I've been busy

These are all custom orders or gifts that I've turned out in the past month or so:
Custom dyed, then knit, as a baby gift for a friend of mine. The colorway will be available in my store under the name "Hannah's Hydrangea"
A set of shirts for a sibling group, there were actually four, but i took the picture after the first three were complete. This was for a trade, it purchased Jeff's Christmas gift from me.
Custom shirts for a newborn girl. Well, technically, she's not born yet, LOL. The mom requested the coffee cup, I don't just randomly make coffee cup shirts for infants.

Custom dyed yarn for a little guy who loves all things yellow.
Custom dyed self-striping yarn in "Cotton Candy"

These reptiles are all for one lucky kid. I am now under strict orders to produce an equal or greater number of toys for my own kids! I am particularly pleased with the lizard.

This one was a joint effort, my mom knit up the stockings, I embellished them and am offering customized name options. This one is made up and shipped out, there are other available in my store--link in the sidebar.


Custom shirts for a new baby boy.

infant sized diapers for my friend who just had a baby girl... I am SOOOO suffering from baby fever, I truly enjoyed making these dipes.
For those who understand (or care) about the inner workings of cloth dipes, these are flannel, with an inner soaker layer, then a sewn in "lay in" doubler. The doubler is sewn in across the back so it can't get lost in the dryer, but will flap freely to speed up washing and drying time. The doubler is topped with a wicking/stay dry layer of alova suede, and the rest is flannel.
I'm sure I'm missing something... oh yes, two fleece covers for the above diapers but I didn't get a picture, I barely got them in the mail box before the postman this morning. Also a secret dyejob on a skein of yarn. No pics of that yet, not until I'm ready to debut in the store, ... ha ha, take that you industrial spies who are reading my blog and trying to steal my trademarked colorways!

I also deep-cleaned the kitchen and cleaned and rearranged the living room awaiting the arrival of the christmas tree. And Jeff was out of town Monday through Friday... and will be out of town again next week, but I don't want to even talk about it, it makes my blood pressure go up. Oh, the good news is that he was accepted (to two different Universities) for his Master's program. He had an emotional pull to go with ODU since that is where he has his BS from, but he is going to choose Florida Technical Institute instead since they offer a direct program with his company. The cohort will be made up only of people from Northrop Grumman and they will hold the classes in company facilities. The other great thing is that NG pays for it up front instead of having to pay for it then submit for tuition assistance.

Hmmm. that's all for now, I have 5 minuts alone and I better use it wisely!

Pork Roast and Perspective

1. Perspective. Jessi is convinced she can fly. Remember that ANNOYING song from the mid-late 90's? I mean the girl truly believes she can fly. She spent quality time this summer jumping jumping off of the little playhouse to see if she could ever go up instead of down. Yesterday she was doing a job of straightening the pantry, which like any good job involved the use of the step stool. Once she lost interest in arranging the boxes and cans, she turned around and began making mighty leaps from the pantry to the kitchen. I tried to convince her that people couldn't fly, that if they could, everyone would be flying around. She will have nothing of it, and demonstrated that SHE flaps her wings, err, arms, just perfectly and she CAN fly.
I decided that other than the possible trip to the ER, it was harmless fun and let her continue jumping while I prepared dinner. After one particularly HUGE leap, she picked herself up off the floor and with the brightest eyes, her voice full of faith, exclaimed, "Whoa, I have to be careful, I almost fell!"
You see, in her mind, she WAS flying, that wasn't a long jump ending in a fall, it was a successful flight with a slightly rough landing. It's all about perception.


2. Pork Roast (oh wait... you thought this was going to be a perspective of pork roast?... sorry)
Every so often I just get fed up with bland American food and have to revert back to my childhood (fyi, my dad was Cuban and I grew up in Key West, Florida). One of my all time favorites is Cuban style roast pork. Here are directions.
Uhh... I don't do "recipes" so much as I simply give instructions... and to be honest, it would make a lot more sense if we were in the kitchen together and you were watching me.

Pork Roast (made with easily accessible American ingredients)
3-5 lbs pork roast
head of garlic
lemon juice (if you live where you can get key lime juice you should use that, the lemon/lime juice is for the rest of us)
lime juice
cumin (that's a spice, you should be able to find it at any grocery store)
minced onion
a large enough ziploc bag to fit your roast in (or of course, you can cut your roast in half)

-peel about 6 cloves of garlic and cut them in half
-with a small sharp knife, stab your roast and shove the cloves down into the slits
-put the roast into the ziploc bag and pour in a generous amount (see this is where the whole idea of "recipe" falls apart) of the lemon juice and lime juice in. I suppose you need about a cup total, enough that your roast has plenty to swim in
- add a generous amount of cumin ... maybe two tablespoons... I mean smell it, it's yummy, just pour a lot in
-a tablespoon or two of dried minced onion
- chop up a few more cloves of garlic and throw that in as well. save a little garlic for the beans, but other than that, use it.

seal the bag and let it sit for several hours, the longer the better.

When you are ready to cook it, remove from the bag and put it in a roasting pan,all that juice too! cover it with foil and bake at 350-375 for several hours (depends on how big your roast is). Pork is done at 155 degrees, so about 30 minutes before it's done, remove the foil so that the roast can get all brown and delicious.

Now, since I don't always have a big old pork roast laying around, I do the same thing with chops and it works great!
The only thing I don't do is stab the chops and stuff them with garlic, just marinate them the same way, then bake or broil until done.

Serve with:
steamed white rice (or yellow rice) and black beans.

black beans:
two cans of black beans
one onion
one green pepper
several cloves of garlic
salt
vinegar
olive oil

- cut up your onion, green pepper and cloves of garlic
-in the saucepan that you will use to make your bean soup, heat olive oil over medium to low heat (no, I don't know how much olive oil... cause I don't know how big your sauce pan is! you need enough to cover the bottom and saute all the veggies in)
- put the onions, green pepper, and garlic in and cook them over a slow heat, you are not browning them, you are cooking them until soft and clear (well the onions will turn clear.. I'm not sure how long to cook the green pepper to make it clear!) this is called a "congree" which is spelled wrong but I don't even know what language that is... I just know that's what my mom calls it.
- to this pan, add the black beans, let them simmer over low heat for a while (how long? well, they taste better the second day anyway, so I just let them simmer while I cook everything else), say an hour or so.
- at the end of the cooking time, taste them, add one table spoon of vinegar, stir, taste again. you may wish to add a tiny pinch of salt, but the vinegar will probably do the trick. If you want, add another tablespoon of vinegar, but please, taste in between the spoonfuls! The vinegar is important, if you don't add it, you will have bland beans and blame me. It is also important to wait until the END of the cooking time, or the flavor cooks out, and again, you will have bland beans.

Slice the roast (or plate the chops), spoon some of the juice from the pan over each serving, add rice to the plate, serve the beans over the rice. The juice from the meat will mingle with the bean sauce and you will be wishing for some Cuban bread to sop up the plate juice with.

A word about garlic. Some may read this and think that I have used too much garlic. I don't think there is such a thing. It's sort of like having too much money... people claim that it can happen, but no one ever knows of an actual case. viva la garlic!


* i found this recipe for the marinade i use, mojo criollo:

Yield 1 1/2 cups Units US

• ¹⁄₄ cup lime juice, fresh squeezed
• ¹⁄₂ cup orange juice, fresh squeezed
• ¹⁄₂ cup olive oil
• 1 teaspoon dried oregano
• 6 garlic cloves, pressed
• salt, to taste
• black pepper, fresh ground, to taste

Directions

1. Add all ingredients to a small jar, cover and shake for 2 minutes.
2. Adjust salt and pepper to taste.
3. Use as a marinade for meats and poultry.

Random Pictures

The guys are out camping (like for REAL, not just practicing in the back yard!) for Joey's Royal Rangers group, so we girls are having a girl's weekend. Except Dean is here too. Of course he stays holed up in his room, although since he lost phone privileges until he gets his grades up, I'm not sure what he's actually doing.

Anyhow, we girls are having a great time. We found this very fun site that has games for the kids. http://akidsheart.com/holidays/christms/chgames.htm we are especially enjoying the two Han Brett games, the tree and gingerbread house found here:http://www.janbrett.com/trim_a_jan_brett_gingerbread_baby_house.htm

I do have a challenge for you though... If anyone can actually complete this insanely impossible puzzle... please let me know! http://akidsheart.com/holidays/christms/chgames.htm

So anyway, I have the foot spa set up, complete with Spiced Pear Bath Salts from Faith Acre (see my sidebar) and we are all taking turns putting our feet in the bubbling, heavenly scented water. The phone rings, it's my sister telling me that mom said that all her grey hair came from she and my brother, and not one strand from me. That I am the perfect child, blah blah blah. I calm my sister down, let her know I wasn't perfect, I was merely subtle (that sounds so much better than sneaky, doesn't it?). I turn back to my own two not-so-subtle children and see that Joy's head is dripping wet. I question Jessi and she tells me that Joy WANTED her hair wet and that Joy looks SO cute with her hair wet, so... she did it. With the water from the foot bath. yum.

Yes, that is a hot pink softball and glove she is holding. they belong to the child which I most certainly carried and birthed, yet somehow is not mine. That would be Jessi, who is 100% princess, infatuated with shoes, and still very tomboy and unarguably one of the fastest runners around. I sincerely have no idea where she came from.

So we girls stayed up SOOO late that Jessi is still in bed, Joy is crawling around all over me as I try to type this. I have much to do before the guys return, so I'll close now.

Just in case you need a good smile today:

What you have to understand is that she puts this on by herself. She loves wearing the sunglasses and then plops the hat on backwards. This, one, she's mine.

One for you

OK more on gifts, but this time instead of urging you to buy them, I'll share a super simple but very impressive gift you can make.

Decoupage. Oh don't look so shocked, I could have said macrame you know.

The basic tools: Mod Podge or other type of decoupage glue, available at any craft store or probably at walmart. Papers, I love using the pretty tissues that you get your china wrapped up in when you buy dishes from outlet stores, however, you can use any pretty papers such as scrap booking paper, holiday napkins, or wrapping paper. I personally prefer thinner tissue type papers rather than good sturdy scrapping paper, but it will all work.Something to decorate. For this project we have made a number of journals. I got blank journals with hard covers for $1 each at Michael's Craft Store, I'm sure you could find suitable books at the $1 store or decorate things like mini photo albums or even picture frames. I was fortunate to find journals that had the metal spiral binding that allowed me to completely remove the covers and then put them back on later. You can do this on books with non-removable covers, you'll just have to take care not to spill glue over the pages.This book had lovely stiff covers, but was also graces with burnt orange and brown designs... I simply covered the covers with stiff card stock before starting to decorate with my tissues.Choose some papers with motifs that you like and start cutting them out, bits and pieces from a variety of papers can look really nice. I cut out fine work like the flowers and like the look of ripping motifs from scrap booking papers, such as the words in the above book. Also, when I rip the paper, I like to use a tinting marker to color the ripped edges. I will also rip strips from the tissues for stripes and bands. It's all up to you really.

It's time to get messy. You'll need a big-ish paint brush, or even better one of those small foam brush things, they are usually about .20 at craft stores and work really well for evenly applying large areas of glue. After a trial layout start gluing, you will apply a coat of the mod podge all over the cover and begin laying your paper designs on. Decoupage is all about being loose... don't get all huffed up if your papers wrinkle or the lay out changes from your original plan... and layer! I think it's nice to start with a large motif and then layer, layer, layer, on top and around it. Glue, lay stuff on, cover it with more glue, lay more stuff on, and on and on.

For your last layers of glue, you will want to pay close attention that you anchor down any edges or thick pieces. Also, depending on how much you wrapped around the edge of the covers, you may like to cut one piece of paper to fit inside and glue that down, just for a clean inner cover (hint: I often use one sheet of the paper from the journal...it fits exactly and gives a nice place for an inscription if you so desire). Once everything is dry, just reassemble the journals.
The one on the top left is what Jessi made (with help, yes, but she did all the cutting and most of the gluing) for her teacher. Of course you are not limited to books, here is a wooden star that we picked up for less than $1 at a craft store and then decorated both sides
Here is a little trinket box that Joey and I did.

I'm sure I left out some vital part of the directions, so if you are interested and have a question, just leave a comment and I'll try to clarify it or take more pictures!

Hymns and help

OH I have so much to say and share and talk about but this is gooing to have to be a quick post.

let me be to the point. i love hymns, i miss hymns, sometimes i'm so frustrated that if i could find a church who actually sang good hymns i'd go there regardless of the flavor of church.

so, please, i want recommendations of recordings i can get of good hymns... and to be a bit more picky, I would like them to be singing not instrumental, i would like them to be sort of "normal" in that they aren't fancy arrangments, but more what you would sing in church, finally, if they could be kid friendly that would be great. that doesn't mean falsely peppy, just listener friendly. My kids can enjoy good music, not just "kid music" (for instance, they know by heart most of the music from Sound of Music, even the slow songs) but I'm not sure they will be tempted to sing along with slow or operatic type music.

So really, is there such a thing out there? is it possible for my kids to grow up in this age of 7-11 praise choruses and still learn the great hymns? thanks!

Ummmm...

Ok here's the deal, I have a rough draft of a Halloween rant, thoughts on a movie review (The Business of Being Born), or the option to do another shameless promo for one of my WAHM friends.


Guess which one won?


The thing is, I've actually already blogged about Tara's soaps before but that's ok, they are SO super-duper that they deserve another spot, especially in light of gift-giving season.


First off, these are home made soaps, not glycerin melt-n-pour from the craft store. They are made from goat's milk and are simply divine. They are good for your skin and smell good enough to eat--although, and trust me on this one, they do NOT taste as good as they smell.



Now, in order for this recommendation to carry the proper weight, you must understand that I am cheap beyond all measure and to pay $6 for a bar of soap.... it ain't happenin'. Except... that this soap lasts and lasts and lasts! I got five bars last fall to use as Christmas gifts... and then couldn't give them away (more on this later) and I just now finished my last bar. Now that is just me using them, not the whole family, but still.



So here it is, gifting season once again, and Tara has absolutely outdone herself. She has mini-gift sets of a soap and handmade wooden soap dish for under $10, and a full-on gift basket for under $25--get this-- INCLUDING SHIPPING!

I challenge you to think outside the box and instead of doing another Bath and Bodyworks gift, to go to Tara's shop and check out her goods. You will be buying American, supporting a Christian work-at-home-mom, and getting a very high quality product. Only one warning note... if this is intended for a gift, you may want to take advantage of her shipping directly to the recipient option. Everything she sells is packaged so carefully that it truly does not need any additional wrapping from you and I'm telling you, if you get it and smell it, you will have a HARD time not keeping it for yourself!
Tara's Store

Shameless Promotion

In case you haven't noticed, I'm big on supporting small home businesses (since I are one ;-P) and I'm very, very please to highly recommend my great friend Lisa and her graphic business called "UnOrdinary Life." Now, if you read here much, you know that I am into photo-editing and digital scrapping, etc. But I have to tell you, Lisa can do wonders. I was pleased to have her design our family Christmas cards last year, and I'm pushing for all of you to take advantage of her skill and get your personalized cards done with her this year.

I'll give the link in a minute, but first I have to gush some more. When I say "personalized", I don't mean pick from a list of premade templates, I mean totally custom. Your colors, your designs, your total choice. You describe your idea (classic, humerous, victorian, retro, modern, etc) and she will create it. I think what I most admire about Lisa's sense of design is that she can do such different work. My card last year--disembodied heads cleverly perched atop snowmen bodies--totally us, whacky and funny. Some of her customs cards from this year--totally classy, deep rich colors, formal designs.

Oh! photo editing. Anyone with more than two people in their family knows that it is pretty much impossible to have everyone's eyes open at the same time. Throw small children or babies into the mix and you are pretty much hosed. Doesn't matter. Really. Send Lisa the one shot of you and Sally looking nice, the other shot of Daddy and baby looking nice, and that final shot where the dog is looking at the camera instead of licking himself, and she will merge them together and create a perfect family portrait!

Lest you think that I'm getting a kick-back from this advertisement, let me assure you that I'm not, I just REALLY believe in her work.

Here's the website, her prices are extremely reasonable and all the printing is professionally done at one of the biggest professional labs in the country.
UnOrdinary Life