If it's not one thing...

...it's your mother. As the saying goes. Growing up, I was always told by my mother that you cannot wear white shoes after Labor Day. Why? Because. I'm sure I could Google the thinking behind this thought and find out exactly what the reasoning is, but in the end, it's because my mom said you can't. And like many things, my mom said you can't wear white shoes after Labor Day because that's what her mom always told her. So we don't.




Now I consider myself to be relatively easy-going, with-the-times kind of gal. I'm not scared of people with tattoos, multiple piercings, purple hair or far out fashion. Some people just like to present themselves with a little more flair than others, and I like that. While I myself tend to dress on the conservative side, it's just because that's my style. I don't subscribe to any doctrines that suggest how I dress. I'm rarely seen in anything but Target jeans and t-shirts. It could even be said that I have little fashion sense. Gasp. Long sleeves in July. Flip flops in January. Whatever. It's just this one thing, this one fashion faux pas ingrained in my genes.
I can't bring myself to wear white shoes come September. I just can't do it. White purses either. Now white athletic shoes, those are still OK. And I promise that I really don't even care, that much, if you choose to wear your white shoes and carry your white purses after Labor Day. After all, I don't have a good reason not to.
My girls are the owners of several pairs of sweet white sandals. And being that today is Labor Day, I had to put them away. I put Baby G's in the garage sale pile. They won't fit her by next Easter. That's when you can wear white sandals again, in case you were wondering. Lilly had several pairs which I scrubbed and put away for Ginger to wear when she's bigger.
It felt good to clean out the "shoe shelf" that holds all of my kid's shoes. As always, we're trying to bring more order to our house, and every little bit helps. Being that we're in East Texas, it's still very hot here. The high's this week will be in the mid-nineties. Lilly will most likely be asking me where on earth all her white sandals went. And I will tell her that I put them away. Because she can't wear them anymore. It's after Labor Day. Some things never change.

A Quilt for Lilly

My mom taught me how to sew an apron the summer I was 12. I think her mom did the same. Every since then I've liked to sew. I've always gone through phases, making a whole quilt in a few weeks time, then not touching a machine for months or even years. But at heart, I do consider myself a quilter. I want to make each of my kids a quilt. I'm making Lilly a Sunbonnet Sue quilt. I've always been drawn to the old-fashioned stuff, and I'm hoping she'll like all the pretty colors and patterns.

I actually started this quilt 2.5 years ago, with then intent of giving it to Lilly for her 3rd birthday. Well, life and my short attention span both got in the way, and here we are. Lilly will be 4 in February, and I see no reason I can't have this done in plenty of time. Oh, and one for Owen too. They're twins.

I heart fabric. I bought a stack of 50 fat quarters of vintage reproduction fabric several years ago. I'm finally getting around to using it.

I'm not using a particular pattern. I didn't see one that looked exactly how I wanted, so I found several patterns I kind of liked, and combined them. I drew my pieces free-hand, on freezer paper.

All my edges are raw.

I pinned all the pieces on 13" square backgrounds, using tiny applique needles.

I used the blanket stitch on my machine.

I have all my pieces cut. Next I just need to pin and sew. I think this will end up being a twin size quilt, but I'm not sure. Once all my 16 squares are done I'll have to figure out how I want to put it together, etc. I'm not one of those people who plans everything out before starting a project. It drives my husband crazy, but usually, it works.

I really hope Lilly loves her quilt when I finish it. I hope it makes her feel special to know it was made just for her, by my hands. Even when she is grown, I hope she will pull it out sometimes, and hopefully even use it, and feel loved.

What we ate last week.

Don't you always wonder what other people are really eating? I do. So this is just a little of what we ate last week for dinner.

Monday

This was dinner tonight. Although I had kind of planned on going meatless, it is Monday after all, I decided to go ahead and use a little sausage to give the green beans some flavor. So we had yellow squash casserole, frozen green beans with some sausage, and leftover breakfast potatoes from yesterday. I've never made the summer squash recipe before. I got the recipe from here

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/yellow-squash-casserole-recipe/index.html

and just omitted the zucchini and carrots since I didn't think it would add much. It was really, really good, and we have leftovers for tomorrow. And it was filling enough that I think you could just have it with a salad and be satisfied.

Saturday

Maple & Soy Glazed Flank Steak with Rice Noodles and a Cucumber Salad

This was our fun weekend meal. The whole meal was taken from one of my favorite magazines, Cooking Light. Paul made this, and it turned out great.

http://find.myrecipes.com/recipes/recipefinder.dyn?action=displayRecipe&recipe_id=1963964

We used a lot of ingredients we hadn't tried, and it's definitely not a week night meal as it did take some time, but it was worth it. I got the flank steak from a local ranch that sells only grassfed meats.

Friday

Cauliflower Crust Pizza

Pizza is a Friday night ritual at our house. Typical white pizza crust, while delicious, just plain destroys my blood sugar. Something made entirely of white flour and oil really has no redeeming qualities when it comes to a healthful diet. You know that list of top 10 things to wreak havoc on someones's blood sugar? Yeah, I think pizza could possibly be number one on that list. Sad huh? Usually I make our pizzas on FlatOut brand wraps, and I really like them. The kids love them too. And it's SO easy to do.

Well Hubby was getting tired of the flat bread so I decided to try something new. I found a recipe using basically cauliflower, cheese, and egg, and it had lots of rave reviews. It was pretty easy to make. I bought frozen cauliflower and microwaved approximately 1 cup until very tender, then riced with a fork. You then add an egg and a cup, yes a whole cup! of mozzarella cheese, and herbs as desired. You bake the crust at 400F until it turns kind of golden. Then add sauce and whatever you want on your pizza, and broil til done. I don't think it's hard to guess that something made with cauliflower is going to replace good old New York style pizza any time soon, but actually it did turn out pretty good. If you can get over the fact that you might need a fork to eat it, give it a try. Hubby and I split one and had a salad. If you're pretty hungry, double the recipe.

Wednesday & Thursday

Veggie Stuffed Cabbage

I love cabbage. It's something I never ate growing up. I discovered stuffed cabbage a few years ago and have made it several times since. The recipe I usually use calls for ground turkey, egg, bread crumbs, and other good stuff. I decided to create my own version of veggie stuffed cabbage in my efforts to consume less meat.

I sauteed mushrooms, shallots, carrots and zucchini until very soft, then added a can of white beans, a few Italian bread crumbs, salt, and pepper. Then I stuffed. Someday, when I have a better recipe, I'll actually show you how to make stuffed cabbage. But this recipe didn't turn out too great. It wasn't awful, and we ate to nights in a row, but I wouldn't make it again. It was fun to make my own creation, even if it wasn't a masterpiece.

So that's a little of the kinds of stuff we are eating lately. I think I'm going to have to work on my photography skills as some of those dishes just didn't look as pretty in the picture. As for tomorrow...I see leftovers in our future.

New Blog

Hello out there.

This is my new blog to write about stuff on my mind. Mostly having to do with things that interest me such as healthy eating, sewing, gardening, kids, moderation and just about anything else that comes to mind. Thanks for finding me, I'll be back soon.