Stitch

I don't know if they use this phrase in the States or not, but when you run a long way and you get cramps in your sides we call it a "Stitch" in the UK.

Well, I definitely have a Stitch from stitching too much the past couple of days. My friend, Deb, and I have been going crazy trying to get a quilt finished for "someone" (who may or may not read this blog occasionally) who is going to be having a job change (possibly voluntary) and we have been working on a special quilt for them.

Unfortunately I can't explain in any further detail for letting the "bird" out of the bag (yes, there are lots of hints to this project). But we have worked our littley hiney's off trying to get it finished. As of 4:55pm today the quilt top is complete and now it just needs quilting and binding. I'm tuckered out. I definitely have a Stitch!

I promise that I will have pictures to show once the secret project is revealed; but if you know me well, you know that I'm hopeless on not giving gifts as soon as I can, so will more than likely spill before June 9th when we are revealing the surprise.

What is one of the best surprise gifts you've ever been given?

EB's Famous

As mentioned many times before, EB is a GeoTrax nut!! He loves to play on the GeoTrax official website by Fisher Price and has desperately wanted his picture to be published on the site for quite some time. Well, it's official, he's now famous. With this boys personality, it really was just a matter of time.

Check it out:
http://www.fisher-price.com/fp.aspx?st=5941&e=viewphoto&uiid=29528&albumpage=2&m=5&y=2009

This is a mere fraction of his GeoTrax sets (maybe only 25% or so). He's asleep right now (which he should, seeing as it's 12:15am) and I just discovered his picture on the site, so I'll have to wait to hear what his response is. I know he's going to be thrilled when he sees it.

As always, EB makes us smile!

Got game, try the Pantry Challenge

Every so often I feel like the pantry is getting overloaded and out of control, so to clean it out we have "Pantry Challenge Week". Basically, I don't go to the store for anything other than the necessities such as milk, bread (although often I'll even make that and use up some of the baking goods in the pantry), and some fresh produce as needed (although I really try to use up what produce is lanquishing in the vegetable basket).

Then I dig in the pantry and freezers (we have three, but that's another story) and make our meals from what can be found. Sometimes this leads to adapting recipes to suit the ingredients we have rather than those called for in the recipe. Usually we discover some great new favorite recipes to use on a more regular basis.

So far this week our we have had the following for dinner:

Monday: Spanish Rice with Beef (this is a much meatier version of spanish rice) with salsa and corn tortillas.

Tuesday: Grilled Salmon with a Lime-Chilli Rub, butter rolls, Corn on the Cob and potatoes.

Wednesday: Sweet Asian Glazed Pork Loin Cutlet with brown rice and mixed vegetables.

I love the feature on Allrecipes.com where you can type in what ingredients you have and what you don't and find recipes to suit. I hardly ever make a recipe exactly as written and am usually playing around with different ingredients and trying to change them up a little.

We have quite a large food storage (remind me to post about that one) which helps out when faced with a recipe like Monday's that calls for Tomato Sauce and I seem to have only a pantry full of diced and stewed tomatoes and tomato paste, but no tomato sauce. I headed to our food storage and found the Tomato Powder and threw some together with some herbs from our Pasta Sauce garden (again, another thing I need to blog about). Of course, I also have to adapt the recipes to work for a Gluten Free Diet for Declan. It can get tricky, but actually makes deciding what dinner is and making it a lot less tedious and more of a game.

I'm always amazed how usually I can spend over a $150 a week at least on groceries and reduce that to $30 or less and feed a family of six for a week, and this family likes it's food.

Why not give it a try and see how you survive the Pantry Challenge?!

Dec needs your support

Here is a message from Declan:

This year in my community, I have committed to participate in the Relay For Life.

I have learned that this year, hundreds of thousands of people will hear the words "You have cancer”. I know that some of those people could be people that I care about. Instead of being afraid of that, I have chosen to do something to fight back against this disease and I’m asking for your help.

Will you make a donation to my Relay For Life efforts? To donate online now, click the link below to visit my personal page.

I am walking in honor of my Grandma who is a cancer survivor and our family friend, Whiz Beck, who is currently battling cancer. They are an inspiration to me.

By making healthy lifestyle choices such as eating right, exercising and not smoking we can reduce the chances of getting cancer by as much as 50%! As someone I care about, I’m asking you to take up this challenge to fight back against cancer by making healthy lifestyle choices and supporting my fundraising efforts.

Thank you in advance for your support. Together, we will celebrate, remember, and fight back!

Eliminate it!




Click here to visit my personal page.
If the text above does not appear as a clickable link, you can visit the web address:
http://main.acsevents.org/site/TR/RelayForLife/RFLFY09MW?px=11062115&pg=personal&fr_id=16190&fl=en_US&et=kVloIGsBpA0sozsZ9-hLFw..&s_tafId=276850

Click here to view the team page for Stettin Council Cats
If the text above does not appear as a clickable link, you can visit the web address:
http://main.acsevents.org/site/TR/RelayForLife/RFLFY09MW?team_id=501427&pg=team&fr_id=16190&fl=en_US&et=PldTse0LE-X6vfZUPxiWUA..&s_tafId=276850