Fashion Friday (Posted on Saturday)

I know this is a wimpy first post for this week, but in a round-about way, it was a request. I promise that the "Fashion Fridays" to come will be much more exciting.

The Knot Bow Tutorial

Fold the ribbon over four times and then gather it in the middle.

Stick a needle and thread through the center of the gathered area.

Begin wrapping the thread around the gathered area very tightly.

After you have wrapped the thread several times, put the needle back through the area. This will secure the thread that you have just wrapped around. Tie the thread off.

Take a different piece of ribbon and tie a loose knot. Ribbed ribbon about 1/2 inch wide will work best.

The finished knot will look something like this.

Hot glue the base of the knot to the bow.

Put hot glue on the clip. Then place the bow on the hot glue. I used a piece of paper to keep the hot glue from sticking to the bottom of the clip. The final step to wrap the pieces of the knotted ribbon around the top of the clip and secure them with hot glue.

Here is a picture of the finished product.

Tasty Tuesday

For Valentine's Day and Aunt Sandy's birthday, I wanted to make something other than the normal cupcakes or cake, so I thought I would try my hand at chocolate covered pretzels. I've had them before and they are delicious, but never bought any for myself because they always seem rather expensive. I followed a recipe that I had found and they proved to be so easy to make. Here is a tutorial of some that I made this past weekend for some friends that just had a baby.

Line some cookie sheets with wax paper and get your pretzel rods ready.

Melt a bag of semi-sweet chocolate chips and a tablespoon of Crisco in 30 second increments in the microwave. Stir each time until chocolate is in a liquid form. For these particular pretzels, I used 1/2 cup of white chocolate chips for a drizzle effect.

Dip the pretzel rod in the chocolate and use the spoon to cover the remaining 3/4's of the pretzel. If you have a deep bowl, you probably won't need a spoon.

Place pretzel on the wax paper.

The next step is to decorate the pretzel. For these particular pretzels, I drizzled chocolate on top, but you can also sprinkle mini M&Ms or sprinkles on top as long as the chocolate is still wet. The final step is to refrigerate for 30 minutes. I purchased pretzel rod bags at a local craft store. I wish that I could show you a finished picture, but we packed them up and delivered them before I could get a final picture.

The Devilish Debit Card Machine

Is it just me or have the the debit card machines at cash registers gotten extra annoying in the past year or so. I long for the days when the cashier swiped your card and that was the end of it. Now you are asked a series of really annoying questions. For example, Is this amount ok?. No...that amount is not okay, I would prefer to pay $5 rather than the $79.87 that you are charging, but do I have a choice?! The following question is Would you like it all on this card?. Again the answer would be NO, but I don't see an option for the guy behind me to pay the rest of my bill...can we perhaps add that option before my next purchase? I know that this is a ridiculous thing to be complaining about, but I find myself talking to the machine after every purchase and it just irritates me!

The Truck's New Name

So for those of you that aren't aware of the history of the truck, here is some quick info on how I now have the pleasure of driving it everyday. Will was driving his Ford Explorer Sport Trac when he first started in sales. I convinced him when you drive miles upon miles per day waving at people (sometimes I think that is what he does) it is ridiculous to spend that kind of money on fuel for a truck. So he decided that he would start driving my older Honda Civic to save gas and mileage on the truck. A few months later, he totaled my car. Long story short, he bought himself a Volvo for work and here I am STILL driving that truck.

So we've had a few issues with the truck to say the least. There was one recall on the cruise control because there were some incidents with it catching on fire, but of course after they fixed the part, it didn't really apply to our (and I use "our" very loosely) truck because the horn/cruise control was already broken. "Why does the horn not work," you may ask. Well after Will has taken apart the steering wheel and replaced the fuse 3 times, it will work for about a month and then quit again. One of the door handles on the back door is also broken, so if you get in the truck, you better hope someone will be nice enough let you out from the outside. The latest thing is most likely the shocks; if I go around a curve or go over any indention or bump in the road, the truck squeals "eee, eee, eee, eee!" There is a saying, "I saw you coming from a mile away." Well with the truck, you HEAR me coming from miles away...can you hear the truck in Pittsburgh Brie? Will drove the truck the other day, and when I asked him how it drove he stated, "It's embarrassing to drive!" Yet, I am the one that has to drive it on a daily basis. I asked our mechanic if he could just tell Will that the truck was undrivable, but I guess he thought that was too unethical...can you blame me for trying? So after all that, the truck's new name is SPOS or Squeaky Piece of...well, you get the point.

No Calorie Doughnut

I wanted to give Mini a sweet treat for Valentine's Day; however the thought of giving her more candy and sugar after she already received so much just didn't sit well with me. Then "ta, ta, ta-ta"...I knew exactly what to do. I decided to make her some doughnuts to add to the play food in her kitchen. Here is the tutorial of how you can have some of your very own "no calorie doughnuts."

Fold a piece of felt in half and use a CD to guide you in drawing 2 circles.

Use a CD as a guide and make 2 rolling circles on the "Frosting-colored" felt.

Pin and sew the "frosting" to the doughnut outside and sew it to the doughnut skin.

After you have finished sewing the outside circle and inside circle of the "frosting," it should look like this.

Next comes the sprinkles. I used bugle beads and sewed them by hand.

Pin right sides together and sew the outside circle of the doughnut.

Turn the doughnut inside out. If you notice in this picture it looks as if the center has been cut into slits...DO NOT DO THIS! I tried it with this doughnut, because I thought it might look better, but it definitely did not turn out as good as the 3 final products pictured below. The final step is to hand sew the inside hole. I like to stuff the doughnut with cotton stuffing as I sew.

Mini's Valentine's Doughnuts.

Sweetest Sounds

I'd like to pose a question tonight. What sound in this world brings you the most joy?


If you would have asked me this question 10 years ago, I would have said hearing the First United Methodist Choir of Mocksville sing. This is of course the choir at my hometown church and they are beyond amazing. Music has always had a special place in my heart and through the years that has not changed.

If you would have asked me this question 5 years ago, I would have said the sound of the ocean. The beach is one of those places where I feel at peace. I love nothing more than closing my eyes, digging my toes and hands into the sand, and listening to waves break upon the shore. I not only feel closer to God at the beach, but I feel closer to my dad. My dad loved the water; he loved to scuba dive. I think 30-90 feet under water was a place that he felt the safest, most at peace, and free. He shared this wonder with me and it meant the world because underwater you are free and protected from the sometimes harsh outside world.

If you would have asked me this question 2 years ago, I would have said the sound of my first child's heartbeat on a fetal monitor or ultrasound. It is a reassuring and comforting sound.

So...now what would and will I say? Without any doubt in my mind, the sound that brings me the most joy in all the world is hearing "Mini" laugh and giggle. It is by far the sweetest, most beautiful sound in the world. Her laugh can turn the worse day into the best. Her laugh is like an addiction...I want to hear it all the time nonstop. I set aside at least 30 minutes each afternoon/night to tickle her just so I can hear that infectious laughter.

It's amazing how things have changed. I would love to hear from you about your favorite sounds!

Let it Snow, Let it Snow

We woke up Saturday morning to a beautiful winter wonderland scene. We rarely get snow in our neck of the woods and when we do receive the white stuff, it is usually with an icy mix which is not very much fun to play in. This 6 inch blessing was true powder and so much fun to play in. We were able to build a huge snowman; it was not only taller than Mini, but it was also taller than Will.

Mr. Fix-It and Mini

Our snowman complete with the pink wedding tie.

While Will and Mini were busy building their snowman, I felt the need to shovel our sidewalk. As I said earlier, we rarely get snow in fact, this is the 4th time in 2 years, and that is including the 2 snows from this year, so we do not own a snow shovel. I went in the storage closet and produced the only shovel I could find, which just happened to be a sand shovel!!! I looked ridiculous, but Mini enjoyed using her shovel when I was done.

So ridiculous it is funny!

New Web Home

So after months of frustration with shutterfly...it's time that we find a new web home. We will keep the majority of pictures on shutterfly and share a few precious few on our blog. I'm hoping that blogspot will be much easier for updating pictures and posts.