Homemade Pretzels and Recycling

The first photo is of the delicious pretzels we made the other night, hubby and me. He is absolutely addicted to these big soft pretzels but gets mad at the mall when they want $3 or more for one. And so I became determined to make my own at home and dang it, but these were so good, I just had to post a picture. :) Thank you, Mr. Alton Brown!

The next pictures are of my Little Bit and her version of recycling. See, I make felt cookies for my etsy shop, and I had one from long ago that was a trial as I was determining how best to sew up the edges. Anyway, Little Bit wanted it to play with, so I gave it to her. Skip ahead several weeks... So, I have this Kimochi bear thing that my dear friend gave me for Christmas a while back. It's the cutest big green bear that "eats" emotions. The little emotions are little round "people" that fit into his mouth and stomach. My daughter FELL IN LOVE with him and plays with him all the time in my sewing room as I sew (because that room is his home, and he doesn't want to leave it, as she informed me.) Well, as I was cutting off my way too long pants to hem them today, and she asks me for the cut off part. I ask her why, and she tells me that she wants to use it to make arms and legs for her little "K'mochin." (What she calls the people.) At this point, I'm looking at her like she's lost her mind, having no idea what she's talking about. So, she tells me that that's "recycling" when you use something old to make something. To which, of course, I'm thrilled to hear her say. Well, I gave her my fabric marking pen, and she gave it a face, then she told me how to cut out the fabric to make "bumps" for the arms and legs. She wanted to glue them, but I convinced her sewing would be a bit more sturdy, and so, her new "Happy K'mochin" was born. And naturally, happy is a fitting name for him...and her.

Space Boys and a Potholder

I am SLOWLY getting to take pics of and post the Christmas presents I made for the kids. Here is one of the boys' gifts, two Space Boys from Hillary Lang's wonderful pattern. The boys like them, as does my daughter. She made them hold hands for the picture. Too cute. Anyway, I was pleased with how they turned out. I plan on making the robot, too, but I just haven't had time to get him finished.





And this is a little potholder I made from my scraps. I got to playing around with my leftovers from a quilt I'm making, and I've really been wanting to try out my new walking foot, as well as this thermo. batting stuff I bought. So, I thought, "Hey! Why not make a potholder?" Besides, mine have the uncanny and inconvenient habit of getting up and walking off somewhere, so a new one is always welcome in the drawer. :) Anyway, it's a little wonky...I got in a hurry (you tend to do that close to 2am...) and my binding is a little wrong. shrug. It's just a potholder, and I was just playing around, so I didn't feel it worth it to take it out and redo it. Besides, a couple times of spilled spagetti sauce on it, and it won't look so great anyway. :)

Thrifty me!

Okay, so I realize two things...1. I am not very good at remembering to take the time to sit down and blog about what I've done and 2. I suppose that this makes it look like I accomplish nothing. Not true. Really, it isn't. :)

Anyway, I did these pants of Little Bit's so long ago, but I never got around to taking a picture and posting them, though I am so incredibly proud of myself for them.





First of all, I got the pants (actually THREE pairs of pants, two jeans and one kind of parachute pants material khakis) for 10 cents a piece at a yard sale!!! I so love good finds like that. The only thing wrong with them....holes in the knees. Naturally. What kid doesn't wear holes in the knees of their pants??? But I'm looking at them, and inspiration struck. I thought, "Hey, I can put patches over them, and they'll be good to at least wear to play in, so I won't have to worry about her messing up her good ones outside in the back yard..." That was the plan, then I got the patches and more inspiration struck. "Hey, what if I cut the patches into cute shapes and embellish with embroidery?" Is it wrong to like her play clothes more than her "nice" ones???

Anyway, she loves them, and I got away paying only about $2 a pair for them. (Though the khakis were fine, only missing a button, I think, and needed no such attention). She esp. likes THIS pair in the pics, because of the little bird. I admit it, though, I like it, too. She and I kind of have this weird thing for birds. Go figure. For Christmas, she picked out a blank journal with a bird on a branch on the cover. I, of course, LOVE it. (I would have loved anything she picked out, but dang it, if the girl doesn't have taste!) :)

So, not a very festive post, but at least I managed to get something up for the month of December. :)

Happy New Year all!

You have to try this!!!

Thanks to Amy Karol at her angry chicken blog site, I found this cool little website that lets you take clothes, shoes, etc. and mix and match them to make your own little wardrobe combination. Polyvore VERY ADDICTIVE, just as she warned it would be. Well, here it is...a piece of my wishful closet, though technically, I do have some things that look like some of this stuff... Actually, it's a pretty darn good representation of how I dress...

Lori's closet by celtic19 featuring J Crew

Some of it, of course, I will never be able to afford...the boots are over a thousand dollars!!! Yeah, right. But some other things, like the J.Crew shorts are actually rather affordable (on sale!). Really neat! You have to try this!

New Dress and Late Night Marshmallows

Here is the other dress I finally finished for Little Bit. I love the wooden buttons in the back...though I should have made sure she had it on straight before I snapped the photo...really, it's straight! She just wiggles around a LOT. LOL Now, save a few pairs of play pants, she's pretty much done for Fall, so that's good. Now I can get on to making those Christmas presents. But she likes the dress. I asked her which one she liked best, this one or the green one, to which she replied, "I like both of them. I like all the dresses you make for me, mama." To which, I beamed, appropriately. Ah, nothing like the praise of your children to give you an instant self-esteem boost. :)



Yes, this is me (pardon the poor photography)...roasting marshmallows over my stove. Sigh. I think I need camping therapy. LOL Of course, it was my HUSBAND who got the idea to do this for a snack last night, who also got the idea to use our bamboo kabob skewers to roast them on (forks get hot...) It took every ounce I had not to bring out the chocolate and graham crackers, too... Mmmmmm....smores.... And so then I start in on this tirade about how we really need to go camping, this fall/winter. In a cabin, of course. I don't really trust tents with very small children...afraid they'll just up and leave in the middle of the night...not to mention there's nowhere to "put" them to keep them from running off. They're too young to "obey" when you say "stop!" "come back!" but they're too old (and too big) to be content in a play yard or something. Of course, it wouldn't be half as hard if they're weren't TWO. That makes a HUGE difference, esp. when they almost always run off in OPPOSITE directions. And you can only run one way at once... You know, I bet that's what they're talking about at night in their beds...plotting how best to escape. LOL Funny thing is, I could see that...

Chocolate Owls

I love Halloween. I mean, REALLY love Halloween. There's just something about it that really gets me happy. Part of it is the weather. I am totally a FALL girl, so I love bright plump pumpkins and brilliantly colored leaves everywhere. I love the crunch it makes when you walk on them, the cool breeze blowing. Blue jean weather, I call it. And I love it!!! Add to that my love of dressing up I've had since a kid and an unsatiable addiction to all things chocolate, and you can see how this is an amazingly fun holiday for me. :) I generally decorate the whole house, though I've had to scale back now that I have small children...hard to put out breakables when you have a little boy who thinks he's supposed to throw everything. But still, it's just so much FUN!!! And one more thing I enjoy...making treats. :) There's just something about fall weather that sets me in baking mode, and I want to make EVERYTHING. Not a great thing when you're on a diet, but very hard to fight this baking urge I get...which is why we had cupcakes at 10:00 at night two nights ago...

And though it isn't baking, I have found a new fun pasttime in making chocolate lollipops for the kids. Little Bit LOVES them. I have to limit her, else she eat the whole batch in one sitting!!! (That's my girl! She gets it honest!!!) But I was quite happy with how they turned out, esp. since I forgot to buy a paint brush to do the little details... oops. Still, they turned out rather nice, and very tasty! And super easy to do, really! I'm going to have to get some turkey molds or something for next month, though I suppose owls can be a whole fall thing, hmm?

New Dress

I had ordered this material a while back, (It's from the Chocolate Lollipop line from Anna Maria Horner--Love her!) and Little Bit fell madly in love with it and wanted a dress made out of it, so here it is, her very own creation, though I picked the pattern. I did have to add a strip to the bottom, however, to make up for the fact that she grew a lot since I cut it out...my own fault...I think it was March or April when I cut the thing out. I shouldn't have waited so long to get it sewn up! But she loves it. And it suits her. It really does.