What's Cooking?

Okay, so I know that this blog is about learning new levels of craftiness, and not about cooking, but lately I've discovered a dish that I can't help but share.

I've recently discovered the joy and seductiveness that is Stumpleupon.com.  For those of you that have yet to enjoy what Stumpleupon has to offer, it is a website that takes you on a wonderful tour of the internet based upon what interests you.  My interests happen to include food (obviously) and I am constantly being shown wonderful recipes and blogs about recipes.  Stumbleupon has a wonderful feature that allows you to "favorite" a site that you like and you can revisit it later.  That, my friends, is how I "stumbled" upon (hehe) this delicious recipe.

Soon after arriving at our new home we were gifted with a sack of potatoes.  Now, personally, I always found potatoes to be a little too much work for me to want to cook with them often.  I was not, however, keen on the idea of letting the potatoes go to waste.  The first day I peeled what felt like a million potatoes (and I have the scars to prove it) to prepare for freezing.  Hubs loves potato soup so those will be perfect to pull out of the freezer on a cold day.  The rest went to cooking them however I could fit them in.  We had potatoes for days.  Then I happened upon the recipe I am about to share with you and what did I do the other day? I bought another bag of potatoes so I could make them again. :)

 whatsgabycooking.com/parmesan-roasted-potatoes is where you can go to see the recipe as I first found it.  This second time I made them I added half an onion that I had on hand.

The first time I made this dish I had left overs.  I heated them up the next night with a little olive oil in a skillet and they were still just as delicious.  Hope you enjoy them as much as I do!

What a Bargain!

A couple of Saturdays ago I got a phone call from my mom telling me that she was at an Estate sale and there were boxes of ribbon for sale for 25 cents a spool.  I asked her to see if she could make a deal and she got all the boxes for $2.00!  Don't you just love a bargain?  I figured if there was just one useable spool of ribbon in those boxes it was well worth the price.  She sent me a box in the mail which I received yesterday.

There are still some ribbon that she hasn't sent yet because it didn't fit into the box.  It's an interesting mix.  Some will be great for bows and others are ideal for scrapbooking.  There are some that I have no idea what to do with.  Suggestions??  Maybe after I master sewing (snicker) I will put some of them to good use.

We are still unpacking and I am awaiting the arrival of my craft table, so until things get a little more put together in our new house I won't be pursuing any crafting activities.

I painted a wall in our new living room yesterday.  It was a hideous pale green color that even my daughter turned her nose up.  We picked a brown color that complements the color on all the other walls in the house. We also picked up an off-white color to paint the trim and doors.

Here is Z helping mommy paint. You can see some of the old color at the bottom.

The finished product.

Next is a new entertainment center to put on it!

Evidence

I am in the process of cleaning, purging and packing for an across state move that we are making next week and came upon a cache of old pictures.  Attached is photographic evidence of the drug store plastic costumes of my childhood that was discussed in a previous post.  I couldn't help but to share!   My sister and I pose in our hopelessly generic costumes. I am the one crying. Apparently I didn't want to dress as...well, who knows what that's supposed to be...

 (sorry the image is blurry - Ah, the times before digital...)

I have recently discovered the joys of Stumbleupon and have bookmarked a number of nifty crafts to try out once we get settled in to our new home.  Until then, adieu!

I've got skills...well, sorta...

Okay, for today's post I would like to share with you some examples of my present state of craftiness. This way the online world will have an idea of how I started out, what I am currently capable of doing, and how much (if any) progress I have made on my quest.

First off - Scrapbooking.  In the first scrapbook I did (my daughter's first year) I mainly relied on stickers (I LOVE stickers).  I didn't really feel comfortable doing any writing freehand because I didn't want there to be any mistakes (which there were anyways).  Then, after a while, and after some deep reflecting on my part, I decided that it wouldn't be a bad thing to have mommy's personal touch on my child's book of memories, mistakes and all.  With this realization, I started leaning towards more journaling and free-hand letters in my daughter's second year scrapbook.  Here are some pictures to show examples:

You will notice the progression of adding the journaling aspect. This is the end of the first year book.  Next is the first page of my daughter's second year book.

In this page I opted to use a stencil instead of stickers for the title.

More from the 2nd year:

Okay, now quickly a look at a few of my bows that I have made.  Somehow a few of the other's have gotten misplaced...don't know how that happens ;)

Okay, there you go.  Feedback, critiques, questions??? Let me hear it!

Where there's a will...

I have come to the belief that some people are born with the ability to "craft." I have also come to the belief that I was not born with said ability.  My mother was also not blessed with the crafting gene.  Birthdays are usually celebrated with a store bought cake and gift bags.  We were the kids on the block with the plastic Halloween costumes that you bought at the drug store.  You know the kind.  We never once won a costume contest at school...

I remember once as a teenager going to my grandmother (who somehow got the crafty gene) and asking her to teach me to sew.  We started simple, I wanted to make a plain a-line skirt.  After about an hour or three of  trying to get one seam sewn my grandmother deemed me unable to sew and finished the skirt for me.  

Surely though certain levels of craftiness can be learned, right???  That's what I aim to find out.  I have already tried my hand at a couple of crafts.  After the birth of my first child I wanted to have a scrapbook of her first year.  My sister volunteered to do it for me but I wanted it to have my own touch so I tried scrapbooking, and lo and behold I actually enjoyed it.  I'm not going to say I am particularly great at it...yet.  I will post some pictures of my efforts at another time.  I've also tried my hand at making a couple of hair bows.  They aren't totally disastrous but I don't think anyone would shell out any dough for them.

So, here's my list of things I am going to give an earnest attempt:

Sewing, cake decorating, bow making, photography, flower arrangements and anything else that comes to mind or is suggested to me.  I will keep you all posted...wish me luck!