Just Me

I am not feeling well at all, so I am just taking it easy, sewing a little here and there mixed in with reading and sleeping.  I am still taking my photos, but I haven’t uploaded them to my computer in a few days.  When I get that done I will post them.  Here is one that I took of my new makeup bag that I made the other day.

Isn’t is cute?!

I am going to make some coffee and try to warm up now, but I just wanted to check in real quick and try to post something!

Have a good Superbowl weekend…GO COLTS!  I am not in any way a football fan, but I am sick of seeing Who Dat everywhere and I like Peyton Manning so there you go!

I went out to take the kids to school and didn’t think to go warm up the car first and we had to sit and wait for the windows to de-ice before we could go anywhere.  It doesn’t help that it’s a strange vehicle that is like 4 times bigger than our car.  AND the people across the street are moving in and they have a big ABF trailer (moving company) parked directly behind where I have to back out of the driveway.  It was tricky, but I did okay!  I am always afraid when there is more than one car in the driveway and I have to back out because we have a pretty deep ditch that our driveway goes over and you have to hit it just right with a big vehicle so that you don’t go off the edge.  We still have Jake’s grandma’s car, but we have the rental while ours is in the shop.  He is driving his grandma’s to work because the rental place didn’t have a mid-size so we ended up with a Suburban (which I love), but he drives 40 miles round trip to work so we figured it wouldn’t be too good on gas.

I have hit a bit of a standstill with my sewing for a few days.  I ran out of the fleece interfacing that I use to line my bags and our Joann’s and the one in Springfield was out of it so I ordered it online (before I actually ran out).  It’s not going to be here until the end of the week and in the meantime I did run out of what I had.  I have enough scraps to get all the smaller things (gadget pouches and wallets) made up that I need to, but I can’t do any of the bigger things until I get the fleece.  BUT I did bite the bullet and just ordered the 15 yard bolt so hopefully that will see me through all the orders that I still have to get filled!  I am going to spend the next few days cutting out all the bigger bags and making accessories so that when I go get the fleece I can whip them out pretty fast.  I may be up some late nights, but I will get there!

Here are my most recent daily photos.

Day 29

Day 30

Day 31

Day 32

Day 33

Well, I have to get ready to run to town to do some errands.  I have to go to the library and then to the fabric stores to look for some star fabric for a custom DSLR that was ordered last night.  I also need to get fabric for another couple of custom orders and then lots of zippers.  I really need to start buying zippers in bulk, but I never know what colors I will end up needing.

Have a great day!

These really are some of the best cookies I have ever had..or made!  They are Cake Mix cookies.  I must be living in a hole because I have never had them.

So here is how we made them.

Cake Mix Cookies

• 1 cake mix (we used Devils Food)
• 1/2 cup oil
• 2 eggs
• 1-1.5 cups chips (we used half semi-sweet chocolate and half butterscotch)

I put it all in my Kitchenaid mixer with the paddle attachment and mixed it all up.  You can roll them into balls or just use a cookie scoop like we did.  Bake them at 350* for about 10 minutes.  Cool them on wire racks and enjoy!

We doubled the whole thing because the original recipe said that it only made 2 dozen, but with the size cookie scoop I used we ended up with probably 7 dozen with a doubled batch so a single definitely makes more than 2 dozen!

even though it hasn’t really snowed much.  I remember when I was a kid we would pray for snow days and rarely got them.  Now it seems like they cancel school anytime it snows at all.  We have maybe 2 inches, granted there was a little sleet under it, but still.  I have a lot of work to do today so I hope that the kids are good all day…HA!  That will never happen.  Jake is home for the rest of the weekend so that will help a little though.

Here is what I whipped out yesterday. This is a Messenger/Laptop bag.  I modified the original Messenger bag for the customers needs and I think it turned out really nice.  It’s all pink inside just like my camera bag.  Here is one of the changes and the most significant since this bag is lugging and 8 pound laptop and a heavy charger brick. 

I usually just sew the strap into the top of the bag, but this one needed to be more reinforced so I took the strap all the way from the bottom.  Just above the “X” is a metal ring that makes the strap adjustable.  Here is the other change…  

We kept the big zipper/slip in pocket along the back, but added a divided elastic top pocket to the front for her to carry her Wacom and Charger Brick.  In the middle is the laptop sleeve.  I hope she likes it and I hope it meets all her needs!  It’s definitely very hip!  I wish I still had a laptop and I would make one for myself!

So today on the agenda is a new style DSLR bag.  I am actually revamping a diaper bag pattern and turning it into a DSLR bag so hopefully that will work out well and be a good seller.  I think I am going to make one for myself if I ever have the time.  Right now I still have 12 orders to fill which is going to make for a very busy next few weeks!  I am almost our of fleece interfacing and my Joann’s doesn’t have it and my Mother in Law checked the one in Springfield and they didn’t have it either so I ordered a whole 15 yard bolt online, but it’s going to take a week to get here so when I run out I am stuck for a few days unless I can get my hands on some locally.  In the meantime I will probably cut out all the bags I have fabric for and go ahead and make all the accessories that go with all of them because I have way more than enough fleece scraps to do all of that.  Then hopefully when I do get the fleece I can just whip them all out really fast!

Here is a catch up of my daily photos…

Day 27

I got this pretty acrylic ring for $1 at Joann’s today!

Day 28

Jasper hanging out on top of the fridge while I play on the computer…he likes to watch me!

Well I better get to work.  I put a roast on for French Dip Sandwiches for dinner.  This is an EXCELLENT recipe and couldn’t be easier to make!

Have a Wonderful {Snow} Day!!

but this has been a heck of a week so far!  I am BUSY, busy, but that’s good.  What isn’t good is that Sunday afternoon we had a little fender bender and as a result Jake has to go to court and we have to get our car worked on and that’s going to cost a pretty penny, I am sure.  We were pulling out into to the southbound lane (across traffic) from a stop sign.  Jake pulled out slowly waiting for the SUV that was going south to go by when they decided to get into the turn lane with NO signal.  So here we are stuck out in the middle of the road, we can’t back up because the car behind us at the stop sign pulled up.  The guy in the northbound lane slowed and tried to stop, but didn’t stop in time and he hit our car just behind the front wheel on the drivers side.  Neither door on that side would open.  The hit jammed the front door enough that it jammed the back door too!  At some point in time, 20 years ago at least, Jake had another incident like this and he didn’t call the police and his insurance agent told him to never, under any circumstances leave the scene without calling the police.  So he was afraid that insurance wouldn’t pay if we didn’t call even though the guy that hit us didn’t want to involve the police.  His car only had a small scratch on the bumper.  Jake called and we waited for 30 minutes for the cop to get there and we got the ticket because it was our fault, but we think that the other guy got one for driving without a license (hence the not wanting to call the cops!).  Anywho…now Jake has to go to court and we will probably have to pay a lot for that, then the deductible on our insurance.  AND our insurance agent told us that as long as both parties agree on the details there is no need to involve the police, that’s good to know…now!

So that’s how my week has been going so far!

Here are my photos to catch up…

Day 24

I normally like black polish, but I went a little brighter this time…it’s back to black after this though!

Day 25

The kids playing Bakugan on the Wii

Day 26

This is for the pulled pork we had for dinner…it was spicy!

I finished up and shipped a bag yesterday, and I finished one this evening that I am shipping in the morning and hopefully will have another one done and ready to ship before Jake goes to work tomorrow afternoon.  I will have to really buckle down though because I have to take Dillon to the dentist in the morning, but I should be back by 10, so that will give me plenty of time…I hope!

The kids are watching the Hannah Montana movie so I think I am going to cut out the next bag until it’s over and they go to bed…

The kids started at 6:30 this morning and they have just been crazy pretty much all day.  Is it too much to ask to have a whole day with no fighting, yelling, etc…?  I don’t think it is, but apparently my kids do.  It’s almost bedtime and I tell you what, I am SO looking forward to it!  I don’t even know what we are going to do tonight, but it will be quiet, I do know that.

We ended up going out for a bit today to eat lunch at Subway and hit Penney’s to use a 15% off coupon that is getting ready to expire.  I ended up getting a new purse, I know, I know…I make purses, but sometimes a nice leather purse is too hard to pass up especially when I got it 50% off!  I will post a picture of it when I get one taken.  We also headed to Hobby Lobby and Joann’s so I could pick up a few more things.  I have so many 50% off coupons for Joann’s that I needed to use by today.  I ended up getting a 48 yard bolt of interfacing for $24.00, it’s something I use on everything that I make and I can’t pass up a deal like that, but that means that I have to go back next week to get the fabric that I went in to get because I want to use another coupon for it!  Why pay $8.99 a yard when I can get it for $4.49? 

This is the set that I finished and shipped yesterday.  I am really liking these Trina bags! I think that once I get all caught up I am going to make myself another DSLR bag that is more like a purse for when I don’t want to carry the big one around.  I am not sure if it will be this one but something similar.

This has been a VERY good week for Pink Punk Boutique.  I have sold more this week alone that most full months in 2009!  That means that I am going to be SUPER busy for the next couple of weeks, but I am game for it.  I have almost all the fabric here or ordered so it’s going to be a matter of buckling down and getting it all done.

It’s about time to get the kids in bed, but here are my latest 365 photos.

Day 21

My latest fabric shipment…

Day 22

I needed new pincushions so I made some.  Actually, I just made a new cushion for the cup one, the other one was looking kinds of ratty.

Day 23

Out and about on a rainy day…I think it’s time to take down the Christmas Decorations!

Have a great rest of the weekend!

It’s a rainy, dreary day here in SW Missouri…those are the best days to just stay at home and sew, or read, or sleep.  In my case, I am going to be sewing to finish up one order, packing and shipping 2 orders and then making a wallet while I wait for UPS to deliver my next shipment of fabric.  Then I will be busy working on even more orders until I run out of fabric again!

This is one order that is shipping today.

It’s a Trina DSLR bag with a matching strap and gadget pouch, which happens to be my January special.  If you buy a DSLR bag I am giving you a free coordinating strap and gadget pouch (a $38 value!).  This special is only good for 10 more days so get it while you can.  Make sure that you enter the code FREE ACCESSORIES into the comments to seller box to get your accessories free.

I did a little ribbon organizing yesterday, it’s something I have been wanting to do for a long time, but just never have.  Here is the before and after…so far.  I still have 4 of those plastic bead/embroidery thread organizers full of ribbon that I used when I did paper scrapping.  My goal is to buy more of the jars and clothes pins and have a jar for each color group.  Right now I just have solid in one and patterned in the other.  I want to get a wooden shelf to put in my sewing area and put them in rainbow order across it!

I am still keeping up with my photos each day, some days are more boring than others, but such is my life!

Day 16

My Wallpaper on my computer…

Day 17

My niece Makayla smiling at Uncle Jake…

Day 18

A rare day when the boys were actually playing good together, trust me it doesn’t have very often!

Day 19

Bailey doesn’t know that Jasper sits in her chair when she is at school!

Day 20

Organizing…a little at a time.

I am off to make stew for lunch and then get to work…have a great day!

The original recipe calls for beer, but no one in my house drinks beer so I have subbed a variety of sodas for the beer and as long as it’s liquid it’s all good.  You can’t taste what’s in the can anyway, it’s just used to make the chicken moist.  She also does hers on a grill, but she links to a video of her making it in the oven.

Here is what it looks like when it’s done…

Ingredients

Directions

Remove all but the lowest rack in your oven and pre-heat it to 425*.

Remove the plastic from the chicken and rinse with cold water. Take all the “stuff” that they stick inside the chicken.  I always cut off the tail too, I just don’t like it, it creeps me out!  Pat the chicken dry with paper towels.

Open the can of beer or soda and pour out about 1/3 (or drink if you are in the mood). Pierce the top of the can with a knife to make more holes for the steam.  Pour about ¼ of the poultry seasoning in the can.

Place the beer can in the center of a baking dish. Place the chicken on the beer can making sure it enters the cavity. Position the legs to make a sort of tripod with the can and chicken legs.

Rub the remaining poultry seasoning on the outside of the chicken.

Put it in the oven and cook it for about an hour and 15 minutes.  Take it out and let it rest for about 20 minutes before you try to cut it.  I like to use my kitchen shears to cut it off the can.  I just cut straight down the center of the breast and the center of the back and take off the 2 halves.  Once I have the 2 halves I just snip off the legs and wings and then I just cut the breasts off and that’s all we eat for any given meal, but I let it sit until it’s cooled and I take all the rest off the bone and make chicken salad out if it.

I serve this with mashed potatoes and gravy and roasted carrots.

Enjoy!

I am going to have some peace and quite today!  At least for about 5 hours, I wonder how much I can get done in that time?  Colton went with Mimi to babysit my nieces all day and Jake is taking the other 2 kids to a basketball game at the college. 

I finished a Diaper Bag yesterday and I have to make the changing pad for it today and I want to start on another DSLR bag that I have the fabric for.  I have a bunch of stuff that I want to get done so we’ll see how it goes.  I can’t ship anything until Tuesday so there is no hurry on the 2 DSLR bags that I need to get done.  I do need to clean bathrooms and vacuum and there is no better time to do that than when there is no one here!  I also need to make hot rolls to go with the “faux”tisserie chicken that I am going to make for lunch tomorrow.  AND I am making pizzas for dinner tonight so I have to make the crusts for those this afternoon.  I guess we will see how much of that I actually get done!

I washed Bailey’s little cat quilt yesterday and it looks really nice.  It frayed just a little around that cat and it looks cool.  I ended up doing some pebble quilting in the white space and I LOVE it.  I had some problems with the tension on the circles, but since it’s a wall quilt and the back will not be seen I am not worried.  I do need to figure that out before I do another one though, because I see myself using this style of quilting a lot.  What I really need is a new sewing machine.  I broke or bent 3 needles yesterday on the diaper bag that I made.  My machine is just not set up to do the type of sewing that I do on a daily basis.  I am going to try to talk Jake into letting me get a new one when we get our taxes back, but I don’t think he will.  The one I want is like $1000 so I don’t see that happening any time soon!

This is the diaper bag that I finished yesterday.  It’s a backpack style and definitely NOT one of my favorites to make, every time I make one I break needles!

These are my most recent 365 photos…

Day 14

Day 15

This is the fabric I am working with this week!  SO pretty!

We saw Time Travelers Wife last night and I thought it was so much better than the book.  It was still a little confusing, but that’s because as a sci-fi fan I have a tendency to over think the whole time travel thing!  We also saw The Lovely Bones and it was really good.  I haven’t read the book yet, but I am on the list for it at the library.  I am like 6th on the list though so it may be awhile yet!

Well, I am off to see what I can get done today…time to crank some music and get to work!

I will leave you with something gorgeous to look at though…I LOVE this man, can’t wait till summer!!