Monday, January 26, 2009

Bye Bye!

Gall Bladder surgery in the morn. I'll be back in a few days folks! Can't wait to get back to normal and get working on things. Wish this ol' girl some good luck!

Carrie

Friday, January 23, 2009

The Swap has Begun!

YAY! THANK YOU AUDREY! I received the first set of 10 squares today from the ScrapDown Swap! So exciting and each piece is so pretty... I can't wait to add them to my quilt and to see what everyone else sends!
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Introducing to the World:

Our new chicken and Nugget's new companion. She's feisty and beautiful and her name is Scarlett. She's adjusted quite amazingly and didn't hesitate to start laying gorgeous dark brown eggs in her new coop. We think she's a cross between a Rode Island Red and a black Marans since she and her eggs are darker than a regular RRR. Nugget seems to be doing better already with the company... her comb is getting redder and soon (hopefully) she'll start laying again.
Here are the girls enjoying leftovers from last night's dinner.
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Wednesday, January 21, 2009

What Happens After a VERY Grumpy Morning?

Turn your sound up.

This is How They Do It:

Wonderful video taken by the crew and edited by Gabe from Sahale. This is the bridge in Needleton, Colorado that Brandon went to work on way back when...

Tuesday, January 20, 2009

Avacado Cupcakes?

Yep. I've succumbed to hiding veggies in junk food. Went to the library the other day, checked out the 2 cookbooks they had about tricking your kids into eating healthier and started at work in the kitchen that afternoon. I started with Jessica Seinfeld's Deceptively Delicious Chocolate Cupcakes.
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I hadn't been to the store in about a week, so our produce selection was pretty limited, and since I don't have a food processor and since avacados mush up easy and I DO have a husband that eats anything chocolate I tried the recipe. They turned out pretty good. Kinda rich and REALLY dense, but a chocolate cupcake all the same. Finn devoured it without any frosting so I'm pretty anxious to try the other recipes as well.

Monday, January 19, 2009

But I Just Can't Help Myself!!!

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I have gone absolutely "Craft Crazy" since I closed my shop. Seriously... I haven't stopped cutting and sewing and crocheting and "knitting" (if that's what you want to call it... I'm no good) and painting. Brandon even questioned me the other night when he caught me cutting a pattern for ANOTHER project. Can't wait to show you when I'm done!

Today I finished another project I saw on SPOOL. Have you seen this site? It's Sewing Heaven in Philadelphia and I just found their blog the other day. Check it out for a few AMAZING tutorials and a lot of fabric envy. Below is my version of this table runner. I decided to add a bit of "flare" and hand-embroidered "YUMMY." on one side. I think it adds a little something to our dreary looking table!
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Sunday, January 18, 2009

Finnegan's Newest Talent!

Peddling! He's a natural born tricycle rider... and for a kid who's normally not a "Thrill seeker" this is pretty gosh darn amazing. I'm really amazed at how excited Brandon and I are for him, that he can finally reach the pedals! ...and of course even more amazed that we were able to find a helmet to fit that awkwardly large head. I'll post a video soon.
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***Notice Brandon's homemade cardboard basket on the back of the trike. Finn's favorite thing to do now is fill it with all the matchbox cars he owns and ride around the house***

Friday, January 16, 2009

What the Heck? PART 2

So what else has happened in the last month? Well...

2 visits to the ER
1 visit and numerous emails to and from the Doc
1 visit to Urgent Care
1 very thorough Ultrasound
3 X-rays
4 blood draws
12 pounds lost (I need new pants)
A whole load of questions
and 1 scheduled surgery to take my gall bladder out on the Jan 27th.

oh yeah and 1 case of pink eye (so far...poor Finn)

AND... 1 stressful bridge deadline for a new bridge in Seattle.(poor Brandon)

What is a Gall Bladder you ask? For me it's a painful and irritating annoyance that keeps causing me to have sudden attacks of gut-wrenching pain. I think this is the first time I've been able to use the term "gut-wrenching" literally. In reality the Gall bladder is basically a reserve tank for the bile that flows from the liver to the stomach. The one way in and out of my gall bladder is getting "clogged" by a gravely-sludge that's in there(the start of possible gall stones) and that's causing the horrible attacks I've been having. So hopefully all will be fixed by this surgery. THAT is what has been going on this month.
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Fabric Love!

My buddy Katy who recently moved from Seattle to Luxembourg seriously has a super wonderful crafty blog. The best ideas! The most recent is "Scrapdown 2009".
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The first project is a charm quilt. I've had my eye on a couple versions of Charm quilts and didn't think I'd ever have enough fabric to make one. A charm quilt is one where you use each fabric only once. Since there are a bunch of people involved and we're all swapping squares to use, I think I'll finally have enough. And since I'm impatient and I really can't wait for anything, I've already started mine. It's not the same pattern that Katy is using for her tutorial, but it's a pattern I really wanted to use! Here's the beginning of my "Scrapdown" Charm quilt:
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I'm so excited to be involved as I've been yearning to join some sort of quilting/crafting club for a while now. I know that this isn't really the same thing... but it's still a community to be a part of. If you're interested in joining the fun, you can still get on the mailing list to send and receive squares in this swap. Email Katy through her blog before Jan 21st!!!

Thursday, January 15, 2009

Finally Introduced the Play-doh.

What the Heck? PART ONE

Yes. I haven't blogged in a really long time. Not that I haven't wanted to... basically I've been avoiding confessing to all the happenings of the past month or so. SO... if you're ready, here's an update:

A few days before Christmas, I had a miscarriage. No more baby this time around, but we've come to terms with it and I think we're all ok. Not sure if we're going to try again right away, but I'll let you all know. Moving on...

Christmas! It was really great to be around ALL of our family for the holiday, even if it did mean spending some time in the car throughout the day. We spent Christmas Eve at my moms and Finn got to hang with his cousin Eddie and his cousin Eddie's new Karaoke Machine (which I think ended up being more exciting than hangin with Eddie)
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Christmas morning we spent with Brandon's cousin Cory, who was visiting from Illinois and unexpectedly got to stay with us for the holiday. Finn got to know him during his stay, but still refuses to call him anything but "Daddy's cousin Cory".
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Then it was off to Olalla to the McFamily Christmas. All 5 cousins between 2 and 4 got a little crazy... but it seems that we're all gaining a bit more control each year as parents. Hopefully we'll have everything completely under control by the time they have kids of their own.
(Pictures of Handmade gifts as soon as I can find out if my inlaws took any)

Next to last stop: My Aunt's house in Seattle. Here we got to see my Dad and Grandma and experience my Aunt's wonderful cooking once again. We also got to see some "Some-what cousins" we haven't seen in a while.

Then home and bed. It was a good day. More info to follow soon.
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