shopping bags

So I bought some oil cloth almost a year ago in hopes of making my own reusable shopping bags - you know so I don't have to continue to accumulate all those plastic shopping bags.  Amy had bought one in Canton that I really liked the size of.  She so graciously agreed to measure it for me.  I made four and learned some tricks with each.  These instructions include all the "best practices" I learned.  Based on the measurements Amy gave me I came up with this pattern (I had a 1 yard piece of fabric).

A - These are the two bigger sides and the pieces you sew the handles to

B - These are the two smaller sides

C - This is the bottom

D - These are the handles

This is very beginner sewing so if you've never sewn anything before you could totally do this - here's how.  Cut out the pieces according to the diagram above.  It should look something like this...

Sew the handle pieces (D) in thirds and fold under the raw edge.  Run a zigzag stitch down it.  Fold over each A and B piece 1.5 inches and then turn that under .5 inch.  Make sure to pin the handles in place before sewing.  I pinned them 1.5 inches from the edge of the A pieces.

Sew the smaller sides (B) to the bottom piece (C) making sure to put right sides together.

Sew the larger pieces (A) to the smaller pieces (B) and then sew the remaining pieces to the bottom.  Turn your new bag right side out and voila - you have a handy shopping bag ready for your next trip to the grocery store or Target or wherever you want to take them.

Since there's only two people to shop for in this household, I don't think I'll need all four in Texas so I've already placed two of them with the pile of stuff to go to Maine.

dancin', dancin', dancin'...

I'm a dancin' machine!!!

and the Wii remote is my dancin' partner.

Now I'm really not a Michael Jackson fan but my niece and nephews got Michael Jackson The Experience for Wii for Christmas.  We played it and it was SOOOO much fun!  I'm a BIG fan of the dancing games anyway, but this one is by far the best.  I think maybe because it's so life like or maybe because it came with a sparkly MJ glove.  Of course, I'm good (if I do say so myself)!

We're talking totally undefeated good!  Better get to practicing kids, I'm racking up the 5 stars.

Now if I had some friends - or a husband - that also liked the dancing games.  Who do you think should come out with a dancing game for Wii???  I'm voting Britney or 'N Sync or JT.

Now before you think I'm a total freak for taking pictures of myself playing Wii, I was experimenting for the January challenge over at Gloart - it was a fail but I had fun trying.  Now to see if I can find a picture to submit elsewhere...

one down a lot to go

So I've been in my house for 7 years already and decided it was about time I put up some curtains.  But you know me, I can't just run to the store and pick some up - I have to take the hard road.  Remember the fun girls trip I took with Tamara and Amy to find fabric?  No?  Well you better get caught up and go read about it (here's the link).  I finally used one of the fabrics I picked up.

I decided to start with the easy ones - my office.  You know the drill - sew the seams (yes, I'm sewing on printer paper - the backing I chose had a little stick to it under the presser foot)...

cut the holes (that was the absolute scariest part - thanks to Tam and Lizzy for the support) and add the grommets.

Add a curtain rod and voila!

Don't you just love this fabric - I SURE DO!!!

Notice the little window on the side?  I want to add a venetian blind like the one I made for the kitchen (check them out here).  Should I make it with the same fabric as the curtain I just made or a fabric that matches the wall color?  Thoughts?

hot tamales

You may remember girls night before the holidays.  Well, the first picture is of us eating tamales from a guy off the street.  Some how this prompted my friends to want to try to make some themselves - and invited me along to help!

First you have to make the masa - which is essentially lard and corn masa.  Yes, they are trying to use a smoothie maker thing to make the lard "light and fluffy".

We then made an assortment of goodies to go inside.

Next step is to spread the masa into a soaked corn husk, fill them and roll them up.

After steaming the trial batch...I think these pictures speak for themselves.

After making some adjustments to our masa...

We had so much fun and I'll be eating tamales for about a month!  YUM!!!

ultimate cooking gadget

I love me some kitchen gadgets and I love me some cooking shows.  I'm a BIG fan of Pampered Chef.  I own nearly all the gadgets they have - well at least at the Texas house.  But I'm slowly changing that.  Unfortunately, we don't have room in Maine for a lot of the fun gadgets I use.  So I have to learn to get by.

My favorite cooking shows are Top Chef and Chopped.  I take my cooking style after my Mom - make stuff up, not my sister.  I guess that's why I like those shows in particular.  I watch them and they give me ideas and sparks my cooking creativity.  I kept hearing them talk about making a dish sous vide but I never knew what it was.  When I saw an email come in for a store that offered a sous vide machine I totally thought it looked like so much fun.  Sean fed my gadget addiction by getting it for me for Christmas.

I tried it out on some friends - to rave reviews!  Sous vide is actually French for "under vacuum".  First you vacuum pack your food and then cook it in a warm water bath.  It allows you to cook food with more flavor and less fat and keeps all the juices in.  I started out easy - made chicken breast.  This is a quote from my one of my dinner guests, "That is the juiciest chicken breast I have ever had".

It has so many uses from meat to veggies to even dessert.  I'm hosting Bunco in February so I'm already planning out what I'm going to cook.  Some things can take up to 2 days to cook this way.  It will also be a good way to make up some dinners for Sean for times I'm out of town that would be easy for him to cook using the sous vide machine.  You can totally vacuum seal the stuff ahead of time and then freeze them.

Oh the possibilities!!!

time for change

It's a new year.  Time for reflection, time for thinking.

This year, for some reason, that thinking and reflection is making me uncomfortable.  To keep from having to confront the uncomfortable I find myself drowning out having to think with TV.  I've become obsessed with all the shows about people with extreme lifestyles.  You know the shows - hoarders - heavy - my strange addiction - intervention.  I just don't understand how people get themselves into those situations.

But we all have our own extreme lifestyles in some way don't we?  For example, some may think I have an extreme lifestyle with all the travel.  But we learn to adapt to these lifestyle decisions and make them work for us.  I'm just glad my "extreme" life isn't detrimental to my family or me.  At least I don't think it is.

Even though it makes me uncomfortable, 2011 is going to be a year of change for me and I'm ready for it!  Before I make changes on the inside, though, I decided to make a little change to the outside.

What changes are you going to make in 2011?

a cheap meal

Tonight was Supper Club time again.  Being January, this month's theme was a meal on a budget.  After consulting my mother, I landed on a casserole.  I think the recipe actually was my sisters but I have no idea where she got it from.  Most likely she got it from somewhere as it's not like her to make up a recipe.  She's one of those that has to follow the recipe to a T - I mean, we're talking even down to the brand called for in the recipe!  So sorry for not giving credit where credit is due - if I knew - I would.  But I digress...it ended up being pretty good but I already know a change I would make so this is how I'll make the recipe next time.

Bierocks Casserole
2 lbs ground turkey
1 small head cabbage, shredded
1 small red onion
1 can cream of mushroom soup
1 tsp black pepper
1 container reduced fat crescent rolls
2 cups shredded reduced fat cheddar cheese


Brown the ground turkey and onions.  Stir in the shredded cabbage and steam until tender.  Add the pepper and can of soup.  Spray a 9x13 casserole dish.  Pour the mixture in, top with cheese and unrolled crescents (crescents go on the very top).  Bake at 350 for 30 minutes.  Enjoy!

Since the theme was budget, I calculated how much this recipe cost per serving.  I figure this makes 8 servings and cost about $2 per serving.  That's not too bad by my standards!  What's your cheapest budget "go to" meal?

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I'm a little out of sorts these days.  I can't believe I went to Supper Club and didn't even take my camera with me.  You should have seen how cute the kids all looked playing dress up!

once a year...

...Duke gets a new toy.  It involves a squeaky and stuffing and he usually gets it for Christmas.

He immediately proceeds to remove said squeaky and stuffing and strings it throughout the entire house.

But he looks at you with that "what? it wasn't me" look and so you just have to laugh and go around the house and pick it all up.  I even found stuffing in my office and the bedroom.

He has learned to use them to play ball by himself.  I know you think I'm crazy right now but I'm serious.  He shakes the de-stuffed toy and the ball goes flying and Duke runs after it.  It's so cute and gets me out of having to throw the ball for hours on end.

He will play with the de-stuffed toys for years to come.  In fact right now he has four of them strung out on the floor.  But how could you ever get upset at a sweet face like this...

a fun surprise

We had a little snow in Texas last weekend - not really enough to do anything with.  In Maine though, there is PLENTY of snow and no one there to do anything with it - no snow angels, no snowball fights, no cute snowmen.  Of course, that is, unless you have some really nice friends with young kids that stop by the Camp and build you a little surprise.

How fun to look out the camera and see this cute little guy staring back at us.  It has snowed a lot more since then and now he looks like he's in quicksand.  I can't wait to see how long he lasts!  I'll take a surprise like that any day!

new hair-do

I LOVE getting my hair done.  Next to a 2-hour massage on a Friday night, getting my hair done is the most relaxing thing.

Starts out with someone else brushing your hair.  That part I can totally do without - I'm way overly tender headed.

The best part is the shampoo - I need someone to shampoo my hair every day. 

Maybe I would become a morning person if I could start each day with someone washing and blow-drying my hair for me!

It makes me so relaxed I could fall asleep.....but I don't (but totally want to).

I'm secretly (or not so secretly now) glad we got a flat tire before heading back to Texas after Christmas so I could be there for my nieces first haircut and see she's already learned to love the relaxation that is getting a new hair-do!

That reminds me - I need to make a phone call - it's about that time!!!

random london-ness

I found some pictures in the London batch that I thought were interesting.  Some of them are blurry but that's what happens when it's cold out, you're trying to take pictures with gloves on and/or your camera is being temperamental.

food...
Well, the English aren't necessarily known for their food.  As Sean says, "when was the last time you went to an English restaurant?".  It was pretty cold while we were there (low 40's) but I couldn't get over how much outside seating there was at the various restaurants around town.  When I saw the roasted chestnuts on the street I couldn't pass them up.  I know you'll make fun of me but I had never had them before!  All I could do was sing the song the rest of the day - you know the one...  We also tried minced pie - not the meat version - fruit - actually pretty good.

as seen in store windows...
Loved the bling on the gorilla and the puppets bidding on something great at Sotheby's.

as seen at the parade...
You can probably imagine my surprise when I saw the band from Mount Desert Island come through - that's in MAINE y'all!  But I think I was much more surprised by the gurney passing by - IN THE PARADE!

random clock?...
So I don't exactly know how to read it but I thought it was really cool.  All I know is there is a "1" in the middle because it was January 1 - we saw it on our walk home from the fireworks.

as seen on the street...
This is the most unique street act I have ever seen.

as seen on tv...
Europeans are a little more liberal with what they show on TV.  One night I started flipping channels and came across a show.  Sean and I don't agree on what to watch too often so he went to bed - that is until I started dying laughing.  He came out to see what I was cracking up at - and ended up quite enjoying the show.  It was the greatest game show EVER.  Take yourself right on over to YouTube and search for "distraction game show UK" and have yourself a great laugh.  I don't dare tell them to bring it to the US cuz you know we'd just ruin the show.

Last, but not least, because you cannot ride the tube without hearing it over and over and over...

an evening with friends

We have some friends that are on a 2 year work gig in the UK.  The husband used to work at the same place as Sean and I do and, in fact, the very first time I ever went to Maine (way before Sean and I were together, it was probably when he wanted me...actually, no, it was even WAY before that - it was when we didn't like each other at all) my friends and I rented this friend's mother's cabin on the lake next to the one Sean and I live on now.  Currently they live in a cute suburb (if that's what they call them) of London.

We started off the evening with a little wine and snacks.  Then we headed to a little dinner and off to a local pub.  The pub was so quaint with tons of mugs hanging around.  They even had a little map so people could find theirs for future visits.

We had a lot of good conversation, good laughs and listened to some locals sing a few tunes.  Have a listen...

It went on for quite some time and we tried to join along when we could and knew the song.  Sean was so excited when they finally sang one he knew (and no, it wasn't Led Zeppelin or Pink Floyd).  It was actually more of a poem.  It was The Cremation of Sam McGee by Robert W. Service.  Check out the Johnny Cash version.


Once we got back, their youngest daughter (who is in middle school and has picked up such a cute British accent in her time in the UK) was still up and proceeded to try to teach Sean how to play the guitar.  Try was the key word in that - she was oh so patient with him - much more than I could have ever been - the boy just has no memory or musical talent according to this lesson.  I just think he looks so cute playing but my dreams of being married to a rock star are shot!  :(

Mitchell's - I'm so glad we finally made it out to see you since your time is limited in the UK.  We had such an amazing time with you.  Thanks for the great time and great hospitality!