Crafting

This weekend has been a return to crafting.  Not that I ever stopped, but the recent crafting I have done has been with a Christmas deadline.  So yesterday's casual crafting for fun was more relaxed and refreshing, and now I am feeling inspired.  I'm ready to tackle some projects around the house, including a huge painting project and de-Christmasing the living room.  Hopefully I'll have some good before-and-afters soon . . . a fresh look for the new year!

In the meantime, I am working on a couple little projects . . . scarves and the like.  Walmart has a $1/yard fabric bin and I stocked up on a few different wonderfully soft jersey knits.  I have plans that involve picking up some $1 Simplicity and Butterick patterns at Joann's when they go on sale, but for now here's the infinity scarf I made myself last night on a cute little model!  Yes, it's huge on her, but she looked *infinitely* better than I did today (yes, I was in pj's until 2 p.m.), so she got the job.

And of course, don't forget my February 1st drawing . . . become a follower and you just might win this bag!
(Though I have to say, the photo doesn't really do it justice . . . the real thing has me thinking I am going to have to make myself one!)

Giveaway!

Today has been a fun day . . . a combo of friends and crafting, which is always a good mix.  My friend brought with her a tutorial for a nifty no-sew bag that you put together with staples(!) and duct tape(!!).  An introduction to the Fabric Warehouse and stop by Walmart later and we were off and running.

Except that we decided to make our own straps instead of using webbing, so that was just a wee bit of sewing.  And then my straps were just a lil' bit too bulky to be attached to the bag with staples, so out came the machine again.  And then the top of the bag needed a tiny little reinforcement, so . . . you guessed it.  But then I promise I stapled the rest of it, duct taped a whole bunch, and voila!

Except then I realized that the straps were a little floppy and tugging at the duct tape, so I decided to do an eensie bit of hand sewing to tack them down.

Done!

And now for the fun news.  One of my faithful blog followers will win this bag in a drawing on February 1st!  Entering couldn't be easier . . . if you are already a follower of my blog you will automatically be entered, and if you aren't then just click "follow" on the top left and do as the instructions say.  One lucky follower will win the most-sewed no-sew bag ever!

Want to make this bag on your own?  All you need is a piece of 20x36 inch fabric, a stapler (a sturdier one than mine, hopefully), webbing for a handle, and some duct tape (we used white).  Follow the tutorial here, and then you can console yourself if you don't win my bag by making one of your own.

The One Where Jude Learns to Get Back On the Horse

Yesterday after naps Jude, Sophia, and I spent some time chilling out in their room, playing and dancing to their new lullaby cd.  All was well until Buddy Boy took a big tumble . . . but he's a tough guy, and after a bit of snuggling he got back on that horse!  Or bed.  At any rate, fun times resumed and he learned a little lesson about being careful.  Also not to get hurt while Mama is holding the video camera, because it slows my response time.

Working gal

Yet another Thursday is almost over . . . Twilight Zone in the Libby house.  I work in the ICU at St. Mary's every Wednesday night, and have found that working one night a week with kids is . . . interesting.  When I went back to work after Sophia, I usually spent the next day curled up in the fetal position, intermittently sleeping and whining to John "I'm tiiiiiiiiired" anytime he said anything.  Back then I worked Friday nights, so this behavior was acceptable-ish as Saturday laziness.

When I headed back to work this time, I decided I had had enough of blowing half the weekend feeling like death warmed over, so mid-week it was.  I am fortunate to have a younger sister that can come over to watch the kids for a few hours Thursday morning so I can sleep, otherwise this plan would never have worked.

So here are my rules for surviving the weekly overnight.

1.  Nap the day before.  Though this only happens about 66.67% of the time.  The other 33.33% of the time I am too caught up in an engrossing project to rest when the kids nap.  Of course, whether or not I get a nap predicts exactly what kind of night it will be at work.  It I do get sleep, the night is super slow and drags on for 96 hours while we sit around picking our noses.  If I don't get any sleep (yesterday), then the night will be steadily busy until 5:30 a.m. when I get an admission that keeps me working until 9 because I have so much stinkin' charting to do (today).

2.  Take my own food.  Each night I worked in December leading up to Christmas (and then after because of leftovers) I gained approximately 56 pounds, eating the mish-mash of chips and dip, chips and salsa, chips and hummus, and all the other "chips and" combinations that everyone brought in to share.  (Thanks, all.)  I left the unit in the morning feeling like I was 6 months pregnant, but then repeated the whole thing the next week, somehow forgetting how unhappy my GI system was after I ate all that food.  So back to taking my own food, and I even told John he has to ask me if I ate junk at work.  But do you know how hard it is to eat healthily when there is a 24 hour Dunkin' Donuts in the building?!

3.  Do not speak to ANYONE after work until I have gotten at least 2 hours of sleep.  This is crucial for maintaining loving relationships.  Or even any kind of relationship at all.  My sister is already to my house when I get home in the morning, and she and John seem to have gotten used to my monosyllabic grunts in response to anything they say.  Sophia chatters on as though I am responding to her in any meaningful way, and doesn't seem to mind that I go all Tim the Toolman on her.

4.  SHOWER IMMEDIATELY!  This is non-negotiable.  I have to confess, before I had kids I didn't think much of going right to bed when I got home from work.  Granted, Maine Med ICU provided scrubs so I changed there and now I come home in my dirty scrubs, so it's a little different, but still.  I never realized how nasty it was to come home in those clothes until there was a little toddler trying to wrap himself around my MRSA covered legs.  Yick!

5.  Sleep.  Even if I finished my last cup of coffee at 5 a.m. and just got my second (or 12th) wind.  GO.  TO.  BED.  A couple of weeks ago there was a big snowstorm and my sister couldn't get here.  I spent that sleepless day wandering around like a zombie, never actually completing anything I set out to do.  It was definitely a Domino's night.

6.  Don't expect to accomplish anything.  Well, that's not strictly true.  This fall I did work my way thru the Alias series on Netflix while the kids napped and I attempted to fold laundry on Thursday afternoons.  So there's that.  I guess I should ammend my rule to "Don't expect to accomplish anything meaningful that doesn't involve drooling."

7.  Do not look at the house until Friday morning.  One of two things happen if I do.  Either I fall into despair because I have zero energy to "encourage" the kids to clean up whatever they got out after naps and the house is a pit by the time they go to bed, or I get a brilliant (I use that word loosely) idea for an improvement and start a giant project.  Which brings me back to #6 and more despair.

Finally, a request and an apology.  Please, people, don't judge me for my day-after-the-end-of-the-world appearances.  Should you happen to ever drop by on a Thursday, I will welcome you with open arms in all my sweatpant-wearing, tangled-hair, no-makeup, messy-house glory.  And if our mailman is reading this, I am so sorry if I scared you today when I came out onto the porch to get the mail just as you were dropping it off.  Fight or flight is an amazing reflex, isn't it?

Quiche

As some of you know, I had to return a borrowed food processor in October, and have been making do with a Walmart brand magic bullet ever since.  Not a happy situation!  I know, it's a first world problem, what's wrong with chopping things up with a knife?  Nothing, in fact we recently upgraded our knife set.  We had been using a super crappy set that John had from his bachelor days, and now we have a moderately less crappy set that are hand-me-downs from someone who got a new set as a gift.  I even have steak knives!

Unbeknownst to me, however, my gripes on facebook were heard, and I received a brand spankin' new food processor for Christmas!  My new Kitchenaid processor even has a slicer and shredder disc, which my borrowed one did not have.

My griping has ended, and celebratory cooking has commenced!  I have been slicing, dicing, mixing, and pureeing . . . any excuse not to pull out my cutting board.  My processor can slice up four carrots in 10 seconds or less, about a million times faster than I can by hand.

Today I made quiche for dinner.  And I did 100% of it with my processor!  So here you go, the recipe for Libby Food Processor Quiche.

Preheat oven to 400 F.

In processor: 1 1/2 cups flour, 1 stick butter, pinch salt.  Pulse to mix.  Pulse to add 1/2 cup milk.  Roll out and put crust in 9 inch pie plate.

Now here's the secret ingredient from the Munsell cookbook: mustard.  I prefer to use dijon or honey mustard.  You squirt it directly onto the bottom of the crust before adding the other ingredients.  A couple teaspoons is good, and you just smear it around until it is spread out.

After that it's time to get chopping!  I like to put my ingredients in layers . . . and usually do a veggie quiche with cheese, but today we had some ham in the freezer from Christmas.  So in went a layer of broccoli, then ham, mushrooms, and topped off with cheddar cheese.  All that chopping took no time at all!  Other possible ingredients that I have used are fresh or frozen spinach, feta, tomatoes, zucchini or summer squash . . . or whatever else you happen to have in your fridge.

Next up, the eggy bit.  Six eggs, 1 1/2 cups milk a pinch of salt and a little pepper.  Zap it in the processor and pour over the top.  Into the oven for 45 minutes or so, until golden brown and not jiggly. I'd have a picture to show you if I hadn't been going to take a nap and overcooked ours today!  Fortunately, not too overcooked to eat, just too done to show off.

Bon appetite!