Wreath

Isha received this adorable bouquet of "flowers" as a gift when she was born. The flowers were actually rolled up baby clothes. I didn't want to tear the bouquet apart because it was so adorable, but I knew that he whole point of the gift was the baby clothes, so I finally pulled it apart. I decided that I wanted to do something with the leaves and flowers so that Isha would always remember this really cool gift. After a year of sitting in a bag I have finally gotten around to doing something with them!

I took all of the flowers and leaves and put them together on a heart wreath to hang on Isha's door.

It is funny because I was always shocked by how much these wreaths sold for at craft stores, but after making one of my own, I know know why. I was not as easy as I thought, but after a few burnt fingers from the glue gun and 3 attempts at making the bow I had a finished product!

Projects

I know I haven't posted any projects for awhile, but I have been working on them. They are just more long term projects. I am almost done making a baby blanket which I think I am going to donate to an organization that helps support parents whose children have to undergo heart surgery. I have also been making some little hats to send along with the blanket, but I can't figure out part of the instructions so I will have to wait until next week when my grandmother is here to finish those. I am also working on a wreath to put up on Isha's door. She received this adorable bouquet of flowers which where made up from rolled up baby clothes and some paper flowers. I saved the paper flowers to use on the wreath. I am almost done with that so hopefully there should be some finished projects on here soon.

I am also in the middle of an amazing book right now so between that and a 14 month old nothing is done yet.

Sesame Orange Shrimp

Lately we have been trying to be good about cooking at home and using some of the food in our freezer and pantry since everything has become even more expensive. I was looking through an old copy of Everyday Food and found this recipe for Sesame Orange Shrimp . It looked good so we thought we would give it a try. The verdict... This stuff is amazing!!!! Jai is still ranting about it. The only thing I added was some cayenne pepper to the batter and some crushed red pepper to the sauce. The only problem w had was that I used Splenda instead of sugar and because of that the sauce didn't want to thicken up, so I just added some sugar and more crushed red pepper flakes to offset the sweetness.

We ate the shrimp over freshly steamed brown rice and had a green salad with some crunchy chow mien noodles and Asian dressing as a side dish and it was as close to gourmet as it gets in the Oberoi house.

I hope that you enjoy this as much as we did.

Breakfast Pizza

Here is a great recipe from the Beyond Burlap cookbook that the Junior League of Boise put out a few years ago. By the way, my name is in the back of this book as a recipe tester. That is the sign of a true Idahoan: your name is in a potato cookbook. I hope you enjoy this recipe. We have made it a few times and our neighbors just called this morning to get the recipe.

Breakfast Pizza

1 can (8 count) cresent rolls (I used 2 because I did mine in a bar pan instead of a pizza pan)

1lb sausage

2 cups of frozen hashbrowns, thawed

5 eggs beaten (I did a couple of extra because of the extra dough)

1/4 cup milk

salt and pepper to taste

1 1/2 cups shredded mozzarella or cheddar cheese ( I used cheddar)

press the rolls onto a 14 inch pizza pan and press the perforations together

brown the sausage in a skillet, stirring until crumbly and drain

layer the sausage and potatoes over the rolls

mix eggs, milk, salt and pepper and pour over potatoes

sprinkle with cheese and bake at 350 degrees for 35-45 minutes or until bubbly and lightly browned.

Enjoy!!!!

I Did It

I finally got the sewing machine to work and I am glad that I didn't throw it out the window because I think it is my fault that it kept jamming. I think I was threading the needle the wrong way, but in my defense the book that came with the machine is lame and not very helpful.

So here is the finished product...these adorable burp clothes. All of my friends are having babies at a pace that is almost impossible to keep up with so I thought it would be easier to make these instead of trying to make blankets for everyone. These weren't as easy as I thought because the diaper have an uneven edge which maks it hard for beginning sewers to get it right, plus you have to sew three different layers together. These definately have the home made look, but I am hoping that it will get easier the more of them I make.

An Interesting Book

Having grown up in Idaho I was surrounded by the Mormon religion, but out here in Virginia you don't hear about the religion very often and I have only met a handful of Mormons while living here, so this book caught my eye at the library.

It was an interesting book. It is more about Martha Beck's battle to come to terms with her childhood than leaving the Mormon church. I can't remember where she said she got this quote from, but I found it interesting: Forgiveness is giving up all hope of having had a different past.

She also wrote a book about her son Adam who has Down's Syndrome, called Expecting Adam. It sounds like a good book so I am going to put in on my to-read list on goodreads.com.

On Hold

I am so mad right now. I am trying to make these really cute burp clothes and my sewing machine is acting up. The machine keeps jamming up. It was doing it earlier and I changed the needle, but now it is doing it again. I changed thread so maybe I did something wrong. I have been working up on the third floor and there have been a few times that I wanted to throw the machine out the window!!! So for now all of my sewing projects are on hold. I need some time to cool off and start fresh. In the mean time I am going to start on a birthday project for someone who is close to turning the big 1. Wish me luck in my future sewing endevours because the sewing machines life may depend on it!