Roller Scrapper

Valentines Day sweets for my sweet

2012-02-22T07:29:00.000-08:00

Stud muffin

A valentines cupcake inspired by a valentine from target. I made the captain this cupcake and a bunch of lollipops for Valentines Day.

Stash of stacshes

I found this great mold at michaels. I used mint chocolate candy melts and made over a dozen.

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Remembering Grandma Captain

2012-02-10T20:46:00.000-08:00

Sadly the captain's grandma passed away last weekend. The captain went to visit her and was holding her hand when she passed on. Unfortunately bring both sick and pregnant, we decided I should stay home and watch the pets and take care of the house. I wanted to be there so we made a video for her so I could say goodbye. Grandma Captain was an avid traveler, who went to China. She was also well known for her hairpin lace, a skill which I picked up to make this shawl for her. And like me she loved the color pink. I'm so very sad that she did not get to meet her great grandson, but will remember her fondly.

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Super meal

2012-02-05T22:41:00.000-08:00

Super meal

Ok so the patriots lost but I got to have brisket, pulled pork and beef ribs. Not pictured was the 3 kinds of chicken and sausage. I also made a chocolate cake from a scratch recipe which surprisingly didn't have any eggs but was super moist. My only notes were that I baked it for 35 min instead of 25-30, but it was really easy and probably cheaper than a mix, I just made it because I was our of cake mix but had a can of frosting on hand.
Boy am I full!

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The final countdown

2012-02-05T12:25:00.000-08:00

Kitty sling?

Today begins the final countdown, only 99 days until my estimated due date. I'm totally in nesting mode, yesterday I made some more sheets and laundered the cloth cover to the swing I purchased in my last blog post. Today I made a baby sling thanks to the directions at karma baby and the kitty helped me try it out, he seemed pretty happy in there, I had him so you can see his face, but the baby will go the other way with his head up by my shoulder until he has the neck strength to hold his head up.
Now to make chicken and cake for the superbowl party! Go Pats!

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My favorite thing from Live at CHA

2012-01-31T08:16:00.000-08:00

La blanche stamps

I just yesterday learned about using La Blanche Silicone stamps with UTEE. I saw it at Live at CHA from Charity Wings. It was awesome, they melted UTEE and poured it all over the inked stamp. I of course immediately dug out my melting pot, which I haven't used since 2008 :-x and got to work. I tried it at first without enough UTEE so I remelted, but that left a bunch of black particles in the design. So I tried again with fresh UTEE and it worked much better. The key is having enough UTEE to pour all over the entire surface of the design, as you can see at the top I started to run out again. This was a really fun project! I am not sure what I'll do with my hedgehogs, but I craft like that, I find a technique I like, I make a few and then it sits, and then one day I will be looking for just the right embellishmet and Voila! I'm ready to use it :)

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Getting ready for baby

2012-01-30T20:29:00.000-08:00

Flannel crib sheets

I made these crib sheets for the baby's crib. In case you want to make your own, I made a tutorial on instructables.

Don't you love the pirate monkeys?

Also I'm in a contest so if you can vote on the top of the page out would be much appreciated.

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New to me Nursery Stuff

2012-01-28T16:16:00.000-08:00

Under the sea nursery stuff

Today we went to some thrift shops for fun and I really scored at The Rock thrift shop. Unlike their dimly lit and slightly depressing counterparts, this thrift shop is very clean with very current stuff. I got this baby swing which appears to be like new for $15, it normally retails for $75, and this starfish projector in good condition for $3.50 which I nearly registered for at just over $20. The Rock thrift shop is on Sports Arena blvd in Point Loma. While it is not huge I recommend checking it out as it's the only place we bought anything out of 3 thrift shops in the area.
Plus everything works, they both still had batteries so I could test them out.
I'm pretty stoked, our theme so far is animals dressed like pirates and sea stuff so this will fit right in!

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Lazy Sunday and 2 great causes

2012-01-03T18:27:00.000-08:00

Lazy pooch

Grommet using the captain's shirt as a pillow.

Yesterday I spent a glorious day napping in the sun on the couch. Seriously, my kitty was jealous as I took up every available inch on the couch. Today I went in for an appointment, everything's looking good, heartbeat was strong. So enough about me, there are two things I wanted to talk about, one was a Benefit for my friend Willow who lost her 3 pets in an apartment fire, so if you're in the Hillcrest/North Park area next Tuesday, January 10, please check out the Ruby Room for 3 bucks you can enjoy some music and the proceeds go to my friend who is in need.

And also I just joined Club TLC. My friend Elena wrote a great post about what she does and how we can help her keep going. This Club sounds like a lot of fun and the first 50 people get a bonus T-Shirt. Plus if you heard about this through me and you can confirm with me that you signed up I'd be happy to send you a necklace, which looks something like this one. I've made them all personally and I'll even let you pick. Can't be that huh? :) I have about 5 to send out .

Benefit for willow

Please consider attending this benefit for my friend who lost her apartment and her 3 pets the week after thanksgiving.

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Birthday Ultrasound

2011-12-19T21:32:00.000-08:00

It's a....

On my birthday we went for our anatomy scan. I can't believe it has been 19 weeks as of the 19th! At 17 weeks and one day I was feeling kicks, and by 18 weeks the captain could feel kicks from the outside! And now we find out we are having a baby boy! As for the rest of the day, my cousin and his girlfriend were visiting so we played kinect and we treated them to the zoo. After dropping them at the airport, the captain and I went out for crab legs, and I even got a sparkler in my chocolate cake and then was treated to a bunch of kicks, I was imagining the baby yelling "cake, CAKE, cake! Cake is the only thing that matters!!" Just like out of one of my favorite blogs, hyperbole and a half.

I also forgot to mention that on week 18, I mentioned to the captain that I thought my bump was finally unmistakable, and that day someone at work that didn't know asked me if I was expecting. Then the next day my cashier at trader joes asked me when I was due, so there is no mistaking this for a donut binge!

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Lady bug!

2011-12-18T23:02:00.000-08:00

Lady bug for a little lady

I crocheted this for the cutest bug lover I know. My coworker's daughter needs to become an etymologist even though she is about 3 right now!
The instructions are a bit wonky since I haven't made a pattern in a while, but they will work this way or you can do all the sc first before the 2 sc in one sc.

Lady bug
Body
Ch 2
Sc 6 in 2nd st
Sc 2 in each (12)
Sc 2 in 1, sc in 2nd st, repeat 6 times (18)
Sc 2 in 1, sc in, 2nd and 3rd st, repeat 6 times (24)
Sc 2 in 1, sc in 2nd 3rd and 4th st repeat 6 times (30)
Sc 2 in 1, sc in 2nd, 3rd, 4th and 5th st, repeat 6 times (36)
Sc 36
sc 2 tog, sc 4, repeat 6 times (30)
Sc 2 tog, sc 3, repeat 6 times (24)
Sc 2 tog, sc 2, repeat 6 times (18)
Sc 2 tog, sc 1, repeat 6 times, (12)
Stuff lightly so it is a half sphere
Sc 2 tog repeat 6 times, (6)
Sc 2 tog, repeat 3 times, bo.
Head
ch 2
Sc 6 in 2nd ch from hook
Sc 2 in each (12)
Sc 1, sc 2 in next st, repeat 6 times (18)
Sc 1, sc 2 tog (12)
Insert 2 9 mm eyes
Stuff lightly
Sc 2 tog, 8 times, bo leaving long tail to sew onto body.
Antennae
Attach a yarn to head and ch 4
Sc 1 in 2 nd ch from hook
Ch 3, bo, weave tail back into antennae, repeat for other antennae
Spots
Ch 2, sc 6 in the 2nd ch from hook
Bo

Add spots or flowers, tie bow on antenna

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Too pooped to party

2011-12-10T16:24:00.000-08:00

Quidditch cookies

Sadly I am suffering the ill effects of pregnancy, which means I felt well enough to make two lovely batches of cookies for Elena's 40th birthday party, then suddenly felt so nauseated and tired I couldn't go to the party. Don't worry, these didn't go to waste, the captain hand delivered them so we didn't have to eat 3 dozen cookies ourselves!

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Amigurumi mermaid

2011-12-08T16:11:00.000-08:00

A little mermaid

Unfortunately I do not take a photo of the one my mom made, but we both made little mermaids for the greek's daughters. I hope they like them!

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Forget love, I want to fall into chocolate!

2011-12-08T16:03:00.000-08:00

Trader joes chocolate croissants

The captain is a genius, he decided to heat the house in the am by figuring out the auto timer on the oven. Well maybe I am the genius because I decided to try making trader joe's chocolate croissants which need to proof overnight. I woke up to delicious flaky chocolatey croissants. They are just as good as the ones we had in france or italy! I think I'm in love!

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The best burgers and shakes!

2011-12-07T16:01:00.000-08:00

Hodads onion rings!

And our good friend aka the greek.

Hodads magic bus!

The greek and the captain pose after a killer meal including frings, bacon cheese burgers and a chocolate shake!

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Excellent

2011-12-06T22:06:00.000-08:00

Excellent

You can just imagine here that the baby is doing the Mr. Burns "Excellent!" pose with tiny hands.

It was later this very afternoon 12/6 that I first felt the baby moving! Just like a goldfish in a plastic bag, bumping into the plastic.

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Happy turkey day!

2011-11-24T15:58:00.000-08:00

Roasted chestnuts

This year I found the roasted chestnuts for the stuffing at lucky seafood. Here they are nice and peeled.

The thanksgiving table

All set with with items passed down from our families, including the table!

Nom nom Nom!

A full plate + maternity pants = the best thanksgiving!

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Alien baby!

2011-11-02T18:54:00.000-07:00

Baby alien

I swear all babies look like aliens at this point! This was from my nt scan.

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Trick or treat!

2011-10-31T18:50:00.000-07:00

Happy halloween!

Despite the town trying to cancel halloween, we went out in full style with real lanterns. No one ruins our halloween!

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Lego store

2011-10-15T10:48:00.000-07:00

Lego store grand opening

Because my niece loves legos I stood in line for about an hour and the waited another 30 min inside to get some opening day legos. Amazingly some crazy lady decided to pay with change, and I swear she had a box that was about $100 or more that she was paying for. However I was happy to get the exclusive set for my niece!

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A finished quilt

2011-09-30T18:43:00.000-07:00

Baby quilt!

I made this quilt for my friend who is expecting, this is my first completed quilt!

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The captain's work is never done

2011-09-28T15:41:00.000-07:00

The grape harvest

Although all you can see is limes, the captain is harvesting grapes. We got about 400lbs of grapes this year and I made two kinds of grape jelly, unfortunately grape jelly only uses about 4lbs of grapes! Luckily our friends and neighbors all enjoy grapes!

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Goodbye summer

2011-09-24T15:39:00.000-07:00

Tiki party!

Grommet helping demo the arch that the captain put up for our tiki party. It was at our wedding and he varnished it so we could make it an entrance to the back yard. I didn't manage to take any party pics, but I served teriyaki chicken and pineapple as well as pineapple cupcakes, coconut brownies, fruit punch modified from the tahitian terrace recipe (i cut the sugar in half) and mai tais in special ceramic tiki mugs that I bought for the occasion. It was a great way to say goodbye to summer!

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Ultrasound

2011-09-23T15:37:00.000-07:00

Our first baby pic!

Six weeks and four days!

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Lego head

2011-09-05T15:30:00.000-07:00

Preparing for halloween

The captain spray painting our Halloween costumes. We are going to be legos and my niece will be princess leia.

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Pregnant!

2011-09-05T15:29:00.000-07:00

Pregnant!

I took this photo on Sept 5th, intending to save it to show my parents, but we were so excited that I called then immediately after we found out the good news!

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Catch a Wave Quilt top.

2011-08-21T18:55:00.001-07:00

Catch a wave, quilt top 3

This is my third quilt top, I call it "catch a wave" The pink surfboard scraps were given to me and I added the gen and blue fabric which I bought at walmart. My favorite is the blue because it had sparkles in it!

For the backing I bought a throw blanket at costco for $13.99. it is double sided minky, and is 60x70. So that's nearly 4 yards of fabric for the price of one! I can't wait to try out my new feet, I got a walking and a darning foot from sew pros. Surf's up!

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D23 - 2011

2011-08-19T22:00:00.000-07:00

Jim Henson, Disney Legend

I went to d23 and saw the legends ceremony. While it was mega awesome to see all of the modern princesses get honored and they sang songs from their respective movies, and then together, My favorite part was when kermit and rolf sang the rainbow connection, right after Brian Henson talked about his father's habit of making noises to annotate his life, such as making funny noises to pull a pen out of his pocket, or drizzle honey in his kids' pancakes.

Rainbow Connection

I love this song so much I didn't even need the sub titles :)
I really loved the lighting effect they did here.

Free Cupcakes!

As if the day could not get any better, we came out to find free cupcakes! They were my favorite kind, with light almost whipped cream like frosting.

Tweedle dee and tweedle dum

Here we are in front of an auction item. Can you imagine buying this?!

Tea anyone?

Doesn't Elena look like she is supposed to stay in this display permanently?

Awesome lego lightning McQueen

I had to get a pic with this because my niece lives lego and lightning "queen" :)

Dharma van

I'm still a lost fan at heart even if I was disappointed by the ending.

Too cute!

I just loved this gigantic little mermaid!

Oh boy what a fun time!

What a fun time! I had a blast!

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Blue Hawaiian Quilt Top - Quilt 2

2011-08-14T18:52:00.000-07:00

Blue hawaiian quilt top

Here is my second quilt top. I started this a while back but wasn't sure how it would all go together. I liked how this one was cut on a diagonal.

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A visit to comic con

2011-07-23T22:15:00.000-07:00

Comic con

The captain and our good friend who made her costume. We rode our bikes over to the convention center and saw our friends in costume. I jokingly said that the captain was dressed like lt dangle from reno 911.

Wow comic con

Here I am with our other friend who made his costume. We were chatting when I said "Look at this cute puppy!", and bent down to port an adorable yorkie. The man walking the dog paused and looked at us. Our friend remarked "I know him, he is someone..." After the man left. Then a person who was working the door came over and said"Was that the Reno 911 guy?" We then realized the guy we had been talking about 15 minutes ago just stopped to let me pet his dog!

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Charity quilt

2011-07-08T21:55:00.000-07:00

My first quilt top

Here is my first quilt top, which is a charity quilt.

First quilt top close up

A closer view

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Andy the Android Hip Pack

2011-07-02T18:13:00.000-07:00

Andy the Android Hip Pack

My third Android crochet creation, inspired by Twinkie Chan's Cutetility Packs, I've created my own "Hip Pack". I don't want to look like a loser with bulging pockets, so here's a cute way to tote around your Droid X, your lip gloss, some money and your ID, while looking HIP!

Here's the pattern, which is absolutely free :) Or check out my step by step Instructable: http://www.instructables.com/id/Andy-the-Android-Hip-Pack/

Using a K 10 1/2 hook, note wherever you bind off (bo) leave a tail for sewing
Head make 2
Row 1 Ch 2, 6 sc in the second chain from the hook, ch 1, turn
Row 2 Sc 6 sts, ch 1 turn
Row 3 Sc 1, sc 2 in next st, repeat until you have 9, ch 1, turn
Row 4 Sc 9, ch 1, turn
Row 5 Sc 1, sc 2 in next st, repeat 4 times, sc 1 (13 sts) ch 1, turn
Row 6 Sc 13, ch 1 turn
Row 7 Sc 1, 2 sc in next st, repeat 6 times, sc 1 (19 sts), ch 1, turn
Row 8 Sc 19
bo

Body make 2, but join the back piece to the head
Row 1 Ch 15
Row 2-20 sc 14, ch 1 turn
Bo

Sides make 2
Row 1 ch 21
Row 2-4, sc 20, ch 1, turn
Bo

Top of head
Row 1 Make a loop, push hook into back of chain for each stitch, sc 20, ch 1, turn
row 2-3 sc 20, chain 1 turn
Bo

Bottom of body
Row 1, join one row, same as on head
Row 2-3, sc 14, ch 1, turn

Arms make 2
Row 1 sc 2, 6 sc in 2nd stitch
Row 2-12, sc 6
Bo

Legs make 2
Row 1 sc 2, 6 sc in 2nd stitch
Row 2-6, sc 6
Bo

Antenna make 2
Row 1 sc 2, 4 sc in 2nd st
Row 2-3 sc 4
Bo

Belt loops make 2
Row 1, chain 5
Row 2-10, sc 4, ch 1 turn
Bo

Sew together pieces, attach arms and legs, antenna and belt loops. Sew on button eyes with yarn.

Full/Felt in dryer. After drying, sew in zipper mouth with regular thread

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I was featured on Instructables Twice!

2011-06-20T07:05:00.001-07:00

Can I tell you how much I love the Instructables site?

Basically it's a web page where you can enter instructions for anything you want, and probably find instructions for anything you want.

There is so much cool stuff on there!

My cupcakes were featured on the front page and are also in a contest!

I wrote about both on My Pink Kitchen, but you can go to them directly as well:

Moving R2D2 Cupcake:
http://www.instructables.com/id/Robotic-R2D2-Cupcake/

Burger and Shake Cupcakes baked on my BBQ Grill:
http://www.instructables.com/id/Burger-and-Shake-Cupcakes-Made-on-the-BBQ-Grill/

If you'd like to vote for either one, I'm on the middle of this page, and the bottom of this page.

Thanks!

Jury Duty

2011-06-09T15:31:00.000-07:00

The hall of justice

Today I had jury duty, which consisted of sitting around waiting all day! A quick psa. Wearing too much perfume makes people get allergic reactions like dry throat and headaches. No need to wear perfume to jury duty where you are crammed in a crowded room. I had 3 brief moments of panic where they said my first name, followed by someone else's last name. They kept us through lunch time so I wandered over to Horton Plaza to escape my stinky neighbor, and get some fresh air.

Blood orange

On the way to Horton Plaza I spotted a farmers market, where I purchased some delicious oranges. I love how red they look!

In other news I *almost* read an entire book... _The Phantom Tollbooth_

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Want to see some pics from Europe?

2011-06-07T08:54:00.001-07:00

Check out more sweet pics from Europe on My Pink Kitchen

A fun Memorial Day weekend!

2011-05-31T07:21:00.000-07:00

This weekend I got a lot accomplished!

The Captain's New Aloha Shirt

I've been working on a new aloha shirt for the captain and it is finally done!

Bali pops!

I'm working on a quilt since I learned some things on friday. I bought this set of bali pops which is a bunch of pre cut strips of batik fabric.

Quilt progress

Here are all 40 steps sewn together in groups of 5. I used up 100 yards of thread so I went to joann fabrics to get some more since its on sale. I had 3 spools of 100, but went back for 2 more spools of 250.

But there's more! I also made ginger ale that I didn't photograph that was from instructables

And I made cookies, check then out at my new baking blog, I separated the food posts out.. http://my-pink-kitchen.blogspot.com/2011/05/delicious-peanutty-chocolate-chip.html

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Omg look at all this cheese!

2011-05-26T18:33:00.000-07:00

You don't have to know much about me to know that I love shopping at Costco! Today I discovered the wonder of the Costco Business Center, or the "CBC" as my friend D refers to it. A few friends and I met D for lunch and he took us on a tour.

Amazing amounts of cheese at the costco business center!

Probably the most amazing part of our tour!

I just have to say...AMAZING. Not only can you buy random restaurant equipment, hello chef's jacket! You can get giant bulk meats, but also a single pack of hostess cupcakes...you know the kind with just 2! It's like the two polar ends of Costco. On one hand you can buy a paper copier sized box of chicken wings for $30 (99 cents a lb), or the other hand, you can buy a regular sized box of pop tarts.

We also noted that there was stuff at this costco that you never find at the regular costco, I bought these awesome mini burger and hotdog candies for my candy jar at work for only $4.39 for 60...online that would be $11.99! It's like the kind of costco you go to to stock up your restaurant, or your convenience store!

I can't wait to go back...today I purchased (and this was the other anomaly, I spent less than $100) The two packs of hot dogs and hamburger gummis, Mini cocktail parasols (144 for only $2.59!) a pair of tongs that I've been meaning to replace since our wedding last year when they got misplaced at the bbq, and the piece de resistance, 2 silicone baking liners for 19.99...I had been eyeing one for $24.99 at Target just last year.

D gave us the most efficient tour, since he's been multiple times, but I will have to go back. There are so many aisles to explore!

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The Andy Hat and Big Mac Mitts

2011-05-15T10:21:00.000-07:00

The Andy Hat and Big Mac Mitts

Back in January I was flipping through the Sky Mall and saw a photo of my favorite android, Andy. I decided to make a hat that looked like Andy, so I give you the Andy hat!

Also around the same time I fell in love with Twinkie Chan's Burger mitts. Since I'm a huge fan of the Big Mac, this is my homage...I'm still trying to find the right color orange for the special sauce, but so far they're Two all beef patties, lettuce, cheese, pickles onions on a sesame seed bun!

Nom!

We went camping with some friends who made the most awesome burgers. What a perfect accompaniment for my Big Mac Mitts!

I didn't make up a pattern for the mitts but here's my pattern for the hat.
The Andy Hat
Pattern notes. I made this using a K sized hook. I have a pretty large head and this hat was even a wee bit loose on me so if I were to make it again I might either move down to a J sized hook or skip the last set of increases and add an extra row (60 sts)...that might be a bit small for me personally though, so you just have to pay attention as you crochet. Also in order to make it more snug I really tightened my stitches on the last three or for rows.
R1-Ch 2, 6 sc in second chain from hook
R2-2 sc in each sc around (12 sts)
R3 2 sc in each around (24 sts)
R4- sc 1 in ea (24 sts)
R5-*Sc 1, 2 sc in next sc*, repeat 12 times (36 sts)
R6- sc 1 in ea (36 sts)
R7-*sc 2, 2 sc in next sc*, repeat 12 times (48 sts)
R8- sc 1 in ea (48 sts)
R9-*sc 3, 2 sc in next sc*, repeat 12 times (60 sts)
R10-sc 1 in ea (60 sts)
R11-*sc 4, 2 sc in next sc*, repeat 12 times (72 sts)
R12-20sc 1 in ea (72 sts)

Antenna
R1-ch 2, 6 sc in second chain from hook
R2-5 sc 6, bind off leaving tail for sewing

Sew the antenna on and use two buttons for eyes, I chose white, but black might also have been nice...since Andy's eyes are basically holes that go all the way through, you'd want to pick whatever you'd think would be in the background :)

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Rockin bag

2011-05-05T07:54:00.000-07:00

Volume bars cute utility pack

I made this for a friend who likes to frequent concerts. It was crocheted and felted. I'm pretty happy because this is my original design. I came up with the idea because I was inspired by twinkie chan's felted cutetility packs, and my friend was telling about how many girls used fanny packs at coachella.

Felted crochet cute utility pack back side

Here are the belt loops.

Felted crochet cute utility pack key chain loop

I included a key loop for keys, inner pocket and a loop to optionally attach a handle so it can be used as a clutch. I added a seven inch zipper with regular thread after felting.

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Crochet macs

2011-04-26T22:58:00.000-07:00

Crochet macarons

I made macarons in bed...a strawberry chocolate ganache and a chocolate cassis...ok they are just yarn...the recipe
for the shells, make 2
Ch 2
sc 6 in the 2nd stitch from the hook
2 sc in each sc (12)
Sc 12
Bind off
Filling
Chain 12, being careful not to twist, join and sc 12, sc 12 again, bind off.
The tricky bit is sewing the shell to the ganache, I flipped the edge up and sewed the chocolate to the inside of the shell and flipped the edge down.
Sadly this took way less time than baking a batch.
I plan to make then into purse danglies.

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Crocheted Bunny Peeps!

2011-04-25T08:02:00.001-07:00

Crocheted Bunny Peeps

For the Bunny Peep Swap at Strumpet's Crumpets

Bunny Peep Scarf

You can see how the logo influenced my choice of item to crochet!

How to make your own bunny peep scarf
Using a P-15, 10mm hook
Row 1 chain 8 sts
Row 2 starting in 3 stitch from hook, sc 6. Chain 1, turn.
Row 3 sc 6, chain 1, turn.
Row 4, 2 sc in first stitch sc 4, 2 sc in last stitch, chain 1, turn
Row 5-9, sc 8, chain 1, turn
Row 10, st two together, sc 4, sc two together, chain 1, turn
Row 11, 2 sc in first stitch, sc 4, 2 sc in last stitch, chain 1, turn
Row 12-14, sc 8, chain 1, turn
Row 15, sc two together inn first stitch, sc 4, sc last two stitches, together chain 1, turn
Now work one ear
Row 16-18 sc 3, chain 1, turn
Row 19, sc 5 in the second stitch, sc 1, chain 1, bind off.
Now work other ear, make a slip knot and join it to the piece and work the second ear,
Row 1-3 sc 3, chain 1, turn
Row 4, sc 5 in the second stitch, sc 1.
Finish the edge by doing sc all around the bunny, then chain 1 and bind off. Weave in ends and sew on eyes and nose in brown. For eyes and nose do a french knot with 4 or 5 wraps.

Make 10, sew 5 together, joining ears to the tails. Do the same with the other 5.
Join the two pieces together by the ears. This way the scarf shows the bunnies right side up on both sides.

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Crafty Peep Swap

2011-04-17T22:25:00.000-07:00

So I signed up for an awesome swap on Friday. However I think I jumped the gun by completely finishing my item before I even got assigned my partner. Once an idea gets a hold of me I know no bounds! I don't want to spoil it for my swap partner so I will wait until I mail it out, hopefully monday! I will say that it involves crochet...no big surprise here! :)

Furoshiki fun: two bottle wrap

2011-03-29T08:11:00.001-07:00

Furoshiki Two bottle wrap step 1

Start with your furoshiki on the diagonal, and put two wine bottles on it, leaving space in between.

Furoshiki Two bottle wrap step 2

Fold the bottom corner up

Furoshiki Two bottle wrap step 3

Begin to roll everything from the bottom

Furoshiki Two bottle wrap step 4

When you're done rolling it looks like this.

Furoshiki Two bottle wrap step 5

Stand the two bottles up and tie in a double knot

Furoshiki Two bottle wrap step 6

Take your bottles and go! This would be great to take to a party, or shopping if you can just buy two bottles :)

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Furoshiki fun: bento wrap

2011-03-28T19:13:00.000-07:00

Furoshiki bento wrap step 1

Place your bento in the center.

Furoshiki bento wrap step 2

Fold the bottom corner up

Furoshiki bento wrap step 3

Fold the top corner down

Furoshiki bento wrap step 4

Tie the left and right corners in a double knot. Your lunch is ready to go!
I think this would be a pretty way to wrap a gift as well.

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Furoshiki fun: Grocery bundle wrap

2011-03-23T07:40:00.001-07:00

Grocery bundle step 1

Start with the wrap diagonal, put in your groceries, you can fit more but this if just to show you how to wrap.

Grocery bundle step 2

Tie the left and right corners with a double knot.

Grocery bundle step 3

Tie the top and bottom corners in a double knot.

Grocery bundle step 4

Take your groceries! Wasn't that easy? This would be great for transporting a picnic and you'd have a built in table cloth or place to sit. Plus it folds up so nice and compact!

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Furoshiki fun

2011-03-22T07:51:00.000-07:00

Furoshiki

This weekend I made two furoshiki, one is the large blue one in the background, and one if the red one tied into a purse. I also bought the hello kitty one at daiso on monday and it is holding my lunch. Furoshiki are square Japanese cloths that can be tied into just about anything, from a purse to giftwrap to a watermelon carrier. Stay tuned and I will include a few tutorials.

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Crop at Tiffany's

2011-03-13T22:33:00.000-07:00

I had a wonderful time with Charity Wings once again! I entered the raffle, I played at the bling bar, I did an incredible make and take class with Suzi Blu (now I totally want some of those Faber Castell Gelatos), and I even won some stuff in the silent auction! I didn't crop, but instead I brought my crochet...I have to say that it's a lot lighter to bring yarn than paper! I had a blast!

I also wanted to let everyone know about the raffle. It is for a beautiful pearl necklace. Now you may be asking me, why am I telling people about this, I'm going to reduce my chances to win, well so be it, this is to raise money for the Boys and Girls Club of San Marcos! Also if you tell them I sent you, I can win a Westcott Prize pack, but seriously, just buy some raffle tickets for yourself. I'd be happy to lose to anyone since all the money raised will help the Boys and Girls Club who hosted us!

Breakfast at Tiffany's Macarons

A trio of macs

Here is the description I brought to the event since I wasn't sure if anyone knew what Macarons were...heck I didn't know what they were until a few weeks ago! However the lovely Elena knew exactly what they were, regaling us about a trip to Paris where she enjoyed Macarons and Champagne each night! Swoon!

Macarons are French confections, and are all the rage in Paris and many other major metropolitan cities. I chose to make Macarons as they are quite a fickle challenge to make and they can really be made into any flavor. I can imagine Holly GoLightly indulging in a few Macarons with her Jet set.

Breakfast at Tiffany’s Macaron:
Holly may have had her Danish while window shopping at Tiffany’s, but if she was to have a dessert, it would be this, a Tiffany blue Almond Macaron with a White Chocolate and Cream Cheese filling

Paul’s Cracker Jack Macaron:
This Peanut and salted caramel Macaron is inspired by the box of Cracker Jacks where Paul finds the ring, which he later has engraved at Tiffany’s.

Holly’s Flaxseed and Chocolate Ganache Macaron:
Even though you feel like you’re indulging, every socialite knows that you still need to be healthy! These cookies have heart healthy Omega-3’s and antioxidants. Even though it feels decadent, it’s still packed with the powerhouse of flaxseed

T&Co macs

I used edible markers to write the T&Co

Award winning macs

I did win a tiara for my efforts, but I was the only one who baked a dessert! One person brought in some delicious cake pops, but she bought them. However I'm just glad that everyone liked them! I got a major compliment of "This is the best thing I've ever put in my mouth!" Now this is why I bake! Well making people happy plus my own sweet tooth!

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Flaxseed Macarons with Chocolate Ganache

2011-03-06T21:04:00.000-08:00

Flaxseed Macarons

These were made from golden flaxseed meal.

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I had some beginners luck with my last two posts, basically I got lucky and then failed a good 3 or four more times. I was frustrated, the captain was frustrated, and I've eaten so many maca wrongs that I haven't stepped on the scale in a week!
However today I dragged the captain to target and got a cheapo food scale, I also went to henrys for almond meal, but it was $11, so I gave up and bought flaxseed meal for about a quarter of the price. I used a recipe from not so humble pie and had fantastic results. So much so that I ran out and braved trader joes on a sunday evening to get more almonds and egg whites in a carton. Right now I'm making almond ones in tiffany blue, well as close as I'm going to get to tiffany blue.
The only modification I made in ms. humble's recipe is I left out the powdered egg white and added a pinch of cream of tartar. I have to say that watching macarons cook is like watching shrinky dinks curl up and shrink!
I also made some fleur de sel caramel, which I burned slightly, but that just gave it a richer taste ;)
If I'm feeling kicky tomorrow, I will remake my peanut macarons which failed this am and fill them with the caramel.
My plan is to bring those to the crop as my interpretation of the cracker jacks that Holly and Paul find the ring in, in Breakfast at Tiffany's.

Peanut macarons

2011-02-28T23:07:00.000-08:00

Peanut macaron with chocolate ganache

My first foray into another type of nut flour, trader joes has a peanut flour that is perfect for macaron. This one was supposed to be tiffany blue, but apparently peanut color plus blue food coloring equals green cookies. I took them to work and called them Jade Peanut macaron with chocolate ganache and they were all gone!
Notes:
Double panning in a conventional oven did nothing, so I will stick with convection.
Peanut macarons take longer to cook due to moisture.

Thai chili lime and peanut macaron

The green color got me thinking of limes, so I used some lime curd that I made from lines from my back yard last week. Since in my mind peanuts and lime go with thai food, I decorated with california chili and it looked pretty and gave it a hint of spice.
The first punch was lime, followed by a subtle peanut with notes of chili.

Just the right consistency

I have to admit that I've never tasted a macaron before trying to bake these 4 batches. I think I've gotten it, like biting into an eggshell with a most cakey center that is infused with the flavor of the filling. I went to trader joes to get some more egg whites, I had also meant to get their frozen macarons to give then a try, but today I was pretty confident that I've gotten it, so I skipped them. I did see flax seed meal...I'm curious if I can make some out of that!

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Why the third time's a charm!

2011-02-25T23:18:00.000-08:00

Success!

I feel like a million bucks! Not only did I get $100 in donations before the weekend, but also I have achieved the french macaron! I'm not sure if it if because I switched from the italian method to the french, or if it is because practice makes perfect, but here is my success!

A progression

After 2 days of cursing myself and getting flat macarons, I finally achieved a nice looking result on the 3rd day.

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Errors I made:
Day 1: I used the mixer to mix in the almond flour...a no no, it made a runny mess
Day 2: I still over mixed because I was trying to get a ribbon of batter...i also think I had too much liquid
Day 3: I needed to insulate the bottoms of the conventional ones, or leave the convection ones in the oven longer, with the heat off or turned down.

Day one and two were speckled because I used trader joes almond meal, they taste good, but you will see the almond skin. I used real eggs on both days as well as a simple sugar. Day three I omitted the simple sugar and just dumped it in directly and also measured the egg whites from a carton, rather than using 3 whites.

Here's my version:
Food process blanched almonds to make almond flour sift and let dry or I used the dehydrate feature of my toaster oven.
Measure out 1 cup almond flour, and one cup powered sugar, process together. Sift again.
In a stand mixer, whip 1/3 cup plus 3 tablespoons "All Whites" (egg whites in a carton) with a pinch of cream of tartar.
Don't worry that it says it won't make a meringue, it worked fine, it just took longer than eggs.
After a milky foam starts to form, add 1/2 cup granulated sugar gradually.
When the meringue starts to get shiny and form peaks, add gel color. To get this tiffany blue I put in two toothpick pokes of gel of blue and one of green. Use a clean toothpick each time. Whip to mix color.
Next I dumped in the almond sugar mixture, and with a flexible spatula I scraped and mixed the flour in, this took about 35 strokes. I hear any more than 50 is too many.
I used a tip coupler on a zip lock freezer bag with no tip. I twisted the bag so the tip would not ooze while filling.
I also set the bag in a clean bowl and gently scraped in my mixture.
I piped one to one and a half inch circles on parchment lined cookie trays.
I let it rest for about 45-60 min and baked for 11 min in a 300 degree oven.
Notes: I only got feet by using the convection oven, but those needed extra cooking because they were slightly under done. If I had to redo it in the regular oven, I'd add a second tray to insulate my bottoms which browned slightly.
Let cool 30 min and peel parchment from the cookie, don't pull at the cookie, pull at the parchment.

I found this blog to have the best section on troubleshooting macarons.

I also like this macaron template because it is so pretty

Breakfast at Tiffany's Crop!

2011-02-23T22:07:00.000-08:00

I'm so excited. I decided to sign up for the Breakfast at Tiffany's crop! Who cares that I have a million things going on? I have a title to defend! Tonight I started practicing my dessert. I was even photographing it because I new it would be a great post...guess what major FAIL. I think I was too tired because I forgot that once you whip up egg whites, if you add anything, you fold it in...I'm not even going to bother to show my fail...I will just try again tomorrow!

The major thing I wanted to let everyone in my small blogosphere know is that I sent an email to some people who are local to me and also wanted to extend my offer of gifts for donations. Please see my note below. Thanks!

I am trying to raise a minimum of $100 dollars for the Boys and Girls Club of San Marcos by March 12. I know many of you donated generously a couple of years ago when I was raising money for Autism Awareness and I am hoping you can help me once again.

Because I would like to reward all of you for your continued generosity I’m offering some gifts from me to you if you can help donate a minimum of $10 dollars. Your donation will still be 100% tax deductible, this is just something extra from me to you.

If you donate $10:

I will hand make you a custom card, in the past I’ve done Birthday, Congratulations, and even a “thank you for being you” cards. Other great occasions for these are Wedding cards, or Anniversary cards. I will take into account your preference for colors, or you can just give me a theme like “new baby boy” and I will make you something unique.

If you donate $25:

I will give you a “bottle cap bling” necklace, each necklace has been hand crafted personally by me. Most of them are Alice in Wonderland themed and make great gifts for the trendy girls and ladies in your life.

If you donate $35:

I will make you a custom Coffee Cozy, perfect for those Starbucks runs! Here are two examples that I’ve made for my friends: Owl and Pig.

If you donate $50:

I will make you a large project or home décor item…just ask!

Any donation is greatly appreciated, no matter how large or small. Even if you just want to give me the change from the tray that you empty your pockets in, I will happily take that as a donation towards my goal.

February 21, 2011 weigh in

2011-02-21T06:39:00.000-08:00

Well since I was stuck all week I did not get to play dance central. However I did lose some weight, I'm at 139.6. I would not advocate the stomach flu as a method of weight loss! I'm feeling much better, but I'm still not hungry and an afraid to eat more than a few bites at a time. I walked by a sign yesterday that advertised all you could eat fried chicken or fish and chips for $17, and I thought that sounded good, until I realized that I *might* be able to finish a piece of chicken if I was lucky...here's to dreaming about all you can eat!

Home sick

2011-02-18T10:50:00.000-08:00

Or is it sick of being stuck at home?

Sleepy kitty

Being at home sick, Pepe has kept me company.

Father knows best

Having rabbit ears, antenna tv has treated me to a bunch of old favorites and some new to me shows.

Dog eye

Today I'm home sick for the 3rd day in a row. Grommet, Pepe, and the tv have been keeping me company.

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February 14, 2011 weigh in

2011-02-14T07:54:00.000-08:00

Roses

Happy Valentines Day!

Today I weighed in at 143...despite the fact that I have been too busy to dance...but tonight I have plans to boogie!

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Februrary 7, 2011 weigh in

2011-02-07T08:14:00.000-08:00

Happy birthday my rollasista!
Today i topped the scales at 144.6, I only played dance central on sunday, about 300 calories worth.
Since I realized I will probably have to play 500 cal a day to lose a lb in a week, I think I may just do a weekly weigh in.

Februrary 2, 2011 weigh in

2011-02-02T07:26:00.000-08:00

Happy groundhog day! This am I weighed in at 145.6 lbs. Last night I did two sessions of dance central, one was about 100 calories, and one was about 200 calories. I've been playing on no flashcards mode where I've earned it, and have unlocked up to and including the simple challenge, max rank, and eliot's dressy outfit :)

January 31, 2011 weigh in

2011-01-31T08:33:00.000-08:00

Disappointingly I gained ...I'm up to 146.4. At this point the only thing I can think of is that I've been drinking more water so I'm more properly hydrated...however as long as the game doesn't make me continue to gain, I'm having fun! I can only imagine what would have happened on the scale if our dinner plans hadn't gotten canceled!

Drinks and dance central

2011-01-30T23:14:00.000-08:00

So before I headed for the club I hit the bar...ok I made a drink in my kitchen and then played dance central in the basement. I thought I'd share the new drink recipe I tried.

Paloma

The costco sales guy got to me and I bought some tequila the other day. Here is a recipe he have me which was really good, tasted like sprite with some savory.
Paloma
Tequila, start with a little and then add, because if you start with too much you can't take it away.
Sprite, I mixed this in a tall glass, and filled it about 3/4 with sprite.
Lime or lemon juice, I used 2.5 small limes, mexican limes, like the kind you get in a corona or a fish taco
Tajin, you can also use salt to ruin the glass, but tajin is better if you can find it, it is a chili, lime, and salt mixture.
Basically mix everything but the tajin in a drinking glass. Rub a lime in the edge of a martini glass and put a little tajin on a plate and rotate the glass on it. Pour in the drink, and enjoy!

I then proceeded to burn about 375 calories, dancing the night away! I also started turning off the flash cards in the game. Once you know the moves, it is actually less of a distraction. I wonder if I burned enough calories to negate that drink!

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January 30, 2011 weigh in

2011-01-30T10:17:00.000-08:00

The scale does not lie. This am I was going for some weight loss, but I had a gain, 145.6
Maybe this is why people do weekly weigh ins, but I'm not discouraged. Since yesterday was a saturday I played twice. The first time for more than 30 minutes with a reported 150 calories burned. The second time for more than an hour with 330 calories burned. During the second session I played all of the songs on medium, but did not pass all of them. I also looked at my stats which were provided by the Excessive Live Information Overview Tracking system....does that sound like a robot we just met?

January 29, 2011 weigh in

2011-01-29T10:05:00.000-08:00

Today I weighed in at 144.2, which is not bad considering I went to an all you can eat korean bbq on thursday, and then went out to a restaurant and ate a cream based pasta for dinner! Thursday my friend and I played kinect adventures for about 30 min, so I'm lucky last night's dance central helped me get back on track!

The search for Eliot

2011-01-28T23:58:00.000-08:00

I was determined to unlock Eliot, a robot character in dance central. After day 1, I had unlocked all of the challenges but 3. I still was eluded by Soulja Boy, Teach me how to Jerk, and Pump up the Jam. On day 2, I knocked out pump up the jam and the hard core challenge, but it took me several times of soulja boy but only one try of the moderate challenge, then I finally had to knock out teach me how to jerk. I kept switching with other songs and played with workout mode, which shows calories burned. Finally I unlocked the last song and the legit challenge!
I was so happy to see Eliot right away, I thought I had to unlock him, but he danced with me through clips of all of the songs. I have a new favorite character, move over Emelia! Eliot is just so cute! He smiles and makes surprised faces. I also noticed that it is an anagram for something, as when I was looking for workout mode I saw a reference to ELIOT. I will have to go back and find that, but for right now I'm exhausted!

Grand finale challenge unlocked!

Finally I'm about to meet Eliot!

Success!

And I burned 170 calories trying!

Eliot is mine!

I can't believe I'm finally here! I also unlocked Dr. Tan's estate, which shows a cartoon of all of or favorite characters, and a vincent price like man watching everyone on video feeds. Finally I got to the credits...which was cool pics of everyone who worked on the project. What a fun looking bunch!

Secret club entry by Mo

Part of the cartoon I unlocked.

Girls just wanna have fun!

Taye and Emelia, or as our friend who introduced us to dance central would say, crooked tiara and mo.honey!

Dr. Tan

Watching everyone like the wizard of oz, or Mr. Burns or something.

Eliot dancing!

I wish I could put a heart bubble. I heart Eliot!

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January 27, 2011 weigh in

2011-01-27T07:16:00.000-08:00

I stepped on the scale this am with great anticipation....the verdict, 144.2! We are headed in the right direction!

I'm feeling sick...I have dance fever!

2011-01-26T22:55:00.000-08:00

Ever since we visited Orlando and our friends had a kinect set up, I have been drooling over one! I finally decided to order a bundle and faithfully tracked its progress until it arrived today with "my precious", dance central. I started playing immediately and played all 32, yes you read right, 32 songs, as well as about 4 challenges, which are a mix of the 4 previous songs. I cannot believe I danced that much! I did decide that before I started dancing I would track my progress. Certainly hours of dancing will cause some weight loss! So yes I'm about to post my weight online, in the name of science. This am I weighted in at 145.4 lbs. My plan is to track how much weight I lose playing dance central. The rules. I will weigh in the am, since that's my normal habit. I will not change any eating habits, but will also try not to pig out. I will post as much info I can about how long I danced, as well as a weigh in the next am.
Anybody want to dance along with me?

Fun with friends in Florida!

2011-01-15T22:13:00.000-08:00

We visited our two dear friends, mo.honey and t-$ in Orlando and they were kind enough to indulge me on a favorite, visiting WDW. We did everything from seeing the american idol experience to drawing a cartoon of tinkerbell! Well I skipped the rockin rollercoaster, but scored us fast passes to midway mania while the others rode.

Disney's hollywood studios

The captain and I at the center of the action.

The american idol experience

I think this is so fun, just like watching at home!

50's prime time cafe

The captain thought this looked just like his grandma's lake cabin!
My rollasista and I sat in the floor because it was so crowded! Who knew meatloaf was so popular!

The clean plate club

Something to be proud of. I was so hungry I cleaned my plate easily.

Awesome dessert menu!

It was in view master format!

Watch out for cousin joey!

Little does she know what is about to happen! Our waiter aka cousin joey wanted to induct mo.honey into the clean plate club, and in the most hilarious moment of the day, he fed her the last bite of food, airplane style!

Sweet!

The happiest ice cream on earth!

Day's end

Somebody was tired!

Knees

My last pic of the day, all of our knees jammed together on the tram.

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Rainbow House

2011-01-03T22:32:00.000-08:00

Today as I was leaving for work there was a rainbow behind my house! As I was driving I saw a double rainbow!!! What does it all mean?

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The most wonderful time of the year!

2010-12-31T08:58:00.001-08:00

New stocking hangers!

Went to target last night and christmas decorations were 75% off. I got all 4 hangers for five bucks! I love this time of year! :)

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Merry Christmas!

2010-12-25T11:04:00.000-08:00

Christmas carnage

For some reason the captain is always too sleepy to get up to open presents, so we opened them in bed. This is what remains of all of our gifts, including a gorgeous swarovski crystal snowflake, and my personal favorite, a wallet full of Mcdonalds gift cards!

The tree

Because we were so busy moving and seeing family, I didn't finish decorating the tree, I didn't put up my tinkerbell angel, but I did put up am ornament we received from my parents' neighbors as a wedding gift. It is now joined by the snowflake.

Pepe at the fire place

I need to get some of those stocking hangers! The captain decorated the mantle with cards we received. My mom hand made 3 of the 4 of these stockings. I'm so stoked to finally have a mantle piece to display them, I just ran out of time to get hangers, as in the past years I have used electrical wire and tin cans as weights to hang my stockings over the counter at my kitchen.

Pepe and the tree

Being his cute self

Grommet at the fire place

Keeping "warm", since it's electric, I didn't have the heat on.

Merry Christmas everyone!

Happy holidays from the Roller Scrapper Family!

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Crazy giant fruit!

2010-12-24T10:20:00.000-08:00

Crazy giant fruit!

One of the trees in our backyard is a cherimoya tree. After all of the rain I could see this giant fruit in the tree so the captain climbed the tree to get it for me. For scale I have included another more normal sized fruit that fell off the tree, as well as a mexican lime from our lime tree. I can't wait for this fruit to ripen so we can try it!

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Raining cats and dogs!

2010-12-22T22:17:00.000-08:00

Raining cats and dogs!

Grommet was stuck inside looking out and wishing for sunshine

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In my room

2010-12-22T22:04:00.000-08:00

Chandelier

I've been promising pics, but since the house is still a mess, I got a little creative. This is one of the things that made me love the house when I first saw it.

Curtains

Here are the curtains in "my" room. I'm not sure what I will use this room for, but for now my closet and clothes are here.

Built in armoire

This thing is awesome, with a pull out shelf for ironing and special shoe drawers.

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Happy birthday to me!

2010-12-21T22:40:00.001-08:00

Roller rink

A very happy birthday to me indeed! In the middle of moving we went up north to celebrate my aunt and uncle's 50th wedding anniversary. While we were up there my cousin and his girlfriend, the captain and I went rollerskating...actually I had my roller blades, but it was still fun, despite the trash bins that were scattered around the floor to catch water. But I was pretty happy, not only did I get peach buns and a cake topped with Ice cream shaped candles, I also got to go skating.

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Sad News

2010-12-01T07:30:00.001-08:00

I have some sad news, one of the captain's grandmothers passed away last week. We went to his home to see his parents and to pay our last respects. She lived to be 99.5 and was in good health until the very end...I only hope that we can be so lucky and have just a fraction of the adventures she had...she wanted to go to India when she was 90, so she did, just to see the Taj Mahal! I was very glad to be able to go home and support the captain and his family.

Here is where I fess up to all of the no-spend week items that I flubbed on.
Day 1: I bought lunch even though I brought it to work b/c a coworker invited me out and I said yes before thinking
Day 1: I bought plane tickets to go home, but I had no control over that
Day 3: (black Friday) I didn't buy stuff personally but I went grocery shopping and costco shopping to help out...and was rewarded with a free cookbook.
Day 4: We bought lunch at McDonalds, funny thing is in line at the drive thru we decided to get a McRib Meal and an extra McRib (and share the fries and drink). The scene went like this:
McDrivethru: "Welcome to McDonalds, can I interest you in a McRib value meal?
Captain: "Why yes, that sounds Great!"
McDrivethru: "Can I interest you in adding another McRib for $1?"
Captain: "Why yes, that sounds GREAT!"

It was all I could do to keep from giggling in the background.

Other than those purchases I think we did pretty well as we were mostly home or at the wake or the funeral. I'm glad we went back though, we got to see a lot of the captains family and friends, including "Grandma Captain" who I finally finished the shawl for!

Grandma captain's new shawl

I finished it with her watching me work, I think she really enjoyed that!

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Nowhere in particular

2010-11-22T07:58:00.000-08:00

Where did we go this weekend? Oh nowhere in particular! It rained in the am, but by the time we arrived it was perfect weather!

Christmas castle

Disneyland is always so much fun when it is decorated for Christmas!

Mr. Toad

Waiting in line for my favorite ride!

Toad Hall

Just outside the entrance.

Warning!

I had to take a pic of this!

Mr. Toad himself!

Looking quite innocent!

A wild ride indeed!

When I was a kid I fell in love with this ride because you could pretend you were steering! I remember faking my mom out, by steering wildly and having her call out to me to slow down just before her car lurched forward in a crazy manner. To this day I still pretend to drive the car wildly, it makes it so much more fun!

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OK so I bought something today

2010-11-17T19:20:00.000-08:00

So I didn't post this major life news b/c I didn't have a good photo to go with it...silly me! :) The captain and I are finally, after 3 years of fruitless searching, buying a house! Wahoo! In honor of this, on the day our offer was accepted (two Fridays ago) I declared that we would buy nothing new until we moved. This was partly inspired by Liz at Flourish in Progress, who is not buying anything for an entire year, and partly due to the fact that I did not want to move the contents of my freezer. I decided that we're not even buying food unless it's fresh food, e.g. we can buy Eggs, but no more cake mix (I think I counted 5 in my pantry). It's made for some really creative and interesting meals, we've cooked more in the past two weeks than in the past 2 months...I've made a pizza from scratch, a Pannekoeken and a corned beef, and the captain made bbq pulled pork. I also happily signed up for not buying anything for a week, a challenge at no new is good news. I figured this one week would be easy, since I haven't been buying ANYTHING in weeks...in fact in packing I realized I have so much stuff, I can probably go quite a long time without buying anything.

However today I failed slightly...well not totally, I didn't technically buy it, my friend bought it and I then wrote her a check...but I had to confess to the 7 readers of my blog that I did buy something today. I do want to emphasize that I think it was a good purchase. I bought Helen Laibach's book A Soul Less Broken. I felt really compelled b/c A) I know Helen, and B) Helen gave a great presentation today where she talked about pursuing your dreams, she also shared how she wrote this novel 10 years ago but didn't have the confidence in herself to get it published. Despite these fears she just self published this novel and I am really looking forward to reading it! Go Helen!

Fall Breakfast

2010-11-14T14:38:00.000-08:00

Sausages

They go great with breakfast!

pannekoeken

Delicious! Today I made a pannekoeken, which is a Dutch apple pancake.

Look at that butter!

One thing about pannekoeken is you use a ton of butter to keep it from sticking to the pan. It always sticks anyway, but I love seeing the butter boiling up the sides when you pull it from the oven!

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Election Day

2010-11-02T07:16:00.001-07:00

Rock the vote!

Don't forget too vote today! This message is Grommet approved.

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Why I'm the luckiest girl you know!

2010-11-01T21:01:00.000-07:00

Why I'm the luckiest girl you know!

So I had a crazy busy day, and I came home and got the mail. Pay dirt! Cards and a package! I got an invitation, a thank you note and a halloween card, but the bestest thing was this apron from the Amazing Alison,who has a great etsy shop! She sent me the clementine. Isn't that an awesome name? I'm so lucky to have such a wonderful friend and blog mentor, and now an awesome apron! :) I was so excited to get it that I immediately put it on and admired the roomy pockets, while pretending to be domestic...which translates to I got the cat some ham from the fridge. Would it be weird if I wore it to work? It is just so cute and perfect for fall! My pic isn't great, but I had to stand on my tippy toes to capture a pic of it in the mirror and also crop out the faucet! The best part is that somehow she knew it would be my favorite of all of the ones in her shop!

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Happy Halloweekend!

2010-11-01T20:22:00.000-07:00

Bad to the bone!

What a wild weekend! On friday I dressed up as cruella de vil for my work party and came in second place in the costume contest! Too bad I won because everyone thought I was lady gaga! On saturday I dressed up as a goth fairy for a friend's party, and on sunday grommet and I dressed as pirates and the captain dressed as einstein for our harbor cruise with friends. This picture is of grommet helping us get the boat ready for the party.

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Choices

2010-10-30T14:34:00.001-07:00

Choices

As we went down the street I saw this scene...how does one decide...what an ultimate crossroads! I also felt sorry for the guy with the pho restaurant that is half in the photo...i mean really, who is going to pay for his pho when there is FREE LUNCH! I mean I didn't even think to get him in the photo properly.

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Space mountain at night

2010-10-28T18:51:00.000-07:00

Killing some time in line...they are making space mountain look so cool!

Space mountain at halloween

Number 1 in a spooky series

Space mountain

Number 2

Space mountain in red

Pretty evil, number 3.

Frozen space mountain

Number 4 in a series

Space mountain under water

Number 5 in a series

Haunted space mountain

Number 6 in a series

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Happy hippo!

2010-10-28T18:49:00.000-07:00

Happy Hippo

Mo.honey gave me the most delicious treats! Happy hippo from the same people that make kinder surprise. They taste like an ice cream cone filled with nutella, plus they are super adorable!

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Making Mochi

2010-10-20T07:19:00.001-07:00

Finished mochi

I had a fun time making mochi. I made the red beans in my crock pot, and added sugar after cooking. Then I made mochi in the microwave. I covered my cutting board in plastic and corn starch and it wasn't too sticky.

The center

It wouldn't be a good entry without showing off the bean paste!
To make the red bean paste I used a standard crock pot recipe to make beans (just beans plus water). After it was done I blended a cup of drained beans with I think 2/3 cup sugar in the blender. Then I cooked it in a non stick pan on low until it became a paste. I refrigerated it and rolled out 9 little balls of red bean paste. Then I made microwave mochi. I put 1.5 cups of glutinous rice flour, .75 cups of sugar and 1.5 cups of water together in a microwave dish and mixed well. Then I microwaved it with a loose plastic cover for 4 min. After that I stirred well and then with corn starch on my hands and board I shaped flat rounds and put the red bean paste in the center. It came out on the gooey side so next time I might try 5 min, but you definitely don't want to over cook!

Mochi Gifts

I decided to give some of my mochi away. Hopefully my friends will enjoy it :)

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What a weekend!

2010-10-17T17:26:00.000-07:00

Mojitos with friends

We had a blast this weekend with some friends who were in town for a convention. We had mojitos at happy hour at the Chart House in Cardiff, and on Saturday took a harbor cruise. I wish every weekend was this enjoyable!

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Halloween Jars

2010-10-14T20:20:00.001-07:00

I'm so ready for Halloween! I wanted to put candy corn in my apothecary jars, but I figured people might be grossed out about loose candy. I told the captain I wanted something like chocolate eyeballs. He laughed. We went to Vons and lo and behold! Creepy Peepers! Exactly how I pictured them! And they are quite tasty too!

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Pancakes or crepes

2010-10-09T14:59:00.000-07:00

Crepe bubbles

A long time ago when I was young enough to be able to win a rollerskate limbo contest, merely by the fact that I was likely the smallest in my rollerskating class, my mom would make pancakes. I have always loved my mom's pancakes better than anyone else's mom's pancakes. What I didn't realize until college or even later, was that my mom's pancakes are actually crepes. In fact once in college I made my boyfriend pancakes and he suggested that I forgot the baking soda or some rising agent...I guess there is no accounting for taste! This morning I set out to make some crepes...I don't have a recipe, it is just eggs, milk and flour, and sometimes I add sugar, but I didn't today because I knew I had good syrup. I do have some tips though, you need to use a pat of butter before every crepe. You need to make sure it cooks on the first side until it looks dry, shake the pan to see that the crepe is lose, and flip it in the pan using wrist action and gravity...a spatula often rips a delicate crepe. On the second side, watch for bubbles like this one has...all that heat is trapped and making something delicious! If you are serving a group, you can store them on top of each other, they will keep each other warm while the next one is cooking, or you can serve them like my mom, one person at a time.

Crepes with apples and walnuts

The finished product, apple cinnamon stuffed crepes with walnuts and maple syrup

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Dinner and a concert

2010-10-07T23:33:00.000-07:00

The captain and I had a lovely dinner at the Boathouse, which always makes me think of Alison and Special K and our monthly dinners. We ate way too much delicious bread, and them went to see Matt Costa at the Casbah. The first band was the threes and nines, then after about half an hour of some dude attempting to tune a guitar, Matt Costa played a set that was great except for a hot mike and some drunk dude yelling "Matt!" I don't know how musicians deal with it.

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Wigging Out!

2010-10-06T22:03:00.000-07:00

I was so exicited for the roller disco birthday party that I had been planning my costume for weeks. I had the perfect afro wig courtesy of the captain. However, on the morning of the party I couldn't find it! The captain looked all day and it was gone. I came home and ransacked the house and started wigging out! Where was it!? I was losing my mind. To make matters worse, I was convinced that the captain had put it away while cleaning this week, but he insisted that he didn't. I was so upset, but then I noticed that a wig that the captain's sister had left at our wedding reception was also missing. I jokingly remarked that the two wigs ran away together...then the captain remembered putting away the other wig. Lo and behold they were together! Woo hoo I was ready for the 1970's! It was tons of fun, they gave out mardi gras beads and we had cake, and there was a costume contest.

It was extra fun because we ran into our boat neighbors at the roller rink! Not only was it Skateworld's 35th birthday, and also Brett's birthday, but it was our neighbor's birthday as well!

It wouldn't be a good photo log of my evening without showing a photo of their iconic sign.

After visiting Skate World Grommet and Pepe posed for a photo with me.

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Halloweentime at Disneyland

2010-10-04T21:26:00.000-07:00

Of course it wouldn't be an October visit to Disneyland without a visit to the Haunted Mansion Holiday Layover.

What a total bummer, I took an awesome panoramic pic of this sign, but it disappeared...no matter, the space mountain ghost galaxy was my favorite ride of the day! It was so much fun to ride a familiar ride with a new twist.

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What are you doing October 6th?

2010-09-30T22:55:00.001-07:00

Please join me at Skateworld's 70's Roller Disco Party if you are in San Diego.

I have my afro wig and my stripey socks all ready!!!!

New Boots!

2010-09-30T22:20:00.000-07:00

It actually rained today...a strange rainy day with lightning and thunder! The best part was I got to wear my new Hello Kitty galoshes and splash around in a puddle! Now I know why kids have so much fun playing in the rain with their boots! What a weird week for weather, first a super hot Monday and now a rainy Thursday! I almost forgot to add that I saw a DOUBLE RAINBOW on the drive home. OMG! What does it all mean?!

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My Baby Pineapple

2010-09-29T20:43:00.000-07:00

Long before the captain was *my* captain, I planted a pineapple plant. I just lopped the top off of a pineapple and stuck it in dirt. The captain told me that you cannot plant a pineapple from the top of a pineapple. I was quite insistent that I was right, that it would work, and in fact it had to be possible b/c the top had stayed green for so long...and one day he tried pulling up the green part of the pineapple while visiting, and discovered roots! Ah ha! I was right...and yes, after at least 5 years it started to fruit. This thing has been forming a baby pineapple for the better part of this year! Finally it had become golden yellow and delicious looking. I took this picture last week, but wanted to wait to be able to post how it tasted. It is rather anti climactic...it was not all juicy and delicious like I predicted...it wasn't horrible, but it wasn't great...and for being so yellow and ripened right on the plant, it was rather hard and "unripe" in texture. Oh well it was fun growing a pineapple plant! Also we are planning on trying to grow the top from this baby sized pineapple, wouldn't it be cool for my plant to have grandbabies?

For the record, the proper way to grow your very own pineapple is to actually twist off the top...and not leave fruit on like I did...that tends to mold. I also have to note that this pineapple originally came from the 99 cents only store so it is like I got fruit and a plant and now another fruit for only 99 cents! I also have a costco pineapple plant growing, but it doesn't seem as healthy as this one does.

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Walnut cream cheese pumpkin cookies

2010-09-24T19:01:00.000-07:00

I found an amazing lemon cookie online, but since it is fall, my thoughts have turned to pumpkin!

They are very moist inside, and use half the fat, because of the addition of pumpkin.
1 stick butter
1/2 cup Muirhead Pecan Pumpkin Butter (from Williams Sonoma)
1 sm pkg of Cream Cheese (3oz)
1 cup sugar
1 egg yolk
2.5 cups flour
1 tsp. vanilla
Cream butter and cream cheese and pumpkin. Slowly add sugar beat until fluffy Beat in egg yolk, add flour and vanilla. Mix Well. Chill dough For at least 1 hour. Shape into 1 inch balls. Place on greased cookie sheet. Bake at 325 degrees for 15-17 mins. Frosting
2 cups powdered sugar
3 oz. cream cheese
4 tablespoons of butter
1 tsp vanilla extract
Cream butter, cream cheese, add vanilla and add sugar slowly Dollop onto cookies. Top with a walnut half or pecan half. Makes 40

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Piggled pink!

2010-09-22T19:21:00.000-07:00

I don't know why seeing all of these Halloween piggy banks made me so happy, but they made me smile and take out my droid to snap a pic!

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Recipe for bubbly cheese enchiladas verdes

2010-09-18T12:38:00.000-07:00

AT, aka Not so Nutty Mama asked me for my recipe:
1 can Kirkland canned chicken drained (you can use the juice in mexican rice to go with this)
1/2 of a big can of green enchilada sauce
One medium onion
Oil
Shredded mexican cheese mix from costco
Corn tortillas, I used the Porkyland brand
Dice the onions and saute them in the oil until golden. Pour in the enchilada sauce and the chicken. While that heats, put in the tortillas in for a little bit until they soften, I do one at a time. Take a tortilla, being careful because they may be hot and put in cheese, chicken and onion mixture, roll and put in baking dish. I usually make 6. Top liberally with cheese and bake for 20 min at 350. Let cool a few minutes before serving.

Mexican Rice
Oil
1 cup rice
1 can corn
1 medium onion
One small can tomato sauce
Chicken broth (use liquid from canned chicken and add water to make one cup)
Oregano, salt, pepper to your taste
In a frying pan that has a lid toast the rice in the oil until golden. Dice the onions and cook until tender with the rice. Add canned corn with liquid, tomato sauce and chicken stock, salt, pepper and oregano, stir and cook on low with lid on for 20 min. Be careful to check that it does not dry out and burn to the bottom of the pan, add liquid if it looks too dry. Enjoy with enchiladas.

Powered sugar is key!

2010-09-18T12:10:00.000-07:00

Powdered sugar covers all manner of sins. This time it unmolded perfectly, but was a bit overdone on one side. Now I know why they use powdered sugar to top bundts. Here is my recipe.
Drain one can of peaches into your mixing bowl. Use a fork to pull out the peaches from the can and cut them up on your cutting board with the fork. Put the diced peaches in your mixing bowl. Beat in two eggs and then add one white cake mix. Mix thoroughly. I like to use the baking spray with flour on my bundt pan. Bake at 350 for 50-60 min. This one was cooked 65 min and was a tad too brown. Cool for 15 min before unmolding. When completely cool, dust with powdered sugar.

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Hairpin lace and bundt cakes

2010-09-18T10:02:00.000-07:00

This morning I'm working on a hairpin lace shawl for the captain's grandma, who I'll call grandma captain. Grandma captain used to make the greatest hairpin lace afghans, along with some pretty awesome hooked rugs. A few years back she had promised to make the captain a really big afghan of his favorite color. The captain searched for the perfect yarn, but never found it. Unfortunately grandma captain's health has declined so that she can no longer work on projects like this. I found a Clover brand hair pin lace tool at my favorite yarn and craft store, Jazi Craft, in Oceanside CA. I had put it aside until I had the time to learn. We just visited grandma captain a few weeks ago, and I got inspired to work on this shawl project. So I'm making strips of these ladders to be connected together, while waiting for my peach bundt cake to finish baking. Hopefully it will come out in one piece...last week's was a crumbly mess, so I'm going to let it cool longer before attempting to unmold it.

Some great instructions
The pattern I'm using

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Bento Lunch

2010-09-13T07:57:00.001-07:00

Today's lunch is courtesy of Costco, but I was stoked at the prospect of putting my spicy shrimp inari in my bento, along with my soy sauce pig!

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Disney's World of Color

2010-09-10T22:14:00.000-07:00

What a fun show! I couldn't take photos during it because there wasn't enough light, but it was so beautiful! It was like fireworks!

The Mickey wheel and the pretty colored water.

Waiting for Disney's World of Color

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Elena and The Captain

2010-09-10T17:24:00.000-07:00

Rockin the stache at Disneyland

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Tall ships

2010-09-06T20:41:00.000-07:00

Today we went to the boat and there was a tall ship festival going on. I liked this one with the red sails the best.

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Scripps Wedding

2010-09-06T14:18:00.000-07:00

Part two: After the Laotian ceremony, we went to Scripps Oceanography Institute on Saturday for a gorgeous wedding that definitely had the bride's classic touch. Here is a pic of the pier with one of the cocktail tables

I should also note that the day was completely overcast until the bride came down the aisle, hidden by two parasols, they were moved away to reveal her, and the clouds parted from the sun at that exact moment, just to illuminate a beautiful, radiant bride. It was the most poignant, touching, moment of any wedding I have ever attended, as if she could part the clouds with her very presence!

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