busy season projects: done

During busy season this year, I came up with a few projects to keep me occupied while T crunched away at all hours of the night.  The projects were as follows....

1. New duvet cover and pillows -- see below
2. Cafe curtains -- check!
3. Change all doorknobs in the house -- see below

All are now complete!  Here is how the duvet cover turned out.  Someone named T. Dudley REALLY likes it. Seriously.

I sewed the top together, and then my good friend Amy, whom I met at BSF, helped me put it all together with button holes and the whole deal.

The doorknob project was including changing the hinges, but that's a two person job.  New doorknobs make things feel so fresh and clean (well maybe if you'd experienced the old ones).  They all look like this:

Even the guest bath looks so much cleaner (with our beautiful yellow tile).

The sliding closet doors were a little more tricky because they don't make the exact size of the old ones...

[nice, eh?]

But my dad's dremel tool came in handy, and I proved to T that these new handles wouldn't be rigged (right, buddy?).

[sorry for all iPhone photos.. one day I'll try to use a real camera again]

3rd busy season down.  Now time to veg out with the man and pup and enjoy each other!

lemon orzo soup

A couple weeks ago, Audrey invited me to attend a soup swap her sister was hosting.  I didn't want to make a taco soup or chili or anything that someone else might make.  One time, Leslie made this Lemon Orzo soup that was delicious, so I went with that idea.

Got the recipe from my good friend Jesse, and she had a couple different recipes for it.  One from Rachael Ray, and one that she had figured out that tasted like Cafe Eclectic's Lemon Greek Soup [mmm].

I kind of meshed together the two different recipes--I wanted to use orzo, and she used rice, I wanted to use the whole egg instead of just yolks... etc.  So here is what I ended up doing (of course tripled for soup swap).... and it was a delicious!

Lemon Orzo Soup
2 (32 oz) containers of chicken broth
1 cup orzo pasta
Juice of 1 lemon
1 large egg

1. Boil broth.
2. [In the meantime] beat eggs together with lemon juice in a bowl.
3. Add orzo to boiling broth and cook to directions on box (8-9 minutes).
4. Temper the egg-- pour 1-2 c of hot broth into bowl and whisk in the egg.
5. Pour back into pot and stir.
6. Add some fresh ground pepper.

one busy season project done

I find it's good to have projects to occupy my time after 5pm while T is still crunching away for a few more hours.  I mean of course I could sit in front of the TV waiting for him to come home, but trust me, that gets old after the first week.  So, I've come up with a few projects [as previously mentioned], and last night I finished the first!

Cute little cafe curtains for the window over my kitchen sink!

And here is a peak at one of my other busy season projects....

[sorry for all iPhone photos...]

it's girly, of course

Everyone thinks of Valentine's Day when they think of February, right? Valentine's day = pink, red, hearts, love, etc.  I'm not usually a pink or frilly person, but I secretly love when February comes around because I'm forced to be a tad more girly.

Last year I hung these cute strings of hearts in our kitchen window, and they are back up!  Bring a little extra love to ol' fiesta.

February also equals halfway through with busy season, which means I need to get going on my projects if I want them completed by the middle of March....

February desktop comin' at ya!

February 2011 desktop: 1024 x 768

February 2011 desktop: 1600 x 1200

February 2011 desktop: 1680 x 1050

Raise your hand if you've already found the cutest card for your valentine? [hand raised]

nothing like comfort food

Yesterday I was craving chicken and dumplings, but didn't have too much time to spend on making it homemade (plus I probably wouldn't ever want to try that).  So I googled "slow cooker chicken and dumplings" and bingo, I found an easy recipe that I had all the ingredients for, and also got some great reviews.

I cut it in half for just the 2 of us, and took advice from the first review about adding some spices.  It was delicious and a hit with Dudley, too (no veggies = winner in his book).

Crock-pot Chicken & Dumplings (for 2)

2 skinless, boneless chicken breasts, thawed (I put mine in frozen and it worked just fine)
1 T butter
1 can cream of mushroom soup (or cream of chicken, but the mushroom-y flavor was nice)
1 onion, chopped or diced
Chicken broth
Cumin
Poultry seasoning
Seasoned salt
Pepper
1 package refrigerated biscuit dough (I used the small can with 5 biscuits and it was perfect)

1.  Put the chicken, butter, soup and onion in a crock-pot.  Fill with just enough chicken broth to cover.
2.  Add some dashes of the spices and stir it up.
3.  Cover and cook on high for 3-4 hours.  Check to see if chicken is cooked and shred it up.  If not all the way cooked, cover for another hour or so.  Cut up the biscuit dough into bite-size pieces and place them on top of the chicken mixture.  Kind of push them just barely underneath the surface.  Cook for another hour or until it's golden brown on top and the biscuits are done.
4.  Serve with your favorite veggie and salad!

Here is what mine looked like after I added the biscuits!

 

Enjoy! Recipe found here.

snow!

We went to sleep to a blizzard of beautiful snow, and woke up to a beautiful white backyard!  Gibson has been bouncing around in the yard and is very curious about this fluffy white stuff.  January started off very busy for our household, but I know this is going to be a great year!

Busy season has begun, and I have a few projects that I'll be working on while t.dud works lots of hours.  Painting all the doors in the house and changing out the doorknobs so they all match.  I want to change out the hinges (rusted and painted), but that will be a slower process because it requires help from the t.dud.  The other project is sewing new bedding for our room!  New duvet, shams & throw pillows.

Sorry the January desktop is so late, but I'll continue doing these this year if everyone is still enjoying them!  Happy snow day!

January 2011 : 1024 x 768
January 2011 : 1600 x 1200
January 2011 : 1680 x 1050

cuute

Around our house, we love [stovetop] popcorn.  Mmmm delcious.  And I think my phone would love this little accessory, too.