Playing in the snow

Earlier this week I entered the Sleeping Beauty costume I made for LMS in the Virtual Costume Parade hosted by Make It and Love It. She posted all the pics today, and I took a few minutes to scroll through all the costumes. Lots of good ideas for future costumes! I also noticed that of all the pictures taken outside, ours was the only one that had snow in the background :) And that was last week's snow, not the storm that finally ended last night.

Now that the storm has ended, we're enjoying clear skies, sunshine, and warmer temperatures. We're not enjoying the sloppy mess caused by lots and lots of melted and melting snow. We did get out and play in the snow for a bit before it started melting. I pulled out my snowshoes (and found my mittens!), but the snow was still too powdery, so I didn't even bother with the skis and trailer. We had fun making a snowman, throwing snowballs, and making snow angels. LMS loved it and didn't want to stop!

our neanderthal snowman. dry snow does not make good snowmen. love the squint on LMS!

LMS's playhouse got snowed in. she and Mr. M excavated it a bit.

Mr. M plopped LMS in the snow and she sank up to her waist. she loved it!

Some recent gluten free dishes

Bob's Red Mill cornbread muffins

This is the same mix I used earlier to make a pan of cornbread, this time I made them into muffins. I got 16, but considering how much they rose (sorry, no pics!), I could have filled each cup a little less and gotten 18 no problem. I took them to the church Halloween activity last week, then brought the leftovers home, put them in ziploc bags, and tossed them in the freezer. They were super-easy to pop in the microwave for a few seconds to defrost, leaving them in the bag to help keep the moisture in. We then ate them with...

 

Bob's Red Mill 13 bean soup

It's naturally gluten free. You would think this would be a no-brainer, but it's not. I looked at the bags of beans at wally world (the ones for ham and bean soup), and they all had gluten in them. So I was stuck with the more expensive Bob's bean soup mix, but I think having a variety of beans is a good thing. I couldn't find a ham hock at wally world (you'd think they'd have them, but apparently not), so I tossed in a pork loin instead. It wasn't pretty once it was all cooked up (hence no pictures), but it tasted good. Now if we could just find a way to eliminate the side effects.

Chebe pizza crust mix

We made pizza the other night, and I used the Chebe pizza crust mix. I've used Bob's Red Mill pizza crust mix before, but it's kind of bland and it has yeast in it. The only non-yeast pizza crust I've found yet is Chebe. They use a lot of herbs to give it a nice flavor, and the outside edge of the crust gets nice and crunchy. The only thing that's a little off is the part of the crust that touches the sauce gets a bit gummy. It's not super-noticeable, but it's there. I think next time I make it, I'll try cooking it for longer before adding the toppings. Another good thing about this mix: it's quite inexpensive! I think I paid around $2 for it, which is way less than I've paid for any other gluten free mix.

Our pumpkins

I bought pumpkins a week or so ago, just before we all succumbed to nasty head colds (caused by and made worse by lack of sleep from an all-nighter finishing Mr. M's homework, a very cold evening in a barn for our church Halloween activity, and a short hike in the cold, snowy mountains). After buying them, I set them by the front door till we had time to decorate them.


This morning I was finally feeling well enough to tackle the project, so I opened the front door and found this:

After sweeping a bunch of snow off, I uncovered the pumpkins and brought them in to defrost.
See how they're glistening? I had to wait till they warmed up and stopped sweating.

While I waited, I got busy with my scissors and some sticky-back felt, following Lindsay's tutorial for creating Pottery Barn inspired pumpkins. The whole process was easy, the hardest part was sticking the pieces together evenly. The longest part was tracing all the pieces. We used three of the patterns Lindsay has available- there's a spider pattern also. I think they turned out pretty cute. Now I just have to wait for it to stop snowing so I can put them back on the porch (there's no room for them in the house).

The storm of the decade

It's been snowing since about midnight Tuesday night, and the storm has been a doozy- more than this area's seen in years.

Here's a window well for the basement last night:

And here it is earlier this evening:

The fish pond yesterday:

The fish pond today (only a small section at the bottom of the picture not covered in snow):

The plants next to the fish pond yesterday:The same plants today:The bench next to the fish pond yesterday:

The bench today:The only problem with all this snow is that it's so early in the season. LMS and I don't have boots yet. Well, they're ordered now, but haven't arrived yet. Mr. M had to dig out his military winter gear so he could help his dad clear some driveways. I know I have mittens somewhere, but I have no idea which box or bin they're in at this point. I thought we'd be moved by the time it got cold and snowy, so I packed up the fleece liner for my coat and my wool peacoat (maybe my mittens are with them?), and the box is buried under a bunch of other boxes. Is it worth the effort to dig them out? Not sure yet...

LMS keeps wanting to build a 'slowman', but unfortunately the snow is powder dry. Doesn't stop her from trying though.

Tomorrow, if it's stopped blowing, we're going to pull out the bike trailer and switch the tires for the skis, hook up the harness, and dig out my snowshoes and cross country skis. It's been so long since I last went cross country skiing that I don't remember how they do on dry powder. Guess we'll find out. I'll have Mr. M wear my snowshoes. They're not rated for his weight, but we haven't bought him any yet, so we'll just have to see how it all works out.

Books I've read recently

Easy Gluten Free Baking by Elizabeth Barbonne

The recipes in this cookbook look really good- can't wait to try them. There's good pictures, and the book is hardcover with an internal spiral binding- perfect for laying on your counter as you bake.

I also like that she lists the dry ingredients in one column and the wet ingredients in another. She said she did this so you could pre-make the dry mix of the recipes you use frequently and then all you'd need to do is add the wet ingredients. How cool is that? Measuring out 4 or 5 flours for a single recipe can be a bit of a pain, so why not do up a bunch of mixes all at once?

She also doesn't have a one-size fits all flour mix, but tweaks it depending on what is being made. Hence the idea of mixing ingredients ahead of time...

At the end of the book is a section titled 'Tastes Like', which has recipes for name brand things like oreos, twinkies, thin mints, graham crackers, etc. This is a section I'm eager to try out!

The Gluten-Free Almond Flour Cookbook by Elana Amsterdam

Like the title says, the recipes call for almond flour instead of wheat or rice flour. The recipes look good, but again, I haven't had a chance to try them yet. I think the first one I'll try is the cheddar cheese crackers.

This cookbook isn't just baked goods, there's also recipes for dishes like chicken pot pie, turkey burgers, salmon dill burgers, Thai fish cakes, and broccoli pizza.

The Total Money Makeover by Dave Ramsey

My friend recommended this one, and I have to agree, it's a great book. We're not in a position to do anything with the information right now (no job= no money to pay down debt), but as soon as Mr. M gets a job (hopefully soon, right now he's working with a contracting company on finding a position) and we have a steady income coming in, we'll be using the steps Dave talks about in order to get out of debt, get money into savings, and get our retirement funds fully funded.

Can't wait till we can get going on that- just need to be patient for awhile longer.

Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins

It was finally my turn to check this out from the library, and it was worth the wait. This is the sequel to the Hunger Games, and is just as good as the first. The thing I didn't know till the last page is that there is a third book planned, so we get left hanging on some pretty crucial details.

Not sure how long the wait will be for the next one.

Ward Halloween party

LMS having a great time at our ward Halloween party.

LMS in her Sleeping Beauty costume

Here's LMS in the Sleeping Beauty dress and crown I made for her. Isn't she cute?

Sleeping Beauty crown

I finally finished LMS's Sleeping Beauty crown to go with her dress- just in time for the ward activity tonight!

I ended up making a couple different crowns before figuring out one I liked. I tried craft foam first, but it didn't work out how I wanted.
I then tried a couple different colors of felt, also spray painted, but still didn't like the results. I finally found some gold fabric and went in that direction.
I cut out two crown shapes from felt, covering one side with gold fabric. The less pretty sides got glued together, then sewed together. I hot glued the trim and used Fast Grab tacky glue for the sparklies.
The finished product:
I like that it's soft, flexible, and adjustable. LMS likes that it's a Sleeping Beauty crown.

More random cuteness of Little Miss Sunshine

Overall, LMS is quite articulate and knows a lot of words. However, she still has problems with some sounds, which makes for some interesting conversations.

lizards = scissors (she can say 'scissors' if you say it first, but if she hasn't heard the word for awhile, she calls them 'lizards')

dokey doe = pinnochio

snully pillow = snuggly pillow (she drops the g's)

shlocolate = chocolate (she's come a long way from how she used to say it- kokole, with a weird tongue twist)

banna = banana

pack pack = back pack (standard for little kids)

What I accomplished today

1. Go for a run- done
2. Phone calls from yesterday- still not done- have to do tomorrow
3. Finish 'the stockings were hung' sign- black washed it, scuffed up the edges a bit, screwed knobs on, applied lettering
4. Catch up on posts, including photos- done

I finally decided what I'm doing about the crown for LMS's costume- have to buy materials tomorrow. I've tried spray painting craft foam with gold paint (the foam ended up cracking), and spraying yellow and white felt with gold paint (end results just weren't authentic enough). So I've decided on white felt covered in shiny gold fabric, with trim and sparklies glued on. Sure hope it works out, since we have our first Halloween activity this Friday.

Now I'm off to work on Christmas presents. I'm trying to get as many taken care of as I can by the end of this month.

On my to do list today

1. Order bedding from Pottery Barn Kids for LMS- not done- it was on sale this weekend, but not anymore- have to wait for the next time it's on sale

2. Run- didn't get moving this morning fast enough

3. Pick up Mr. M from the airport- done :)

4. Mail a pair of shoes I sold on ebay- done

5. Drop off and pick up books at the library- done

6. Find more things for LMS's Sleeping Beauty crown at Hobby Lobby- done

7. Do some grocery shopping- done, involved 3 different stores- ugh

8. Call my VT companion- not done

9. Call the Activities committee chair about the ward activity this Friday- not done

10. Sort papers on desk- done, but will have to be done again in a week, I'm sure

11.Take clothes to storage- done

12. Glue ribbon to water bottle- done

13. Test fabrics and glues for LMS's crown (I'm having trouble getting a result I'm happy with)- done

Super Saturday

At Super Saturday I made a couple different projects.

An etched glass block:

A tile with vinyl lettering:

Some holiday clippies for LMS:

A Christmas sign:

Roadtrip recap

We're back from our roadtrip. Mr. M has drill this week, so Little Miss Sunshine and I drove over and dropped him off, then spent a couple days visiting with family and friends and doing some shopping. I had to be back for our Primary program practice today and the actual program tomorrow (I'm the chorister), so LMS and I drove back yesterday, and Mr. M will fly back in a couple days.

One day I drove from my sister's house to visit a friend (about an hour drive), and passed through three different construction areas. I slowed from 65 to 55, like the signs asked, and everyone else slowed from 75 to 65. Gotta love it. The cops were having a heyday- pull one car over, give a ticket, let them go, pull over the next car to pass them, give a ticket, and repeat. Now, I used to drive 5 over the speed limit, but I've gotten out of that habit recently. Our county is so strapped for cash that they're giving tickets for going 1 mile over the speed limit. Ridiculous, yes. Bringing in money for the county, oh yes. My brother's soccer teammate's mom got a ticket for going one over and had to pay $86!

I got to spend some time with a sister and a couple friends, but I also got to meet up with my roommates from junior college. We roomed together both years, but have mostly lost contact with each other over the last 12 years (has it really been that long already?). I finally got on facebook and was able to track everyone down and realized that two of them already lived near each other and the third recently moved to the same area. Since I was visiting nearby, we were all within a half hour of each other.

We met at a park so the kids (11.5 between the 4 of us) could play while we talked. It was great to see everyone, catch up on what's going on, and see how little we've all changed. If I knew where my scrapbooks are, I'd scan a photo of us from back then. We'll have to make do with this one that LMS took (another was taken on a different camera, but I don't have that one yet). I was able to lighten it a bit, but it's still out of focus, and we were crouching since we weren't sure where she was aiming.

And here's a picture of LMS sleeping on the way home last night. Similar to this one.

Chair color update

I was talking to my sister yesterday, and she said she thought the red cushions on the chair were a cherry red. I think they're more a brick/rust red. So I attempted to get a better photo of the colors involved- it's really hard to get good lighting in our room. I used Mr. M's camera, and I think the photo is a bit more accurate this time.

Tree poster

The other day I talked about making a tree poster for singing time. I finished it a day or so ago. I printed out leaves on different colored paper, covered them with clear packing tape, cut them out, and attached velcro dots to the back. There's also a slip of paper with a song name and page number on the back.
Close up:

I thought about cutting closer to the stems, but decided the nursery kids would be too rough on them.

Autumn decorations

We don't have much space for decorations, but lately I've been wanting be creative. A good side effect of feeling so much better...

I bought a few pumpkins from Hobby Lobby-
Dug out some alphabet stickers I've had for a couple years but never used-

Added some autumn leaves (the same ones I used to make my new background)-
The finished product. Yes, they're sitting on our dvds- the only flat space available. I thought it turned out pretty good, though later I might find some different letters and modpodge them on for next year.

Then I made a pine cone wreath like the one Vanessa made (we were in the same ward when our husbands were at language school, and she's super creative). Mine didn't turn out quite as well as hers did, but that's because of the pine cones I used. She used small ones that fit together really well. I used Ponderosa Pine pine cones which are bigger, prickly, and don't fit together very well. I think it turned out pretty good, though.

Next time I make a pine cone wreath, I won't be using Ponderosa Pine pine cones. My fingertips are sore from being poked multiple times, and I have scratches all over my arms. I also won't drop the wreath when I'm almost finished. I did that last night and the styrofoam wreath cracked right in half. I hot glued it back together (getting a second degree burn on my thumb in the process) and let it set overnight. This morning I checked it and it was dry and hard, so I finished it off and hung it up.

We went to Mr. M's parents' house to gather the pine cones, and I brought my camera along to take some pictures. LMS picked up this pine cone and said 'take a picture mommy!'.

The finished product hanging outside the front door. I used some muslin for the hanger and bow, but didn't hem it or anything- just cut it and tied it to the length I wanted.