Reflections of 2010...

What a year. I say what a great year for our health!!!

1. I am 90% "cured" of my skin condition by ditching my dermatologists who just threw their hands in the air in "we don't know what else to do" and shot me with Cortisone. As a general rule, don't let doctors shoot cortisone in you. Really, it's like taking duct tape and fixing a leaking faucet. I was grateful to hear about a Natural path. doctor whom changed my diet, eliminated the tons of yeast growth in my gut, added vitamins and minerals which helped my restart my immune system, which ultimately healed my skin. Healing from the inside out. I have my life back.

2. The boys were not sick during this past year. Maybe one cold each. That's a lot considering they have gone "Public" as in public school. My kids never have had an ear infection, continual flu, or cold that seem to afflict a lot of young kids. People would tell me, "oh, they'll get it when they go to public school". Well. So far so good. Let's roll this into 2011. They are so impressed with themselves that they can make it across the monkey bars at the park, ran a 5K with me, and just play by themselves without me directing and participating in every event. I will be forever in debt to God for letting me have these two boys.

3. My lovely. He has had a chronic sinus infection for over a year. He has seen an ENT, had catscans, sleep study, been on the heavyweights of antibiotics. NOTHING HELPED. Then he went to my "witch doctor" as he calls my Natural path. doctor. His treatment started six months ago and now he is back to his pre-sinus self. I have my husband back. He went from popping Exedrin and allergy medicine every 6 hours to relieve the symptoms to nothing!!! One year ago, he would only have enough energy to make it to work and home. Then sat on the couch until he went to bed because his head hurt so badly. We are all thankful for lovely's return to the Saturday morning dancing, Logger Larry, and just fun guy again.

4. Marathon. Done.

5. 20 year high school reunion. I looked great, in fact better than I did in high school. The girls I grew up with were all there and we had a ball talking about our kids and husbands. All of the girls either stayed home with their kids or their husbands stayed home. How cool is that?

6. Finding vintage Fiestaware at a garage sale that I was going to pass up. Finding an ice cream maker with two extra bowls for $3. Highlight of my yard sale '10.

7. My lovely's sister got married. She has been dating the same guy for eight years and finally they got married. It was a big and wonderful wedding.

8. My grandma passed on in June. She was a hoot and I think...no I'm sure I get my big mouth from her. I miss her. I am thankful to know her. I hope she's finally getting to do all the things she was too fearful to do here on earth. She was 92 years old.

9. Got to intern with my mom for one week. She is awesome. So talented. She is an extraordinary semstress and she specializes in drapes, upholstery, and clothes. She is an artist. I got to spend a week with her and it was too short. I wished I could have been a better daughter to learn from her before now.

Slippers Part 1

Slippers Part 2

My feet are cold. Very cold. So, why not make slippers?

Gingerbread houses...again

Once again, I made gingerbread houses. However, instead of 24 of them, I only made eight for a party for the kids at our home. This was done back in the beginning of the month but just came across these pictures without kids in them (I don't have permission to put other people's kids on this blog). Fun was had by all and my kids thanked me over and over for putting this on for their friends. The kids were pretty good at decorating and waiting until the end to dive into the candies.

more repurposed pillows

Cut a 14.25" x 14.25" section of the bottom of a checked dress (use the buttons as the center).



Sew all four sides together. Unsnap the buttons and shove a 14" x 14" pillow form inside. Voila!! Repurposed pillow.
Total time: 10 minutes.

re-upholstered kids' furniture

Koo's preschool asked me to make a slipcover for these kids' furniture. The fabric was free (see earlier post on fabric) leftover from a friend. The zippers I had from previous jobs so all in all it was free with my donated time. I love it when I can help bring new life to old things. I hate thinking this could be in a landfill somewhere because of wear and tear.

How was this accomplished? I cut out pieces of fabric to the exact measurements of the cushions plus 0.5 inch for seam allowances. Next, I baised the pieces fabric inside out directly on the seat themselves with the exception of the piece on the bottom. Then, I carefully removed it from the seat and sewed all the pieces together. Lastly, I attached the zipper to each bottom piece and attached it to the seat. Hope this wasn't too confusing.

Harry Connick Jr. - (It must've been 'ol) Santa Claus

I love Harry Connick Jr. My favorite Christmas song.

sewing projects

So when are you ever going to post any of your repurpose projects lady? Okay, so I've been making pillow pets and they are fun. Unfortunately, I can only make dogs. Sorry. So here's two I made.

Second, I repurposed this sweater that my mom would wear to church. It's in great condition but totally out of date. It was getting chucked so I saved it and turned it into a pillow. The pillow form brand new for $0.99. I'm giving to my friend for Christmas. If you have a bag of unique, out-of-date clothes that you don't think will sell at a Goodwill or any other thrift store...I will gladly take your goods.

Poppy Seed Yeast Bread

Hello bread. I came across this recipe in an old issue of Quick Cooking and since I had all the ingredients on hand and time to kill (not really). It's not sweet in the middle but I think the lemon juice/powdered sugar mixture might help. I made a lemon butter spread to help get it down. I haven't baked breads in awhile because I'm trying to stay in the 130's but I just felt like I had to try this out.

Poppy Seed Bread
3/4 cup very warm water
1/2 cup warm lemon yogurt
2 T honey
4 1/2 tsp butter, melted
2 tsp lemon extract
1 tsp salt
3 cups bread flour
4 1/2 tsp nonfat dry milk powder
2 T poppy seeds
1 T grated lemon peel
2 1/4 tsp SAF instant yeast

Combine all ingredients in a mixing with hook attachment. Blend until smooth ~5 minutes. Form into dough and allow to rest in greased bowl for 1 hour (covered). Punch down. Roll out using rolling pin and form into loaf shape. Place in greased loaf pan for 1 hour (covered). Bake at 350F for 32 minutes.

Glaze
2 T lemon juice
1/2 cup powdered sugar
Mix and drizzle over warmed bread

Lemon Butter
3 T butter, softened
1/2 cup powdered sugar
Mix until uniformed.

Snowed in

According to my son S.E., school has been terrible. Since we've been hit the mother load of snow of late, there has been no outside recess because of snow. The snow has been kind of obnoxious. It's blowing, wet, cold, with low visibility. Why go to school if you can't have recess? Where's the fun in school?! The only reason the kid loves school. Ask him anytime anyday what is his favorite part of being in kindergarten-RECESS. What an outrage! Suck it up baby boy, middle school is just around the corner. :-)