365 - Week Ten

DAY 64

Pretty much sums it up. The Husband turned 37. We celebrated with a Dairy Queen Blizzard ice cream cake and presents. A very nice evening. :)

DAY 65

This was my delicious Bean Curd Szechuan Style that I got from our favorite Chinese restaurant. It was DELICIOUS! Definitely my favorite form of tofu so far. I blogged about this on my Tofu Tuesday, but I discovered the next day that this was the ONLY picture I took this day so it's making a second appearance. At least I didn't miss a day.

DAY 66

Taking pictures for my Etsy shop, Whimsical Stitches. This was a reject from the day of one of my granny square headbands, but I loved it too much to let it go completely.

DAY 67

E-Man and I went to the kiddie gym with playgroup this morning. E-Man's favorite thing is the trampoline. Trying to get a picture of midjump while trying to insure he did not jump off the edge was a tricky task, but luckily I got it and he didn't fall on his head.

DAY 68

I could have titled this week food and Etsy.

I took over 200 pictures today for my shop. By the time I was done with that I really wasn't feeling like scouting out another picture. So I decided to use another picture that didn't make the cut for today. Love this picture of my coordinating small reusable bags.

DAY 69

K-Girl and E-Man had a dentist appointment this morning. It was the first time E-Man has had his teeth looked at by the dentist. I was nervous but he did a fantastic job. The dentist said that maybe one in every fifty 2 year olds sit as well as he did. I was amazed. And what's better is that both kids' teeth looked perfect. Yay for good dentist visits.

DAY 70

There's a head on my seat. I've been looking for a head to use rather than my own for modeling hats and headbands for my store. I was thrilled to find out that Pier 1 sells recycled glass heads that are actually adult sized for just $20.00. I'm quite excited over my new head. Now all I need is a sunny day so I have lighting to take a few pictures. Weee!!


Hosted by Chris


Hosted by Cecily and Lolli

Tofu Tuesday #43

Brought to you by...
Kaci@Ellyphant & Kelli@Gohn Crazy

Tofu Tuesday is the place to share all of your vegetarian secrets. If you have a great recipe to share, a product to rave or rant about, or anything that has made being a vegetarian easier for you please share it. (And vegans of course are welcome too!!) Feel free to grab the little button over there to the right. After you post come back here and link up with your address in the comments. I'm looking forward to reading all your posts!

I didn't make this. I have no idea how to make this. But I decided to try something different when we got Chinese this past weekend. I'm typically very boring when we go there. Before I was vegetarian it was sweet and sour chicken, chicken lo mein, or pork fried rice. For the past year it's been regular lo mein. Ye haw. ;) So this past time I decided to pick an item and try it.

Bean Curd Szechuan Style...

Simply put, YUM! I have not had tofu before that I was wowed over. This wowed me. Even the leftovers were quite tasty. I've found a new favorite. It puts the lo mein to shame.

365 - Week Nine

DAY 57

Looking inside my project bag. I really love this blanket. It was a square lovey blanket that I crocheted. Loved the bright pink against the white. Such a fun blanket!

DAY 58

YAY! The camera card has finally been cleared. Prints are done. A clean slate. I finally want to use the camera for fun again.

DAY 59

I finally got around to adding flowers on these two scarves I've had completed for a while. Suede yarn! Oh so soft and squishy!

DAY 60

I both love and hate the Wii. E-Man is addicted. It's the first and last words out of his mouth each and every day.

So I had a slight panic attack when I uploaded my photos and I didn't have a picture album for March 1st. I KNEW I didn't miss a day again. Here my camera time must be off, because I will admit that this picture was taken at 11:50-something but none-the-less March 1st. *phew*

DAY 61

There were two birdhouses hanging in the tree in our back yard. Now there's just one. The other has finally scared me to the point that I feared for any birdies that would want to call it home this Spring. I think we'll need to replace it. I can't wait until there are little birds flitting in and out of this little house. Come on Spring!!

DAY 62

I was sitting during nap time, crocheting and drinking my afternoon coffee. I grabbed my camera and wanted to take a picture of my mug and the yarn scraps. I didn't even notice that Molly was napping there on the chair. My focus accidentally caught her and it was a moment. Oooooh so I can do that too?! I love how during this challenge I'm growing and learning my camera a bit even when it's not intended.

DAY 63

Ever have one of those days where you just can't decide? I like both of these pictures for different reasons and I couldn't choose. Which do you like better? Bridge or tunnel?

Playgroup was coming over today so last night I sat in the playroom and decided to work up a track for the kids to play with. Can I just say that I had so much fun?! It was great to play trains by myself. I got to build this super cool track that had double tracks going under the bridge. I used all but two pieces of track that we had. You can ask The Husband, it took all I had not to take out the trains to try it out, but that would have been too noisy. And for what it's worth, no the track didn't make it through playgroup but they did have a good time with it.


Hosted by Chris


Hosted by Cecily and Kelli

Tofu Tuesday #42

Brought to you by...
Kaci@Ellyphant & Kelli@Gohn Crazy

Tofu Tuesday is the place to share all of your vegetarian secrets. If you have a great recipe to share, a product to rave or rant about, or anything that has made being a vegetarian easier for you please share it. (And vegans of course are welcome too!!) Feel free to grab the little button over there to the right. After you post come back here and link up with your address in the comments. I'm looking forward to reading all your posts!

Tofu Nuggets
(Taken from my Betty Crocker Easy Everyday Vegetarian Cook Book)



Start to Finish: 20 Minutes

3 Tbsp all-purpose flour
6 Tbsp cold water
2/3 cup unseasoned dry bread crumbs
1 tsp salt
Dash of ground red pepper (cayenne)
1 package (12 oz) extra-firm tofu packed in water, drained, cut into 1" cubes
Vegetable oil

1. In small bowl, beat flour and water with wire whisk or hand beater until smooth. In shallow dish or pie plate, toss bread crumbs, salt, and red pepper.

2. Dip tofu cubes into batter, then roll in bread crumb mixture to coat.

3. In 10" skillet, heat oil (1/2") over med-high heat. Cook 15 nuggets at a time in oil about 1 minute, turning once, until golden brown. Drain nuggets on paper towels. Serve hot with barbecue sauce (or other dipping sauce of your choice).

I would make these again with only keeping one thing in mind. I'd make the cubes all smaller. The Husband made these and some were larger and then some were smaller. The smaller ones had a much better taste and texture than the larger ones. The kids liked them though. K-Girl ate a bunch. I gave the kids the majority of the smaller ones.

365 - Week Eight

DAY 50

Ok so for honesty's sake, this is a picture from Day 49. Yep, that's right. I missed a day. Lucky number 50. Ah well. Keep going.

This little potty has been seeing a lot of action lately. It's exciting stuff!

DAY 51

My daughter loves the Skippyjon Jones books (and so does her Daddy & Momma). She picked this one up with her Christmas money along with a little stuffed Skippyjon cat. He's a siamese cat that thinks he's a chihuahua. Very fun books. Tonight listened to the author read this book on CD. It was fun to hear the correct pronunciation of some of the Spanish words that I'm not so familiar with in the book.

DAY 52

A few ladies in my playgroup got together for a brunch at this great little restaurant in Lancaster city. It's called Wish You Were Here. They serve a lot of local foods, cage-free eggs, vegan and vegetarian options. Our table all decided to get the Swedish Oatmeal Pancakes which were pretty amazing. If you find yourself in the area you should definitely check it out.

DAY 53

I was crocheting and she was snoozing.

Anyone else think that the eye thing is rather creepy.

DAY 54

We were having dinner with our friends this night and "N" had an extremely wiggly tooth. I don't even think wiggly was the word for it as it was just hanging in all these weird positions. She was not interested in the little help that it would have taken to get it out. Finally by the end of the evening, after a little coaxing she got the tooth out. I couldn't miss the opportunity to get a picture of K-Girl and N showing their first missing tooth. It seems like not too long ago that they were just getting those teeth. Time flies.

DAY 55

It was only fair to get a picture of the other pup passed out as well.

DAY 56

The time I turned on the car to head back home after picking K-Girl up from the bus.

I had it all planned that I was taking the picture of the time the bus came, but then I looked out the window and there was a boy chasing...or rather watching his dog run out on the road. It's a pretty busy road and he was somewhat young so I jumped out of the car and helped him get his dog. I chased the darn thing off the road three times - one when the bus was sitting there - before the boy actually managed to grab it.


Hosted by Chris


Hosted by Cecily and Amy

Tofu Tuesday #41

Brought to you by...
Kaci@Ellyphant & Kelli@Gohn Crazy

Tofu Tuesday is the place to share all of your vegetarian secrets. If you have a great recipe to share, a product to rave or rant about, or anything that has made being a vegetarian easier for you please share it. (And vegans of course are welcome too!!) Feel free to grab the little button over there to the right. After you post come back here and link up with your address in the comments. I'm looking forward to reading all your posts!

Spaghetti and Spicy Rice Balls
(Taken from my Betty Crocker Easy Everyday Vegetarian Cook Book)

Prep time - 30 Minutes
Start to Finish - 30 Minutes
Servings - 6

1 Package (16 oz) uncooked spaghetti
2 cups cooked white rice
1/2 cup quick-cooking oats
1 medium onion, chopped (1/2 cup)
1/4 cup unseasoned bread crumbs
1/4 cup milk
1 TBSP chopped fresh or 1 tsp dried basil leaves
2 TBSP chopped fresh or 1/2 tsp dried oregano leaves
1/4 tsp ground red pepper (cayenne)
1 egg, beaten
1/2 cup wheat germ
1 TBSP vegetable oil
2 cups tomato pasta sauce
Finely shredded Parmesan cheese, if desired

1. Cook and drain spaghetti as directed on package.
2. Meanwhile, in medium bowl, mix rice, oats, onion, bread crumbs, milk, basil, oregano, red pepper, and egg. Shape mixture into 10 balls; roll in wheat germ to coat.
3. In 10-inch skillet, heat oil over medium heat. Add rice balls; cook about 10 minutes, turning occasionally, until light golden brown.
4. Heat pasta sauce until hot. Serve sauce and rice balls over spaghetti; sprinkle with Parmesan cheese if desired.

These things are pretty awesome. There was a little spice to them which gave the entire dish a kick. And the best thing is that this was a meal that though the kids didn't want the rice balls, they could have plain jane spaghetti and be fine. Only thing is that with a lot of the recipes in this book it's white white white. I prefer using brown rice, whole wheat pasta, and will be changing that in recipes from this book from now on. But I still love this book. I'd definitely recommend it as everything is pretty quick and easy and everything I've tried I've really really liked. The link to the cookbook is up underneath the the name of the dish. Enjoy!

365 - Week Seven

So I totally got burnt by shortcuts this week. I wondered why my link was for Week Six when I'm on Seven. When I went in to steal the coding from six I forgot to move to a different post. So I now am posting seven and going back to try to fix six.

DAY 43

Meet our neighbor. It's actually just one of the members of the neighbor family. The human neighbors in back of us own that pool. The deck on our side has that nice little gap there. It's the ideal place to live if you're a furry creature. Currently there is a family of raccoons calling it home. There are at least 2 large ones like the one pictured and we believe that a while back they had babies. There are definitely more than 2. They drive our dog, Molly, nuts. Typically they are just out at night, but after all this snow we got I caught this guy scaling the pool fence to get a look-see. He completely pays no attention to us, even to Molly even though she is barking the evil bark of death at them completely stretched as far as she can get on her lead.

Not the best picture, but there's only so much zoom in my little camera. And I couldn't pass up the opportunity to get the picture since I typically see them at night time and the camera is definitely not good enough for that. ;)

DAY 44

We were at a birthday party for my friend's daughter/E-Man's friend. While "A" was opening her gifts I looked over to see E-Man and K-Girl holding hands while sitting on the couch watching the birthday girl. This is such a rarity, especially this week when they both won't stop picking on the other for more five minutes.

DAY 45

Viewing #2. You need to watch this movie. Refer to this post if you haven't already read it. ;)

DAY 46

My Diet Mountain Dew ran out. I decided I wasn't replenishing my supply. I'm on day 3 with no soda. It's going alright - no major headaches so far. Luckily when I've felt one coming on (late morning) I brew a some coffee, have a cup, and life seems better.

I also started the 30 Day Shred Level 2. Let's see if I can do 30 days of Jillian and no soda.

DAY 47

Icicles are everywhere. The ones on the roof were too far away even though they deserve the credit for this post. I was dripped on every time I let the dogs in and out of the house. The bright side is that the snow is melting. In fact today nearly all of the icicles are gone it got so warm.

DAY 48

Nothing inspiring going on. Just standing in the backyard looking straight up.

DAY 49

Cookies. 60 of them (plus a few extras) actually. K-Girl's class is having their Valentine's Day, oops excuse me Friendship, Party tomorrow. I've never made royal icing before, but I decided to try it. I love my wonderful ideas. *note use of sarcasm* They always sound like a good idea, but I'm too much a procrastinator for such projects. It took about two hours to ice these bad boys, trying to make the icing actually look like hearts since my cookies don't so much after baking. I did an alright job, nothing that kindergarteners are going to complain about. Each of the kids will have one normal size heart (white with pink sprinkles) and two mini hearts that are just pink.

And in the interest of full disclosure, I totally licked the scraper at the end. ~sigh~ That's some good stuff. hehe


Hosted by Chris


Hosted by Cecily and Lolli