We thought it would never happen again

I know that history repeats itself, but we didn't know that it applied to bad fashion. Please, don't try this at home.

My new favorite shirt

Ok, I'm not much for pink, but I think that I might even consider wearing this. Thats just funny. In case you can't read it, its a breast cancer awareness fundraiser shirt that says "Save the Ta-Tas."

Successful Pampered Chef Party

I had a Pampered Chef Party tonight.  I had a pretty good turnout.. party is open for about three more days if you want to order something.  Just go to: www.pamperedchef.biz/julielillycrop and click on "our products" 

I made this dip, and it was a huge hit!!
Chicken Enchilada dip
3 lg boneless skinless chicken breasts, shredded  ( I used chicken tenderloins, I roasted them in the oven, then shredded, about 1 pound)
1/4 t. chili powder    ( I think I used more like 1whole teaspoon, I like to taste teh chili powder)
2 c. shredded cheddar cheese
4 oz can green chilies, drained
1 can Rotel tomatoes w/green chilies, drained
1 t. garlic powder  ( I used garlic salt, cuz that is all I had.. If I could have a do over, I think I would have opted for the minced garlic and left the salt out)
[2] 8oz packages cream cheese, softened
1 t. paprika
4 green onions, chopped
Forkful of chopped jalapeno  ( I did not use jalapeno)

Broil chicken in oven until done (about 20 minutes).

In a large bowl, combine cream cheese, 1 c. of the shredded cheddar cheese, green
chilies, and tomatoes. Add garlic powder, chili powder, paprika, green onions, and jalapeno and mix well. Add the chicken to mixture & mix well.

Pour into pan (9x13 or close to it) ( I used a fiesta ware medium bowl instead)
Bake at 350° for 20 to 30 minutes or until dip is lightly browned & heated through.
Remove from oven and sprinkle remaining shredded cheddar cheese on top.

Queen Jolene's Quilt

I had lots of fun working on Jolene and my quilt. She cut out the triangles probably a decade ago and when we were out visiting I offered to bring them home and finish her quilt. To quilt it I used all kinds of fun techniques. Some free hand embroidery and just stipple quilting. I pieced the back as well as the front, which gives her two quilts in one.

Stop The Phone Book!!

I have lived at my address for less than 4 years.  But oddly enough I have received about 12 new phonebooks in that time.  Today, I received 3!  Do you believe it?? THREE!    I have not used a phone book in years!!! 

I received a lovely two inch book from Yellow Book serving Westminster/Carroll County for 2008-2009. 

Ooh.. lookie here, I have a totally bodacious 2.5 incher  serving Greater Baltimore from Verizon!!!

Oh..  and I can't say enough about the honking THREE inch book serving the entire 410/443 area code from... ooh...  Verizon again! 

I can't take it anymore!! This is the single most ridiculous thing in my opinion...  I wonder if I can find Greater Baltimore numbers in my 410/443 book?  What do you think?  I also can't help but wonder if Westminster is in the Greater Baltimore area..

Hold on.. I'm checking...

Nope...  it ends at the reservoir. 

So, I have decided that I need to figure out how to stop the phone books from coming.  First place to look is, on the book itself... no number, no email... but there is a website on verizon books www.directorystore.com let's go there real quick.  Hm.... I'm not seeing the "take me off the mailing list" link. 

So, I googled the phrase "how to stop phone books" and it got 70,700,000 hits in .26 seconds.  Gee, if I was marketing a product and got hits like that, then I'd be a millionaire.  So, I'm cruising the hits... most are blogs..

I did find this:  http://www.paperlesspetition.org/  so, I signed the petition   .

I also came across some phone numbers to try to call:
Yellow Book: 1-800-929-3556 or 1-888-400-5914
Verizon: 1-800-555-4833...  

Another blogger suggested to call this number :Call 1-(877)-243-8339... I'm not sure who this is, but hey... it might be worth it.

Well, at least I can donate these books to the arts center, we use the paper in my pottery class :")

Tea parties and American idol tryouts

We had the Curry's over for pizza last night and Cloey loved playing tea party and then we had to do karoake. Jerrin thought he was trying out for American Idol. All in all a fun evening. I need to get way more karoke tapes to make this even more fun. Notice big girl camo pants. I think we all need a pair of pink camo pants to set us off from the rest of the crowd.

Cauliflower Soup

Ok.. This story is a few weeks old, but better late than never, right?!?!?!

So, a dude on food network was cooking up some cauliflower soup and charlie and I both thought.. "Well, that looks good!"  So, next trip to the store I picked up a head of cauliflower.

I get home, get to cooking... Oh yeah, it is going well...  the directions said to let it simmer for 20 minutes, but I'm impatient so I just boiled it for 10.  I kept an eye on it, stirred it often.  Lookin' good!  Then I need to transfer it to the blender... well, you should let it cool, but no, not me.  I'll get it over there, no problemo!  So, I transfer half the batch, blend, transfer to a bowl.  Going good!!  Then I transfer the second half.. well, this half is a little larger than half. Oh hell, I'll just filler up!   I press the button on the blender and whamo!  The lid comes up and steaming hot cauliflower soup sprays all over me! ha ha.. too funny.  So, there I am, covered w/ soup and my hand is scalded!   I did wipe most of it off of me prior to getting the camera out...

This time I'm gonna show the blender who is boss.  So, I applied the appropriate amount of pressure onto the lid of the blender and finished my blending.  I transferred  it all back to pot, I ate and all is well! 

HAPPY BIRTHDAY CRISSY

Happy Birthday to the baby of the blog. Hope you have a great day, sing on sister

Pottery, so far...

Well, I've been in my class for several weeks now and I finally got some pieces back.

This casserole was my first piece.  We rolled out slabs of clay then draped it over a mold.  I liked this one a lot.  Then I painted on a green slip, which is tinted clay.  I don't like the green so much.  then I put an active glaze in the bottom, then an inactive clear glaze over the whole thing.  I don't think the two glazes reacted well together because the blue looks all funky.  The clear is very nice.  I love this red clay, I love the specks that showed up through the green slip and clear glaze. 

The second one I did, rolled slab that "slumped" into a mold.  In this case I used a glass pie plate.  It was a MESS!  I did not roll out a big enough slab to fill in the whole plate so I compensated by making weird handle.  Then I tried out a relief, by making a swirl pattern in the bottom of the plate. Then used an Active glaze.  I really love this blue.  You can see how active it is cuz it ran off the edges and shows the red clay nicely.  I had to much on the piece cuz you can see the dark areas where it pooled then got funky.  I do like this glaze a lot and plan to use it for my next group.  I don't like the pattern, but thought it was neat to see how the relief worked.

This is another slab, draped over a Styrofoam meat tray.  you can see the distinct lines along the edges where the tray ended.  Jane, our teacher wanted us to try out some "scratch" techniques, and I wanted to keep it simple, so I drew these hills and the moon.  I put some white glaze in the moon, then blue glaze over it all, then green on top of the blue for the hills.  Well, live and learn... I should not have put the green over the blue, cuz now it is just black..  but everyone in the class said it is good, cuz it is a night scene.  I'll go w/that one.  The I painted on the clear glaze over the whole piece.  Oh.. I accidentally jammed the side w/the back of my paintbrush when painting on the white glaze, so Jane said.. Just leave it and add a few more.  So, now I have these cute little dots on each side.

During the first slab class I made a long rectangular tray, but it mysteriously went missing.  I have no idea what happened to it.

Next class we continued w/slab, but we rolled a slab around a mold to make a cylinder, then cut a base and attached the upright cylender to the base.  This was hard... I kept jacking mine up.  So I decided that would "artfully" make dents all round the sides.  Then double dipped into first an antique blue opaque glace, then into a black glaze.  It is of interest  to note how the black glaze reacted differently depending on what glaze it went over.  If it went over an active shiny glaze, then it stayed shiny... over an inactive opaque glaze, it remained opaque.  Kind of neat.   I might try black over that blue (from the pie plate on one of my bowls).

I learned the wheel last week, got four pieces made, this week I trimmed the bottoms and set them aside to dry.  I got three more pieces thrown on the wheel as well.. Way Cool!!!  What fun.. now I want my own studio.

I'm back....

I'm fresh off the boat from my week-long retail management seminar (optomistically named SureStart) and I sure have learned a few things that I'd like to share:

1. I don't ever want to live in Chicago.
2. Customer service sucks (except at Champaign's Best Buy).
3. Nobody has $ so it's a deathmatch for every $ (but see #2).
4. There's no place like home for a good poop.

You've all seen them, perhaps you even have one...The Motovational Poster. A pretty picture, a keyword, and a phrase designed to inspire has made $billions$ for more than one company. Now I give you Demotivators. Can't find something that fits your situation? Be sure to check out their do-it-yourself tab at the top.

Bread in Five Minutes

I'm thinking about ordering this book....

What do ya'll think?

I'm so sore.

At work, we save all the boxes for the computers systems we buy, so we have them when we want to ship the system out.  Well, we had the boxes stuffed into two tractor trailer in our parking lot.  Yes, high tech storage solution, eh!!  Me, Chuck, Betsy and two other guys completely emptied them and restacked all the boxes according to product type.  It took 2.5 hours.  We busted out butts!!! 

Today, I am sooo sore.  My ankles, wrist, neck, shoulders, biceps, butt, calves, stomach and back all hurt!!! 

But that won't stop me from heading out to my pottery class this morning...  so, I'm sure my back will be really hurting this afternoon.

playing with the pictures

I know,I know, I know, I have to much time on my hands, but isnt that cool.

spring fever

Yes all it takes is more than two pretty days for us all to get spring fever. Remember that time changes this weekend. Brandi hung clothes on her new retractable clothes line yesterday. I love it.

I love March!!!

Today was a great start to the Spring season. We got outside for a bit to play w/Sammy and Henry. I also did a three mile walk w/ Julie. Charlie helped some of the other Dad's prep the baseball fields for this season.

I've got burgers ready for the grill and am boiling some Farfalle for pasta salad w/ beer in hand. Life is good. All I need now is a fire in the pit and some company.

The Knox B&B

This weekend Kathy got to try out her new car and paid us a visit in southern illinois. We tried out the new karaoke machine, Crissy learned to crochet, we took a walk at the river and of course we ate RedDog's delicious food.

ONE TOUGH KID!!!!

And I thought labor was rough!!!

Incase you can't read the bottom of the picture, it says " Tyler Cannon shit this 8-point buck on Oct. 29th, 2007".

Sup Yo?

Hey Ya'll..

What is going on?  I've been keeping pretty busy these days.  Still working 32 hour work weeks.. fun fun.  Last weekend Tanner was here and we went snowboarding.  I took lots of pics and have been fighting to get them uploaded...  probably too big and too many at once.  I should chunck it out.  This past weekend we kept fairly busy, w/ the inline humidifier, painting bretts room, it all went very well.

So, I missed my pottery class cuz I picked Tanner up at the airport, then last week the weather had everything canceled.. bummer.  So, I'm sooooo anxious to see my first peices since they have been glazed.

I have four classes left this semester, and my group has not finalized our presentation.  I hate group work!! 

I think we are going to PA for Easter to see Mom, Dick, Dad, Troy, Becca and Lilly.... 

Shelby and her family flew out on the 21st. They got to England all in one piece.  I guess the trip was a bit stressful, but they made it and are now looking at rentals.

I tried to call Tanya three times cuz I was sad about Shelby being gone and I wanted to commiserate w/someone, but she never answers her phone.  Oh well....

I drank beer w/Sue this past Sunday, I don't get to see her much anymore....  So, that was nice.

I miss Charlie's band... practices were fun. 

Not much crafting going on... I've been to cerebral lately w/work, school, taxes, etc...

Lastly, as if  you had to ask.. Yes, I'm reading "A New Earth" by Eckhart Tolle.  I'll let you know how that goes..  so far so good.

It's finished

probably everyone knows by now that i finished the king sized quilt i have been working on forever. Tif and Jerrod got married in september so i am only a little behind schedule. i think the quilt was worth the wait.

Blow-Up Bob

Allright, I've heard of a lot of uses for blow-up dolls but this was definately a new one for me!!!

Blow-Up Doll Stands in for Groom

Friday, February 15, 2008

GROVE CITY, Ohio - If one bride felt lighter than air in her wedding gown, her groom certainly felt like air itself as 19 couples renewed their vows near Columbus.
Sheila Smith's husband, Bob, had to go away on business and couldn't make the Valentine's Day recommitment service at Grove City United Methodist Church. So friends brought a life-size inflatable doll to serve as a stand-in.

They dressed Blow-up Bob in dress pants, a shirt and tie, and taped on a head-shot photo of the real Bob Smith.

His wife was blown away, because she thought she'd only be serving as matron of honor for four of her friends. After Sheila Smith phoned her husband to tell him about his air-filled alter ego, she wiped away tears as she told how he laughed so hard he couldn't speak.
---
Information from: The Columbus Dispatch, http://www.dispatch.com

Just keepin busy

Jo, you should be a spokesperson for Kitchen Aid! I swear, if the folks at KitchenAid had read your last post they probably would've begged you to take a mixer for free and just advertise it to your friends. I want one now, and I wouldn't even use it!

We started Project Pantry yesterday. I say started, 'cuz its gonna take a lot longer than I had originally thought. The whole back porch looks like Jo's rolltop desk! We are taking everything out, checking expiration dates, washing the walls and shelves, and adding more dividers to aid in organization. I just hate how much stuff we throw away 'cuz we forgot it was in there back behind something else.

Next step...Project Bedroom Rearrangement! (I am my mother's daughter, ya know!)

Happy Valentines Day!!!

Guess what I got for Valentines Day???

Charlie bought me a KitchenAid Professional 5(tm) Plus Mixer! It has a high performance 450 Watt motor, direct drive all-steel gear transmission, 5-quart capacity wide bowl, POWERKNEAD(TM) spiral dough hook, and a professional bowl-lift design. My lovely KitchenAid boasts a gleaming jewel-like finish in Onyx black in a sleek design, and it was assembled with pride in Greenville, Ohio!!!

So, I decided it was time to clean up the junk pile on the counter next the fridge and finally move that old microwave down to the basement. I cleaned out my old canisters and decided to begin using my tin set because you can actually scoop flour right out of it. Now you can actually see my hand-carved wooden box! I got that two years ago from an artist at the Sheep & Wool festival. It is the most expensive straw holder in the world... Amazingly, straws fit perfectly in the lower drawer, so handy when I'm guzzling margaritas. Mad cash fits in the upper left drawer, but we don't have any right now, so don't get any ideas. I recently found a box in the closet in the spare room that had not been unpacked since we moved and I found my glass bread pan!!! I found a few other things too, like .. um.. my wedding dress!! ha ha... anyway, the glass pan holds my latest recipes perfectly!! I love it. So, I'm thrilled w/my new mixer and the use of the canisters, which makes for a lovely baking station!!

So, you are probably thinking... what happened to all the clutter that was on that counter.... Well, I can't close my rolltop desk now!

I'll get to that later, I'm cooking right now!

I think they liked it!

 

I made some homemade pizza for dinner tonight.

I think the guys like it a lot!

WORST WINTER IN SOUTHERN ILLINOIS HISTORY

hey everybody we have power. on tuesday morning about 7:30 our power went off, i thought no big deal. but two hours later when the temp in the great room had dropped enough for me to wrap up in a quilt, i started prodding Red Dog to go get the generator out of the barn. So he huffed and puffed, but put his clothes on and slogged out to the barn to get the generator. i guess i should back up and tell you that we started getting sleet and freezing rain Monday night and lost power a couple of times during the night. Anyway the yard was covered in a sheet of glass so it was a pretty big deal to even make it to the barn.
he got the generator going and then came the worry that we would run out of gas to put in it. the whole town of olmsted was without power and the surrounding farmers we knew so that meant he would have to go further afield to find fuel. mounds had fuel so off he went. meanwhile i sat in a chair where the light was good and read a book. what a luxury to just sit and read a book. i couldnt clean, sew, talk on the phone, or watch tv so i actually finished a book and truly enjoyed the read. i did get up and make a batch of chilli and biscuits with a pinch of sage in them and oh yeah some fudge with toffee bits it them. when rd got home with fuel he rewired the generator to cover half the house, so we had tv, lights, fridge, freezer, and emergency phone in the great room. he turned off the power when we went to bed and got up in the middle of the night and turned it back on for a couple of hours. it still was only 50 in here when i got up.
miss linda had to deliver mail in cape on wed. so we had cloey and jerrin. we had ramen noodles and i baked a marble cake for them so we had a fun day. all and all 34 hours without power went by pretty fast, thanks to my husband for keeping me warm and happy. what a fun adventure.

Spaghetti Carbonara

Are you looking for some comfort food this winter?

My mom ran across this recipe for spaghetti carbonara on Martha's website.    My sister made this for us about a year ago...  It is sooo yummy!