Week 48: Brr! It's Cold Outside!

New 3-year old. I find myself constantly praying for this boy. He has such a quiet nature about him, and a dry sense of humor. Terrible eater. BEST laugh I have ever heard. Loves to hold hands on the couch and do puzzles on the floor and have random dance parties. With all of my heart, I love him.

 

 

New crochet whimsey: Free-hand snowflakes. Easy and fun to make!

New breakfast: adding 1 TBS of olive oil to my oats or cream of wheat. Got this idea from Giada Delaurentiis, and it is sooo yummy in this electric-dry, Kansas cold.

New children's fiction (for b-day): Bang! Boom! Roar! and Waking Dragons. Both books are so cute, and once again, Momma has grabbed a Jane Yolen goodie in Waking Dragons, a story about a little boy whose job it is to wake up the dragons and get them ready for school (he brushes their teeth, feeds them, it is very sweet.). "Bang-Bang Rwraaaaar!!!!" as Henry calls it, is the clear winner of the entire year of new children's fiction. We read this book 1,000 times per day. Dinosaurs + construction equipment + a little I-Spy + good morals. We highly recommend both of these!

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(Not my photo: photo credit Simply Crochet) New project idea: This beautiful crochet garland (I would also like those gold drapes, the vanity, the vintage outfit, and the door, if that is possible)...

New beverage: German mulled wine. My neighbor introduced this to me, and it is quite tasty during a cold winter's happy hour :) I think I am sufficiently sick of it though. Kind of like egg nog, this will be a once-per year purchase. I'm just not a big sweet/flavory drinks person.

New (almost finished) crochet project: Summer baby blanket! This is 100%, American-made cotton, and there will be just a few, little lemon-yellow flowers decorating this as well. One of my sweet neighbors is having a baby girl next month, so my idea sprang from having a 6-month old in 108 degree, humid KS temps...

I also tried 2 new recipes this week. No photos have been included because they were both huge fails! One was a crockpot Thai chicken, which received great reviews on Food.com, but I just did not like it. Perhaps I was not in the mood for the peanut butter (I use Sunbutter), or maybe I added too much soy. It is always weird when I don't like a food of any kind, so beware! I also attempted to make a chocolate cream pie for Thanksgiving and burned the chocolate pudding. For the record, I am terrible at puddings and custards, but I LOVE to eat them. My Mom happens to be so talented at these types of yummies, and there is no way I can do the pudding from the box. My issue is that I always burn it. Do I need more patience? A double-boiler, perhaps? Less over-thinking? :) OR, maybe I should just stick to making what I don't screw up: fruit pies (for which, I credit Southern Living and The Joy of Cooking for teaching me how to make a good pie crust and fruit pie filling).