Blizzard Weekend Crafts

Mother Nature has a evil sense of humor.  We got a major snowstorm over the weekend.  A blizzard actually.  At my house, 2 1/2 feet of snow.  On the shoreline, up to 40" of the white stuff was dumped.  Snow started Friday morning and ended Saturday mid-morning.  Roads were shut down.  Needless to say, we've been house bound for the last few days.  I guess Mother Nature felt that she needed to make up for the lack of snow that didn't happen last Winter.  Of course, LAST winter is when we could have used the extra $$$ for Disney.  Chris hasn't been home very much the last few days.  He's plowing again for some businesses and condo complexes so he's been off doing that.

I gave in and had to get out of the house today.  Ran some errands and took Amelia out to lunch.  We were out for a couple of hours.  It was nice.  Don't know if she will have school again tomorrow.  While the main state roads are pretty clear, the banks of snow along the roadway make it very difficult to see the traffic and the town/side roads are terrible.  Mine included.

To help pass the time on Friday, we did a Valentine's Day craft. Now you may know (because I've said it often), I don't really decorate for the "off" holidays. Christmas is pretty much it over here and that's only a decorated tree and maybe another do-dad here and there. But I thought it would be fun to do something in red and pink for Love.

Last year? Year before?  I can't remember, Melissa posted about a very fun ribbon loop wreath for Halloween.  Oh it was so cute.  I hunted down a few of the tutorials and even went out and bought loads of ribbon and a wreath.  And it still sits undecorated today.  But that will soon change!  I gathered up supplies to make one for Valentine's Day and here is our version.

Isn't it cute?? There are lots of tutorials out there and different techniques. After studying the different ways of creating the loops, I went the hot glue gun route. While sewing the loops together and then gluing them on the wreath seemed faster, I didn't care for the overall 'flat' look of the ribbons on the wreath. I really liked the more fuller, rounder feel. So out came my glue gun and much swearing. I tried not to burn myself but with hot glue it never fails not to happen.  I took my wreath one step further and made curliques out of the 3/8" ribbons and stuck them in, here and there to help fill in the holes.  I'm very happy with it and already planning my Easter ribbon wreath and then another for late Spring/Summer.  And of course a Christmas one but I have time for that.

Enjoy the rest of your day!
Jen :)

I've lost it

My sewing mojo.  It is gone.  I don't feel like sewing anything lately.  Ugh.  Hopefully I will find it again.  We have been slammed with snow in the last couple of weeks.  My husband is now gone, with his big machinery, to do some snow moving (i.e. BIG piles of snow) in a condo complex to make room for MORE SNOW that's headed our way mid week next week.  Hopefully he will be home sometime tomorrow.

So what did the girls do today?  Well, it's now 3:40 p.m. and Amelia is still in her pjs.  Yes, you read that right.  She refuses to get dressed.  Doesn't want to be bothered and you know what?  I'm not going to push her.  It's too late now anyway.  What's the point?

I made yummy soup today!  I have had a taste for my Mom's homemade tomato soup so I called her up earlier in the week to get the recipe.  I got all the ingredients last night and did some cooking.  Anna asked me to post the recipe and since it came out tasty, here you go!  No pictures of the soup though because well, I ate most of it!  LOL!!  I told you I was craving it!

My mom's soup has a chicken soup liquid base so I had to make a pot of her chicken soup first.  Amelia and Chris enjoyed that.

Okay, Tomato Soup.  You can make it two ways.  My mom only makes it in the summertime when fresh tomatoes are a-plenty.  She makes it in the winter only if she has prepared and frozen tomatoes but I don't have that so I did it the second way.

With FRESH tomatoes:
(20) plum tomatoes
 - chunk up the tomatoes and saute them lightly in butter to soften
- once soft, put them through a fine sieve.  Dilute with chicken stock or fresh chicken soup broth
- Bring to boil and then together for 20 minutes or so.  Lower the heat and add heavy cream. I used fat free half and half.  I added almost a whole pint of half and half.  You want a pinky red color.  If you use heavy cream, you won't have to use as much, I'm sure of it.

OR - this is the way I made it today.
(1) small can of tomato paste, lightly sauted with chicken stock (or fresh broth) to get the lumps out and add (2) 8 oz cans of PLAIN tomato sauce.  Add a bit more stock and boil that together for 10 minutes or so.  After 10 minutes, add more chicken stock for the amount of soup you want.  I think I ended up with about 6 cups of soup or so.
Simmer the pot of soup for about 20 minutes and then add your half and half or heavy cream.
Make any noodles of your choice (I made baby stars), serve and enjoy!

The tomato paste/sauce combo tasted just like my Mom's fresh tomato version.  It hit the spot!

Since posts with no pictures are boring, I'm going to show you the mountain of snow we have in our backyard right now.  Sorry for the crappy picture but I took it from the inside, through the bathroom window.

And here's a tree picture from a storm we had earlier this month.

Seriously.  I'm tired of the snow.  We will be snow covered until June.  I'm sure of it!


Enjoy your day!
Jen

It's Going to be a White Christmas After All...

I admit, it's pretty but I really don't care for snow. I hate driving in it. I hate how my car looks and feels AFTER driving in it. Like most of the country, we got hit with some pretty good snowstorms over the weekend. My husband was home all weekend so he and Amelia played in the snow. Building a snowman and sledding down the driveway. They had a great time! I was the official picture taker. You won't get me to play in the snow! I don't own the right "gear". I don't even own a pair of snow boots. I think I have a pair of gloves and a scarf around here somewhere (it ended up on our snowman!).

I did get some sewing done. I got Punkie's baby doll quilt done and some Pennie Pockets done for gifts. I'm still working on everything and I want to take pictures once so the pictures will be posted tomorrow. I'm really loving how the Pennie Pockets turned out!

Today is the official start to my holiday break. I'm busy in the kitchen making more goodies to hand out and once I'm done with that, I'm off to wrap presents and finish sewing. I want to get done sewing soon because my sewing room is a mess and I want to clean it!

Speaking of gifts, my gifts (from my husband) are under the tree already. My stocking is full too. I'm dying to know what he got me. On the top of my list was a "fancy new sewing machine" but nothing under the tree fits the bill, box size wise. But he tells me he's not done shopping so there's still hope!

If you get a chance, go on and visit Marsha's blog and give your condolences. Her father passed away last week. Very sad and very difficult, especially during the holidays.

Enjoy your day!

Jen :)

Our First Official Snow...

Amelia was ready to go outside at 7:30 Sunday morning. She held off until 10:30. She had a great time outside.

She didn't want to come inside but we had to. My toes were frozen!

Enjoy your day!

Jen :)