A recipe, by me?!?!

 So I'm not that great in the kitchen (as evidence by my chicken broth post), but last night, i was genius. I knew I had the chicken cooked, so I browsed through a bunch of the Kraft Food and Family Magazines (if you don't get them, RUN to their website and sign up, they're free and genius). One caught my eye that was mac and cheese w/ chicken. It called for green pepper and diced tomatoes, so I closed the book and started thinking.

Ok, before you FREAK at the proportions, this was made for 2 families. I'm wondering if would freeze well...

Mac and Cheese Genius
3 boxes mac and cheese (3/4 c milk, 3/4 c butter or margarine)
2-3 lbs cooked, chopped chicken
1 large (or 2 small) green peppers, chopped
1 reg size can tomato sauce
1/2 c- 1 c salsa (we barely used any as to hide it from my son)
1/2 lb cheddar cheese, shredded
almost 1 tube ritz crackers.

Preheat oven to 350*. Make the mac and cheese accd to directions. Once it's ready, add in sauce and salsa. Stir. Then add chicken and green pepper. Separate into 2 8x8 dishes. Top w/ cheese & ritz. Bake 10 min (till cheese is melted). SOOOO yummy!

Chicken Broth

We like using chicken broth in our cooking, so when I saw a recipe for it in my  BHG cookbook, I thought- how awesome would that  be?! I'd have cooked chicken AND broth in one pot. Well, the instructions were simple; 3 lbs of bony chicken, some veggies, some spices, and 6 c of water. Bring to a boil, simmer 2 1/2 hrs, done and you're supposed to have 6 cups of broth. SO I followed the instructions, but decided to put a whole chicken in there (it was in pieces, it wasn't just like a cornish hen or anything like that) because it was about  3 lbs. My house smelled HEAVENLY for 2 1/2 hrs. Then when the timer buzzed, I couldn't wait to get my 6 c prize. I took the chicken and veggies out, lined my colander w/ cheesecloth and poured out all the broth into a pan. All 1/2 a cup of it. Yup. 3/4 of a cup if you count the fat you have to skim off...

Oh well, the chicken is ready for tonight.....

because I'm too lazym this is what I found on One Pretty thing todayu

This is what I found on One Pretty thing today and I'm thinking of making, possibly for Christmas gifts.

One is the One Sheet Mini Album (found HERE)
Another is a wreath I've actually been thinking about for a whole year, but love the idea of doing it for other holidays. It's HERE
I'm also thinking of doing the junk mail art, found HERE
I'm so super duper excited that there is a tut on there for cloth napkins, that I've been planning on making anyway. HERE

Don't forget  that I plan on making a couple of something top secret for a certain friend who I emailed a couple weeks ago asking which day her bday was because I'm pretty sure it's Oct, but she hasn't emailed me back yet........

New Projects!!

I know, I haven't posted in ages. Please forgive me! :D The first thing I'm posting is my Gryffindor scarf. I still have to weave in edges , but I'm excited to be all done! The edges are far from perfect, but oh well, hopefully it won't be too noticeable.

Next, my first set of Christmas cards. There are more than one of each, but I hate doing assembly line type stuff, so I will probably have lots of different designs. Hopefully this year I'll even send 'em. Novel concept.

K, next picture I can't take credit for. The cadi Vaughn is wearing was made by a lady in my ward named Sis. Black. She is amazing. I told her how much I loved it and she said that it's her English pattern. When she gave it to me, she said, "I would have gotten it to you sooner..." This woman is amazing! She just had some cancer removed and STILL took time to make it for him!

I am so bad

I don't think I've taken any pictures in a week! And I've done a lot! So tomorrow I'll have my camera w/ me when I go to Logan and stuff. Hopefully I'll get some good pics. Link me to yours?!? Please?!!?

Recovered

So we all got sick this week. It stunk. Bad! The kids were puking, we were miserable. It just wasn't cool. I got a lot of crocheting done, but no pictures taken. Tonight I'm being selfish and making myself a coloring book. If anybody has any cool pen art drawings they wouldn't mind me using, I'd love the opportunity!

oh! Vaughn rolled over twice tonight with no problem.

My kids were monsters today. Good at church. But during nap time, Juliana peeled off, I kid you not, 1/5 of her paint on the wall. After their naps, Vaughn would NOT be put down. He just screamed and screamed and screamed. We tried making cookies, that was a mess. Bedtime could NOT come soon enough tonight.

If I'm not on much this week, it's because I have stuff every flipping day. I need to update pics soon.

It was fun anyway

Rachel and I tried to make haunted cake houses last night. Let me first tell you that I'm not a cake decorator. No, no. I'm really, REALLY not. Once in college, I had to plan a party. I decided on a fish theme and wanted to bring a cake. I found one that looked really easy. Just decorate w/ blue frosting and add gummy fishies...... we call that cake the big blue blob. It was aweful. I've made ONE, count 'em... no, TWO, decent looking cakes ever. I may even post pics. ANYway, that's how many decent cakes I've made. I think I've made probably 20 NOT decent cakes. So with that being said, here is my haunted house cake:

Sad, yes I know.

To redeem myself, here is one of the two cute cakes:

Happy Birthday Jennifer

I just wanted to take a minute and dedicate this post to my awesome sister, Jennifer. She is turning *insert your guess here* years old and is an awesome mom, an awesome scrap-booker, and a super awesome sister. I wish that I could tell you all how much she has taught me. One of my favorite things is that she is very encouraging of others. She encourages everyone to develop their talents. When I was in High School, i went to stay at her house in Virginia. She owned a scrapbook store. While I was there I had my first "1 AM Denny's Run". That was SO much fun! She also showed me responsibility by letting me work the register. It might seem small, but it felt so good to be in charge of something. Also, and this is gettin back to the developing talents, she showed me how to use chalk. Now let me tell you, I'm not all that artistic, but I did a chalk drawing and my sister made me feel like the Queen of the Chalk World by putting it up on the wall IN her store for people to see what you can do with chalk. She's always been like that, pointing out the good in projects. Even if she's not too crazy about the thing itself, she'll not tell you to stop doing it. She'll say "it's interesting" and try to find something good about it.

She's also a lot of fun to be with. Roger and I lived with her for a while and occasionally Roger will comment on how misses just talking with Jen. She taught me to stress less (or at least be more careful about the things I stress about). She's also taught me to let things roll off my back, the entire world is not attacking me (who knew?!). The best is late at night when you get her in a goofy mood. There's nobody I'd rather be around! It almost makes me want to invite her over for a slumber party.

Oh, and another thing, Jennifer is an EXCELLENT story teller. Nobody tells it like she does. And on top of that, she has a story for everything. Like the time they were on their way to a scrapbook convention and were listening to Bohemian Rhapsphody too loud and got pulled over.... see, she'd have to tell it.

Jennifer is also a great example to me. She's an example of service, helping others when they need it, especially if the help is a shoulder to cry on or someone to play mom when nobody else will. She's an example of how to gain a testimony and live what you believe even when you're in really rough situations (like crappy branch presidencies). She's an example of endurance, sticking it out through some more than tough times.

I just love my sister. I hope she has a happy birthday. And Jen, if you're reading this, just know I was thinking about you tonight and I love and appreciate you.

Flickr Browsing

ok, so I don't know all the rules to posting links to people's pictures from Flickr, but these are some fun Halloween projects I stumbled upon today.
There are a TON of cute cards\

 
1. <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/marice/253084714/">Halloween Pirate Card</a>, 2. <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/marice/247215969/">Halloween card</a>, 3. <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/anat_dvir/2915542004/">Ghost card</a>, 4. <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/armchairgypsy/1547307653/">Of Nowhere</a>

(the last card isn't actually a card.)
First is the link to Macula, which is a bunch of paper toys. I haven't explored the site TOO much yet, but plan on doing that today.
And look how cute THIS is:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/valeriecards/1069965650/

I'll update more later. I just got an impromptu invitation, so I'll be back later!

Sliver of hope.

Today was a sucky day. I didn't feel well, the kids were unbelievable, Juliana had four potty accidents, nobody in my family liked the dinner I made, Vaughn fussed ALL day... it just was tough.

BUT, and it's a really, really big BUT..... we did have a little bit of fun today! I drew up some houses and let the kids "haunt" them. We colored for like an hour! It was so much fun that I decided to make a couple on the computer and share them with you.

Download haunted_house_1.jpg

Download haunted_house_2.jpg

Here's what ours looked like:

Gotta Love Conference

So, besides loving the fact that I get to be uplifted and edified, General Conference is one of my favorite times. While hearing the things that bring peace and comfort in these troubled times, I also get to sit on my tooshy and crochet for two days!!!!

Alrighty, first I want to post the things I finished PREVIOUS to conference

ok, so I don't know where this idea originated. Kristin was showing me some of her inspiration and one was a set of mismatched frames that said FALL on beautiful paper. They were black letters, but I LOVED the idea and went my way with it! Eventually I'd like to upgrade the frames, but this'll work for now.

THIS is one of the reasons I was so ecstatic about One Pretty Thing. She has a Halloween section and there are some amazing links. This link was to Hostess with the Mostess. GORGEOUS (IMO anyway). I think I'll keep this idea and use the vase, change the candy and flowers w/ the holidays. how cute will conversation hearts look in there come V-day?

Yes, I'm aware that this isn't a craft, but isn't he adorable? I'll be making one of my kids soon.

Alright. So conference, me and my hooks stayed happilly attached. I finished Xander's Halloween treat bag, pictured here:
 
It was my first time felting. The teeth look wierd, yes I'm aware. It's because the gray is all 2 stranded and the white is not. Xander doesn't care.

Next, I made a couple more cookies for Juliana's bday set:

The vanilla one is horrendous. The insides are way bigger than the outsides. Oh well. It's a pretend cookie for a three year old. If I were doing it for a gift (or, maybe one day, commission), I would make sure it was perfect.

These are Hershey Kisses, or giant chocolate chips, whichever you prefer. I made up the pattern  all by myself. Here it is:
Rd 1: ch 1, make loop. sc 6 into hold of loop
Rd 2: 2sc in each sc
rd 3: 2 sc in each sc
rd 4: sc in each sc
rd 5: sc in each sc
rd 6: dec next 2 sc, sc in next 3 sc's , repeat all the way around
rd 7: sc in each sc
rd 8: dec next 2 sc, sc in next sc, repeat all the way around
rd 9: keep dec until closed. Close w/ sl st at the top.

Let me know if there are any problems in the pattern so I can fix. Don't hesitate to call me out!!

I also did two other things, but one is going to be for the Ravelry Mystery Crochet, so I won't post the pic till I'm done. The other is a pattern being tested right now, so we'll see!

Pattern Help

I made a teeny tiny crochet pattern last night and was wondering if anyone would be willing to test it. It's nothing spectacular and I'm not even going to tell you what it is because I want you to see if it works by pattern alone......

What've you been up to?

I've been crazy busy lately- seems that from Sept-Dec, that IS the story! I've been busy enough that all I've been able to do is crochet. No time to sew, no time to paint....

First I'll update you with pictures of my recent finished projects, but then, I'm going to post a list of things I'd like to get done soon, some more important than others, some more likely to get done than others....

Alright, first, Juliana is getting play food for her birthday. I just finished her cheeseburger, whichc was good for me, because it gave me a reason to learn triple crochet and joined, turned rounds. Awesome practice in reading patterns.

cookie!!

I'd also like to make a few more of these cookies, as well as another veggie or fruit or two. Then (hopefully) by Christmas, I can make some HEAVENLY looking pastries and such that I found on Ravelry. Oh and I forgot to tell you how INCREDIBLY excited I am! One of the amazing people on the RAK group, PheonixDawn, bought me the pattern for Taffy Apples. I'm SOOO making one or two this weekend!!!!

Last, but not least, I also just finished this candy corn bag

and then took this photo:

Drop Dead Drooling

I found a new site to stalk!!! It's called ONE PRETTY THING and I'm in love. Jeanette showed me and I am forever indebted to her. I can actually decorate for Halloween now thanks to her (and the site).