Crabby Abby & Grumpy Gertie

Abby has started taking an interest in her dolls. Yesterday at FUll Bloom she wanted to play with one of Pat's. So I pulled out Grumpy Gertie for her and she has been playing with her. I put her in one of the cute outfits that Grandma Susan made her.

Which is better....

A cooking spree? Or a shopping spree?

I think they both have their advantages....however; one makes you want to lose weight while the other makes you gain weight. :)

While on vacation at Hilton Head...I went on a shopping spree. Not too much but enough to make me enjoy wearing clothes again and want to look good. Though it is expensive.

Now that I am home. I am trying to do more home cooking and make it fun and exciting. This means we have been doing a lot more baking. Though I am trying to keep it healthy and less caloric.

First, I made some mini muffins. They were yummy, 4 of them were equal to one size muffin…and I went a little overboard in eating them. I had 6 of them. This wouldn’t be so bad, except the muffins had a ton of fiber in them. I used a basic oatmeal applesauce muffin recipe that I found on allrecipes.com. Then I made some creative changes based on what I had around the house. I added some butternut squash, applesauce, carrots & fresh cherries. MMMM…they were yummy!!

Then I made 2 sets of buttermilk pizza dough. One set for us to eat and freeze and one for a friend who has helped me out a lot. I made pepperoni & olive pizza. Not super healthy but better than eating out. Yesterday, I made a nice tomato, cucumber & onion pasta salad from fresh produce I received from Sheldon’s co-worker. The tomatoes were delicious and so ripe. I cheated a bit and added a little bit of pepperoni and cheese and used Italian dressing to marinate the salad. However, to go with the salad and to make a complete supper I made focaccia bread from a recipe on allrecipes.com. It made a ton of it so I ended up freezing over 2/3 of the bread. We will have some more for dinner tonight. I also, ended up making some fresh salsa yesterday. Though I have to finish it….Abby didn’t let me add the cilantro. I am hoping it tastes good. I added a bit of cucumber to it as we had so many of them.

Then today I ended up making a low fat oatmeal chocolate chip cookies that I modified again quite a bit. Baking Bits, the blog I found them on had such a fantastic picture. Mine didn’t turn out the same way. Probably because I made quite a few changes based on what I had in the house. I reduced the brown & white sugar to half and then added 2 bananas, wheat flour, coconut and butterscotch chips…and a couple of carrots. I figure they were sweet and nobody would notice, however, it would be a nice dose of extra nutrients.

Using scissors instead of a rotary cutter...

well at least for the most part. This morning, Abby decided that 4 am was wake up and stay up time. So after a lot of struggle...daddy & I decided to go shopping and walking. So we did that and came home around 6 am. By this time Abby was asleep, daddy had to get ready for work and I had to fill out insurance paperwork. Not very fun. Then at 10 I had a chiropractor's appointment. So this morning was very busy. Since Abby decided mommy & daddy woke her up really early...she took another nap and I decided to work on a art quilt. I have a few people whom I would like to make something similar for at Christmas time so I wanted to practice. I took a picture I had of Rocky and turned it into my quilt.

I think it turned out cute. I figured too that it would be a go project to work on as I didn't need to use my rotary cutter and I was pretty tired. Here is Abby recovering from her lack of sleep....and right after this was taken we discovered that she had cut her finger. We are not sure how she did it...however, she must have wanted to be like momma. Luckily, we didn't need to get stitches. Though she is wearing a sock on her hand now.

Some Pretties...

Today, Abby and I went out for a few hours so that daddy could take a nap. Unbeknownst to momma...Abby did wake up last night....though mommy didn't. I was very excited this morning thinking she slept through the night. Well daddy quickly informed me that wasn't the case. So to be nice, we went to the Farmer's Market in Watkinsville and bought some yummy bread from my friend Vanessa.

Then we decided to go to the local quilt shop. I wasn't supposed to buy anything...however they were having 60% off and I picked up 2 magazines and some fabric. Well one of the mags had a tutorial on how to make pot holders and I have always wanted to do that....so before going to the 4th of July party...Abby and I made them.

They aren't perfect but they are pretty cute. Abby was sitting so nicely next to Rocky and right at the last stitch...I looked over and his claw was hanging out of her arm. She was more scared of me yelling at him then the actual scratch. Not sure what happened, but I think she tried pulling his tail or something.

Sneak Peek revealed...

Here is what was making Abby smile so big. I have never seen her smile like that. WOW. She is becomming a big girl.Plus....she can kind of stand by herself. When did that happen??? Oh, yeah. Yesterday..

Facebook

Hi everyone...

I am sorry to be so bad about posting on the blog. I hate to say it...I am becoming a facebook junkie. :) It is easier sometimes to post little tidbits and pics of Abby on there. If you have facebook and wanna be my friend...please message me. Because I miss talking with everyone. Especially all my PCMB friends.

A sneak peek....

Happy Father's Day Everyone...

Hope all the new daddies gets lots of sleep...and all daddies get lots of love. I know Sheldon & Abby are having a great first Daddy Day.

Come join us at Full Bloom....

If you are in Athens, GA this Saturday. Please come and join us!

Here is a list of some of the goodies that will be available.

Yikes....

Well...I made a decent skirt. Now I have ruined it. :) I accidentially cut it with my scissors yesterday when I was cutting some fabric. So I am going to add some fabric tomorrow and create a new hem on it.

To go with it...I used some of the same fabric to make a reversible purse. It was fun and a bit hard as it took me 3 or 4 tries to figure out what I needed to do to make it reversible. I finally did it. It isn't perfect but I think it turned out cute.

Tomorrow, a couple of the fabric stores has patterns on sale...I might take a peek...especially since I am not a skinny minny, none of the larger sizes are in the economy packs.

What else. Abby has a new summer hat. She looks adorable. She now knows the sound of the camera and stops what she is doing to pose.

Lastly, here is the other project I worked on yesterday. Homemade pretzels. They are yummy. Also, since Abby is eating more solids I have been making my own. We started off with some baked sweet potatoes. Then a banana, and the last couple of days she has been eating homemade applesauce. It hasn't been too hard as I am also trying to use the crock pot for stuff. Tomorrow, I am going to cook up some butternut squash.

Have a great day...

It finally happened...

A semi decent skirt for myself. Last night Abby fell asleep about 10 or so..then she kept waking up. Daddy grabbed her while he was doing some computer stuff and after finishing some cleaning I decided to work on it. It was about 11 pm when I started and midnight or so when I finished. Very quick & easy. I even tried french seams on the sides.
TFL...

PS....She only woke up once...at 4 pm last night. Yeah.


PS2...My friend Vanessa made some yummy bagels today. So I am now trying to make some homemade pretzels. We will see how they come out. My wrists hurt a bit right now from all the hand kneading.