Frenzied Mutterings of An Odd Duck

Little Seamstress

2012-02-17T12:52:00.001-06:00

1 yard of Hello Kitty Fabric

+ a cute 6 year old

+ a curiosity in sewing with Contessa

= a brand new pillowcase sewn by the cute 6 year old allllllll by herself!!!!!

I had to try very very hard to hold back my excitement over her wanting to learn how to sew. I was even more excited when she actually started sewing and did really well for her age. I’m thinking she’s ready for an apron next, maybe even a blanket for one of her babies.

~Jess

MIA

2011-11-30T06:48:00.000-06:00

I’ve been MIA for awhile now, please forgive me. I’ve not been sewing or crafting or much of anything really but keeping up with day to day life.

I started a new job, part time only but it’s fun, and interesting and kicking my butt all at the same time.

I’m still homeschooling the two little kids but with the new job we’ve had to increase the amount of work we normally do and even started homeschooling on Saturdays. Bummer for me, not so much for the kids.

Football season for Isaac is officially over. The Packers won every single game, as well as the Super bowl. That was a crazy intense game. It was tied up 6-6 until the last 5 seconds of the 4th quarter (I kid you not) when one of our guys broke free of the line and ran and ran and ran for the winning touchdown.

Here’s a great picture of Isaac getting ready to run across the field as his name is being called!!!!!!

Both teams lining up for the coin toss. I love how the Packers are holding hands….just like a true team.

But enough about football right? Mackenzie completed her fall season of cheer for the JV football team and is now practicing for Winter season. Basketball…ugh, there’s not a sport I could hate more than basketball but I’ll be there cheering her as she cheers on the team.

She’s one of the main reasons I haven’t been crafting or sewing lately. She had a science fair project she needed some help on.

That one was due on a Monday, then she had another science project due the next day. Two cakes, decorated to look like the inside of a plant cell and animal cell. Props to Aunt Vanessa for helping on that one so I could recover from the Science Fair.

Then there was the Veterans Day concert. Ohhhh my goodness, it was soooo good. The program was fantastic and I was soooo very proud of Mackenzie and the rest of the choir. As soon as I relearn how to post a video on my blog I’m going to post her solo in We Are the World!!!!

Mackenzie is in the very back row, third from the left. See the girl in the front pointing at her smile? That’s Mackenzie’s BFF Hannah. She’s a goof!

As for Evan Grace, she’s actually learning to really, truly read but she’s more interested in math (go figure). And as always she’s busy all the time. For example, she’s busy reading to the pets (Daisy looks really entertained doesn’t she?)

and busy building steps for her bears…

and busy just being all around cute!

Consider yourself updated and I’ll consider myself a bad blogger whose going to try and do better about keeping up this time.

~Jess

Paper Bag Turkey!

2011-11-28T22:22:00.001-06:00

Yes you really are going to bake a turkey in a paper bag without setting your house, (or the turkey) on fire.

You’ll need a 15-18lb turkey, completely thawed and de-gibleted….no it’s not a word but it would be so cool if it were!

1 celery stalk

1 large carrot (cleaned and rough cut)

1 large onion, quartered

4-5 clovers of garlic, smashed under a knife.

Stuff all of the veggies and garlic into the turkey.

Now rub your turkey down with olive oil. I didn’t snap a picture of this step because honestly, my hands were covered in oil!!!

Take a large paper bag, open it up wide. Yell at Boy Toy to come help you if you need an extra pair of hands. Place the stuffed, oiled turkey into the brown paper bag and set it down into your basting pan.

Fold the ends over and staple together. If your bag isn’t big enough use two bags and staple them together.

Sprinkle water over the bag until it’s wet but not soaking.

Slip this bird into a 375 degree preheated oven and set it to cook 15 min for each pound.

You can check to see if the turkey is done by inserting a meat thermometer and making sure it reads between 163-170 before you call it done. Or if yours was like mine you wait for the little red button thing to pop out.

Now you tell me, isn’t that a beautiful turkey? All roasted up instead of steamed and ohhhh so juicy!

If you’re wondering why the bag doesn’t catch fire, paper burns at 415 degrees and since we’re baking well enough below that the oven should never get hot enough to catch the paper bag on fire.

Throw away all the veggies you stuffed in the bird and get carving!

Happy Holiday!

~Jess

Lasagna Rollups.

2011-09-15T06:23:00.000-05:00

I made this awhile back and it quickly became one of our family’s favorite recipes.

Start by cooking your lasagna noodles al dente (rinse in cold water once they are finished cooking) and browning 1 lb of hamburger, drain.

While those are cooking mix together the following in a medium sized bowl:

2 cup ricotta cheese

1/2 cup cottage cheese

1 egg

1 cup Parmesan cheese

1 cup mozzarella cheese, divided

3/4 tsp salt

1/8 tsp cracked pepper

1 tsp parsley, dried

3/4 tsp oregano, dried

1 t lemon juice

1 lb browned hamburger (if you don’t want to use meat you can sub in 5 cups of finely chopped spinach.

Take one noodle at a time and lay it flat on a plate.

Spoon a good amount of meat and cheese filling onto the noodle.

Start at one end and roll the noodle into a tight bundle.

Once all your noodles are all rolled up, take a 9 x 13’’ pan and pour 1 cup of spaghetti sauce into the bottom of it. Place all your lasagna rolls in the sauce, seam side down.

Top the rolls with the rest of your spaghetti sauce and 1 cup of mozzarella. Cover with foil and back 45 minutes at 350 degrees.

These helped eliminate the mess of cutting and serving up unrolled lasagna and the ingredients you can roll into the noodle are endless!

~Jess

Wordless Wednesday.

2011-09-14T07:00:00.000-05:00

Homemade Chicken Nuggets with Sweet & Sour Sauce.

2011-09-13T06:54:00.000-05:00

If you’re looking for a quick and easy go to meal that everyone in the house will eat…keep clicking. This is not the recipe for you. It is however a fantastically great recipe and easy, it just takes a little longer than other meals.

Cut 3-4 chicken breasts into bite-sized chunks. Set aside.
In a bowl, mix together:
1 cup flour
1/2 cup cornstarch
1 tsp baking soda
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt.
Then whisk in 1 1/2 cup cold water and stir until all lumps are gone.

Dump in your chicken and stir until all the pieces are coated well.
In a deep skillet or fry daddy whichever you have heat enough oil to fry the nuggets in to about 375 degrees.

The amount of pieces you can fry at one time is totally dependent upon the size of your skillet. If it’s large you should be able to cook 8-10 pieces without them sticking together or cooling down the oil too much. If it’s smaller then maybe 5-6. Just make sure you get a nice golden brown all over the breading.

While you’re frying those up in a small saucepan bring the following ingredients to a boil:
1/3 cup white vinegar
1/3 cup sugar
1 TBS soy sauce or Teriyaki sauce (we like it better with Teriyaki)
3 TBS ketchup
1/2 tsp garlic powder.

Simmer for 10 minutes and then remove from heat. The sauce will thicken up as it stands and cools a bit.

I liked mine pilled on top of rice (since I rarely eat rice) but the kids were popping these things as soon as they were coming out of the fryer.

Homemade Chicken Nuggets with Sweet & Sour Sauce….done!!!!

~Jess

String Scarf.

2011-09-12T06:54:00.000-05:00

Would you believe in all my fabric stashes that I don’t have ANY green or yellow fabric AT ALL? I don’t wear yellow but Isaac playing football for the Packers I had to have something green and yellow for all his football games.
Since I didn’t have a trip to a fabric store planned I was pleasantly surprised to find 2 tank tops at a sore for $4 each.

I had a scarf idea in mind, that way no matter what else I wore to Isaac’s games I’d still be wearing team colors.
I laid out the green and white tank top out flat and cut from left to right, 1’’ strips all the way up to the top of the shirt. Here’s a picture of the first strip cut.

Once you’ve cut out all your strips take one at a time and stretch them out until they roll inwards.
Here’s a picture of what the strip is before you stretch it: (The 2 pieces are laying on top of each other)

Now here’s what it looks like once you’ve stretched it just a little bit:

Neat huh? NOW, wrap this rolled fabric around your wrist like you would an extra long necklace that you wanted to wear as a bracelet. You can wrap it just a few times or you can wrap it until you can’t possibly go over your hand anymore.

I went for completely wrapped. This will make for a fuller scarf in the end. If you wrap fewer times and make bigger loops then you’ll end up with a longer scarf but not as puffy.
Once you’ve got it wrapped around your wrist, carefully take it off your arm and lay it aside while keeping it’s circular shape.

I wanted yellow on the end of my scarf so that’s why the next step shows a yellow circle as well as the green and white one. Just fyi. Now cut thin strips from the green and white shirt or another color of fabric you have if you want that fun look. You’re going to tie 2 stacks of circles together, side by side.
Step one, lay two circles beside each other. Thread your thin strip in and under one circle and up and through the other one beside it.

Tie like you would for the first step in tying your shoe strings.

Double knot it and then clip the long ends down close to the knot.
Continue on tying the side of the next circle to the other side until you’ve used all your circles or your scarf is as long as you desire.
If you want little fringe things like I did on the bottom of mine then simply slide your scissors to the end of the circle opposite where you tied your double knot and cut all the way through.

Cute and fun and ready for the next Packers football game!!!!!!

Daisy gives it her stamp of approval too!

Did you really think I was going to be able to make something, take pictures of it and Evan Grace NOT get in on it?

If you notice in the pictures I went back over the parts that I tied with yellow fabric strips to help bring in more yellow. What a fun scarf!!!!

~Jess

No title.

2011-09-08T12:20:00.000-05:00

I'm exhausted. SOOOOOO exhausted and the next few weeks are only going to get more and more crazy for us. I wish I could be like my sister's cat above and curl up for a nap a few times a day. Isn't Cat Face a cutie????

I have plans to sew more, of course I do. I always have plans to sew more. I've just lost my creative spunk or the drive to actually pull out fabric and start cutting and sewing. I have a list of projects I want to do, a long, long list. But Contessa just sits on her sewing desk looking at me like she doesn't know me anymore. :/

Pie Plate Cheesecake.

2011-09-05T23:10:00.001-05:00

1 graham cracker crust about 9'' round. You can make it yourself or just buy one like I did to say a little time.

2 - 8oz of cream cheese, softened
2 eggs
3/4 cup sugar
2 tsp vanilla.

Mix cream cheese and sugar together until smooth. Then add eggs, one at a time then the vanilla. Spread into a the pie crust.
Bake 30 minutes at 350 or until the edges are set and there's a little jiggly left in the middle.

While that's cooking mix together:
1 cup of sour cream
2 TBS sugar
1 tsp vanilla.

Once the cheesecake is out of the oven let it cool for a few minutes before spreading on the sour cream mixture.

I sliced up some strawberries, dump them in a bowl with some sugar over them, mixed well and then added them on top. Truly the best cheesecake I have ever made and I have to give all credit to Mennonite Girls Can Cook blog. If you haven't checked out their recipes you should everyone I have ever made is simply amazing!!!!

Best Cheesecake Ever.....done!

Ketchup!

2011-09-03T06:55:00.000-05:00

8 lbs of tomatoes ( about 24 medium size ones if you don’t want to weight them). Core and quarter them.

Dump in a large, large nonstick pot along with:

1/2 cup chopped onions

1/4 tsp cayenne pepper

Heat to boiling and cook covered for 15 minutes, stirring often so all the tomatoes go soft.

Take a hand blender and blend up the tomato goodness until it’s as smooth as you can.

Press the tomato mixture through some kind of sieve/food mill or strainer. Discard this part:

Keep all the great tomato juice and dump it back in the nonstick pot. Stir in 3/4 cup of sugar.

Stick a ruler into the tomato juice and pull out and check the height.

Now turn on the heat until it boils. Then reduce the heat so it can simmer for 1 1/2 to 2 hours. OR until the mixture is reduced by half. This is where that ruler trick comes in handy. Stir occasionally so that nothing starts to burn or stick where it’s not suppose to.

Once it’s almost ready, and in another smaller pot heat the following to a boil:

1 cup white vinegar

1 1/2 inches of stick cinnamon, broken up

1 1/2 tsp whole cloves

1 tsp celery seeds

Once it boils remove from heat, strain everything through a sieve and throw out the spices. Add 1 TBS of salt the vinegar mixture then add it to the tomato juice that’s been cooking for the past 2 hours.

Simmer this for 30 minutes or until it thickens up more to your liking. Stir often.

To Can: Use half-pint or pint jars. Leave a 1/2’’ head space. Screw lids on and process in boiling-water for 15 minutes. (Start timing it after the water returns to a boil). Remove from water and allow to cool on wire racks of heat proof surface.

Canned Ketchup….done!!!

~Jess

Come on Fans it’s time to scream!

2011-09-01T06:32:00.000-05:00

Come on fans it’s time to scream, all bow down to the football team!! Sorry, I’ve heard so many cheers the past 2 months I’m kinda stuck in the rhythm of it all.

Mackenzie came home from school Wednesday of last week, excited and dropped a bomb on me.

Mackenzie: “Mom, the JV squad has to make the spirit stick for the pep rally’s this year.”

Me: “Oh neat, what are you all going to do?”

Mackenzie: “Well Ms. Malosky (their cheer coach) said she wanted one they could use for every rally instead of the ones you make out of paper towel rolls that always fall apart and have to be made over and over.”

Me: “Ok. Makes sense. What are the JV girl’s going to do then?” (Can you sense I was trying to not offer my help?)

Mackenzie: “I told Ms. Malosky you were crafty.”

By now I could see where this was going and though I was happy that Mackenzie thinks of me crafty enough to mention it to her teacher I wasn’t so happy with the thought that I might have been volunteered to make a spirit stick.

Me: “I am kinda crafty. Do the JV girls want my help or something? Want me to see if I can come up with some ideas maybe?”

Mackenzie: “I told them (meaning the JV girls) you could make one for us.”

KABOOOOMMMM!!!!!!! Just like that I was screwed.

Me: “Oh….that’s…..great!!!!! When do you need the spirit stick by?”

Mackenzie: “This Friday.”

Keep in mind this was Wednesday at about 5 o’clock. And that I had Isaac’s football practice tomorrow night. And right after that we had to go straight to the football game Mackenzie was cheering at. And that I wouldn’t be getting home until almost 10 o’clock.

So here’s what I came up with, on the fly, on the cheap but at a cost of about 5 hours Thursday night.

PVC pipe, cut about 18’’ long. PVC end caps, with a hole drilled into the middle of them all the way through (about the width of a pencil). There’s special spray pain that’s made to stick to plastic so I used that to spray the PVC pipe black. I didn’t spray the end cap for fear the black beads wouldn’t show up as well. I left them white.

I super glued all the beads to the end caps after my dad drilled the holes in the end for me. After the super glue dried I took Mod Podge and added a thick, thick layer over top of the beads and in between them as best I could to try and seal them in. After all that dried I cut black and orange ribbons and stuck them through the hole in the end cap, tied them in a knot and then used PVC cement to glue the end caps on.
After the end caps dried on I printed and cut out some mascot pictures and football pictures I found on the school website and then Mod Podge them onto the PVC pipe it’s self. Here’s the RRHS Indian!!!!!!

Last summer someone in RR had an Indian carved out of a live standing tree. Chief Whispering Pine I think is his name. I thought it only fitting he was on the spirit stick as the school was involved in the naming process.

Then some odd and ends pictures of football, cheer spirit stuff.

Oh and then to top it all off I found some neat initial patches that I was able to stick onto the ribbons on each end of the stick. One end says RR the other HS. I think it was a nice touch to kinda bring the spirit stick all together.

It was spur of the moment and I’m glad I was able to pull it off. I’m just wondering how well it’s going to hold up with all the school spirit and crazy going on at the pep rally’s.
I never, ever want to have to make another one anytime soon!!!!

~Jess

sigh

2011-08-31T15:23:00.000-05:00

Mackenzie drew the faces on these cucumbers. I feel like these are the 3 faces of me these past few weeks. I'm either Mr. Grumpy on the left, Ms. Goofy in the middle, or Ms. Put Together on the right. We're running around like mad with all the cheer leading, football, school and family stuff we have going on. The kids are enjoying it but I'm having a hard time staying above water. Even though I was married for 6 years, I honestly feel like I've been a single parent for the last 10 years at least. Because not only do I still do everything I've been doing while I was married I now have a job and all the responsibilities that come along with it to keep up with. I'm flat out tired!!!!!!!

I hope to be the cucumber on the right side of the picture Ms. Put Together, for here on out but it's more likely I'll be the other two cucumbers more often.

First Game...First Win.

2011-08-22T21:20:00.000-05:00

I have to post pictures of Isaac's first ever Football game this Saturday. He had so much fun and they won 14 -7. Go Packers!!!
He's the one on the far right of the picture.

If you look in the middle of this picture you can see him in the middle of a block working hard to keep his guy tied up!

Coach talking to the team before the next quarter.

Good luck finding him in this one. Just know all the things he's been taught about blocking and tackling finally kicked in right before this picture. He became a beast on the field. I'm so proud of him!!! I can see this football thing becoming a yearly thing.

Not your momma’s Sweet Freezer Pickles.

2011-08-15T06:14:00.000-05:00

Sweet Freezer Pickles

These have to be the easiest pickles to make. You don’t need special equipment or ingredients and in the end you get a crispy, sweet pickle that goes great with all kinds of things. Another plus is you can use any type of cucumber you can get your hands on.

You need 2 quarts of cucumbers, PEELED and thinly sliced and 1 medium onion, thinly sliced.

Sprinkle 1 tablespoon salt (table salt, canning salt or kosher salt, whatever you have on hand really).

Cover with plastic wrap and let it sit for 2 hours on the counter, not in the fridge.

Dump cucumbers and onions into a colander and let this drain. I was surprised at how much water the salt had pulled from the cucumbers and onion.

Mix 1 1/2 cups of sugar and 1/2 cup white distilled vinegar well and pour over cucumbers and onions.

Pack into freezer bags or plastic freezer containers. Freeze immediately. Wait 3 or 4 days before taking them out of the freezer to try.

The secret to these crispy pickles is the sugar and they’ll keep in the freezer for up to one year

Non-typical Sweet Freezer Pickles….done!

~Jess

German Pickles aka 7 Day Pickles.

2011-08-13T13:58:00.001-05:00

Or as I like to call them….the best pickle in the entire world. Here’s a quick run down of how to fix these bad boys.

2 gallon of pickles.

Cut off ends, leave peels ON, cut 1/4’’to 1/2’’ thick. Dump into pickle crock.

Pour 1 gallon of cold water over top of pickles.

Press a plate down on top of the pickles until all are submerged under the water. I had a cute flower shaped plate that worked perfectly.

Now walk away and let the pickles sit under the water for 7 days. Don’t touch them at all. You might want to peek in ever so often to make sure some of the cucumbers hasn’t floated above the water or over the plate.

After 7 days you’re going to think something went terribly wrong with your cucumbers. They’re going to look like this:

Uber gross I know. Take a pair of tongs and pull the mold off. Mine came off in 3 small pieces.

Use a big colander and drain the water off the cucumbers.

My colander wouldn’t hold 2 gallons worth of cucumbers so I had to dump and drain in batches. Wash out your crock with only water then dump the drained cucumbers back in.

Boil, almost, a gallon of fresh water and dump this over pickles.

Replace the plate on top, making sure to push the cucumbers down and let this stand for 24 hours.

Drain cucumbers again.

Add them back to the crock. Bring almost a gallon of fresh water to a boil. THIS time you’re going to add Alum to the boiling water.

What is Alum? Alum is an ingredient in baking powder and is used to give crispness to pickles and maraschino cherries and to harden up gelatin. Alum is only used in a soak solution and needs to be rinsed off thoroughly before you can your pickles.

Add a heaping Tablespoon of Alum to the boiling water then pour boiling water over cucumbers. Replace your plate and let this stand for 24 hours.

Are you tired of draining and watering cucumbers by now?

Now you’re ready to drain off the cucumbers one last time. After you’ve drained them move them over into a big bowl to hold until you’ve completed the syrup below.

Syrup recipe:

In a large pot bring to a boil the following:

1 1/2 pints of apple cider vinegar

12 cups of sugar (yes 12)

1 tsp celery seed

1 TBS mixed pickle spice

1/2 tsp cloves (ground or whole doesn’t matter I went with whole)

2-3’’ sticks of cinnamon broken up.

Dump your cucumbers, that look more like pickles now, back into the pickle crock. Pour on the hot syrup.

Replace your plate and let this sit for 24 hours.

After 24 hours drain the syrup off, back into the large pot and bring to a boil again. DO NOT DRAIN OFF THE SYRUP. Leave the pickles in the crock as you bring the syrup back to a boil. Pour on the boiling syrup, replace your plate and let this sit another 24 hours.

Repeat once more. So in all you should have 3-24 hour periods, back to back. of boiling your syrup and pouring back over the pickles.

ON the 4th day, drain your syrup back into the pot, bring it to a boil. As you’re waiting for your syrup to boil, take your pickles and start packing them into pint size jars. The more pickles you can pack in the better. Leave about 1/2’’ headspace so you can seal your jars properly.

Once the jars are packed and your syrup is back to a boil, ladle the syrup over the packed pickles. Put the lid and ring on your jars and turn them upside down to seal.

I’m going to gift some of these pickles so I use smaller jars as well as pint size.

German Pickles aka 7 Day Pickles…..done!

~Jess

Shabby Apple.

2011-08-08T10:41:00.000-05:00

Have you happened upon this great website yet? It's full of gorgeous kid and preteen clothes.

As well as great accessories, so many options!!!

They have such gorgeous dresses in all sizes, as well as maternity and fitness clothing.

So go ahead, you know you want to click on the banner to the right of my page and check out some great things. :)

I'm in love and would like one of everything please!!!!

Dilly Beans.

2011-08-03T05:52:00.000-05:00

What do you do when your dad’s garden starts producing green beans like crazy?

…and he gives you 6 gallon of them?

Snap the ends off of them (or be lazy like I was and just use scissors) and any blemish. Wash them really, really, really well. Set aside 2lbs of them, you’ll use them later. But keep 4lbs for this recipes.

Place the following into your pint jars:

1/2tsp crushed red pepper flakes

1/2 tsp mustard seeds

1/2 tsp dill seed

1 garlic clove

Now cut and pack your green beans to fit into the pint mason jars. I was able to get 10 jars out of my 4lbs it my different depending on how long your beans are or how much damage they may have had or not have.

In a large pot bring 5 cups of vinegar, 5 cups of water, and 1/2 cup of salt to a boil.

Pour this hot mixture over the beans in each jar. Leave about a 1/4’’ headspace. Put lid on jars and tighten them down pretty well. Carefully place each jar into enough boiling water to cover the lids. Let them boil for 5 minutes before taking them out and allowing them to cool until all are sealed.

These are ready to eat after 5-7 days of sitting. There you have it, Dilly Beans. It’s more of a pickled green bean and after making them and trying them, I’m so not a fan!!! But Boy Toy is. So he’ll have all the Dilly Beans he can eat.

What to do with the other 2 gallons of beans? Bring some water to a rapid boil. While you’re waiting on that, snap or cut your beans to bite size. Whatever size it is that you like.

Drop them into the boiling water for 3 minutes and then quickly remove them from the water and place them in an ice water bath for 3 minutes. Once that’s done, measure them out and place them in freezer bags and pop in the freezer. Short and sweet right?

Next up…..7 Day Pickles.

~Jess

Sandlot.

2011-07-24T23:48:00.000-05:00

Sandlot Football that is. I signed Isaac up a few weeks ago and the he had camp this past week. He was apprehensive about it at first, but he didn’t respond with his usual upsets so I was curious to see just how well it would go. He was nervous, I could tell and he told me he was. I was nervous and excited for him. He was in gymnastics for a year but this would be his first team sport ever.

There were 35 boys there. Name tags were stuck on, all weighed in and camp began. They split into groups and were taught 3 point stance.

Then the boys had a few different timed relay type things to do, like running left and right to each cone.

Seeing how fast you could cross the line.

Then everyone was assigned the positions they were going to play for the games. Isaac, weighing in at 80lbs, was immediately signed to Lineman. Linemen moved to were the dummies were and set to work again.
More work on the 3 point stance. (He learned it pretty quickly)

Then some hitting and pushing around the dummies.

His coaches are nice and so patient. After the 2nd day of camp Isaac was totally in love. Teams are picked sometime next week, and he has to have a physical and pad fitting on his birthday. He’s asked about it everyday and wants to know how loud I’m going to cheer for him when he plays his first game (Oh and if Boy Toy can come and watch him so he can cheer too!)
Isaac + football = Love (for now)
Oh, what did Evan Grace do while all this practice was going on? Well, what she always does, pose for pictures.

Life just got busier for us Odd Ducks but with all the excitement surrounding football I’m looking forward to it.

~Jess

White goodness!

2011-07-23T12:13:00.002-05:00

If you live in Virginia long enough you'll have to be eventually eat (and possibly fall in love with) white gravy. I grew up on the stuff and decided to make it from scratch awhile. It was a piece of cake.

Melt 4TBS of butter in a sauce pan.
Then add 4TBS flour to the melted butter and stir. Heat over medium heat until smooth and bubbly. (If it clumps up instead of staying a bit runny don't worry, just let it heat up a bit)
Whisk in 2 1/2 cups of milk and as much salt & pepper as you like then stir over medium heat until it boils. Let it boil for 1 minute or a little longer if you like it thicker then serve over anything you like. My kids like it over biscuits.

This was so easy I regret not finding this recipe sooner. No more powder mixes from the market for me. :)

Firepower instead of Fireworks.

2011-07-18T06:56:00.000-05:00

There were no fireworks for us this 4th of July, but there were still things firing.

My dad has wanted to teach Isaac how to shoot a BB gun for awhile now. Anyone that’s met Isaac could quickly understand why I was a little apprehensive about the whole thing. We went over ground rules, do’s and don’ts and I let my son pick up his first gun. (I was excited for him, which surprised me! He was out of his mind excited at the entire idea).

I think the lack of shirt and camouflage shorts kinda adds to the whole experience doesn’t it. There’s no avoiding the country look today!

His first two shoots were pretty impressive for his first time ever. (By this point I was quite the proud momma)

Mackenzie wanted to try her hand at it.

Evan Grace’s fingers could barely reach the trigger but she had to try a few times right? As long as Pawpaw was there to help her that is.

Every shot had to be examined. Plus I really look pictures of people walking away.

While I too my turn behind the sights (you didn’t think I wasn’t going to shoot off a few did you? Silly!) Vanessa stole my camera and started snapping.

Thanks sis, what would I have ever done without those pictures?

By the end of the day I was really happy and impressed with how well Isaac (and everyone else) handled the BB gun. I’m not sure now why I was so nervous. Isaac listened and followed every rule, he even went as far as reminding me and Auntie Vanessa how to load and to put the safety on after you fire and before you move. Now I’m a little worried with what my dad may have started.

~Jess

My Tribute to Dave Matthews.

2011-07-16T13:38:00.005-05:00

My kitchen table has been through a lot. So much so that I roped Boy Toy into helping me redo the surface of it. If you want to do something like this to a table, night stand really anything that can be sanded and stained here’s a short list of what you’ll need:

Tape measure
Ruler
Pencil
Frog tape or Blue Painter’s Tape.
Stain (color of your choice)
Sponge paintbrushes.
Polyurethane
a Boy Toy (don’t have one? I guess you could do this without one )

Start by sanding down your surface until you’ve taken off the layers of polyurethane.

Wipe off all the sandy bits with a wet cloth and let dry a few minutes.

Now comes a little bit of math. I wanted words on my table. Yes words. Subway art is becoming way popular and though I’m not a fun of that style I do like the idea of having words, quotes, sayings on things.

Measure your table.

Decide how big you want your letters to be and decide how much space you want between each letter and the lines.

My letters were 6 1/2’’ tall x 3’’ wide. Boy Toy and I spaced the lines two inches apart and left 1/2’’ between each letter.

Take a piece of paper, write out the words/quote you want to have on your table on your paper exactly HOW you want them to be. Count your lines and multiply that by the height of your letters. (Man do I hate math)

My equation was 6 1/2’’ x 5’’ =32 1/2’’. So 32 1/2’’ is the total height of all words.

Count the spaces between your lines and multiply that by the size of your spaces. We had 4 lines and wanted 2’’ spaces between each line. So our equation was 4x2=8. (I still really hate math!)

Add these numbers together and subtract it from the length of our surface. 46-40 1/2 = 5 1/2’’.

Divide that by 2 to finally get how far you need to space your letters from the top of your surface.5 1/2 /2= 2 3/4’’.

NOW, measure the width of your surface, divide that by 2 and draw a line down the center of your surface.

The picture above shows all the measurements I just went over with you drawn out. The line to the right of the picture is the top line where my first row of words will start with a line drawn beneath it for where the bottom of the words will end.

The line down the middle is where you'll do the following: You’re finally ready to center your words by finding the middle of each word. Start with that letter on the center line and work out from there.

Boy Toy drew in the letters while I followed behind with Frog Tape and taped it off. (I hate math but LOVE frog tape)

First word finished!

ALL the words are written in and taped off, ready for stain. It doesn’t hurt to really press and rub down over the edges of the Frog Tape to make sure you have a good seal.

I applied 3 coats of stain over the next day just to make sure everything was covered and had a good edge to the words. (Make sure you follow the direction on the stain you pick up, if it says to sand in between layers make sure you do for a better look overall)

Once the last coat is on BUT NOT completely dry gently and slowly pull off the Frog Tape. There are bound to be a few bleeds just take a Q-tip wet or dry and rub the bleeds away gently.
Before:

After:

Erase all of your pencil marks and bleeds.

Now,the final step…Polyurethane. I put on 5 coats but it’s really up to you how many coasts you feel comfortable with or how much shine you want your table to have.

Here’s a picture of my table with only one coat. It covered well but not enough.

This is the first type of project I’ve done like this so if my directions aren’t clear (which I bet they aren’t) email me (jessicamg@gmail.com) and I can, hopefully, help clarify or explain your specific question.
~Jess

We made it!

2011-07-11T18:24:00.001-05:00

To the beach that is. After dropping the two little kids off with their dad yesterday Mackenzie, Boy Toy and I headed to South Carolina for a few days of sand and sun.

Our condo is fantastic! Mackenzie and Solomon (the bear) have more room than they know what to do with.

I kinda prefer the hot tub in the master bedroom though. I can feel the water jets and bubbles already.

The rest of the condo is just as great and I know I’m going to hate leaving here in a few days. I fit in so well at the beach. (And the pool and hot tubs below!)

On a serious note I hope to get a little more blogging done while we’re here. Keep your fingers crossed!

~Jess

Soccer Mom to Flash Dance!

2011-06-29T22:26:00.001-05:00

From time to time I’m asked to help out with a certain insurance agency in town (the best agency if you ask me but I’m biased) anyway I was given a t-shirt to wear for the upcoming event.

Very soccer mom right?

Just look at how high that neck is? And the length of those sleeves!!!! Ugh! Since I was given this shirt the night before the big event the next morning I didn’t have a lot of time to do what I really really really wanted to do with the shirt.

What I did do was take it off, rather quickly, fold it in half with the logo facing up.

Decide just how much you want out of the neck by deciding how much skin, shoulder, chest you want to show. I only wanted to open the shirt a bit so it wasn’t so stuffy.

I cut about an inch away from the sew lines already in the collar part and followed the curve all the way around. You can totally make this an off the shoulder t-shirt too by cutting more than an inch away but don’t go to far away from 2 or so inches or you’ll end up with a shirt sack that falls to your elbows!!! Eeeekkkk!

Since t-shirt material will NOT fray there was no sewing required for this look.

Now I’ve left soccer mom behind and moved straight into a Flash Dance t-shirt! Cause ‘I’m a maniac, maniac….’ Oh sorry, back to the shirt! My event co-helpers were somewhat envious that they were stuck in a drab, off the rack t-shirt and I wasn’t!

There’s a slight pucker in the front of the collar but it was only the way I was standing. If you cut nice and neat the collar will be smooth and straight.

I really wish I had enough time to remove the sleeves, then shorten then and sew them back on. The insurance agency logo was on the bottom edge of the sleeve (you can see it in the picture) so I couldn’t just cut off the ends.

A quick fix to avoid run of the mill t-shirts!

Happy non-sewing!

~Jess

Recover.

2011-06-08T07:31:00.001-05:00

I recovered my couch cushions two weeks ago. It was an easy project, almost like making pillow cases, but on a bigger scale with long zippers. Trying to get a picture of just the new couch cushions by themselves proved harder than actually making the covers. Why you might ask? Daisy!!!

I swear she's posing for this picture. It's her innocent look..."Who me?"

Me: "Daisy come here. Off the couch. Off! OFF!"She actually listens. I pick up the camera, get everything just so so in the frame and get ready to snap the picture....then BAMM! She's back and posing again!

So I move from in front of the couch to the side to maybe sneak a picture. No such luck.

Finally!! I think I got it, a good picture of the new covers with no dog in site. Only when I uploaded this picture to my computer did I see Daisy's TAIL IN THE CORNER !!!! Regardless, you get the idea and overall look of the covers. I love it. Maybe one day I'll attempt an actual slipcover. The thought of jumping into that trap scares me!!!!

S’more Cups.

2011-06-07T07:18:00.002-05:00

Here’s a neat recipe on a different way to do s’mores without the campfire and sticky, gooey mess.

For this recipe you will need the following:
7 whole graham crackers, 1/4 cup powdered sugar, 6 TBS butter, melted. 4 Hershey bars, divided and 12 large marshmallows. Have you seen the new stacker marshmallows like the ones I have in the picture below? How neat are they? You have to give them a try if you make s’mores over a campfire they work so much better than the original!!!

Start by placing 7 whole graham crackers into a ziploc bag and sealing it tightly.

Now crush them up by rolling a rolling pin, hard water bottle, drinking glass, really whatever you have that will get the crushing done, all over the bag. You need 1 cup of graham cracker crumbs total.

Turn your oven on to 350. Mix your graham cracker crumbs, melted butter and powdered sugar in a bowl.

Once that’s all mixed up use a Tablespoon to place a very small amount of the mixture into each cup of a mini cupcake pan. Press the mixture with your fingers so that it packs in tightly.

Bake this for 4-5 minutes, or until edges are a little bubbly. Meanwhile, break 2 Hershey bars into individual rectangles and cut ALL the marshmallows in half.‘

If you’re having trouble with cutting sticky marshmallows you can dip your scissors or knife in cool water between each cut and that should deter the sticky.
Take the Hershey bars that you broke into rectangles and place one rectangle on each of the still warm graham cracker cups.

Place a cut marshmallow on top of each chocolate rectangle and pop back into the over for a minute or two so the marshmallow gets soft.

Remove from the oven and let cool for at least 15 minutes. Take the other 2 Hershey bars and break them up into a microwavable bowl. Cook for 1 minute to 1 1/2 minutes, make sure you stir ever 30 seconds or so.
Now take a s’more cup and dip the marshmallow top into the melted chocolate then set aside. Let these set up for about 40 minutes or you can stick them in the fridge if you want them done faster.

We took these to Raven’s Cliff and it was a pretty prefect snack for a picnic.

~Jess

Frenzied Mutterings of An Odd Duck

Little Seamstress

MIA

Paper Bag Turkey!

Lasagna Rollups.

Wordless Wednesday.

Homemade Chicken Nuggets with Sweet & Sour Sauce.

String Scarf.

No title.

Pie Plate Cheesecake.

Ketchup!

Come on Fans it’s time to scream!

*sigh*

First Game...First Win.

Not your momma’s Sweet Freezer Pickles.

German Pickles aka 7 Day Pickles.

Shabby Apple.

Dilly Beans.

Sandlot.

White goodness!

Firepower instead of Fireworks.

My Tribute to Dave Matthews.

We made it!

Soccer Mom to Flash Dance!

Recover.

S’more Cups.

sigh