john jay berry pie

My wife is letting me post on her blog for the first time and I could not be happier. That is not all the way true. If I were, say, eating Pizza Rolls whilst posting, then I could not be happier. Right now I am just shy of "could not be happier." Ah well, now I am really craving Pizza Rolls and still have not stated my business on a blog that is not my own. I have a project to share with you all. Actually, my assumption is that no one who visits Corrie's blog will be interested in my project, but that has never kept me from sharing.

The McIntire Family, saints that they are, donated a road bike to me. It was in great condition and needed no work but I still was in the mood for a project. So what did I do? I took and perfectly good bike, functionally and aesthetically, and tried to remake it. It started off a black color scheme and I wanted something more breezy. So I took it apart, painted the frame, applied new decals, re-wrapped the handlebars, and added some new components. I thought this would only take a week or so to complete. A month and a half later, and I am finally finished. Here it is, The McIntire, in all its pastel and leather glory.

The Case of the Disappearing Blueberries

A few weeks ago mom and I took Judah blueberry picking. I'm embarrassed to say that out of the two buckets worth that we obtained, only one dozen muffins were made. Yup. We ate the rest in a weekend. It's shameful, really.

Judah with remnants on his chin:














The recipe for our collaboration:
1 1/2 c. whole wheat flour
1/2 c. oats
1 1/2 t. baking powder
1/2 t. baking soda
1/4 t. salt
2 eggs
1/2 t. vanilla
1/4 c. unsweetened coconut
3/4 c. vanilla yogurt
1/2 c. sugar
1/4 c. milk
1 1/2 c. blueberries? (mom, do you remember if that's right?)

Mix dry ingredients, then add the wet ones. Fold in blueberries. Bake at 350˚ for about 25-30 minutes.

The Answer to the Riddle...

My lovely friend/neighbor/photographer (Anne) gave me a bag of old clothes a few weeks (cough!...months) ago to use as scrap fabric. Along with this bag was a smaller brown bag with about five things that were of no use to her, but she still loved the material/prints and asked if I could make something else out of them. I tried and tried to think of ways to alter them to still be wearable, but I failed miserably. So I made owls. Don't ask me how I arrived there, but here they are.








































I love the one with lacy underoos second from the right . And the one with the orange-edged pocket inspired a birthday present for Judah. (I'll post about that later).

Thanks for the fabric Anne! And thanks for being so easily pleased...

W-A-T-E-R-M-E-L-O-N

Angry Chicken reminded me that I've been meaning to dye a big batch of clothes. We have more than our share of things that should be white. I would like to blame it all on the husband, but apparently sunscreen yellows things, so I'm equally responsible for the beige clothes in our house. Mom helped me with this when she was in town - dye is another thing that scares me (patterns, light bulbs, canned biscuits...and dye).
The bottle said “Scarlet Red.” I think they misspelled “Juicy Watermelon.” I love the color it turned out, but I wish I would’ve known. I did a onesie for Judah with old-school tie-dye stripes across it and matching pants that I’m sad to give away. Although John Jay would love to start an argument about how it’s greedy for girls to claim pink all for themselves, I’m not going to use our already too pretty one year old boy to prove that point. John Jay can protest on his own while sporting his watermelon v-neck I made him.
Other than the onesie I’m grieving the loss of, my favorite is the sundress I’ve already worn three times since doing this about a week ago. It has rubber band circles too.
John Jay has requested more v-necks. They are his latest discovery… “They don’t choke you!” Something veteran v-neck wearers have known for years. This might roll over into winter with the v-neck sweater. I anticipate this new look will still be paired with capris and Tevas.
Hott.
That’s right, it deserves that second “t”.

The Car Goes "Beep! Beep!"

This is yet another cover-up job. The original design had some unacceptable propaganda for a one year old...don't get John Jay started. But it was the softest t-shirt he owned. We would like to thank Anne for the car's fabrics. And Anne: your, um, "thing" is coming. Think my first sewing project, only a little wiser. Oooh! It's a riddle! I made a riddle!

It's late, and John Jay is closing tonight. (Does that explain my entertainment at riddle-making?)
Oh, even more sad...I just looked at the clock and apparently "late" is 8:09!

Peaches N' Cream

This is what the Alvaro boys have for birthdays. Wanda Hummel (Hi Wanda) brought it to my mom-in-law when they first moved to Watertown, NY (John Jay's birth place) many moons ago. Mrs. Gina shared it with me thankfully, since it's a staple for my hubby's special days - and he's had quite a few lately. Because he was chosen to be (one of few) FTE Fellows 2008, he was shipped off to their conference for the last few days. As if that wasn't enough to celebrate, he missed his birthday and 1/2 of Father's Day too! So we had a lot of celebratory catching up to do. Peaches N' Cream and Pizza Rolls (grease bombs) were waiting on him when he returned.

Peaches N' Cream:
3/4 c plain flour
1 t baking powder
1/2 t salt
(or 3/4 c self-rising flour instead of above 3 ingredients)
3 oz. box vanilla pudding (not instant)
3 T butter
1 egg
1/2 c milk
---
15-20 oz. sliced peaches
---
3 T syrup/juice from peaches
8 oz. cream cheese, softened
1/2 c sugar
---
1 t sugar
1/2 t cinnamon
















• Preheat oven to 350˚. Grease 9" pie pan.
• Combine first 7 ingredients. Beat 2 minutes at medium speed. Pour into pie pan.
• Arrange peaches over batter.
• Beat together cream cheese, juice and 1/2 c sugar at medium speed until smooth. Spread over peaches to within 1" of pan edge. Lick beaters.
• Sprinkle with cinnamon/sugar mixture.
• Bake for 30-35 minutes. Serve warm.

I've often thought, "Oh, this would be nice with BLUEberries, instead of peaches!" or "Maybe I could use whole wheat flour and add some oats." But I am under strict instruction not to alter this one!

I think I've reached my maximum limit for "( )'s" in one post. (Sorry.)

Beach in a [Baby Food] Jar

This is slightly reminiscent of those jelly jars you see at craft fairs with plaid fabric covering Betty Ann's mayhaw jelly. But in the interest of using up those baby food jars, I'm going to just push past it.
The tag really explains it all.














Unsolicited Tidbit: The linen covering the lid is left over from the bed skirt my mom made for Judah's crib.

Sunglass Frill

I'm not a huge fan of sunglasses. They give me headaches, along with those little red spots on my nose when I take them off. And inevitably, someone (usually my husband) says "Hey Hollywood" every time I wear them. Yuck.
But I have been changing my ways lately to accommodate our increasingly outdoorsy life style. Let's see, there's my morning dousing with SPF 50, as well as my recent chunky boyish shoedle purchase. (shoe•dle: a tennis shoe/sandal hybrid) Oh yeah, and our stylin' fanny pack. I'm not joking. It's actually John Jay's, but I get to use it when he feels like sharing.
I'm still on a hunt for some unassuming sunglasses with UV protection that aren't more than $10 dollars. That's a lot of qualifiers, I know...picky picky.
These sunglasses don't meet a single one of those descriptions. I found them in my swim bag from last summer and spruced them up a bit. No more function than before, just fancier.

Before:
















After:

Tip of the Week

Last night I decided to flip through my Modern Household Encyclopedia, 1948 Edition! I forgot all about this baby! It's just been sitting on my shelf for the last 3 or 4 years with so much to offer such as what to do with candle ends, what a "bland diet" actually consists of, and every antidote known to man for poisoning (men in 1948, mind you...so get out the emetic and coffee!) I thought it would be nice to periodically share this world of knowledge with all of my loyal followers (Hi Mom!).

I'll start with the selection simply titled "Double Chins."

"To firm one rub a lemon ice cube over it after thoroughly cleansed. Make cubes by freezing 2 parts fresh lemon juice and 1 part water. Good for the face too."

I'm assuming that the acids from the lemon will eat away at the skin until it disintegrates. Or the ice will freeze the chin, making it much less painful to cut off...the lemon is just so it smells good.