Thursday already?

I can't believe it is Thursday already... I had so much I wanted to accomplish this week and did not get half of it done.

And is it really almost October? I think it's true that the older you get, the faster time flies!  I am looking forward to cooler weather though. I have started decorating the house for Halloween already. Mr. S. and I have been sorting through the garage trying to get it organized and I came across my decorations, so decided to put them up. The house really needs cleaned, but I just don't feel like doing it :( 

I've been doing a little crafting and a little crocheting.. I finished my cowl for the CAL I've been doing, just need to sew the ends together and then I will share pictures with you. It is a really easy pattern, I am thinking I will make up a couple more for Christmas gifts. It's one of those "mindless" kind of patterns that after you get it down, you don't need the directions anymore. It's probably too late to join the CAL, but more information can be found here if you are interested in the pattern.

Tonight I am making my Chicken Tortilla Soup for dinner (I posted about it here).  It is one of my go-to recipes because you really just throw everything together in a pot and that is it - easy peasy!

Here is another hat I crocheted:

I love the pink and yellow combo, think it looks so pretty together.

I need to finish up a baby quilt but have been dragging my feet about it .... not really sure why. I got all of the fabric cut, I just need to sew it all together.

Here are the craft projects I did this week:

I'm really into candy corn right now for some reason, so I sewed up these cute little stuffed ones and put them in a basket.

This is a pumpkin I made out of twine. It was a very messy project where you blow up a balloon, get the twine wet with glue and stick it all over the balloon.  Once it dries you pop the balloon and then form the pumpkin shape. I put some orange lights inside, and added cinnamon sticks as the stem, some moss and a raffia bow.

That's about it for now - hope everyone is having a great week!

No Title Today!

1 Hat, 6 Looks

I taught my friend Kaitlin how to crochet recently, and she wanted to learn to make hats. We found some easy patterns to get her started, and then I started making them too... they are like potato chips, you can't make just one.. LOL!

I decided to make a hat for Kaitlin's younger sister, and I wanted her to be able to wear it with different outfits. So I made the hat in a neutral color, and then made her 6 different flowers that she could clip on to it:

I had these big hair clips that I bought to use as binding clips for my quilting - I never did use them for that, so they were just sitting around. I hot-glued them to the back of each flower.

I think my favorite one is the brown one... it did not photograph well at all, but it is gorgeous! I used Red Heart Shimmer yarn in Chocolate.

If you would like the particulars of any of the flowers or the hat pattern, just leave me a comment and I'll get back to you!

A Giveaway

Julie over at A Tale From Toadstool House is having a lovely giveaway on her blog. You can go check it out here.

She lives in the U.K., and here is what she is planning to give away:

*A country homes and interiors magazine, latest copy.


* A chrismassy Yankee candle.


*Some Green and Blacks organic choccie, I'll also pop in some Rasberry Ruffle choccies,( as some comments left yesterday,I think it would go down well!)

*Something Polka Dotty!

*A little something from Cath Kidston.


*A handmade Christmas decoration.

I am Totally in Love...

with this blanket:

It is called "Ruffles and Dots" and is made with a bobble stitch. Isn't it fantastic?? I found it at Rachel's blog here.

I am definitely going to be making one (or more) of these as a baby gift.

You should definitely check out Rachel's blog... she crochets and sews (my two favorite things), has an adorable baby boy, and I love her haircut!!

Right now she is doing a CAL featuring a really cute cowl pattern from Lion Brand... go check it out.

Wednesday Happenings

Well, I am stuck in the house for the day ... and I mean literally stuck. We had a huge storm come through last night and once again, our roads are impassable unless you have a truck. Sure will be glad when the monsoon rains are over with.

Thought I would share this project with you in case any of you need to do the same thing. We inherited a nice patio set from my parents when we moved, which included two gliders. I love gliders, but these are hard metal and not real comfortable to sit on. I have been wanting to put cushions on them for months now, and finally got around to doing it.

I got the home dec weight fabric at Jo-Anns for 50% off (that is the only time to buy it, because it is expensive.. at least $20 a yard and up!) and found the foam in a package at Wal-mart. I was going to buy thicker foam at Jo-Anns, but even at half price, it would have cost me close to $50 for two pieces of foam. That was more than I wanted to spend, so I found a bag of thinner foam at Wal-mart for $15.97... much better. Granted, it is thinner, but this seems to work just fine.

Now for the tricky part... this is a no-sew project! I could have sewn it, but I was feeling lazy yesterday, so I just wrapped it around the foam like a package and used safety pins to keep it in place. The pillows I did sew myself, but they are a simple envelope-back pillow that takes very little time to make.

Now that I look at the pictures, I think I will make another pillow for each one. Next project for the gliders and table and chairs is to spray paint them, as the paint has faded over time. We bought the paint last weekend, just have not had a chance to paint it yet... maybe we can do it this weekend if it's not windy.

Here is a sneak peek of the crochet project I am currently working on:

Can you tell what it is going to be???

This & That

Hi all!

Hope you had a good weekend. We did yardwork on Saturday and watched lots of football on Sunday.. and I mean LOTS of football, since we have the Direct TV Sunday NFL package... Mr. S. was in heaven flipping back and forth between so many channels.. ha ha!

Yesterday I made the easiest meal you will ever make... seriously, it is the easiest meal ever and is soooooo delicious.

I got the recipe from a blog called A Year of Slow Cooking. If you love to use your crock pot like I do, you must go check out her blog. She has tons of recipes, and has even published a couple of cookbooks. (I may have blogged about her before, and maybe even this recipe, but I'm too lazy to go back and check!!)

The recipe I made is called Peperoncini Beef Sandwiches - you can find it here.  All you need are two main ingredients... yup, that's right, only TWO ingredients. You need a beef chuck roast and a jar of peperoncini peppers.

Here's what you do... plop that roast into your crock pot, then pour the jar of peperoncinis over it, juice and all. Set your crock pot on low for 8 hours and walk away.  Is that easy or what???

I ended up with a huge roast because that's all they had at the store I went to, so I added 2 jars of peperoncini - normally I just add one. Oh, and save yourself the trouble and buy the ones that say Deli-sliced on them, because they have no stems. Otherwise, you will be picking stems out of there after it is done cooking and it is no fun (ask me how I know this!).

Cooking it low and slow like that makes the meat just fall apart.... when you can take 2 forks and shred the meat, it is ready!  I usually go in and take out all the fatty parts at this point, because I hate eating that .... if you like it, leave it in there.

Then I grab some French rolls, sub rolls, whatever I found at the store, and some sliced cheese (we use Provolone, but you could use Swiss or mozzarella). Pile some of that meaty goodness on your roll, top it with cheese, and then stick it under the broiler for just a minute or so, till the cheese is melted and gooey.

You don't need to add any dressing to this sandwich at all.. it doesn't need it!  Mr. S. likes to add giardiniera on top of his to give it more spice.

This is great to make when you have company over for the football game, NASCAR race, whatever... serve it with some chips and some pickle spears and you are good to go!

We are having it for dinner again tonight, as I am cleaning house today and don't want to have to cook a big meal.

Speaking of cleaning, I found something that worked great on cleaning the inside door of my oven. Here is what mine looked like:

Gross, I know. And this is a brand new oven, only 3 months old!! I read somewhere to make a paste of baking soda and water and let it sit on there for 15 minutes - tried that, it didn't work! So I used this instead:

I just squirted some on and then used a scrubbing pad and some good old-fashioned elbow grease. Here is what the oven door window looks like now:

Much, much better! I use this product on my Emeril stainless steel cookware and it works great on that too.

I also did some crocheting this weekend, believe it or not! I made this cute hat:

I got the pattern from Ravelry, it is called the Addison Hat and it is free. It was so quick to make, think I might make some more in solid colors. I will be needing these where we live now, as it gets colder here in the winter than where we used to live.

I started another crochet project too, will share that with you when I finish it; it may take me a couple of days though.

That's it for now... off I go to clean the house. Have a good day all. :)

Love Good Food?

Who doesn't, right? So you have to go check out this blog I found called Eat Cake for Dinner (great name!)  Jenn has some absolutely wonderful recipes. I have tried some already, and all of them have been awesome.

First I made her Super Easy Guiltless Alfredo Sauce. It is so easy to make. Mr. S. grilled up some chicken breast tenders and we served it over penne pasta... yum!

Then I tried Skillet Chicken Parmesan.... Mr. S. just raved about it.

I am never going to buy bottled alfredo or marinara sauce again, now that I know how easy it is to make it yourself!

Then we tried the Chicken Hot Pockets. Chances are you have most of the ingredients already in your pantry and fridge for this recipe. The only thing I didn't have was the bacon (which she stressed you really shouldn't leave out!) so next time I make these I will definitely add bacon. They were really tasty too!

And she doesn't just have main dishes either... check out some of these desserts:

Home-made Snickers Bars

Cream Cheese Lemon Bars

I definitely need to make those, as Mr. S. loves anything with lemon in it.

Her blog is easy to navigate because she has everything labeled, so you can find recipes quickly. I will be making many more dishes from this great blog - I sure hope you give it a try!


Note:  All photos are from Eat Cake for Dinner.