Weekend Update

We had another relaxing weekend around here!  Since babygirl's birthday party is behind us, we're taking a little break from the house projects to just hang out.  Not to mention, the budget is pretty stretched this month, and laying low is free!!  Babygirl is getting such a personality, so there is never a dull moment around these parts!!  And football season, how could I forget that??  Saturday is filled with college football, and Sunday, NFL.  Although we did manage to squeeze in a fair amount of house work and a couple little projects outside.

First up on Friday was a crockpot meal I made to last us all weekend, and it worked!  Recipe to come this week, but we all loved it and ate it at least once each day, lol.

I shouldn't be surprised, knowing my hubs, but the lengths men will go to for TV are astounding!!  We were in the crawlspace and up on the roof on Saturday to try and get better reception- you see we canceled DirecTv in order to cut back on some expenses, so we are just rockin' the off air channels.  I don't mind one bit as long as I can still watch my Housewives of Anywhere online, but the hubs is going through major TV withdrawal.  So here was the solution: run a cable from under the house to the second floor and attach a device that acts as an antennae.  I'm honestly not sure that it made one bit of difference, but it was a little fun to climb out on the roof!!

And this little girl, well she is just cracking us up!!  She is starting to mimic what you say, and today when the hubs and I were talking about getting a goat, she kept saying goooooooooooat, goooooooat.  So stinkin' cute!!  We've been taking lots of videos of her lately, I just want to soak up all the cuteness and not forget a moment of it!

I also had a chance to catch up on a bunch of magazines that my mom passed along.  I used to be the biggest magazine addict, but once we went on a budget I realized how much money they were eating up!!  I still love them, I just have to get them secondhand and a few months behind now, lol.

I did some blog brainstorming on the schedule I mentioned the other day, and I think I have some good ideas!  And I squeezed in some real (paid!) work too, so I'd say it was a productive weekend amid the sleeping in and football and relaxing!!  Hope yours was too, onto Monday!

Brainstorming: A Blogging Schedule?

Not too much to report over here today, just been thinking about a blogging schedule, what do you think?  By blogging schedule, I mean, have regular posts on regular days.  On Mondays I do my "Weekend Update", but what if I always did a DIY on Tuesdays, and a recipe on Wednesdays, etc.  I'm thinking it might help me to stay on track with regular posting because I can prepare for specific posts ahead of time, or know what I need to get ready.  It can be a little daunting trying to come up with something interesting to write about each day, without focus.  I know several bloggers do this, and honestly, I never even realized until they pointed it, so I don't think it has to be annoying or cheesy, unless I let it get that way.

Hmmm, just thinking out loud, errrrr, online...

Opinions?  I know you guys are reading and staying quiet, but pipe up!!!  :)

Leaving you with a pic of my babygirl because I have the cutest daughter in the world (besides all of your daughters, of course!), who clearly loves shoes just like her mama...

Recipe: Zucchini Bites

As much as I love cooking, I'm surprised that I've never blogged about cooking or a recipe!  That must change!!  I think a rush to get dinner on the table is likely to blame, that and serious budget-cooking mostly make for uninspired dishes.  But, thanks to the magic of Pinterest, that shouldn't be hard to remedy.  I found the recipe for Zucchini Bites on Pinterest the other day, and they were surprisingly simple, as in, I had all the ingredients in my house- that almost never happens!!  So I whipped them up tonight to go along with our meatloaf.

(I see why food bloggers/photographers/etc use solid white plates.  That design is distracting you from the yumminess, isn't it??)

Mix diced yellow onion, bread crumbs, eggs, parmesan cheese, salt & pepper together.

Grate zucchini...

...then place in a kitchen towel and squeeze out as much water as possible.  You will be shocked at how much water comes out!

Add zucchini to the other ingredients, then scoop into a greased mini-muffin tin, filling all the way to the top (you can even press it in if you have extras, I did, which proved to be a good idea because they did shrink up).

Bake until golden, and then devour.  These were amazingly delish and EASY to make.  They were given the seal of approval by the hubs (super picky when it comes to vegetables) and babygirl (not picky at all, even with vegetables).  I'm thinking you could sub out almost any veg for the zucchini if you wanted- squash, spinach, corn, even broccoli.  And you could tailor the combo with the cheese selection: squash & gruyere, spinach & parm, corn & pepperjack, broccoli & cheddar.  Oh yum, I love a recipe that can be re-used in a million ways!!

Spinach Bites

1/2 cup diced yellow onion

1/2 cup bread crumbs

2 eggs

1/2 cup cheese (your choice, I used parmesan)

2 cups (grated & drained) zucchini

Salt & pepper

1)  Mix onion, bread crumbs, eggs, cheese, salt & pepper together.  

2)  Grate zucchini, then place on a dish towel & squeeze out as much water as possible (this is so the bites crisp up instead of getting mushy, so it's a very important step!)

3)  Mix zucchini with the other ingredients

4)  Scoop into a greased mini-muffin tin

5)  Bake at 400 for 15-18 minutes, until golden brown.  Makes 24.

Tutorial: DIY Seat Re-cover

Yesterday I alluded to a little project I snuck in this past weekend while the hubs & babygirl took an afternoon nap.  It's been on my to-do list forever, and though it's still not done, I thought I'd share...

I have this lovely little chair that used to be my great-grandmothers!  My parents gave it to me probably close to two years ago, and it's been sitting in our house with that green fabric folded on the seat waiting for someone to re-cover it the whole time.  Shameful!

It actually looks like this, which isn't bad, just a little too blah for me: 

I got ambitious one day and ripped off all the trim (which was just glued on), but then quickly realized there were about 1,001 tiny little rusty furniture tacks holding on the fabric.  When they didn't easily give way, I just replaced that trusty square of fabric and let it sit a while longer!

This Saturday was a gorgeous day and I wanted to spend some time on the porch, so I gathered the chair and some materials and got to work.

I used some needle nose pliers and a tiny flathead screwdriver, because if you can't tell, those tacks were pretty small!  I also grabbed one of babygirl's bibs (it was the closest piece of cloth around!) to use as a buffer between the screwdriver and the wood so I wouldn't damage it.  As I pulled out the tacks, I just dropped them in an empty plastic bottle.

On a side note, those tacks were so sharp and so rusty, and after what happened to Jenny over at Little Green Notebook, I was SO paranoid about getting cut!!  Even though I just had my TDap last year after babygirl was born, I was nervous.  So if you're doing a project like this, be smart & be careful!!!

You can see how may of those darn tacks are in the fabric.  They were spaced about 1/4" apart!  But I just used patience and enjoyed the breeze.  And before you know it, I had this:

Although there were a million holes in the wood, likely from other fabrics that used to cover the seat, I'm pretty certain that's the original cushioning.  Even more certain when I lifted it up and saw what I am 99% sure was horse hair (that black stuff near my thumb) and straw!!  You could barely see the hand-tied springs under the burlap- so cool!!!  It was all in great shape, so I just decided to leave it be.  Honestly, why mess with something that's worked for ages??

I used the old fabric as a template, and centered it over the part of the design I wanted to use on the new seat cushion.  I cut around, leaving a couple inches so I'd have room to get the fabric just right, and then trim the excess.

I just centered the fabric, pulled it taut, and tacked it with an electric staple gun.  And here's where I ran into trouble...See those spindles along the sides of the chair?  It was impossible to get in there with the staple gun, especially the one I have- it's super temperamental.  So, I just did my best, and am thinking about a solution to get into the sides & the corners.  But for now the fabric isn't going anywhere, so I brought it back inside.

And here it is back in the corner.  I love it!!  I still need to finish it off with more staples/tacks/something, and then trim it out, but I'd say it's an improvement, wouldn't you??

Weekend Update

Oooooh, did we have a relaxing weekend!!

We spent Saturday morning participating in a clean-up day in our neighborhood.  The weather was great and it was nice to spend a few hours making an impact in how the neighborhood looks.  After that was a BBQ with neighbors.  Our neighborhood has its ups & downs, but most days we feel lucky to live in this community with good neighbors we can call friends.

The rest of the day was spent hanging out, napping and watching football.  Goodness what a brutal day for college football- my picks definitely missed the mark this week!!  I snuck in a quick project while babygirl & the hubs were napping.  Full tutorial to come this week...

Sunday was another lazy day spent watching football & napping!  We also made a trip to the park to get some fresh air and enjoy the sunshine & cooler weather.

A fun self-portrait in the car window!

And with cooler weather also comes slippers!!  Babygirl & I dug out our slippers and lounged around the house in them- love it!!

I don't know if it was all the relaxation, or just the passage of time, but I am FINALLY feeling better after three weeks of bronchitis.  Thank goodness, because I don't think I could take anymore of the constant coughing!!  Funnily enough, babygirl has started a fake cough- I hope that doesn't last!

Hope y'all had a great weekend too!!

Faith

About a week ago I came across the above quote on this lovely blog by Natalie.  It instantly resonated with me, and I made it the background on my laptop.  I see it everyday, and ponder it for a moment before going about my day.  And thank goodness.  It really helped me to make a tough decision about closing a door.  It felt like the right thing to do, but logically it seemed all wrong.  That was Tuesday.  Thursday night a door ten times as awesome opened.  WOW.  I have been beaming ever since.

A Tutorial: DIY Bowties

Yesterday I shared a tutorial with you on how to make the above rainbow barrettes, which we gave to all the sweet girls at babygirl's 1st birthday party.  Next up, those adorable bow-ties we gave to all the little men at the party- so cute!  I also made a bow-tie for the hubs, which he sweetly wore all day!  Gotta love him.  :)

I scoured the internet looking for tutorials, and sort of synthesized a bunch, but this one over at lifeingrace is the one I used most closely.  As you can (kinda) see from the pic above, the top bowtie is a little bigger than the bottom one.  I made the hubs bigger, and the little guys' smaller.  I think the proportions worked on the respective fellows!

The fabric is the same fabric I used for babygirl's party dress (tutorial to come!).  I thought it was such a fun pattern and kept with the rainbow theme.  Of course I neglected to take pics of the sewing steps (common theme around here, right?!), but if you follow the link above she does a great job of giving step-by-step directions with pictures.  I deviated a little from those directions, and I'll do my best to explain how.

Step 1:
Cut a 24" x 3" (for a larger bowtie) or a 20" x 3" (for a smaller bow-tie) rectangle of fabric.  Also cut a 2" x 3" rectangle for the center piece.
*This is where I deviated from the tutorial, she suggests cutting 2 rectangles 12x3, using interfacing, etc.  I didn't have interfacing, and wasn't sure what the benefit would be (I'm a very novice seamstress!), so I decided to skip that and just make it easier on myself by cutting a 24x3 rectangle and folding it in half- one less seam to stitch!

Step 2:
Fold your rectangle in half (long ways, right sides facing in) and stitch along the two long sides.  Turn the rectangle inside out, tuck the raw edges in, and sew together (you better go take a peek at the tutorial cause I'm pretty sure I just totally confused you!!).  When you finish this step, you should have something that looks like this:

Turn that inside out, and put the seam to the middle, and then press with an iron, and it will look like this:

Step 3:
Take your 2x3 rectangle and fold in half (right sides facing) so you have a 1x3 rectangle.  Sew along the long side, and then turn inside out.  Fold in half so the 2 raw edges are together, stitch that edge, and then turn inside out.  (Yeah, you better go check out that tutorial again for pictures and a better explanation!)  When you finish, you should have something that looks like this (minus the pin):

Step 4:
Pinch the large piece together, accordion-style, and then slip that small tube over the large piece, and voila, bow-tie!!  Adjust your creases/folds/etc until it looks just right.

Step 5:
I decided to just use pins to attach these to the boy's shirts.  You could sew a neckband if you like, or you could use a proper bow-tie clip, but I went the easy route & used pins.  Plus, they were cheap.  I got a whole packet of them (like 20+) at Walmart for .97!!  Just use some nylon thread to stitch them in place, and you're all set!!

The finished product:

Aren't they sweet?!  The boys in the family dubbed themselves the Bow-Tie Club, so we had to get a picture:

You can tell there are several of us taking pics, because everyone is looking in a different direction.  Ha!  Also, can't resist one of this little cutie in his bow-tie:

The little guys really seemed to enjoy these, so they were well worth the few minutes it took to sew them up (very easy project!!).  It's probably good I don't have a babyboy, I'd be dressing him up in bow-ties everyday!!!

PS, just a thought, you could use a smaller version of this tutorial to make adorable hair bows, and then just attach a hairclip instead of a pin.  Hmmm.....ideas!!!