WHOA NELLIE.....

Whoa Nellie, I found myself on Donna Kato's website, Yes a picture of yours truly (me) taken by Donna when I took her class. How COOL is that!!! My jaw was on the floor, I am on her site!!!!! :-) And she remembered my name!!!!! I must of made some kind of impression, hopefully it was a good one and not just the sick germ kind.
What did Cabin Fever Clay Festival do to me???? I know all of my friends that know me are going to look at these pictures and chuckle (normally I am a pretty organized gal). Their jaws will be on the floor!!!! I sometimes avoid going in my studio when it gets like this because I can't work in it. It is not so bad as I spent some time with A. down there tonight cleaning up a bit. A's playroom is that blue wall and I can see across to it which is nice. My husband and I planned that one before we even had kids, smart thinking eh? The only problem I've discovered is when balls like to come flying across and BONK into some of my stuff. Other than that it is all good.



What is on my sewing table??????
As promised these are the heart pot holders that have been on my sewing table. I was trying to get them done for Valentine's Day, but as you can see that didn't happen. There is a very cool insert to these is is special pot holder batting that reflects the heat to the object!!! You can feel it immediately when you put your hand on it. Next step is sewing on the bias tape which I have never done before so that is also probably part of the hang up on these. And I need to change the thread in my machine to RED. Another hang up and make a bobbin of red too, another hang up.

The idea came from this magazine which is a Martha Stewart magazine which I got for free at my local library's magazine exchange, the premise is put one or a few in and take some for yourself - I love it and it is a great way to recycle all of my magazines I have around the house. When I am done reading the ones I took I can also return those again too - a great program.


I know this isn't the greatest picture but the hearts have pockets, which I thought was a really neat cool feature. See the person holding the pot? Neat eh?

Ballerina Princess Cupcake

Ballerina Princess Cupcake
Originally uploaded by whimsylove

This is a picture of the print I won!!! I can't wait to get it in the mail. John usually gets all of the good stuff in the mail, this one will be for me!!! YAHoo!

I am moving into a BUNKER....

I am still sick!!! Apparently my flu bug decided to turn into a nice little sinus infection. I can live with the flu and make it through without a drs. visit but this sinus headache forget it - I need to be seen. (BTW did you know that the flu and I that John and I had was not the one that the flu shot covered?, apparently there is a strain going around that the flu shot didn't cover. Also the researchers whom make the flu shot are starting to look at it differently so that it will not only cover just a strain but a more wide variety of such - good eh?)

So going to my general practitioner- just didn't fit into my schedule today, not that I did ANYTHING today other than lay around and feel guilty about how much TV time my DD had. However my DH went to work and I took care of her best I could, when he got home he took her to her dance class and then I was free to go do my thing, so off to URGENT care I went, my second visit to this one. There were three mothers there along with me. At least this way I didn't have to schlep my daughter with me (all in all it took about 2 hours). BTW this is my night off, we were suppose to have MOPS tonight and that got cancelled partially due to me, dang we have a really great craft project too.

Long story short I have a sinus infection and have already spent 50 bucks on it, the copay, the meds etc.

I want to move myself and my family into a little bunker, bubble, with no germs for the next 6 weeks until spring gets here for good!!!!

OK enough of my woes. I WON something!!!!!! from whiMSy love She had a contest for her One year Blogging anniversary and I won a watercolor cupcake print of my own choosing!!!! I choose Ballerina Princess Cupcake because I want to frame it and put it in Ashley's room. Check out her Etsy shop at http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=5082846. She has some great stuff!!

General feeling of not having it all together...

Did you ever have the general feeling of not having it all together? Some days are better than others right? Well this morning I was definitely feeling the not having it all together feeling. So A. and I were on our way out to do the grocery shopping and as I am backing out of my driveway, my neighbor next door is parked in the street with his truck (this is unusual). He looked as though he was looking for something in the street next to his truck. So I rolled down my window to ask him if everything was OK. He said he backed out of his driveway with his drill case ontop of his truck and everything went flying and he was trying to find all of the SCREWS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :-) HeHeHe - I AM SOOOOO feeling better right about now!!!!!! I am glad to know that I am not the only one that these things happen too.

Me with Donna Kato, I don't like how I look in this picture with the flu and all, I look very puffy!
Nan Roche, LOVE her!!!!
Nan going over a few techniques.
Nan's piece
Donna Kato, style and stuff!

How was my trip to Cabin Fever Clay Festival...

Well it depends on what version you want.... I was the token sick germ walking around, I hate to say it but it was true, I believe I have the FLU and had the FLU on my trip too. John had the FLU on his time off and while he was taking care of A. So basically we had some VERY BAD timing!!!! Apparently I am not the only one go visit Polka Dot Creations, she is now in the same city/area that I just left and not feeling well either, I would have loved to have meet her. However I didn't go on to Synergy and that was a good thing considering my health and the health of my husband.

As far as the clay classes go I learned some cool stuff, even my roommate felt like she was running a marathon while we were there and she was healthy, so you can imagine how I felt. I had 12 hours of classes on Monday and 8 hours of classes on Tuesday, all while running a fever, coughing, and blowing my nose. On night two I had to get my own room because my cough was keeping my roommate up-so that was a big BUMMER. You don't even want to know the price tag on my room, because I kept my deal with my roommate, to split our room rate. I need to start selling stuff!!! Big Time!!!! It was basically double what I would have had to pay if I hadn't needed the extra room and I only used the extra room two nights not three, I was OK the first night and that was the *sympathy*rate, trust me (guy at front desk) he felt bad for me at 11:40am at night, he even gave me cough drops!

Here were the positives:

• I saw my friend Debbie and that was great!!! She is doing really well (not teaching anymore) but doing volunteer work at museums and being a one room school house teacher etc. Her son is getting married this summer too.
• I meet a lot of wonderful Polymer Clay teachers and I got to take classes from them.
• Donna Kato signed both of my books, which I schlepped all the way there.
• Nan Roche and Judy Picarello's classes I LOVED!!!!!!!!! They were definitely highlights for me!
• I got some really cool zipper pulls from the swap even though I didn't make any since I didn't have time, I had only found out about the yahoo group and the swap a week prior to going. People were so generous. I got some cool zipper pulls.
• My roommate and friend Ramona is easy going and fun to go on trips with, we get along really well. We also understand silence when we are exhausted at the end of the trip.
• I even got a free counseling session - a long story - Rob from Polymer Clay Express understands, he is a great guy!!!! They had their store set up.
• I got to see work from all sorts of people that attended the show and I bought a piece from Judy Picarello.
• I meet people from all over the world Iris Mishly from Israel, her notes were so cool they were in Hebrew and looked like an art form all by themselves.! I meet two great women from Alaska whom had also left their husbands taking care of their kids, they were going on to Synergy as well. Wisconsin, Florida, Maryland, PA and so on...

Menu Plan Monday

Yes it is almost Saturday and I am posting my menu plan, however I did have a plan and I have been following it all week, thank god, because A. has been sick - the plan makes things easier when things aren't normal in your family. I always put the list on the fridge or nearby. I list all of the meals for each day, then I go grocery shopping to make sure I get what I need for each meal. This has been making my bill less too. I don't get too worried if I don't have Monday's meal on Monday night. I have to be flexible with a busy family life. For instance my daughter started Dance this week and it is from 5:30pm-6:05pm and this makes life interesting at dinner so we had unplanned grilled cheese that night.
I do want to share that I found this AWESOME recipe in my Good and Easy Betty Crocker Cookbook, which I have been using this week for a Tex Mex Minestrone here is a photo of it:
It was soooooo easy, it involved 1 package frozen garlic pasta with veggies, one jar of salsa, beans and you basically put it all in the pot and let it simmer, I honestly didn't think the frozen food could taste this good. DH gave it a 7/10 and I gave it a 8/10. I will definitely make this again, plus it is vegetarian for moi so the fact that DH liked it was a big plus in my book.

These chips were the light ones and I thought they tasted great, they come in a blue and white package and they say 1/3 less fat I believe.

PS I still love my dark blue Fiesta Ware I got for my wedding, still going strong after 8 plus years!

Monday:

French Toast Home Made

Tuesday:

Italian Veggie Soup pg. 292 and Ceasar Salad

Wednesday:

Veggie Rice Skillet Pg. 254

Thurs.

Rice and Cheese Casserole Pg. 254

Fri.

Couscous, Salad and Breadsticks

Sat.
Tex Mex Soup pg. 298

Sun.

Leftovers (I leave on my trip)

Please don't worry about DH because he is going to be well taken care of, my mom is having him and A. over for dinner and some Nascar on this night, plus on Mon. he is going to our neighbor D.'s for dinner. Hmmmm sounds like a real hard ship when I am gone eh? So that leaves him only one night that he takes care of and I can already tell you what that will be. He will take A. to McDonald's - you mark my words, I will let you know what happens when I get back.

“There are no shortcuts to any place worth going.” by Beverly Sills

Tomorrow morning EARLY I will be in the air off to Baltimore MD for the Cabin Fever Clay Festival. I am so excited to take classes with some of the biggest names in the Polymer Clay field. I am not sure if I will be able to post, I won't have a computer with me sooooo it may be late next week before I can post again. Although Blogger has a timed post option which I may try, which means I put the post up today but tell it to post in a couple of days, so I may try that. Stay tuned for whats on my sewing table. Do check back because I will post pictures from the event. By the way, Did I mention my friend Debbie lives down there now? I am going to meet her for breakfast on Wed. AM and I am so excited to see her ( I team taught with her for a number of years back in the day :-) The picture is of my 5 supply lists and me piling on top of each one everything I need for each class. Luckily Polymer Clay Express will be there so I can pick up stuff if I miss anything.

Thanks and Ciao.

Laura

ONE World ONE Heart Giveaway.....

And the winner is....

SAM from the United Kingdom You can visit her blog here:
http://samburgess.blogspot.com/

OWOH was so much fun for me, I have the most posts I have ever had! I love to see people from Australia, Netherlands and so on posting. I loved visiting all of the blogs and seeing all of the artistic creations out there. I am kinda hoping I win something too, I entered quite a few but certaintly not all of them as I had time restraints :-). Good Luck everyone, I will look forward to visiting some of your blogs again too!

My First Ever GIVEAWAY

I am giving away three of my handmade candycane ornaments. All you have to do is leave a comment and on February 14th I will pick a name out of a hat. Then I will post the winner. PLEASE leave your contact information in your post, your email and if you have a blog leave that too so I can check it out. I am doing this with a group of other bloggers whom are also giving stuff away. It is called

ONE World ONE Heart -to go to the blog click here: http://oneworldevent.blogspot.com/
Thanks for participating!!!!

Short Term Memory and other Nerdy stuff...

Dang that short term memory - I listened to my phone messages and as I was listening to one of them, I said self I will remember to do that no problem (I had to get back to someone). Then PRESS#3 to delete. A while later I am driving myself NUTS trying to remember what I was supposed to do and when. Luckily I remember a little while later (an hour and a half or so it came back to me) That would be long term memory then correct?

Also I think I might be the only blogger on the face of this earth that doesn't have the appropriate software to make a cool header for my blog. I tried using PowerPoint and well that didn't work, I have Microsoft Picture It but that seems to be just for photos. A LONG time ago I had Print Artist but I don't even know if that is still compatible with my computer. I suppose I could give it a try. No WONDER I also can't digital scrapbook very well either ARGH. Shari thanks for your advice on the blog/header stuff, I am sure it will work when I get the appropriate software.

On the crafty note, I found a blog that I would like to share with you (all about being crafty)http://www.whimsy-girl.blogspot.com/ I think that is where I got the word NERD from :-) I love how she did that.

Travel Plans and Organizing...

Cabin Fever Clay Festival is sneaking up on me!!!! I can't believe all of the travel I've done, when it rains it pours right? Our family hadn't traveled in a good year and a half and all of a sudden two plane trips for me in two months - WOW, plus I just found out that we may go to Toronto in early March, we would drive there - oh how I long to go to IKEA :-). Maybe we should take the "family Truckster." (we can fit more stuff) Apparently you don't just yet need a passport. We have many other forms of ID that will work.

Update on the Beef Burgundy: This was SOOOO Easy to make and DH gave it an 8 out of 10. So I will definitely make this one again!!!! I love throwing everything in the crockpot and not having to worry about dinner, I was done with dinner at 8:15 am!!!! HOWEVER - if you are a vegetarian, I had trouble with the SMELL of this wafting through the house, so I had to get creative and found a place in our garage where is could cook. There are no tomatoes in this, just mushroom base and red wine. This was blogged here:

Update: I got new glasses today - they look almost identical to my old ones which I loved and I love the new ones too. Back in January I made a pact to try to take care of myself (imagine that) I said self you need to get to those dr. appointments you keep putting off etc. So I have been doing just that and eyes was one of them, HOWEVER I did not anticipate having four drs. appointments to try to get the contact lenses to fit good. I am on my third lense in one eye and second lense in the other plus when I go back next week, (Again - sigh) they ordered another new pair. Thank god I love my glasses in the meantime and thank god for insurance. My contacts when and if I ever get them are FREE through DH company, so why not right!? Here is the next HOWEVER, if I was working full time job I wouldn't be able to get to all of these appointments easily. In addition to those I also saw regular MD and I am now in PT two times a week for back pain, imagine taking a three year old to all of these, I do as much as I can on my one day she goes to daycare but there is a limit. I have to brag about DD though, she met my PT today for the first time and they are complete strangers right - so he is talking to her etc. and he had this to say about her: "Wow, she has a lot of personality with a little bit of drama thrown in AND she doesn't have any problem in the social skill area and she is NOT shy" (well she wasn't with him anyway - he had a super soft ball that she threw and hit him with twice, then she says "I was just teasing you." Oh boy. :-) I will say this, it was AWFULLY nice to hear, nice kind words about your kid from a complete stranger. That is just COOL! By the way, I have put off having hand surgery for 7 years now and my regular MD wants me to get that done too, so if anyone reading this whom lives in the Rochester NY area and knows of a good carpal tunnel surgeon, I would appreciate it if you could comment or email me at labbett@rochester.rr.com thanks much!

Over at orgjunkie.com she is doing a monthly organizational challenge to organize your kitchen, I did my first under the sink post blogged here: http://abbett2.blogspot.com/2008/01/yuck-ick-gross-groody.html%20and this is a cupboard that has really been bothering me lately and I wanted to give it some much needed attention.

So here is the BEFORE picture:
Many categories of stuff all mixed in together, candles, medicine, vitamins - you get the picture.
A.'s shelf will all of her cups, plus an almost empty bottle of Pepto, how nice.
The cull, toss, recycle pile!
Ahhhhh, the refreshing after photo!!!! Ironically that same night I needed some important medicine and have been able to find it with ease. Ahhhhh, much better.

Menu Plan Monday

Here are some pictures to go along with my Menu Plan Monday. I have always menu planned doing it on the blog is just an added bonus. I decided to change things up this week a bit and I went to my resources for help. I am an ovo-lacto vegetarian, but I still make meat meals for my daughter and husband.
My friend Paula gave me a copy of this recipe for Easy Beef Burgundy - it looks so easy and it is a crook pot meal, which is great, I will make this for John soon, since I bought the beef today.
My SIL gave me this book for X-mas and I picked out a few things for Ashley and I to do, mostly breakfast drinks that we can do in the blender together, breakfast seems to be the same old, same old so this will be great, I told her tonight that tomorrow am we will be doing something different for breakfast and that it would taste like a milk shake.
Monday 2/4 - The Pigs in a Blanket above came from my Marching Band Cook Book circa 1989. A. had a ball making these with me tonight, she put the cheese in each one and rolled the biscuit around the dog, they were so easy to make too. Although she didn't like to eat the blanket part at dinner, she did like the cheese and ate the whole hot dog with ketchup to dip in. If you are wondering what I had, I had leftover No Clam Clam Chowder, which I should really post the recipe here since it is a great one. Also I need to post the recipe for my Artichoke Dip that I took to the Super Bowl Party, it is the best recipe for Artichoke Dip ever! Every time I take it to a party it is devoured and I never bring any home.

Ingredients for the above recipe, there were four hot dogs left over to either freeze for another time or have this week.

Tuesday - Beef Burgundy in the Crockpot

Wednesday - Tortellini with sauce, garlic bread and green beans

Thursday - Lentil Casserole (from my book above, this one is for me!!!!! :-) )

Friday - This weeks frozen food meal is going to be a little different, instead of buying three frozen food meals I bought - Mrs. T Pierogies, potato and onion kind and we will all have those

Saturday - Mac and Cheese from the PASTA cookbook

Sunday - Either Belgian Waffles or homemade pizza in the bread maker (By the way, if you LOVE pizza and want to make a healthier version, making your own dough in a breadmaker is easy plus you can make it with wheat flour. Plus there is so much less fat, oil/grease since you are making it yourself.

Here is the link to the lady whom started the MPM and you can see over 200 meal plans for the week:

http://orgjunkie.com/2008/02/menu-plan-monday-feb-4th.html#comment-12743

Super Bowl Sunday and Meet The Spartans

Our neighbors threw a nice Super Bowl Party last night. They made a cake that was in the shape of a football field and had a "play" on it, made out of M&Ms and the field goal posts were made out of Twizzlers -very cute. Come to think of it I should have taken a picture of it for my blog. We were having a lot of fun at the party but I had to leave early to put A. to bed. I think she crashed around 8:30 pm after a VERY busy day for her. I managed to watch the last few minutes of the Super Bowl and I had a great time watching it, it was fun and exciting, the Giants made a last touch down and it was really exciting. That was the most football I've watched all season but I am glad I saw it. After all I do live in NY and the Giants are from NY so why not cheer for the underdogs that gave the upset! :-) As a mater of fact when I had a piece of that cake I ate the Giants blue endzone piece and my neighbor, Jason asked me if that was because I was routeing for them, well I guess that was the case. :-) Oh I should also mention at the party I had my first experience playing with a Wii - very fun I might add!

On Saturday a friend of mine watched A. in the am and well that was supposed to be Mommy time and I had it all planned out - go to JoAnn's and do the shopping for some projects I have planned, well we all know what happens to the best laid plans right! So DH ended up joining me on my time, because his truck was at the dealership, so we decided to see what was playing at 10:30am (instead of me dragging him to JoAnn's where we both probably would have been miserable) It turns out that Meet The Spartans was playing (Barb, where is Jay when I need him? :-) It is a spoof on the movie 300 which John just watched with his friend Jay. So I didn't know this going in and a few minutes in John tells me this. Now I hadn't seen 300 but that didn't matter. I actually really liked this movie and found it funny and entertaining, it is stupid humor and the kind of movie that you sit there and say "Am I really watching this?" John and I both agreed they must have had a ton of fun making this movie, I enjoyed the references to American Idol, Dancing with the Stars and a Paris Hilton spoof where she calls Nicole and Nicole says I had an almond to eat today and Paris informs her that she is done eating for the day then. Oh boy!

What is on my Polymer Clay table?

At my Western New York Polymer Clay Guild meeting we started a cane technique by Judy Belcher. I have completed many steps to the Tesselation today. Here are some pictures of my work and my first attempt at this technique: These are not yet finished, I still need to add a backing which will be textured and a stripe cane all the way around the squares. I have enjoyed making these and I look forward to making more canes like these.

I know this picture is blurry but I wanted you to get the idea of all the canes I made.