a like list

Does anyone else get a case of the blahs when January rolls around?? The holidays are over, the weather is bad, so there's not much to do and summer seems really far off. There's just not much to look forward to, it seems. Anyway, there are a few things that are making us happy here at Schreiner House lately, so I thought I'd share another little like list :)

1. POP BEADS! These are soooo cool. I have had my eye on these since I first saw them at Target at least a year ago. I remember my sister and I having fun with pop beads when we were kids, so I knew my girls would like them, but they were pricey so I always talked myself out of buying them. BUT, after Christmas, they went on clearance for $11 so I snatched them up and saved them for a restless, cabin-feverish day, which was yesterday :) Natalie played with them literally all day long and is still sitting here by me playing with them now. Major hit and way cooler than the ones I had way back when.
   

2. The Starbucks cup Casey got me for Christmas. I can make iced lattes now with my mocha pot and feel like it came from the master itself ;)

3. This face and the fact that he loves the hat I made him. I didn't think he would care because he never keeps hats on, but he always keeps this one on! Makes me happy. Maybe he likes it because he can put it on himself? I like it because he looks so adorable in it--like a big little dude :)

4. This was a grand discovery at Target a few weeks ago. These veggie chips are soooo good, have nothing artificial in them, are super healthy and best of all, the kids love them!!!! Great way to get kids to eat some veggies.

6. This quote from C.S. Lewis that one of my Facebook friends posted on her wall:

"The homemaker has the ultimate career. All other careers exist for one purpose only- and that is to support the ultimate career" ~CS Lewis

What stay-at-home wife or mom wouldn't like that quote!?

7. This book and the fact that it was so handy while trying to kick the cold that my family passed around last week and which lingered with me the longest!

So, these are two tried and true remedies for phlegm congestion. (I know, gross, sorry, but someday you'll thank me :)

1. Chop up an onion (the more potent, the better) and stick it in a bowl. Drizzle honey all over it and then leave it covered on the counter over night. By morning, you'll have a nice amount of juice. Drain it out and take a teaspoonful every 2 hours while symptoms last. If you need to cough something up, this will do the trick! It has sweet taste, not too oniony, so I don't think kids would mind it at all.
   
2. Squeeze a lemon wedge into a mug of hot water, squirt in some honey and add 3 cloves. I just tried this tea this morning and it was very tasty and my voice is much improved for the first time all week. Finally! I put the lemon wedge (after squeezing) and the cloves in a little tea pod to keep them out of the way while I drank--just another tip for you :)

I'm excited to try some more things from this book, I think it's going to be a handy resource! Now if I could get a good blender or a juicer even...

tea towels and chairs

I just added this post to Sew & Tell Fridays, so if that's why you're here, thanks for visiting and I can't wait to go check out all of the other finishes :)

Wrapping up the gifting show & tell, here are some pot holder/tea towel sets that I made. This first one I made for my Aunt for Christmas. I love the colors in these. The pot holder actually has a few of the fabrics I used in the quilt I made her this past summer.


And this set, I made for my dear friend Angela for her birthday! Both sets were a hit, I think :)


I simply love tea towels. I have a nice little collection now and was inspired to show some of them here after receiving this cutie from my sister for my birthday, if you remember.

This one is from Anthropologie, my favorite store ever, although I can only buy things there if they are on super-clearance, or I have a gift card. I would move right into an Anthropologie store if that were an option ;)


This little owl one, from the same place, my friend Jenn bought me. Isn't it cute?? And the chair it's on is the beginning of our mismatched chair collection! We have lived in my parents' house for the last several years while they live overseas and Casey finished school. Now that we're getting ready to buy our own place, (yay!) we have begun to collect some furniture here and there. About a year ago we bought a huge, awesome table when our Pier 1 store closed for an incredible deal and planned on finding a hodge podge of chairs to go with it. We recently scored this one at a thrift store for $2.99!! It's old and cool and in great shape.


THEN, both Casey's mom and aunt had one of these white chairs and gave them both to us! These were made by Casey's great grandfather, I believe. So, now we have the start of our collection. We would love to find a bench to go on one side, so we'll be on the hunt for that soon.


So, since coming up with my chair idea, what do you suppose I saw in my mom's new Martha Stewart magazine?? Yep, this ad. Check out those mismatched chairs! Are we cutting edge or what?? ;)

the third year begins :)

My baby girl turned 3 today!! Here is a picture of her in the princess dress I made for her. She opened it earlier Saturday morning so she could wear it to her dress-up party :) She really loves it and so does Natalie ;) The party was a success, I think. It seemed rather chaotic, though during present-opening time. How do you simplify parties for littler kids, when there are an equal amount of small children and adults??? Hmmmmm?? Tips are welcome, since Natalie turns 5 in just 2 months! EEK!

so much to blog, so little time...

SO, we had Layla's birthday party yesterday, but her actual birthday is tomorrow, so after the festivities are over, I'll share some pics of all that. First, though, I want to chat about resolutions! I know many people don't like to tie themselves down to New Years resolutions, but I have made a few for the past several years and have managed to keep them all. In 2009, I resolved to cook dinner more (and learn to like cooking more) and I definitely succeeded! I did not resolve to lose any weight last year, however, last March I had a bit of a wake-up call and thus, I lost 45 pounds between March and October and have held steady since.

SO....this year, I am going to become a runner! I have been very inspired by my friend Tara, )who ran a marathon last year!!) and I'm going to start the Couch to 5k running program this week. I do very well with strength training, but I really struggle with cardio. I asked Casey if he wanted to sign up for a 5k with me in the Fall and at first he said, "no way, I hate running" (although he's good at it, thanks to the army ;) but later that day, he siad he would love to! The only obstacle was that it's snowy here, but Casey reminded me that I can go to the base gym for free whenever I want (duh). So there ya go. I'll keep you posted on my progress. In the meantime, I'd love to hear your goals for 2010 in the comments!

crochet!

I already showed you the little octopus I made for Layla's stocking, but I also managed to finish Natalie's fish before Christmas too! She turned out really cute. Both of these are from this great book, if you missed that before :)

Since I like that little book so much, Casey got me this one for Christmas!! I was very excited and can't wait to make something from it. The birdie mobile, the hot air balloon and the tea set are really calling my name :)

But first, before our drive down to see Casey's family over Christmas, I was able to print off the instructions for this lovely heart garland. I wanted to get started so we can hang it up in February. The girls really like these little hearts because....well, because they're girls. I have two more to make and then I'll block them so they'll stay flat and then show you the finished product closer to Valentines day.

Also, I went to JoAnn today to hit their big yarn sale. I don't buy yarn very often because with the little things I've been making it tends to last awhile. But, I did recently go through the tubs of yarn I had downstairs and get rid of almost all of it because it was the yucky, cheap, scratchy stuff from about five years ago. Really that was all you could get cheap back then it seems, but yarn has really stepped up in recent years and given us great, inexpensive, SOFT yarn to choose from :) Anyway...I found this pattern on Ravelry last night (great site, it's free to become a member and worth the short wait) and really want to try it. So, instead of buying the recommended Rowan Big Wool, I went with this super soft and much less expensive Sensations bulky yarn. Hopefully it will go well and I'll be able to show you soon ;)

I hope this post may have inspired someone to learn to crochet!! It's much faster and less intimidating than knitting in my opinion, plus takes less yarn, plus is easier to fix your boo-boos :) It's easy to learn and easy to teach and once you know a few basic things, you will be off and running, I promise! Plus, it keeps you busy while your husband watches Dirty Jobs and the like ;) If you need some more inspiration, check out these links...

1. Ravelry--a knit and crochet community
2. Attic 24
3. Emma Lamb

There ya go, crochet away!

Whew!

Well, we certainly had a Merry Christmas here (I hope all of you did too!) but I must say, it's always a slight relief when it's over ;) The traffic and store crowds are back to normal and there is just generally less for me to think about when all the gifts and cards have been bought and mailed and given. We put our Christmas things away yesterday, since we are having a b-day party here for Layla on Saturday. And then, of course, there's New Year's Eve. One celebration at a time, please!

This is just a cool picture of the kids watching Casey shovel snow on Thursday. And below, all the grand kids on Casey's side on Christmas day.

And here's a silly shot of my three.

Now that Christmas is over, I can share some gifts I made that I wasn't able to show you before Christmas! Hopefully I can get on that tomorrow :)

a winner!

As you may know by now ;) I've been experimenting with sugarless recipes for the past several months and have found baking to be the hardest to conquer. BUT, today I tried this muffin recipe from one of my favorite books, Sweet and Sugarfree and they turned out really tasty. Actually, I don't think I would have known these didn't have sugar in them if I hadn't made them myself! The jelly in the middle really infuses throughout the muffin during baking, so if the dough tastes bland when you lick the spatula, don't worry :) The girls loved these, especially the "surprise" part and I had all the ingredients on hand! That's my kind of recipe. Without further ado....

Peanut Butter Surprise Muffins

Ingredients:
1 ripe mashed banana
1/4 cup peanut butter
2 large eggs
1/3 cups vegetable oil (I use canola)
1 cup milk
2 cups unbleached white flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1 cup chopped peanuts (don't leave these out, they provide really yummy texture :)

Filling: Jam, Fruit Butter, or Spread (use store-bought or use a homemade fruit puree)

Instructions:
Beat together in a medium-sized bowl mashed banana, peanut butter, and eggs until well blended and creamy. Add oil and milk and beat. Measure in flour, baking powder, and baking soda. Beat. Stir in chopped peanuts. Oil and flour muffin tins. Fill each 1/3 full of batter. Spoon 1/2 tsp of jam or other filling into the center of each muffin and top with additional batter, filling wells 2/3 full. Bake at 350 degrees for 15 minutes or until browned. Cool. Serves 12.

i'm on a roll

I went to Archiver's last night and got three more pages done! AND before that I got 200 pictures printed, because that's what I'm actually behind on. I was supposed to go with my friend Angela, but she got sick :( and since I really was ready for a night off, I decided to go anyway. I'm glad I did. The conversation was not as good, but I did seem to get more done. Hmmmm ;)



And, working backwards yesterday, Casey's mom is here with us for a few days and let the girls help her make cookies (if you can call what they do helping.) This was a special and rare treat for them because, as you know, we don't eat much refined sugar around here! And today I'm remembering why, since the girls are rather whiny and Natalie woke up twice last night with bad dreams. But it was fun for a treat.



Kelby soooo wanted in on the action. After some pretzel crumbs spilled on the counter, he started sucking on the countertop. Silly guy.

The only logical thing to do after that was to have a tea party! This is the tea set my parents bought for us in China. This last summer it got a lot of use, as my mom taught us how to have proper tea parties. Everyone must be wearing a hat and someone must be the "Tea Mother", which was me this time.


Grandma is wearing a special hat that belonged to her grandmother and that I won in a silent auction one family reunion. Natalie chose to wear her mermaid skirt as her hat. Always the creative one.


Random use for fabric scraps #2: Keep the baby entertained :)


I hope I'll be blogging again before Christmas, but you never know! so just in case, I wish you all a VERY Merry Christmas and may your week be filled to the brim with celebration, family, laughter and Christ's love!