Thursday, May 27, 2010

The WHOLE chicken?!?

Tuesday I was driving home from another Dance Instructor Interview and thought I should stop a nearby Publix to replenish our staples. While I was shopping I was talking with my mom-which I must say I’m not very good at talking on the phone and grocery shopping...but I had important questions "How much do you normally pay for Wisk?" It was buy one get one free....and I had to be sure I was getting a good deal (I normally buy the store brand) So while I’m talking to her I find myself yet again in the meat department.

Let me reiterate my position on the meat situation. I EAT MEAT. From cheese hotdogs to filet mignot, elk to Veal, Lamb to Chicken. However I like my meat served to me, properly cooked with a nice grouping of sides :). I do not like my meat resembling the characters you'd see on Lambkins or Old McDonalds Farm. When I'm in the meat department I feel like a grandpa in Victoria's Secret-Really confused. I know I like this stuff-but out of context I have NO idea what it is!

Anyway while I’m talking I see that they have Young Chickens on sale for $.99 a lb. I ask mom " Is that a good deal?" Yes she says. "But it's WHOLE Chicken!-what in the world would I do with that?" "Oh it's easy you can stuff it with rice, cook it in the oven or just throw it in the Crock Pot..." SOLD! she said my magic word. :) I select a $4.67 chicken and lay it in my cart praying my "World's Largest slow cooker recipe book" will direct me in what I am supposed to do with this de-feathered headless dead bird.
When I got home I found a really easy recipe-so Wednesday @ 7:45 I strapped on my apron over my bra (I didn't want to risk getting my work shirt dirty!) and opened up that vacuumed sealed bag.

Ug...As I'm pulling out the paper bag of I don't know what stuffed into the cavity I'm trying really hard not to recognize that this looks like a hairless chicken w/o a head. Luckily after I put it in the pot all I have to do is stuff it with an orange and pour sauce over it.

Adam got home at 4 and reported that it smelt good and looked done. By the time I arrived home he had prepared the corn on the cob and the green beans. Dinner was served! It wasn't that bad....wasn't the best chicken in the world-but Adam had his fill and even had lunch for today.


So check off Cook a Whole Chicken from my "How to be a wife" duty list. I'm getting better at all things wife that all the women in my family mastered years ago. Someday I'll catch up.

Now if only my grandma could remember how she cooked chicken....cause seriously that was the best chicken EVER. Anyone know how she did it? If I've mastered her rolls I'm sure I can handle her chicken.

Friday, May 21, 2010

Hallelujah!

The Fridge is






GONE!!!!




Adam sold it off Craigs List (it's 2nd posting and 3rd $ reduction)


Gone Baby Gone!


No more fridge in my living room!




Whoopee!






I think this calls for a cocktail...

Maybe one like this:


Happy Friday!

Tuesday, May 18, 2010

For Richer & Poorer

Last week after we returned from North Carolina Adam was "let go" from his job. Neither of us was too surprised, but I was still in shock non the less.
(Note: the job situation is a long story-it's a sketchy situation, but Adam was a model employee and his co-workers were shocked when he was let go)
Anyway-it was stressful at first. I was worried; can we pay our bills? What are we going to do? How will you find a job? But Adam was cool and collected and reassured me that it was going to be ok and he'd find something.

And I stopped worrying. He would find something and everything would be ok. He had been very unhappy with the situations at his company and had been casually looking. I knew that this was all for the best and that everything happens for a reason. (Heck we've been wanting to move so this was our out.) We would get through it-there are a lot more people worse off than we are.
We both adjusted some bill pays and I had to buy the groceries. Adam looked all day on the internet, contacted friends, networked and sent out resumes for four days. I knew this wouldn't go on for very long-he was going NUTS in that room. Adam has to do SOMETHING. This is the main reason I wasn't worried. He is a Go-Getter if there ever was one.

Now as much as going from two paychecks to one sucks-it is SO nice coming home to a cooked dinner. And he was good. He'd call to check how far away I was so that when I got home the door was opened and dinner was on the table HOT! That was nice. Also magically there was folded laundry one the couch. The floors had a little less dog hair floating around....I had a House Husband. I was not complaining about that.
On Monday Adam got a job through his previous owner. It's not a permanent solution, it's an hourly job, but it's a paycheck. He got up at 5:30 today to be to work by 7. Ironically it's in the same office park he used to work (before they moved). He'll be building custom pieces of some sort-he's actually not even sure, but is excited to learn how to use some new equipments (a CNC router!)

So for the time being he's back on his feet (somewhat). The job hunt is still on and we're hoping for something to turn up a little further north...but we know that whatever happens, happens. God has a plan for us. And no matter what we're in this together; for richer or for poorer.

P.S. The best part-he works until 3:30...which means he can still be home in time to make dinner!!!

Wednesday, May 12, 2010

Head over heels

I now FULLY believe in "love at first sight". 

When I first saw Adam,  I thought "wow, he's hot."  But I didn't think OMG I love him.  Maybe, "he's hot, I hope I can love him." 

This past weekend I saw somebody and my heart did a flip.  It started to melt and ooze into by ribs.  I looked at this person and immediately fell head over heels in love with them.  So did Adam.




We spent a nice long weekend in Wilson, North Carolina visiting Adam's Sister and Brother-in-law Alyssa & Nick, the happy new parents.  For four days straight we ooo'd and Ahhh'd at Ms. Kylie Jean as she slept, cried and kicked her little arms and feet.  And is she little.  All those clothes I made for her won't be fitting for a while- I may have to make some alterations.  But I would do anything for that precious little girl with the sparkly blue eyes.

Adam's dad, brother and sister-in-law also came over/down to visit so it was a standard Young weekend of cards and cocktails.  Kylie also got to go to her first baseball game and even got a card signed by the Mudcats mascot-Muddy. 

There were about 100 flash bulbs going off a minute for our 8lb celebrity and we have close to 300 pictures of her and some precious video of her kicking her legs and waving her arms.  If I can figure out how to upload any I'll share it.  I could watch it over and over.

Adam was born to be a father.  He was so good with her; holding her, rocking her, feeding and changing her diaper-something he'd never done before; now he's a pro.  Seeing him with that little girl made my eyes swell up as I looked at the future father of our unborn children.  I cannot wait to see him hold his own-someday. :)


We love our Kylie Jean and all the time we got to spend snuggling and rocking her and just plain watching her explore her new world with those big eyes.  I only wish we weren't 662 miles away. 
Someday-maybe we won't be.




Saturday, May 8, 2010

Fabric & Patterns & Quilts Oh My!

Recently I’ve gotten into sewing gifts for people.  I’ve always sewn a little bit, but nothing serious. My mom was a big sewer and I remember using her scraps to make a purse when I was really small. When I was in collage I decided to sew a quilt for my cousin, then I did one for my friend Christine then one for each of my brothers a few years ago. They were basic quilts-I'm def not a quilter- squares sewn togeather on a machine to make a large piece of fabric. I also attempted to sew a Cowardly Lion costume for my friends husband once.

Anyway when we found out about Kylie I decided I should make her a quilt. I went to Joann’s and picked out all sorts of really cute baby fabric and began the quilt back in December. Around this time my company, which also houses a Interior Design firm, was getting rid of fabric samples. Seeing a diamond in the rough I collected a stack of these 12 x 6 samples and thought these would make a great quilt. So I made a little “blankie” for Jill’s little boy, Ramzi. I mixed up lots textures with the idea that when he’s a little older he can "feel" the different materials. I remember (somehow) always liking to feel the smooth, the rough ect….so we’ll see if he does the same.


I finally finished Kylie’s quilt last month. It turned out pretty cute and I really hope she likes it ;). It's not a perfect square, but i'm sure she won't notice-Alyssa might.





I also made a pillow for my friend Erin’s new baby using the fabric samples. It ended up being a two sided pillow-I couldn’t see covering up the herringbone-ish pattern I had created with the “W” so I made a side for baby and a side for mommy.






I had bought lots of fabric for Kylie’s quilt and had some left over-Adam said now I needed to make a pillow for her too.




Then I started looking online at patterns. I thought-I'm going to make her some clothes! So I went to Joann’s and bought 2 different patterns for children’s clothes. They looked easy enough and if I could figure out how to build a building I'm sure I could make a simple dress. My mom told me I was ambitious and good luck. I had never used a pattern before.


So one Saturday I got started…took out the instructions….and cut out the pattern I was going to attempt. It was a little onesie romper. I had enough of the Mother Goose print left so that’s what I used. Seeing as this was my first attempt I thought bigger was better so I started cutting to the Large size. I quickly realized after I’d pinned the pattern to the fabric that I was a little short so I ended up cutting it to the Medium line.

I had all my pieces cut-only 4 in all-so I went to step 1. “Gather the front and back between the dots.” Gather? As in collect my front and back?? Wait what? Speed dial 4 to mom…. She laughed and explained that gather was a stitch and told me how to do it. OH!!! GATHER! Ok…onto step 2. Sew on the single fold bias tape. Put right sides together…..fold over… base…WHAT? Right as in right and left? Right sides as in inside out? UG…..Call mom again.

Finally realize they mean “the correct” side of the fabric AND the biased Tape (which I had no idea what it was until the really old lady in Joann’s showed me.-FYI it is not tape as in the sticky stuff nor is it shelved by the adhesives). So back to the story-I figured it out and got my arm holes all pretty and biased taped out. Next step the Yoke (no not an egg) I had cut my pieces and started reading the direction “Attach self adhesive interfacing” uh? Inter who? I didn’t buy that-it wasn’t on the required list….grrrr. Mom said that it makes it stiff , but I can do without it. I asked “can I use Wax paper?” NO! I start thinking and recall buying something at some time in my life some iron on fabric….so I pull out my fabric box and Voila! I have adhesive interfacing! Note: when ironing on interfacing make sure you don’t iron it to your ironing board…whoops.

Moving on, I manage my way through the front and back yoke and somehow attach it to the body of the romper. It’s starting to look very cute and I run into the living room multiple times to show Adam my progress. The next portion is the legs. Again it calls for the bias tape-only this time 1”. Now I know that a piece of ¾” elastic is going to have to be fed through this whole and I quickly realized that my 3/8” seam allowance will not work since 3/8” < ¾ ; yes I was good at math.

I make an executive decision to make the seam bigger and I'm glad I did. I start to try and feed the elastic through the small opening. Ok-I’ve got like 15” of fabric in which I need to feel 6” of elastic. After about 10 min of getting nowhere Adam says “you know how to feed something through don’t you?” Enlighten me… He instructs me to put a safety-pin on the elastic and just pull it though. Um ok. But I find a safety pin and sure as shit it goes right through! “Did your mom teach you that” I ask. “Yes, she taught me how to sew and I made myself a jogging suite and that’s how I got my string through for the hood”. My husband made his own jogging suite! I learn something new about him every day.

After the elastic is through I'm supposed to sew it the holes closed catching the elastic. Silly me though I sew the end together-making it impossible to change a diaper w/o striping the child. So I curse, pull out my seam ripper and start over. The next part was adding the snaps-I didn’t buy snaps. 1. They were too expensive & 2. They scared me. So I bought Velcro.

Velcro does not curve well-I cut notches and tried my best to sew it on like I should have the snaps. In the end it works, looks fine, but I'm sure if Kylie isn’t wearing a diaper when she grows into this she’s going to be unhappy with the bulky area poking her in the crotch.

So I got all the way through the pattern directions and realize not once did it tell me to add the buttons or cut the button hole. I also realized that there were markings on the pattern that show you where they go-but I didn’t not mark them, so I eye balled it. Luckily buttons are something I’ve done before. However my sewing machine doesn’t have a button setting like my mom’s does. After thinking about how to do it for a minute I decide on a stitch and in the words of Tim Gunn “Make it work!”

With my finished garment, cute as a button, I run into the guest room for my model and try it on him. I am over the moon with the results and Adam is proud of the results informing me that I can make all of our clothes now. HA! But we start discussing the next project and look through all my fabric.


I found this silky purple fabric and Adam stated: You must make her an ECU outfit!  Both Nick & Alyssa went to ECU and their colors are Purple and Gold (my H.S. Colors).  So I began my little ECU dress deciding on size small so it would fit in time for football season.
The fabric was a nightmare.  So slippery, even to cut.  But I made it through and although the ruffle is a bit uneven, it's still pretty cute.  Maybe it's just because it's tiny.  I also made some bloomers to go along with and put yellow lace on the back side.  I always loved my bloomers with the lace-I would walk around and show everyone!  Oh and I wore them backward so Icould see the lace too! ha ha  I sure they don't allow little girls to do that in North Carolina.
And here are a couple more pieces! I think her wardrobe is complete...for now :)
(Elf Bear makes a really good model-but I wasn't about to put him in a dress!)



I'm really excited to keep sewing and I'm happy I’ve found a new hobby that is handy (as Adam said). I'm becoming more and more the little wife I knew I could.