Halloween Costumes

Our church threw a All Saints Eve party, and we were there with hair curlers in. Haha. Well, I had hair curlers in anyway.

Naomi was originally planing to go as little red riding hood, until I found a pair of lime green, fish net stocking on clearance in Wal-mart. I also happened to have just enough lime green fabric to make her a pair of longish shorts and a vest. Don't ask me why I got such a crazy color fabric, but I did and it turned out for the best. So she went as a frog princess. Mom embroidered cat tails on the vest and a frog sitting on a lily pad on the pants.

Naomi went trick-or-treating with a friend and not to the party with us.

Jon-Paul made a cross out of some scrap lumber we had, borrowed an alb and my purple bath robe, put a wreath on his head, and went as Jesus. He painted on a beard with some of my mascara. He doesn't look to bad with a beard, if he does say so himself.

He won the costume contest for the adults. The prize was a 20 gift card for Wal-mart. I of course thought that mine was the best but there is just no competing with Jesus.



Originally I planed on going in my PJ's and calling it a day. Then I got the idea to put my hair up in pink curlers too. A martini happened to work its way in at about that time. Then I searched through my moms make up and found blue eye shadow and the reddest lipstick I could stand. I was transformed into a 50's housewife, or as Fr. Epps put it, a once desperate housewife who had just given up.

Here we have us in the costume contest, with none of us looking at the camera.

Flower Petals or Fish Tails?

This pattern is called Flower Petal Shawl but the pattern repeat is called Fish Tail Lace. I have seen a lot of flowers in my time and I can't say that any of them looked like a fish tail but there you go. It's really quick to knit up and after the first few rows I didn't even have to look at the pattern. However it does take a gobbzillion pins to block out, and several of my pins bent themselves for the cause.

It's acrylic yarn, and not terribly soft, but it is still pretty. I used a strand of dark blue and a strand of hunter green held together, it gives it a lot of color dimension.

This shawl will be a christmas gift for a friend of mine. I don't think she even knows about my blog which is why I can post this now.

Fetching

Fetching, a really easy pair of wrist warmers. I made these in about 3 days while I was stuck in bed with some form or other of the flu or some similar bug.
When I first saw the pattern for these I didn't like them, because they were knit in a terrible chartreuse like color that was hard to get over. After a while though they kinda grow on ya.
These pictures make them look blue but they are really a green teal.

My Diploma

Finally after much fuss and stress, a little bit of hair pulling, and page after page of a mind numbing history book. I am an official high school graduate!

1011

Yeah yeah...break out the virgin margaritas (sorry guys still under the drinking age) and start the party. My tiny little blog has topped 1000 hits.

Recipe for Pork Roast

I got this recipe from a friend and was asked for it by another friend. It is very good. So as promised here it is.

Pork Roast

Pork Roast - big enough for your family or however many you are going to feed.
Onion - cut in quarters or finner if you like.
Jalapenos - 1 or 2 depending on how big they are and how much kick you want, I usually use canned (4oz) because they keep 'til I'm ready to use them.
Salt
Pepper
Cumin - about a Tablespoon
Oregano - about a Tablespoon
Garlic - as much or little as you like.

Put the roast in a crock pot and rub it with the salt, pepper, cumin and oregano. Toss in the onion and jalapenos. Add just enough water to cover the bottom of the pot. Cook on low 4-6 hours, until you can shred it. Stir it up with the juices, and let it set for a bit to soak them up. If you used fresh jalapenos you can take them out and set them aside, or chop them up and mix them in with the meat.

Bean and Tomato Stew.
(I guess thats what you would call it. I have always made this recipe to go with the pork)

Canned stewed tomatoes
Canned beans - red, kidney, black, pinto, white, chili...whatever kind you like.
Italian spices - to taste.
Garlic - to taste.

For my family 3 cans of beans and 1 or 2 of tomatoes is plenty. Set the proportions to fit the numbers you are feeding. Throw it in a pot and cook it 'til it's hot.

Serve it together with rice in a pita or tortilla. My preference is to spray the tortillas with Pam and brown a few seconds each side before serving. It takes time, but the taste is worth it.

My New Baby

Meet my new baby. Some friends of ours had a brand new sewing machine that they didn't use and they somehow found out that I didn't have one of my own. (My serger is my own but the sewing machine I used was my Dads.) So they decided to give it to me, along with a box of threads and pins etc. everything you would need to start sewing.







They also gave me a standing embroidery frame that they had been trying to get rid of for some time. I always thought it would be cool to have one but they are so big, and they don't work well with small projects, so it was not worth the cost to buy one. The only hitch to this one was it was not put together and it had no instructions, only a picture to work from. I took me all of 2 minuets to put together.

This project is one I have been working with off and on for some time. It's slow going due it its complexity, but with a large frame like this I can use both hands so it should come faster. :)