What I ate Wednesday - three days late!

I was so busy this week I didn't get to write a post on What I ate Wednesday and link up to Peas and Crayons, but I DID remember to take some pictures of my food! On Wednesday last week I had a delicious dinner. I made one homemade pizza crust, but decided I was too tired to do another (I don't have a mixer, I do it by hand) so I pulled out some English Muffins and make them into pizzas. Yum!

I made a salad, too, and it hit the spot. I don't normally like bacon but I decided I needed something crunchy on the salad, and it was a nice addition. Along with the hot peppers. This week was positive for me because I didn't eat after dinner for the entire 7 days. Snacking? Well, that's another story... But I'm working on it!




I hope you get the chance to be creative today!

Scrap Swap with SewSara

Fabric from designer with last name Burch (my MIL gave me this!)

I've been away from blogging for a few days. I've been exhausted and busy! In fact, last Friday I slept from 5pm until 6:30am on Saturday morning, and I pretty much did the same thing last night.

Can you see my favorite funky fabric in the photo above??

However, one of the activities I've been working on is preparing scraps for a fabric scrap swap I signed up for. We have partners with people across the country whom we haven't met, and we share fabric scraps. It reminds me of having a pen pal when I was ten, except its only one exchange.

I love these circles...

I bought the wrong size envelopes and I was stuffing them, until I realized I needed to fill a smaller envelope. So I pulled out what I had already ironed and packed, and I restuffed the new envelope. I haven't ever done this before, but it has been fun!

This (above) is a different view of the scrap at the top of the page

A few of the fabrics I packed into my scrap bundle

I can't wait to see what fabrics I'll find in my package! Its like Christmas...

I hope you get the chance to be creative today!

3 Rules to Live by for Crafters

Ikeafans.com

With the addition of my new permanent full-time job (yay, Thank God), my family's schedule, and my desire to craft, I have been thrust into a point in life where I've had to make note:

In the past when I thought I didn't have time to CLEAN MY HOUSE... I was wrong.

NOW I really don't have time!!

This has brought to my attention the need to reconfigure some things around my house...

FIRST: WHATEVER crafting you are doing - even if you have many craft interests - ALL supplies should be kept in the same room. In the same area. Because whatever you are doing, if the supplies are in different parts of the house and you find you are guilty of starting more than one project at a time (ADMIT IT, you ARE!!), then you will have messy craft supplies strewn about the house...


SECOND: If at all possible, keep those craft supplies close to the FAMILY room, so when someone is on the computer, another person is watching tv, and another person is reading, you can craft and BE WITH YOUR FAMILY!!

Ikeafans.com

THIRD: Even if it means tossing supplies into multiple boxes (without neatly putting them away) you really should put your supplies away (in some form of "away") when you are done for the night (or day). This is because you KNOW you will start another project (refer to FIRST RULE) and suddenly without you realizing it, three days will have passed and there will be NO AVAILABLE space on your craft table, your coffee table, and the couch...

And if you think I made these rules up
because of personal experience,
you are exactly right!!

I hope you get the chance to be creative today!

Rice Cooker Dessert Success!

For some reason, fruits seem to cook best in my little rice cooker. The other fruit recipe I've made was with apples. Though I must admit that I have found out that if I add extra water to my rice recipe, then that comes out great as well.

This sweet dessert recipe is simple, and old. I made this years ago on the stove top, and I pulled it out again because I wanted to see how it would work in the rice cooker.

Poached Pears, Vanilla Ice Cream, and Chocolate Sauce

2 pears, peeled and cut into quarters. I use the hardest pears I can find. I like them tart.
2 1/2 cups of water
3/4 cup of white sugar

Cinnamon to taste!

Place all ingredients in the Rice Cooker and turn it on. Allow the rice cooker to work its magic...

While it is working, melt some chocolate chips in the microwave (or you could use pre-made syrup).


When it is done, the peaches should be soft but not mushy (NOT falling apart), and the water should be syrupy. Delicious!

Place a small scoop of ice cream into a bowl, place some of the peaches beside the ice cream, scooping the syrup into the bowl as well, and then drizzle the entire thing with chocolate!

I had forgotten how amazing this was! Again, I'm still not sold on my rice cooker, because frankly it didn't do anything for me that my stovetop doesn't do... but it was fun to give it a try.

You can tell I'm not one to give up on something, can't you? lol

I hope you get the chance to be creative today!

Give-Away Winner!

Well, this might not have been
a big give-away but it has been fun!

Because I had people post on the "Give-Away" post and
also on the "Infinity Scarf" post (I linked to it),
I counted the posts 1 - 14 by date and time stamp.

I can't wait to make the custom Infinity Scarf for the winner!

And I'm so excited to tell you that the winner is...

Amy,

who posted:

Thank you all so much for playing.
I hadn't realized that the person who runs the Give-Away gets so much fun out of it! I plan to do more in the future. Meanwhile, I'm sewing some basket liners and cutting quilt squares.
Check back soon!

And Amy, please email me your mailing address
and your color preference for your scarf!!!

I hope you get the chance to be creative today!


The photo montage of scarves at the top of this page is from Photobucket
and is from the album karinacifuentes

Food Party

Peas & Crayons hosts a link party called "What I Ate Wednesday"
and today is my first day participating.

Naturally I didn't remember to take pictures all day at work ,
so I only have my dinner tonight.

I took this photo of my dinner after I ate.
Yes, that's right - I forgot.
But still, this is the leftover won-ton soup I had.

It was only 15 minutes later!
It is in a bowl that I painted at my local Color-Me-Mine studio.
That is a rooster in the bottom of the bowl.

I had a salad.
It really looked this good even though I didn't take this photo, lol.

Its from "free clips" from Microsoft.

And we ate Italian bread with our dinner.
Slathered with butter. My photo again.

Did I tell you I started a diet with a team of people from my office?

I can say to my credit that when I was buying the bread I walked RIGHT BY the buy one-get one free Entenmann's display of chocolate donuts.

Finally, while I did have a cup of coffee this morning, for the remainder of the day I drank tea. I usually drink tea but at work the coffee scent just wafts out of the break room, which is right by my office. With tea I don't use cream or sugar.
Okay, sometimes one sugar or two if I want to feel like I'm snacking,
but not usually 'cause I just like it plain.

So that is my "What I Ate Wednesday" contribution!

I'm hoping this will make me become more aware of what I'm eating and its affect on me.

I'm also hoping this will make me watch what I EAT!! ;-)

Click on over to the party and join in!

I hope you get to do something creative today!

My first GIVE-AWAY!!

Hi everyone! When I saw that my friend list was up over 20, I started thinking about the possibility of doing a giveaway if I ever reached 25.

Well I did and I am!

In order to get a chance to win:

• You must publicly follow my blog

AND

• You need to leave a comment below

Winter keeps teasing us that it is winding down,
but we all still need to keep warm, so...

The winner will receive an Infinity Scarf, a Coffee Sleeve, and a $5.00 Starbucks Gift Card. You will need to let me know if you have a color preference for your scarf.

Click on the picture of my daughter (above)
to see the inspiration for my Infinity Scarf!


The Give-Away ends Thursday night at 8pm.
After that I will post the randomly chosen winner!

I am so excited to do this, I hope you are, too!

I also hope you get the chance to be creative today!