St. Valentine

I did some etsy looking today. There's lots of fresh stuff. If you need to buy for a Valentine check out some of these ideas...

Is your guy handy in the kitchen?
Does he love the Sopranos?
Does your man kick it old school?
Maybe he drinks coffee all day at work?
Does he have a great sense of humor?
And the grand prize winner for my redmeat lover of a hubby.


Or deck a gal pal out with these ridiculously cute accessories.
How about a cupcake bath bomb?


Looking for cards? Maybe something from this gal,
and I don't know if cards get any better than these.


Or for your little Valentine...



of course there are these for your girlies,
barrettes, tutus or some of these would be cute.
Oh, oh look at this pretend baking set.





For your little dudes maybe try






From my Valentine I would love to get any of these...
http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=9085948
maybe a print like this firefly print or this Amelie print, or this lovely milk print
or maybe this t-shirt

any of it, i'm easy to please :)

So I Made that Apple Pie

There's a party in my tummy, so

yummy, so yummy...

So here it is right before it went into

the oven. Isn't she lovely...

The end result = delicious, everyone in the house was a fan. Funny story though, the night I baked it my husband didn't eat any pie when the girls and I tried it. Later that night, I went upstairs to put the girls to bed and when I came downstairs he was eating a BIG helping of pie and watching TV. He NEVER, not once, made a comment about it. No "this is good" or "thanks for the pie". I was sooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

irritated. I wanted to yank the bowl out of his hands. Normally I would have made a comment or at least gone fishing for one. I mean this was handmade crust and a dad-gum homeade apple pie. No freezer, no box, but an old-fashioned labor of love. I went to bed angry (one of my no-nos) and woke up angry, but I didn't say a word (next to impossible for me). However when he came home the next day from work, he was casually looking through the mail and out of nowhere came over and gave me a high five and said, "Oh, that by the way was the best apple pie I've ever had!" Redeemed. I did mentioned how I'd been seething at him for almost 24 hours now, so he better be glad he removed his head from his... luckily he's still my sweetie pie.

At least it ended well. And now the pie is gone, all gone. If you want to take an apple pie adventure of your own these are the recipes I used:

pie crust

apple pie instructions

Good Luck

Heading to Canton

Here are a few pics of some of Shelly's order. I sewed my fingers to the bone. On Sat I sent out 10 aprons for the February show. They would make really great Valentine's Day gifts, don't you think? I had to send them so quickly I didn't take very good pictures, but there are many more to come, so hopefully the documentary o apron will improve. :)

Jamie at Home

Have ya'll seen this yet? It comes on Sat mornings. It's awesome. My "Naked Chef" romance began the first time I ever laid eyes on Jamie Oliver, so please understand I'm a bit partial and you know I'm a sucker for Brits(my hubby)...but check this show out.

I discovered that the show even existed here. Download his recipes they are easy and straight forward. You know I'm a Martha fan, but Jamie's recipes are so easy to follow. And sure I'd love everything I make in the kitchen to show like a Martha magazine, but I'm more of the equivalent of a lazy crafter in the kitchen. I want it to taste good~numero uno, but I want to cut as many corners as possible, and dirty as few cooking utensils as possilble. I believe Jamie ascribes to these mottos as well. I've seen him beat eggs with his fingers, toss the pepper seeds over his shoulder and use his rabbit chips for smoking salmon. He keeps it simple, and you know I like simple.

Please note I am by NO MEANS comparing myself to Jamie in the kitchen, he has mad skills, nor am I making preferences between Martha and Jamie. I'm just really enjoying his ecclectic mix of dishes, his candid approach, and his down home country kitchen simplicity.

muah

Hot Cocoa Morning

Today is a hot cocoa morning. Lately we've had so many cold and rainy days, while it makes most depressed, I LOVE it! It invigorates me. I want to make tea, cook and bake, read a book, and wrap up in warm wooly clothing. :) For me it's a refreshing change from the perpetual sauna-like climate in south Texas.

...the reality check is that the kids are crazy because they've been cooped up all day, then we bundle up to go outside, a 25-30min ordeal, and everyone ends in tears because they are too cold and they come inside with snotty noses and pink chapped cheeks. Wussies, just kidding. ;)

I'm super excited about two projects I'm working on. Shelly from Rockin' Vintage has placed a buxom order for aprons to sell at her booth in Canton. You know I love her work and style so I'm delighted to have some Jed's aprons mingling in her rockin' booth.

I'm also joining the lovely ladies at Backyard Farming to be a contributor to their blog. I'm super excited to collaborate with these urban farming chickadees. They all share the same simple, sustainable life philosophy that is ingrained inside my heart. I may be stuck inside the suburbs, but my mom's family and my dad's family were Texas farmers and I will pass the torch to my kiddos any way I can. So visit often because this blog is a newborn, but has amazing inspiration and potential.

myspacebaronmykeyboardisnotworking.iwillhavetopostlater.youmightneedadecoderringtoreadthis?

Homeade Apple Pie

I can't fight it, I have this overwhelming urge to make an apple pie~completely from scratch. I also want to bake homemade bread. I am not really in love with being in the kitchen, but I come from a long line of super wonderful bakers, and my new wonderful kitchen is really inspiring. It harbors new energy that was previously zapped from me.

The latent farm girl is waking up inside of me. I'm sure I'm being inspired by:

Blue Yonder and Backyard Farming

But it runs much deeper. It's a desire for sustainability. The ability to be capable in hard times. My grandfather, who grew up in the depression, said no matter how hard times got his grandmother made fresh bread everyday. He is still a bread snob to this day. :) My grandmother grew up in central Texas in a farming family, she went on to have seven children and spent most of her days at the kitchen sink (all over the world, they were airforce) preparing beautiful meals and baking delicious sweets.

I know you've heard this tangent from me before, so scroll if you don't want to hear it again. I get overwhelmed with how disposable our society has become. I am flustered by the hectic, rushed, non-enjoying life pace we keep. Why can't we slow down and reconnect over simplicity? We only feel productive when we are flustered and flying by the seat of our pants. That is so silly. Let us reclaim the value of spending time with our children, our families, or even alone in a quiet moment. And let us not forget the legacy the generations above us have handed over.

For apple pie inspiration! I'll keep you posted on my baking endeavours.

That apple betty at the top is my grandmother with her first of her 7 children.

My Family is Moving

My brother and his family (his adorable wifey~a very dear friend to me, and their three boys) will be moving in two weeks. They are military so I knew they would be leaving before the summer came, but I had no idea they would be leaving so soon. I'm having trouble wrapping my mind around them vanishing. I see them weekly, and now no more. How will I cope??? I prayed major last week for them to sell their house so my s-i-l would no longer have to keep it on the market, but I had no idea God would work so quickly. :) I guess the prayers of the righteous avail much?? (Just kidding.)

There is talk they may transfer to Alaska??? I guess I can live vicariously through them and book a flight, right? I will miss them so much. And this little guy better not forget his Aunt SesSes! The big boys won't fall out of love with me, I feel confident of that, but I'll be crushed if the little one does!

A picture says a thousand words and this is how I feel about the whole thing:

January Jumpstart

So here is my entry for January Jump start!

I had a great time taking this child "death trap" and turning it into a family friendly ottoman. I think it is a beautiful table, but it won't work for our family for another few years. Instead of forking over $300-$500 for a new ottoman, my husband's bacheloresq coffee table got a makeover.

David and I built a wooden box, covered it with batting and fabric and viola!

Besides, zebra print is SO in!

On the Pony Express

Order Up (ding).

Charming little apron ready to be sent out in the a.m.

It's the Most Important Meal of the Day

Fun new blog find:


Simply Breakfast


If this blog doesn't make you want to be a better home-maker I don't know what would.

One of my new years resolutions is to cook more. But not only cook more, try new things, improve my presentation, use my nice dishes, branch out at the grocery store, and bake more often. This is the visual motivator I need.

On a different note:

I was running out of steam and needed a new nudge to motivate me for the many unfinished projects I have swirling in my head, and look what I came across at Apartment Therapy. Isn't this a great idea?





If I had some before pics I would just be lazy and enter this. But of course I was in such a rush I didn't take any pics. So I guess I will finally recover that coffee table. I'm hoping this will be the "jumpstart" I need.

The Loot

Here are the pics I promised from Rockin' Vintage.

The Gruene bottle opener:

The cute hanger for the girls room:

**

And a few snap shots of the houses I made. I called them Home for the Holidays. I decided why I liked them so much. (Beside the obvious reasons, moving and have major nesting emotions) I think they signified the idea of slowing down our pace, staying home for the holidays, and the charm of a handmade, old fashioned, non-commercialized Christmas.

**"If all the people in all of the world could turn their worries into laughter, then all of the people in all of the world would live happily ever after."

Merry Martha Christmas

The girls filled my stocking with all this Martha happiness.

I'm on one of my Martha kicks right now can't you tell? I do this, because I am so not a moderator, but rather a person of obsession...I watch Martha, hang around her website, go overkill on it, and then get "over it" for a while, but I always return. Maybe I could just mediate myself and be normal? Seems like a small task.

Anyhoo, her wonderful line at Macy's comes in bright red and this great teal or aqua color. Ironically both those colors are the accent colors I want for my new pale yellow kitchen. I think they have a great vintage, farm kitchen quality to them. I LOVE it. The girls did well. (I'm pretty sure their dad helped! Thank you, honey.)

While I'm on my Martha kick, did you hear the devastating news? They will no longer be publishing the Blueprint Magazine. Please (please, please) correct me if I'm wrong, I believe they will be combining it with the wedding magazine and maintaining a heavy online presence. I loved that magazine. I CAN still go to the website, I know, but my little scattered-ADD brain needs to read something tangible every now and then~something not on a computer screen. Besides every time I read that magazine I would think, I should work for Blueprint. All my skills culminate to make me a perfect match for that magazine. Blueprint and I we are totally in sync. And now it's obsolete. What does that say???