Friday, December 30, 2005 - Phew! Need a breather...
Oh my ... thank goodness the major part of the hecticity (????) is over! I have enjoyed the last 4 days of nothingness. Sitting around, dare I say it, bored! Sure, there was plenty I COULD be doing, but nothing I HAD to be doing, so why bother? Let's see ... last 2 weeks in 2 minutes:
Finished my semester, both courses with A's...maintaining my 4.0. Two more courses to go: Sales & Customer Service, and an Internship, probably at H&R Block (evening hours and tax prep - my only two requirements). Starting back up January 16, then will graduate in the spring! Yippee!
Took DstepD to her mom's in Ohio for Christmas vacation. House is kind of quiet without her.
Finished all 10 costumes, just in the knick of time. Started #10 at 9:30pm Christmas Eve. The firefighter. Won't do THAT again. Yuck. Long story, but not a pleasant project. I don't enjoy sewing vinyl.
I know this is a ridiculously short, and even more ridiculously disjointed post, but it's late, I'm exhausted, I'm in the middle of about a thousand things, and I've gotta be up early tomorrow to go get DstepD back.
Here are a few of the dress-up costumes. I've got pictures of all 5 of DD(5)s, but as I should have expected, DS(2) was more excited about his trucks than he was about his costumes, and he was only willing to model 3 of them, 2 of which are really dark pictures. Here is the album. Someone please let me know if the link doesn't work properly.
G'night....
p.s. no luck on the weight-loss front. hahaha. what a joke. like i've even tried.
p.p.s. no luck on the baby-making front either. :-( and yes, we actually have tried. it's been 6 months. :-(
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Saturday, December 10, 2005 - Holiday Season Has Begun
Currently Reading: One Shenandoah Winter
Currently Cooking: Nothing, but should probably make bread today
Currently Sewing: Dorothy Gayle costume from the Wizard of Oz
For those of you who have been watching for a picture of my jacket ... it's done for the winter, so don't expect it now until spring! 
You can always tell when it's Christmas at our house, because life gets exponentially busy! I hate it. I love Christmas, I just don't at all enjoy the busy-ness that goes with it. Fortunately, things got cut back just a little bit this year. I was quite a few weeks behind in my schoolwork. I had something like 3 weeks to take 4 tests. I was also doing a lot of Christmas sewing, and I had a CD recording project scheduled. I also play the piano at an old-fashioned Christmas celebration one evening during 2 weekends in December. I've got auditions for the musical on Thursday. Our church Christmas program is tomorrow. I'm the accompanist for a local voice teacher whose Christmas recital was supposed to be last night. We haven't done any Christmas shopping or baking, and we just got our tree up last night. I was starting to feel a bit overwhelmed. Then, my serger broke, so it was in the shop for more than a week. That gave me lots of time to do homework instead of sewing. Then, the woman who helps me record had hernia surgery and during the procedure (I shan't point any fingers...) her bladder "got" ruptured. They put iodine ink in to be sure it wasn't leaking, and she was severely allergic to it. She was in the hospital for 3 days instead of outpatient. She's going back today for another ink test (after being on benadryl and prednisone all weekend) to see if it's healed itself. If not, she'll have to have another surgery. So, instead of recording, I got some more homework done. This same woman is the voice teacher whose recital was last night, so it was also cancelled, freeing up some more time. So, although these things aren't at all positive, they have been blessings in disguise. And great reminders of how nice it is to have Christmas evenings at home instead of all over the place!! I will try to keep that in mind when I'm scheduling things next year.
The latest update on the Christmas dress-up boxes: DH hasn't even begun building the boxes. Yikes! DD5's box will contain (forgive me if I'm repeating myself here...): a Renaissance princess (done), a Dorothy dress (just needs the lining sewn down, and hemmed, and the ribbon belt attached), a cowgirl (done), a colonial girl (think Laura Ingalls...haven't even gotten the fabric yet!), and an Indian girl (done except the headband). DS2's box will contain: a knight (done), Davy Crockett/Indian (depending on which hat he wears with it) (fabric is cut out, but haven't started sewing it yet), a soldier (done), a cowboy (done except the shirt), and a fireman (don't have the fabric yet). So you see ... it's keeping me quite busy.
I know this is an abrupt change of subject, but please pray for my daughter. She's so tiny ... about 35 pounds. She's 5 1/2 years old. She's not scrawny, she's just tiny. I think she's 38" tall. Anyway, she is such a terrible eater. She was doing so well for awhile. But then she went trucking for a week with my parents and, (I'm NOT blaming them!) she ate restaurants (basically chicken nuggets and french fries) all week long, which got her out of the habit of eating what we eat. So we have to fight with her at dinner time to even eat 3 bites of everything we're having. Now that winter is upon us, she's started getting sick again. Every winter this happens. It's been kind of silly this year though. She wakes up throwing up, sleeps on the couch all day, and has 100% recovered by early evening. It has happened two times in two weeks. The first time, her temp reached 103.7°. This time, she didn't have a fever, but she just laid there staring off into the distance. I worry about her. She couldn't even keep water down yesterday. But now she's just fine. I don't understand, but I don't question it when she gets better. I just rejoice. But anyway, please pray for her. And for her daddy and me for patience in getting her to eat. She just refuses to listen that her not eating is what is causing her to get sick. It's frustrating. We've been fighting with her about her eating pretty much since she started eating table food. It's getting old. And it's affecting (effecting???) her health.
Anyway, I need to get going. Lots to do (see top paragraph! lol )
There are so many of you whose blogs I used to read daily. I scarcely have a chance to get online beyond email and patternreview.com. I miss reading what you all have been up to. Thank you so much to those of you who faithfully visit my (woefully inactive) blog and continue to leave comments. It's really encouraging and it keeps me coming back, however infrequently. If no one ever commented, I'd probably just drop the whole thing. But I feel like I know so many of you, that I just can't do that :-) Awwwww.... ok, enough sentimentality. I really must go.
Have a great day, all!
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Wednesday, November 30, 2005 - Really bad at this
Ok, I'm a really crummy updater. Life is just super duper busy right now. DD5 is keeping me busy with school. Not a day goes by that I'm NOT completely astonished with her learning abilities. Last night at bedtime, she read a Reading Level 2.2 book quite easily, which means she's really reading at nearly a grade 3 level. One year ago at this time, she couldn't even read the word "can" and now she's reading at a near 3rd grade level! Amazing. It's so much fun to watch our kids learn stuff, isn't it??? Yet another bonus to HSing.
We had Thanksgiving at our home this year, which seems to be becoming the tradition. Usually I make the traditional menu (turkey, mashed potatoes, green bean casserole, corn, stuffing, gravy, cranberry sauce) and also make a new menu, trying a new recipe for each dish (different potatoes, different veggies, etc...) That usually goes over well, because if I pick a loser recipe, we've got the traditional stuff to fall back on. This year, I've been so busy that I just didn't do any new stuff, and everyone was so disappointed! The first words out of my sister's mouth when she got here were "So what's the new dish this year??" I had to tell her we were just having plain ol' boring Thanksgiving food. hahaha. So we'll be back to that next year. Just as we were sitting down to eat, my best friend called. They had been on their way up the mountain to her grandmother's for dinner and the snow was so bad they couldn't drive. Because they had other plans, they of course didn't have a turkey for themselves. We naturally had more than we would need, so she, her husband, her sister, and their almost 5yo dd came over. By the time they got here, my family was all done eating, so I cleared the table and let them have Thanksgiving dinner by themselves. Afterwards, they actually played games with us! It was so much fun, because my mom, sister and I love to play games, but my dad and hubby don't, so every year, we beg them to play, and they either don't (which annoys US) or they do (which annoys THEM). So it was nice to have a couple or people to willingly play games with us. It also was very nice to have an inch or two of snow just for the day.
I'm also frantically trying to get some sewing projects done. I made 3 angel costumes for the kids' Christmas program next Sunday (the 11th). I also had lined up 2 long-sleeved work shirts for DH, a quilt for previously mentioned best friend (who is having a baby Dec 8 after 5 years of trying!), several more costumes for my kids' dress-up boxes they're getting for Christmas, long-sleeved knit tops for 2yoDS and me, slacks and blouse outfit for me ... the list goes on and on ... and my serger chose this week to break (much thanks to 2yo DS!) So it's in the shop for the week, and I'm using the (very little) time I would ordinarily spend sewing to cut all these things out. That way, when I get my serger back, I can just start whipping projects out left and right.
That is, of course, in between my homework assignments. I've reached the all-too-familiar point in the semester when I'm in panic mode and can't wait for it to be over!! Somehow this semester, I managed 2 or 3 times to completely forget I was even enrolled, which naturally put me very far behind. I have just over 2 weeks left, and something like 4 more tests. Whoops! And I have no excuse to take an Incomplete this semester. The good news is, after this semester, I have only one more and I'll graduate! Finally! I've been going to this school part time since summer of '01, with the exception of one semester off after I had DS. I'm tired of it. I love learning, and I am kind of dreading the mushiness that happens to my brain between semesters, only on a much larger scale (not being enrolled anymore), but I'm a SAHM and HSer. I'm too busy for this any longer. Next semester I'll have an internship. That should be interesting, schedule-wise.
One more exciting piece of news. My high school chorus teacher has asked me to play the piano for the spring musical this year. I've ALWAYS wanted to, but only did for my senior year production. She's always hired a man from outside to do it. Well apparently, they had a bit of a falling out last year, so she wants me to do it now! Yay!! So I would assume that means for more than just this year! Yippee!! Of course, I don't know any students at the high school anymore, but I do enjoy being part of the production. (I've played the synthesizer - yuck - for several years for these shows). So I am also playing for the auditions on Dec 15. They are doing Bye Bye Birdie, about which I know absolutely NOTHING, so I'm picking up the score and maybe the CD tomorrow morning, and hopefully I can rent the video to at least somewhat familiarize myself with the show.
Oh dear. I go for ages without updating. Then when I do, it's like I can't shut up. I have so much I should be doing.
Thanks, everyone, for still stopping by and commenting, even though I'm the world's worst updater. :-)
Have a great day!
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Wednesday, November 9, 2005 - Southwestern Chicken Chili
Whoops ... that was quite a tease, wasn't it?? I promised to tell you about a fabulous soup, and then I didn't! And I never even noticed, until RainyDayMichele pointed it out! So here it is:
SOUTHWESTERN CHICKEN CHILI
1 14.5 oz. can tomatoes, diced, undrained
1 16 oz. jar/can salsa or tomato sauce
1 14.5 oz. can chicken broth
1 cup medium barley
4 cups water
1 T. chili powder
1 tsp. cumin
1 15 oz. can black beans, drained, rinsed
1 15 1/4 oz. can whole kernel corn or corn with peppers, undrained
3 cups chicken breast, cooked, cut into bite-sized pieces (about 1 1/2 lbs)
cheddar cheese (opt.)
sour cream (opt.)
In 6 quart saucepan, combine first 7 ingredients. Over high heat bring to a boil; cover and reduce heat to low. Simmer for 40 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add beans, corn, and chicken; increase heat to high until chili comes to a boil. Cover and reduce heat to low. Simmer for another 5 minutes, or until barley is tender. If upon standing the chili becomes too thick, add more chicken broth or water until chili is desired consistency. If desired, top with shredded cheese and sour cream.
Makes 11 (1-cup) servings.
Here's the kicker: It's off the back of the barley box!! I have never had a recipe off the back of a package that I loved as much as this soup. Now here are my notes:
The first time I made it, I followed the recipe to a T (except I used frozen corn). It was divine. This is a very important note: The cheddar cheese and sour cream are an absolute requirement to achieve said divinity. It made quite a lot, so DH and I enjoyed as much as we could (well - I picked every last teensy weensy little black bean out of mine because I'm a wiener like that) but other than that, we enjoyed it. There was really quite a lot leftover, so I froze it. DH is still taking it to work with him.
Today, I made it again, with changes. Some changes were deliberate, others were due to circumstances. I doubled it, because I was planning to can it. I omitted the black beans, because I don't like them and DH doesn't like to pick them out of his teeth. I only had one can of chicken broth, so I used that plus 2 chicken bouillon cubes plus 2 cups of water. (No real change there) I was slightly short on barley, so this time around isn't quite as thick as the first time. This makes a very thick, chowder-like soup. I cooked a whole chicken, specifically for this recipe, and ended up with only a little more than half the chicken I needed, so there's not nearly as much chicken in it either.
Oh, one more note. I used our own tomatoes, and our own corn, and our own GREEN tomato salsa. I think that's possibly what made it so delicious. Lemme know if you want that recipe. So anyway, I doubled the recipe, and I got 10 pint jars, plus a nice small bowl for me to snack on while I was finishing up. Put soup in clean hot jars, wipe rims, put lids on, process for 75 minutes at 15 lbs pressure. I'm thrilled with how it came out, because this was my first experience canning soup, and it wasn't a recipe that was specifically for canning, so I experimented, and it worked!
So Michele, there you have it. Fantabulous soup! :-) If you try it, let me know what you think of it.
On the HS-ing front ... we had the week off. DD5 went trucking with my parents for the whole week. This isn't the first time she's done it. She goes with them pretty often (another plus for HS-ing!) She enjoyed the week off, as did I. I was hoping to get lots and lots of sewing done, since we didn't have school, but DS2 and I found ourselves running errands all week long! Figures ... I did finish my denim jacket though! I will post a picture of it another time. It's late, and I must get to bed.
Someone remind me in a week or so that I said I'd post a picture! :-)
G'night all...
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Saturday, October 29, 2005 - Hail, Jackets, and Junkies
Currently Reading: Let Me Call You Sweetheart by Mary Higgins Clark
Currently Sewing: a denim jacket for fall, now that it's practically winter 
Currently Cooking: nothing, BUT .... let me tell you about the fabulous soup we had for dinner last night:
Well, kiddos, it's looking like the most you're gonna get from me is a once-a-week update. Sorry - life's busy right now.
About my title:
Hail: it hailed here the other day. I thought hail was a summertime thing. In fact, I know it is - I took meteorology a few semesters ago, which makes me a natural expert. 
It was really dark and cloudy, then it got really sunny, but still cloudy, and then it started to downpour. DD5 said, "Mom, what's all this white stuff?" So I looked out and sure enough, it was hailing. It continued for a solid 3 minutes, then it rained the rest of the day. Yuck. Oh, and this was after the freak snowstorm we got a couple days earlier. Today was in the upper 50s. Weird weather ...
Jackets: I'm starting a denim jacket for me. Yes, late I know, but I think I can have it done in 2-3 days, hopefully in time for November. haha. I was hoping to have it for church tomorrow, since we're currently in a nice-ish weather spell. If I don't get it done before full-cold weather sets in, then think how excited I'll be to pull out a brand new, never-worn jacket in the spring!! I'm very excited about it, and I'm making good progress on it. I'm definitely enjoying my new rotary cutter and mat I got at Joann's sale last weekend (see previous post).
Junkies: Sigh ... this is part of the reason I've not updated this week. As I've mentioned already (I think...) I bought a box of 400+ sewing patterns at an estate sale a few weeks ago. I listed them in the classified at PatternReview.com, my second home. I've sold about a 5th of them, making quite a return on my investment of one dollar. One of my buyers was a woman from Finland - very lovely woman. She's since become addicted to vintage patterns (I'm not calling her the junkie here ... I'll get to that part ...) She's found many many many vintage pattern lots on ebay that she wants to bid on, and she's come up with quite a sum of money that she can "spare" on patterns. However, many ebay sellers won't ship to Finland, so she's sent me the money and tells me which items she wants to bid on, and how much she wants to bid up to, and I do her bidding and purchasing for her. Now, onto the junkie part ... during this process, I've discovered the fun of ebay!! I've started listing some patterns and books I've got lying around, and I find myself wasting precious hours (yes - hours!!) poring over stuff at ebay. Now, in my defense, I haven't bought, or even bid on, even one single item for myself or anyone in my family. The only bidding and purchasing I've done is patterns for my Finnish friend. But, suddenly, I can see the allure of ebay. Yes, folks, I AM becoming an ebay junkie!! 
Now, about that denim jacket ........
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