Crafty Hands and Runny Noses!!!

The title of this post tells you exactly what you will find around my house, especially yesterday. Hubby came down with the cold and since he loves us all so much, he was very kind to pass it on, full force. Here I was thinking I was feeling better, but now I'm miserable again.....the kids are sick, hubby's sick, and mommy is "sicker". Can't really say I'm sick, I just never got better :)

But you know, I'm not one to let it get me down. While sitting on the couch yesterday, I decided to finally give that Purse a try. If you have an hour and want to make something really cute for your daughter or niece, or even a friend....this is the perfect project.
It's sooooo easy to make, the only thing that took the longest for me, was the blanket stitching around the edges....and why you may ask???
Because for some reason it took me 20 minutes just to remember how to do it LOL Very frustrating!!!

Here's the purse halfway done:

And here is the finished purse. Jasmine LOVES it. She got to pick the fabric and what sort of embelishment she wanted on the front. All that it needs now is a clasp, which I'm going to buy today and add.

It gave me ideas for some simple gifts I can make for my nieces in South Africa. I think these would make great christmas gifts, and they would be handmade by their aunt, so I'm sure they would love them :)
I'm also going to change the design a bit and make myself a cute cellphone holder.

But anyway moving on, so we have germs galore in this house, which means I'm going to be giving it a good clean top to bottom. Going to change the bed linens too and vacuum again and all that fun stuff. I'm just wanting this cold gone soon.

Last night I had meatloaf planned for dinner. I thawed out the meat and then went to get ready to cook, opened the package and was met by this overwhelming HORRIBLE stench. The meat was bad. I JUST bought it. How annoying is that???

So I had to make quick changes to the menu. I decided to make a quick pot of soup, can't go wrong with that, I fixed "Baked Potato Soup". It was SO good, just hubby alone had 3 full bowls. It doesn't make a lot though, so next time I'm going to double or triple the recipe.

You all know that I LOVE books, but I'm not much, or actually at ALL into online books. To me reading a book means picking it up, holding it in my hands and smelling the pages....I absolutely love the smell of books. But recently while browsing around on the internet, I found this site called "19th Century Girl's Series". It includes a list of plus some samples of the books. I've had a lot of fun going through them, and I can't wait to use it as a reference next time I go to the library.

Another great site I found is called "Classic Book Library" and it has a wonderful list of old Children's literature, books that we either grew up reading or remember hearing about. Go take a look, I'm sure you will be happy to see "Anne of Green Gables", "Black Beauty", Pollyanna" and "Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm". Can't wait to share these with Jasmine :)

Here in an hour we're heading to Jasmine's school. This week she's the most important person in the class, the kids get to take some of their favorite things, pictures and they can also have a show and tell. Of course Jasmine was thrilled with the idea of taking the pugs to show her class mates.
So we're off with pugs in tow, just hope the girls behave. :)

I've got so much to do today and I'm just glad that my day is set out for me, if I didn't follow a schedule, I really don't know how how I would ever get through so much.

I usually post my recipes on my food blog, but since I'm in an Anne of Green Gables mood, I am leaving you with a recipe for some delicious tea.

Marilla Cuthbert's Ginger Tea

Altogether, Anne went to bed that night in a rather pessimistic mood. She slept poorly and was so pale and tragic at breakfast next morning that Marilla was alarmed and insisted on making her take a cup of scorching ginger tea. Anne sipped it patiently, although she could not imagine what good ginger tea would do. Had it been some magic brew, potent to confer age and experience, Anne would have swallowed a quart of it without flinching.
(Anne of Avonlea, Chapter 4)

Ingredients:

4 cups of water
1/2 cup of fresh ginger root
honey
lemon

Directions:

1) Peel the ginger root and slice it into thin slices.
2) Boil the water in a saucepan.
3) Add the ginger slices once the water is at a rolling boil
4) Cover the saucepan and reduce heat to a simmer for 15-20 minutes.
5) Strain the tea to remove the ginger slices.
6) Add honey and lemon to taste.

And that's it for me this morning, my coffee has gone cold, that's the sign that blogging time is over. I do promise to come back later and visit you all. Enjoy your day :)






For dinner I'm making Roast Chicken with Potatoes and Garlic. It's a portuguese recipe and I'll share it later, so if you're a garlic fan (which I am), be sure to go take a peek at the food blog this afternoon.





Ironing
Changing Bed Linens
Sweeping and Mopping
Jasmine's show and tell at school
Library