Tuesday, May 18, 2010

Cupcakes!

Sadly, not the edible kind, but the awesome fabric kind to make a sweet apron!  This already makes me feel happy and productive for just hanging around or crafting, plus the pockets are nice to put my iPod in while sewing in my new skirts.  Like this one yard ruffle skirt!  Bit higher than I normally like, but it still works pretty well.


Also, I have been cooking a fair deal lately, part of the housewife/mommy package, and while it is usually pretty standard fare, for us at least, a few months back I tried the awesome Tomato with 2 Fennels soup from Molly Wizenberg's A Homemade LifeHere is an adapted recipe, since I feel odd posting my adapted recipe, copyright and all.  Plus, I'm lazy.  Super tasty, and the goat cheese is a must!

Another thing I've been doing is making my own coarse grain beer mustard, from this awesome book.  Super easy and way cheaper than storebought.  Plus, I can use my hubby's yummy homebrewed ESB beer for it.  Haven't tried many recipes so far from here, but the cuban black bean and plantain bake is great (especially with fresh mango), and I am a total convert of buying dried beans, cooking them in big batches, then freezing for use, as opposed to buying canned.  I can control how done they are, how much salt, and again, way, way cheaper.  I mean, a pound of dried beans usually costs the same price as one can of cooked!

Other news, trying my hand at growing some basic herbs, which are going pretty well, except puppy really wants to nibble on my chives, so those are currently on the counter to avoid "overharvesting".  And poor Oz has a nasty head cold, which makes for a very cuddly, but tired baby.  And now, a baby pic, of him with his Uncle Will!

Wednesday, May 12, 2010

Been busy here at Casa Campbell, between Oz growing up, weird weather, trip to North Carolina to see family (and our friends Neil, Dana, Sophie & Henry), and swim class.  But overall, things have been going well.  Oz eats like a frat boy, downing bottles and eating solids like you wouldn't believe.  And he's working on mastering the art of eating cheerios very quickly, which the pup loves, since he gets anything that falls (which is still a lot).

And we have had crazy spring weather here as well.  Some awesome, gorgeous days around 85, but....currently we have 2 inches of snow on the ground and it's quite gloomy out.  I guess nice for tea anyway, but I really didn't think Oz would still be wearing the wool jacket I knit him this late in the year.

However, I also got to take a wonderful class at Fancy Tiger with a friend for A-line skirts, which was a lot of fun and produced this:
I am planning to make several more, as these would be perfect for spring/summer weather (not the snow though!), and have the fabric ready to go.  I made a second one, a bit different, out of one yard of rose-designed retro looking fabric and added a ruffle for length, even though it was a stretch to do one with just one yard.  After doing it once, it is really quite easy and quick to bust these out, taking about one long naptime, or more likely these days, 2 medium length naptimes (not me but Oz of course).

Speaking of the little guy, we had our first swim class on Saturday, and he had a lot of fun splashing around in the water and watching other babies.  I can't wait for next week, as I think he will really enjoy each class.

And also on sat night, Kyle and I went to see the Denver Roller Dolls play a double header up in Broomfield.  We saw the Mile High Club beat the Texecutioners, and the Bruising Altitude soundly beat O-Town Derby Dames from Utah.  It was a lot of fun, and we can't wait to go back again.  Also nice to have a date night, thanks to my lovely mom who babysat for us.  Luckily since he goes to bed pretty early, evenings around here aren't too bad, but it sure is nice to leave every now and then.