Fortune Cookie

Guess what I've got!

Yup - it's book #11 in the Sadie Hoffmiller series.

I'll admit, this book was harder for me to read.  Usually Sadie is rather removed from the crime (although she always wiggles her way into the people surrounding it!). But this time it's her estranged sister.  She meets family she never even knew existed.  There is all kinds of relationship stress.  And the whole book takes place in less than a week.  It's a crazy packed adventure.  (ok, I say harder.  That meant instead of taking about 4 hours for me to devour it was around 10!)

Because we have to test the recpies so far in advance, I've usually forgotten which ones are in the book until it comes out.  One of my favorite parts of these books is when a recipie is mentioned.  I'm flooded with memoires, either of how devine it was (that would be the nuttella french toast), or how hard it was to make it awesome (mincing anchovies is one of the most disgusting things I've ever done.  Just use anchovy paste for the dressing!)

Want a copy?

Leave a comment.  Hmm, let's have you tell me the best memory you have of the last few weeks.  Maybe you had something big happen, maybe you just saw a tulip start to grow -whatever is great!

Contest will run through 8 pm Sunday March 29.  I'll announce the winner the next day!

I don't think I'm starting a book any time soon.

I might have mentioned it once or twice, but in case you've missed it, I've been part of a test kitchen for the last 6 years.  It has been fabulous!  I've loved trying all the new things, learning new techniques, chatting with new friends.

And now it's over.  I made my last Josi recipie Friday.  The last book is finished.  And I don't get any new fun emails.  (sigh. I'm kind of in mourning for this one!)

Anyway, back to the topic at hand.  One of the bakers had the idea to do a bio page for each one of us in this last book (and there's a cook book too!)  So I needed to write my page. 100-400 words, so nice and short.

Um, ok, I guess I can do that.  I mean, I write all the time, right?

Yeah.  It took me almost 45 minutes to write my 148 words.  I had to rewrite it 4 times before it finally broke 100 words.  And it sounded really REALLY stupid.  So after the 6th rewrite I think it might be passable. 


I have a whole new respect for authors when they post things like "I only got 3000 words written today".  Seriously.  I'll need a story that grabs me and demands to be let out before I write anything for real.

Here is different - I can spout out my randomness just fine.  'Cause I don't really worry about it making any sense. 

See - I just plunked out 250 words and changed a diaper in 10 minutes.  Randomness is easy.  Understandable  . . . not so much!

On being scrooge

Oh the joys of Christmas!  The lights, the smells, the twinkle in my children's eyes.  And the responsibilities, the crowds, the pressure that I put on myself to do things, make things, give things.

I have not been feeling the season this year.

Part of it is my daughter.  'Lil is just. so. HARD. sometimes.  I haven't let myself call her anything more than determined (though her special ed preschool teacher laughed when I said that, and said that was a VERY nice way to describe how stubborn she is).

But more than once this month, in an attempt to not scream like a banshee, I've sent everyone downstairs with a movie on, and cranked Christmas music super loud to drown out all the bad.

It's worked - sort of.  I've calmed down, but I still haven't felt the Christmas spirit.

I always give presents to many people - friends, neighbors, family.  This year I've been fine to get things together for my kids and hubby, but every time I go to do more than plan a gift for someone else, I just put it off more and more and more.  The other day I realized that I was resenting this whole gift thing.  No one is making me give presents - no one but myself.  I resented myself for being selfless in other years and expecting it of myself this year.

Selfishness has been a bit of a problem this year.  I was being Scrooge.

Enter Saturday night.  My wonderful sister took four of us to a Messiah sing along.

It was fabulous.

The soloists did more than sing notes - they sang the story.  I felt the power of that inspired piece of music.  I fumbled along as we sang A a a a a a a  a A a a a a A ------------ men over and over and over, and felt the power in my soul of the truthfulness of our Savior.  I mentally connected that "blessing and honour, glory and power" and felt my testimony deep within my soul remind my natural self of just why I've always loved giving to others.

I left that performance inspired - full of love and the Spirit of Christmas.

My only regret - it was too late to make those 6 loaves of bread for my neighbors that night.  But don't worry, I have a plan today.  I'm off to play with flour and yeast and bring that joy to others.

Words of the Prophets

So earlier today I was on Pintrest, when I saw THIS pin, which links to The Idea Door. 

Now, anything that makes my life easier just makes me happy, and having a great handout to give when Visiting Teaching this month is great!  But then I started really looking at it.  And very quickly I realized that the handout was not in fact the words of the prophets.  It was the words that one person heard while listening to conference.   Now, maybe I'm a little picky here, but I always prefer my quotes direct, not just paraphrases.

So I ended up taking almost 2 hours finding the actual quotes and arranging them.  (and some them were VERY different or not even there!)

Since I don't want to make everyone else do the same, here's one line quotes from different talks - in their own words this time.

 

(just right click and select "save image as". You should then be able to print it!)

We have a winner!

Wow, lots of fun desserts on that list.  I had to laugh when my sister put a link for swig sugar cookies - 'cause it's the same one we actually tested but decided to NOT put in this book!

So, from random.org, here's the results:

and who is #4?

Megan you win!  email me with your address and I'll drop the book in the mail.

*and this giveaway made me realize that my comments don't have numbers  by them anymore.  shoot. I'll have to see if I can get them back!

Sewing for 'Lil part 2 (a whole wardrobe!)

 *I just want to start this post by apologizing for the total mess in the background of most of these pictures.  Sometimes you just deal with what you can get!


So I mentioned before that 'Lil only wears dresses.  That isn't exactly accurate. I figured out she just is only willing to wear one article of clothing at a time. So she'll wear just a pair of pants as happily as just a shirt or just a dress, which is why we always choose that last option!

So here's the story of how I did an entire wardrobe for my girl for less than $20.

When I started, 'Lil had 2 play dresses, one of which was getting too small. Now she's got this:

(the two we already had aren't in this shot.)  I'm going to break this down with all the links for the tutorials I found too.

1: ($5.47) this is a group of 3 dresses that I got from Threadup when they were having a special (it was $15 off for first time costumers, so I only spent on shipping). So $5.47 so far.

2: (free) This was a man's shirt I got for free, then I followed THIS tutorial to make it into a dress.  Except for the sleeves - at first I tried to just leave them  . . . .

Not so great! So I cut them off, sewed a bottom band to gather them in, and the final result is MUCH cuter!

(ok, I still need to hem it up a bit, but hey, it works)


3: ($8) I already talked about this one, and it was by far the most expensive one of the bunch  (WHY is fabric so gosh darn much?)  and you can get the pattern HERE.  So $14 for 5 dresses so far.

 

4:  (free) This might be my favorite one of the bunch.  I took a black long sleeved t that fit her and a women's skirt I got for free and combined them.  The skirt had a shirred waist, so really it was just sewing the two together. 

5: ($2) thrifted from goodwill (so $15 for 7 dresses so far)

6: ($1).  One of these jumpers was a hand me down, the other thrifted for a buck, but both of them I took old t shirts and sewed them to the straps.  That way she thinks it's only one dress and will still be covered!)

 7: ($1) another thrifted dress, but I did the same sew-the-shirt-in trick as before.

10: ($1) this was the easiest BY FAR of them all. It's a size 8 shirt.  Fits my size 4 like a dress - what could be better!

 

 

9: (free) I followed THIS tutorial, but then realized I hated the sleeves. So I cut them off, trimmed them a bit, then sewed them back on.  I also wanted a waist line, so I sewed the ribbon on.  Super easy! 

10: (free) this is a mix of a bunch of tutorials, but mostly THIS one.

11: (free) I had a friend give me the fabric for this one, and I sewed up a little pesant dress, mostly following THIS tutorial, but there's dozens of them out there!

At this point I counted up how many dresses we had (14 if you're wondering), and decided that was enough. But I have ideas/supplies for about 5 more, so we'll see.


It really helps that I had a bunch of adult clothes given to me for free, but it really isn't to hard to save a bundle on your kid's clothes!

Read with me (+ a giveaway)

I haven't done a read with me post in ages, but I have a perfect excuse for one today!

Who want's a new book!

Yup - Sadie Hoffmiller #10 is out!  This time, Sadie travels to Southern Utah and gets sucked into another mystery.  She kind of goes kicking and screaming into it, and then somehow actually gets asked by the police to help out this time!  It's a new experience

for sure.

It's another winner for Josi Kilpack.  A couple of plot points I saw coming, but by and large I was surprised over and over - especially at the "who-done-it" moment.  I loved it.

Now, let's talk recipes.  First off:

these are by my dad!  And  it's honestly some of the best dutch oven I've ever had. When we were testing these, a couple of the other bakers were surprised at them.  They felt that dutch oven should be more of just throw some stuff in and leave it alone.  And there's nothing wrong with doing that!  But with the extra steps that my dad always put in, it goes from "ho-hum" meal (which is what I usually think about dutch oven) to some of the BEST cooking I've ever eaten.

Oh, and the fudge is AWESOME.  And don't forget Cafe Rio's sweet pork with lime rice hmmmmm, I'm getting hungry just typing these up!

. . . . .Where was I? Oh yah - the give away!  I've got an autographed copy of Rocky Road to give away.  If you'd like to win, just leave a comment here with your favorite dessert (bonus points if you give me the recipe!). I'll take submissions until Thursday, September 5 at oh 8:00 pm, and then I'll announce the winner after that!