And the winner is...

Here are The Shoes that won The Big Debate. These really are more comfortable and I just really like how they look. I liked them even before I ordered them from Zappos.com. I was thrilled when they fit AND were comfortable AND went with my dress.


I put the picture of me wearing my shoes on Facebook as well and got quite the response!

The tally:

Pointy-er shoe: 7 votes
Buckle shoe: 1o votes
Pleas for comfort: 7 votes
One of each: 1 vote
Favorite Comment: "What? Caleb's getting married??? I need to be caught up! And I vote for the buckle... :0)"

(That comment is from a friend I hadn't talked to in eight years and just reconnected with her on Facebook.)

I Left My Mark

Last week Pete and I went to visit our parents. It is still a little strange to us to make trips like this without our kids and without considering their school schedule.

I really enjoyed the road time with my dear husband. It was great to talk without distractions. He even was willing to indulge me with supper at Famous Dave's. I had some weird craving for ribs. I hardly ever order them. But we did and they were YUMMY! :)

I bought Pete a book for his birthday called Crazy Love by Francis Chan. Pete had the idea for us to read it to each other while we were driving. So we managed to get 5 or 6 chapters read. Man, that guy doesn't mince words. It's good. Read it.

We had good visits with our parents. Pete's dad sent us home with a bunch of pansies he started and part of a houseplant he thinned out. We came away from my parents with a lawn mower and a computer monitor! Those were both huge blessings. The funny thing about all that stuff was the car we decided to drive. We drove the Mazda3 instead of the Toyota Highlander because it gets better gas mileage and there was only two of us. The lawnmower got stuffed into the trunk and the suitcase was in the back seat. The only downside was the rotten grass smell we got to breath in on the trip home... Yuck.

As I wandered around my parents' house I saw that I had left my mark. There are all sorts of things that I made in that house. I decided to take pictures of them because after all I need pictures for my blog! Of course!

This first one is actually at my in-laws. My mother-in-law has it hanging in her kitchen. She works hard on meals for her husband every day and for us when we visit. I remember thinking this was perfect for her.

I made this quilt wall hanging for my parents to commemorate their 50th anniversary trip with the family. We had all gone to Door County, WI to celebrate. I remembered she had this fabric from vacations to Door County in the 70s. She had never used it for anything, so I "borrowed" the fabric to make a quilt for her. Simple, but full of memories.

The following pictures are several counted cross-stitch pictures I have made over time.

This one is Proverbs 31

My mom loves teddy bears, so this one was perfect for her.

She also collects angel figurines. I found this kit at Micheal's I think.

I remember making this pillow because sometimes my mom has a hard time falling asleep at night.

Pete and I actually made this one together for my dad. My dad grew up on a farm. The sky is half cross-stitches and there is snowflakes all over. Pete did a lot of those for me.

Oh and here is the best for last! Don't you just love it?
I didn't make this one. God created the subject. :)

Shoes

Decision making time.... I ordered three pairs of shoes for my son's wedding. These two fit best. Which do you like best? I'm leaning towards the pointy-er one without a buckle.

Hmmm...?

I parked behind this car when I wet nt to the grocery store last week. I am quite puzzled. Is someone out there such a fan of beef jerky that the WHOLE car needs to be covered in this? I'm baffled. :)

Another Quilt

I decided to finally attack a quilt project I've had in mind for years. I have seen pictures of quilts made out of t-shirts and since my son is the t-shirt king, I thought it would be the perfect quilt for him. I had quite a stack of shirts that I had asked him to save and put in my sewing room rather than throw them away. I washed them all and when I was done I counted 27 shirts!

Next I got busy cutting them apart. Several shirts had something on the front and the back that I wanted to use. (I wish I would have taken more pictures through the whole process...) I ironed on some fusible interfacing on the back to stabilize the knit fabric. Then I got out a giant ruler and my rotary cutter and made all sorts of sizes of squares and rectangles. The result:
The next step was to arrange them so they could be sewn together. I was kind of stuck on that and mentioned that to my husband. His eyes lit up and he asked, "Can I do that?" (He's so cute.) It was right up his engineering alley. The kids and I have dubbed him The Master Packer. He loves the challenge. So an hour later he came to me and said it was done. (again I wish I had taken a picture)

Below is a picture of the finished product. I used some extra fabric from the t-shirts to fill in some places. I used a flannel for the back and binding. The only thing I'm not really happy with is the actual quilting. I wish I was better with that.


Getting it to Caleb was fun. I didn't want to mail it. Megan had flown home the weekend of his birthday, but we decided it wasn't going to work for her to bring it back with her. She just didn't have room and there was NO WAY I wanted to put the quilt in checked luggage. The next weekend Megan was meeting her boyfriend Zach at his sister's for a wedding. Solution! I sent the quilt with Zach and he gave it to Megan who took it to Caleb.

A fun part is that I asked Megan to have Caleb come over to her room to get the quilt and we had our web-cams on so I could talk to him and watch him unwrap it! That was great! He likes the quilt, which I was most worried about.

Chocolate Chip Cake

I have gotten a lot of comments on the dessert recipes I have posted on the blog. A couple of weeks ago I received a nice note in the mail (Yes! The Real Mail!) from my sister-in-law. She told me she was making a couple of the cakes that week as her girls were home for spring break. I thought that was sweet. Then I noticed that she included a favorite cake recipe of my nieces. That's what I made for small group this week.

1 box yellow cake mix

1 package instant chocolate pudding
1/2 cup sugar
3/4 cup oil
3/4 cup water
4 eggs
8 ounces sour cream
6 ounces chocolate chips

In a large bowl, combine cake cake mix and pudding mix until there is no lumps. Add remaining ingredients and stir to combine. Bake in a greased and floured bundt pan at 350 degrees for 55 minutes. Cool in pan for at least 1/2 hour, if you don't want a disaster.

Note: I thought baking the cake in the bundt pan I have that has tulips on it would be springy. The only problem is, the pan was about 2 cups too small. It baked all the way through okay, but kind of over-flowed. Notice you can't see the hole in the middle. Oops.

Glaze:
4 ounces (1/2 cup) white chocolate chips
2 Tablespoons shortening

Melt and combine. Drizzle over cooled cake.

4 ounces (1/2 cup) chocolate chips
2 Tablespoons shortening

Melt, let cool a bit and drizzle over white chocolate.

The tulip design is pretty much hidden under all that glaze. Oh well.

Thanks Kathy for the recipe! It was a big hit. Every really liked it. Got any more recipes to share? :)

Happy Things

Some things that make me happy:

1.Grilling. The snow is FINALLY gone and the deck is clear to get to the grill. Tonight I grilled salmon, broccoli and mushrooms. Yum!

2. Grocery shopping today. Not something that usually makes me really happy but today was great. There were a bunch of 1st or 2nd graders there on a field trip. They had split up into about three different groups and were all over the store. You could hear their little voices every where. I watched a group file by in a very orderly fashion and every one of them had hairnets on. It was so cute and I believe I did most of my shopping with a grin on my face.

3. Warm temperatures. I had on short sleeves and wore flip-flops today. :)

4. This video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9lp0IWv8QZY
Please click on it and watch the whole thing. You won't be sorry. It is amazing!

5. My iPod. It's pink. :) It makes going for a walk so much more enjoyable. I hope the neighbors don't think I'm too crazy for walking with my arms up praisin'! :) It also was kind of nice to not have anyone in the house when I got back so I could finish singing and dancing. ;)

I especially enjoyed these two songs tonight:

Shackles -- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wRayKxgePQI
In the Sanctuary -- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ioejM0W5I44

But I must say I like Travis Cottrell's version better, but you get the gist.