Archive for food
Cake!
Yeah, I know the previous post was about eating better, but you have to have cake sometimes.
Last weekend Mom and I were asked to make a birthday cake for a little girl’s first birthday.
We decided to experiment with the types of things you see on tv. These decorations are made from gum paste, but now I think fondant might be more appropriate:
The design is based off of the mural we painted in her bedroom which is based on a quilt set from Pottery Barn Kids (not in production any longer).
Addi enjoyed her own personal cake:
July is my month to do birthdays at work. I put it off as long as I could (sparing a couple days) and I decided to do fancy cupcakes:
I have been missing zinnias this year as I never got them planted, so I made fake ones. 24 fake ones.
Eating better…
Last week I decided to go back to my old diet. For the last six months due to a variety of reasons my diet has been really unhealthy.
My old diet has these rules:
•No Aspartame.
•No High Fructose Corn Syrup.
•Limit processed foods or cut them out completely.
•Keep calories somewhere around 1500 per day.
I did really good up until yesterday. McDonald’s and Graeter’s…but we’ll just pretend yesterday didn’t happen.
For breakfast I had organic yogurt (this coming week it will be homemade yogurt), fresh fruit and homemade granola. For lunch and dinner I had a lot of salad, stir fry, sticky rice, uncooked vegetables.
And some days I really, really wanted a cookie.
Spending Money…
I’m ready to stop.
Today I spent $337 to fix my car. New ignition switch and a new Engine Oil Pressure Sensor.
I also went to Hobby Lobby and bought some stuff for Valentine’s. The light in the picture is funny, but…red and pink paper, red and pink sparkly heart brads, candy heart buttons, two heart punches and a some matching ribbon.
I also bought some glitter this weekend at Wal-Mart. It is Martha Stewart brand that I had been wanting, but they put it on clearance:
Hobby Lobby has also started carrying themed cupcake liners, and well, I must have them:
And finally, for Brian, because I’m sure he misses my ‘Salad For Dinner’ post…this is what I had for dinner tonight:
Salad For Dinner…
I tried out my new salad spinner tonight. It isn’t the best quality, but it was $5.99. It is one of the smaller ones, perfect for me.
The tomatoes are from the garden. There are ton of romas to be picked. I cannot decide whether to make salsa or tomato sauce. (I think mom is wanting salsa and I am wanting tomato sauce.)
My kitchen has managed to stay clean for two days now. I’ve been making a point of not dropping stuff on the table when I come home, but actually putting it away. What an idea. *grin* I’ve also washed the dishes as I’ve used them.
My house will be clean and simple one day. Really.
Did I mention?
I am going to change my theme a bit. For headers I am going to try to rely on photography, I like the look better. I’m going to get rid of the title/subject line as many times I sit here pondering what to put in it. It will be replaced by a larger date. Also, I wasn’t aware that the theme doesn’t display right in Internet Explorer (at least the version my parents are using). I also need to put in the ‘go back’ and ‘go forward’ links. I’m not sure that will get done this week, but hopefully this weekend at least.
On Saturday, Dad, Mom and I went to Findlay Market in Cincinnati. The farmer’s market is open now. I bought a some plants there-six lettuce plants, basil, cilantro, oregano, thyme, some hens and chickens and notably a mimosa tree. I have nowhere to plant this tree, but I am going to try and keep it in a pot till I have a place I can plant
it. Sometimes it is raised as a houseplant in climates like Ohio’s, but I’ve read that it is a finicky plant. I’ve wanted one for a long time as they are so interesting. Their stalks of leaves are normally spread out, until you poke them, then they fold up like a venus flytrap. In the actual market I bought some peppers, grapes, a fryer chicken and an apple scone. Here is an example of what the mimosa does:
Sunday we had a grill out for Father’s Day at my aunt’s house. That was a pretty good time, but in the 15-30 minutes I sat out by the pool I ended up getting sun burnt.
For Father’s Day I made my dad a stuffed teddy bear. While that might sound strange, in actuality it is pretty sentimental. He ‘had’ this pair of cowboy boots from when he was still a bachelor. They were made of eel skin and honestly, they were falling to pieces-but he still wanted to keep them. Mom and he were cleaning out the storage closet a couple weeks ago though and he decided to get rid of them. Mom kept them without him knowing though and gave them to me. Dad was very happy with the result.
Today Mom and I went to go draw a mural on a nursery wall (Mom will be painting it this week while I’m at work). After that I made a Lowe’s and Wal-Mart run while Mom and Kaylee waited in the car. Afterwards we all came back here and Mom helped me get the house clean-really and truly clean. I have a few things left to put away, and the sewing room is my job, but all the ‘seen’ parts of the house are spic and span. We had fun figuring out how the new slipcovers actually fit the furniture.
Ryan was talking about coming home over the July Fourth weekend, but come to find out he has a blood drive that weekend. It’s looking like I might not get to see him until October. That’s a long time-a month short of a year in fact. But we’ll handle it.
Life Is Hectic…
I’ve been really busy the past couple of weeks between work and everything not-work.
One of the big things: Paul had surgery today to remove three large bladder stones and whatever small ones the x-ray didn’t pick up. Now, if you would have asked me two weeks ago, I would have said, “No, I would not spend that much money on a cat to have surgery.” Right. I did. $51 for the first vet trip, $35 for the second, $70 for the third and $250-300 for today. He is staying overnight at the veterinarian for observation, but they said he used the litter box after he woke up, which is a good thing (no blockage). He also has to stay on a special food now to prevent recurrence. Apparently some cats get them and some cats don’t.
Earlier I started to yell at Gurney and Paul to stop rough-housing, then I realized it was Gurney rough-housing by himself.
Another big thing: Our office switched over to Quark 7 two weeks ago. This week they are using 6.52 again. There was one day that I just dropped everything I needed to do and spent half the day with the open question, “So what is your problem?” x 20 people. That program (in my opinion) is a piece of crap. They are just begging people to switch to InDesign. In order for us to switch to InDesign though, we need to get the programmers from American Color in to see how well the database program works with what we do compared to what it will do with InDesign.
Lately, getting ready for work in the morning has been a trial because I have nothing to wear. Most of my clothes are winter clothes with the exception of about three work appropriate shirts. I’ve been wearing a lot of tank tops and sweater cardigans. Ryan told me to go buy clothes then as I was ranting about this last Monday on the phone while trying to find something to wear to a church dinner. Most girls would say, “Sure!” I for one, Hate Shopping For Clothes. It isn’t that things don’t fit (sometimes they do, sometimes they don’t), it is that with the current style trends I can a.) look pregnant b.) wear tie dye c.) buy pre-worn out clothing d.) any number of things I’m not paying money for.
Saturday I went with my aunt Teresa to the Dayton Mall (she had to return eyeglasses). Between a variety of stores I bought a t-shirt (not for work), a button up oxford shirt and a white tank top out of a nice fabric. I tried on lots and lots of shirts, but that is what worked.
Today I went to the outlet mall at 9am only to realize they didn’t open til 10. I wasn’t going to wait around until they did open, so I headed to Beavercreek to go to Goodwill which is where I actually wanted to go on Saturday. Normally at that particular Goodwill I can find tons of clothing in almost new condition. Even there though, there wasn’t a lot of good work clothes. I ended up getting two button up shirts. On my way home I went through Xenia and stopped at that Goodwill and found another.
I also went to Kohl’s. My mom could tell you how desperate I must be if I ventured in there. I found a pair of Lee jeans ($20) and a pair of Croft & Barrow dress pants ($8!).
So I guess I have a few more things to be wearing now. I am quite aware I wouldn’t have this problem if I would make it a point to let’s say, buy one shirt a month, but as previously stated, I don’t like clothes shopping.
In addition to buying clothes, I of course bought some other fun stuff:
I was being lazy and made the collage all one picture, instead of a bunch of little ones… 1. New Moleskins. I keep my ‘ideas of things to make’ magazine clippings in a set of small kraft cover, grid paged moleskins. Lately though I have found the need for a sketchbook again, so I bought the medium sized ones with blank pages. 2. Reader’s Digest Complete Guide To Needlework. Slowly I am finding the books that were staples of my childhood once I could check out ‘adult’ library books-mind you, they were mostly craft related. 3. Hamburger & Fry Baskets. These are from the Target Dollar section. There have been times I have wanted them in the past, now I have six. 4. Iron On Vinyl. I did not know such a thing existed, now I do. 5. Shish Kabob! So cute, this is from PetsMart’s new summer collection. The ‘meat’ pieces squeak and the red and yellow things crinkle. 6. Produce ball. I’m sure that has another name, but I don’t know it. Technically I also bought that last weekend, but I needed another picture. 7. Ice Cube Drink Stirrers. This is in Target’s summer section. Normally they are expensive, but this one was $2.99. 8. Wind Chime. This was in Target’s Dollar section too. 9. Bath & Body Works Shampoo & Conditioner. I did not know they started making hair care products again. I’ve used it once so far and am pretty pleased with it.
One last thing before I go to bed. Last weekend I needed to fit something new into one of the drawers in my kitchen, but it just wasn’t going to happen (see first picture). I took a three drawer storage container from my sewing room and repurposed it for the kitchen. Now the top drawer has cake/cookie decorating supplies. The middle drawer has sandwich/drink supplies. The bottom drawer has cupcake liners and treat bags. Cleaning that drawer out also enabled me to realize I could get rid of some of the stuff. Yay for organizing.
Tomorrow night I am going to try and upload all of the pictures and movies I haven’t messed with in the last month…
Winter in Ohio…
Sunday it was around 60 degrees with wind gusts up to 50 mph. Today it was around 30 degrees. In this 30 degree atmosphere the weather couldn’t decide if it wanted to be sunny/sleet/snow/rain/etc. I went to Cincinnati today and when I got home this afternoon it was sunny, but cold. You could see the grass. I put Gurney out and about ten minutes later I looked out and saw this:
Yeah. I’m ready for spring. After a not so great meeting at the church for the building committee I came home and made 6 dozen cookies for the donor center to staunch my irritation.
I now need to write a couple notes, package up Valentine’s Day presents (and no, this is not my fault it is a week late, I didn’t know they were traveling last week and I didn’t want cookies to sit over the weekend). Also of note: Gurney went to the veterinarian today for distemper and kennel cough. Their scales say he has put on two pounds since two months ago. That’s good. His ribs aren’t as obtrusive as normal. Apparently fast food is good for something-even if your 8 year old cousin is incredulous that you take the dog to Wendy’s for fries and chicken nuggets.
It’s a soup kind of day…
Mom and Dad bought me some plastic storage boxes for my Christmas decorations. They bought two of them and they fit under my bed. I went and bought a third today and that should hold everything. I am going to keep greenery, fake poinsettias and other fake seasonal plants in the third one. It’s nice to have all of those things in boxes that hold up rather than cardboard boxes.
I meant to get the last of all the decorations put away today and the houseplants reintegrated throughout the house (they have been on a cabinet in the back room while the Christmas decorations were up). That didn’t happen though as I crashed when I got home.
I might get something done yet tonight though. We’ll see.
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