Mug

A special present from Bella for her Papa!

Blank Project Collage Mug

Go with Shutterfly Christmas cards this holiday. Satisfaction guaranteed.

View the entire collection of cards.

Halloween!

I've been remiss in publishing so let me catch you up on Halloween!

Special Dinner:

That's right, Jack-o-Peppers (stuffed of course!)!

And a VERY SCARY BOO!

The neighborhood children came out when they say Jay and I decorating our house the day before Halloween and all wanted to help. So armed with a small (under four feet!) army, we went about spookifying the our residence in the spirit(s) of All Hallow's Eve!

Hope you all had a great time! :D

Anybody There?

So I've had this fancy-pants blog for about a month now and ZERO comments. That's right, ZERO, as in none, nada, nothing, nobody's home. *sad face*

So to prompt you to comment I am going to find the cutest video I can POSSIBLY find and post it to see if THAT will spur you all into action! Take THAT!

The OTHER Me...

Over the past few years I've been getting someone else's email. I am one of the very lucky few who actually have their name as their email -- that's right! No dashes, no underscore, no number at the end, just moi! And apparently SOMEBODY out there is super jealous.

She could have had it, oh yeah. It was out there and available but I snatched it up way back in 1998 when my sister Alicia told me about this website where you could create PERSONAL email addresses. Crazy, right?! It was around that time I heard people other than doctors were carrying around cell phones. WHO KNEW!

So armed with my late 90s techno-savvy, I snagged it. And the other Sara Montgomery has been jealous ever since.

I get her work emails, I get emails from her dad, from old school chums hoping to get in touch, I get coupon emails, "your pregnancy this week" emails, etc. It's gotten to the point that I feel I kind of know her. I mean we DO have the same name afterall. Irronically we also have a few other things in common. We're both amatuer actors and professional writers, we both have lived in the UK, and we both spell our name without that extra letter...you know....the H.

BOO! Down with H and all it's huh-ing!

H's throw off the balance of Sara, as I'm sure the other me would agree.

Anyhow, as I've kind of inadvertently followed the life of this other me, I have begun to wonder if we would get a long. I mean, wouldn't it be weird to have a friend with the same name as you? I've had a few close friends over my life who were also Saras or Sarahs but not a Sara Montgomery...now THAT would be something special.

By the way....our name means Princess...how could you not like someone who's name means princess?!

I have even toyed with the idea of writing her one day (if I can find her) just to say "hey, i'm the other one -- the one who gets ...and sometimes reads your email (on accident of course!)" and see what happens.

Alright, enough blathering.

Not Sew Fast!

So although recovering chairs and barstools doesn't necessarily mean a sewing project don't let it fool you into thinking that it it'll be easy!

With the assistance of one kitty (Apache) and one puppy (Bella) as well as my wonderful father-in-law, I set out to repair and recover my dining room chairs which had suffered years of abuse at the hands of my husband's batchelor-days-friends and numerous D&D game nights...don't ask!


I was looking for a fabric from which I could easily brush animal hair (being a mommy of a puppy and two kitties, this is a huge plus and which would tie the room's color scheme of gold and scarlet together.



And I found it, thanks to Liz Claiborne Home Decor Fabrics and JoAnn's Fabric and Craft clearance section. HELLO, $12/yard and 56" width! :D







So -- armed with a staple gun, common screwdriver, woodglue, galvanized steel repair plates, and my cordless powerdrill -- my father-in-law and I began our project.





...Five hours, one screwdriver-gouged hand, a pack and a half of staples, six beautifully covered and repaired chairs, and three smashed fingers later....

TA-DA! (Note the puppy who makes an appearance in EVERY photo!)

I ended up with a few extra yards with which I'm planning to make a table runner with a contrasting fabric and a tree skirt as we keep our Christmas tree in this room so I'll have to save those projects as another blog entry.

I was actually so pleased with the result of the chairs that after my father-in-law left I decided to finally recover the two Italian barstools at the kitchen island as well with some nice fabric I had on hand.

Cherry Almond Cake

I've baked a lot....I mean A LOT of cakes in my time but this recipe is one of my very favorites, so much so that I even made it one of the layers of my wedding cake a few years ago. PERFECT compliment to a cup of hot herbal tea on a chilly night this cake is also very versatile.

Cherry Almond Cake is a traditional English teacake option so of course I scoured the web for a good old fashioned recipe. This recipe is made in the style of a chiffon cake and relies on beaten egg whites to give it height rather than baking powder. Makes wonderful cupcakes. Substitute the almonds and extract for vanilla and a 1/2 cup of mashed banannas for a twist.

Here's what I found (converted from metric! talk about authentic!).

Cherry Almond Cake

1 1/2 cup all purpose flour (feel free to substitute cake flour for a finer texture)
1 cup sugar
1 cup margarine (I usually substitute for butter, up to you)
3/4 cup quartered fresh cherries of your own choosing (I like black or renier)
1/4 cup ground almonds (grind almonds in food processor or put in a ziplock and pound with mallet or rolling pin)
1 tsp Almond extract
4 eggs
1/2 cup of milk

Cream margarine/butter and sugar until smooth. Add egg yolks, beat well. Add flour, milk, cherries, almonds, and almond extract. Beat egg whites until stiff peaks form, fold into mixture.

Gently fold batter into a greased and floured (or lined) 7" cake pan. Bake for 1 hour 15 mins at 320F.

*Picture coming soon! Be patient!

Sew What?

Have you ever known EXACTLY what you were looking for in a skirt, or a t-shirt, or a .... dog cheerleading costume for an 85 pound yellow lab? O.o Yeah I know how it feels, this one is close but I wish it had a hem like that one, or that style but in this color, yadda yadda. Well, it frustrates me too and has for as long as I can remember, thus I tend to just throw up my hands and say "Fine! I'll do it myself!"

My husband, as some of you may know, coaches. I mean he COACHES -- football, waterpolo, Ragnaros fights (if you don't know what that is, you don't pay $15 a month to Blizzard Entertainment). August to December for football, January to August for waterpolo, and endlessly for electronic raids! Soooooooooooooooo, our 18-month-old white English Labrador Retriever decided she wanted to do her part to support her papa. ... Yes, SHE decided. She's quite precocious you know!

So here is what I came up with in an afternoon of mock up patterns and sewing to service her desire to cheer papa and his various teams on to victory.

I created the basic pattern using a saddle-like design in medium weight gabardine, if anyone is interested I am happy to create a pdf downloadable pattern to share. The skirt of the dress (blown up Marilyn Monroe style in the first picture) is an interval of six inch green and black squares in gabardine which I hemmed and created the box pleats out of. Edged in double-fold wide bias tape and fastened with the modern miracle which is velcro, I slapped a collegiate looking "P" on the back and made a matching hair...err, FURbow to complete the ensamble. It goes without saying of course that this Spirit Pup was a crowd pleaser.

Just Because...

I never really thought I had much to say that might interest the general populace on a day-to-day basis -- I mean I find myself amusing but who's to say someone sitting in a double-wide in Duluth or a basement apartment in Baton Rouge will? And yet, here I am!

So, we'll experiment with Blonde Times Two (in honor of my husband and myself of course!) and see how this whole blog thing goes.