Goodness Me

My brother once said that I am on a different "Holiday Time Zone." This is because I am always too excited about the next holiday that by the time the actual current holiday comes around, I am sick to death of it. Which is happening right now, and I am tired of staring at the Halloween decorations and the slime green blog background on my other blog. So I am resisting posting about Christmas, which isn't actually that hard to do because I look out my window and see absolutely no sign of Christmas, just summer, summer, summer. But rest assured that come November 1st, I will be on it.

Dream Beds: Someday I will have a little more disposable income to recreate these:
Which one do YOU like?

P.S. I haven't gotten recipes for the Iron Chef thing!! Should we call it quits?

My Eventual To Do

I have been feeling so creatively inspired lately. I want to do so many things, things, that unfortunately, require money that I don't have. So I will just pace myself and do one small thing at a time over the next several years. Here is a list of some ideas:

-Sew curtains for my living room and Will's room
-Paint front rooms and bedroom
-Create a piece of canvas artwork for above my bed
-Decorate living room with a few armchairs and new side tables
-When incredibly persistent and old fish finally die, use DVD bookcase they're on to store food storage in the kitchen and sew a cute slipcover for it.
-Get extra storage unit for spare bathroom and put new linen baskets in it to hold Will's bath toys, towels, washcloths, etc.
-Finish putting up all the painted toys and other things up in baby's room!
-Get new bookcase for bedroom
-Learn how to sew new skirts and shirts and etc.
-Possibly paint baby's room
-Sew duvet cover for sheddy down comforter
-Get new sheets for master bed
-Start learning how to can fruit and make jam (requires canner)
-Start grinding my own wheat (requires grinder)
-Finish Will's 1st Year scrapbook and start scrapbooking other pictures
-Put old pictures in photo album so they stop sitting in the Christmas gift bag where they've been for about 7 years

Okay, so maybe those don't sound super creative, but there it is, my list of "eventual to-do." And I have to say, that I could probably do all of that for under $1000. Anyone with tips or advice, please feel free to offer!

Disaster Averted.

So tonight I wanted to test out a recipe I was considering using at a dinner party. I had a couple of sweet potatoes, and I was going to make Sweet Potato Soup. I got all the ingredients, and spent about an hour making it. It was a little frustrating, since I don't have a food processor or a hand blender (both of which would be an excellent Christmas present) and I had to use the blender. All the stuff barely fit inside and in the process I made a huge mess of my kitchen. Finally, when it was almost ready, I tasted it and it seemed bland. So I added a few spices, and I served it, anxious to see my husband's reaction...
Blech. He hated it. He said it reminded him of when he got his wisdom teeth out (kindly meant, there's a story behind that.) He couldn't even choke it down, and needless to say, I was sad. And what was worse, I didn't like it either. So I was feeling my mother bearing down on me, knowing that she would be disappointed if she knew that I was going to waste the rest of the soup.
But then...
My mother is the QUEEN of using up leftovers. She puts anything and everything into things like rolls, casserole, etc. And most of the time, you can't taste it. One time she made this disgusting bean soup (no offense Mom) that none of my family ate, so she froze it and started slipping it into things the rest of the year. Awesome. So with that in mind, I knew this soup would be a perfect candidate for Leftover Magic.
And 45 minutes later, we were eating some most delicious "pumpkin" chocolate chip muffins. I handed my husband one and said, "Finish your soup."

Let the Games Begin!

VS.

So it's time for the Iron Chef competition to begin! The competitors:

Cinnamon vs. Caramel

Please send me your recipes via email (hhferguson@gmail.com) or just post it as a comment on this blog entry.

Let me get you excited:

You have 10 days.

Black Feather Wreath

Step 1: Buy a straw wreath form and black feathers at any craft store. The higher quality the feather are, the better looking your wreath will be. I am quite poor, so I used the cheapest ones. I used two packages.
Step 2: Remove plastic from wreath form. Poke feathers around the edge of the wreath. I think next time I might start from the inside and work to the outside. It also helps a lot if you poke the hole first with a pen or something. Step 3: Make sure the wreath is covered with feathers and that you can't see the wreath form through them. I didn't do the backside of the wreath since it was just going to sit on my door.
Step 4: You're done! Hang up and admire your craftiness.

My Love/Hate Relationship

So Martha Stewart, as most people know, is the culinary/interior design/craft/anything else you can think of/floral design genius. And yes, she did go to prison for a little while, but now she's back on top and better than ever. So the thing that sometimes frustrates me about her is that you have to realize that no way is she the inventor of all her ideas! And like she really has time to try out all the things she claims to do and whatnot.

But here's the thing that really gets me: she always makes everything seem 'so easy!' when you read the instructions for how to do something, it always seems to be a much harder method than I would do it. But then again, I'm not Martha. So maybe I need to step it up and make things harder and maybe I'll get better results.

This is Iron Chef!!

I want to start a recipe exchange, thanks to the great idea of my sister-in-law Kristie. Anyone else want to be in on this? I also want to include this in the idea: Iron Chef Competition.

While I was on my trip, (yes, I actually still am ON my trip but it's over tomorrow) I went to this fun party with an Iron Chef theme. The theme was Apple vs. Pumpkin. So everyone brought a dish made of apples or pumpkins and then we sampled everything and judged it and various recipes won. I want to do this as a party sometime, but here's how I want to incorporate it now.

1. Pick two ingredients for the recipe exchange.
2. Everyone who wants to can email me a recipe based around either ingredient.
3. Afterwards, I compile the list and email it or post it on this blog.
4. Anyone who wants to, can try and make one recipe from each group (don't pick your own recipe though), eat it, then decide which was the better recipe.
5. Leave a comment on my blog saying which recipe you liked the best.
6. I will compile the votes and we'll see who wins!

So, now that I can look at it, I can see that it's a lot of steps and maybe not the most fair way of doing this, but I couldn't think of a better way to do it. I think it's a good idea, but maybe I should just simplify it to a regular recipe exchange. What do you think?

Treatless, Weightless

What does a woman do when she is constantly facing this ugly battle?

A) She wants to lose weight
2) She loves to make goodies
D) Making goodies=eating goodies=not losing weight

I resolve to continue making treats, to test my self-control, and GIVE AWAY the treats. Eek.

Spooky Attempts

I'm thinking about making one of these. Has anyone ever done this before? How many feathers do you think it would take?
And maybe sometime I'll attempt to make these.

Fall Inside, Summer Outside

I know it's still early, but I think we can all agree that September is a Fall Season month. However, Arizona stays in the 90's throughout September, and it never really turns to autumn. So I broke out my fall decor (greatly improved due to a fall wedding I did last year) and made my living room colorful, well, more colorful. These aren't the greatest pictures, but I love it!

Why We're Not Buying a House in Mesa

I found this adorable little new house village near us and I really wanted to go look at them. They were very affordable and brand new. I would love to move into a house. I would love to decorate it and make it feel all homey and have our own place to park and not worry about upstairs neighbors being too loud or maintenance crews not doing their job. I would love to feel like I was an adult, owning something that requires responsibility and maturity. I would love to have a big, new kitchen where our family can hang out and I can cook whatever I want. I want to set up a guest room to entice our family and friends to come visit us more. And of course, I would love the tax write-off.

But after much thought and the blatant realization that we don't have money for a house right now, here are our reasons why we're not buying a house here.

1. The most obvious reason: Not enough money. We have negative income right now since my husband is a student, but it could have been profitable for us to purchase a house since we're paying between 800-900 a month just for rent right now. Still, these houses were a little out of our price range and we're not looking for a fixer-upper right now.

2. We don't want to get tied to a financial obligation right now. The housing market in Arizona is horrid--one of the worst in the nation. Just ask my aunt Wendy who is currently looking for a buyer for a home in Queen Creek. That does not instill much confidence that we would be able to find someone to buy our house once hubs school is done and we move away. I'm NOT staying here forever.

3. With every house comes a bunch of extra financial responsibilities. You have to buy a fridge, and a washer and a dryer and a bunch of furniture to fill up the space. You have to pay taxes every year and pay for repairs and the like. We don't have that money.

4. We don't really have time right now to take care of a house. Although it would be lots of fun, a bigger house means more to clean and a lawn to mow. My husband studies for hours every night and all weekend long and I have a baby to look after, so I think we'll be okay without the extra work.

Best Apple Pie

I have to document this recipe before the crinkled up, greasy paper that it's written on gets lost or dissolved. This is a VERY popular recipe for perfect apple pie. Even my husband loves it, and he doesn't like pie.

Superb Apple Pie

1 1/2 c. flour
1 1/2 tsp. sugar
1 tsp. salt
1/2 cup salad oil
2 T. cold milk

Combine flour, sugar, salt, salad oil, and milk. Mix until well blended. Pat in bottom and sides of a pie pan, do not roll out.

Filling
4 c. sliced apples
2 T. flour
1/2 tsp. nutmeg
1/2 tsp. cinnamon

Combine sugar, flour, nutmeg, and cinnamon. Toss lightly with sliced apples. Pour into unbaked pie shell.

Topping
1/2 c. flour
1/2 c. margarine or butter
1/2 c. sugar

Combine flour, margarine, and sugar. Mix together with fingers until crumbly. Sprinkle over top of pie.

Place pie in paper bag and seal. Bake at 350 degrees for 1 hour and 30 minutes, no peeking!

Try this recipe...it's so hard to fail. I made some pies from this recipe last year with some pretty old apples that had lost most of their crisp and crunch and they were still very popular!

Big Soft Ginger Cookies

I really want to try making these. They look so good, so ginger-y, and SO autumn. Here's the recipe:

• 2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons ground ginger
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 3/4 cup margarine, softened
• 1 cup white sugar
• 1 egg
• 1 tablespoon water
• 1/4 cup molasses
• 2 tablespoons white sugar

DIRECTIONS

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Sift together the flour, ginger, baking soda, cinnamon, cloves, and salt. Set aside.
2. In a large bowl, cream together the margarine and 1 cup sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in the egg, then stir in the water and molasses. Gradually stir the sifted ingredients into the molasses mixture. Shape dough into walnut sized balls, and roll them in the remaining 2 tablespoons of sugar. Place the cookies 2 inches apart onto an ungreased cookie sheet, and flatten slightly.
3. Bake for 8 to 10 minutes in the preheated oven. Allow cookies to cool on baking sheet for 5 minutes before removing to a wire rack to cool completely. Store in an airtight container.

Counting Down to Halloween

When I think of October, I think of falling leaves, chilly weather, sweaters...but mostly Halloween. I love Halloween. It is my second favorite holiday. And if we didn't have Halloween, Thanksgiving and Christmas wouldn't be nearly as fun.
As a child, I loved Halloween because I loved to dress up, go trick or treating, jump in leaves, and eat candy. Even after I graduated from trick or treating, I would plan Halloween parties with my friends and go to dances, still dressing up. I've been a witch, a cat, a princess, a mad scientist, a knocked-up white trash bride, and many other ridiculous personifications.
But I never really knew that my love of Halloween would carry into adulthood. I think I might love it more than I used to. I get nervous and jittery just thinking about getting out my fall decorations, carving pumpkins, and baking all kinds of autumn treats. I love buying Halloween candy, perusing the various stores and their fall/Halloween stuff. And I love planning my Halloween party menu, decorations, and invitations. And this year, I love thinking about dressing up my baby boy and showing him off at the parties.

Welcome to My Brain

My regular blog wasn't really the place for this. My regular blog is about my life, for my family and friends to read, to see what's going on with me, my hubs, and my wonderful baby boy. But seeing as it's September, and the beginning of the Fall season, I am feeling inspired to post ideas of everything and anything that makes me happy. You are welcome to browse my inspirations and add comments if you like. But this is MY happy place, so let's keep it simple.