Next Week

Well, I thought I would be finished with my current project, but packing took me longer than I thought.  That's okay.  At least this time I was only packing for 2 instead of 6.  I'll see you all back here, Lord willing, on Monday right after a visit to my parents'.  Praying my husband makes it through the weekend on his own with 4 girls.  :)

See you on the flip-side!

Dress to Shirt Redo

I finally broke out the sewing machine yesterday and actually completed a small project.  It felt SO good!!! Even thought I had to bounce back and forth several times between sewing, nursing, sewing, snack, sibling fight, sewing, lunch...... you get the idea, I did enjoy getting my hands back on some fabric, thread and pins.

This dress has been shoved around from closet to closet with each kid.  I love it.  Cute, feminine, light weight and easy to wear.  Only problem was at some point a big reddish stain appeared on the side of the skirt.  I have put it on a kid thinking it wasn't that noticable, but then the stain would just glare at me.  So, after about 3 years, a lightbulb finally went off for me yesterday.  Cut the stain out!  Duh!

Here is the after!

I'm really pleased with the results!  It even retained it's twirl factor, so Munchkin is pleased, too.

Art Show

I spent most of last week trying to get rid of a cold and help all the little ones around here do the same.  Fortunately, we were all well enough to venture out on Saturday to the local school district's art show.  So much fun looking at all the creativity that the kids have.  Our oldest even had one of her projects on display!  She felt so special when she found her ceramic hand print.  (Yes, I'm sure all the kids in the school had something on display, but she didn't know that and we didn't tell.)

Signing in.

Her Project.

Recipe Week - Chicken Salad

Okay.  This one isn't so much a 'recipe' post as a 'think of the possibilities' post.  If you don't care for chicken salad, I'm not going to try and convince you otherwise.  However, there are some things that you can do to change it up a bit and make it a whole new dish.

Here are my main ingredients: Canned Chicken*, Miracle Whip, chopped celery, salt (to taste), pepper (to taste) and a really good sprinkling of celery seed.

Now for the fun.....

Instead of putting chopped celery in, add some granny smith apple.
Grapes are a good substitute, too.
Ever eaten it in a lettuce leaf as a wrap? Yum!
Skip the bread or roll and eat it on crackers instead.
Like curry?  A good sprinkling of curry on chicken salad definitely takes it to the next level!

Think outside the box the next time you whip up a bowl of chicken salad for a meal.

*Yes, this is the easy way out and I should make my own cooked chicken.  However, my super powers only stretch so far. :)

Recipe Week - Blackberry Cobbler

I've got several different projects in the works, unfortunately I don't have a lot of time to get anything  completed.  (Imagine that!)  I didn't even find anything good at any of the yard sales this weekend.  So, I thought I would pass on some 'secret' recipes this week.  (These will be recipes I either grew up with or have developed over the past several years of marriage.)

BLACKBERRY COBBLER

I can't even tell you how many times I have requested my mother make this cobbler recipe when the whole family converges on their home.  Yes, I could make it myself anytime (which I do), but there is something about a mother's cooking.

INGREDIENTS

1 pie crust

1 quart blackberries (fresh or frozen)
1 cup sugar
1/4 cup flour  (1/3 cup for frozen)
dash of salt
2 T butter (optional)

WHAT TO DO

Line pie pan with pie crust.  Mix berries, sugar, flour and salt together in a bowl.  Pour into crust.  Cut up butter and place overtop the berries.  Fold edges of pie crust over the berries to bake.
Bake cobbler at 400* for 50 minutes.

Serve warm with some really good vanilla ice cream, or make sure there are leftovers for breakfast the next morning.  Yes, breakfast - it's fruit right?!

In Progress

Just a few things I have going on......

Planning on hitting my first yard sales of the season this weekend.  Hope everyone has a great weekend!

Pencil and Drawing Pad Holder

Thought I would finally share these with y'all.

 

I made these for Christmas this past year for my my 3 older girls.  True to form, they were made the day of present opening.  My main purpose was to give them something quiet to do for church time and not have writing utensils spread along the pew or floor.  So far, it has worked really well.

The tutorial is here at Skip to My Lou.  SUPER easy!  (Lots of cool ideas and projects galore can be found on this site!)

To embellish these already cute gifts, I decided to add a bit of ribbon.  I used it around the outside and a couple of places on the inside.  Plan ahead when making any changes so no seems have to be torn out along the way.

My oldest is a lefty.  I thought it might be nice to switch the inside up to avoid her getting poked in the arm while trying to draw.  Seems to work.  (see the ribbon on the inside?)

I have a couple of other ideas to make these work a little better for us (and possibly others).  Still hashing that out, but I will definitely share when I can.  Need to do it soon so Christmas production can start. ;)

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