August 2007 – Page 2

There’s Nice Stuff Going On…

23 Comments / August 8, 2007 February 18, 2011 / Sewing

I’m sure you’ve seen it going around. It’s the Nice Matters award. And I’ve been so fortunate to be nominated by Kim and Nicollette, both of whom are the very nicest! I must say though, I can’t possibly imagine how Kim could nominate me after I’ve abused her so much about mashed potatoes. So, Kim, my new nice self is turning over a new leaf. I’m not going to harass you about mashed potatoes anymore. ‘Cause that wouldn’t be nice.

Ok, just kidding. I just can’t do it. Sorry Kim — but at least you know I love you, right? If you want to take away my award you can. But, I still have Nicollette’s award — she just doesn’t know the real me as I haven’t found anything to tease her about yet. Yet!

Ahem. Back to the subject at hand. I need to nominate 7 bloggers who I think are very nice. If only you knew how difficult this is for me. You’re ALL so nice and it’s been so wonderful to “meet” all of you. And, I’m a Libra. I like balance and want to keep you all happy! I usually bow out of the naming part of these nominations, but I’ll give it a go (wouldya look at how that British-speak is rubbing off on me from all the UK blogs! ;-) )

Here are seven VERY nice bloggers:
Jade — she’s a sweetheart, sews like a dream and has the cutest little Bub!
Jill — who is probably too busy to respond right now. She’s been blessed with an adorable new baby boy — remember those first few tiring weeks of new motherhood? That’s where sweet Jill is now.
LucyLocket — who is terribly nice and is going to make a PIF for me and probably thinks I really think her name is Lucy.
Louise — who makes the most beautiful aprons and other wonderful things.
Karen — who has wonderful projects, stories, and fabulous GOATS!
Kahne — one of the first bloggers I “met”, she was so nice to let me know about Flibbertygibbet’s fabric swaps, which have been SO fun.
Which brings me to Gail — who is terribly nice to organize and control all the fabric swappers.
And another Karen — I’ve joked that we were twins who were separated at birth.
And …. oh wait …. that’s MORE than seven? Sorrrrrry. I really could have kept going. I’d love to list all of you — bloggers are the nicest people. But I’m trying to follow the rules, you understand. Thank you very kindly to Nicollette and Kim — you’re both very sweet!

So, for now, I have one very important word:

BigDaddy turned 76 last week. On his birthday we were sitting around talking about the big family reunion that his family has every year and that we never attend. It’s held near the log cabin where his father was reared with 9 siblings, smack-dab in the middle of Utah. So, I said, “Why don’t we just go this year?” And imagine my surprise when he said “Ok!”

So, tomorrow morning we’ll be on our way. 1600 miles one way. Ah LUV me a roadtrip! I’m very excited. Among other things it’s 10 days away from work! WooHoo!!!

The clothes and pillows are packed. Please try to behave yourselves while I’m gone. The worst part about a vacation is knowing the blog-catch-up-hell I’ll face when I return. If you’d all like to take a little break, now would be the perfect time! ;-) I’ll miss you all terribly.

Now it’s off to make a quick batch of cookies, then….off to bed!
XOXO,
Anna

Weekend Sewing

28 Comments / August 7, 2007 February 18, 2011 / Sewing

I FINALLY got my sewing room put back together. Not that all the fabric is folded — I still have a cabinet with fabric that needs to be done. But the majority of the shelves have been straightened, and that’s good enough for now. I’ve been itching to get back to sewing.

Over the weekend, I managed to sneak in a few quickie projects. Remember the cousins? I’ll be seeing them again very soon, and since they always take such good care of us, I want to take them a little gift.

Hopefully, these kitchen towels, combined with a few things from the kitchen shop will fit the bill. I thought it would be fun to play with my leftover Susan Branch fabrics.

I’m pretty sure none of them have lime green kitchens, but these are just for fun. I’ll tell them I’m hoping to inspire a new color scheme. ;-)

Now it’s late….off to bed!
XOXO,
Anna

Red Bunny has a New Home.

14 Comments / August 4, 2007 February 18, 2011 / Bunnies

TheManoftheHouse had been away for most of the week, but when he came home tonight, the first thing I did was ask him to draw a winning name for Red Bunny! He gladly obliged, wiped a tear from his eye (we’ll miss little Red Bunny), and stuck his hand in the bowl to draw a winner:

Joyce, Come On Down! Red Bunny is so excited — he’ll be winging his way to Canada. Lucky for him it’s August and he won’t need his sweater just yet. When we send our little ones out into the world we tell them not to forget where they came from, so I slapped a little tag on Red Bunny’s bottom to help him remember.

Then, I gave him a big hug and now he’s all packed up and waiting to be mailed this week. He looks a little worried, but he’ll be just fine. Especially when he gets a peek at all those lovely quilts that Joyce has been working on.

So, Joyce, click on that “email me” link over there to the right and send me your address. And for all the rest of you, thank you very much for all of your wonderful comments! They were very much appreciated. And, I’m sure there will be more bunny opportunities in the future! ;-)

Hope your weekend is fabulous!
XOXO,
Anna

My Lucky Week, Part 2

8 Comments / August 4, 2007 February 18, 2011 / Chat

WooHoo! Yesterday, the mailman delivered the second package from my blog contest winning streak. The very kind and generous Joni had a contest to name her adorable little doll (whom I named Frizzy Lizzy.) I won, and Joni sent me a goodie. Look how sweetly she wrapped it up:

She sent me a cool Amy Butler kit to make a little hanging paper basket. I’ve never seen one of these and it looks really fun. I love paper crafts and I love baskets — a perfect match! I ripped into the wrapped package and look what I found:

A fabulous set of note cards with a quilt pattern on the front. Just look at those beautiful colors. And you can’t see it, but the paper is textured a little bit. You can rub your hand over the blocks and almost feel them. I LOVE note cards and stationary. Joni, f I didn’t know better, I’d think we’d been friends for years — you’ve picked gifts that are just perfect for me. Thank You Very Much — I love them both! Your thoughtfulness and attention to detail is wonderful — and VERY much appreciated.

It’s a good thing I’m giving away Red Bunny tomorrow — it makes me feel a little less guilty that I’ve been on the receiving end of such fabulous gifts. What a lucky girl I am! We’ve spent our last Friday night with Red Bunny. We had a cookout with a few of the boy’s friends and then took Red Bunny and the kids to Cold Stone for a little treat — the first we’ve managed to have this summer. Um-mm good!

And finally, I managed to visit MeMum’s and watch the latest Big Love. (I think I’ve mentioned that we don’t have HBO, so MeMum records it for me.) I’m glued to Big Love this summer and I can’t believe there are only four episodes left. (It’s going to be an unbearably long haul until February and the return of Sawyer!) In order to quell my Red Bunny separation anxiety, I’ve been playing the “Find Out Which Sister-Wife You Are” game on the HBO website.

Dang it! I knew I wasn’t that little trollop Margene, but I was sure I was a Barb! I guess that shooting the Mountain Dew cans off the porch did me in. ;-) Which Sister-Wife are YOU???

See you tomorrow night!
XOXO,
Anna

SweetiePie Loves Flaky Beef Buns

13 Comments / August 2, 2007 February 18, 2011 / Recipes

Red Bunny and I are having a great time reading all of your comments and dreaming of all the new places he might call home. (Notice I said he — I found it such fun to see some people call him a she and some a he. For some reason, I’ve always thought of my bunnies as “he’s.” Unless they have pink in them. Maybe it’s that whole sticking pins in him thing. And by the way, I’m very touched by so many of you who are concerned that the pins might be hurting Red Bunny. We prefer to think of this treatment as accupuncture, vice VooDoo. Male bunny notwithstanding. ;-) )

Thank you all so much for all your wonderful comments. You’ve made the move fun, in spite of the little bugs here and there. As I learned a new mail tool, I managed to send an e-mail to the wrong person. Oops! And I mistakenly thought that if I did a little test post before anyone knew about the new place and then deleted it, it would be gone. Oops2. It apparently still hangs out there in the RSS feed, so bloglines picked it up. Red Bunny and I were Red Faced! And speaking of bloglines, it doesn’t seem to like the new feed, as it doesn’t keep track of subscribers. Oh well, change always brings a few hitches, no?

While Red Bunny and I hang around reading comments and preparing for the drawing (don’t forget to enter your name on the Welcome post if you’d like Red Bunny), we thought we’d share with you a favorite family recipe. It’s also a new favorite of SweetiePie’s.

Flaky Beef Buns

1/2 lb. ground beef
1/3 cup chopped green onions, including tops
1/4 cup mayonnaise or salad dressing
1 T Dijon mustard
1/8 teaspoon pepper
10-oz. can Hungry Jack Refrigerated Flaky Biscuits*
1 egg, slightly beaten
Dash salt
1 T sesame seed

Heat oven to 375 degrees F. Lightly grease cookie sheet. In large skillet, brown ground beef; drain. Remove from heat. Add green onions, mayonnaise, mustard and pepper; mix well. Separate dough into 10 biscuits; press or roll each to a 4-inch circle. Spoon 2 tablespoons meat mixture onto center of each circle. Bring dough up over meat mixture; pinch edges together to form buns. Place seam side down on prepared cookie sheet; brush with beaten egg and sprinkle with sesame seed. Bake at 375 degrees for 12 to 16 minutes or until golden brown.
*If you don’t have access to Hungry Jack biscuits, you could just use any biscuit dough (that’s American style biscuits, not cookies!), cut it into rounds and then flatten them out before filling them with the meat mixture.

I’m enjoying all of the Encyclopedia of Me posts out there, started by Cassi. I’d really love to participate, but I’ll be absent for a bit, later in the month, so I don’t think it will work. What a fun idea though!

XOXO,
Anna

Month: August 2007

Flaky Beef Buns