My Friend's Baby...

A close friend of mine gave birth at 28 weeks (almost 3 months early) yesterday. Rauri weighed in at a whopping 1 pound, 7 ounces, which is small for her age. Rauri is doing well in the NICU and already showing a strong personality.

This family is going to be spending the next 8+ weeks traveling to see their daughter on a daily basis and I'd like to make their load lighter by feeding them on a regular basis.

Will you please comment with links to your favorite fail-proof, somewhat-healthy, freezable entrees/casseroles/meals? I seem to have about 4 that I make over and over again and I'm sure they'll quickly get tired of them! ;-)

Thanks!

White Chocolate Apricot Scones

2 Cups all-purpose flour
1/3 Cup sugar
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
3 Tbsp chilled margarine
1 Cup (8 oz.) non-fat vanilla yogurt
1/4 Cup orange juice
2 tsp grated orange peel
1/2 Cup white chocolate chips, chopped
5 dried apricots, chopped

Combine first 5 ingredients
Cut in margarine with pastry blender until mixture resembles coarse meal
Stir in rest of ingredients until just moistened (dough will be sticky)

With floured hands (remove rings, trust me!), pat dough into a 9 inch circle on baking sheet coated with cooking spray.
Cut dough into 8 wedges, cutting into dough but not through it.

Sprinkle with 1 Tbsp sugar

Bake at 400* for 16 minutes or until golden

The scones will be a bit 'mushy' straight out of the oven because the white chocolate chips will be melted. Once the chips cool and firm up, the texture will be more scone-like.

This recipe is from a lovely lady at our church and they are always a hit. Enjoy!

The beginning of a new year...

2012 sure started out with a bang! Christmas was stellar (I actually got some time off for it!), but stretched from Dec. 17th through the 28th with various family celebrations. I was a bit done by the end. NYE was a blast with good friends and to really get the year going, I led 14 other women on a 7 mile snowshoe trek in the mountains!

This year promises to be an exciting one as we have made some travel plans to visit Washington DC and we have recently been told that 3 close friends are pregnant. :-) "Auntie" Erica needs to drag out the sewing machine!

Despite all the busy-ness, I am still managing to get projects done around the house.

I painted the headboard wall of the master bedroom. We chose the swatch on the left: Behr's Prelude. I received the duvet cover and the quilt, shams, and bedskirt for Christmas, so the yellow-esque walls needed to be toned down. I think the Prelude is the perfect blue with a shade or two of gray. Now I'm waiting for some fabric swatches to come in so I can make drapes. 

The previous owners of our house left this (semi-creepy) dragon guy in the backyard.

We listed him on CL and made some moolah this weekend. Which is great because we are saving money to do some landscape work and to build a 6' cedar fence so that we can get a canine friend:

via

We are still undecided on the breed: Standard Poodle, Springer Spaniel, Australian Shepherd, Brittany Spaniels are at the top of our lists. Each breed has some great characteristics; we want the dog to be a good fit for our lifestyle and vice versa. Have you had any experience with any of these breeds? 

We have gotten a small bit of snow and our indoor cat has been very curious about it, so we let him venture out:

He loved it! I was so surprised. He especially loved chasing small snowballs. We call him our "fenine" because he acts a lot like a dog sometimes! 

This year hasn't been all rosy (because life never is); we've had a plumbing problem (I'll post about it later), and there is a fight between some friends of ours who have tried to drag us into the middle of the conflict, and because we've told them we won't be a part of it in any way, we may be losing some friends too, which is immature and also very sad. I thought high school pettiness would be done by now, guess I was a bit naive! Hopefully everyone involved will realize the power of forgiveness... 

Oh and not to forget, J! He received a leaf blower & sucker for a Birthday gift. It really came in handy for cleaning up after the Christmas tree this year!

December, thus far

December is always a busy month, no doubt about it. Here are a few snapshots into this Holiday Season for us:

J's Birthday

My Grandpa turned 90 (circa very late 80's)

J and I celebrated 8 years together.

My parents came over for our annual fudge making... 

the one day of the year my Dad claims that he can cook!

My parent's 2011 Christmas card picture

J hung our collage wall just days prior to our "Home for the Holidays" housewarming party. 

I'm told this project was very difficult and many men at the party commented on 

J's exacting standards and very straight lines. Kudos to you, J!

Of course, no pictures were taken at our party... I was a little busy!

We also had J's company Christmas dinner and his extended-family Christmas dinner this weekend.

Tonight is my older brother's birthday celebration.

On and on it goes! But I wouldn't trade away a minute of it!

May your Christmas be Merry & Bright!

No-Sew Drapes

alternately titled: "Things you can do with your Straight Iron"

Our house has an 8'x5' picture window at the stair landing. For Christmas, I knew it needed to be dressed, so on Black Friday, this crazy lady (pointing finger at self) went to JoAnn and waited in too many long lines for the perfect fabric. (Hey, no judging: 8 yards of quality fabric = $$$).

I should also mention that J's Birthday was soon after my mini-shopping spree and he received a Little Giant. Needless to say he was excited, and my drapes got hung that night....

...before I'd had the chance to hem and press them. Oh well, at least they got hung! There is no way those things are getting pressed now, but I had to figure out how to hem them (the edges were badly frayed). I was NOT going to hand sew them and my machine was out of the question.

Have you all met Sherry? Well, she keeps making curtains and bed skirts that are no-sew. I kept reading her posts and thinking "pshaw! I have a machine, I'll hem the 'right' way." Boy, was I ever wrong! Here's to you Sherry, for showing me the error of my ways!

Gather up your supplies:

You'll need iron-on hem tape, scissors, and an iron. Because my drape was already hung, a standard iron wouldn't work, so I got creative. 

Place hem tape along the edge of your project and fold the fabric and tape up into a hem. Iron with medium heat and NO steam. DO NOT touch the hem tape directly to your iron. The glue will melt onto your iron and ruin it. If you're like me and using a straight iron, be sure to wipe off the plates (once cool) before using in your hair. My iron took on a bit of the red dye in the fabric. 

My finished, clean-line hem!

The final product shown from the top of the stairs.

Thanksgiving 2011

Our Thanksgiving was a lot of fun this year. We hosted 18 people in our new home and it went great. Our pictures from the actual day are on my Dad's camera, so I don't have them to share here now. I'll try to remember to get them soon!

I chose to do one long running table through our dining and living rooms. Great idea to allow for greater communication and no one got stuck at the "kids table." We had to do a bit of mix and match with the place settings, but I actually really liked the little extra pop of color from the blue plates.

The centerpieces were inspired by (where else?!), Pinterest. This is the original picture.

J thought this would be a fun project to do, so he grabbed his saw and went to my parents who'd just chopped down a cottonwood tree. He was also very excited to get to add to his collection of tools. 

This drill bit in the 1.5 inch size is perfect for tea lights. The project took make 30 minutes total to make me 5 logs that had 3-5 tea lights each. We plan to save them in the attic for use next year, too!

On Sunday our Pastor did an awesome thing, instead of preaching about Thanksgiving, he gave us many Biblical examples of times when God was praised with Thanksgiving, and then he invited us to partake in open mic. The people around us are so amazing. I sat through the service with tears in my eyes as people came forward and praised Jesus through the hard times and were thankful for the redemption they had found. It was truly inspirational.

Also, have you read Abraham Lincoln's Thanksgiving Proclamation? He wrote it in 1863, in the midst of the Civil War. You can read the entire proclamation here. Here is my favorite excerpt: 

"I do, therefore, invite my fellow-citizens ... to set apart and observe the last Thursday of November next as a day of thanksgiving and praise to our beneficent Father who dwelleth in the heavens. And I recommend to them that, while offering up the ascriptions justly due to him for such singular deliverances and blessings, they do also, with humble penitence for our national perverseness and disobedience, commend to his tender care all those who have become widows, orphans, mourners, or sufferers in the lamentable civil strife in which we are unavoidably engaged, and fervently implore the interposition of the almighty hand to heal the wounds of the nation, and to restore it, as soon as may be consistent with the Divine purposes, to the full enjoyment of peace, harmony, tranquillity, and union."

Happy Thanksgiving to you all on a daily basis. I hope your hearts and homes are filled with love, happiness, and thankfulness throughout this Blessed Holiday season.

Ten on Tuesday

1. What are you doing for Thanksgiving this year?
We are hosting this year. 18 people in the house we've been living in for one month. Crazy? Yes, we are!

2. What are you most thankful for this year?
The health of my family and that both J and I have secure jobs.

3. Do you have any traditions on Thanksgiving? The parade? Football? Long naps?
None that we have to do every year. Normally the parade is on in the background in the morning while Mom and I pour through the Black Friday ads. Later in the day, football is turned on.

4. Is it called stuffing or dressing? Is it in the bird or a separate dish?
It is called stuffing. Dressing is a liquid you pour over your salad! And no, it does not go in the bird because we don't want to get sick from under-cooked food. 

5. Do you cook?
Love to!

6. What is your favorite dish?
Sweet potatoes. 

7. What is your dessert preference?
All of them! This year I'm making pear custard pie, pumpkin maple pie, pumpkin walnut maple pie, and an apple caramel pie. With homemade whipped cream.

8. What is your favorite Thanksgiving memory?
Going to Grandma's with all my cousins.

9. Do you plan to shop on Black Friday?
Nope, I usually don't. Maybe I'll hit one or two sales after 2 pm when all the crazies are finally in bed sleeping it all off. 

10. What are you most dreading about Thanksgiving this year?
The fact that I work the night before and will be sleep-deprived, and the clean up. Who wants to come wash my turkey roaster and my floors???




Ten on Tuesday provided via Roots and Rings.