A Thousand Little Wishes...

Festive brunches make me happy

 And a little drunk.  Today I hosted a birthday brunch for a sweet, old friend.  "Old" as in a friend from college.  She's only thirty-four, like me.  Good times were had.  As well as many mimosas.

 There was coffee, too.  I love this little owl creamer.  It makes me happy, too.

 
 On the menu was tomato soup, pesto ricotta pie, salad, cinnamon rolls, and fruit.  I had never made the soup or the pie before and was worried that it wouldn't turn out.  But it did.  Everything was delicious.  There were very little left overs.  Perhaps that was because I didn't actually serve the food until 1:30, two hours after people arrived.  I've always been terrible at timing.  Both in and out of the kitchen.  Luckily, the drinks helped keep their minds off the wait.  Because of those mimosas and the extreme hunger, I did not snap very many photos. 

This pie was so good.  This picture does not do it justice.  I will definitely be making this again.  Although, I do think I will use more layers of phyllo next time.  And beware, the recipe does not mention the phyllo in the ingredients list.  The soup was equally as delicious, but I forgot to photograph it.  It's pretty hard to host a party and photograph the food.

  

Lee made the cinnamon rolls.  The dough is the challah recipe from this book.  One pan was regular cinnamon rolls and one pan was chocolate cinnamon rolls.  This is the last chocolate one.  For those he just shaved dark chocolate over the cinnamon sugar with a micro-plane grater before rolling them up.  They were both delicious.  The regular ones went faster, though.  I think it was because they were HUGE.  

It was a fun day and I think it was successful.  Happy birthday, sweet Claire!  Here's to many, many more!

Cheating in the kitchen

Convenience foods are most definitely my friend.  Last night was made festive by a small package of undecorated gingerbread men from my local grocery store bakery (HEB) and a box of Krusteaz cinnamon crumb cake mix. 

The gingerbread men were perfect, because they came in a pack of four and weren't too big or too little.  We grabbed a can of icing (another cheat) and a few red and green Jelly Bellies, too.  The boys had a great time decorating them and were able to do it in about twenty minutes.  And now they'll have something festive in their lunch boxes this week.

 

The crumb cake is just crumb cake, but it's so damn good.  And makes for an easy breakfast as we run out the door at seven in the morning.

I don't love that it's fake...

 But I do love our Christmas tree.  It's colorful, interesting, and not perfect, full of treasures and memories and stories.  I love the mix of old ornaments from my childhood and the new hand-made ones by the kids.  I love my red beads that are as old as I am.  And it's all unbreakable. 

That pink ice-cream cone was always my favorite when I was little.  It's lost a lot of its glitter, but I still love it.  And my boys do, too.  That fat little boy is one of many hand-made satin ornaments my mother and I brought home from a trip to Singapore when I was 5 or 6.  I inherited a few when I went off to college and put up my first tree of my own.

 Now, the kid-made ones are my favorites- a golden, noodle ornament and a paper plate angel from when Ben was in pre-school.

My mom made me a few cross-stitch ornaments when I was little.  The sequin and pom-pom creation is by Max.

This little satin cat is also pretty old.  I'm thinking they're from the 50s or 60s, but I'll have to check on that.  There's a swan, too.  I love the gypsy look about her.

 To finish it off, the dinky little glittered star I made out of poster board for our very first Christmas tree as a family.  I can't ever imagine getting rid of it, because every time we put it up I think about when I made it.  We were so young, Ben was a baby, and we were running a Bed & Breakfast in a historic home downtown and living in the one-bedroom apartment upstairs.  It's our star.  For our tree.  And I love it all.  

The New and Improved Craft Room

It only took me four weeks.  But you have to remember that a lot happened in those four weeks.  We had two birthdays with parties and dinners and such, we went out of town one weekend, went camping another weekend, and had Halloween and a Halloween carnival.  So really it's quite amazing that I got it done this quickly.  Hee hee.  

Ok.  Get ready.  There are gonna be a lot of photos here, people.

The sewing table.  We actually made the tables out of $6 doors from the Habitat for Humanity ReStore.  I painted this one.  It's sort of a peach color.  I wanted more of a tangerine sherbet, but it turned out peach.  It's staying peach.  I still plan to put up some sort of a casual valance-type curtain, but I'm sure that'll take me a few years.

Oddly, this is my favorite little corner.  I love the look of the jars and the basket and the can all clumped together.  The glass jar in the window has thread and yarn bits for the birds to do their nest building.  I saw that on Blue Yonder, but couldn't find the right post.  Sorry! 

 

The fabric shelf.  It was my book shelf as a child.  My mom bought it used and painted it pale pink.  I moved it to my first apartment and to each one following that one.  Then I painted it jungle green to go in Ben's nursery.  And now it holds my lovely fabrics and craft books- of which I noticed I need more.

My Gyo Fujikawa books from my childhood.  These were always some of my favorites, obviously because of the illustrations.  I had no idea Gyo was such a sought after artist/ author, until I started seeing her work and books on various crafty blogs.  This summer I dug through the boxes of my childhood books at my mother's house and pulled these out.  Betty Bear's Birthday is my favorite.  I was particularly drawn to the little nut cups on the party table.  I'm so glad my mother kept my favorite books.  I brought home some others, but I need Lee to build me a skinny, little display shelf.

A place to pin up inspiration and keep a "to do" list that I can't misplace.  I bought some letters to paint and put above the board.  I love letters on walls.  I went with "MAKE."  I know, it's not original, but I really love the message.  I just have to pick a color and add them to my list.

Ok.  This closet used to be stuffed full of crafts and a bunch of other crap.  Now, everything in it is for crafts or gift wrapping, which is kind of crafty.  And every container is organized.  I cannot explain just how much I love this.  I.  Love.  It.  It's so easy to find things.  And equally as easy to put it away.  I love it.  I love it, I love it, I love it.

Check out these mad organizin' skillz!  All four of those drawers are like that.  Perfect.

The craft table.  The green tubs on the floor, the white drawers, and the wire baskets all have kid craft things that they can use without having to ask for permission.  They are very happy with it.  Up above, I framed half of a vintage pillowcase in an IKEA frame.  The first morning after I finished the room, the kids got busy right away with the crafts.  Ben even moved his radio in.  They spent the whole weekend at that table or playing outside.  It was awesome.  They didn't even ask to watch tv.

Max made a Christmas tree.  Yes, he did need a little help.  And, no, those things are not items that are kept in their kid craft tubs.  Giving two boys free reign with Tacky glue, glitter, and sequins is NOT a good idea.

Of course, I can't show you all the pretty without showing you the mess that is our computer table.  It's another door.  They're perfect because the knob hole is perfect for sticking the wires through.  Which, as you can see, we have a ton of.  This one is covered with oil cloth.  

All the clutter should be a little better in a couple days.  We got a new printer that is also a scanner and we're getting rid of the "kid" computer over there on the left.  Well, actually they're getting a hand-me-down newer one from Lee's mom.  But we're putting it in the play room, fully loaded with safety blocking thingamijiggies and all that.

Back in the saddle again

Whoopi-ty-aye-oh,  sewin' to and fro.... I'm back in the saddle again.

I finally finished organizing my craft room (more on that tomorrow) and the first thing I did was finish these place mats for my Lee's mom.  They were supposed to be her birthday present, which was in February.  Whew!  So pathetic.  They have been waiting 9 months for me to just turn them right-side out and top stitch!  

It feels good to be back at my machine.  There are so many things I want to make, but first I've got to take care of Christmas- which I'm feeling pretty good about because I have an almost complete plan.  And it's not even Thanksgiving yet!  Yay!  Maybe I'm on my way to becoming organized and prepared............. yeah right.

This boy

is ridiculously cute, funny, smart, kind, aware, learning to read, curious, sincere, thoughtful, snuggly, persistent, and insightful.  And now he is six.  My baby is six.  How did that happen so fast?

He is also dramatic, loud, sensitive, stubborn, loud, impatient, wild, and loud.  And yet he's still.  so.  lovable.

His birthday was on Friday the 13th, so we went with the Freaky Friday theme.  This is a boy who has been infatuated with snakes for a few years, so it only seemed fit to invite the Austin Reptile Guy.  To make it a bit easier on me, we had the party right after school on the playground.  It was a gorgeous fall day- sunny and clear.  The kids played all over the playground, had goldfish and clementines, learned about some reptiles, petted some of them, had a cupcake, and went home.  Easy, fun, and done.  Just the way I like it.

We are firm believers in the birthday week around here.  Max loves camping just about as much as snakes, so to continue the celebrations, off we went on Saturday.  And we only had to go about 20 minutes up the road to Emma Long Park.  

It was so beautiful.  Right on Lake Austin, in the middle of the city.  We picked a site underneath some giant cottonwood trees.

We brought along the boys' best friends and they were in heaven- hiking, fishing, laughing, tooting, swimming in the lake, playing in the sand, grilling hotdogs, playing football, frisbee, and tag, making smores, joking about tooting and anything having to do with their you-know-whats, catching worms, and more hiking.  Whew!  Well, it all made for a truly wonderful birthday weekend for a truly wonderful little boy.  Happy birthday, Sweet Love!

10 things

Dani tagged me to tell 10 honest things about myself.  These are honest.  I can't promise they're interesting.  But honest?  Yes.

1.  I talk to myself.  A lot.  Like sometimes when I'm alone and thinking about things I want to talk about with someone later,  I just start talking to myself like I'm rehearsing the conversation.  I like to think it's the only child in me, but it may just be the craziness in me.  Who knows?

2.  One of my most favorite things to do ever is to step on acorn caps and hear them crunch.  I don't think I can really put into words just how much I love doing this.  It's like bubble wrap, but better.  Nature's stress reliever.  If anyone is ever wondering, "What sort of cheap, yet thoughtful gift can I get for LIa?"  Just set up a butt-load of acorn caps for me to crunch.  I would be in heaven.

3. I'm actually a glass half full kind of a girl.  This may be hard for some to believe because I also thoroughly enjoy bitching, but deep down I'm pretty positive.  I pretty much always think that everything will work itself out the way it should be.

4.  I'm a teacher who semi-secretly semi-wishes to quit and home-school my children.  I love the idea of getting to really run with the things that they're interested in learning about.  

But it isn't going to happen for us.  Max LOVES school and Ben LOVES his friends.  They are both so social.  Not that home-schoolers aren't social, but now that Ben is in his 5th year of school, I can't see him enjoying being at home with just me and his brother.  Max would.  He's social, but he's truly a homebody at heart.  And a mama's boy.  So the idea of spending his days at home with me are right up his alley.

It's not just about wanting to teach my children about the things they want to learn.  I also really want to be a stay-at-home mom for a while.  I want to take care of my house and workout and sew and craft and be stress-free for a while.  I want to be able to enjoy my own kids, because right now by the time we get home at nearly 6 o'clock everyday, I'm spent.  My patience is low, if it's even there at all.  Every evening is spent in a whirlwind trying to get through all the things that have to be done like dinner, dishes, homework, laundry, and showers.  I don't play with my kids.  I say no to a lot of things.  I just want to have time to do all that other crap during the day, so that the afternoons and evenings can be more about yes.  Yes, we can do a craft together.  Yes, we can go to the park.  Yes, we can play a game, or go on a hike, or read book.

But to do this we would have to sell our house and move to a much smaller house, sell a car, and we wouldn't be saving anything for retirement.  We would be setting ourselves up to be a financial burden on our kids later.  I definitely don't want to do that.  So I'll keep teaching.  I really do like the teaching part, it's all the stress and long hours that I don't like.  

5.  Like Dani, I also have to have my toenails painted.  I detest unpainted toenails, except for the rare perfect and lovely nude nail.  However, my toenails spend a lot of time chipped.  I don't keep up with the pedicures, I just leave it on forever until the next one.

6.  When I was in college, I worked at Banana Republic with one of my best friends, Amy.  We spent many days helping customers with what we called our "Freeway" accent.  Freeway was a crazy ass movie from the late 90s with Reese Witherspoon.  It's a sort of a Little Red Riding Hood tale, complete with prostitution and Kiefer Sutherland as the Big Bad Wolf.  Resse's southern accent is soooo exaggerated and soooo fun to do.  We would literally talk like that all day.  I'm sure we were extremely annoying.

7.  My biggest regret in life is that I didn't continue dancing.  I stopped when I was about 16.  I did go to a few classes in college.  Now I'm taking ballet and tap, but it's so damn hard.  Mainly because I'm out of shape and my knees are old now.  I feel like if I had kept up with it, I'd be in shape and it would be easier to stay in shape because I love dancing.  I don't love running.

8.   I have spent 8 and a half years being unhappy with my body.  I just realized it had been this long the other day.  To that unhappiness, a few years ago I got to add skin problems.  Wrinkles, zits, and extra pounds does not make for a happy girl. 

9.  I'm really quite good at lying on the spot.  Like really good.  I always have been.  It served me well in my teens.  But I don't do it anymore.  Trust me.

10.  I never thought my marriage would turn out to be as good as it is.  We were young.  There were extenuating circumstances.  Going along with #3, we just sort of did it, thinking that everything would probably be fine.  But, now, almost 10 years later, we truly love each other.  And we enjoy each other's company.  Of course we like to have time alone sometimes, probably me more than him (I am an only child after all).  But we laugh together and talk to each other and value each other's opinion.  We're partners.  And I like it that way.  Well, actually, I love it.

So now I'm going to tag Katie, my hilarious and talented cousin, and Melissa, my insanely talented jewelry-making friend.  Tag, you're it.

Fantastic Mr. Fox?

To say I have been excited about this movie coming out is a bit of an understatement.  I love everything about the thought of it.  I love the book.  I love the stop-motion animation.  I love the Fox.  I even love the tagline- "Dig the life fantastic."

But it has been receiving less than stellar reviews- mostly from Brits who are pissed about the characters being American-ized.  Which is probably super annoying.  I don't know.  But now I'm nervous about it.

Silly.  I know.  But I do indeed get nervous about movies.  I guess because I get so attached to the stories.  If the movie is disappointing, I take it almost personally.  It's crushing.  

I'm so hoping Mr. Fox can live up to his name.

Ben's own personal heaven

It's the Salt Lick.  We took the boys and my parents there a few weekends ago for their first time.  The Salt Lick is a legendary barbecue restaurant here in the Texas Hill Country.  You order by the plate or family style- which means they keep bringing plates piled high with brisket, sausage, and ribs until you tell them to stop.  It's really quite ridiculous and a bit disgusting, but soooo damn delicious.  I haven't had that much sausage in a long, long time.  And it was really good sausage.

His two most favorite foods in the world are meat and ribs, so you can imagine his delight when he found out it was All-You-Can-Eat ribs and meat.  You could just see the wheels a turnin' in his head- picturing all the barbecue.  He was quiet with a big, huge smile.  It was cute.   Of course, I wasn't quick enough to get a picture of him, though. 

Not only is the Salt Lick damn good barbecue, but it's pretty out there.  And it's BYOB, which is my favorite type of restaurant concept.

 

And the cobbler was to die for.  We shared 1/2 peach and 1/2 blackberry with vanilla ice cream.  Mmmm!  Totally worth every calorie.

My kind of crazy sucks

Everybody's got a little bit of crazy in 'em.  Mine happens to be extreme lack of organizational skills and major procrastination problems.  I mentioned before how I wanted to begin to tackle the mess that is my craft room.  Well I didn't.  I've been in there twice and have maybe moved a few things around, but no progress has been made.  Here is a prime example of just how crazy my kind of crazy makes me:

My birthday is next Tuesday.  Hubby asks, "What do you want for your birthday?"

My answer is, "I want you to take everything, like every single, little thing, out of the craft room for me and sort it according to what it is used for.  That way all I will have to do is put it all back the way I want it."

This is my birthday wish.  To be forced into organizing.  Of course, I've only been putting this off since July.  And I have been using it as an excuse to not start any projects.  So weird how I torture my self.  

Now, my dear friend Dani has a whole nuther kind crazy.  And I want hers.  She's got just enough OCD in her that her house is always clean, she gets rid of the crap she doesn't want the second she realizes she doesn't want it, she maintains South Beach, and is thin and beautiful.  Here's a prime example of how her kind of crazy drives me crazy (with jealousy):

She and the girl are both home sick with the Swine Flu.  And what does Dani do?  She cleans her whole house.  Well, just re-sanitizes it really, because the whole damn thing is already clean.  It always is.

Now I realize that this may make her sound more than just a little bit OCD, but she isn't.  She's got just the right amount of obsessiveness in her that she always gets everything done, meets every deadline, accomplishes every goal.  I can't even imagine how good that must feel, because I am the polar opposite and never get anything done completely.  I just mull over it and bitch and complain.  

Until my birthday comes around and I get someone else to do the worst part for me.