Update? what update?

ooooh, this update.

The kitchen is almost done. It only waits on money to finish it. We still need to buy the lighting and the tile for the back splash. I'm ok with that because I used to have an ugly old kitchen that looked like this:

yes, it was that bad. Those cabinets you see there? That was all I had. (I used to laugh at my mother when she would tell me how badly I needed a rice cooker. Where was I going to put a rice cooker??) The entry into the living room is there to the left beyond the fridge. The entry into the kids' rooms and the basement is down photo to the right. The kids would be running through the kitchen all day long and trying to play in there while I cooked. The cabinets were original but I believe that nasty floor was updated in the late 60's. I could be wrong, of course.

However, the lack of new lights and back splash is easy to get over because now I have this:

yeah, I think I could find somewhere for a rice cooker now.

This is the view from the living room:

The cabinet that faces the living room is my game cupboard. I love that I can keep a better eye on the games and it encourages the kids to play them on the table. I need more bar stools, too. The bar will fit five stools, just right for breakfast time.

and the view from the kitchen into the living room:

Isn't it pretty? The counter tops are Formica with a solid surface edging in a color that's very close to the floor tile. I love the way it ties it all together. I went with half cup drawer pulls and simple knobs. The microwave on the counter top will be replaced with an over the stove model. You can't see the best part of my kitchen in these pictures: the dishwasher. sigh. I love my dishwasher. My dishes actually get done and when they aren't done they are hiding away so no one knows there are dirty dishes in the house. Isn't that lovely?

Tired

We painted this morning. I was still feeling chipper and full of energy after that, so we decided we had time to tile the kitchen, too.

I have a chemical burn on my arm from tile mortar, a blister behind my right knee from the knee pads, and mortar stuck in my cuticles. We aren't done yet. I still have two full tiles and quite a bit of partials to go.

I'm not feeling a bit chipper. And my Italian Soda was flat.

What's a Little Remodeling Without a Few Tears

The original part of our house is on a slab, this includes the kitchen. I was not surprised at all when the plumber declared that there was nothing we could do to reconnect the hot water except open up the concrete. The slab had been broken into before and a lovely patch job about a foot wide lay all down the length of the kitchen. This made it easy to see where we needed to open the floor to find the pipes.

That was of course nearly three weeks ago now. In the meantime we have had to stare at a badly done patch all down the length of the kitchen, a concrete patch that was raised above the rest of the floor by at least 1/4", which might as well be a foot when you are laying tile over it. More than one person suggested we just break open the patch all the way down the floor and redo it. Concrete is cheap and patching the piping mess really wasn't that big of a job. We even still had his dad's sledge hammer.

Saturday, we finally decided that's what we would do. I got out the sledge and started the job. Joshua and I got about three feet in when it was time for me to quit and get ready to go photograph a wedding. I handed the concrete breaking reigns over to Steve.

Steve begin breaking up the concrete and all went well for another foot. Then all of the sudden the concrete began to slide downward as he broke it up. It cracked and fell down. Down is not good when there is supposed to be dirt there.

There was no dirt. There was instead a big, big hole under the north end of my kitchen. The main slab was still solid and holding just fine, but we now had a 1' by 3' gap in the kitchen floor with a 7' deep by 4' wide hole under it. Don't ask me how the previous owners managed to lay a concrete patch over thin air. It baffles us to this day. There are no signs of support materials in the hole. No frayed burlap, no wire mesh, no cardboard, no wood, nothing. The last thing we expected when we broke open that concrete patch was there would be nothing supporting it from underneath. It's just simple logic.

Steve called me in to see the hole 30 minutes before I had to leave. He sat there on his knees, completely stunned. He had no clue how to fix this.

I did not cry when I had to downgrade my kitchen vision to cheaper cabinets. I did not cry when I saw how quickly we were running out of money. I did not cry when the cabinet guys mis-measured my cabinets. (although I may yell at them if I don't hear something from them soon.) That big hole in my floor brought me to tears.

Luckily, I ran over to a neighbor's after the wedding to borrow a sewing machine (another long, but more boring story.) Her husband happens to do construction work for a living. When I told her about our lovely hole in the floor, she suggested to her husband that he might want to go help Steve fix the floor. The neighbor had the perfect solution. He pounded in concrete stakes and put a support piece right beneath the slab. The guys screwed concrete mesh into the hole to help support it. It only took two cubic feet of concrete to fill the mess.

I have to say that was the worst moment in our remodeling venture. I'm sure it could have always been worse, but I'm glad I didn't have to see that.

Important Is a Relative Term

Coming home from Grandma's last night with a car full of Easter candy:

Rilla: Turn on the back light, Dad. I need to show Sarah something.

Dad: please.

Rilla: Please turn on the light.

Dad: ok.

and the light goes on in the back of the van.

Rilla: Sarah, what color is my tongue?

"It can wait" is not a phrase my children understand.

Cabinets!

This is Shawn. Isn't he nice? I know you don't know him but all you do have to know about him is he is installing my cabinets. That alone makes him nice, don't you think?

I have lots and lots of cabinets. I'm having a difficult time deciding what goes where. It's a good problem to have.

If you look at the first picture again, you will see some gaps in the lower cabinets and some big empty wall space. When Shawn showed up on Monday to install, he discovered that his boss mis-measured my kitchen resulting in four cabinets being the wrong size, two wall and two drawer bases. Boss guy immediately set to work figuring out how to fix it. Instead of two 12" drawer bases symmetrically flanking the sink, I will have a 15" drawer base on one side and a pull out spice drawer on the other. It won't look quite as nice as the symmetrical arrangement, but I know I'll like having the spice drawer. I was having a hard time figuring out what to do with all those drawers anyway. ;) The new cabinets will show up next week and Shawn will install them then. This means my dishwasher can't be installed until next week either, that I'm not so OK with.

The mistake cabinets we get to keep, of course, and we won't be paying for the correct cabinets. We still get to figure out where to put the extras. It will be a topic of great debate over the next few weeks I'm sure. Any and all suggestions are welcome.

More info than you ever wanted

This was my house Friday afternoon. Do you notice there is no water heater? No closet? Yeah. That was fun to bust up. I busted up my pointer finger doing it, but I still like sledgehammers.

I like them so much that when the plumber needed to break into the floor to get us hot water to the bathroom and kitchen, (you should have seen Steve's face when He found that out. oooh boy.) I volunteered to swing it. I did a dang good job, too. See that nice big hole in my floor? I didn't care. I wanted a shower, dang it.

Steve says I look cuter swinging a sledge hammer than I do running a power saw. (Only he said sexier, but my mom reads this blog, so I edited that line for you. I'm nice like that.)

This is my dad helping out on Friday. He and mom stopped by to see the progress we were making and dad got roped into helping. Considering the fact that he got a goose egg on his head from a board falling on it last time he helped, we were feeling pretty lucky. Dad helped me tear down the closet walls and clean up the mess. Thanks dad. Love ya.

This is my house as of this evening. Not a lot more visible progress. We did get the mess cleaned up and the drywall is up on the beam wall with it's first coat of mud. Steve was knocking my mudding job this evening. He might get to do the rest. Dude. Don't knock my work if you don't want to work alone.

This is the view from the wall in the living room. That is the far end of my house. My house finally looks it's size. It feels big and open and even though it's a mess right now, I already love it.

Easter Dress

Last week, on Monday actually, I looked at the calendar and realized that because of the remodel I was out time to make dresses for my girls for Easter. They need the dresses and I was looking forward to it this year. I expressed my disappointment to my spouse who promptly responded "oh you have to make them Easter dresses. You have time. You won't spend the whole week working on the house."

1st of all. ha. Yes I am spending the whole week on the house. Either working or trying not to fall over from exhaustion. Remodeling is hard work.

2nd of all. I listened to him anyway. Isn't she cute? I sewed that dress in a few hours. Rilla's looks just like it only her lining is yellow. If you can't see it from the picture, it's cotton eyelet with a broadcloth lining in pink.

My favorite part of the dress is that adorable bodice. I love the tucks. So cute. I'm going to have to use that pattern again.

Sarah's dress is also empire waist and eyelet. Her lining is a light teal blue. I'll be sewing that next week while I watch the workmen install my new kitchen (!!)

Never Sneeze Into a Dust Mask

Wise words from my husband, who is currently hard at work tearing down plaster board. What is plaster board? It's what construction people used in houses between lathe and plaster and drywall. Plaster board is actually a cross between the two. The boards are 12"x8' rather than the drywall standard of 4'x8' (or 4'x12' which I avoid using when possible because it's a bear to hang with two people, which is how many people we usually have around to hang drywall.) The boards on plaster board have 1" holes drilled all along the length so the scratch coat of the plaster would push through and create the key. Then they did a surface coat. Anyway. It's thick, strong (I think it's stronger than lathe and plaster) and a bear to remove. How much have we torn off?

Look and see for yourself:

That's my living room as of 2pm today. The water heater and the rest of the closet it's sitting in will be completely torn out. We have a new on demand water heater being installed in another part of the house where it won't interfere with traffic patterns. (Yes this cost quite a bit of money to put in the beam and move the utility closet. You try living for six years in a house where five children have to go through the middle of the kitchen to get between their bedrooms and the only bathroom and see how much you are willing to spend to make them STOP RUNNING THROUGH KITCHEN WHEN I'M COOKING ALREADY.)

This is my kitchen as of 2:03 this afternoon.

You will notice there is no sink, but I still have a stove and fridge. I can still cook even in the mess. This is what we call brilliant planning. (Brilliant planning is not what we call the multiple trips to the hardware store and Home Depot I'm making on a daily basis this week. )

I stood at my living room window (the one the termites ate) to take this photo. Picture lovely new cabinets along that wall soon. Six days from today actually. As of yet, I'm not hyperventilating about the time frame. I may if more doesn't get done tomorrow though.

Deep Sleepers

My children are anyway. They've been trained that way.

Thursday is Steve's music night and has been for the last six years or so. He likes to get together with his music friends and jam. This was his band rehearsal night for back when he was in a band. Sometimes the guys went somewhere else (because you always go to the drummer. Drum kits aren't near as portable as a guitar.) Sometimes they came to our house.

This is why my kids are deep sleepers. The bassist always brings his amp, although he's been nice lately to bring his smaller one and not the one that's the size of a Shetland pony (the small one is about the same size as our dog.) Last night there was an electric guitarist in the mix. He's new to the group and according to Steve a very good guitar player. We also had a pianist and her husband (on the Seagull guitar) here for the first time. It was quite a crowd. It was also loud.

The kids fell asleep and stayed asleep.

This is what you call training. After six years of jam sessions in the living room, those kids can sleep through anything.

More Baby Pictures

Isn't he cute? I got to go take Keith's picture yesterday.

His daddy stuck around for pictures too. I think Keith was happy about that, don't you?

This is Keith's whole family, dog and cat included. The cat is starting to get a bit jealous of baby, but is still curious and mostly indifferent. The dog thinks the baby needs a herd dog to take care of him and will come get Mommy or Daddy if baby cries.

I also have cute feet pictures. I'll only subject you to my favorite:

You're welcome.

Brand New Nephew

Born just last night. Isn't he sweet? He looks a lot like his daddy. Weighing in at 9lbs 2oz, he was definitely ready to come home.
Here he is with his mommy. I'm going over next week to do family pictures of the three of them. I'm looking forward to it.
This is the whole thing from Libby's point of view. She wanted to take pictures, so I let her point the camera and press the shutter while I held it up to her eye. She did a surprisingly good job. This one cracks me up. It's all baby.

We had a good visit and we were very happy to go welcome little Keith to our family.

Just a few pictures

So I got out my camera this morning for the first time in ages.

I know! So shocking.
But somehow they still know how to pose.
and keep posing.
and even more adorable posing.
Silly posing followed immediately by a stereo of "let me see! let me see!" Kids love digital cameras.

Matt of course could be nothing but silly. I usually have him tell me jokes to get a natural smile out of him. It's a trick that works for all ages actually. As soon as they know what a joke is, you can get them to tell you one. They forget about the smirk and suddenly you have all sorts of opportunities for real smiles. Love that trick.

BTW, aren't they darling?

1 more room down

Ok, not completely done, I still need curtains and baseboard (and yes, I do plan on washing the window. Please excuse the filth.) It is close enough for the kids to be using it, and boy howdy, do they. They love having the toys all together in one room. It's even been fun to finally have a place for mister cow chair. Isn't he cute? Sarah picked that up in 3rd grade with her AR points and we've just never had space for him on the floor before.

I would love to have some more sophisticated shelving, but I'm happy that everything looks neat and tidy with what I do have. One of these days I'm going to surf on over to HGTV's website and see if I can nominate myself for a room make over. I'd love to have one of their shows redo that room. Keeping in mind of course, that the house must sell and the room will be seen from the front room. (Who am I kidding. I would expect lime green and orange with funky built ins from a tv show make over.)

PS. See the cute little pink house? That was Libby's big Christmas present. She adores it. She invites me to come in and play with her often. It's two pieces that nestle inside each other so we can make it smaller when she's not playing with it.

He's got me pegged

Last night at Dinner, Joshua decided to bring up the subject of his birthday party, the one that won't happen for four months. Joshua likes to start asking for things early in the hopes that the long period of whining will wear down our resistance. I should just send him to the UN because he could bring peace to the world. The countries of the world would all stop pointing their guns at each other because they would all be pointed at our house as punishment for making him an ambassador and not just letting him be the most successful car salesman ever.

Joshua decided he needs a sleepover party this year and he felt the need to negotiate the number of guests he could have. We let the kids have fewer guests for sleepovers than we do for evening parties. I figure it evens out the work load a bit. So there Joshua was pushing for more guests (yes four months early) and I responded, "Let me put it this way, Joshua, do you want a sane mom after your party or a crazy mom?"

"Well, it really doesn't matter either way, does it? You'll just be crazy no matter what." says Joshua.

Not the way to get yourself a party, buddy.

The Cheesecakes

The recipes for the cheesecakes were requested by some of the guests at the party, and since I spent the morning typing them up, I'd thought I'd post them here. The recipes are long because the instructions are very detailed, so don't freak. These are worth it. The Lemon curd cheesecake is quite possibly the best cheesecake I've ever eaten. I Did the New York cheesecake with the chocolate marble version. Also fantastic. These are so creamy and perfectly balanced. Neither is too heavy or thick. If you are trying to lose weight you may want to forget this post.

The Lemon Curd cheesecake is from a special issue magazine called "Desserts from America's Top Chefs." It's a Meredith publication so it should be availible anywhere. There are several really, really good recipes in it if you want to just buy it for yourself. The New York cheesecake is from The America's Test Kitchen Family Cookbook. If you buy this one for yourself you have to try the black bean soup and the chicken parmesean.

Lemon Curd Cheesecake
crust:
1 1/4 cups graham cracker crumbs (about 9 crackers)
3 T sugar
1/ 8 t kosher salt
5 T unsalted butter, melted
filling:
2 1/2 8 oz packages regular cream cheese
1/2 c + 2 T sugar
3 T flour
pinch of salt
1 t vanilla extract
1 t lemon juice
1 t lemon zest
2 large eggs + 1 large egg yolks
1/2 c sour cream

unsalted butter, melted for the pan
Lemon Curd

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and position a rack in the center of the oven. Prepare a 9" springform pan by cutting a parchment circle to fit the pan bottom.

2. For the crust: Combine the graham crackers crumbs, sugar, and 1/8 teaspoon salt in a small bowl. Stir in the 5 T melted butter with a fork until well combined. Press the mixture evenly onto the bottom of the prepared pan. Bake for 10 minutes. Cool the crust in the pan on a wire rack.

3. Lower the oven temperature to 325 degrees. In a large mixing bowl beat the cream cheese at medium-low speed in an electric stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment about 2 minutes, until creamy. With the mixer on low speed, gradually add all the remaining sugar, then the flour, and finally the pinch of salt. With a spatula, scrape down the side of the bowl and the paddle twice.

4. Switch to the whisk attachment and continue mixing, adding the vanilla, lemon juice, and lemon zest. Whip in the eggs one at a time, then add the yolk, scrapping the bowl and whisking at least twice. Continue to whip on low speed, adding the sour cream. Whip until well blended. Do not overbeat. The batter should be light and airy.

5. Brush the sides of the springform pan with melted butter. Wrap the outside of the pan tightly in heavy-duty aluminum foil, making sure there are no holes in the foil. Pour the filling into the pan. Place the spring form pain in a large roasting pan and pour enough hot tap water into the roasting pan so that it comes about halfway up the edge of the springform pan. Place pans carefully in the oven and bake until the filling is just set, about 45 to 60 minutes. (A 1" area at the center of the cheesecake should jiggle slightly when the cheesecake is done. Do not test with a knife; it will crack the cake.) Immediately remove the pan from the water and remove the foil. Place pan on a wire rack and cool 15 minutes. Using a sharp, small knife, loosen cake from edges of pan; cool 30 minutes more. Remove side from pan. Cool cheesecake to room temperature. Loosely cover cheesecake and chill overnight.

6. About 2 to 3 hours before serving, remove the cheesecake from the refrigerator. Replace side of springform pan. Warm the Lemon Curd until it is pourable and spread it evenly over the surface of the cheesecake, tilting it from side to side to form an even layer. Cover pan with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 2 to 3 hours. To serve, remove wrap and pan side. Slide the cake still on the parchment paper, onto a serving plate.
Makes 10 to 12 servings.

Lemon Curd:
1/2 c freshly squeezed lemon juice
6 large egg yolks
1 c sugar
4 t lemon zest
1 stick cold, unsalted butter, cut into 1 inch pieces

Combine the lemon juice, egg yolks, and sugar in a nonreactive bowl. Whisk until smooth. Transfer the mixture to a heavy nonreactive saucepan and cook over medium heat, stirring constantly with a wooden spoon until hot, 5 to 10 minutes. The mixture should begin to thicken as the temperature increases. Once thick (it should coat the back of the spoon), reduce the heat and cook for an additional 5 to 10 minutes, stirring continuously. Remove the saucepan from the heat and strain the curd into a bowl. Stir in the lemon zest and butter with a wire whisk until the butter has completely melted. Cool slightly before using. The curd can be stored in the refrigerator in an airtight container up to 1 week. Warm over a double boiler or in microwave briefly to return to liquid form. It will set up again when chilled.


New York Cheesecake

crust:
1 1/4 cups graham cracker crumbs
5 T unsalted butter, melted
1 T sugar

Filling:
2 1/2 pounds cream cheese, cut into rough 1 inch chunks and softened
1 1/2 c sugar
1/8 t salt
1/3 c sour cream
2 t lemon juice
2 t vanilla extract
2 large egg yolks, at room temperature
6 large eggs, at room temperature
1 T unsalted butter, melted
For the crust: Adjust an oven rack to the middle position and heat the oven to 325 degrees. Mix the graham crumbs, melted butter, and sugar together, then pour into a 10" springform pan (9" works. ) Press the crumbs firmly into an even layer using the bottom of a measuring cup. Bake the crust until fragrant and beginning to brown, 10 to 15 minutes.

2. For the filling: Meanwhile, increase the oven temperature to 500 degrees. Beat the cream cheese in a large bowl with an electric mixer on medium-low speed until softened, 1 to 3 minutes. Scrape down the bowl and beaters thoroughly.

3. Beat in half of the sugar and the salt and until incorporated, 1 to 3 minutes. Beat in the sour cream, lemon juice, and vanilla until incorporated, 1 to 3 minutes. Beat in the egg yolks until incorporated, 1 to 3 minutes. Beat in the eggs 2 at a time, until incorporated, scraping down the bowl and beaters as needed, 1 to 3 minutes.

4. Being careful not to disturb the baked crust, brush the sides of the springform pan with the melted butter. Set the pan on a rimmed baking sheet. Pour the filling over the crust and bake for 10 minutes.

5. Without opening the oven door, reduce the oven temperature to 200 degrees and continue to bake until an instant read thermometer inserted into the center of the cheesecake, reads about 150 degrees, about 1 hour 30 minutes, rotating the pan halfway through baking.

6. Transfer the cake to a wire rack and run a paring knife around the edge of the cake. Let cool until barely warm, 2 1/2 to 3 hours, running a paring knife around the edge of the cake every hour or so. Wrap the pan tightly in plastic wrap and refrigerate until cold, at least 3 hours.

7. To unmold the cheesecake, wrap a wet, hot kitchen towel around the springform pan and let sit for 1 minute. Remove the sides of the pan. Let the cheesecake stand at room temperature about 30 minutes before serving.

Marble Cheesecake Variation:
Before baking cheesecake: Whisk 1/4 cup boiling heavy cream and 5 oz semisweet chocolate, chopped, together until melted and smooth. Let cool completely. Drop spoonfuls of the chocolate randomly over the top of the batter. Using a knife, swirl the chocolate into the cheesecake batter, creating an attractive marbled pattern.

I'm Not Only President, I'm Also a Member

Ah, Bedlam. Wanna know why i haven't updated lately? Huh? wanna guess? Because I think I've finally dropped over the edge of crazy, that's why. I actually cried on the phone to Steve on Friday over a baby shower. Why? No one cares if the cheesecake is pretty or if I have the proper candy bars to melt into baby diapers. (It's a party game.) It's cheesecake for heaven's sake. They'll eat it if you have to scoop it out onto their plates with a spoon. Sigh.

This was last week:
Sunday: Sub in Sunbeams
Monday: wash walls and patch drywall in playroom. Remove everything from the room including carpeting.
Tuesday: paint playroom. Two coats. Also clean.
Wednesday: Carpet layers came. It looks lovely. Also, I prepared a presentation for church youth group on photography, because Teenagers always love to be lectured to. (and why does the 2nd Counselor's wife always glare at me? Dude. What did I do?) Also do laundry and clean. Also clean out the girls' bedroom.
Thursday: Clean house for that evening's party. Host party. Make diaper cake. (it's diapers put together in a three layer cake shape. I'll post pictures when I have them.) This was my easy day.
Friday: Clean boys' bedroom. Do laundry. Make two cheesecakes. Prepare games for baby shower. Also attend meeting and go shopping. (and apparently lose it at 4pm on the phone, which does get dinner made by someone else.) Assign candy bar diaper game to sister in law who could do it without going crazy. Nice sister in law.
Saturday: Finish one of the cheesecakes. Move everything you can out of the kids' bedrooms so the carpet can be laid on Monday. Get everything ready for baby shower. All before 11 am. Go to Mom's. Help them get ready for baby shower. Go early to shower to set up. Host shower. Stress the whole time because I can't relax when I hostess. Clean up shower (it was a success! Everyone liked the cheesecake. It wasn't ugly after all! yea!) Relax until 8pm, (except for the time I spent helping make dinner and helping clean up, but there was lots of help so that wasn't bad.) go home and bathe children.
Sunday: Go to church. Come home and proceed to break the sabbath by finishing up emptying the bedrooms. Go visit family. Come home and put children to bed in family room. Help husband rip carpet up in the bedrooms.

This week:
Monday: Carpet is laid. It looks lovely. vacuum the fuzzies. put bedrooms back together. clean house. Kids are off school. Find a plumber who can get the dang water heater out of the kitchen. I want to start remodeling that!
Tuesday: Kids are off school again. Probably put the playroom together.
Wednesday: I might cry again. This time in relief. I do intend to find a book. And a nap. A nap would be good.
Also: feel guilty all week because it's "Fill the Temple Week" again for our stake and I won't make it.

Do I get my padded room yet? And when I come out could someone make dinner first?

Nova Makes Me Look Smart

We got snow yesterday. Lots and lots of snow. It snowed for 10 hours. Rilla came trudging up the hill from the bus stop after school with her coat hanging open and complaining of cold feet. She had left her 6 year old brother behind, so I had to send her back for him. (I don't know how many times I've asked her to wait for him. sigh.) Before she headed back, I got after her for leaving her coat unzipped. In times past, I had no reply for the "but I'm not cold there!" argument my kids gave me when I asked them to zip their coats. I watched mountain climbers on Nova recently, though, so I have a rational reason for making them keep their coats zipped.

"Rilla," I said, "You have to keep your core warm or your body steals heat from your extremities to maintain the core temperature."

She just nodded her head because she's used to her mom spouting off completely foreign words at her.

I tried again. "Your body has to keep your heart warm so if you leave your coat unzipped it will steal heat from your fingers and toes to warm it up."

"oh." and a lightbulb went off above her head.

See it all makes sense. Now go zip up your coat.

Libby

ok, I did get a cute picture of Libby in her pj's last night. Isn't that smile much better?

Learning

"I do it myself!" She said.

She did do it. Slowly and carefully.
Such a big girl.

(Cute pj's, huh? Those are the Christmas monkey jammas. )

How to Drive Yourself Crazy in Three Simple Steps

1. do way too much in Dec. Really overwhelm yourself with projects so that you completely neglect all housework.

2. Go visiting family for the entire week of Christmas. You should only be home long enough to toss laundry in corners and dump presents and junk places.

At this point when your house looks worse than it has in months you kick in the final step:

3. Decide to host a New Year's Eve party for your preteen and her friends.

We spent all day NYE cleaning house. It was not pretty. I was stressed. Sarah was tired from all the cleaning, but I got to be the cool mom. Sarah had nine friends over. We had a borrowed Wii in the basement and a borrowed XBox 360 (with Guitar Hero) upstairs in the play room. We also set up board games in the living room. When they first arrived, we had a Nerf dart gun fight range all over the house. Everyone had a blast, but I forgot to take pictures.

We did do such a good job cleaning, though, that that house is still clean.

The cherries dress

my favorite.

It's hard to see in the tiny picture how much detail is on it. It's constructed just like Osh Kosh skirt-alls would be. Lots of fake double needle stitching, a cute pocket on the bib, etc.

Rilla was cute. She saw that the skirt landed above the doll's knees and said "Mom, the skirt's too short!" I had to tell her the rules were different for dolls.

Way too proud of this to wait

I made doll clothes for Rilla (and a niece) for Christmas. She's getting an 18" doll and now the doll has five outfits to wear. Here's four of them: Those are a pair of boot cut jeans. The pattern made straight legs so I altered it for the jeans. I did some fake double needle stitching and fake pockets on the front.
This is a dress that is made from the fabric we used for her flower girl dress she wore to her aunt's wedding. My niece was also a flower girl, so she has a dress to match this one.

A mini jumper made from the fabric I made Sarah's mini jumper out of. The capris are also a pattern alteration. I would never wear white capris, but they sure look cute on a doll, don't they? My niece has an outfit to match exactly. Their dolls can be twins at the Christmas party.

And the clincher: PJ's to match Rilla's new Christmas PJ's. The doll is dressed in them and wrapped up. I can't wait to see her face when she opens the doll and sees her in matching PJ's.

I don't have a picture of the black with cherry print baby wale corduroy overall skirt (with matching red t-shirt.) It's cute too.

BTW, yes, that is the doll we got her. Yes, I used it as a model and dress form for my sewing and pattern alterations. Yes, I had fun dressing the doll. I am a girl, after all.

Dinner Table Masterpiece

"Look she made a sculpture."

"Why yes, she did. How lovely."

"It's a comment on petty dictatorships present in the modern world."

"it is?"

"Yes. It's titled, 'Eat your dang food!'"What an artist.

PS. Yes, she's in her pj's at dinner. December is not a month in which I have the energy to wrestle unwilling toddlers into clothing. Especially toddlers who can undress themselves and put the dang pj's back on whenever they want. I try begging and bribery. If they don't work, the pj's stay.

Modern Life

Matt wanted to know what time it was. He went running into the kitchen and then ran back out yelling for Rilla.

"It's 8:32!" he said. "I checked the thing that makes the popcorn."

What else is it good for? ;)

It's a completely different generation

Last week, Sarah competed in a talent show. She sang "Over the Rainbow" from The Wizard of Oz and did a fantastic job. She won second place, beaten out by a couple of girls who did "Loathing" from Wicked. They didn't sing nearly as well, but they had personality and costumes. Sarah is still a bit stiff at the microphone.

Anyway, the first act was a garage band made up of 8th graders. It sounded like you would expect a garage band of 8th graders to sound (although they all blamed the equipment, of course.) There were four boys on stage and off to stage left were two very proud dads working the sound system. The dads helped set up and you know those dads bought the instruments.

It's just so different from generations past. My husband has a friend who's father refused to buy him a guitar when he was a teen because rock music led to the devil. Then Steve's friend learned how to play electronica on a keyboard. Now that example is a bit extreme and most parents were pretty resigned to heavy rock by the time we were teens, but it still got a lot of guff. Lots of "what is that crap you're listening too?" Now of course, parents are trying to keep up on who's hot in the music industry. They love rock and not a few of them aren't bothered by rap either. (not me. Rap is crap.)

Isn't it funny? What are our children going to do to rebel? Instead of getting a "cut your dang hair!" Their moms' will say "You know you'd look great with the tips dyed blue!" Poor things. Your heart just breaks for them, doesn't it?

Some Christmas Projects

Here's a picture of my crayon rolls. Aren't they cute? They roll right up and secure with a ribbon. My first one fastened with a snap and I love that because even Libby can fasten it. The ribbons are easier to sew on, though, and since I was doing several I went that route. The ribbons look cuter anyway.
Here's a photo of it unrolled. Cut 2 pieces of heavy fabric 25"x5", like denim, canvas, or corduroy, for the base and one piece of fabric (preferably a contrasting fabric) 25"x6" for the pocket. Fold the pocket in half length wise and press flat. This will give you a piece of fabric 3x25. Lay it over the right side of one piece of base fabric with raw edges matching and the fold to the center of the fabric and pin. Starting at the center, mark the pocket every inch. Sew down along those marks. You should have 1/2" on each end beyond the 24 pockets.

On the other piece of base fabric, sew down an 18" ribbon about 4 1/2" down from one end of the base fabric. If you use polyester ribbon, you can melt the ends with a match to prevent fraying. Lay your two base pieces with wrong sides together. Pin. Sew double fold, double wide bias tape all the way around the edge.

Easy peasy. They make great stocking stuffers or friend gifts for young children. 3/4 of a yard of 60" fabric will give you the base fabric for four rolls. 3/4 of a yard of a 45" will be plenty for the four pockets.

This is one of the shelves I made for my kids:
It's not painted yet. I bought pre-primed wood ('cause I'm lazy like that.) So far I've spent about 1/2 an hour per shelf. They are my version of this Pottery Barn Kids shelf My kids are pack rats and their beds are their nests. My hope is that we can get the stuff off the beds and on the shelves. I have two 3' shelves for each child that will be secured above their beds.
I still have several projects left to complete and I'm not even thinking about the candy boxes for the in laws. I might manage to get pics of the stockings here in a few days. Maybe. I might be crazy by then. Which is perfectly fine, after all, I do live in Bedlam.

Peanut Brittle

OK, so "next day" is really "five days from now when I have 5 minutes to sit down and think because yet once again I've decided to drive myself crazy in December." Forgive me? oh good. thanks.

Peanut Brittle. It seems to be the man favorite around here. I put off learning how to make it because I prefer fudge and toffee so much more. Brittle, however, is Steve's favorite, so I'm finally showing my love enough to make it for him.

The key to good brittle is the final cooking temperature. If you under cook it, you get chewy brittle; if you over cook it, it tastes burnt. My mom cooks candy without a thermometer (and if you make candy for 50 years (sorry, Mom) you too can stop using a thermometer) so I'm going to teach you how to use a cold water test with this one.

Peanut Brittle

2 c sugar
1 c corn syrup
1/2 c water
dash of salt
1/2 c butter
2 t vanilla
2 t baking soda
3 c raw peanuts (also called Spanish peanuts)

Combine the sugar, corn syrup, water, salt, and butter in a 4 1/2 or 5 quart sauce pan. Cook over medium heat with a lid on until the candy syrup comes to a full boil. (this is sweating the pan for you. ) Remove lid, add thermometer and cook stirring constantly until the syrup reaches soft ball stage (234 degrees F.) Add the peanuts. Keep stirring until the peanuts begin to look toasted. they will take on a golden color and your candy syrup will be a golden brown as well. When the candy reaches about 295 degrees F (hard crack) it should be done. You can test it with a cold water test to be sure. Grab a short glass of ice water (a 1 c measuring cup works well for this) and drizzle a small amount of candy into the cup. The candy will immediately solidify. Take it out and taste it. It should be hard and crunchy with no bend at all to it. if it's not, cook it a bit longer and test it again. If that is your candy, remove it from the heat. mix in the vanilla and baking soda. The baking soda will fizz up, so stir quickly and completely. Then pour it out onto a buttered, rimmed baking sheet. Using a heat resistant spatula, spread the candy out to be as even and flat as you can. Let the candy cool to room temperature and break into pieces to serve.

If you've missed my previous candy posts, the links are in the side bar. Start with the first one, the candy making tutorial. It will give you some pointers and techniques that will make all your candy come out better.

Choosing a Candy Themometer

In honor of it being December already, I'm adding my annual candy post. Tomorrow (I hope) I'll post a great peanut brittle recipe, but in the meantime, we're going to discuss candy thermometers. Your thermometer can be one of the most important pieces of equipment you own, especially if you make candy infrequently. A quality, accurate thermometer can make the difference between a mess of syrup and the candy you meant to make.

That said, there are some really lousy candy thermometers out there. I'd steer clear of those glass tubes with the colored plastic caps. Water gets in them and then you can't read the temp. They also aren't terribly accurate. Just don't buy a thermometer at a grocery store. All they ever seem to have are those cheap Good Cooks brand ones.

I have one very similar to this one: CDN Thermometer I have had mine for 12 years. It's almost indestructible because of the stainless steel back. It protects the glass and it keeps the thermometer off the bottom of the pan. I also love how long the thermometer is. It makes it so easy to read 1-2 degree changes in the syrup.

My mother used one of these for years: Sunbeam thermometer You'll notice that the glass tube is sealed so it's accurate and moisture can't get inside. They are very, very fragile however, especially when hot. You'll want to keep it well protected or buy a spare.

Instant Read Style You could choose one of these, it would probably read accurately and doesn't have mercury, but you'll notice the small amount of swing on the needle. This would make it very difficult to see small adjustments in temp. There's a big difference in 234 and 238 with candy syrups. If you can't see that difference on the thermometer, you don't want it.

Digital candy thermometers also exist out there, but I have no experience with them. If you do, please leave a comment. I'm very interested and I'd love to know if they live up to the hype.

Try going to a cooking supply store to find thermometers. You'll be able to ask questions and look at several different styles. They'll also have a better quality product. If you have a restaurant supply store in your area, try there first.

You will still need to test your thermometer before you use it no matter which one you choose. Have fun making candy! It's one of my favorite things about the holidays.

Matt Story

Last night Matt read The Little Engine That Could to Steve. This morning he came wandering out of his room, rubbing the sleep out of his eyes, with the book under his arm.

"You've got your book." I pointed out, because I'm so good at stating the obvious.

"yeah." says Matt. "I can read it now." And he proved it to me after breakfast. He read with inflection and gave different voices to the different engines. Then this afternoon he read it to a friend who came over to play.

He can read and he's good at it.

It's nice when kids get older

I've been sick for about a week now. Not horribly sick, but sick. Saturday was the hardest. I have had to stay busy because of the holiday and because of the things I wanted to get done for Christmas. I've also had stuff to do on the house. I haven't had a lot of time to rest and get better. Saturday evening it hit me and I had no energy left to cook dinner.

At 6:45, Steve stopped as he was walking through the family room with plumbing product in hand on his way too the bathroom. "are you going to make dinner?" I could see that there was no way he could do it. He had his dad over helping him install the toilet and sink, so no time for a break.

My brain is good at getting me out of stuff when I don't want to do it, so it came up with a good idea.

"Sarah," I declared, "we're going to play Delicatessen. You're the cook."

I made a "menu" for Rilla with all the sandwich fixings in the house, the two kinds of chips, and the fruit and veggies we had around as well. Rilla happily took the menu and a pencil and began taking orders like a good little waitress. Sarah and Rilla put together the orders and I only had to get up when my roast beef and cheese on wheat (dill pickle chips and carrot sticks) was ready for me.

Yup, it's good when they are old enough to help.

PS: the old bathroom color was a very, very bright sky blue. So not a pale sky blue, but sky blue in the summer, blue with a touch of green to it. It was way too bright for a small room. The longer it was on the walls the more I hated it. The new color is so much calmer and more elegant.

Progress!

On the bathroom of course. I laid the tile last Saturday, we hung the door Friday, and we got it repainted yesterday morning. That afternoon, Steve and his dad installed the vanity, sink, and toilet. I love it! Everything looks so perfect.
The original paint I chose was just awful. I babysat for a friend on Wednesday and when her husband came over to pick up the kids, he offered to repaint the room for us with a better color. Seeing as how he's a professional house painter, we took him up on the offer. The new color is gorgeous. A medium slate blue and it fits the room perfectly. The blue gives it a calm elegant feel without being overwhelming (you know, like the original color. I hate paint chips.)
Here's a couple of photos:

yeah, small room and I don't have a lens wider than 28mm. anyway, you get the picture. The vanity is an ultra slim model with a sink that hangs over the edge. it gave us the passing room we needed to get back to the toilet. The mirror and vanity light are waiting to be hung on Monday along with the glass door for the shower, the towel and tp bars, and the moulding. Ok, so some of that will be done on Tuesday, if only to save my husband's sanity. But we should be completely done with the room by the middle of next week.

Here's a lovely close up of my pretty tile:

didn't I do a good job?

Caving To External Pressure

I bought a velour jog suit. Yeah, one of those knock off Juicy things, only mine doesn't have inappropriate comments across the behind. It's grey and I bought the jacket as well.

I used to roll my eyes at those silly velour sweats. I thought all those women were just following the latest trend in suburbia. Velour just went with soccer balls and minivans.

Ha! Those women just knew something I didn't know. Velour is comfy. Really, really comfy. It's like wearing pj's all day long only you don't get dirty looks from grandma's at the grocery store in velour.

You do however get rolled eyes from self righteous holdouts.

I can live with that.

Compromise

So we went to talk to a cabinet guy today. He came out and did a measure for us yesterday with all the plans ready for us to look at this morning. It looks like a nice kitchen. The problem is that we don't have a nice budget. What I would love is about $1500 more than the cheapest option, the option that's still $800 over budget. (Ok, the kitchen I would love would cost about $10,000 more, but I'd be happy with the much cheaper one.) We may go with that anyway, but it puts our timeline back quite a bit. We would have to wait until our tax return came in to do the kitchen.

So, it's all compromises. What do we give up for this? What is going to have to wait? How can we pinch pennies in other areas to make this happen? Are we even going to have the money to do the other bathroom?

The thing is, there is never enough money. That's life.

It's frustrating some days, though.

Look! It's finished!

I did it! I finished all the kids' stockings by Christmas. I'm pretty proud of myself. Now I just have to sew the stinkers together. Which will involve somehow managing the seam line so I don't over sew the embroidery or under sew too much and show too much fabric. With cording in the seam. Doesn't that just sound like fun?

anyway, here's the stocking my mom did for me:

cool huh? I still need to fill in the name on the top. I kept forgetting to give my mom the chart for the letters so she finally just told me I'd have to do it myself. oops.

And here is Libby's stocking:

Hers was actually the easiest of all. It went quickly, thank goodness.

Now I just need to make Steve's by next Christmas and I'll never have to cross stitch anything ever, ever, ever again. If my children want their kids and spouses stockings to match, I'll loan them the pattern book. ;)

Halloween Pictures

Aren't they cute? Libby's face totally cracks me up.

Update

We had a busy Halloween week. We ate plenty of doughnuts at Grandma Kaye's. We wore costumes. I took pictures. I jammed a piece of pumpkin skin under my big toe.

what? oh yeah. That story. So Monday night we decided to carve our pumpkins. We had a spare that I put on the floor. Libby took it upon herself to move it right behind me. I turned around and promptly stubbed my bare toe on it. I shook it off and moved on until it started to go numb. I looked down and it was bloody with this strange pulpy thing sticking out under the nail. The pumpkin skin had been shoved under the nail when I stubbed it. Steve was nice enough to pull it out for me with tweezers, although it felt the opposite of nice when he did it. the skin piece was an inch long. The only good thing about it was I didn't have to help paint the bathroom that night.

The bathroom is moving along slowly. I was supposed to spend this week tiling and we might get to that tomorrow. I've got a line on a wet saw though, that should help. I'm going to have Sarah help me snap chalk lines this afternoon so we are completely ready to start laying tile tomorrow morning. I'll post pictures when it's done.

I'll also post pics of the kids in costume as soon as I get them off the camera.