A New Recipe and It's a Keeper!

While looking through an old copy of Reader's Diagest, I came accross a recipe for single-serve mac and cheese. We had tried the store bought kind before, but felt it fell a little short of desirability. So...we tried this! It really is quite an easy recipe.

Combine 1/2 cup pasta, 1/2 cup water, and 1/2 tsp. salt in a microwave-safe bowl.

Microwave on high in two minute intervals, stirring between each, until pasta is al dente, 6 to 8 minutes. (Add 2 Tbs. water, if needed, to fully cook pasta.)

Stir in 1/4 cup of milk and...

1/2 cup of shredded cheese (they recommend cheddar, we used itallian blend and colby). Stir.

Microwave for 30 second intervals, stirring between each, until...

the cheese melts into a rich sauce.

Serve...

My daughter liked it so much she did not even want to look up at the camera!

 When I asked my son if it was yummy, he made kissy face at me!

Needless to say, we will be making this recipe again!

Spring Time Fun and Crafting

So, my feet have been waiting and waiting and waiting for warm weather to come our way and now that it is here... LET THE FLIP FLOP WEARING BEGIN!!!

I could not find a pair of black flip flops that I loved, so I modified a pair to suit me!

 Nothing like a little bling to take boring to beautiful! The best part is I did this for about $3! How fabulous is that?!

 I also completed another bag bag, this one is for a friend/co-worker. Isn't it lovely! The pattern was a bit of a pain to figure out, but once I had it down, it went pretty smoothly. I actually frogged this project three times before I settled on a design I liked! The best part is that she loves it!

 Here is the majority of my fabric stash that I have collected so far... isn't it lovely!

What would a spring post be without some Easter pics? Here is my lovely daughter collecting eggs.

My adorable son finding an egg in the flower pot.

 Who says the fun has to be over just because the eggs are empty? Tony dumped the empty plastic eggs all over the living room floor and ran circles around them with Sami!

Hope you all had a wonderful holiday!

Poncho Progress

I am really getting excited now! I have gotten some more progress done on my poncho! That is no easy feat considering that the children are not fans of me sitting down to anything for more than a few minutes! Crazy as it sounds, I feel a bit sad when I think that the day will come when they DO NOT want my attention all the time. I really think one has to be a bit crazy to be a mother anyway!

So.....with out any further addu.....here are my poncho progress pics. With a little help of course!

Here is Tony giving me his 'I'm not really in the way, am I Mama?' face.



 Take two and a mischievous little grin to boot!

Not one to be left out, Sami had to get in on the photo action...literally!

Here is the side view of the poncho...kid free, well almost! LOL

Finally! My model got into her 'costume' and is so happy to show off my poncho progress with a flair that is all Sami! "Mama, I put my arms up just for you!" Of course, little man thinks she is silly too!

Sami told me she really wanted to get in on the photo action because "I dressed myself in the dress from my BEST friend Autumn and I want her to see it!" Kashi, you will have to show her.

CAL Poncho Progress with lemondedesucrette

So...I started my first CAL!

It is with http://www.lemondedesucrette.com/ and I am so excited!

I worked on it a bit today...guilty pleasure as I should have been doing something else at the time, but even I cannot focus on the mundane all the time! I really love the colors.

Here is what I have completed so far....

 Another picture, this one with it laid out 'flat'!

 My little lady got so excited about this project she started begging me for it! I explained that I am planning on making one for her when I finish mine. She was SO happy. She decided she should model mine. Although it is way too big for her, it looks so cute!

 Of corse my little man is not one to be left out! He started hamming it up for a picture too! Don't you just love the chocolate on his face...he has a bit of a Kit Kat addiction!

The Bag Bag (no, that is not a typo)

While surfing my facebook page awhile back, I came accross this youtube tutorial from Bobwilson123 http://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/Bobwilson123-Youtube-Crochet-Channel/145759165474278. She has inspired my creations on more than one occasion.

Here is the Bag Bag I made after watching her Bag Bag video.

This first picture is of the completed Bag Bag empty.

I made this Bag Bag in my school colors and placed it in the bathroom off of my clasroom so that we would have continuous access to plastic bags (in case of accidents).

 This is what it looks like stuffed with plastic grocery bags.

So excited about how well this turned out.

On another note, I have been busy trying to brush up on my sewing skills. I bought a new book...

I love this book. It is easy to follow and has a lot of really cute patterns in it. Plus, for someone just beginning, like me, the projects are rather inexpensive. The perfect way to practice!

My bestie (or perhaps ex-bestie?) was going to help me figure out the whole sewing with a pattern thing, but I have not been able to get ahold of her for a LONG while...no idea what is going on there. Anyway, I think this book will help. I am very excited about it! I have been looking through it for the last couple of weeks and marking my favorites. Plus, I have been scoping out the local fabric stores and working up a supply of one yard swatches! I have a lot of neet fabric and my sewing machine is out and ready to go! Wish me luck...

Making a comeback!

Okay, so I have not been gone from here that long... but it sure did feel like. I am not really sure why I have not blogged for 20 whole days, but everytime I visited my little bloggy world it seemed that the energy and insperation drained out of me and I lost all motivation to write a new blog post in favor of looking at all of the wonderful blogs that I have tagged! I am sure at least some of you have been there...

So, I really have been up to quite a bit lately (on top of trying to get ready for our up-coming conferences!!!) I have made at least five more cell phone holders (these are a really big hit), I completed a Minnesota University pillow for a friend, made a car pillow for a very close friend, made a bunch of up-cycled furniture for my daughter's barbie collection, and made blankets and pillows for said furniture. So, I guess I have been pretty busy....want to see?

This is my daughter's doll bunk bed and how we made it...

First I took a small flat box and cut into two equal halves. I cut a second box into rectangles that were the height I wanted the beds and would wrap around the sides of the beds by about one inch. Then I covered all the pieces in duct tape!

 I taped the pieces to gether and this is what I got!

My little girl loves it and the dolls fir nicely!

 Of corse, I could not stop there! I had to make the bed some pillows and blankets! So tiny and fun!

We also made a smaller bed for her smaller doll, a couch, a chair, a table, and two kitchen chairs. Sorry, the table and kitchen chairs are not pictured, but you can see the smaller bed in the picture above, and the couch and chair in the picture below.

All this took was a little imagination and a couple rolls of duct tape!

 As I said, that has not been my only project over the last few weeks....

Here is the maroon side of the MNU pillow I made for a friend.

 Here is the yellow side.

I really like it. I think it turned out really nice, and better yet, she really liked it! Strangely enough, that means more to me than liking it myself!

Here is the car pillow I made for a close family friend. He is really into old cars...

The front...

 The back...

I made it with an over laping flap so that the pillow form could be removed for easy washing. I think it turned out really nice and it was immediatly enjoyed by its recipient!

Hope this post was not information overload! I also have some pictures from my son's second birthday which we celebrated last weekend, but I will save those for a later post. :)

Yum!!!

Busy, busy, busy....but that is not new! I have been up to some fun stuff with the kiddos as of late. For example, tonight we made puppy chow Alisia style! Want the recipe?  You know you do!

1 jar (18oz) Peanut Butter
1 stick (1/2 cup) unsalted butter
1 and 1/2 bags of chocolate chips (15oz)
Melt in microwave for 1 min. Stir. Melt an additional 30 seconds to fully melt chocolate.
Add:
2 TBSP. Vanilla
Stir.
Pour 1 box (12oz) hexagon shaped corn and rice cereal into a large bowl and pour the chocolate mixture over.
Stir until well coated.
Pour one bag (approx 2lbs) powdered sugar over cereal mixture. Place plastic wrap over bowel and secure with tape (I used duck tape, but I LOVE duck tape). Shake until cereal is well coated.

Here comes the best part.......

EAT!!!!!

Can you tell that I am extreemly thrilled with my puppy chow?!

So easy, so good....So YUM!!!!