Aprons!!!!!!!

2 Aug

For my Mother’s Family Reunion, we had an apron swap. I made an apron for my awesome cousin Josie

I used this Chubby Chic Apron Tutorial from the fantastic Cindy-Lou of Apronista.

You can’t see it in the picture, but the pocket says “Just admit it, you’re jealous of my apron.”

I also made 3 little girl aprons for my cousins Annie, Caroline and Emma (not necessarliy named in order pictured)
For Caroline and Emma, I used this ruffly apron tutorial from One More Moore. It was fun and fast to sew.

For Annie’s apron, I got bored of the ruffles and it was 2 a.m. so I was brave and just made this. It turned out pretty well, I think, for one of my first forays into the world of no-pattern sewing.

I am still working on the apron for Calvin (sorry, Calvin….I suck)

Birthday Cake

1 Aug

It was Gwendolyn’s birthday and she asked for jelly beans on her cake. I made it during the family reunion, so I made one cake for the kids…

and one (three) for grown-ups. It was just a butter cake mix, then I mixed up one 3 oz box of instant french vanilla pudding and added an 8oz tub of cool whip. After I let that chill for a bit, I spread it on the cake and sprinkled on the jelly beans (or frozen blueberries) Let me just say, that this was one of the yummiest cakes I have ever ever EVER eaten. The blueberries had time to thaw on the cake before I served it. If you are making this and serving it immediately, you should use fresh blueberries, or put your frozen ones in the fridge for an hour or two (blueberries thaw fast.)

Family is so great

19 Jun


This guy helped alot


My sister and her husband came over and helped us with some projects including refinishing my table.

Isn’t it bea-u-tiful???

A post!! I am posting!!

10 Jun

Okay, I have all sorts of good intentions about posting (so you all know that I am heading straight to ____) for weeks now. I am desperate to post and desperate to craft and neither of them have been happening. But I am fixing part of that tonight. Maybe I can get to the crafting tomorrow. I am covered in poison ivy YET AGAIN. It is all the fault of these murderous dairy goats. Why we keep them, I do not know. I am sure I get the poison ivy from them when I milk (the oil being on their fur because they wallow in it.) because I am so careful to not get it from the plants themselves. Well, I guess I don’t have a picture of the goats yet…I’ll work on that.

For now, I am posting and not scratching…very much.

Lots of great things have happened in our home the last few weeks.
My oldest child and only son did turn 8 last month and was baptized. Here he is.

Here is a 4 Generation photo of him, me, my mother, and my mother’s mother.

Here is a tasty cheese pie I made for Hen Day in May when the Prairie Hens came to my house.

It tastes like cheesecake and is easier to make. You can play with the amounts of cream cheese vs. other soft cheese. I like to have at least 8 oz of cream cheese for that rich cheese cake taste.
Cheese Pie

Shortbread Crust:
1/2 cup butter, softened
1/3 cup sugar
1 1/2 cup flour ( I do 3/4 whole wheat and 3/4 all purpose flour)
Mix together in at medium speed, scraping bowl often.
Press into deep pie dish or round cake pan.

Filling:
8 oz cream cheese
1 1/4 cups yogurt cheese (drain plain yogurt for 30 min. or so) OR 1 cup sour cream OR 1 cup ricotta cheese
1/2 cup sugar
2 Tbsp flour
1 tsp vanilla
1/8 tsp salt
3 large eggs
2 egg yolks
2 egg whites
2 Tbsp sugar

1. Preheat the oven to 325 deg F.
2. Mix Sugar, cheese, sugar, flour, salt, eggs, and yolks well.
3. Beat egg whites until soft peaks form, add sugar and beat till glossy peaks form.
4. Fold egg whites into filling mixture and pour into pie pan.
5. Bake at 325 for 45 minutes to one hour. Cool and serve.

Sauce

2 cups berries
3 Tbsp sugar
1/2 tsp corn starch
Mix in a sauce pan and heat to a boil. Boil, stirring constantly for 1 minute. Cool and serve.

We also had some tasty chocolate pudding made by Lucy. Here is some true happiness.

I don’t have the recipe Lucy used. My new favorite pudding recipe is one my grandpa used to make. It is INSTANT HOMEMADE PUDDING!!! No standing over the stove stirring for an hour until it thickens!

Blancmange by Owen C. Bennion

1. Put 3 c water in pot, add 1/2 tsp salt and bring to boil.
2. Blend 1/2c sugar
6 T cornstarch
2 c powdered milk
2 eggs
with 1 c water
3. Add to pot.
4. Keep stirring until it begins to thicken 5-10 minutes Maximum.
5. Add 1 tsp. vanilla and 1 cup coconut.

So tasty.

Tornado

14 May


This is my parent’s home in southwest Missouri. The Tornado hit their home on Saturday evening, May 10. The map of the Tornado path online shows the tornado downgraded to F1 by the time it hit their house. That didn’t stop it from ripping off the roof and several walls upstairs and shattering every window in the house. This picture is after lots of cleanup, which is why the second floor looks so tidy–despite being half gone.

I have spent my whole life sort of ignoring storm warnings–I grew up with lots of tornado warnings, but none ever touched down. Suddenly, in the last 5 years, they have been touching down and destroying homes all around. I don’t know if that is because the weather service has better technology for predicting, or if the storms are just getting worse, or both.

Grandpa Bennion

30 Mar

My Grandfather passed away in January. At the time I was dealing with so much emotion I could not find words to express how I felt. I came across these lines of poetry today, and I knew what they meant for me.

~~I have looked too long upon you, too long…
and with so much love that strangers can see you in my face–
as the sun and vivid colors leave and after-image in the eyes.
~Walter Benton

Grandpa left not only an impression in my face, but on my life, and I will never forget him.

Apron Swap Happiness

25 Mar

I am very late posting this to my blog. Here is the glorious apron I recieved from my Sassy Apron Swap partner, the amazing Allison. It is made from oh so pretty spring fabric and here’s the best part…it is a maternity apron, so it will fit me all year long! Oh! Surprize!! I am expecting a baby somewhere around October 8. My son is hoping for a brother to be on his team–he thinks his 3 sisters are a bit crazy sometimes.

Back to rhapsodizing about my apron…It has lovely large pockets on the front and it came with a matching hair tie. happy sigh. I wear it pretty much every day. Sort of like Gwenny, my 3 year old, and her sparkly shoes. I was telling one friend about the apron swap–how we have partners and we send someone an apron and then someone else sends us one. She got a really confused look on her face and said, “Why don’t you just make yourself an apron?” I didn’t know what to say. She just doesn’t get it, so I don’t think I could explain it. How you can make something way cooler for someone else than for yourself. And it is like Christmas to get that package in the mail from far away and be amazed and the perfect thing that a total stranger made special for you. And I got the most wonderful, sweet note from the lady I made my apron for saying how much she really loved it. That was the best part.

soft leather baby shoes-tutorial

7 Mar

I won’t ever actually do this, but one can dream, right?

http://blog.ohelene.net/?p=12

Apron Swap DONE!

6 Mar

I finally finished my apron for the apron swap. Only a week late. But I was sick last week. I procrastinated it for fear that I would make something awful and my partner would hate it. I still don’t know if she will like it, but at least it isn’t awful. I like aprons that have a top–that is the part of me that needs protecting anyway. My most favorite apron ever is one from Mexico. So I traced it onto brown paper and made a pattern. I like this apron because it makes me feel pretty to wear it. It is pink and has lace. The plaid fabric is a must to be authentic as are the flowers on the pockets. I chose dogwood blossoms because I am from Missouri, and dogwoods blooming means spring is finally here.

This is my new Kitchen Bling Bling from my dear dear Husband! Happy Day

I have already made bread in it. Happy Day. Look Look how shiny it is 🙂



These marvelous things were made for me by my sister, Mary. She brought them over on Valentine’s Day. Isn’t she amazing? I am way too lazy to do this much work on cupcakes. I was not too lazy to eat these though. hee hee.

Tagged!

6 Mar

I’ve been tagged….. (my aunt Lucy Tagged me)

1. Pick up the nearest book (with at least 123 pages)

2. Turn to page 123

3. Find the 5th sentence

4. Post the next three sentences

5. Tag 5 people

“Simon went to the door and opened it. I ran full tilt down the stairs, and across to him. There was a light above the door which made everything seem pitch black beyond.”

This is from “I Capture the Castle” by Dodie Smith. It is a marvelous book, loaned to me by my friend and prairie hen, Vea M. Dodie Smith also wrote the book which Disney based the movie “One Hundred and One Dalmations” off of. But don’t let that stop you from reading this one. It is re-he-he-heally good. I totally enjoyed it and it made the fact that I was sick in bed with the worst monster cold/flue thing ever a little more bearable last week.

Now I am supposed to tag 5 people, but I don’t even know who I would tag… except my sister Katie, BRILLIANT!! so Katie, you are IT!

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