pillow #2, in progress

Today it's a little chilly - well, I guess 67 isn't cold, but it is enough for a California girl to grab a sweater - so I'm doing dishes, laundry, and getting started on the embroidered pillow. And I'm ready for my next cup of tea!

pillow talk

Apparently September is National Sewing Month (according to the signs at JoAnn's), and to celebrate it, JoAnn's had their quilting material 30% off. As I was walking by, browsing for the "right" color green for the bird pillow, this green dotted material caught my eye. John loved it too, so we got 1/2 a yard, and the other day I made a pillow cover. It actually took two days to get it all done, in part because I took the time to line it, but I am thrilled with how it turned out, especially considering that it was my first time using piping.

evening at home

another glorious sunset - rain is predicted for tomorrow

our "dryer" basking in the luminescence

ideas for the baby's room ... to be continued

These are all ideas. I'm thinking of framing the bird print (top picture) or one like it. And I love the bird mobile in the green prints. We have a crib that we are painting white, and a rocking chair that just needs a seat. I bought material today to make a pillow for the rocker like the one shown above, just in light green instead of mustard. I'll post a pic when (if) it's done. We painted the ceiling light blue, and I really love the idea of hanging white paper lanterns.

We'll see how it turns out!

chicken pot pie ........

Mmmmm ... fall goodness.

The other day I called John at work and asked what he thought of having a pot pie for dinner. He was quite enthusiastic about the idea, and could hardly wait to get home.
It was one of those "fall is here, kind-of-sort-of" days, and I felt like making some comfort food. Chicken pot pie is high on my list of comfort food, along with Sour Patch Kids, gummi bears, hot chocolate, goulash, sour cream mashed potatoes with green peas, BBQ tri-tip done medium rare, coffee ...
I grabbed one of my copies of Joy of Cooking (the one that sits on the microwave) and thumbed through it looking for a recipe. To my dismay, the only one it had called for a chicken hash-like filling. No veggies. To be comfort food, my pot pies must have veggies. And lots of peas. So I pulled out my box of cookbooks, and continued looking.
Betty Crocker helped, but she asked for a puff pastry crust, and I was unwilling to take the three+ hours to make puff pastry. I knew what crust I wanted to use, but I needed some guidelines for baking times, etc. for a double crust (another essential element) pot pie.
So, after about 10 more minutes on Cooks.com, I came up with a mish-mash of recipes and set to work, hoping it would turn out like the ones in my memory.

And the recipe will follow in a few days, cuz John and I are heading up to Indy to spend the weekend celebrating Sarah and Teri's birthdays.
So you'll have to wait!

random thought ....

What do ice cream truck drivers do during the school year? They just seem to go into hibernation until the next summer ...

first photos

Last Thursday John and I went to the Good Samaritan Hospital and had an ultrasound. We came home with the knowledge that our baby is healthy and GROWING and looks quite perfect. The baby is also a little wiggler! The nurse had a hard time getting all the images she needed, because the little one kept moving. :P

tropical storm Ike

Yesterday the remnants of tropical storm Ike came through - sometimes at 60+ miles an hour (notice the shingles on the church lifting up)!

Ike promptly knocked out our electricity, so we had to improvise when it came to cooking dinner (and the headlamps from Anna came in VERY handy - thank you again!).

As the electricity was out, we had to do something else for dinner. The apartment complex does not allow BBQs, so ... this was a surprisingly efficient substitute. The hot dogs actually got quite hot, and even had grill marks on them. :)

It even worked to boil water for tea this afternoon, and I was going to use the candles again for dinner tonight, but the power came back on just before I was going to light them. Bummer. (jk)

And today, to occupy myself with no electricity (a fun word to spell, by the way), I took random pictures of my tea, the apartment ....... You might get to see a few more later.

"angel rays"

ta-da!

We did it! We moved - for the second time.

our first little home, being packed up