One for Me, One for You: Additional Inspiration

1. Whirlygiggles Quilt Top, 2. hello, Fall. [little quilt no. 1], 3. Dexter's quilt, 4. Pink Charm Quilt on design wall, 5. Matrjoska doll quilt, 6. little quilt, 7. string quilt blocks, 8. Doll Quilt, 9. New quilt

Yesterday I was feeling pretty uninspired about my quilt squares, so I decided to do something about it. I went on a quilt search through flickr, like the one I did to start us off back in September. It seems to have helped, I have an idea for the April fabric (hint, it's pictured above), but it will involve me purchasing new coordinating fabric. I don't think there's anything in my stash that will do. At next craft group, I'll probably take a break from my Shoulder Warmer and start on May's square as well. It's a more time-extensive idea that hopefully I can finish up before the end of June. And I have an idea for another square…I just have to wait for the right fabric to roll around.

It's fun being inspired, isn't it?

If only this was rubbing off on my actual work load as well. Today I got a wonderful brainstorm for creating a custom recipe box, which has me scoping out ebay for deals on a Yudu. Yikes, right? A personal screen printing machine sounds awesome, and the price tag sure does match but if I came across a deal on ebay, I would be out of my mind not to jump on it.

The past few days I've been rededicating myself to a little thing called exercise. I bought a new fitness game for the Wii on Tuesday (EA Sports Active), and am so far thoroughly impressed. It actually is a workout. As Mike put it the other day, I was "damp" from my 20 minute workout. I'm on day three of a 30 day challenge, and I'm pretty serious about sticking with it. It's much easier to stick to so far than Wii Fit because it actually is like a personal trainer. The game decides what I do on a given day, keeps the exercises going at a pretty smooth pace and has variety. I do much better when it's not up to me to decide what exercises to do - where on Wii Fit I'd do the things I was more comfortable with. Tomorrow is my first rest day, but I think I'll supplement some Wii Fit yoga just to keep in a groove without straining my body too much.

In addition, to my new dedication to some physical activity, we have also been working around the house in preparation for this weekend's birthday celebration. First landscaping the front yard early in the week, and the past couple days I've been working on the upstairs. The craft room is probably the cleanest and most organized that it has every been and the rest of the upstairs was finished up tonight. Heck I even cleaned out the bathroom linen cabinet and my drawer. Old things were tossed (or recycled), items were organized, it's amazing. There were probably more pressing things that should have been done, as our downstairs has become a disaster while focusing on other parts of the house, but I figured while I had the motivation I better do it.

All of this plus the strive to blog more regularly has definitely kept me up way past my bedtime. I haven't been sleeping in any later, but then again I was getting up pretty late anyways so if I let myself stay in bed any longer I would be late for work every day. I'm sure I'll crash one of these days, but it's nice to be busy with actual things and not sitting around watching an hour or so of tv at night. It's funny because I'm always disappointed at the end of the tv season, but then I realize how much more time I have.

I have some pretty big food plans for this weekend, so hopefully I don't relapse into my time-suck ways because it would be nice to get some knitting or quilting in too during the long weekend. And let's hope for some sun and in return some good craft and food pics to share next week!

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Don't forget to enter my Blogiversary/Birthday Giveaway for the Everlasting Birthday cupcake hat! Enter through May 25 at 7:20pm CST by sharing your favorite birthday tradition or memory on Wednesday's post. We've had some fun memories shared so far, come on over and join in the fun!

A Breath of Fresh Air

Nothing like the first 60 degree day of the season to make you feel the urge to scrub sinks and stove tops. To get outside and utilize the sun and non-snow-covered ground (despite everything being very wet and soggy) for some photographs. To open the windows just to get a breath of fresh air (though we've decided that perhaps it's not the best idea to do that right now).

Nibbler's basking in the sun on the deck with a favorite piece of firewood.

I'm tackling a bit of spring cleaning while the sun and temperature has me energized. With some breaks outside, just to enjoy the feeling of being outside with only a long sleeve tee shirt and jeans on. No wool jacket, no long underwear, no hat, no mittens, no scarf, no sweater!

And Mike is on a home improvement binge.

It's amazing what a change in weather can do. If even for only a few days. I know we don't have it too bad here in the heartland, but winter can be very long, hampering the best attempts at high spirits.

Winter is far from over, but hopefully the next few days of mild temperatures will give our spirits the boost we need to make it through the next month or two of winter without major cabin fever setting in.

…

Exhausted.

That pretty much describes the family today.

I brined and roasted a turkey (then subsequently had to dismantle the 13 lb bird because we obviously did not even make a dent in it). I grocery shopped, cleaned, did laundry. Oh, the above turkey is not today's turkey though they did turn out similar in appearances.

Nibbler sat planted in one spot shaking from the time I put the turkey in the oven until I carved it up 3 hours later. At least we know she shouldn't be a problem Thanksgiving Day. Seriously she was shaking the entire time, it kinda freaked Mike and I out, thinking she was ill.

And while I was running around like a turkey with its head chopped off, Mike tackled our bedroom paint job. Impressively all the wall painting is done, just trim painting and decorative molding left. Our room's not small either, so it was quite an accomplishment.

But now our little family to exhausted, ready for the weekend…but wait! tomorrow's Monday. No rest for us.

Maybe after Thanksgiving. Or Christmas.

Family Weekend - Tee Ball

The concentration it takes to hit a pitched ball.



Pitching to Pops. A swing and a miss.



Batter's Up.



Big Hit…look at that power.

How I Plan to Spend My Weekend.

The Last Day of May.

Already?

Time sure flies.

With the state government keeping Mike very busy the last couple weeks, it culminated all to today. I spent a lovely day, especially after the tough evening we had last night (lots of rain, a flash flood warnings and a few waves of tornado sirens), alone with Nibbler.

A biked trip to the farmers market, cleaning up a week's worth of dog debris on our first floor, laundry, another biked trip downtown for free birthday ice cream, time with a fabulous cookbook, a winning ball game on the radio, dinner al fresco as the air began to cool, and relaxing in the setting sun with some hand stitching.

Tomorrow family life should return to normal, and perhaps my front door will turn a fabulous new shade of green.

And it was a good day…

…to ride a bike.

Even feeling sick, like I do, it felt good to ride today. Sunny, warm, the perfect spring day.

National Bike to Work Day

Tomorrow (Friday, May 16) is National Bike to Work Day. Though I'm not a hard core bike commuter, I do ride my bike when conditions are ideal (aka above 40 and no chance of rain). This week's been rainy, so I only made it out one day, but luckily tomorrow is supposed to sunny and 70.

I'll be out, will you?




If you do ride tomorrow, be sure to wear your helmet…that means you husband! You may even get a cookie. And look even Molly wears a helmet. And she's from the 1940's before they knew things like smoking were bad.

Saturday Stroll in the Park

We headed to the park this evening, new camera in hand and little pup on leash for her longest walk yet.

In search for a shot of spring for mom's mother day present. Whaddya think, mamacita? It's a random house around the park, but it definitely says spring to me. I had a couple runners up, but they're a bit week in comparison.

Photo by Mike

Mike has a much better memory for photography class and the mechanics of a SLR. I'm definitely going to have to bring out the ole photography book and read up on apeture and f-stops. It will be better for our relationship if I read up on it rather than have Mike "reteach" me.

On the way back home, we happened by the duck pond (which luckily isn't too inhabited by ducks and geese like it is in the summer). Nibbler was in heaven, thinking we discovered her favorite toy in the park after such a long walk. She was very interested in this mallard that so very resembles her stuffed duck.

As we rounded the block towards home, I found this cute little fox. Which so very much reminded me of these. I thought he offered the perfect way to end a Saturday (or start a Sunday)!

Until tomorrow.

To Remind Myself

On a day like today, I just needed to remind myself that I can cook. After a day being creatively taxed working on extending a brand that I'm less than crazy about in the "look" department, I was too drained to even think about whipping up some homemade cream of broccoli soup. Even though it may take only 30 minutes.

Pizza day got moved up (not good pizza day like Mike's friend, just frozen pizza) to tonight.

Sad because we ended up having company over. Now Mike's friend/co-worker
probably thinks we only eat pizza and that I can't cook. But a relief nonetheless…I just didn't
have the mindset to do anything more.

Since tonight's meal was lackluster, I thought I'd share a recipe from this weekend that was yummy and kinda upscale. I mean, it involved asparagus and a wine sauce, how more upscale can you get?

Chicken in Mustard Sauce (serves 4)
• 4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
• Fresh Ground Salt
• Fresh Ground Pepper
• about 1/3 c flour
• 1 Tbs butter
• 1 Tbs vegetable oil
• 1/2 c white wine
• 3 Tbs Dijon Mustard
• 3/4 c Whipping Cream
• Parsley for garnishing

1. Pat chicken dry. Season with salt and pepper on both sides. Lay in flour to coat both sides.

2. Heat oil & butter in large skillet on medium setting. As butter begins to brown, brush excess flour of chicken and lay in pan. Brown the first side (approx 3 minutes), then flip until other side is browned and cooked through (approx 5 minutes). Remove from pan, and lower heat.

3. Immediately pour wine into pan. Use a spatula to scrape the bottom of the pan. Boil until syrupy (approx 2 minutes). Add mustard and cream. Boil until thickened (approx 5 minutes). Season to taste with salt.

4. Serve chicken with steamed asparagus spears, drizzle both with mustard sauce. Sprinkle with parsley. Enjoy!

Warm and Cozy for the Weekend

Not much going on around here, huh?

Not so much in real life either. Work has kept me busy doing publication design for the past two weeks (one of those weeks, being alone at the office as well having to deal with other things that popped up). I worked all last weekend, so this week has been especially tough to get through. Being confused on what day of the week it is. Needing to crash early and sleep late the next day. Swearing at people (in my head) who think I can magically make things work with too much copy, ugly ads and not enough pages.

Luckily the publication goes to press Thursday, files to the printer on Tuesday.

Then to top off a long two weeks of work, the beginning of this week made it seem like we bought a money pit. First the dishwasher stopped working mid-cycle (turns out the outlet it and disposal are plugged into is shot). Then the very next morning, after tornadoes up north destroyed our favorite apple orchard and we had just bad storming, we found our basement had taken water, lot of water. Lots of water soaked up by area rugs in Mike's video game area. Luckily I didn't have to deal with it, I had already gone to before Mike saw what had happened.

I spent the rest of the week super cleaning after work. Dishes had piled up. Laundry needed to be done. Christmas stuff had to be put away.

I've made it through the week. Whew! I plan on super relaxing this weekend. Sleeping in, knitting, reading, maybe a bath, and…using my new fondue pot!

As my treat to you for being so neglecting as of late, I give you the recipe for some yummy chili and homemade tortilla chips to keep you warm and cozy for the weekend.

Funny story before I start…
When I was in second grade, my teacher did fun stuff with us regarding food. We made tamales and peanut butter that I can recollect, I'm pretty sure we did more too. The student teacher was telling us about tamales, how they're made and everything and about other Mexican food. She kept referring to tortillas as tor-till-las, so I raised my hand having had tortillas my whole life and said, "It's pronounce tor-tee-yas." She never got it wrong after that…being schooled by a 7 year old.

On to the recipe…this is the third chili recipe I've tried in about two months. This one is my favorite. Perfect (to me) chili consistency and hearty, perfect with chips and a dollop of sour cream.

Chili with Homemade Tortilla Chips
• 1 Tbs vegetable oil + approx 1 cup
• 1 onion, chopped
• 6 garlic cloves, chopped
• fresh ground salt and pepper, to taste
• 2 Tbs tomato paste (must invest in the squeezy tube for future reference)
• 2 Tbs chili powder
• 2 Tbs cocoa powder
• 1 lb ground turkey
• 2 cans (29 oz) diced tomatoes
• 2 cans (29 oz) pinto beans, drained & rinsed
• corn tortillas, cut into quarters (I usually do 4 whole tortillas for each person)
• shredded cheddar cheese, for sprinkling
• sour cream, to dollop and dip

1. In a large, heavy bottom pot, heat 1 Tbs oil on med-hi. Add onion & garlic and season with salt & pepper. Cook approx 5 minutes, until soft.

2. Add tomato paste, chili powder & cocoa powder. Cook, stirring about 1 minute.

3. Add turkey, break up, and heat until cooked through. It get a bit tough to tell because the cocoa powder makes everything very dark.

4. Add tomatoes and beans. Bring to a boil, then reduce to simmer until thickened. Approx 15 minutes.

5. While chili is simmering, heat remaining oil in large shallow pan until a drop of water will pop off it. Fry 6 or so tortilla quarters at a time. Salt both sides immediately after taking them out of the oil. Set on paper towels to absorb extra oil. Sneak one or two while they are still warm…yum!

6. Serve chili garnish with a sprinkle of cheese and a dollop of sour cream and chips on the side. The fresh chips taste especially good dip in sour cream, their warm, salty crunchiness paired with the cool, creaminess is a great pairing (use low fat sour cream and you won't feel so bad).

Enjoy! Have a cozy weekend. I'll be relaxing, but will hopefully have some new stuff to show you soon. I started a new knitting project so there will eventually be some craft content again.

Ooo, Dat's a Good Pickter!

While home for the long holiday weekend, all holed up in mom and dad's house watching tons of movies (which all were interconnected somehow) and eating way too much, we decided to celebrate Bray's 3rd birthday a couple weeks early since Mike and I can't be coming up every two weeks for the rest of the year.

After seeing 'Fred Claus' as a family Saturday morning (the head elf was in 'Evan Almighty' which also starred Morgan Freeman of 'The Shawshank Redemption' as well as featuring the squat fat friend in 'Knocked Up' - I don't think 'The Incredibles' worked into the mix but we watched that too, as well as a whole lotta channel 229 - aka HGTV), Bray, Mike and I made cupcakes. Which Bray affectionately calls pupcakes.

So while decorating how could I resist adding a little puppy face to the mix. We gave Bray full reign over the largest cupcake. After dumping several sorts of candies, sugars and sprinkles on, he refused to eat it. But it probably turned out for the best because I don't think it cooked all the way through.

Our biggest reason for wanting to celebrate early was our gift. The Fisher Price Kid Tough Digital Camera (don't worry, no recall on it and the Chicago Tribune tested it specifically for lead). I've been wanting to get this for him since last Christmas when I found out about it, and luckily it turns out he really wanted it. My sister was dropping hints to my mom that he'd like it for Christmas. It was an exciting gift that deserved attention, which he birthday party would not lend to. Too many people around overwhelming him with gifts, and noise, and sugar.

So instead we had him to ourselves. Only Mommy, Uncle Mike, Aunt Sarah, Pop, Grams, Harper and Bray. Though a small crowd in our perspective, a large enough crowd to have plenty of picture opportunities. Though the best models seemed to be the tile floor and the ceiling, Harper was a favorite as well. The rest of us had so many pictures taken of our "pecs" and thighs, but if we reminded him to "look for the face" we were greeted with:

"Look it's Pop (mommy, Harper, etc)! Ooo, Dat's a good pickter!"

Ice Cream and Around Town

It's summer again, and that means my love for ice cream is heightened ten fold. Really, if I could, I would live off ice cream, and one summer about 5 years ago I nearly did. In my efforts to do 101 things in 1001 days to better myself, and heck, just get things done, I'm trying to knock out one knew recipe a week. This serves a few purposes. One being, we've been stuck in a food rut lately, basically eating the same super easy things every week. Two, I like cooking, so what's more fun than making new things. And three, I have a boatload of recipe clippings just piled up in a box (well, not any more, they're in folders as of Wednesday, categorized by food type), plus cookbooks that have only been cracked to gaze adoringly at the photos. Yesterday I tried out a Williams-Sonoma Strawberry ice cream…and god, was it great! The best ice cream to come out of my ice cream maker, I can only imagine what it would be like with fresh strawberries…perhaps like heaven? The ice cream booklet that came with the maker may just be banished to the recycling bin, why I didn't follow W-S's instructions before, I have no idea because they know what they're talking about. The ice cream was so smooth, creamy, strawberry-ey and the perfect firmness (not rock hard, but not melty mushy as soon as it was in the bowl).


Homemade Strawberry Ice Cream
(based off of Williams-Sonoma Ice Cream Strawberry Ice Cream)

• 2.5 cups Heavy Whipping Cream
• .5 cups Skim Milk
• .75 cups Sugar
• pinch of Salt
• 1 tsp Vanilla Extract
• 2 cups frozen strawberries, thawed partially & coarsely chopped

Combine cream and milk. Add sugar and salt and whisk until sugar begins to dissolve. Whisk in vanilla. Set aside for 15 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Cover and refrigerate for about 8 hours.

Mash up half of the strawberries, then refrigerate until ready to use.

Pour milk mixture into ice cream maker while its churning and freeze as per the maker's instructions (Mine was about 30 minutes). When the ice cream is the consistency of thick whipped cream, add strawberries and churn until blended well. Transfer ice cream into freezer safe container and freeze for at least 3 hours before enjoying!

Not surprisingly, the homemade strawberry was not the only ice cream I enjoyed yesterday. Hey, it's summer! And I have half days on Fridays!

For my late lunch I stopped by Cold Stone before heading to the YMCA for a cup of Mint Mint Chocolate Chocolate Chip (needs caramel instead of fudge) and people watched in the Old State Capitol Plaza. I don't know if I've said it here before, but I really like living here (until a big tornado hits that is). I like that there are tourists milling around downtown all the time. I like that it seems to take only 15 minutes to get anywhere in town (no matter the distant, near or far). I like that Mike is around more and not a crabby driver anymore. And most of all, I like working downtown. I can walk to the library at lunch. Or go out to lunch (been doing that a little too much, bad for the wallet and the belly). Or I can just walk around the corner and sit in the park.

So anyways, I enjoyed my calorie fest in the Old State Capitol Plaza, gazing at the Lincoln family statues. Just being amused by every family stopping to pose with the family. Every family. From the young family with three little kids to the single mother and her daughter to the old couple. In the 30 minutes I sat there, at least 6 families had photo shoots. I wish I had video or at least pictures to show you how amusing this can be. Some people try to quietly snap their pictures from a distance (the older couple). The majority of groups just stand within the Lincolns and look straight ahead. But then you have the families of goofballs who mimic the exact poses of the statues. What makes that even more funny is the Lincoln family is separated by about 50 feet because Willy is on his way to school while the rest of the family (Abe, Mary Todd and Tad) waves goodbye. One family of 4 were posing (luckily with tag along uncle playing photographer) with mom fixing dad's collar and little daughter waving her heart out to her older brother who stood 50 feet away, not in the picture mind you, waving his cap. Once mom, dad and daughter were digitally captured the entourage moved over to son for his photo shoot. I wonder how they will choose to display the photos. Perhaps across the room from each other. And if this family wasn't enough…then came along single mom and her 13-year-old daughter, who stood behind a light pole and peeked her head around while her mom was getting her bearings. As mom started to walk away, daughter grabbed at mom and said "take a picture" and proceeded to pose sitting her around both sides of the pole (okay, it is kind of an old-timey light pole). The photo shoot moved to the nearby bench, where daughter posed sitting, laying, and standing on her head on this bench. Okay, not the last one. I left before the photo shoot was over, but I have a feeling it was going to go on for quite awhile, and I did need to go work off some of the creamy, minty, fudgey, brownie-y goodness I had just indulged in.

If you're curious as to why these adorable amigurumi adorn the post, well, I was ill prepared with neither an ice cream shot nor or my people watching. And what's a blog post without pictures…well, it's just someone's ramblings.

The top hippo is from Darcy for my birthday, and the tiny kitty was from SakanaSea for the Craftster May Birthday Swap. They are both nameless at this time, but finding home in my studio where all good crafty animals should be, right?

The Michael's Haul

Friday's are half days during the summer, so I headed over to Michael's to look for a bag handle. The store is being remodeled, the aisles were impossibly tight, and I couldn't find the handles…but there was loads of stuff for 90% off! I walked out with all this stuff for just over $4. Not too bad.

$9.99 bundles of Kitschy fat quarters, only$1.00!


Couldn't pass up these fat quarters, I've always loved paper dolls. Sadly there are no actual dolls on the fabric, only the clothes.


And the adorable Camping buttons, which so fittingly popped up when we are going camping this weekend. Sadly though they are not all buttons, and I'm not quite sure what the non-buttons are supposed to be used for.

I'm splattered

It's been awhile. Blogging keeps falling between the cracks. Though freelance work has wrapped up! And I'll be getting the first of 2 paychecks for this job tomorrow. It's nice to get back to relaxing, though it will be short lived. The REAL job starts Monday…yikes.

For the time being, I'll relish in the ability to stay in my pjs all day if I want, to splattered my way through craft project after craft project while the Harry Potter movies pipe away in the background, and to go on 3 mile walks downtown listening to my ipod while cars whiz by (though the temperature has dropped a good 30 degrees, so that may not be happening).

I have a few projects I need to wrap up before Monday, so I'm keeping myself busy. Not even that much time is being spent on the computer. After 3 and a half weeks of toiling away on the freelance, we have been seeing "other people."

Today, you can see, I have been in the studio painting away. Nothing too serious. And definitely not artistic, but for my favorite person under the age of 24. So it's important nonetheless. This is the main component of Bray's Easter present, so you'll be able to see the whole thing Friday during the day…if the sewing machine and my crazy "pattern" decide to co-exist.

Once this wraps up, I'll be writing a letter to a potential pen pal and making up some ATCs before settling back into HP crafting for the End of Harry Potter Swap.

I hope to step back into blogging with more regularity again, I am coming up on the big 1-0-0 post and then soon afterwards my first blogiversary. I'm thinking of celebrating with some sort of crafted giveaway, so that's something to be looking for. You'll just have to stay tuned!

Oh No!

I've noticed a pair of ducks waddling around our parking lot the past few days. Just Saturday, I noted what pretty purple patches the female had on her wing as they crossed the lot in front of my car.

This morning, coming back from a meeting, I noticed that the ducks were huddled under the car that I parked next to. Thinking it was a funny sight, and since I had my camera handy from an earlier expedition (which you will see soon), I thought I would take a picture.

As I stooped down, the ducks started circling in a very protective manner (which you can kinda tell from my picture) and then I saw it. They had laid an egg under the car.

That spells trouble.

I left a large note on the windshield of the car for the owner to pull out carefully. I called several different numbers trying to find someone who can tell me either to let it go or will come out and save the duck family. Though the ducks are in no danger, I've seen them waddling around the lot together, like an old married couple. I finally found the animal control and was informed that ducks are protected by the state so they can't touch them, but was given the number for the state conservation. It was the wrong number!

All my google searches are coming up empty in the sense that I can't tell if the department could help me. So what do I do now? I can see the poor little egg sitting so close to that tire from our window.

All in a Golden Afternoon

We gave the rest of our bread to the ducks at the park this afternoon. Took a walk around the park in the sun. Played catch until I got bored. Then came home, de-plasticized our windows and opened the screen door. It's great to breathe fresh air.

I think I'm really going to like having such a beautiful, big park nearby. Tons of people milling around, though never feeling crowded. Dogs, ducks and little kids tottering around. Being closed to traffic on beautiful weekends for Bike and Hike days. Walking hand in hand, musing about houses over looking the park that are for sale and pregnant dogs. The playground was full of laughs and screams, though the pond and gazebo were calm and secluded.

When the weather warms/dries up, and things turn green, it'll be nice to spend weekends walking, picnicking and talking.

Could this be spring?

Walking back and forth through the courtyard, doing laundry all afternoon, the only thing going through my mind was, "this is spring ::sigh:: !"

Sunny, a slight breeze and probably around 50 degrees.

Walking through the dormant grass, just closing my eyes and breathing in. It was such a relief. Though I'm not entirely convinced, winter could slam back at any moment.

Isn't it sad how these metal, bouncy playground amusements are being replaced with plastic? I mean, the rusted metal jungle gym (which is present in the courtyard) can happily be replaced. But please, not the bouncy things! I was so heartbroken during Spring Break my junior year while I was taking photography class. My whole (cliché) assignment theme revolved around the old school playgrounds of my youth. I walked all around my hometown, camera and tripod in hand, only to be sorely disappointed.

I want to take this pelican home with me. To save him, I guess.

And as I walked into the darkness that is our apartment building, I was happily surprised by this bright and lovely magazine that was sitting in my mailbox. I can't wait to curl on the couch later on tonight and go through it. My day has been spent tying up some loose ends with our house and painting little piggies for my littlest best bud's Easter present. And then Carol at Kidding Around filled my head with even more inspiration for little ones!

WIP Friday

This week:

• I've started to dip my toes into the ginormous pool called ATC, looked forward to my first attempts in the coming week (I can't ruin the swapping surprises)
• Mom came down for a quick visit and saw that we don't live in a dilapidated shack in the ghetto
• I discovered the wonder that is Panera's Spinach & Artichoke Baked Egg Soufflé (if anyone has the recipe for this, please, please share with me)
• My love of Netflix just grows and grows every few days (any recommendations?)
• Reading has stepped up again in my life, two books done this week and I've started a third today
• The deliciousness that is homemade kettle corn was consumed
  
• Grand plans to utilize a huge shopping bag full of cones of yarn from my mother-in-law, and make shopping bags (I have three patterns so far, so I won't be getting bored) was spawned after getting 2 plastic shopping bags for a half gallon of milk and 5 Snickers bars (the cashier was distracting me before I could request no bag, grrr)
  
• Monday night crafting with Mike, sitting side by side at the craft table with Family Guy playing in the background, was inaugurated
  
• Spring sprung on the first day of March, and then was sadly squashed (though not a violently as it was up north) with more cold weather
• Geared up to start freelance work (will this become a tax hassle anyone?)
• Thoughts of starting an Etsy store (not yet by any means), or at least buying things from people like me, were given serious thought
  

Stop, Drop and Roll

We had a dinner guest tonight. And the moment I served up the lasagna, the fire alarm went off. Not just the smoke detector in our apartment (which was not going off, it was not my cooking!), but the entire building's fire alarm system.

The three of us contemplated for about 5 minutes, whether we should sit down and eat or get out. Due to some recent events and my persistence, I put the lasagna in the warm (but off) oven and we bundled up and headed outside with a handful of other residents. The hall had been a bit hazy when leaving, but difficult to tell since it's not brightly lit. But outside the building there was this funky smell. I talked to one girl who was relatively our age because she asked what was up and if there was a fire because she has a project due at midnight. Then she mentioned she had seen smoke coming out of the apartment next to hers. At that, after frantically asking where her apartment was in the building, Mike called 911.

Considering this was about 15 minutes after the alarm started going off, Mike being the first person to call 911 is pretty scary. They were asking him where the fire was in the building, etc. It was kinda disheartening when the first fire truck pulled up with 2 firefighters in gear and one in a sweatshirt. But they almost immediately allowed us back in, someone just REALLY, REALLY burned food. Enough to stink up the inside and outside of the building, fill the hall with a haze and set off the fire alarm, not just their smoke detector. Yowza!

As you can see in the photo, a second fire truck did pull up around the time that the firefighters gave us the ok to reenter. Talk about excitement on a Friday night.