Growing up foodie

Looking back at some posts, I don’t know that I’ve written specifically about our penchant for cooking, entertaining, and food. Good food. Good ingredients help. We like a good restaurant, fancy or not, kid-friendly or super posh, and good deals are a favorite. Ha. It’s no secret, we enjoy it all. I wonder if part of it is from my husband’s stint at a seafood restaurant during high school. Or maybe it’s my fascination with The Food Network which I’ve watched from the beginning. I’d watch and think, “Hey, I could make that.” Much like crafting, eh? I’m thankful I’m not any heavier than I am with what I eat!

Before kids, I used to have this weird idea that our children would have mature palates and speak like Sylvester the Cat’s son… “Fah-ther, why must we eat the bird?” Remember that? But instead they would say, “Mother… I would like grilled brie on baguette for lunch.” or “Father, please pass the smoked salmon.”

Over the weekend, we shopped at our local Trader Joe’s and watching our kids in the store is probably indicative of how our foodie habits influence them. Our girl does enjoy salmon, cheddar cheese and apples, dark chocolate. Then there’s the boy. He made his way to the cheese section. I love that he went for brie first! But in the end we bought some parmesan… he likes eating that too.

Shopping for cheese

Shopping at Trader Joe's

The boy likes tea, too. He’s my tea buddy at TeaLula’s tea bar. His favorites are fruity flavored ones with lots of sugar cubes, but I try to keep it to one cube per cup, if that. Tea and scones. Ollie says, “Ah-yee (Ollie) cone, cone now, eat cone. Dink tea.” Pictures by Ollie. Mom, Miss Sheila and his beloved “cones”.

TeaLula and Sheila DudaScones at TeaLula

Returning to Paper

I really wanted to make some cards for Valentine’s Day. I had been focusing on sewing through the holidays that I thought I’d take a break from fabric and get back to my crafting roots, so to speak!

img_1385Made a bunch of gift tags to get started. I might just make these my first offering on etsy.com. I just haven’t pulled the trigger on my online store.

Then I reached for a book I bought a year ago that Abby and I like. Lots of fun things if you’re patient enough to do it. It comes with templates, paper, little wire hangers… not sure what possessed me to start my little project of paper cuttings. Maybe it’s just me trying to fulfill my childhood fantasy of becoming a fashion designer! Ha! I couldn’t draw a person to save my life! This is also where the toy “Fashion Plates” comes in. Girls, you know… the plastic plates you match up with a head, blouse and bottom, then you rub with a pencil to create your fashion model. We digress. That’ll be another blog.

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So here, I’ll stop talking a little bit and show you my paper accessory factory. This…

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…became this.

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Here’s a close up of one of the cards. They’re all slightly different.

They are also being sent out to some lovely friends, but I’ll try to upload something so you can print some at home for some last minute Valentine’s cards!

Not sure if it’s going to work out, but we’ll try!

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Hopefully you can open on your home computer, crop as needed and print on some glossy photo paper and stick on some cardstock. Or maybe you can print right onto the cardstock! Enjoy!

(ps: haven’t figured out what happened with my picture justifications? centered, left, etc…)

Late Night Musings

I’ve been away. Seems like an impossible task to make (uninterrupted) time to sit and write.  I’d love to stop time for a while… could you imagine what craziness would ensue if I could? Although, I know I do it to myself. Not making time. I’m trying to do lots of things: cleaning up, putting away, making lists, crafting during little snippets of time.

But really, we’ve had a little bit of sickness in the house. The below zero wind chills do not make for good outings, and then the little one had a bout of hives which are still unexplained. We were just really sensitive because he has a nut allergy already.  I can’t convey the worry and stress we were going through, but if you’re a friend on Facebook, you’ve been following all the action. I’m happy to report he’s been hive-free for two days now. I’m keeping a journal of what he’s eating, and I’ve washed just about everything in his room. I think he’s okay.

On another note, here’s the scene in our living room on Super Bowl Sunday.  Yeah, that’s right. My two kids. Two laptops.

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They were both playing on the same website, too.  I think it’s funny that a two-year old who doesn’t speak much can navigate through the Windows Menu and find a website, play a game, and then shut down the computer, correctly.  I’ll turn around one day and he’ll have a website of his own.  My 6-almost-7 year old just asked me when would she be allowed to have an e-mail account. That’s a good question. I tabled it for another day. This was after the Super Bowl. The two of them in our bed. It’s so sweet how they get along.

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Last thing, I tried to make candied orange and grapefruit peel on Monday. Wasn’t too difficult, and I wanted to do something to get my mind off of Ollie’s hives.  I saved a few rinds in the refrigerator figuring I’d get to it, and I did.  The kids LOVE them.  The chocolate covered ones are divine.  Too bad they don’t all look like the one in the picture, but who cares.  Trial run for a possible bridal shower treat.  Let me know if you want the recipe!

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“Black Holes” of time

So, if I’m ever feeling like I need to do something other than the ga-zillion things I already do now, I visit these places:

Orisinal: Morning Sunshine – these are cute flash games: http://www.ferryhalim.com/orisinal/

Cake Mania – original. There are two sequels I believe, of this multi-tasking video game: http://www.shockwave.com/gamelanding/cakemania.jsp

How About Orange: http://howaboutorange.blogspot.com/

These are just a few fun places.

I’m thinking about changing up the colors/theme here, but I don’t think it will be anytime too soon. I have to learn how to/where to download themes.  I don’t know that I’m that savvy enough to design from scratch.

Happy Year of the Ox!

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