Monarch Post

thrifting, stitching... and staring contests

Last week while I was at the thrift store hunting for fabric and wools I found these four little charmers.

Mini dutch ovens.

Aren't they the cutest things ever?

75 cents each and RED!

Score : )

And here they are topless. Ha.

So I washed them up and made dinner for four with them.

Shrimp, crab and broccoli alfredo.

It was a hit.

I think it was part recipe and part novelty with the kids.

I boiled the noodles and fresh, chopped broccoli together.

I used cooked, tail-on, medium sized shrimp that I broke in half after removing the tails.

And a can of crab meat.

Two chopped green onions.

I used a packet of dry alfredo sauce mix and followed the directions- (the cheapie mix packet.)

Mixed everything together, sprayed the dutch ovens, filled them and then sprinkled the tops with a three cheese blend of  Italian cheeses, Parmesan cheese, and paprika... in that order.

Baked them at 350 for twenty five minutes.

And while they were baking I chopped up a few avocados and a mango.

This is what happens when you go to San Diego on vacation...

still craving the seafood, avocados, and mangos.

I had never tried diced avocados with mangos before our trip, but they are wonderful!

And if you've never put them together, well, you just should.

The flavors are so complementary together... I swear I heard them telling each other how much they liked each other before I ate them.  Ha.

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Anyway,  there's my fancy schmancy dinner recipe of  the week for you.

(Call Paula and Martha and tell them to move over ; D )

The breakfst scene goes like this every morning at our house.

Jesse likes to eat breakfast in the recliner while he watches Sportscenter... and I let him.

Winston sits in front of him and gives him the big staredown for some of his breakfast.

He never takes his eyes off of him the whole time Jesse is eating.

It's too funny to watch.

Sometimes Winston has success with his puppy dog eyes...

and sometimes he doesn't.

This wasn't his morning for leftover success.

Bummer.

I worked all Wednesday on Etsy items ( yes, I'm still stockpiling for a re-opening someday...)

I started crocheting teensy little primroses and then couldn't stop, because that's what happens when I crochet. My brain apparently likes endless repetition when it comes to winding thread around a tiny needle. (Too bad it doesn't like endless laundry repetition-wouldn't that be awesomeness?)

But they'll all eventually get used... they'll get used as decorations for different crafting projects- baby balls, children's totes, barrettes, and stuff.

I also designed a nd crocheted patterns for a little girl's drawstring purse and a sock monkey purse in red. They are finished except for some trimmings, so no photos yet.

I have so many things almost finished- I seem to work better that way... jumping from one project to the next gives me more ideas and energy than working on one thing at a time...

Aren't they sweet and springy?

I stumbled on my first real sight of spring last week... I saw swiss snowdrops peeking out from under brown dead grass while driving through town the other day... what a sight for winter-weary eyes. I blurred up a little and  I think I even exhaled when I spotted them.

The first signs of spring always surprise me...  it's surprise, delight, and relief for me to see that just when I've decided that maybe God forgot to do spring this year, God has decided to prove me wrong- again.

And I am really okay with being perennially proved wrong :D

I felt that same surprised-by-snowdrop-happiness-thing this morning when Sophey pulled this artwork out of her bookbag...

Isn't that just the sweetest piece of construction paper art?!

Love it.

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Okay, I'm off to finish the last  Christmas, er, birthday shopping trip of the Henderson March Madness birthday season.

Three birthdays in one month feels like like a mini-Christmas season around here... crazy.

(And I say that every year here. Sorry.)

Saturday is Jesse's birthday and he's having a party with friends at Boondock's- the local fun center, followed by pizza and a sleepover at our house.

We also have two Cinderella ballet recitals for Sophey this weekend- one tonight and one on Saturday.

Corbyn's band is on the radio tonight with an interview and a live sperformance.

(90.0 KRCL if you are in Utah...)

Oh, and a wedding reception to go to on Saturday. Whew.

I gotta run...

See you next week and have a great weekend everyone!

XOK

 

 

 

 

 

a yarn yarn

 
 
It's Friday again already isn't it? I seem to be a Monday/Friday blogger here lately. I want to be more like a Monday/Wednesday/Friday blogger, but somehow those three days in the middle usually turn into a blur of ordinary days with lots to do but nothing that memorable to blog about.

Anyway, after we came home from my birthday dinner on Sunday evening while we waited for everyone to come over to the house, I picked up my unfinished scarf sitting on the kitchen table and started working on the fringe. (I don't know what it is with the last 10% of a project, but so often that last 10% of the project seems to take me as long as the first 90% of the project did. Anyone else have that problem?) I cut up the last of the yarn skein for all the fringe pieces and then realized after cutting up the last piece of yarn that I hadn't crocheted the edging on the other scarf edge to attach the fringe to.

 
 

I also realized that just having slurped down two pomegranate margaritas while celebrating my birthday dinner might justa had something to do with my dumb mistake....

 
This then facilitated one more trip to the craft store fifteen miles away for one more skein of yarn for two small rows of stitches... Which also means I now have one more whole skein of my favorite yarn just needing to be the start of another scarf/hat/something.... it's never ending with me.

Lesson learned here: Don't drink and crochet. It's just dangerous.

XOKelly 

progressing

 
 
Hi. Still here.... I've been working on finishing up a whole bunch of ideas to send off to a gift company. I met someone at The Creative Connection event who's interested in my gift line ideas. It's not exactly top secret; I just don't want to show much of what I've been up to yet on the web-- (I'm sure you can understand why.) But I'm afraid I must be looking like such a slacker with no ideas or projects for you lately, so I thought I'd explain myself (as much as I can for now). Here's a tiny peek of one idea.

I am so loving sitting and stitching though now my fingers have toughened up (so sore for awhile I had to stop for a day!) Lots of experimenting with fabrics, trims, lace, stitches, and ribbon. My hands are busy, but I find my mind has lots of time to wander over to other ideas.... 

  

Like what to be making for Christmas projects, soon!  And what to make out of this pile of estate sale doves??? Got any good ideas you guys? (Of course I could just sell them individually as ornaments, but hey, that would make my life just too darn easy.)  So far I can see them in ivory wreaths, but there are like thirty doves here... what else?

 
 
 
I've been thinking alot about this book too since I read it last summer. Chapter two is titled, "Sufficient." One story is about a friend of the author's who has a gardener who comes to help her with her large garden every so often. After he's finished gardening, she makes him lunch. He always tells her his small portion of food is sufficient, and the way he says it, the friend knows not to try and make him eat more. I was so struck by the stories in this chapter. I mean, this is America, land of excess, never enough-- more more more. The land of the all-you-can-eat-buffet! Who ever says, this is sufficient? But I find myself thinking of the word sufficient everyday now. And it has been liberating, let me tell you, liberating. Because I realized that just about everything in my life is... guess what... sufficient. And for a girl who has so often struggled with thinking she's never quite enough, well, it's huge to feel sufficient for a change (most of the time.)

I have sufficient health and so does my husband and children. 

I have a sufficient home.

I have sufficient clothes.

I have sufficient friends.

I have sufficient intelligence.

I have sufficient faith.

I am enough. 

No, not perfect. I will never be perfect, and I don't need to be. Sufficient does not mean perfect; I'm getting it.  My thighs are not perfect (never will be), but they are sufficient; they attach my legs to my bum and I can walk. Sufficiently.

I think it's amazing what one word, at just the right time, at just the right twist of the lightbulb moment can do. Not too much, not too little-- the mama bear chair. That's it. Yay.

I think I've finally got it (yay, for the blonde ;))... sufficiently, and clear down to my toes.

Happy Wednesday to you! XoXKelly 

 

P.S. EDITED After rereading my post, I found it looking rather ironic that I am writing about a gift line and American excessiveness! Well, all I can say for now is the gift-line company I'm working on ideas for is about humanitarian aid for those whose lives are far from sufficient.....