Let's Face It, I'm a Mess

I'm just curious if I'm the only accident prone idiot in the kitchen? I apparently am incapable of making anything without A) getting it all over the front of my shirt and said shirt becomes permanently stained; B) getting it all over the counter and/or stove top; and C) dropping at least 3 things on the floor, be it utensils full of whatever I'm making or the actual food itself, where without a doubt, it usually bounces about 3 times spreading the mess in all sorts of crevices around my kitchen.  This is seriously cutting into my wardrobe as I cook every day.  Argh!!

I'm not sure how to prevent my klutziness, but I've decided to fix part of this problem by making myself some aprons. I think I've settled on this one for my first one or I just might whip something up off the top of my head, not sure yet.  But this is my task for this week between dentist appointments and registering kidlets for school. Here are a few more free apron patterns/tutorials I found from a list on The Apronista. Pictures to follow in the next few days.

I made Raspberry Lemon Muffins on Sunday morning.  They were not a kid favorite, but my husband really liked them.  I don't know if I've ever made something with flavors that hit your taste buds like these do. First, you taste a hint of vanilla yogurt, then the raspberries, and then this sudden zing of lemon hits your tongue and you feel like..."wow!"  I liked them, too, especially topped with a bit of cream cheese.  This is the recipe I used:

Raspberry Lemon Muffins

1/2 cup vanilla yogurt
2 egg whites
3 tbs oil
1 tbs fresh lemon juice

1 1/2 cups flour
3/4 cup white sugar
1 tsp fresh lemon peel
2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1 cup frozen raspberries

Topping:
2 tbs flour
1/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup butter, softened

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.  Mix yogurt, oil, egg whites, and lemon juice together.  In separate bowl, mix flour, sugar, baking powder, salt, lemon peel.  Add yogurt mixture to dry ingredients and mix just until moistened.  Then gently mix in berries.  Fill muffin tins 2/3 full. Mix together topping and sprinkle on each muffin before baking.  Bake for 16-20 minutes.  Immediately remove from muffin tins and serve warm.

This recipe yields 12 muffins.

Peasant Top Tutorial

Check out this peasant top tutorial to make yourself without a pattern from Joann.com.  I see definite nursing shirt potential in this one.  If my dear cranky baby gives me sometime this week, I think I'm going to try this one.

Peasant Top Tutorial

Sewing Pattern Sale - up to 30% OFF

While I work on 2 new patterns, I thought I'd have a sale for the current patterns. All sewing patterns are on sale and it will go through the entire month of August.  Below are the coupon codes, please enter the correct one in the shopping cart.

Take 20% off orders up to $14.99!!  Coupon Code:  TPN100801072004

Take 30% off orders $15.00 or more!! Coupon Code:  KST100801071930

The patterns are listed to the lower left under "Sewing Patterns" or a direct link can be found by clicking here.

Cutest things ever...little pies in little jars

I was blog reading tonight and came across a post from a couple years ago from Not Martha that was little bitty pies in little jars.  They are so cute.  I think I'm going to undertake these this weekend if I can find jars. 

I'm thinking I'm going with peach or apple. Here's the direct link for those lazy people like me....oh and here is a link for her other version with little bitty cobblers.  Hmm...now I'm debating...pies or cobbler? 

I want to make something for my hubby's class who all took the test yesterday together.  They have one more test next Friday, and most of them are fresh out of college young single guys who probably live on fast food and never get a decent home baked anything, lol.  Plus my kids will be in love with these things.  I think I will surprise them with the idea on Sunday when they get home from their dad's.

But first...tomorrow, the kids and I will be making some lemon raspberry muffins.  I picked up a recipe book at the library yesterday, and these sound just mouthwatering. Pictures to follow tomorrow.

Uh oh, I hear a hungry baby waking...off to watch Star Trek Enterprise.  It's the whole time travel Xindi thing.  I am a trekkie, but Enterprise never did it for me when it was on a few years ago.  However, now that I'm DVRing it on SyFy, I'm really getting into it.  We need a new Star Trek series again.  I miss TNG and Voyager (so kill me, I was never into DS9). 

Her Fearful Symmetry

I loved, loved, loved The Time Traveler's Wife, so I was greatly anticipating this second novel by Audrey Niffenegger last year.  When it came out, I scooped it up immediately and was excited to settle in for another good read. 

It's a ghost story set in Highgate Cemetery.  It's an intriguing story, and the story builds for three quarters of the book and could have been a really wonderful story if it had a couple more hundred pages or so.  It begins with two estranged twin sisters.  One dies, Elspeth, and bequeaths her London apartment to her sister's twin daughters with one request, her sister can never set foot in the place. While the younger twins are inseparable, you learn that all is not as it seems and one is suffocating the other in her dominance.

It seemed as though the characters were being well developed and a story was unfolding, but I kept waiting and seeing I was getting closer and closer to the end of the story and wondering what the big climax was and what type of resolution could be completed in just a few short pages, and then it builds into absurdity that just leaves you thinking "huh?"  In the end, it made me wonder if the author just got sick of the story and wanted to quickly wrap it up. It felt like this wonderfully slow build that just drops you off a cliff at the end.  You feel invested in the characters and want more story, but it just ends in a ridiculous way.  She could have done so much more with the story, it was very disappointing. 

Embellished Onesie Tutorial

I'm a scatterbrain, so I just realized I didn't have the applique tutorial up here. It's now in the free list on the left and in the old post on embellished onesies you can click the pictures and it takes you to the link. I'm such a dork. And for those of you lazy like me, here is a direct link.

Later...off to the library we go.