Another Good Dinner

Last night we had another Kraft Foods recipe, Taco Bake. It was really easy to make, and everyone enjoyed it. I served it with lettuce, tomatoes and olives to put on top, and it was like a taco, minus the food all over the floor from messy kids and broken shells.

I doubled the recipe, and I used ground turkey instead of beef. This is my first experience with ground turkey, which is supposed to be more healthy than beef. However, I'm not convinced yet. I think you can buy xtra lean ground beef and be just as healthy as ground turkey. Still, in this recipe the turkey was good.

One quick note about Kraft Foods recipes. I use them because their easy and good. But let's face it, their magazine's free in an attempt to sell more products. That's why every recipe gives name brands for the ingredients. As a mom on a budget, the cheapest brand usually wins with me, and more often than not it's not the brand listed. This affects the end result in no way, so don't be afraid to substitute!

So Many Quilts, So Little Time

My ultimate goal is to do at least 1 quilt every day. Sometimes I have a good run and I stick to this goal 4 or so days. Sometimes, I find it impossible to meet this goal, like the past week. It took me 4 days last week to finish 1 quilt, and yesterday I missed again, not getting any farther than the first side of 1 border.

I judge my progress by the amount of carpet I can see under my Nolting. This is where I keep all the quilts-to-be-quilted. Lately, if all the carpet in my house wasn't the same, I might have forgotten what color it was under my machine. And don't remind me about the stack of quilts (mine and my mom's) at my Aunt's house, patiently waiting since I kept my machine there when I was homeless, for the day that never comes when I can fit in a quilt of my own.

And then this morning, Bailey said the dreaded words, "Mom, we have early release today."

"What?!" Was my response, fueled by the rising sense of panic as I watched my afternoon of quilting go up in smoke. "Are you sure? REALLY sure?"

"Yep," Bailey said, and she grabbed the school calendar from my desk to prove it.

How does this happen? This is the second time in the past month I've forgotten about an early release day. Once upon a time I was one of those mothers who had the entire school schedule memorized by Sept. 1. Even last year, in the midst of the craziest year of my life as a mother so far, (yes, I know it gets worse, I don't want to hear it right now) I never missed an early release day. Thank goodness someone (Bailey) in our house is responsible these days!

So, I will be futily trying to meet or beat my quilting goal this afternoon. I must get it in gear soon. If I have to leave for vacation with this many quilts undone, not even Jamaica will prevent my mental breakdown.

Quilting Product of the Week: My-T Fine Electric Scissors

This week I have chosen the My-T Fine Electric Scissors as my product of the week. These electric scissors are another Fall Quilt Market find of mine.
The features that make these scissors great include narrow blades, and cordless, rechargable operation. No more tangled cords getting in the way, and no batteries to buy! These scissors recharge on their own base. The narrow blades are great for chenilling, which is what sent me looking for electric scissors in the first place. I wish I'd had these when I made my chenille scarf! The blades fit into channels around 3/8" wide, making the cutting part of chenille projects a breeze.
These scissors would also be great for cutting out patterns for clothing and other projects. I'm no seamstress, but the few items I have made, such as bags and jackets, would have been much easier with these scissors!
Replacement blades for these scissors are available for about $17.99. The scissors themselves retail for $59.95.

Ride 'Em Horsey!

Last night, a complete lack of dishwasher soap, causing a major pile up in my kitchen sink that extended 1 foot past the sink of both sides, sent me to the grocery store. What started out as a quick trip to the store for a "few" things turned into $125 worth of groceries, but that's not the half of it.

The kids and I went to Safeway, since it's on our end of town, they have the iced green tea I love, and they have shopping carts that look like cars, with a cab on the front. This is usually a sure thing for occupying Will and sometimes Kylee while I get my shopping done. They think it's fun, and since the snow's had us house bound they were ready for an outing. I went with good intentions, but you know what they say about the best laid intentions!

I made it through the produce section, and half way down the next isle before they turned on me. First, Kylee decided to get out kidsof the "car" because she was squished. Well of course, Will can't be in it alone, so he decides to get out too. What followed was the two of the running around the cart, trying to use it as a scooter, and climbing on the bottom shelf.

Sometimes there just isn't anything you can do as a parent, short of walking out of the store and taking the kids home. With a basket 1/2 full, and a 30 mile drive home, this just isn't an option for me. So it turned into one of those grit your teeth, speed through the aisles grabbing whatever you need as quickly as possible, and get out quick kind of trips.

At the height of the trip, Will was on the roof of the "car," proclaiming loudly, "Ride 'em horsey!" while Kylee sat in the car saying "Yee hah!" while I had visions of strangling Monte as I yelled, "Don't ever talk me into taking them all by myself again!!!"

The employees are probably still talking about it, telling their coworkers, "You should have seen the kids we had in here last night!"

Oh So Good Dinner!

The other day, Wednesday I think, I was so focused on working out that I forgot to put the pork roast in the crock pot for dinner! I had been planning all week to make a new recipe from the Kraft Foods magazine, but I had also been stuck inside with my kids home on snow days, and I was desparate for some workout time! Around 3:30, I made a last ditch effort to save dinner and hurriedly threw the roast in, but when 6:45 rolled around and it was no-where near done, I had to go to a backup plan.
So, on the very night that I complained on my blog about the awful school menu, I'm ashamed to say that I myself ended up serving my family mac&cheese and little smokies!
Thankfully, the roast was not ruined, it just had to be held over until Thursday evening. Wow, what a treat! I must say, it was worth the wait. I used the recipe Slow Cooker Oranger BBQ Pulled Pork Sandwiches from the Kraft Foods site. When the roast finally finished cooking, I put it away in the fridge, and then reheated it the next evening on low in the slow cooker. It's a good thing I ate lightly all day Thursday, because I helped myself to two of these sandwiches. Even though I was fully stuffed, it was just too good to resist! The best part is there was plenty to feed my family of 5 for another meal the next day.
All together, I had about $23 into this meal, including 12 sandwich rolls and a vegetable side, but if you count that as 2+ meals for a family of 5, it's not bad at all!

Self Indulgence

Every body needs a little some time! This is my self indulgence. I love these special edition rotary cutters from Olfa. Plus, I dressed it up with a scissor charm. So what if I had 2 perfectly good yellow rotary cutters? This is much more fun, don't you think?

Quilt Magazine

I'm so excited to be featured in the newest edition of Quilt Magazine!. The Crazy Quilter is featured on page 97. The magazine is currently pictured under "Our Magazines," and then under "Preview Next Issue," although it will probably be moved to current issues soon. It went on sale yesterday. Hopefully this is just the first time I am featured in a quilting magazine! It is a rather expensive method of advertising, so this is my trial run to see if it's worth it.