Catching up

Alright, I haven't posted in a few days so there is a decent amount of catching up to do. On Friday I made my first meal ever without a recipe. It actually tasted good too! I basically just used anything in the fridge that needed to be eaten before it went bad. Here's a picture:

Since then I have been immersed in trying to figure out how to sew... grrrrrrr... Last night I spent 2.5 hours cutting material for curtains only to find out that I didn't buy enough material... grrrrrr. So I decided to start on a pillow. It's not finished yet but I have gotten farther on it than the curtains. I have actually turned the sewing machine on! :)


Here are some pictures I like...
Look how big Mathew is compared to Duncan :)

Watch out! She knows how to use it!!

This is Duncan and his great-great-grandma!


Do you want to see more????? Here is a link to my web gallery.

Sheba

Today was full of visits. I worked yesterday and was too tired to post. I went in to work today, but got a call an hour after I got there. It was my mom calling to tell me my grandma's dog, Sheba, died this morning and my Gammy was inconsolable. I promptly left work and spent the day with Gammy. Brett, Duncan and I went to my little sister's softball game later tonight. They played really well, but it got dark so they decided the game with a coin toss!!! Can you believe that? What a way to win or lose! I forgot my camera so I don't have any pictures to share with you. I do have lighthearted news... I bought material yesterday so I can start learning how to sew! I was very excited to see that Walmart has a decent selection of $1/yd material. I went a little crazy and bought 31 yds of different patterns I liked!!! I do have a picture of that :)

I also bought patterns for window treatments and pillows. I bought 'Window Treatments for Dummies' and 'Decorative Pillows for Dummies'. I like the Dummies books so I figured that using Dummies patterns would be a good place to start. However, I started reading the directions... I think this might be quite a challenge, but I'm up for it.

I am the pie queen!!

Success!! I made steak tacos for dinner tonight and for dessert...(drumroll please) blueberry pie! I made the filling from scratch, but I used a box to make the dough (sue me). I was a little worried but it turned out great! Brett even brought some to our neighbors!!! 

On to other topics, I spent last night reading the instruction manual to my new sewing machine. It was actually kind of interesting. I even felt a little inspired when I read about the decorative stitches. As I just typed this I can already hear Brett, "Not only are you a rock nerd, now your a sewing nerd?" hehehe I guess so. If the shoe fits right? Besides he wasn't making fun of me when he saw how well I sewed up the crotch to a pair of his scrubs we he? That's right, I said crotch. That man has busted the crotch out of every single one of his scrub pants. I would hand sew it back up and he would come home with it busted out again :) One day he even busted the crotch out before he got out the door!!!! Now I promise you it wasn't my sewing. I would stitch over the length of the hole a minimum of three times and at least triple knot it. He says that it happens when he has to squat down, and no his pants aren't too baggy. My theory is that his tiny hiny won't hold a pair of pants up and scrubs have no belt loops. :) So anyway I sewed another pair last night but I got to use my sewing machine. It didn't take me long to figure out how to wind the bobbin or sew his pants. He was very appreciative. As for his pants, let's just say I'm going to keep that bobbin wound with white thread.

Trials and Tribulations

Sorry I haven't posted in a couple of days. Becoming Martha Stewart is wearing me out!! :) Okay so here's the update. On Friday I didn't get much done except dinner (what else is new?). I grilled chicken and new potatoes and I steamed broccoli. I also grilled corn, but not well. I thought you could just stick the corn on the grill in the husk. My mom told me yesterday that you have to soak the corn for 6 hours first. So it's no wonder my butter disappeared into my corn so quickly! Brett ate it anyway and even went so far as to say it wasn't bad. Yesterday I grilled pork chops, roasted asparagus and boiled the corn. The corn turned out all right but I over cooked the asparagus. Brett ate all of it and even said it was good! I decided I don't really care for crunchy asparagus :) I have such a sweet husband don't I? I have a picture of the chicken dinner, but not of the crunchy asparagus dinner: 

I bought a sewing machine yesterday!!! I have decided that the empty room downstairs is going to be a sewing/craft room, and the guest bedroom is going to become the guest bedroom/office. I am sooo excited! Now all I have to do is learn how to sew...

Duncan was looking at me with such a funny face I just had to take a picture. He was cracking me up...then I found out he was pooping. :)

Summer Pot Roast

Well I called it. It did take me almost all day to cook dinner! The shopping trip took just over an hour and it took me 4 hours to cook. I made summer pot roast (recipe courtesy my grandma Hill) so I had three hours to do things while it simmered. We just got back from a week long vacation so Duncan hasn't adjusted to being home yet. He was very needy all day and protested every time I sat him down. He wouldn't even take a nap alone! Despite this, I did get three loads of laundry washed (washed is the key word here ;) ), the fridge cleaned out, and the new carpet fuzzies vacuumed up. The really good news is that Brett told me my pot roast was the best dinner I have ever cooked for him. It made me feel all warm and fuzzy inside. Now I have to figure out what I am going to cook for the next two nights...

Here is a picture of my pot roast:

I also served salad and crescent rolls. I'm not tooting my own horn or anything, but I thought it tasted pretty darn good :)

First thing's first....

I have many creative interests that I am looking forward to pursuing such as photography, sewing, crafts, and interior design. Hopefully I find that I am good at at least one of these things :). However, when I think about my largest obstacle to becoming Martha Stewart, it is not creativity but organization. Martha is a very put together woman, and I think if I am going to become a domestic goddess my home should at least appear to be somewhat put together. Right now it is nowhere close. Our home is a very cluttered place, I guess if you where being nice you could call it "overly cozy". Now, the messiness of our home is not because we are pigs I assure you. In fact, I LOVE a clean house. It's just that mine never seems to quite get there. I am convinced this is because I am not organized. Everything I own does not have a place, and some things I shouldn't own are taking up too many places (Does anyone out there feel me?). So my first project is a large one: organize my home! I think I am going to break this down into rooms, or maybe even projects within rooms. The room I would like to start with is the family room as that is where we spend most of our time. However, two weeks ago we had a series of huge storms which resulted in our lower level flooding. So now I have a newly carpeted empty room where once was a cluttered office. All of the furniture and junk that was in this room is now in the garage. So the need to park my car in the garage again has made this room priority number 1. Here's what I'm working with :

I don't really like the wall color, but I don't think I will be able to talk Brett into helping me paint it. I don't like the curtain for the sliding doors either. That may be an easier fix...

I need to find a way to put all of this stuff in the office neatly or get rid of it...Well hopefully I will be able to get a start on it tomorrow. Although tomorrow is Brett's first day on 1st shift (he just switched from 3rd shift) so I am going to attempt to cook dinner... that may take all day :) Either way, I'll let you know how it goes.

Credit where credit is due

Before I continue I need to stop and thank my mother-in-law Tricia who helped me set up this blog and came up with the name. I think this is the perfect venue to keep track of my transformation into a domestic goddess. Actually, Tricia and her daughters Jessica and Megan have been an inspiration to me. They have shown me how fulfilling life can be without work. So a big thanks to all of them because without their example, I could still be unhappily trudging my way through days filled with classes, homework, and work. 

-Moo  

It's time to live

This is the place where I am going to chronicle my home projects and cooking experiments in my quest to become the next Martha Stewart. This is interesting to me (and hopefully to you) because I do not seem like the typical "Susie Homemaker" (though I really want to be). I have recently stopped attending school in my 5th year as a geology major and am currently working 18 hours a week as a contractor at the USEPA. I am just being introduced to the world of blogging and find myself intrigued. My goal in life is to quit working all together and work full time at being the best wife and mommy I can be. Although I have spent the last 5 years of my life submersed in math and science I do have a creative side (it needs nurturing if you haven't guessed). Some of the projects I have in mind include sewing, gardening, writing and learning how to cook. My goal for this blog is to be as honest with my readers and myself as possible which means recording my failures as well as my accomplishments. Anyone please leave me comments or suggestions if you feel so inspired. Hopefully the path that lies ahead will be full of as many laughs and smiles as bumps.