Project Puppy

Okay.
Alright.
I admit it.
I watch project runway. I think it's impressive that these people can sew a dress in one day. Sketch, buy, cut, sew. Wow.

Anyways, Ben and I went out of town this weekend and Ben's parents are always really great about babysitting our pups. I wanted to make a little surprise -
Reminded me project runway. Tim Gunn says you have an old sheet, a couple scraps of fabric, and a marker..."make it work".
Pretty lame I know. I would probably would be 'out'.... but Phyllis says it made her laugh for 5 minutes straight.
Don't look at me like that Tim....

Things I learned this week...

This week I learned a lot of stuff.

Ben and I were lucky enough to be given symphony tickets! My first time for me and I learned the difference between Mozart's classical and Dvorak's Romantic period styles. I feel so refined...
Today I (remembered) that today is Reggie's birthday - into the Sharples family. We've now survived him for 2 years. He's a handful but we love him.
Valentines day is awesome. Awesome because Ben and I are so chill about it. It's more of a month of conscious choices of service. I tried to leave little treats/surprises on our table for Ben when he gets home from school. And Ben cooked a really nice dinner this week and gave me a fun pair of ear rings. I love that we take the whole thing 'chil-lax'. :) However this week I learned that I don't like Smiths frosting. I normally LOOVVVE frosting - which is what inspired Ben to get me this monster cupcake. Which is totally fun... but the radio active yellow frosting was... blah. (turns out reg likes it though. I scrapped it off and threw it away and later when --- reg got in the garbage --- it was spread all over the kitchen floor and we had pink paw prints around the house. argh)
I learned that fish don't like warm water. Ben is always saying we need to keep the house kinda warm for the fish -- so, why not warm up the water too when I clean it out? Sadly, this is a 'file photo' -- for the gold fish is no more. :(This week learned that the sweater I have been working on for ben for a YEAR --- is WWWAAYYY to big for him. Ya can't really tell right here...but it's monstrous and super thick. I know that if I unpulled it - there would be enough yarn to make a hat for every head in Haiti.
This week I learned that - swap-bot.com is a lot of fun - but too expensive. You are paired with someone in a group to swap something. From postcards to food. I've been doing post card swaps with international and state wide people (which was fun) but I signed up for a chocolate and yarn swap and ... spent TOO much in just shipping. Fun while it lasted...
This week Ben and I did a - small - fruity/chocolate taste testing. I learned that toffee makes a big difference and so does the jump from 65% to 70% dark choco....
Finally I learned that Tally is scared of birds. Big ones. We went on a walk around Liberty park which has a small aviary and Tally was totally freaked out by the peacock and duck noises. Couldn't see them-- just hear them. She was trying to escape any means possible - including running through the mud over and over and over.
...i hate those quacks...

Bacon Cupcakes and Ancestors

Yeah. That's right.
First - happy Super Bowl. Ben decided to make these cinnamon cake, maple frosting, bacon topped cupcakes. Everyone is hesitant to take a bite... but once they do - EVERYONE stops in their tracks and says - 'whoa. That's good'.
www.foodgawker.com is the source of Ben's power... tap into it.

Next. I don't know if you can see this picture... but let me explain. In church we were introduced to the new church family history data base. It's pretty user friendly and I was impressed the first time a glanced at it. I could tell that my family tree was pretty filled out but it will only show you a couple generation at one time. So tonight - as a sabbath appropriate activity - I wanted to draw out my family tree - so I could stand back in visualize it's magnitude.

As you can see - it's big. It became MUCH more exciting then the super bowl to click on the next generation page and say I CAN'T BELIEVE IT'S STILL GOING!! WHO IS LOOKING UP THIS STUFF AND WHERE DO YOU FIND NAMES FROM THE 16TH CENTURY?!?
Looking through the whole thing got kind over whelming - so I just followed the longest generation line I could find... and it went back 17 generations to ELIZABETH SMITH in 1450!! Wow. Eariler this week I read an January ensign article about a lady that found an uncle who had a family book that had 120 generations. WHAT!?! That's so crazy! Can you imagine the size of that book!
Go check it out.
www.new.familysearch.org
You do need your membership record number.

Sweet Nothings

Been working on a quilt block for Shelby's bridal shower. This is my first time having an assignment for a bridal shower (out side of presents and food of course) I cut up pieces of this fabrics and Frankenstein stitched it all together. Mom says that it's a popluar thing to do these days.... from a distance it's cute - but up close looks a little like a 2nd grade art project.

My block is titled Anything Sweet - in memory of Shelby's undying desire to find sweets. When we go on family vacations - that's one of the first thing she is asking for ... "where is the Candy Store?"
Also - She's started a collection of cookie jars. Very cute idea. In efforts to stay with the theme... I found this really fun cake cookie jar. The green tier comes off. It's not small either - maybe a foot and a 1/2 high!

Finally - this is a 'vlog' respond to my muffin. This Seinfeld clip is taken from the episode
"The Glasses". The title says it all and was the first thing I thought when I saw 'the picture'. Sorry the video isn't that great and be sure to turn down the volume :)
Love and miss our Fetters friends...

Hey Hay!

Ben and I are together recovering from ... probably the WORST stomach flu I've ever had. Holy moly... I'll spare you the details.. :)


Earlier this week I came home from work and found this on my counter...
"Ben? What is this on the counter?"
"Um. Hay."
"I'm sorry - .... did you say hay?"
"yeah"
...following the little fuzzy trails ....
AH HA!!! He's up to something...
Some time ago - and some how - Ben got his hands on a raw wool - right off the sheep. I don't know where the heck he got it but it's been camped out in our garage for some time. This week - the barn experiments begin. The ultimate goal is to be able to spin it into something fun.
Gotta shake out the HAY (not on the kitchen counter) and wash it out with super hot water and shampoo. Can't agitate too much or it'll felt

Wash rinse repeat.


it'll take a couple of washing sessions before we can start carting. I'll let you know how that goes....In the mean time, the dogs are confused about what kind of animal is living in the bucket...

Dearest Chinese Wish

Saturday Ben and I went to his work party at very popular Chinese resturant in Bountiful. Very good food. Very crowded. Fun conversation. And! At the end of the evening - as usual for most chinese restaurants - we got our fortune cookies.


How trippy is it to get the same fortune!
QUICK BEN! WISH FOR A MILLION DOLLARS!!!!

Turkey Day

Thursdays are my day off and today I cleaned the house - including kitchen blinds and bathroom shower tiles, paid the bills, and did a little sewing. Now - Ben's orders- I'm chilling with a mud mask, surrounded by my martha magazine stash and blogging.
Very good.

During November Ben is on the hunt for good turkey sales and stores it in our freezer until his wife goes crazy with the lack of space :) Then it's time for turkey day. This turkey he got for 6 bucks - is almost too big for our oven.

It's pretty huh.

Ben cooked us turkey and home made potatoes that were incredible! ...I microwaved the peas.
The best part of the turkey (other then the extra space in my freezer) is how far it goes! A week of dinners - easy. Dogs LOVE turkey day.
Desert are peanut butter love cups. :) Cookies in my heart shaped cup cake holders. Cute huh.

If I didn't have Ben around - I would have Apple Jacks for dinner every night. :)