It's about time...

Well, life has become quite chaotic in my family lately-and with all the worrying, it diminishes the importance of crafting and doing fun things.  My niece at 10 months was diagnosed with Leukemia so she's been going through chemotherapy and staying at a Children's Hospital.  We live quite far away and there isn't much to do to help the situation-because the only thing that helps is my niece getting healthy.  My sister also went through a roller coaster with her 3rd child who was breech.  Now for my other impairment, I started this silly t-shirt rug made out of strips of t-shirts and latch hooked on.  It's been sitting on my coffee table haunting me while I watch tv idle handed.  I made myself promise not to start any more projects until that was completed, and now, finally it is done. 
Here' s my motivation for the rug at xoelle.com:

I also just have to make a comment how I find it ridiculous that one of the only pictures repeatedly repinned on Pinterest is the one I think is the ugliest.  Sorry dear people that have repinned this-but it is hideous, and I even mentioned that in my original post.  And for all of you, here is the picture-Yoyo blanket and the source was lost along the way:

Spoon Ninja

Here's a few updated pictures from Little Man, now one year old and getting ear tubes next week so hopefully help him feel better. 

Little Almost Naked Man

Here's all of our animals basking in the sun. 

Who knew flour could be so exciting?

Paralyzed by Indecision

I'm not sure it this is just what happens in the middle of winter, but I can't seem to make up my mind about anything.   I've got so many different projects that I have supplies for but I just haven't decided all of the details about how I want to get things done.  To start off with I want to paint our whole main floor (kitchen, dining room, living room) because it is painted a shade of pink tan that looks like the underbelly of a pig in certain light.  I've been playing with paint chips and placing them all over and rating them in different lights.  I've finally narrowed it down to a yellow hued tan (top row left two).  The other things include cutting my hair or growing it out, painting chevron stripes on Colby's wall or doing a mural, making new diapers for Colby or just keep using what we've got, what sort of diapers to make for my friend, and the list seems to go on and on.  I was reading about choosing paint color and I was reassured by the statement that there are many different shades that will work great so just pick one.  I think with this warm day I'm just going to hit it this week and make decisions. 

Coconut Lime Chicken

Well I saw the original Coconut Chicken on Pinterest and it looked awesome and deep fried.  It's  pretty delicious and with the lime gives it a Hawaiian flavor.  I think it needs a creamy warm pineapple dip, but I haven't figured it out yet-until then barbeque sauce will have to do.

Okay, mine didn't look very appetizing when I took a picture at night and with my little camera.  Pic from here

Ingredients:
4 boneless skinless chicken breasts
flour
1 egg
1 cup of panko (I only had seasoned bread crumbs)
1 cup of Shredded Coconut
Canola oil for frying
1/4 cup of lime juice

Directions: 
1.  Cut chicken into strips about 2 inches wide or narrower for crispier chicken. 
2.  Place egg, flour, and panko with coconut in their own shallow pan.  Dip chicken in egg, then flour, then panko mixture.
3.  Heat oil in pan.  Place chicken in oil until golden brown then turn to brown other side.  When both sides are browned sprinkle lime juice on chicken and cover with lid.  Turn down to medium low and heat until chicken comes up to temp (185).  Enjoy!

Homemade Cheese Balls (Blobs) Recipe

These are far too addictive and easy to make-so unless you've got a few extra calories to spare, beware, you will make these again.  I've been tweaking the usual breading I use after I made the chili glazed tofu where it called for cornmeal and cornstarch and it seems to work out pretty well.  I'm sure they would be great with panko or with really good cheese, but I just used some block mozzerella and colby cheese.  Fried cheese, what could go wrong?

Ingredients:
Cheese cut into little squares
Beaten Egg
1 cup of Itailian Bread Crumbs or Panko
1/4 cup of Cornstarch
1/4 cup Cornmeal
1/2 cup of flour
Canola Oil for Frying

Directions:
Mix bread crumbs, cornstarch, and cornmeal in a shallow container.  In another container place beaten egg, and in another container place flour.  Place oil in a skillet and heat at medium, I use probably about 1/2 an inch of oil, but the more oil the more likely they will come out in ball form instead of flat little blobs.  Depending on the amount of cheese balls being made the ingredients can be doubled or halved.  Dip cheese chunks in flour, then egg, and then breadcrumbs, turning to coat well.  Test to see if oil is hot enough by sprinkling some flour in it, if it fizzles up right away the oil is hot enough.  Place cheese balls in oil and turn when brown ( a few minutes).  When browned on all sides place on paper towels to take some of the oil off.  Eat and Enjoy!

***So I just looked at some other recipes and it looks like mixing shredded cheese, egg, flour, and salt and pepper together and then coating those in bread crumbs could be the way to go, but these were delcious and a simple addition to a meal when preparing breaded chicken anyway

Frequented Blogs

Well this week has been a bust.  Colby has been up a few times each night and is not napping well at all-which leaves me a bit unmotivated to do any projects.  We're finally getting to see the ear specialist  Wednesday after a three week wait.  In the mean time here's some of my favorite blogs, it seems to me that everyone and their dog has a blog these days and there are a lot of neat ones for ideas. 

1. Sewinginnomansland  is great for inspirational home sewn skirts, dresses, and little girls' clothes.  The premise of the blog is that she is the wife of a foreign service officer and moves every two years  to isolated locations so she started with her fabric stash to see how far it could go.  I believe she is in America now, but she does some awesome photography. 

Picture from sewinginnomansland.com.  Link is here. 

2.  Cluck Cluck Sew is a great blog for quilting.  I don't quilt yet, but the more I look at the beautiful quilts she makes the more I want to try. 

Picture is from Cluck Cluck Sew.  Link is here. 

3. Grosgrain is a great crafty/stylish blog that has doable projects with minimal investments.  She does a nice job with the photography as well.

Picture from grosgrainfabulous.com.  Link here. 

4.  Craftgawker is a blog that I ran across, probably off of Pinterest;  it has tons of pictures of projects and then if you click on the picture if takes you to a tutorial for the project.  This blog is even more dangerous than Pinterest! 

Picture from Better Homes and Gardens (bhg.com), but found on craftgawker.com.

5.  Okay, speaking of Better Homes and Gardens (bhg.com), that is an awsome site-not necessarily a blog but they have great ideas for decorating, crafting, and cooking. A few other resources I love on the web are marthstewart.com, lowes.com, and mycolortopia.com which is sponsored by Glidden Paints. 

Happy Birthday Colby!

Well, our little man was born a year ago today a week late and after three days of intense labor We're amazed at how quickly the year has flown by.  I made him a little cake in a pyrex dish and made some frosting using yogurt and powdered sugar because I ran out of butter or any other tasty subsitiute.  I even got my frosting gear out from a Wilton cake decorating class I took several years ago, unfortunately the frosting was too runny so it just poured down the sides, Colby didn't mind though.  He dug right into the cake, then squished it all around his high chair.  Happy Birthday Little Man!