Other Things I've Been Making

My friend had her second son last month. A sweet little boy named Henry. Here he is in his new little bear hat I made for him.

His mom is my friend from book club. Often we've been reminiscing about how fast time flies. Since we started our club she is on her second child, another girl is pregnant with her second child, I got married, another girl had a baby and another got a new house. I love my book club girls and am so glad we can share in each others joys and sorrows together.

Father Daughter Car Repair

So father-daughter car repair was busy this weekend. After hitting the deer a few weeks ago, the ol Saturn had damage to its fender, door, hood, and broke out the headlight. We got some insurance money, but to make it stretch even further, decided to do the repairs ourselves. My dad's car guy is still looking for a new door panel and fender, but he got me a new headlight which we installed this weekend.

The damage:

The new headlight

Getting ready to put the new one in:

New headlight!

We also installed a new car horn, my last one was so sickly sounding and was barely audible. So now I can honk at people to my hearts delight. Haha.

thanks father-daughter car repair! :)

Yesterday I felt like cooking a little more fancy stuff than my normal crockpot cuisine or our go-to tortilla wraps. So I made Asiago crusted chicken, mashed potatos and carrots in a mustard glaze. A recipe from the old Marshall Field's cookbook.

My chicken frying and potatoes boiling

Carrots simmering and mustard cream sauce reducing

Yum!

A little bit longer to cook(but still under an hour), and more pots/pans to wash, but very yummy!

New Job

Well, I got fired. I hate how it sounds, but I also didn't really like working there hardly any of the past year, so it's ok. I think God knew that I was too stubborn to quit, so he closed doors for me.

So now I have a new job: full-time breakfast maker/housewife/job hunter.

Beyond all the scary stuff like money, health ins, etc, it's kind of a good feeling having a wide open horizon. We'll see what God has in store now!

New Car for the Week

I went home this weekend and my dad and I installed a new control arm on my car. It was hard, every single bolt needed to be heated with the blow torch to be able to get off. Definitely stuff I couldn't do alone. And so what if I mainly read the directions, jacked the car up, and held the lamp for Dad - I helped! :) Sometimes I dream about father/daughter car repair. We'd be so trustworthy! Something I think is missing in the world of car repair, but yeah, so far, no "Dad" takers.

Anyway, got back in the car and it was still making squeaking noises! Definitely better, but not all the way fixed. So I borrowed mom's car for the week while they took mine in to their car guy. I guess I need new strut mounts. Seems crazy to spend money on something that will just make it not-squeaky, it wasn't dangerous. But will help if I can ever try to sell this thing. I actually really like my car, it has been mostly faithful, but it is getting super high in miles.

Anyway, mom has this cute little ford focus.

It was such a smooth ride, and her car has so much faster acceleration and heated seats! Wow, is this how the other half lives everyday? It is a nice little car vacation.

post office

Well my new year is off to a pretty bad start. But I remain hopeful, and I trust God whatever happens, and that gives me peace.

Yesterday I went to the post office, usually my husband has been doing the post office runs since he gets off work earlier, but it was me. It was really amusing. There was a guy there who just had a giant box not even taped up or addressed, and he was having the clerk help him pack it. He must have been a 'regular' because the clerk was talking to him like "Marshall, here's where you're going to address it, no- look where I'm pointing, so you can just step aside and fill it out and come right back to me. You aren't even listening." And to that, Marshall said, "I was listening you said to step aside, and I could come back, and you said I wasn't listening." We all laughed in line. The only problem was I looked at some tiger stamps, and then said I wanted the other ones, and she hadn't voided the first. So I am driving home thinking how did I just spend $30 at the post office? So I had to go back and get them.

Then last night I watched this show called Mobbed. Apparently it's a Howie Mandel show with those flash mobs, and they choose someone 'worthy' and flash mob them and then it's like a person with a secret or something to tell that person. Last night's was a girl who was just sitting there at dinner and then everyone gets up and all dances and singing. An entire mall of people. It was crazy. At the end it was some long distance internet bf, who they'd never even met in person, but he tells her he has a truck outside with all his stuff and if she says 'yes' then he'll stay in LA with her, and if not, he'll move back to Pittsburg. It was crazy. Seems like he put a lot of pressure on himself for future extravagant gestures, what can beat a flash mob of 500 people singing to you?? Next weeks trailer showed a mom getting 'mobbed' and at the end her daughter was going to reveal that she had a son. Anyway, I was thinking how fun it would be to be in part of those mobs. How does one get to do that??