Napkins

I have had this fabric for too long. There is a coordinate fabric that goes with it but I don't have much of that left over. It is a beautiful French print actually produced there. I decided it would make great napkins so yesterday I cut and sewed 6 napkins. I still have quite a bit of fabric so maybe I will make them for gifts. I also did some mending, sewed a button on Miss K's jumper, sewed a button on my coat, and sewed up a hem that was coming undone.

Travel Swap

The scrapbook group that I am part of meets once a month and we often have a swap. April's theme is travel. I had some time this afternoon and wanted to see what I could create. I was pleasedwith the outcome. I started with a pocket envelope, then stamped a world map using the watermark pad and then used my fun travel stamps around the edges and then added some hint of colour with my chalks.

I made 12. I think that should be enough for the swap.

Need to Create

Yesterday I was feeling the need to create something. It seemed like life had gotten busy and I had not been doing anything creative. The easiest thing was to do some beading. I had fun with these two pieces. The one is pink and black beads with a bit of silver just perfect for for a pink and black skirt that I have. The other one is just blue seed beads with some other colourful beads that I have. I can always find something to wear with blue.

Carrot Cookies

Today's was the mom's group Easter party. I decided to make some fun cookies for the kids. I think I had about 45 in the box and would you believe I actually brought cookies home. Last night I taught Miss K how to lick the beater. Hey, it is therapy. That is one of the things that we special needs moms do label just about everything "therapy". I can find all kinds of things to buy as long as it is "therapy". Now if I could figure out how to have my scrapbook supplies considered therapy I would be set.

We are working on licking in speech therapy so I thought why not practice at home.

Menu week of March 26

I wrote the menu on Friday and ended up changing things around.

Monday - pizza with the leftover sauce from meatball sandwiches and fresh mushrooms instead of canned since I had those that needed to be eaten.

Tuesday - Chili con corn - I have the tomato sauce leftover from making the spaghetti sauce and everything else.

Wednesday - might be leftovers as I am going for tea with a friend in the afternoon. It is a buffet from 3:30 to 6:00

Thursday - Chicken and pineapple over rice

Friday - Asian beef stew only because we have not had beef for a while and this is one of our favorite beef dishes

Meatball Sandwiches

I was really hungry for a meatball sandwich. It is just a bit too far to run for a good V&S but if I were going for a V&S sandwich I would probably go for a ham and cheese. Anyway, I decided to make meatball sandwiches. First I made the rolls. I just made bread dough and shaped it for the rolls.Then I made the meatballs and added them to the sauce.
They were yummy. Now we have the sauce without meatballs and will have pizza this week for dinner.

Weekly Menu 3/19

We have been eating this week. I am getting back into posting my menu and doing a bit more planning.

Monday - Chicken with peanut sauce and couscous - it was yummy
Tuesday - pork chops, noodles and asparagus
Wednesday - meatball sandwiches
Thursday - enchilada chicken casserole - I am going to use up all the bags of corn chips that we have
Friday - Chili Con corne casserole

This week's meals didn't leave much in leftovers so lunch has to be created. We had quiche and then a few other things that we could find around here.

Pasta with pesto

This is one of our favorite quick meals. It is a combination of a recipe from a missionary friend in Italy and a restaurant entree in Asia.

Cook pasta. After a few minutes of cooking add green beans and cauliflower. Cook until done.
Drain. Mix pesto according to taste preference. Serve. If it is lunch, we just serve ourselves out of the pan.

Crustless Quiche

Yesterday, I tried a new quiche recipe and this is a winner in my book.

Ingredients

4 oz	Bacon
1/2	Yellow onion
6	Eggs
3/4 cup	Cream
2 boxes (10 oz	Each) frozen broccoli or spinach
1/2 pound	Shredded cheese
1/2 t	Salt
1/4 t	Pepper

Preparation

heat oven to 350

Butter a 10" tart pan or 9" deep pie plate, or muffin tin

in large skillet over medium heat cook bacon until crisp. drain on paper towels; coarcely chop.

Remove all but 1 T bacon dripping from skillet. Add onion and cook minutes until softened but not brown.

In large bowl combine eggs, cream, broccoli, cheese, salt and pepper. Stir in bacon and onion.

Pour mixture in prepare pan. Bake 1 hour and 15 minutes (tenting with foil if necessary to prevent over browning) or until a knife inserted in center comes out clean. Cool 5 minutes before cutting or removing from pan.

I found it here.

As usual, I made some modifications to the recipe. I didn't have any bacon and so I skipped that and fried my onion in a bit of butter. I used spinach and honestly just added some cheddar and Emmental cheese (it is some French cheese with holes).

Bargain Find

The other day I was in the grocery store and saw the Play-Doh Fun Factory and thought it looked neat but wasn't really going to pay the full price for it. They say that Miss K loves playing with play-doh at BSF but the last times she did it at home she ate it.

Well, later I was in the store and saw the crowds of people crowding the clearance bins and look what I found at almost 50 percent off the original price. I grabbed two one for Miss K's birthday and one for my gift box.

The results

It wasn't the best of weeks in a number of ways. Emotional up and downs and my steady husband was halfway around the world. His plane is supposed to land in about an hour and we here are excited.

So I did manage to get rid of probably 60 things. I took a bag of craft things to a friends house which probably had about 20 things in it. I gave lots of paper to two friends who were wanting to start scrapbooking. That was about 20 things. I did get rid of a few other things as well. I have a few things that are sitting here to go to clothing recyle and also to be mailed.

I was going to say that next week was back to normal but we have a staff conference the first few days and then we have Keswick that we want to attend. Oh, and I have been asked to bake for Keswick. I do enjoy baking. I made 9 loaves of banana bread already. They were just little loaves and my freezer is full.

February Results

It is hard to believe that it is the beginning of March already. It is time to reflect on how I am doing on my goals for the year.

Exercise - I found a walking partner. We go out 2 mornings a week. That is good but I still need to find 2 more times a week for some exercise. I really should get back to do Slim in 6.

At the beginning of February I picked a book to read and evaluate if it is worth keeping. I didn't start reading the book until the 26th or maybe even the 27th. I think I ready enough to know that I don't want to keep it. I did read a few good quotes but not enough to keep it on my shelves. I need to find some place where I can donate books.

Using & Reducing fabric and paper - I scrapbooked a total of 20 papers in February which used up some paper. I will confess that I orderd some Asian paper some of which I already have and some which I won't receive for another week so I guess paper is a wash as I used some but I also bought some. I used some fabric and didn't buy anymore even though I was tempted.

I am continuing to have my quiet time in the morning. I am in Romans and Psalms.

February was a good month. We had a big holiday in there and had company for a week. I am looking forward to March.