Family car trip

Whoo, we made it.  Yesterday morning I packed up our lives in WI, buckled Monkey and Goose in, loaded up the dog and took off for IA.  Almost exactly 11 hours later, we pulled in at "Nina and Papa's" house.

The trip was pretty un-eventful. The big news was that it was our first trip without a diaper.  Goose made it all the way across 2 states without one accident!! I am soooo happy!!

We are here for graduation.  My youngest brother-in-law is officially a high school graduate.  This fall he will be living less than an hour away!!

In other news, our closing date for the house has been pushed back a day :( Instead of Monday at 10am, we are closing Tuesday at noon.  Still exciting and kind of hard to believe.  After all this time of being seperated, we are finally a family again (minus the cat, soon though). 

On Wednesday, I have my second interview.  This one is for a different job at the same company.  Hopefully, this one works out because they picked it out special for me.

It's a busy week, and then I will be cut off from the world (we don't have internet or TV set up yet).  I was sure to bring my sewing machine, so I won't go completly crazy.

Slooooow process....

I thought something was holding us up with the approval for the house.  We had been waiting on the inspection and the underwriter's final approval.  We finally got a green light from the inspection (yay!!), but we were waiting (and waiting, and waiting) to hear back from the underwriter.  Meanwhile, I am keeping calm and collected freaking out!!!  Every possible bad thought, I had.  I'm not gonna deny it, I'm paranoid.

The latest hurdle we have to jump, is that there are too many credit inquiries and unaccounted for deposits of money.  I am responsible for the "strange" deposits.  There's really nothing strange about them, they're just cash deposits, but they don't have any paper trails. I'm waitressing a few nights a week, and I deposit my tips once a week or so.  The credit checks are mostly from the banks that we had talked to about getting approved, except one.  We have to figure out where that one came from, write a formal letter of explanation addressing all of the activity, and then we will (fingers crossed) be all set.

My poor hubby gets so annoyed with me cause he has to explain everything that is happening.  Whenever he talks to anyone on the phone or in an email, he has to relay the message to me AND answer all of my questions (cause I always have a lot).  It's even worse when he has paperwork to go through.  He has to read it and then explain it to me, and of course there's more questions.  He's really been amazing though.  I wish I could be there too, it's like I'm not even getting the full experience of being a first time home buyer :(

The Word: Relax, He's got it covered...

"Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own. "

– Matthew 6:34

Tutorial: Spring Fever: "Long & Short of It"

Maybe it's that the calendar says spring (although the temperature doesn't), or that the days are getting longer, or that the birds are singing more, something seems to be causing this spring fever itch.

My dad asked me if I could shorten the sleeves on one of his button shirts.  It's definately not because it's getting too warm (current temp: 34`F, tomorrow's forcast: SNOW).  Maybe he has run out of short sleeves, or maybe he's just bored with that shirt.  I don't know, I didn't ask.  I was happy to take on the challenge and have a project to do.

Shortening Sleeves


1. Pick out a short sleeve shirt to use as a pattern (if possible).  Iron both shirts well.  Wrinkles will not help in getting an accruate cut.

2. Lay short sleeved (SS) shirt on top of the long sleeved (LS) shirt.  Make sure to match the seam of the sleeve and the shirt on both shirts. (the plaid shirt is the shirt I am altering)

3. Cut 2" from end of SS.  This will give you enough room to make a double fold and end up with a nice finished edge.

4. Fold and press a 1/2" and then again 1".  This is your new shirt sleeve edge.

5. Sew a double stitch seam.  This makes it look professional, and like you would find in a store bought shirt.

Oops, I forgot to take a BEFORE picture, you all know what a long sleeve shirt looks like...right? (I hope)

Of course I kept the leftover pieces of the sleeves.  You know I can't throw a good piece of fabric away, no matter how small.  I think it's the perfect pattern for those little "tie onesies." 

"What have I gotten myself into?!"

Wow, I'm so honored (and overwhelmed). 

I don't know if you noticed but I was featured at {Dot}{Dot}{Dot}.  Super cute, I love her site.  Thank you soooo much Tasha.  I feel like I have made my first mark in the blogging world.

So with that great honor, I had to figure out how to get that darn button over there-------------->

It was really hard for someone that is NOT good with computer stuff.   That's why I got married.  I knew there had to be someone out there who could help me.  I just searched for "how to put button on sidebar".  It seriously took me forever to get it.  I looked at tons of sites, all talking about the "Edit html" tab in Blogger.  Oh, my head was spinning.  I was thinking, "What have I gotten myself into?!"  I should have done more research on all of this before I started this blog (can you tell, I'm a bit of a planner).

After what seemed like an eternity, I was saved!!!! seventhirtythree has an amazingly helpful (and user friendly) blog help section.  I don't know what she's talking about in some parts, but she really does a good job explaining all the technical stuff.

So, in the end: SUCCESS



Cranberry-Orange Scones

We have been on a little bit of a scone kick lately.  We always buy them at the grocery store cause they look sooooo good.  That's fine and all, but I wanted to find a good recipe and try to make my own.  I found the perfect looking one: Simple Scones.  It's all in the name right?

I read through the comments to see if this was the recipe I wanted to use.  I always start at the negative ones and read the problems that people had with the recipe.  Then I go to the positive ones.  There were a couple negative comments that the scones were too dry, but there were positive ones saying they were very moist.  I figure those cancel each other out.  It was probably the way the people followed the recipe anyway.  So it was in the comments that I found some extras that people had tried.  There was this very yummy sounding glaze:

Orange Glaze
1 cup Confectioner's sugar
1 1/2 - 2 tablespoons orange juice
1 teaspoon almond extract

Mix confectioner's sugar with orange juice until desired glaze consistancy.

****
These were very good.  I got very good feedback from everyone that tried them.  The dough was a little crumbly and a little hard to work with, but it was well worth the "trouble".  Next time, I will soak the cranberries, to make them softer, and I will probably skip the glaze (VERY good, but it didn't really need it).

What parrot?!?!

The restaurant that I work at has these shirts:

I hate wearing them, because everyone always asks me about the saying.  They think there is a really good story behind it.  There really should be, but there isn't.  I can't even think of a really clever one to lie to them entertain them with.  I just end up telling them the truth, "There's no story behind it, it's just a shirt." :( The restaurant has a pirate/nautical theme to it, but that is the closest to anything about a parrot.  If anyone can think of anything to help me out, I could probably find some prize for the winning story.