How cute is she?   We must do another baby photo shoot soon since she is growing up oh so fast.  Maybe if she wakes up happy, not snotty, and is still fairly clean we will try that this afternoon.

I have to admit something.  It is about time I come clean.  I am cupcake challenged.  I know, it is shocking right?  But it is true.  Truer than true if that is possible.  You don’t believe me?  Well, take a look …

That’s right … proof of the cupcake challenged label.   It’s ok, I am strong enough to wear such a label.  I am not ashamed.  If I were, would I post these pictures? 

It always starts out innocently enough, just a couple friends thinking that it would be fun to make cute cupcakes for the teens at church.  And then … these happen. 

I could justify why they aren’t great … like the fact that I didn’t have the correct supplies which is one of the drawbacks of living in my iddy bitty town, or that I was rushed … there are lots of “reasons” why they look like they do.  But honestly, all the justification in the world doesn’t make the proof any less obvious.  Cupcake challenged it is, for numerous reasons. 

You might recall that this isn’t my first experience with being cupcake challenged … remember these from just a few weeks back?  Those actually look pretty good compared to the latest batch.

I think it is good to acknowledge this flaw don’t you?  Because really, nothing says cupcake challenged like a plate full of the saddest looking turkeys I have ever seen.

FINALLY … here is a post I wrote back on the 7th of Nov.  But the gift was gifted and even though it seems like old news, it is a post … which if you haven’t notices are not coming too quickly!   It’s something though right?  :)

I have had a couple sewing projects waiting in the wings for a while now. 2 baby gifts.  I knew about these babies coming for months … not a huge shock.  I even knew if the babies would be pink or blue but I still procrastinated.  So on Friday the blue baby was born and man oh man am I excited.  So excited in fact that Ev and I are taking a little road trip to meet him.  I had hoped to make a quilt for him but not too surprisingly, it hasn’t been started.  In my defense though, he did arrive a few weeks earlier then I had planned.  At the last-minute which is mostly the only way I get much done I decided to make a “quick quilt” and have it ready for Saturday morning.   This decision was made at about 7pm.  It’s a good thing that I have learned to appreciate that homemade means imperfection because it is far from perfect.

I decided to try and machine quilt it since it is little (perfect size for the car seat) even though I have never machine quilted anything before.  Why I thought that was the best idea I don’t know since it is partly where that whole “not close to a perfect quilt” comes in.  It did however, go better than I figured it would considering I was pushing the envelope in starting and attempting to finish the project in record time.

I had a pattern going that went horribly wrong.  Oh well, as Farmer Neal kept telling me “it’s a quilt, it isn’t supposed to be in a pattern”.   Hmmm … ok?, even though I knew that he was wrong I believed him to help myself feel better.  That plan worked great in making my “I suck at sewing” time shorter.

When the quilt was officially done, I decided to make a bag for it to go in.  I love to make these simple bags that match the gift.  It turned out pretty well and the quilt fit perfectly … which was a bonus since I didn’t measure or anything.

The clock had not yet chimed Midnight and so I took on one more quick challenge to make a second bag for the other baby gift I had ready.  This baby is already a month old, but getting later gifts is fun right?

It was simple like the first one and cute.  Took me 20 minutes from start to finish.  How fun is that?

So overall it was a pretty productive evening.  The quilt took 4 hours from start to finish which included picking out fabrics and a few meeting the babies needs moments.  Not too shabby for this procrastinator huh?  Of course I am a professional procrastinator, if there is such a thing.

Today is Saturday and I have been much less productive than I really should be.  Blah.  By Saturday we are just plain old tired from the week and don’t really wait until Sunday to do some of our resting.   Farmer Neal has been outside working on the sewer system most of the day.  I just helped him cut a bunch of insulation in the barn.  I do not like the barn, but I helped anyway.  He did however say “I will come and get you if I need more help.”  Looking out the window I see it darkening quickly so I said “ummm … I am not coming out here in the dark so if you need more help we better do it now.”   I am so helpful right?  But I did stay out and we cut 3 more sheets.   As I was finishing this post he came in and said “can we cut one more sheet?”.  For the record, it is dark and I went out and helped.  See, I am not that bad.  Plus it was one sheet and I sorta like that Farmer Neal too much to tell him that I won’t help.

The last hour or so I have been organizing paper work.  Good grief the piles are big.  Yuck.  Turns out it has been since about June since the filing was done.  Yikes.  When Farmer Neal came in to ask for the help with the insulation he said “you look depressed” and I said “well, I am doing this horrible filing that is a huge pain.”  Just then Evelyn cried so I added “AND, that baby won’t sleep and has been mad for about an hour”.  Then as I was zipping my barn coat I decided to add “Plus, I am super tired and need a nap, I have to get laundry started and I have absolutely NO idea what to make for dinner”.  Looking up I added, “should I continue?”.  I think that I should have taken a nap. 

Miss Evelyn is fighting new teeth or a cold, not too sure what it will end up as.  She isn’t a huge fan of letting me check her teeth and well, I am not a huge fan of those big sharp teeth already in there so I don’t just dive into that mouth unannounced.  She has been pretty miserable all day and sleeping is hard since she can’t breath through her nose.   But, she is 10 months today!!  I had planned on some photos and a post about out 10 month old but pictures of a snotty and extra tired little girl isn’t working for me.  But I will show you a sleeping 10 month old.

This way you don’t have to see the snotty face.   She is in her “boy pajamas” and has been in them all day.  This Mama is hoping for a happier little one when she wakes up.  We are still overjoyed that we have had her for 10 months though … even when she has a less than perfect day.

The rooster run is complete and I gotta say that it went ok.  I am going to say that incase I re-read these words before I head out next time.  I made the mistake of re-reading my post from 2007 before I left Thursday night and the memories of that trip made the prospect of this trip worse I think.  Of course I had twice as many birds with me this time … double the birds that terrify me just wasn’t fun.  It was a long trip but it is over and tomorrow we will pick them up … frozen, my favorite kind of chicken to pick up. 

We have a birthday party tomorrow.  What in the world do you give as a gift for an 18-year-old when you are cheap … err, let’s say frugal shall we?   Well this Aunt went with her new fun hobby …

I am still learning but over-all they are ok.  This is the last of my original batch of dough from earlier in the week.  I need to get some smaller decorating tips and figure out how to master the frosting.  It is finicky I think … mostly the colors are my issue so I might just have to stick with all white.  Though there seems to be little “fun” in that idea don’t you think?

That is my update of sorts.  A little of this and a little of that.  Nothing too earth shattering.  I need to come up with something for dinner still.  Maybe I will scrounge the freezer downstairs while I am putting that laundry in … hmm … can’t I just take a nap?

It’s that time of year again.  Time to bring our surplus roosters and older non-laying hens to the place that gives them back to me frozen.  As much as I dread this time of year I like it.  I mostly like the fact that my freezer gets frozen chickens and roosters and that Farmer Neal has less chores to do!   I also like that I don’t have to watch the roosters fight for “top rank” after I let them outside in the afternoons.  They are a fierce bunch I tell ya.  Yesterday some of the new young ones tried to challenge old Billy, the keeper of the hen-house and let me just say the looks of one in particular wasn’t pretty.   Billy was still top rooster at the end of the day. 

What I dread … is the transport.  You might remember a couple years back when I made my first trip alone with boxes of roosters.  You can re-read that story here.  I gotta say, it’s an ok read. 

There should be about 30 birds in my company when Farmer Neal is done loading them up so the story should be much the same with the exception of 2 additions.  This time around there is a baby in the car, and as a result of that addition, there is a HUGE box riding shotgun.  That’s right … a box of chickens (that terrify me!) will be inches away from me.  I can’t begin to tell you how freaked out I could let myself become IF I indeed let myself. 

Farmer Neal placed the boxes in the car before he loaded them and said “you want to come and check and make sure that you can see well enough with the boxes in place?”.  I said “oh sure!”.  I sat down took one look around at the 7 boxes in the car and shivered.  I said “this one has to be RIGHT next to me? … and I added “Do you smell it is here?”.  He smiled and said “you might need to crack a window”.  Oddly enough he completely ignored my question of the box right next to me but I asked again and he said “I am going to put the nice old hens up here with you”.  He promised to put the roosters in the trunk … the roosters including Billy the Bully whom I have been asking to take to the butcher for months and months.  See, I can see the positive when I look for it. 

I will be really positive in about 2 hours when I am heading back to town with EMPTY boxes and Ev and I are far far away from those scary chickens that is for sure.  Hmmmm … rooster soup never sounded so good.

So here’s the deal.  I have always wanted to make cook sugar cookies with the shiny frosting … well maybe not “always” but my guess is that it has been like 10 years.  I even attempted a few times and failed way back then.  The dream hasn’t ever fully left me though which is kind of odd … afterall, they are just cookies.  The first time I discovered this dream was when I saw some really fun snowflake cookies in a Martha Stewart magazine.  I admit that I am a huge fan of her’s and likely always will be.  I wanted to try mitten cookies and after at least 2 failed attempts however I gave up trying and didn’t look back.  Until … you knew there would be an “until” right?  Until I found this blog.  www.iammommy.typepad.com  I don’t even know how I came across her for sure but I saw her cookies and my old dream came back.  I thought “well, it must be possible if this girl who isn’t Martha Stewart can make them why can’t I?”.  And so the dream was re-dreamt.  Re-dreamt is likely not a real word but whatever.  I didn’t think that I could make them as well as the ones on the blog I found, but I figured I still should try to learn and strive for average cookies.

I will admit that it has been a few months since the old dream was revived but last weekend I was with my Mom doing some second-hand store shopping and I came across these …

They were .78 cents and I thought “I could make name cookies and be cool like i a mommy!”  She does have a name which is Amanda but I usually refer to her as i am mommy.   I snatched them up and dreamt of my name cookies.  The bonus here is that Saturday’s women get their purchases for 1/2 off … that’s right … my dream was going to come true for .39 cents. 

Once my helper awoke, we got busy with the letters. 

Turns out they are for JELLO … huh? I thought that name cookies sounded like much more fun.  They are 2 inches high which is likely the dumbest size to practice on but oh well, I was on a mission and the image of cute names wouldn’t leave my mind. 

Of course I got the letters washed before they went in her mouth.  Right Ev?

 

She will never tell thankfully. 

I won’t give you with the recipe and process in words … you can get the info from i am mommy’s new baking blog … http://iammommy.typepad.com/i_am_baker/  FYI … it is a fantastic baking blog and she has so much more experience then I do with the details.  I sort of just did the whole “wing and a prayer” thing.   But I will show you my process in pictures.

Made the dough … don’t worry I did finish mixing it. 

I used to always hand mix my doughs and batters in my twenties because I felt like I was being more authentic and now in my 30’s the mixer is my best friend.  Today though I used a wooden spoon … I wanted them to be perfect and I guess I figured by hand with a wooden spoon was better somehow … goofy I know. 

I put the dough in cellophane in 4×4 squares as recommended.  I actually used a ruler.  I know right?, but I wanted them to be perfect.

I was supposed to wait for the dough to cool in the refrigerator for an hour.  A whole hour was way to long to wait since I was so excited to start.  My dough only cooled for 45 minutes.  Did you know that I was a baking rebel?

I thought that it rolled out just fine and the letters cut the dough with ease … they must not have known it wasn’t JELLO.

A little baking.  I used my stoneware pans and did not use parchment paper and they worked out just fine. 

Did the outlining. 

Did the filling. 

Funny … with each step I would say out loud, “ok, so this is the part that makes me nervous”.  Ha.  I am a dork.  Once the pastry bag was in my hand I remembered that I have decorated too many cakes to count and this should not be a stress.  And it wasn’t. 

Ta-da!   

I had fun … and I can’t imagine how much more fun it will be when I try color and when Evelyn isn’t crying to be fed while I am trying to “spill” the frosting in the cookies.  Overall it was a great success and I gotta say that they look pretty snazzy for a first attempt.  I only used about half of my dough … oh the possibilities!

So here I am … it’s been a couple days.   I actually had a post all ready for Saturday that I put together late on Friday night with a little sewing project I worked on for my dear friend and her new baby.  BUT, I wasn’t able to see them to give the gift and I figured it wouldn’t be right to show the rest of my little world before the gift was gifted.  Which means I have a post already done, but I can’t show you.  And, we all know how when I get out of a good routine I end up with days between anything on this here blog.  Which explains why it is already Monday evening … with 2 more empty days on the calendar instead of  those fun highlighted ones I like so much. 

Pretty much it has been busy around here … nothing new there.  But this time around I am making it busier with some organizing.  I have been doing lots of that these days.  Some call it “nesting” when pregnant women feel the need to get orderly, but I call it “Man, if I end up on bed rest to prevent another preemie I better get some stuff done!”.  I am really not anticipating bed rest but one just never knows.  My friend that just had her baby was on  bed rest  for 3 weeks and it made me think “If I was on bed rest, what would I really wish was taken care of”.  And so I started a list (in my head) and have been tackling one thing at a time. 

The most recent was this. 

I have had stacks and stacks of baby clothes to sort and box. 

So I did.  Well, the girl stuff is done.  I have a bunch of boxes of boy stuff upstairs that my sister gave me before we had Evelyn.  I will get to them eventually I figure … quite quickly I suppose if this new little one turns out to be a Mr. little one.   

Then I tackled the horrible closet in our bedroom that contains more than it should.  In addition to clothing … shocking that we would have clothes in a closet isn’t it?   Actually, all three of us have hanging items in there, which is quite a bit … but the little space also holds all of the kitchen overflow … also known as “canning stuff”.  There are big kettles (like 6!) table linens, cook books, my cake decorating stuff, excess kitchen towels, extra blankets, the vacuum, a baby carrier or two, oh the list goes on and on.  Needless to say after the canning chaos of 2009 it was in desperate need of some organizing.  The small winding path to the bed was getting more narrow by the day.  I didn’t get a before and after of the closet but I did take one in the middle somewhere …

Hard to see her amid the chaos but Miss E. is busy playing with my pumping stuff which thankfully is was packed away.   I am great at finding her toys that are not toys … they are her favorite.  If I would have given her a real toy that was bright and colorful she would have thrown it … but a dozen plain old plastic 6 oz. bottles with lids and a bunch of other pumping parts were a hit!

So that is where we are … buried in piles of stuff to put away.  It is a good thing, just time-consuming.  Not sure what tomorrow will bring but if it is interesting enough I might just tell you about it.

Evelyn has a “habit” of throwing her toys to her side when she is less than pleased with them.  I don’t really know why they disappoint her so often but they do.  Anyway, I was working on the computer here listening to her whine and crab when I turned to check and make sure it really was just the toys that she was mad at. 

Turns out that in her little “tossing of the toys” she managed to land her little doll right square on her butt.  Made me smile.

You may have expected a crabby baby.  You know, since I told you that she was crabby.  Well, apparently she thinks that camera is like a friendly face that she wouldn’t dare show her crabby side to.  Much like most everyone she encounters.  I can’t tell you how many times I have been asked “does she ever cry or get crabby!?”.  I of course say “yes, just not when she has an audience”.   On most occasions as soon as I get her to the car she starts to tell me how difficult it is to be happy all the time by yelling or whining.  People would never believe me with her winning smile.  So anyway, turns out the camera counts as a person. 

Seriously, this girl is nutty.   Cute as can be, but a nut.  And by the way … she is back in bed, where crabby babies around these parts spend lots of time.

4:30am ~ Farmer Neal’s alarm goes off.  I think “oh man it is already morning?” … but roll over and quickly fall back to sleep.

4:39am ~ Farmer Neal’s alarm goes off after the beloved snooze time.  We love our snooze times around here.  I roll over to give a friendly reminder to get up, only to discover the body to remind is in the shower already.   Crawling over the bed I finally hit the right button and crawl back to my warm side.

4:43am ~ Lose the fight to “not” use the bathroom.  Decided to not tell Farmer Neal that he forgot to turn off the alarm.

4:45am ~ Baby Evelyn is heard in the livingroom/nursery waking.

4:50am ~ I ignore the sounds of a “more awake” baby and pretend she will go back to sleep.   

4:53am ~ It is made clear that Evelyn is not just going to go back to sleep.  I make my way to her and am greeted with the most awake and happy “Good Morning Mama!” I have seen to date.

4:55am ~ Bottle is warming and diaper is being changed. 

4:56am ~ Farmer Neal apologizes for not turning off his alarm. 

5:00am ~ After a short visit with Daddy and smiles all around I am sitting on the couch feeding Evelyn her bottle and wondering how I missed the memo that I would be feeding her at 5am instead of 7am or even 8am like Tuesday. 

5:15am ~ Farmer Neal leaves for work.

5:20am ~ Baby Evelyn is back in bed with a dry butt and a full belly … such a sweet life.

5:21am ~ I am wondering if I should just stay up.   I have bars to make for church tonight, laundry in the dryer to fold, laundry in the washer to dry, and a growling stomach. 

5:22am ~ I am in bed.

5:25am ~ I think of this great idea for a blog post.

5:27am ~ Weigh the options of staying in bed for 2 more hours or not.

5:33am ~ Phone rings.  My heart beating faster but honestly thinking “he couldn’t be dead yet, he just left!”. 

5:34am ~ Find out that Farmer Neal ran out of gas on the way to work but a co-worker was close behind on the road so he will give him a ride in.   Loren will call back on his lunch break to come up with a “plan” to get gas in the truck before 4pm.

5:38am ~ I think long and hard about my next move.

5:46am ~ Phone rings again.  I discover the “official plan” to get gas in the truck which involves very little of my help (hopefully and thankfully).

6am ~ Breakfast is made, laundry from the washer tumbling in the dryer which hold a freshly folded load on top of it, and a post is being typed.

90 minutes later I think I will just call it a morning.