My Pegboard...

So, here's what the pegboard looked like before we could put anything on it. I had just finished painting it white. It looked so blank to me:


After putting some tools on it, it started to look more full. So I'm thinking I don't need to decorate it. I might put some cards around it or something. Just to give it a little decoration.

I'm having fun trying to figure out how to put my tools on it so I can have everything I need close. And did you know, each hardware store has different pegboard items? I found a lot of great deals at some of the stores. The bottom drawers were under $4 each! I was so excited. They give me a little storage space plus a little shelf. ;)

Peg board is up!

The Peg board in my sewing room is up! I have finished painting it white. Now what? LOL

Do I rubberstamp the edges? My fear on that is that I'll get tired of what it looks like after awhile and want to change it.

Do I decopage the edges? Again same fear of getting tired of it.

Or I could paint swirlies? Or sponge paint? I don't want it to look cheesy.

Right now it's just a big white board. in the center of the wall. Maybe decorate the edges with cards that my friends have made? Hmm, that sounds like an idea!

Will have to sleep on it and get back to you....

Organizing my craft rooms...

Yes, craft rooms. Plural. More than one. LOL One is technically the sewing room, and the other is the storage room, but I now am admitting their true names...Craft rooms. LOL I am planning on one space being one that I can work in, and the other is going to be storage. We're trying to figure out how to make more storage in the rooms.

I don't do just one type of crafting, and I can't see getting rid of some things just because I am not in painting mode or scrapbooking mode. I've already gotten rid of some things that now I wished I had kept. But I can say that candle making mode is truly gone for now. Really, it is. But most of the other ones are so related to each other that I don't want to get rid of anything yet.

We've decided to use peg board in the sewing room. I can put my tools on pegs and hang up stuff like ribbons and such. In the craft room is where stuff like storage shelves would work. So we're trying to figure out how that is going to work in the rooms.

I am so excited that I'll finally be organized and have a space to work in, instead of in the kitchen. (and Phil is very excited too!)

Will post photos when we're done. :)

Cats and squirrels

Yesterday my squirrel friend was waiting for me. I thought he was so cute, so I had to take the photo. :) He did an unusual thing. He was barking on the fence, like there was a cat in the yard, then ran down off the fence when I went to check it out. Like I'm his protector or something. It was really funny.

And this is Velcro. She loves sleeping under the blanket. Just like a furry person. I thought she was really cute too, so of course out came the camera.

Working on my workspace...

I'm working on my sewing room today. Philip moved out this weekend, so I have a whole new room to play in. We're going to move the sewing machine in his room, and move all my crafting stuff out of the spare room. I haven't even touched the craftroom yet. But once we get everything all set up, I'll post a picture or two. :)

I also went to help my folks on their garage yesterday, in the pouring rain. LOL That was fun. Should have waited till today when it's dry. Oh well. I have so much fun tossing stuff in the dumpster! LOL

Old Pattern in Japanese...

In my parents' basement, we found a bunch of old books. And there was this one notebook that had drawings of clothes with numbers. So I'm guessing it's patterns for clothes or aprons. I don't know exactly because I can't read Japanese. It's sad that I can't read it, I tried learning Japanese in high school, but after so many years of Spanish, everytime I was supposed to translate something, I could think of it in Spanish, not Japanese. LOL

Anyway, I thought I'd post a couple of the drawings, I'm going to scan all the pages just because I don't want to lose them. Maybe someone could use the measurements??

Happy Valentine's Day!

I still have an hour left to wish you all a Happy Valentine's Day! Did you all have a nice one?

Today was a day of change and release for me. My boyfriend's son is moving out, kind of on his own. He's 25, and has been living with us for about 12 years now. So he's finally taken wings and is flying. It's good because he needs the responsibility. I really thought that he'd be living with us forever. So, it's a good change for all of us.

And today I also went to help my folks clean out their basement. OMG, there is about 40+ years of stuff in there! And there was one room of stuff that was from their landlord. He has been gone for quite a few years now, and it was kind of cool to see what was in that section of the basement. I'll take photos and post tomorrow.

I also found a couple of boxes of mine down there, filled with old school papers and magazines. So it was time for me to release them to the dumpster. Well, some of them anyway. The boxes I found were from college, and it was so cool to see my mechanical drawings from that time. No computer back when we took classes, just pencil and paper. Or in the ones that I found, ink and mylar. I also found an old report where we had to type and draw things. It was so cool to find that. So I had to save that as well.

So, the next week will be for us here to move things around cause we'll have an extra room! I'll now have a sewing room, a craft room, and a guest room! YAY! LOL And I'll be cleaning up stuff from my past. It's fun to see how much life has changed for me. Photos will be coming soon!!

Almost Valentine's Day!

It's almost Valentine's day. The first one without being at the store. Kind of a sad one for me because I loved being at the store for Valentine's day. It was my favorite holiday for the store. I loved helping the guys pick out gifts for their significant others. You'd see the same guys every year, they'd come in the same day every year. And need help to pick out gifts.

It was fun to help the boys in the neighborhood that you've watched grow up to find a gift for their first girlfriends. The husbands who come in 3 times a year for Valentines, Birthdays, and Christmas. I'll miss the gentleman who would come in every year to buy his wife one or two precious moments and 2 or 3 italian charms. And he'd be amazed that we could remember which ones he purchased.

The guys that would come in for balloon bouquets, the dads who came in to buy gifts not only for their wives, but for their little girls too.

It was always so much fun!

This week

This week, with the help of Jenny's Sewing Studio, I was able to figure out how to do basic embroidery design with our Palette software. I'm so glad they had lessons online because I was very clueless as to how to use the design center part of the software. Now I don't feel helpless, and I actually re-created a logo for Pacific Water Trucks. They're the broker for Phil's nephew.

Once I fix it, I'll post a picture of their logo.

I've also sewed 14 patches on a vest for Philip. He chose a thick quilted jacket that of course, I didn't feel comfortable in using our machine to do, cause the material is so thick. So I sewed them all on by hand. And man, are my fingers sore. LOL The sewing actually took 2 days! And as I was sewing, I thought, "OMG, the flag was sewn this way originally." I thought 14 patches were hard, can you imagine sewing a whole flag by hand? ;)


I also have been sewing hearts for Valentine's Day. I don't know why, I just saw some online and thought they were really cute. :) I'll post a photo when I make a few more of them. :)

I would really like to figure out how to make patches. Will have to do some research soon.

Hope you all have a great weekend!

Domo-izing

We're Domo-izing the house! Well, ok, not really. But we really love Domo and I'm starting to make him for other things now. Ok, well, only one thing so far but more is on the way! LOL

Above is a picture I caught the other day of Oreo "Talking" to Domo. He always has to smell everything, and I guess Domo was just so interesting to him. LOL

I also made a barrel cover for Philip's Paintball gun. I guess during the game, if you get shot "dead" by a paintball, you're supposed to put a cover on it and walk back to base. The cover is to keep you from accidentally releasing a paintball from the gun while you're walking back, and it lets people know that you've already been hit.

Philip had the idea to make his into a Domo, so I just covered one of his generic barrel covers with a polar fleece domo. They reinforce the covers normally, and a polar fleece domo would probably tear if a paintball got shot out of it.

I thought it turned out pretty cute. Now I have to make more. :)

Super Bowl and Commercials

Did you all enjoy the Super Bowl today? It was really fun to watch. Normally I just watch it for the commercials, but the end was so very exciting. I'm glad that we watched the entire game.

Well, Christoph and I did anyway. LOL Phil and Philip went out to the store to get some goodies for us to eat, 2 hours later they were back with lots of goodies for us. We had Chili on top of cream cheese, deviled egg salad, tuna salad, cheese and salami, and chips and dip. All very yummy finger foods. ;)

I wished I would have took a photo of it. LOL

My favorite commercial was of course the Heroes Football Commercial


I am VERY excited about the new Star Trek movie, of course it doesn't hurt that Karl Urban is Dr. McCoy....


Am excited to see the new Witch Mountain trailer


There are so many great movies coming up, and there were so many funny videos. I still think it's funny that it's the only time we all will really look forward to watching the commercials is during the Super Bowl.

Skillet Pizza

Last night we made Skillet Pizza. I got the recipe from Rachael Ray's magazine, and it looked really really easy and good. So I made the dough. What I didn't know was that you could actually split the dough, cause it rises when you put it in the pan. Note to self, next time split the dough. LO

And never EVER listen to your hubby when he says, "The Pizza Parlor cooks it at 500 degrees for half the cooking time." Or: "You don't have to prebake it, the Pizza Parlor doesn't do that."So it came out a little toasty at the edges, but the crust was pretty good. Just thick cause mine was a thicker dough. LOL I'll have to try it again without the extra input from the peanut gallery! ;)

Here's the recipe if you are interested from Racheal Ray's magazine:

Skillet Pizza Dough:
Ingredients for just the dough:
3/4 c lukewarm water
1 tbsp Active Dry Yeast
1 tsp Sugar
2 1/4 c Flour
1 tsp Salt
3 tbsp Extra Virgin Olive Oil

1. In a small bowl, stir together the lukewarm water, yeast, and sugar. Let stand until foamy, 3 to 5 minutes.
2. Using a standing mixer, mix the flour and salt at low speed. Mix in the yeast mixture and olive oil until a shaggy dough forms. Change to the dough hook attachment and mix at medium speed until smooth, about 6 minutes.
3. Transfer the dough to a greased, large mixing bowl, turning to coat; cover with plastic wrap and let rise until doubled in size, 45 minutes to 1 hour. Punch dough down before using.


To make the pizza:
1. Press the Pizza dough into a greased 9- to 10- inch cast-iron skillet and let rise until doubled in size (about 20-30 minutes).
2. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.
3. Drizzle 1 tablespoon of Extra Virgin Olive Oil over the dough, spoon Marinara Sauce on top, leaving a 1/2 inch border. Bake until golden and bubbly, about 25 mins.
4. Sprinkle the cheese and crushed red pepper on top and bake until cheese is melted, about 5 mins.
5. Let cool in pan for 20 minutes before serving.


For Pizza ingredients, we used Boboli Pizza sauce and lots of cheese. We also sliced some salami and onions too. I think you can put these on at the end as well, so it doesn't all get burned.

The Millenium Falcon

So, while waiting for my dad at the VA hospital, I read The Millenium Falcon. It's new Star Wars book. And I loved it. I now have to go back and read the books that I'm missing in between the last one I read in the Star Wars Universe.

I love the fact that Han, Leia, and their granddaughter are researching the history of the Millenium Falcon. And I also love how they incorporate different characters from all the movies and books into this one.

It's fun reading the stories of the previous owners of the Falcon, and just how special she is to each person. She is a very special ship, and has always been my favorite in the series. I don't know why, but whenever you see her on screen or read about her in other books, you just wish you were on her with the characters. And you tend to care about her too. Well, I do anyway. LOL

If you love the Star Wars Universe, this is a must read. :)

This week's update...

Hello everyone!

This week has been a bit of a busy one for me. Sorry that there are no pictures. I've been spending the week helping my folks out a bit. My dad needed to go into SF Tuesday for a doctor's appointment. So I took him there on Tuesday. OMG, it was such a beautiful day in the city! Normally when I take him, it's foggy and you can't see very far past the coastline. But that day the sun was out, and it was so clear, you could see that the shoreline actually curved out, and you could see the tops of the Golden Gate Bridge. It was amazing. And yes, I could kick myself for not bringing my camera with me!

And today we started to help them with the cleaning of their yard. I'm learning that my packrat issues stem from my folks. LOL It's going to be a lot of work, but it's fun to see different things from our childhood unearthed.

The days in between have been for errand running. The darn birds didn't like the fancy finch birdseed mix we bought the other night, so we had to go to the feed store to pick up their regular food. If you've never been to a feed store, you should stop by one. Lots of really interesting stuff. And the one we go to usually has a chicken or a rabbit in a cage outside.

Hope that you all are going to have a good weekend!

Caramel Corn Recipe

I got this recipe from my older sister who actually got it from tupperware a long long time ago. She made it for us and OMG, we totally had to have the recipe.

Caramel Corn Recipe:

8 c. Popped Popcorn (1/3 c unpopped) Popped in air popper, not
microwaved.
3/4 c. Packed Brown Sugar
6 T Butter
3 T Light Corn Syrup
1/4 tsp Salt

Pop popcorn with an air popper.



Spread out popcorn on baking pan


Combine Brown Sugar, butter, Corn Syrup, and salt in saucepan.

I stir constantly until it starts getting to the boiling stage.

Cook on Medium heat until starts to boil, and cook for 5 minutes.


Remove from heat and pour on popcorn.
Toss quickly to coat.


Bake 300 degrees F in oven for 15 minutes.
Stir to coat popcorn
Bake 5-10 minutes more.
Put popcorn on foil. Cool and break into pieces.

Hint: Don't leave it on the foil for too long. When you leave it on there for too long the caramel corn tends to get sticky. We like crispy caramel corn! :)

Slumber Party

This weekend my friend Debi had a slumber party at her beautiful home in Scotts Valley. We had such a great time. We haven't all been together since we went to see Mamma Mia a few months ago. So it was a really big treat for us.
At the slumber party we all had show and tell. Here the girls are looking at the heart box Karan made for Lori. Instead of candy in the inside, she put scrapbook embellishments in the cups where the candy would go. It was very cool.
Here we are, the giggly girls sleeping in the living room. Pat, Joanne, and I slept in the living room. And we stayed up pretty late talking and giggling watching TV. It was so slumber party-ish. I felt like the teens that would always come to our house when Ashley and Philip were kids.

Here's a shot of all of us. Joanne, Karan, Lori, Pat, Debi, and me.

And we're enjoying a delicious breakfast of Cremé Brulee French Toast. Very yummy. The night before Karan made her Paella that was so very good. We had a great time talking, eating, and sharing scrapbook tips and techiques. I can't wait to do it again!

They Dryer's fixed!

I'm so excited, the dryer is finally fixed! It lost its heat a couple of months ago. I would have to say in about November. And so we've been doing a mixture of hanging clothes out to dry, or traveling to the laundromat to dry our clothes.

Well, Phil finally took it apart and took different parts to a local Appliance part place in Fremont. He finally got to the part that needed fixing today, and yay, we have a working dryer!! :)

But having to dry clothes the old fashioned way sure did bring back a lot of memories. We didn't have a dryer at home when I was younger, we put things out to dry or went to the laundromat when it rained. Boy, have things changed from when I was a kid.

You see lots of interesting people at the laundromat. And I actually found one that was really clean and quiet. And OMG, they use electronic money cards for the machines. You fill up your cash card at the cash machine, and then put it in the slot on the dryer. I should have brought my camera to take pictures. LOL It was amazing. No change needed. And there are TV's in there now, so you can watch Judge Judy or whatever soap opera they have on at the time.

For me, it was a great time to do some reading. It was a little inconvenient to not have a dryer at home to do laundry whenever I wanted. But it was very convenient to do 3 loads at once. LOL

I am very lucky that Phil can actually figure out how to fix things so that we don't have to call a repair man. I think he should have a second career as a handyman. LOL Like Beau Bridges on Desperate Housewives. ;)

Things that I've been sewing...

I've been busy sewing a few things for a slumber party this weekend. My scrapping girlfriends and I are going to be at a slumber party, and one of the things we're doing is bringing a bag of stuff that we have around our house that we don't use anymore and then we'll do a white elephant giveaway. Well, I am in between crafts right now, and I'm not sure what I want to keep and what I want to give away. So I decided to make a few things to go with some things I could find to give away.
I found a pattern for a purse organizer on the internet. I thought it would be cool to make it a little bigger for the different tools you take with you when you scrap. So I adjusted it to be 26" x 11.25" instead of 26" x 8" I think I might make it a little taller though, maybe 13" x 26".
And I also made this little pouch from this tutorial. I did a bit of embroidery on it, but think I messed up the corners a bit. Will do better the next time. :) It works really well, and looks cute. I think I'll try more next week. It's the first time I've ever sewn a zipper. :)

Reading...

Today I finished Dark Tort. It's number 12 in the culinary mystery series by Diane Mott Davidson. I actually have already read #13 Double Shot, and #14 Sweet Revenge. :) Wow, I still can't believe I've finished 14 books in about a month. They are so fun to read.

I haven't had the time to read this much in about 5 years. I would always read the latest Harry Potter book that was out, or maybe another randomy book. But not as many as I have so far. I just love to read and I've missed it so much.

I can remember always reading some book, comic book, or magazine. I just love having all this new information, or new story. And I'm always very sad when the book is done, not necessarily because the ending is sad, but just because the story is over. Especially when I come to really love the characters in the book. I can't wait till the next book by Diane Mott Davidson comes out in a few months. :)

Anyway, next up is Tales of Beedle the Bard. If I can get up early enough to pick it up from the library before the parking lot fills up. LOL

Domo's Done!

Domo is finished! I have his other arm sewn on, stuffed his feet with Walnut shells so he's weighted down a bit. He can stand on his own and his arms move! :)



So of course I had to do what every person with a domo does with their domo. Take a picture of him terrorizing something. Although Oreo wasn't very afraid. LOL

The funny thing, while I was sewing up the hole in domo's bottom, Oreo decided that Domo would make a really great cat pillow. LOL So Philip had better make sure it's not lying around anywhere. He's gonna use it as a cat bed. LOL