Books are yummy!!

When nap time comes for Dallin, he will often look at a book when he lays down. Usually he falls asleep fast, but on occasion he doesn't ever fall asleep. When this happens, he apparently keeps himself busy by eating his books!! I guess we don't feed him enough.

Dinner for one... and 1/2

Boy, it is late and I am tired. I often put off going to bed, just for the quiet time that I get all by myself. Dallin took a nap from 1pm to 5pm, I couldn't stand to wake him up. It was a great afternoon for me. One of those nap times where nothing got done but vegging. And oh, how I love to veg after a mentally exhausting morning full of toddler. The long and late nap resulted in a late bed time. After three attempts of putting a screaming little boy into bed and then pulling him out of bed, he finally got to bed at 9:30. I am a big fan of the 7 o'clock bed time, but tonight, we snuggled together on the couch watching Arthur and American Idol late into the night. There is nothing better than a snuggle. I have been jonesin' for some fresh garden produce lately. That's not happening, however, so I opened up a can of diced tomatoes and made dinner for one and a half. The half comes from Dallin sitting on my lap, poking and prodding my bruschetta and nibbling every piece of bread on the plate. Here is my "lazy woman's a little of this, a little of that" version of bruschetta:

One can of diced, peeled tomatoes
A little salt and ground pepper
A little dried parsley
A little dried oregano
A lot more dried basil
A little garlic powder
A shot of balsamic vinegar
About a tablespoon of dried onions

Combine and chill long enough for flavors to meld and for dried ingredients to rehydrate (this makes me feel REALLY lazy, but it works) then return to room temperature to eat. I sprinkled a bit of parmesan cheese on top as well.

For the bread I drizzled extra virgin olive oil on the slices of yummy multigrain mini french bread and put it under the broiler until toasty. I then rubbed the bread with a clove of garlic. Then top the bread with the tomatoes and eat it all up, soooo yummy!

Leftovers tonight??

I have been trying to figure out what to do with all my leftover scraps of fabric and yarn. They just sit around, gathering dust and feeling lonely. In order to use these extras up, I have put myself on a buying freeze (except the $6 cash that I found in my pocket the other day, which, by the way is hard to find in any pocket these days and the Lowes gift card that has $5 on it). Here is what I came up with. I designed this purse that I am going to call "Grass". I only spent $2 on the handles and the rest is made out of scrap yarn. I have a lining pinned in it, but I am not feeling the love from it, so I might have to make a trip to the fabric store. I found this tubing in the plumbing department. It is amazing what kind of ideas you can get by scouring the aisles of a home improvement store.

Wrap it up...

Anything wrap-able lately goes around Dallin's shoulders. This is our door draft blocker thing-a-ma-bob. Notice that he is sporting a very dirty face. He likes it that way, despite any attempt to keep it clean. He has never been attached to anything. Never took a binky, or had a favorite stuffed animal. But lately, anything that is in his crib when he wakes up, has to come out and go downstairs to breakfast with him. Crazy, kooky and fun this boy is!!
I had the YW coming over so I put Dallin to work. He did a good job sweeping and mopping the floor.

Cuz' I'm Dreamin'

I have a very talented and crafty friend (she is a super seamstress) who has the coolest blog. I love to look at it and the fun things that she makes. Her most recent entry shows some cute button flowers that she just bought. The other night, after reading her blog, I had a dream. In this dream I was making those same button flowers, except they were a bit different. I was sticking spice drops onto wire and putting them in a big ceramic vase. So, after waking up and laughing at myself and my odd dreams, I had to make them. Here is what I came up with. I like the "hope of Spring" that they bring. I AM ready for Spring! Thanks for the inspirational dream, Sara!

Flower Power

Paul gave me some beautiful tulips for Valentines Day. I am going to try to replant the bulbs in our front yard. Hopefully my black thumb will turn green this year!! I am so proud of this flower that I crocheted because I made it from reading a pattern, something that does not come easy for me. I made the flower into a pin for the end of a scarf that I made a friend of mine.
Here is a pretty pink one.

Balls? Blocks? What should I call them?

I had a few pieces of fleece left over from the blanket that I just finished and this is what I did with them. I made blocks, or balls. They are filled with polywhatever fiberfill, or pillow stuffing and measure about 6x6x6 in. They are so fun and squishy, I love them. But I am not sure what to call them. I am welcoming any suggestions. The winner of the "NAME THOSE THINGIES" contest will receive a much appreciated pat on the back (if your within a reasonable geographical range).

Birthday Party? Birthday party!

This is a birthday cake. For who? Everyone that I love. Those who really know me, inside and out, know that I forget everything. Even Birthdays. I forget about them in a very interesting way, though. I always remember a persons birthday the day before, and I think about them, and I make plans to call them and wish them a happy day. And then I remember their birthday the day after the actual event, and I feel dumb and resolve to REMEMBER ON THE ACTUAL DAY next year. I can even be with the person the day before, the day, or the day after. No amount of reminders help. The most recent example? On the 13th of February, this is what went through my head: "Tomorrow is Jordan's birthday, I better get her phone number because I lost my cell phone and with it I lost so many precious numbers. Must get her number and call her." And now, here is my brain on the 14th of February: "Tomorrow is Tashina's birthday. I need to call her." The 15th?? Of course you know the answer to that. Brain, what were you thinking?? Brain: "dough....." Am I a lost cause? Maybe? So here is my solution. To everyone: Please know that I love you and that I wish you a very happy birthday on YOUR day! Please know that I think of you on the day before and the day after your day to shine.

"New England Ham Omelet"

I found this recipe online somewhere, can't remember where. It is another "different combination" recipe, but very good. Filling recipe:
1/4 cup chopped onion
1/2 cup unpeeled, diced cooking apple
1/4 cup diced ham (lower fat ham can be used, also)
2 tablespoons maple syrup (sugar free works, too)

Saute in a sprayed skillet until browned. Use this filling in you omelet, scrambled eggs, or egg substitute equivalent. I sprinkled a little mozzarella cheese on this omelet.

Ladybug Blanket

I finished this blanket last night. This pattern always turns out so cute, but, boy is it time consuming. I had fun with this one and I am finishing off some matching blocks to go with it. This blanket is all fleece and all hand tied.

Healthy pizza?

We love to make pizza often in my home. I always try to make it different, something you wouldn't expect on a pizza. Last night, I made a "Ceaser, broccoli, onion, and chicken" pizza. It turned out SO good. I even made it lower fat. I was even able to sneak the broccoli into my sons mouth. Here's how I made it:

I took a Philsbury Refrigerator French Bread dough (low fat) and unrolled the dough onto a sprayed cookie sheet. I then spread light Ceaser salad dressing on the dough, then sprinkled garlic powder on that. Then came the mozzarella cheese, red onions, broccoli, and cooked chicken. A sprinkle of Parmesan cheese, red chili flakes, dried oregano and dried basil finished it all off. I then baked it at 400 degrees until it the crust was golden brown. It is yummy plain, or my family likes to dip it in homemade pizza or spaghetti sauce. Super easy and super yummy!!!

abcdefg

Here is our version of the alphabet, lots of giggling!!!

Kristen: "A"

Dallin: "beeeeeeeee"

K: "C"

D: "deeeeeeeeee"

K: "E"

D: "eeeeeeeee"

K: "F"

D: "aaaaaaaaaaa"

K: "F????"

D: "aaaaaaaaaaa"

K: "G...H....I"

D: "eye, eye, eye"

K: "J...K...L...M...N...O"

D: "oooooooo"

K: "P?"

D: "peeeeee"

K: "Q?"

D: "hee, hee, hee"

And then we somehow get through the rest! What a ham Dallin is!

Extra! Extra!! Hear all about it!!

Good News Time>>>

My brother Kyle got his mission call last Wednesday. He is going to serve in the Argentina, Buenos Aires Mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints for two years. Watch out Argentina, Kyle's coming! Congratulations, Kyle, we LOVE you!!!!!!!!!

Doh-yo-yo's

Here is a baby blanket that is my main focus as of late. I am crocheting each square and then I will stitch all the squares together. The green squares are a double crochet stitch and the blue is a single stitch were I have turned the piece and pulled the yarn through the back loop to create a zig-zag affect (not sure of the technical terms). Here are the yo-yo's that I discovered how to make today (thanks for the link, Sara) . My son calls them "doh-yo-yo's". I decided to make patterns for a bunch of different sizes so that when I want to make something out of them, I can see what size I want to make. They were quick and easy to make. The great yo-yo!

SNOW SNOW SNOW

We finally got enough snow to play in!!! Dallin was having so much fun. He would not hold still for anything. All I wanted was a couple pictures of him playing in the snow. He was running around the whole time, with me chasing after him with the camera. Thank goodness for digital cameras. I took about 30 pictures and barely any were good. It was fun to get out and play, though. It is so nice to finally have some snow with all this cold weather! The funniest part was that we only got about 2 inches and they cancelled all of Clark County schools. That never happened to us when we went to school in Utah!

We made a snowman.

And snow angels.

A rare still shot.

My daddy is so much fun!!!

CUTE OR CRAZY?! OR BOTH!?

Always busy and rarely holds still. That is our Dallin. You may think that our world revolves around him. Well, yes, it does. So, with that matter taken care of... Here are more pictures of Dallin being crazy, and some of him holding still (rare moments).

Wipees!!!!!!!!

I'm cold, but this tree is so cool and I LOVE being outside!
Here is the "rare moment" that I was talking about. He loves to sit on the couch and snuggle with his Dad and a blankie... and whatever spare clothing accessory that is hanging around.
Everything is a seat to Dallin. At this moment in time, it was his Rescue Hero's Helicopter. My friend Renee's boy recently decided that he wanted to get rid of the "little boy" in his room (He is about 8 or 9 I think). When she said that they could give his toys to Charity, he told his mom that he wanted to give them to Dallin. How cute is that?? Renee then brought over a garbage bag full of trucks and rescue hero's. Dallin loves his new toys. Thanks for the toys Spencer!!
Paul has to wear his hear net to get around the plant in some areas. He brought one home the other day and Dallin had a ball wearing it. Don't worry, he was supervised and it breaths well.

Crafty diva (well, maybe)!

With Paul working second shift now (3pm to midnight), I have a lot of time on my hands after Dallin goes to bed. I have started so many different craft projects since this time. Now, I am being brave to post some of these pictures and tell you about them, because they are SO imperfect! And I give you permission to laugh at some of them too.

Quilling... These fish are quilled. The paper that I use to "twirl" them is 1/8th of an in wide. The fish are 1-2 inches long. I have no idea what I am going to do with them, but they were fun to make.

This flag looking thing is a picture board that I made for Dallin's room. It is a canvas board wrapped in ribbon. I am going to print some pics of Dallin in Sepia for the board. I made a really cute picture board like this one for my niece, Kali. It turned out WAY cute and it was a lot more fun to do girly colors than boy colors! I am still waiting for a picture of it from my sister (hint, hint)
And here we have the craft bucket that I sewed out of an old pair of jeans. It came out sooooo lopsided, but I still use it. I didn't use a pattern for this, so I was somewhat pleased with the results.
Here is the inside. The pockets from the jeans are great for holding anything small.
And now you can laugh!!! I saw a wash cloth with this pattern in a quilting store in downtown Winchester. I thought that it was cool so I asked the owner how she did it. She picked up her crochet hook and yarn and showed me the pattern right there. I got home and tried my hand (from memory) at the washcloth. OK, you can stop laughing, really!!! Funny, eh? Paul said that he was going to quit his job, and start selling my washcloths, he liked it so much!!!
With so much crafting going on, my house became dusty and musty. SO I put everything down for awhile so that I could clean house (how boring). But my next adventure will be a purse (again, no pattern) No wonder why things come out crooked!!! Again, stop laughing at the wash cloth. It was funny, I know, but you are going to pop a vein!