New Year Fondue

Fondue, how I love thee. So, why not have a New Year Fondue Party? My sister and BIL are in town visiting along with my sweet little niece Violet. Violet went to stay with Mimi and Granddaddy so the "adults" had our own little New Year fun.

Cheese fondue is the best! 

BIL made venison to dip in the cheese

We also had chocolate fondue of course! 

Happy New Year everyone! 2012 will be a good year, I can just feel it! 

Rah Rah TCU!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

My Alma Mater just one the Rose Bowl! Wahooo!!!!!!!!

I grew up living less than a mile from TCU and going to the football games at Amon Carter Stadium. Then, one day I actually went to school there and got my first degree in Social Work. I am so proud of my Alma Mater! Just a friendly little shout out to the Frogs!

OK, back on track. Happy New Year everyone!  This morning to kick the new year off I made a breakfast pull-apart bread.  A co-worker brought this one day at work and it was so good! Then I found out how easy it was to make. Oh, and it was a good as I remembered.

First you cut up onions and bells.

Then while your onions an peps are cooking you take 3 cans of Grands biscuits.....

And chop into fourths...

This recipe calls for 2 pounds of bacon. Now, I do love some bacon but 2 pounds of bacon seems a bit ridiculous and a heart attack waiting to happen. So I fried up 2 ounces of bacon and also chopped up some turkey sausage. Not that the sausage actually had to be turkey, but, I do tend to eat healthy regardless of what what this post looks like and typically have turkey sausage on hand for breakfast on the weekends. But, anyhow, I guess what I am trying to say is, I fried up bacon and turkey sausage and mixed it together.

Then I took each biscuit and dipped it into melted butter. 

Yeah I know, Paula Deen should be on hand but she is at the Rose Bowl! 

I put one layer of biscuits, one layer of bacon and sausage, one later of onions and bells, and one layer of cheese, into a bunt pan. 

I repeated and ended with a layer of biscuits on top.

I popped it in the oven at 350 for about 30 minutes but that really was not long enough. I would crank this up to 375 for at least 45 minutes or so. Just keep an eye on it so it does not brown on top. I actually placed a piece of foil on top for the last 30 minutes. 

 It turned out perfectly!

We pulled it apart and then.............

Ate it up with a bit of New Year Mimosas! 

Then, after we ate, I chilled out all day and knitted up my Victoria yarn and watched the Rose Bowl. I also learned how to card wool but I will post about that tomorrow! Until then!

Cheers and Happy New Year! 

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year to everyone! We had a nice low key night at home with friends and family. We had a nice spread of food and I went to town! It was so good! Kalin made fried popcorn shrimp and a nice cocktail sauce, it was yummy. Mel made red beans and rice with sausage. Good stuff. We also caught a glimpse at the ever so anticipated blue moon.

We rang in the New Year with a little New Year's Chimay toast.

Cheers!

First Crafting Day Of The Year

Happy New Year!

My sister is in town visiting and so my mother, sister, and I decided to ring the New Year in with a little New Year crafting. We had a lot of fun! We started out with lunch. We had curry chicken salad sandwiches and fruit salad. It was yum-o (I have been watching Rachel Ray on the Food Network, so I had to throw that in).

The chicken salad is super easy to make. Here is the recipe:

About 3-4 chicken boobs grilled, chopped well (you can bake them or cook them in a skillet)
1 1/2 cups of fat free yogurt
1/2 small red onion, chopped
2 tablespoons curry powder
1 teaspoon ground ginger
pepper, to taste
chopped walnuts, as much as you desire
dried cranberries, as much as you desire

Mix together all the ingredients and serve on whole wheat bread! Yum-O!

After lunch we spread out our sewing machines and surgers began Sewing Bee 2009! My mother mastered tote bag making and threading the surger. We had a near disaster with the surger when one of the needles decided to fall out of the machine but, we recovered! My sister worked on my Christmas gift, a lap quilt! It s coming together so well, I can't wait to use it and I worked on throw pillows for guest bedroom.

My sister and I went to the Cabbage Rose this morning where I picked up a bit of Michael Miller fabric to make my pillows. Oh, I also picked up a speeding ticket on the way there. I guess I was just too excited about going to get new fabric. I really don't think the officer would have understood my obsession and excitement over fabric. So, I resisted the urge to explain my speeding to him and took the ticket like a champ. I also wanted to mention to him that I have not had a speeding ticket in 11 years but I don't think that would have made any difference either. Maybe I should have taken my sister's suggestion and offered to sew him a cover for his motorcycle seat....but I am sure that would not have helped either. Geez, I even thanked him after he handed me the ticket and afterward found myself wondering why I just thanked the officer for giving me a ticket? I was bummed but was not going to let going "45 in a 30" keep me from having a bad day and for some reason it made leaving the Cabbage Rose with brown bag full of freshly cut fabric even sweeter.

Anywho, during my pillow making, my sister suggested that I add some yoyos and fabric covered buttons to my pillow. She had a great idea because so far, it is turning out very cute! I love making yoyos and buttons. Too fun! Every sewer must have a yoyo and button maker.

During our sewing bee my sister made a frozen coffee drink which was very yum-o (yeah, I had to do it again). My mom thought we should name the drink something that went along with our theme for the day. So, we decided to pay homage to Anna Maria and named the drink Frozen Chocolate Lollipop, after her line of fabric. Oh, have I mentioned before that I love her? :-). My sister and brother in law gave me her Seams to Me book. It is fabulous!

I am still working on my pillows but should be done this evening. Stay tuned for pictures of the final product!!

Cheers!

The New Year

Well, it has been a bit since I posted. I hope everyone had a lovely holiday. I had a wonderful time filled with family and friends. It is hard to believe it is 2008! There is alot I want to accomplish this next year. I have never really made a New Year resolution. I am the kind of person that makes several goals for myself throughout the year. I think I am a pretty driven ambitious person most of the time so, instead of a New Year resolution list, I have a things to accomplish this year list. It is a list of things to accomplish for the house, career, and personal..with some other random things thrown in. For starters, I have wanted to make curtains for my breakfast nook in the kitchen for the longest time. I bought my house about 2 and a half years ago and have slowly been decorating the house the way I would like. I say slowly, partly because I did not really know how long I would live here because Jeff wanted to be a Veterinarian and go to school in Fort Collins, Colorado to get his Vet degree. Since I thought we were going to move, I did not invest too much time and money into decorating etc. Recently, he has taken a shine to Genetics, better him than me. I will just stick to Social Work for now. Anyhoo, he can go to school for his Master's and Doctorate in Genetics right here in Fort Worth! Which means for me, I will not be moving any time soon and can start doing things around the house that I want! Okay, back to the curtains...this seemed like a simple place to start on my list of things to do so...here you go:

Before:

(I hate those nasty plastic mini blinds. Animal hair sticks to them and will not come off. I have 5 animals...which boils down to a metric TON of animal hair).

After:

I am not sure if I will keep these curtains. I am still deciding if I like them or not. It did not turn out exactly as I had envisioned it too but, they will do for now. I think I am going to go on a estate sale hunt for a vintage kitchen table cloth and turn that into curtains at some point.

I think the kitty liked them. I guess now the curtains will have cat hair all over them now. Well, at least they are washable.

I really cannot remember how long it has been since I wanted Fiesta Ware dishes. I am certain, however, it is when my mom bought the dishes for her kitchen. I just cannot recall when that was. Well...let's just say it was a very long time ago. I love all the vibrant colors of the dishes. You can mix and match them all. Having these dishes has been on my list of things to purchase. Sure enough, Ol' Saint Nick knew exactly what it was I wanted and I was very very surprised (I am sooooooo excited about this).











My sister also made me fantastic dish towels for my kitchen too. It seems as though my kitchen is off on a good start this year! There are a few more things I would like for the kitchen such as a pot rack for my pots and pans. I would also like to give it a fresh coat of paint. I am not certain of the color just yet.

Oh, and I cannot forget the most important thing my kitchen got for Christmas! This is also something I have wanted for a very very long time. A bright blue Kitchen Aid Mixer! Oh, it is so fantastic! I do not know how long I have managed to live without one for all these years. It has a splash guard too. I am quite the neat freak so I was pleased to find out if came with a splash guard. It is beautiful. I feel like an official baker now.

I am not sure what next I will do on my list of things to accomplish...

*New couch for living room

*Organize bills/paperwork

*Go to a concert (well, maybe more than just one)

*Start studying/training for my LCSW

*Participate in the Play Therapy Conference in October

*New, non pet hair stickin' mini blinds for the bedrooms, bathroom, and office

*Purchase a spinning wheel

*Spin wool on the newly purchased spinning wheel

*Re-vamp and work harder at the Etsy site.

*Renew membership to NASW

*Make a headboard for the bed

*Hanging pot rack for the kitchen

*Paint rooms that need painting

*Exercise more

*Visit/write to my Grandparents more





I am sure the list will continue to grow but that is all I have for now.



I hope everyone has a wonderful year in 2008!

Cheers