certainly not one to throw parties but this WAS FUN! I sent out email invites and asked another friend to send out a bunch of invites. I made a fancy pants invitation in Publisher. I asked everyone to bring up to 5 decorations, ornaments, wreaths, lights, candles, etc., and a simple snack to share. I made tickets in Word using a lesson I learned on the web to help with the numbering. When guests arrived they filled the tables in the den and took tickets for the number of items they brought. We had a short devotional and then I started calling numbers. While some "shopped" others visited and got their snacks. Of course, I forgot to take pictures while everyone was here but this picture is of the food table decorations.
I know, very simple, real cranberries--they were 49 cents at Aldies. The candle holders were from SA-1.00 a piece! The silver tray was from GW-2.99 and the ice pieces were left overs from an arrangement I made about 6 yrs. ago. I used Bridge plates to serve the snacks. We had pretzels and dip, brie with cranberry chutney, garlic dip, spinach and artichoke dip and mmm...chocolate pie. The picture frame in this picture is one of the items I chose. I just kept calling numbers until everyone felt they had all they wanted. This is what was left...still some pretty good stuff, huh?
I am looking at the preview of this post and laughing because it looks like I am only 3 expecting people to show up... It was a small gathering-7 people. I just didn't take pictures until I talked to my best friend on the phone. She couldn't attend and wanted pictures. I had already washed half of the dishes and silverware. Too Funny!