My Prego Italian Creation...

There are numerous not-fun side effects during pregnancy but one of my favorites is cravings.  I am free to try and make all the crazy combo yummies that I would be too calorie conscious or timid to try.  Pregnancy opens the senses to a creativity that only hormones can muster, an urge to try new, strange fusions of flavor.  Oh, happy eating.

I was recently asked to make a main dish for a holiday potluck and I was feeling pasta.  I ventured to the market and started collecting a cart full of ingredients that all just sounded good.  A little bit of sundried tomatoes (I can eat those things like candy), spinach, glorious garlic, italian dressing, chicken, garlic, fettuccine, alfredo sauce and did I mention garlic?  I went home and immediately started creating this masterpiece that I am bestowing the honorable title of Hit the Spot Fettuccine.

Ingredients:
2 lbs boneless skinless chicken breast
1 bottle of Italian salad dressing
3 TBSP olive oil
1 package of sun dried tomatoes
1 bag of baby spinach
6 TBSP of minced garlic (roasted garlic cloves would be incredible but I was too lazy)
1 package of fettuccine
2 jars of Classico Alfredo Sauce

Step 1:  Marinate the chicken breast overnight in the italian dressing and 2 tbsp of garlic
Step 2:  Cook fettuccine according to the instructions.
Step 3:  In an electric skillet or large skillet over a medium flame, heat 2 tbsp of oil.  Saute chicken until no longer pink.  Set aside.
Step 4:  In same skillet, add remaining oil.  Saute sun dried tomatoes, spinach, and remaining garlic until spinach is soft.  Add the chicken back in.

Step 5:  Add alfredo sauce to the saute mixture.  Let simmer for ten minutes.
Step 6: Combine everything for one wonderful concoction.

I don't know the sentiments of everyone else but this nutrient devouring fatty thought it was fantastic.

Big Letter L...and It's Not for Loser...

One of my latest creations for the home was inspired from a post on pinterest.  I have always loved the simple, classy, and modern look of monogrammed letters.  This was a unique twist.  They had wrapped a cardboard letter in a fun color yarn and it looked adorable.  I have been debating what to put as my focal point in my living room above my couch.  I love collaged pictures but I needed some color.  I thought, "I have a college degree with an emphasis is art... I can tackle yarn."

So, I ventured down to JoAnnes (JoAnne and I are getting really tight), and discovered this wonderful oversized letter.  Fantastic two feet of blank crafting canvas.

I found some vibrant green yarn that matched an accent color in some pillows I made and thought it would look really nice against the neutral paint color in that room.   Let the wrapping begin.

Armed with a glue gun, my yarn, gigantor letter and some quiet time while the girls were napping I began my endeavor.  The hardest part was figuring out a way to make it look cohesive, intentional and neatly done.  It took some creative thinking but I figured out a way to loop the corners and angles of the letter so that I wouldn't have to cut my yarn.  I used the glue gun only on the corners where I changed wrapping directions.

Two hours later, I had my wall decor.  I have to say it was strangely calming.  I am really happy with how it turned out.  Now if the man and I could just agree on the frame color for the surrounding collage.  What color would you choose?

The Baby's Big Number One...

So, my little adorable Marcella turned one today.  I love both my children immensely, but for some reason I was a little more emotional with my little tiny hiney's big event today.  I can't blame it on hormones because I was exactly this far along with Marcella when Adelyn was at this age.  Maybe, because it seemed to go by sooooo much faster.  It really does feel like just last week I was as big as a house, feeling sorry for myself because I was going to miss out on all the fun Christmas activities and holding her perfect newborn head in my arms.  Really I think the only reason I didn't lose it completely is because I always have another on the way.  Will I ever not be prego? :)

However, I always thouroughly enjoy throwing them a bash.  I know, I know... It's more for me than them.  But so what!  I birthed them.  Let's celebrate!  For Marcella Jane's big day I decided to do a snowflake theme.  I saved a ton by making custom photo invites on my computer and printing them at Costco as 5x7's.  Soooo much cheaper.

I made her a banner out of different shades of blue paper, glitter, snowflakes I punched out using snowflake holepunches, and silver wrapping ribbon.  Adelyn was estatic when it went up.

We had a taco bar for lunch.  I made a bucket of spanish rice, a troph of seasoned ground beef and another of a chicken fajita-like mixture.  I had hard and soft tacos available and a assembly line of toppings to go with it.  My dad made a chorizo cheese dip and I ate my weight in all of the above.  I also made a hot chocolate bar!  I heated up hot chocolate in a crock pot.  I had candymelt coated marshmallows on straws, those incredible pirouette rolled vanilla wafers and whipped cream.

I also drank my fill of this monstrosity.  Downstairs in the kids crazy zone, I had the desserts set up on the lip of our built in.  I made a red velvet snowflake cake with cream cheese icing, lemon/yellow cake pops, and had cute dark chocolate stars for munching on.

We got the little ones stuffed holiday animals for favors and I had her baby book for friends and family to sign and her first year calendar with pictures to look at near the presents table. 

My little one loved her little individul cake and threw quite the "big kid" tanrum when we wouldn't let her eat the whole huge thing.

 It was a really enjoyable day with a lot of good friends and family around!  My girls were so hyped up from all the organized chaos downstairs with friends that I wasn't sure if I would ever get them down.  Now to start thinking about baby number 3's...

I'm Back Baby...

Whoa.  Whoa.  I cannot even begin to express the exhaustion that has ensued from the craziness of the past several weeks.  In the last month, I have closed on and moved into our new home, finished my first sick trimester of pregnancy number three, and have been preparing for little Marcella Jane's first birthday party all during the crazy frantic holiday season.  To top it off we have gotten the flu twice and I have been cut off from the rest of the cyberworld because of a month long battle with our internet carrier.  But I finally feel like we are settling in and that I can take a breath just long enough to start organizing all the things I would love to create for my new home.

I have been known to be several things: One: cheap or I guess frugal might sound nicer.  Two: stubborn.  And Three: creative.  Since moving into an older home where priorities like "fixing the gas line" and "Resealing toilets so they don't leak everywhere" have taken precedent over the important things like wall decor and curtain choices.  So, with finances limited and a blank pallet with endless possibilities I have begun the crafting marathon.   I am going to blog you out with all the happenings around here!

First project was curtains.  I searched for two weeks for curtain panels for my front window and just never liked anything enough to blow that kind of money on.  I had no idea curtains were so expensive!  So, I decided to make my own.  I know, crazy over-achiever right?  Nope.  I found a really simple tutorial on how to make basic grommet style curtains with very minimal sewing.  Since, I don't sew.  I waited in the craziness that was JoAnne's Fabric the day after Thanksgiving to nab 50% off on my fabric.  They also had a very, you can't mess this up, easy grommet kit that I got for an additional 20% off.  Also my new second home Lowe's, has clearance sections and I nabbed my designer pole for 80%!  Steals!

Now the fun part, sewing.  My sister knows the ins and outs of a sewing machine so I had her set it all up for me.  I can sew a straight line if everything is working the way it should.  I laid my fabric out and measured and cut it into the panel sizes I needed.

 Now, I learned later that grommets take up a lot of your measurement when you hang them.  Therefore, you really need almost double your fabric from what you would measure just straight across!  Also, I had to take in account my hem line.  I decided to do a roll hem, because that's all I knew and it's easy.  I literally just folded my edge a half inch, then folded it again a half inch and pinned.  I did this around the entire perimeter of my fabric.

 Then to the machine to sew straight lines all the way around.  Once both panels were hemmed, I used the very basic instructions to guide me through the grommet process. It took me a while to figure out the primary math on how far apart I wanted them but once that frustration was out of the way, easy street.  Pretty much trace the template where you want them, cut out your circle, and snap them together.

Voila!  Curtains.

It was really hard to get a good picture because there is always a lot of light streaming threw these windows!

I love them.  They match perfectly to the rest of my decor (can't wait to share those later!) and they literally cost me a third of what store bought panels would have run me.