What a ham

You know, sometimes you gotta just toot your own horn. I'm feeling accomplished this week at my attempted culinary feat.


You also must know that although I possess some gifts, cooking and baking is not one of them. I describe myself as a functional cook. I have a few good recipes that I know how to make well and they get the job done, but you'll never find me creating new recipes or looking forward all day to trying out something new in the kitchen. 


Each year, my mom and dad are sent a Honeybaked ham as a holiday gift. It rocks for us, since my mom calls me up and asks me to cut it up and bring her back a slab of the prime pieces. I then proceed to cut up the rest....we use some and freeze some.


And.......every year, I've stuck that d&*$ ham bone in a baggie in the back of the fridge and told myself I'd make some soup. Well, this year I did. Buh-bam.


I started with two bags of beans. They got soaked overnight, 6 cups of water per 16oz of beans. I drained them the next morning. I should preface this by saying that I was not totally convinced this would work.

I put the ham bone in the pot with the soaked beans and 6 more cups of water. I put the pot on low all day.

After 4-5 hours, I added some salt, pepper, onion powder, garlic powder and some Italian seasoning. I also threw in some corn and shredded potatoes that I had on hand in the freezer.

Miraculously, most of the meat fell off the bone. Yum!

It was quite tasty and filling, if I do say so myself.

After a day of doing some of that, it was much appreciated soup! Okay, it wasn't that much snow, but since we haven't had any, we'll take it. Or at least the kids did. : )

Party Time......

Time Travel Thursday at The Brambleberry Cottage

Fridays Unfolded at Stuff and Nonsense

Feathered Nest Friday at French Country Cottage

Show and Share Day at Just a Girl

Simply Creations Link Party at Simple Home Life

Addicts (not so) Anonymous Addicted to Decorating

Sunday Showcase Party at Under the Table and Dreaming

Project Parade at The DIY Showoff

Creative Bloggers' Party and Hop at Homemaker on a Dime

Tip-Toe Thru Tuesday at Crayon Freckles

Sunday Shake-up at Jacque's Soda Parlor

Fabulous Friday at Ohh Baby

Pinspirational Thursday at The Artsy Girl Connection

Make the Scene Monday at Alderberry Hill

Sunday Salvation at Sassafras Salvation

Tuesday Talent Show at Chef n Training
Flaunt Your Flowers  at Tootsie Time
What I Wore/What's Up Wednesday at Rae Gun Ramblings

Happy New Year 2012

Happy New Year to you. I have to be honest here....I kind of hate NYE. I think it might possibly be the lamest holiday ever. Or the most overrated. If you don't have the coolest plans ever, then you are a complete loser. I think the one I remember the most is the one where it became 2000.


One of my least memorable would be when I spent the evening with my friend and her boyfriend at his apartment. LAME. The only upside was that the next day, I had my second date with my now-husband. I think a NYE date would have been way too much pressure for a second date, don't you? I suspect--but am not sure--that my husband's NYE that year was equally as lame.


So, last night, my husband watched college basketball and I fell asleep on the couch around 9:45. Miraculously, I awoke at 11:57pm. To Lady GaGa (Gaga? Ga Ga?) starting the big ball that falls.


So, because of our lameness, here is how we ring in 2012 in our household....the next morning.

Party hats, noisemakers, mimosas and egg, bacon and cheese sandwiches. Can't go wrong.


I'm pretty excited for 2012...2011 was certainly a wild ride and I'm ready for this one.

Guest posting at Ginger Snap Crafts

Hey! Happy New Year's Eve eve...if you haven't noticed from my sidebar, Ginger Snap Crafts has been hosting a Christmas Break to-do these last two weeks and yours truly is featured over there today. To get there, just click on the button over there....



I love her blog....great crafts, DIY and a great link party on Wednesdays, too. She is so friendly and welcoming. I appreciate her quite a bit, since I'm still fairly new at this blogging thing.

Enjoy!

A Doll's House

My baby girl got a dollhouse for Christmas. She's going to be three next month and she has run a little low on toys in the girl department, seeing as she has an older brother.

So, when my dad found an small dollhouse at my parents' lake cabin, he dropped it off to me and thought it would be perfect for our girl. C and I spent a lot of time working on it in the last few weeks.

Without further ado......what it looked like at the start.

It was all unfinished wood, so we sanded it down well.

We started with a coat of white paint. First, we used spray paint and it gave it a pretty good base coat.....but it was a bit thin..... 

We used black spray paint on the roof and had to do a lot of touch up with a sample can of white paint from the hardware store. It also gave the white a more finished look and of course my six year-old loved to help with the painting!


A few other projects that we did.....we picked out a fat quarter at the fabric store and made curtains. They are attached using little velcro strips in case our girl wants to change them in the future.

I used the same fabric and a bit of batting to make a bed cushion. (the star fabric is my son's choice and insists on it being there)

I think this may have been a nativity at one point...there is a little nail in the front where you might hang a star and there is a light at the back. It makes it nice so you can see what you're doing. : )

And....we made a rug out of fabric and felt. Here you can see the finished doll house....

Also gifted to Sweetie was the dollhouse family from her brother.....too bad they don't have any furniture yet. Welcome to the real world, dolls.

Here you can see it without the light and the roof shows up better.

Our girl loves it! Next up is to get some furniture going....I may try my hand at making some. Special thanks to my mom and dad who thought of Annie when they found this. : )

Party Time......

Time Travel Thursday at The Brambleberry Cottage

Fridays Unfolded at Stuff and Nonsense

Feathered Nest Friday at French Country Cottage

Show and Share Day at Just a Girl

Simply Creations Link Party at Simple Home Life

Addicts (not so) Anonymous Addicted to Decorating

Sunday Showcase Party at Under the Table and Dreaming

Project Parade at The DIY Showoff

Creative Bloggers' Party and Hop at Homemaker on a Dime

Tip-Toe Thru Tuesday at Crayon Freckles

Sunday Shake-up at Jacque's Soda Parlor

Fabulous Friday at Ohh Baby

Pinspirational Thursday at The Artsy Girl Connection

Make the Scene Monday at Alderberry Hill

Sunday Salvation at Sassafras Salvation

Tuesday Talent Show at Chef n Training
Flaunt Your Flowers  at Tootsie Time
What I Wore/What's Up Wednesday at Rae Gun Ramblings

That's the ticket

Wow....another Christmas down in the books. I hope you had a good one! Although ours is busy, we are so fortunate to have our families close to us and to be able to spend time with them for the holiday. : ) I've been enjoying a nice break from school and it has been so good for the mind and body!


I wanted to share a gift that I gave my husband this year.....I have two gifts to show you all that I either made or enhanced. I'll post the other soon.


The first is a collage. The backstory is that some members of my family attend a racing event each year......the Indianapolis 500. If you are not familiar with this type of event, then you may not have an idea why anyone would want to go and watch cars go around in a circle for a few hours. I've been going since I was a kid, so I LOVE it.

It is quite the event. And ever since I got married, I think my husband would count the addition of this event to his life as one of the primo benefits of being married to me.

So....each year, I save my ticket stub. That makes about eleven or twelve since I started attending the race again after I got out of college and finished marching drum corps.

So, as a gift to my husband for Christmas, I decided to collage the tickets. I started with my ticket pile as shown above. I bought a nice big frame.

The tickets themselves are very cool....little portraits of winning drivers and very artful. This one is for the race this year. It was the 100th anniversary, so it was designed as such.

This ticket is commemorating the 90th running of the race and is laser-cut with those words.

After I cleaned the glass of the frame, I started arranging them. I didn't want to tape them in any way, in case I ever wanted to take them out or rearrange them--and I don't want them to get damaged! I was having a tough time, so I started arranging them on the backing before I would lay the glass over it. This part was a bit tedious to find the right and pleasing arrangement.

Once I was happy with it, I laid the glass on top, then the frame and held it tightly together to fix the hardware on the back.


And....voila. Race memories, in a frame. This would be a great way to display any kind of ticket or memento you might have. I love personalized and meaningful displays!

My husband loved it. : )

Party Time......

Time Travel Thursday at The Brambleberry Cottage

Fridays Unfolded at Stuff and Nonsense

Feathered Nest Friday at French Country Cottage

Show and Share Day at Just a Girl

Simply Creations Link Party at Simple Home Life

Addicts (not so) Anonymous Addicted to Decorating

Sunday Showcase Party at Under the Table and Dreaming

Project Parade at The DIY Showoff

Creative Bloggers' Party and Hop at Homemaker on a Dime

Tip-Toe Thru Tuesday at Crayon Freckles

Sunday Shake-up at Jacque's Soda Parlor

Fabulous Friday at Ohh Baby

Pinspirational Thursday at The Artsy Girl Connection

Make the Scene Monday at Alderberry Hill

Sunday Salvation at Sassafras Salvation

Tuesday Talent Show at Chef n Training
Flaunt Your Flowers  at Tootsie Time
What I Wore/What's Up Wednesday at Rae Gun Ramblings

Christmas Treats, Part 2--Caramels

The other treat I make annually? Caramels. I have a voracious sweet tooth (or a sweet molar....) and caramels are right up there. I found this recipe in the paper several years ago and decided to give it a try. I must say, my first attempt was less than stellar. Let's just say it would have made a lovely caramel.....sauce.


To start, a buttered 8x8 pan.

Here's what I started with....cream, two kinds of sugar and a bit of salt.

Although this recipe is labor-intensive, I love that it fits into one of my favorite cooking categories--five ingredients or fewer!

You will need a candy thermometer....

The mixture will be heated three times to a certain degree. Basically, caramels are just burned sugar. : )

After it has been cooked up, you stir in vanilla and pour it into the pan.

Typically, I let them cool overnight before I cut them.

Cut into 1in pieces and wrap in waxed paper.

The recipe is a bit long with the boiling instructions! : ) If you would like it, let me know by comment or email and I will send it to you!

Where the magic happens

I cannot believe we have only four days until Christmas. Wow! December has been flying by. My last day of school was last Friday, so I have certainly been enjoying the time off and finishing up preparations for the holiday. 


I've also been living in sweats the last few days (and loving it....)! I had a student--who I'd seen at the grocery this fall--a few weeks ago that commented to me that I looked cute at school and I wore jewelry and stuff. So, I said, "And I guess at the grocery, I was wearing......sweats?" She nodded and it was like she did not want to say anything not very nice. Yeeeeaaaaah. Oh, well.....I've been known to rock sweats and no makeup on my days off. : )


So, I was working in my sewing room, wrapping presents and doing other general Christmas prep. The mess was getting to me and I started to frantically clean up when I thought, I should take a picture of this. It's where the magic happens.....

Wow! I hope no one wants to come over and spend the night.

Oooh, there are some essential items there on the ironing board. Phone? Check. Coffee (at 3pm)? Check.

Ugh. And I'm itching to vacuum......

Hope you're enjoying some holiday prep as well! I've got some cool presents I've made that I'll share next week (can't give them away now!) and I'm going to be featured over at {Ginger Snap Crafts}.  She is doing Christmas Break at Ginger Snap Crafts for the next two weeks....



Check it out! And hang in there this week!