Projects--My Latest

There are NOT enough hours in a day, especially this time of year. Planning the big NTB dinner in 2 months, gearing up to begin spring cleaning at this months end among other things. When I clean my house from top to bottom I always wonder how I have accumlated so much stuff in one year being that I'm NOT a shopper....guess that shows and reminds me how many blessings God has poured on me every year. Anyway, beginning to feel a bit overwhelmed to be honest, but it will all get done as always...just have to slow down and pace myself, and my poor piano and flute have already been being neglected for months now. I plan to "hit my piano and flute" no pun intended, hard beginning May.

WITH THAT SAID....last weekend on Saturday night and Sunday in between the normal house chores like dishes, laundry etc, I sewed my fingers off. :-) Not literally, but they were numb by the end of Sunday though I cheated a bit and used my sewing maching a little too...whoever invented sewing machines was a genious....but I always try to sew my designs mostly by hand to custom make it, but when I run out of time the machine is my buddy! I finished EIGHT design projects this weekend. Wow, I barely ate but it was so fun as these were all gifts for people. Now, I just have to get them all distributed. I was blessed with A LOT of nice fabric for almost nothing, so instead of hogging it all, decided to share and make a few people things. Totally more fun making things for others than myself. I won't post photos of my designs yet since they are gifts and I don't want the intendees that they are going to to see them on photo before they see them in person. Just hoping they like! So that is my latest!

The Upcoming Week

Yesterday evening I made my upcoming trip down to my home state of TEXAS! official for the annual Pine Car Derby to raise money for the B.F.! I'm putting together a little gift basket, and I booked a hotel room at the Howard Johnson for next weekend going down w/a few friends. Judging by this sign that I pulled off the internet of the Welcome to Texas sign, no wonder I'm cheesy. Texans know how to have fun and I like Texas! :-)

Besides heading to Texas in a week, starting this weekend I plan to work on a few gift projects. The question mark photo represents being creative :-) trying to figure out what to make for people. I was blessed with a lot of fabric that was on sale majorly, and I love sharing whatever I can share w/what I have, so I'm making a few people gifts from it, and I plan to hit that hard this week.

Shooting Guns--Sunday Fun!

This Sunday Benjamin Tauer and Gary Basquez, invited me to shoot guns with them. It's been a looong time since I've shot a real gun, so at first it was tough, getting reacquainted with the weight of a real gun and the kick it has on the shoulder when fired, (women really don't have the strength of men though some try not to admit it, but it's the physical truth) but by the time the last round was fired, I started hitting the target and I didn't accidentally shoot my own foot or anyone else so it was great! :-)! Fun. Proves I'm still the gal that grew up in Texas, but I confess, I was deep conditioning my hair under my turbine as I was shooting! :-)

All these bullet holes came from "my own finger on the gun trigger." I'm so cheesy taking a pic of my target and the bullet holes!

I hit the 6 ring THREE TIMES! Happy to see that the 6 ring is sooo close to the bullseye!
It was a total accident, but I hit the 6 almost in the exact same spot twice.

Gary is a great shot and has a fancy gun....though the photographer....aka me.....did a very poor job on the creative angle of this shot....looks like he's shooting the house siding.

Benjamin Tauer also a great shot, reloads his gun while Gary Shoots.

Benjamin Shoots

Fun With Non Gluten Pancakes

Ashley Buckler tried her hands at making Brown Rice flour pancakes at my house this weekend. She put me to shame....she got the hang of frying pancakes made from brown rice flour faster than I. It cooks twice as fast as regular wheat flour pancakes.

Last week I was feeling way exhausted, so this past Sunday I didn't sew or do any house chores, I decided to relax for once in my life, but I always have to be productive; else I'd feel like a lazy bum, so I cooked a lot, understatement!...and I got back to feeling well rested!

Ashley decided to show off her creative cooking skills and made a Micky Mouse shaped Brown Rice Pancake. If she ever wants to get a job at Disney I'm sure this would be her resume ticket in! :-)

Her pile of finished Brown Rice Pancakes. (Recipe for these healthy gluten free (friendly to your waistline) pancakes are listed in another blog entry below.)

All Natural Chicken Fried Steak

Tried making all natural Chicken Fried Steak dinner for a friend and myself with all natural grass fed beef, and brown rice flour w/natural seasonings. I have to say, for a first try not bad, but being someone who likes food super spicy, it came out wayyyy toooo bland for my liking, so next time I make this I know just what to add to it to give it more kick! I'll add a touch of chili powder, chop up a few fresh garlic cloves, and add a lot more freshly ground black pepper!

Mixed my "too bland" seasonings together with Rice Flour and then covered beef with the flour mixture on both sides.....

Then covered both sides of the beef with egg, then dipped the egg covered beef back in the flour mixture.

Fried in skillet

Rice Flour Chicken Fried Steak Done

Oops!.....forget to make a side dish, so pulled lentils from frig and reheated, and instead of making a high calorie white gravy for the chicken fried steak, made a white sauce from 1/2 Cup pureed white beans, 1 Cup of rice milk with garlic to taste, sea salt to taste, and freshly ground black pepper to taste.....thanks to a tip from a friend in Texas. Both she and her husband are excellent cooks. Thanks Melissa! Tasted great and not all the calories and fat of the regular white gravy....I plan to make the "white bean gravy" from now on now. I mashed the beans by hand, so they weren't all "pureed" but next time I'll do it right and use a food processor to get them nice and smooth!

Healthy Dessert!

Whipped up my frozen sugar free strawberry treat for a late night dessert. (Recipe for this is on a previous post on this blog)

Tilapia Skillet Dinner

Decided to try Tilapia Fish w/kinda the same recipe I made up for the salmon that I posted last week; only I used yellow onions instead of the green with the tilapia. Came out alright though I preferred the Salmon dish.