Ch-ch-ch-changes

We have been on the go lately.... I don't even know where to start. 

Just to update- Emil's achilles are doing well. He's walking around easily although he still has a slight limp. The one he had done before Christmas has healed quite well so we're hopeful that given a few more months he will be up to speed. Just in time for summer, and surfing... hmmmm. (it wasn't coincidental)

He is really trying to finish his thesis this go around and hopefully he will make the deadline for graduation in May. Keep your fingers crossed! I asked him if he still wanted to pursue a Phd. and he said he did in maybe a year or two. He also informed me that when he got a Phd that he expected me to call him Dr. I said there was no way I was doing that unless I was called Madam Dr. 

Neither one of us would commit to those terms so we are at an impasse. I guess it's really all hypothetical right now since he still needs to finish his Masters but this just gives you a look into how our negotiations usually go and the end result. ;) Since I'm a spanking good cook, it works for us.

The Lorrie or Dark Chocolate Raspberry

This is my first original cake. I combined different recipes I had and tweaked them to what I wanted and here you have it. 

Dark chocolate is good for your health. Did you know that? Raspberries are fruit. 

Hence, The Lorrie = Health food. (This is how I think, people.)

I had good amount of Easter orders. Which lead to lots of these and some new flavors of cake pops. Raspberry Sherbet and Orange Cream. I may be taking my business in a new direction come fall but for now things are still up in the air so I'll just tease you with that tidbit until it's definite. 

We finally got all the shelving in for the bookcase project I had in the works but decided to go crazy and put in wood floors in the study, hall, stairs and dining room. I wanted to run it under the bookshelf so we've held off on trimming it out for now. Here is the flooring we got though!

These are the steps and will have to be stained.

 It's hand scraped, which just means it's not completely flat,  hardwood and it's called Burnished Acacia. So pretty! It's taken us a while to get to this point. When we moved in 11 years ago we planned on doing wood on the floors after about 4-5 years. Now's the time. However it will have to wait until the thesis is done :( but at least we have the supplies and can start as soon as time allows.

Beside home projects we took a family temple trip in March where I insisted we take a picture. I so should have let Kirstin do it since she's much more experienced with the self portraits.

I also attended the Manteo Quilt show with some friends. I saw some very cute quilts. This one cracked me up. I can't remember the name but I decided "Snow it goes"would be apropos.

The life cycle of a snowman

 I really liked this Owl one too. The trees were very simple and the owls absolutely adorable. 

It inspired me to get busy with some Easter ideas I had been brewing so I decided to make these dish towels for some friends. I love the way they turned out. They were great for using up scraps and came together in about 15 minutes. I just used a  cookie cutter for my template for the eggs. The towels I found at Marshalls. It was a pack of 10 for $9.99. So a $1 a towel?!! Got to love that!

This week is spring break and the weather doesn't look very inviting. I've been up since 2am. Just couldn't sleep but at least it's given me the chance to finally get blogging! What are your plans for spring break?

After much work.....

and pining, ripping out, sewing and re-sewing....

more pinning.

It's done!

Yay Kirstin! She looks so darling in it and we got it done 2 weeks before the Valentine's Dance!

Emil Michael had his Board of Review for his Eagle Scout Project last Wednesday.

He project was accepted and he is an Eagle Scout now. There will be a Court of Honor which is a ceremony to recognize and give him the award him but all the paper work and requirements on my, I mean his, part are done. (Can I just tell you- I feel like I've completed a marathon. As far as accomplishments in life go.)

This is my new friend Maxine. She is very large. 5.2 cubic something or other.

She's an LG and she definitely uses more water than my last friend who use to live in this location. How much more I don't know yet and I'm afraid to ask. But she's pretty and shiny and entertains people at random when she works. I found Noah watching her wash the other day. Noah... a almost 11 year old boy watching clothes being washed. She's bewitching that way.

This week I've discovered 2 new craft sites that are awesome. I added buttons at the top of my blog. It's made me want to craft. This time of year is so blah! weather wise here. Everything is brown, gray or black and I just need to make something cute. Here's what I did today. I repurposed a denim bag my sister had made and given me. From this

to this.

I know, nothing life changing but Noah has been home sick for the last 2 days and I have been limited on what I can delve into time wise.

The cookbook is still coming along. So far it's 72 pages so you can see why it's taking me so long. I'm about 80% complete.

No braces for Noah last time. It was just a check to get molds done. His official date is Feb 11th.

I must go.... Maxine calls.

Back at Last

I know, it's been almost a month since my last post but I really have been busy and I have proof!

It's been 6 years since my sister, Sumi, painted Noah's room in a Dr. Seuss mural. What started out as 1 character grew to be a whole kingdom and though many wanted to keep it that way until Noah married, Noah himself was ready for a change. Sumi is an amazing artist! Here are some of the pictures I took before I started painting.

HOP ON POP!

And here are the after pictures. I know it seems boring beige (sorry Melissa! I won't make you sleep in his room if you come visit!) but it's really opened up his room and allows him to put pictures on his walls. That took about a week but it was well worth it.

BABY GIFT SPOILER - Don't read Theresa!

This past week I finished Theresa's Baby quilt, actually the baby quilt for Baby Cara. It's so sweet. I left it with the glider we are giving to Theresa and Chad for the baby at Emil's parents. Since I haven't heard from her I don't think she's picked it up yet. She doesn't know I was making one for Cara. I can't wait to hear what she thinks!

I hand quilted it. WHEW! That takes a long time as opposed to machine quilting. It is nice to be able to take it with you though.

PLATOON GIFT PACKAGE INFO- DON'T READ SGT ROB!

I wanted to do something special for our platoon so we got the names of all the service men and 1 woman and I made pillowcases for them. They are all different and I took this picture prior to getting them embroidered with their names but you get the idea.

We sent them off the week before Thanksgiving since they had to go early in order to get to the troops in time along with some Honey Mustard Pretzels and candy. I hope they like them!

This past week, before Thanksgiving, I got together with my friend Jovita and we had a crafting day. I had gotten a craft book on felted gifts and here are some of the ones we made. The two on the left aren't fully finished.

Isn't this little reindeer so cute!!!! There is a snowman I think will be killer cute too.

Jovita also had a pattern for fingerless gloves and since I was looking for a pattern,

I made one of them.

I have some varigated yarn that I'd like to try but one word of advice. Kids should have mittens! Working the fingers with 4 different knitting needles was very hard! Even on an adult glove.

I'll probably make a pair for me and one for Emil M.

There are few crafts that I have tried that I feel you should pay full price for but gloves and baskets are among the few! However there is something I love about making something uniquely mine.

Next Blog,

Holiday food creations..... ;)