#20: The Internet

How often have you ever made the comment "what did we do before google?" It comes up all the time around our place. The internet is an amazing thing. There is so much knowledge at your fingertips. You can find almost anything!

Because of the internet, I had the courage to spend 19 hours sanding my living room (and I finally found my inspiration source too!). I've found old friends. I've made dozens of new ones. I've switched my laundry detergent and now make my own dryer sheets (I use #3). I taught myself how to crochet some tricky stitches. I've learned how to make furniture. I've been super crafty. I've learned what platypuses eat.

Because of the internet I've grown, and stretched myself. I've gained knowledge and courage I'd never had. I've become such a better person.

Like any good thing there are drawbacks and pitfalls. (and major wasting of time too!) But I am very happy that I have a world of knowledge, a world of friendship, and world of assistance all at my desk.

#21:White soup with bread bowls

This may be my favorite dinner, EVER. It's a combination a couple of recipes, and my whole family loves it when I make it. It's fat free, fairly easy, and super yummy!

Creamy Chicken Noodle Soup

2 cups nonfat dry powdered milk
2 Tbsp dried onion flakes
2 Tbsp cornstarch
1/4 cup chicken bouillon powder (or 12 bullion cubes, but that’s super annoying!)
½ tsp black pepper
4 cups water
2 cups (approx) noodles
1-2 carrots, chopped
1 rib celery, chopped
1-2 chicken breasts

Combine milk, cornstarch, bullion and 2 cups water in a blender. (If using cubes, use very hot water. Mix the cubes and the water first, then blend in the rest.)

Pour into very large pot. Add onion, pepper, and remaining water. Cook over low heat until begins to thicken. Do not let boil. (If it boils, it will separate and look really nasty. Still tastes good, but looks awful!)

Meanwhile, place chicken, celery, and carrots in a medium pot. Cover with water. Bring to a boil. Add noodles. Cook approx. 15 minutes, or until noodles and chicken are fully cooked. Drain. Shred chicken (Cooked chicken shreds really easy if you just kind of mush it through your fingers, almost in a “money” sign motion, just very firm.) Add to soup base.


Bread Bowls: I use my favorite 2-loaf bread recipe, dividing into 8 balls of dough. Cook like normal (try not to let them touch each other), cut a small slice off the top. hollow it out, and fill with soup!

#22: indoor pluming

source

This one may be a bit of a no brainer. Raise your hand if this is something you're grateful for! No umpteen trillion trips to the outhouse in -20 winter middle of the nights while pregnant! No crazy stench in the middle of summer! No flies buzzing around your derriere!

Very, very VERY happy for this one!

#23: Mineral makeup

I'm not a big makeup wearer. But still, I need to feel pretty sometimes. A couple of years ago, something strange happened to my skin. I still don't know what. When I'd put on makeup, within an hour I'd be clawing at my face, feeling like I was suffocating. I tried all kinds of things, but nothing really helped. So I stopped. I didn't wear anything for a full year.

Then I found mineral makeup. Everything said it was supposed to be much lighter, much better for your skin. I was hooked. I still don't wear a ton, but I love that I can still feel pretty and such without feeling like my face is trying to get off my skull.

Craft Crafty part 2

This project I was super excited to do. I've been seeing these little paper roses in blogland for a while, but it wasn't until I saw this topiary that I really fell in love with it!

I don't know if you've seen the tutorials for this one so I thought I'd post my own.

Supplies:

Foam ball (I think mine was 3 inches. Actually, it was a decor ball on clearance for a buck!)
Stick (wooden skewer, on hand)
Foam disks ($1, from dollar store)
paper (I used 5 sheets, so about $.25)
Flower moss (also from dollar store)
Can (mine's a corn can)
Something to wrap the can
Lots and LOTS of hot glue
Patience.

Total cost: $2.25!!

Here's the foam disks I used.

I got them from $ tree, and they had a ton. I've seen the balls there before, but they were out on this trip. So I found mine at joann's instead.

It's just too annoying to try to get the flowers so close together that you can't see any white at all, so to start off, cover your ball with something. I used some red tissue paper.



Next, cut your paper. Out of 3 pieces, cut strips 2 1/8 wide. Then cut these into 2 1/8 squares. Out of 1 and a half pieces, cut squares that are 1 1/2 inches. I needed a total of 65 big squares and 60 smaller ones.

The tute I saw had you draw a swirl on the paper. That works, but I didn't find I needed it. Instead, just start at one side, and cut a long long swirl towards the center.
Don't' cut clear to the center, but leave a circle in the middle.
Then cut off the extra so you have a circle that looks like this:



Take the outside of your swirly and start rolling it up.

Keep on rolling until you get to the center circle.

And look, a cute little paper flower!

And the back:

They will be super tight when you start, but will unravel a bit.

You'll need to put a dab of hot glue on the circle of the flower. This will keep your flower together, so you won't wake up one morning and have a bunch of springy papers sticking everywhere!

Now repeat 150 times!

To assemble the topiary: First, stick your stick on the ball. Then start gluing all your flowers on! Use a combination of small and big ones. Place them as close together as you can.

Once your adorable ball is complete, place several disks inside your corn can. Wrap the can with something cute. (I used ribbon. I wanted some cute paper or something, but it was 10:00 at night and I just used what I had. I ran out. (this is the back of the can)

If your observant enough to notice it, you deserve a cookie!

Glue on some flower moss, add a cute little bow, if so inclined, and step back to admire your craftiness!

I also decorated my table for valentines.

Isn't it cute!

On this side, my cute topiary, a candle, and the BEST valentine's day book.

This side, a valentine subway plate, another candle. I decided it needed just a little something else, so I stuck some raspberry kisses (delish by the way!) in a little jar.

And we're all ready for the big day!

Crafty Crafty

I've been very inspired for the last few weeks. I've had a crafting bug that just needed to be scratched. With that in mind, I've made 3 very fun crafts in the last two weeks. I've actually been done with two of them for almost a week now, but I've been waiting to post about them until the last one is done. But I'm getting too impatient with that, and I'm posting now!

The first one I finished was a hair bow holder. I've wanted to make one for years now, but never found the right frame for it. There are something like 10845763 tutorials already out there in blog land, so I won't bother with that.

But I found this frame for $3 at a thrift store.



Yes, it's never been opened. And judging from the height of the woman's hair, I'd say this was siting in some one's basement since 1992. Look at her haughty smile. I can just imagine that face tormenting someone. Every time they opened that closet, she'd be there, taunting them. "Look at my beauty. Look at my grace. Why can't you find a use for my perfection?!?!"

There really are some fun details on this frame.
So anyway, I slapped some white paint on, covered the back in a fun fabric I had, and strung up $1 worth of ribbon. I wanted to try glazing to get those fun details to pop out. Instead I got impatient and just stuck the whole thing together!



So here's my $4 bow holder. It won't win any awards, but I love it!

#24:digital scrapbooking.

All the cuteness (more because my mouse is more talented than my fingers), none of the mess.

I am frankly in awe of anyone who physically scrapbooks. The amount of time it takes, the amazing talent needed to make it look decent, the incredible cost of supplies! And really, you need your own room. When you add in the time of getting everything out, and putting it away, it's just too much. And the idea of all these little expensive things with little ones underfoot . . . well, let's just say I never even have had the guts to try.

Digital on the other hand . . .

Personally, I use a program called Memory Mixer. I got it for a Christmas present in 2007, and then the upgrade version in 2009. I love, love, LOVE this thing! There are literally thousands of free papers, embellishments, word arts and quick pages out there. I almost never pay for any of that stuff. The actual printing can get pricey, but I just wait for free book codes from sights like shutterfly and print then.

So far, I've printed 5 books. My kids love flipping through them. I love watching my kids grow up, and remembering the stories we tell.

Here are some of my favorite pages (just a few. 'Cause really, who wants to look at 50 pages of kids you don't know!)