Friday!

I hate being a debbie downer, I really do, but this week has been exhausting. It's not like I can put my finger on one thing. Just one of those weeks. I think I need to win a vacation to a deserted island. I will lay in the sand and fall asleep. Yeah that sounds more like it.
Maybe I'll share some things that made me happy this week.

I would love to sit on that deck right into the forest.

I love the work of Laura George!

This card sold by Renegade Handmade in Chicago make me giggle this week. By the way, I visited when I was in Chicago and they have such a cute shop in a fun area. Check out some of the houses nearby, they are beautiful!


I love the way Saltwater Sandals look. I especially love the navy blue!


I'm a sucker for documentaries so the other night I was itching to watch one. I had saved "Last Train Home." If you buy things that are made in China, almost all of us do, this will open your eyes to their world. They follow one family and show the difficulites of leaving their children behind to be raised by the grandparents. You feel all the emotions of this family, and the raw emotion of the daughter who has grown to be angry against her parents. Really interesting.

Have a great Friday!

Hello! Mini's and Zuchini's

Things have been slow around here. I have been on the go this summer with the kids. I almost can't believe that July is nearing an end.
I have been working on a dresser for my house for a few weeks now. It had been sitting in pieces waiting for me to decide on some colors. Then it hit me the other day, the colors. I got to painting and glueing and finished it last night. I was so excited. I need to take pics of the drawers open too. They really are working drawers, crazy. This little project really did take some time. Mostly with the fitting of the drawers to be able to fit snuggly, yet be able to pull them in and out.



Next on the dollhouse agenda, I need to make a couch or chair of some sort. Also, some wall shelves.

The other week I had some zuchinni in the fridge and my husband has been telling me about fried zuchinni he used to eat as a teenager, so I wanted to give it a whirl, they were yummy.
Super duper easy, and great to do with a surplus of zuchini you may get this summer.
All you need to 2 or 3 zuchinni's, bread crumbs, flour,a couple of eggs, some parmesan in the bread crumbs, and oil.
Dip the zuchini in flour, then egg, then breadcrumbs, and place in the oil. Let them brown and then flip to the other side. When done, put on paper towel to drain, salt, and then put in the oven to stay crispy, in between batches.
I usually put the stove on 200 degrees and place the batches on a baking sheet while I finish the others to keep them crisp.
My husband insisted on ranch dressing on the dipping sauce, and it was really good. I only ate a few, I pace myself with fried foods, but we had some left over for the next day, and they were good too. I wished I would have taken a pic ;)

I'm so excited for the end of August, we have tickets to see Gillian Welch and David Rawlings here in town. Can't wait!

Okay, I've got some ladies who are waiting to play dolls. Have a great day!!

It's A Heat Wave

Really it has been a heat wave lately. We're talking 100's. We attemped to feed the ducks at the park yesterday, we did, but looked like we had taken showers by the time we got back to the car. I know the ducks appreciated the bread though.

I've been working embroidering up a storm lately. I had four orders on Monday. Cuuurazy! I am thankful though for the sales. As a stay at home momma, I like to be able to contribute to our finances, and its nice that I can do this and stay home with the kids. Plus its something I enjoy to do.

We've been staying cool and watching some old cartoon from when I was a kid. We have been watching "The Littles," "Duck Tale" (a woo hoo), and we finished watching "Inspector Gadget." I love those cartoons. I like seeing actual handdrawn cartoons. I like computer animated sometimes, but I'd rather see a cartoon any day.



I think the next thing on my list this summer to make is popscicles. I've never done that before, but it seems like fun. We do eat popscicles alot in the summer, but I'd rather not consume so many of the high fructose type.
Check this out. It's made for William Sonoma, a popscicle maker.

I can't even believe the popscicles that made with that thing. Check out their pics.
I will probably go the old fashioned route, but it is pretty cool.

Well I've got some littles that need attention. Have a great day!

Handmade Ravioli's OH MY!

Well I was making out my grocery list the other day and ravioli's sounded good. In the past I had bought frozen one's, but they are quite lack luster. So I decided that I would go on the quest to make my own. They don't really take as long as what you might think, it's the freshness and end result that make it worth it. I wanted to start off easy and do a basic ricotta cheese recipe. I want to get a little more daring and fancy next time. I just used the "wiki-how" way to make the ravioli dough and the filling mixture. I really do want to get a pasta press to get it perfectly thin, but my rolling pin did the job. We had some leftover as well, they are good if not better left over. I'm so glad I made them.
I had some time to play with my dollhouse today, which was relaxing. We have been hanging out today. I am making a mexican pork, verde salsa, bean, cilantro soup. I know its summer, but this one has a fresh taste to it with a dollop of sour cream and cilantro. Yesterday we took the kids to mini golf (putt-putt as I like to call it) for the first time. They all had their own methods of playing. It was quite fun to watch. I forgot to take pics, but it was a lot of fun. My daughter would try to stop the ball and then scoot it into the hole.



I tried to do some sketching this morning, but I couldn't think, so I just decided maybe I needed to fiddle with my minis. I have several pictures that I've been working on, but I would like to come up with a few more before I have them printed.
I hope to sell some prints of my pieces soon. I love embroidering too, but some pieces lend to a drawing a little better. Hope to share soon ;)
We got the new Gillian Welch album. It is really good.
Have a great Sunday!

Poppin In'

(I don't think this is what Danbo had in mind when I said I bought her a donut shop.)


We have been having a heat wave. Even though it's hot I am enjoying all the sunshine. I even made some lemon poppy seed bread yesterday. I used the Betty Crocker recipe. It's simple yummy! I just had some this morning with my coffee.

I had planned on posting yesterday, but it really was one of those mornings. For starters I was having zombie dreams all night long. Blame it on my "The Walking Dead." We plowed thru the discs. I have to be honest, I was never really sold on the whole zombie thing, but when I watched this A&E show, I was planning out what we would do if this happened. Truly convincing. So needless to say, I have still been having dreams about this. After a night of avoiding zombies I was woken with my littles growing pains, crawled back in bed, and the littlest didn't make it to the potty in time. Well the morning was quite the challenge. I think there might have been a bowl of cereal knocked over as well. Oh the woes of mommyhood.

Did you watch Sherlock Holmes mysteres on PBS way back when. They were an hour and a half long, and seriously entertaining. We have went back and watched all three. The wit of and intellect of Holmes makes the show very entertaining. The have it on Netflix streaming. (Angry at Netflix however this week!) One to check out.

I've been working on a dresser this week for the dollhouse. Complete with opening drawers. Not sure on the colors I want. Can't wait to see how it turns out.

Have you seen the stitch genious of "Steotch." They are a husband and wife team of cross-stitchers with some hilarious patterns. They use some hip hop inspiration with old school designs, check it out.

I have got some games of Uno that need to be played. Have a great Thursday!

Ummm... Where has the week gone? A Food And Toys Post

I had a crazy busy week. We had a great 4th of July with fried chicken, cloverleaf rolls, mashed potatotes, and cranberry sauce (I love the kind out of the can!).
I wanted to try and make some rolls from scratch so I came across a recipe that sounded quite amazing, and it was. I use All Recipes alot, they tend to have some pretty amazing recipes on there. I used this one. I decided to use one of the reviewers ideas to make these into cloverleaf rolls. I hadn't heard of these before, but it's really quite simple. You make thirty six balls with the dough the recipe makes, and put three balls in each muffin tin that has 12 muffin places. The turn out huge! But they are so so delicious. Here's the result.

They are so huge you really only want one. It's like eating three rolls.

As you know I sell some of my embroidery pictures on Etsy, and I had a crazy weekend, I sold five in one weekend. My shop goes like that. It will be slow, and then, BAM! Craziness. So needless to say I was an embroidering fool this week. I stayed up till 3 in the morning to get alot done the other night. No worries though, I got to get a nice little paycheck. It made me realize though how much I do love embroidering.

Okay the other day whilst surfing on ebay I came across the Re-ment Donut Shop. Someone had brought a few back from Japan and had one! It was a major impulse buy, but it was a steal. Unopened and only 4 dollars to ship!

Do you see how teeny tiny the chair is on the person's finger! Yeah, it's nuts.
I have really been loving the little buildings that tomytec makes. They sell some really neat one's too. The detail is quite amazing for how small the piece is.



I love anything Kawaii and one of my Flickr friends Grana Padano (with the best toys in the whole world) shared a game that is so so cute. It tests your chopstick skills. And it couldn't be cuter! The kids would love this!


Well I'm off to enjoy doing nothing. I may play a game of "go fish". Have a great weekend!

It's Friday? See, Hear, Taste!

Wow, this summer is keeping me busy. We have been hitting the park early in the day and then we are kind of wiped out and do some reading, watching "Inspector Gadget", and eating alot of cool things. Ice cream sandwichs are the choice right now. They really are quite delicious.
Here's some things I like this week! I have never heard of "City and Colour" but I think this is my new favorite song called "The Girl." Listen you love it.


I don't how I came across this little parakeet , but I really want to make one. Love this!

found here

If you haven't visited Mitchymoo Miniatures, you have to see the beautiful piece she made form someone. It will stun and amaze you. It's a cabinet shelf unit with a fifties or sixties style. Wow!

This week I have been working on some more drawings and water colors. I even made time for my Danbo.


I have really been in the mood for coconut macaroons. I think might attempt to make some this week. I get recipes delivered to my email each day, and this one struck my fancy.
Oh my goodnes I forgot, when I was in Chicago I had 'Mango Sticky Rice.' I have never had this before, and I have not stopped thinking about it's amazingness. It was like the ultimate comfort food. I went in search for a recipe and found one that I think I might try.
It's fourth of July weekend. Not sure what our plans are, but it's a three day weekend! Have a great Friday!