Happy Halloween!

First off!

I sincerely hope that everyone keeps their Halloween, and others, as safe as possible! Keep an eye on your little ones, know where your bigger ones will be and make sure they have reliable rides! Those of you that will be out on the town, partyin' it up..cough...Adam...cough. (It's okay, I doubt he reads this!) Please, please, please be safe! If you are planning on have a few drinks, or even just one, have a designated driver, and know where you are going.

For you parents taking your little ones out for some super Trick or Treating, here is a website with all sorts of handy and common sense kind of tips. Some of them may seem silly, but they also are all important.

http://www.halloween-website.com/safety.htm

For those of you that follow my crochet page already know that I am hosting a Costume Contest! Those of you that don't- well you should :) You can enter by submitting a photo online, like CuteLoops, and share your photo for a chance to win a $25 gift certificate to CuteLoops! Follow the link and like my page!

CuteLoops Halloween Costume Contest Extraordinaire!

So we already celebrated Halloween. I know, how lame. However, with Michael having to work nights, it was much easier to take Amelia to our little church Trunk or Treat. I wish I had gotten more pictures, but at least I got our costumes. And with Amelia being too little to really understand or enjoy Trick or Treating, we're forgoing any sort of thing tonight. It doesn't help that I've been dying of some undetermined disease. Okay not really, but our household has been plagued with coughs and colds and all sorts of awesome ailments for the last month or so.

16 years ago, my beautiful, wonderful mother was diagnosed with colon cancer at the young age of 32. She fought for her life and won. Today, I am proud to say that I am the daughter of a survivor. Doctors suggest that the children of people who have had cancer, get tested for that cancer ten years prior to the age the parent was when they had cancer (if that makes sense). Well I am a few years past that, and talked to my doctor about it last week, and sure enough that's the correct action. Either way, I get to have a colonoscopy in two weeks. Hurray! Just kidding. I'm a tad nervous, mostly because the procedure involves a camera being shoved up my bum. But I'm sure all will be well.

Anyways, last week as I went in for my colonoscopy consultation, I sat in the waiting room....waiting. There was an elderly couple waiting, and the woman was knitting. Now obviously, I know how to crochet. But I've been kind of wanting to learn to knit, because there are a lot of things you can do with knitting that you can't do with crochet. So I sat next to her, and was asking her about what she was making (a baby blanket), and I mentioned that I crocheted. She was very sweet, and was telling me stories about how she knit all her children mittens, hats and scarves every winter. They had a dog who would always steal the mittens off their hands, even from the neighbor kids. She said that she made dozens of mittens every winter, and they could never find what the dog did with them. Well I was asking her about knitting and mentioned how complicated it seemed. She laughed at me and said, "If you can crochet, you can knit. Knitting is much easier that crocheting. There are only two stitches, knit and purl." Where as with crocheting there are dozens of stitches.

So I went out and bought a little learn-to-knit kit, and have been trying to teach myself to knit all week. Holy. Cow. It is stupid hard. Maybe it's just me, and I'm just so crochet-oriented, that I can't wrap my brain around the knitting concept. But I can't do it. I've been trying for days and cannot figure it out. So I think I will just stick to crocheting.

Also, I've issued a new challenge to myself. That is to have a family dinner prepared every day for the month of November. I've made up my meal plan, and it looks pretty good. So hopefully, as long as I maintain my health (wishful thinking) I will have a new recipe for you every day! I know you're so excited!

Okay well I had hoped to make this blog longer and little more productive sounding, but my child is begging for attention.

So don't forget to submit your entries for the Costume Contest, and remember to be safe tonight!

TGIS!!

Busy busy busy!

That's what this week has been. It has been long, and draining, and fun, it's almost over!

Amelia has had an awesome cough and sniffles for the last two weeks, so I've been trying to not share her germs with the rest of the world. Nothing says "Hi" better than your kid snotting all over someone elses. Not going to lie, I definitely have unkind thoughts to other moms, when their kid's nose is like faucet and they're playing and phlegming up the place.

 I think she is finally getting better though, she's still being Amelia and getting into all sorts of toddler shananingans. She's just awesome like that.

We've been working on Halloween costumes for one. And I must say they are looking awesome. I don't want to post pictures yet though, and ruin the epicness of my creativity. But I will share what we are doing. I made a minion costume, from Despicable Me for Amelia. I originally wanted to make her a hat, since ya know I'm kinda good at crocheting that sort of thing. But she hates wearing hats, so I decided to make her a little hoodie sweater, so that way she doesn't have to have the hood up all the time, but when people ask what she is, I can just throw it up :)

Tamra, a.k.a. the best wife ever haha, has been helping me with my costume. We are making a dress so I can be Sally from Nightmare Before Christmas. It looks pretty flipping sweet. I was half tempted to die my hair, but I've managed to leave it alone for so lone, so I decided not to mess with it. I broke down and bought this super cool wig. I'm pretty stinking excited about it.

Also, I just realized that I've reverted to saying awesome a half dozen times already. For which I apologize. These nighttime hours are not kind to my sanity.

As for Mike's costume, he is going to be Anakin Skywalker. My mom made this legit Jedi robe for him, and it is going to be epic. We are also going to attempt round 2 at a Deathstar pumpkin this year. However we are scaling it down a bit, because unlike last time, I don't have 4 days to carve it. And I kind of sort of have a baby to take care of :)

This is the Death Star pumpkin I carved two years ago

 

 

And this is the Death Star after we took it to the rifle range :)

 

 

 

 Hmmm... oh and here are some of the projects I finished this week also :) Okay this week and last week.

 

 

These are some rainbow sock monkey hats that I made for a friend. They turned out pretty cool, I think



and this is a goat hat that was requested from another friend. It turned out so much cooler then I had pictured in my head.

 And below are some really cute leggings I made for an order. I really want to make a pair for Amelia now, but I doubt she'd wear them

I have a ton of projects coming this week, at least 6 that I can think of. Oi vey. I can do it! I'm hoping to have them all done by Halloween. So we'll see how that turns out.

 

 

As for the more appetizing side of life. I made some really rockin' pulled pork the other night. For those of you that shy away from your crockpots...DON'T!!! It is the best thing ever. Ever. I love using my crockpot, because you can literally throw just about anything in there and badabing! With the pork, I'll write it out in recipe format, in case you want to try it :)

 

BBQ Pulled Pork

1.5-2 lb pork loin (honestly, you can used pork roast, chops, ribs, anything!)

onion soup mix

salt and pepper

1 tbsp chicken bouillon granules

about 1 c water

favorite BBQ sauce

 

So I peppered my pork loin with pepper and salt, then I threw it in the crockpot. I sprinkled the chiken bouillon over it, and then emptied the onion soup mix into the cooker. Pour the water over, cover and set on low for 6-8 hrs. When checking your pork, it should just fall apart. If it does that, then you are ready to "shred" it. I mean if it's falling apart, it won't take much effort shred it. I just use two forks and pull it apart. Hence the term, Pulled pork. Ya learn knew stuff everyday huh? After you've shredded your pork, you'll want to drain the liquid out of your crockpot. Return the pork to the crockpot and add a bottle of you're favorite bbq sauce. We like Texas style, its got just the right amount of kick to it.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Well folks, that's all I got for now. Hopefully I'll be able to update more this week with all of our fun projects and Halloween coming up. Stay tuned for tomorrow's dinner, Cheesy Chicken and Rice (surprise!! It's in the crockpot!)

 



Retraction

Dear Husband,

    I am sorry I picked on you about being Man-sick. Although I still believe that such a thing exists, that was not the case this last time.


Love,
  Wife

I got the Man-sickness. It was exactly as I stated in my previous post. Weak and un-damaging. However it was a very exhausting bug. And after taking care of sick husband, and then sick me, and now sick Amelia; I am pooped. I really wish we had all gotten sick at the same time. It would have made things so much easier. Instead, I have barely left my house in two weeks, and until my progeny is healthy again, I will not be very social for a few more days.

Hence the lengthy absence of a more recent blog post.

But seriously, I apologize to Michael for picking on him about being sick. I have basically been worthless for the past week, and it wasn't very nice of me to publicly chastise his ailment. I love you Michael :)

On the upside, I got a LOT of crocheting done in the past week. So in case anyone needed reminding, this is what I do. All the time. And you should buy earwarmers and hats and gloves and mittens to make your little ones ears and fingers warm :) oh and scarves. This is what I did, just Saturday and Sunday during General Conference.

So I made a slouchy hat, they're fun and fast to make, and
for some reason every body loves them

Amelia won't hold still for beans (but come on would you
hold still if I gave you beans?) so this is blurry, but I had to be
a dork and make a mini-slouchy hat for her too :) 

 

And here we are modeling our sweet hats.

and I made these fun earwarmers. They are so easy and quick to make, so I made two :) One for Amelia, who will never wear hers when she is not sleeping, and one for this awesome foam head!

 

 

 Speaking of General Conference. Awesome. Awesome. Awesome. Best talks in 6 months ;) My mormon peeps will understand that. But for you non-mormon folk, that is a chuckle-worthy reference, because the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, has two Semi-Annual (hence the word Semi) Conferences. In which the General Authorities of the church, i.e. Presidint Thomas S. Monson and his apostles, and the other leaders of the Church, speak on anything and everything. So every six months, the best talks ever are given. So in 6 months from now, they will out-do themselves with even better talks :) Easy Peesy Lemon Squeezy. Got it? Right? Well in case you were curious about the stuff they talk about, here's a handy dandy link so you can watch or read for yourselves.


http://www.lds.org/general-conference/watch/2012/10?lang=eng&vid=1882780660001


So after much debate about Halloween costumes, I finally decided what I'm going to be. And hopefully with a little creative help from my good friend Tamra, I will be able to piece together a costume that requires...unique flaws.

 

 

 

 

Hopefully it will look relatively like this. Maybe a little bit. Fortunately, I can make mistakes with this costume, so hopefully they'll look good haha. I went to goodwill and spent far too much money on "scrap" fabric to piece together my costume, but with a little sharpie and some thread, I can only hope that this, will turn out something like this. I think I will do without the glove-sleeve thingies. But we'll see.

 

Another project I am working on this week, are rainbow sock monkey hats. I started this one yesterday, all it needs are some buttons for the eyes.

 

 

 

Well it is late, which means its time for bed...most likely. But first! A very late dinner with my handsome husband :)

Man-Sickness

Whew. What a crazy weekend. I finished and started several projects, which include the baby version of the Ewok hat:

 

It turned out so stinking cute. It makes me want to
have another baby, that will hopefully like wearing hats!
 

I spend almost all day Sunday in the kitchen. I made pancakes, scrambled eggs and hash browns for Michael, who was man-sick.

Man sick? What's that Becca? Well readers, I'm so glad you asked. Man-sick, is a lesser version of any kind of sickness. However it entitles said man to lay on the couch and mope. Why do I differentiate regular sickness and man-sickness? Because if I were to get a cold or any sort of bug, I would not have the luxury to not to anything. I still have to take care of the baby, be a mom, be a wife, etc. It may sound harsh, but I'll be more sympathetic when there is actual vomiting, or even just a mild cough involved. However, when you just say, "I don't feel good", I can't really do much for ya. Especially when you refuse to take the medicines that will help you feel better. Let's face it, most of the time when men are sick, they are the biggest babies. They literally cannot do anything for themselves. Everything is ten times worse than it really is.

However, I do give Mike mad props, he did do the dishes Saturday night while I was at a church function. Which is awesome, because I probably wouldn't have done them until yesterday, or more likely, today.

With that said, I love you husband :) I hope you don't think I'm picking on you too much.

Anyways, back to the kitchen.

After making breakfast, I made a much belated birthday cake for Michael. German chocolate. Not in the least my favorite kind of cake, but since it was a special occasion, I decided to oblige him with his favorite.

Then as he snoozed on the couch, I debated over what to make for dinner. Now this is going to turn into a long and probably irrelevant story, but I'm going to tell it anyways.

Each month, Michael and I sit down and write out our budget. It's mostly the same each month, so there's not really much to do. Well again, every month, we allot a set amount of money for our "food" budget. This "food" budget not only buys food, but it purchases household items, including diapers, wipes, laundry soap, etc. Well last month, we extinguished the "food" budget a little fast than we normally do. We're still not sure how that happened, but it left us with a whopping $10.63 in the "food" account for the last week of September. So that whole last week, we made do with...simple meals. I'm really sure how else to put it. We normally go grocery shopping once a week, and get all the things we need for the meal plan that week (we write out a monthly meal plan also, well we try to). Well since I only had that $10.63 to handle the week, I just left it alone, and made do with the small pantry we have. Most of the week it turned out pretty well, we actually had some awesome meals (Like the broccoli divan from earlier). We got paid yesterday, so our "food" budget was magically replenished. However it being Sunday, we don't buy things on Sundays. So I scoured the pantry and freezer and came up with the ingredients to make a very yummy Shepherd's Pie. Following a basic recipe, I amped it up and made my own.

Thus the "moral" of this story leaves you with a recipe for Shepherd's Pie. Now I am by no means a kitchen wiz, so most of my ingredient measurements are just random guesses, so I urge you to follow your better instincts


"Make It Yours" Shepherd's Pie

7-8 small potatoes, peeled and cubed
and small potatoes = potatoes that fit in the palm of your hand
1 lb of ground beef
1/2 c onion finely diced
2 tbsp flour
1/2 c of milk
1 can of diced carrots
1/2 bag of frozen peas
                                                      1 c of grated cheese
                                                      1 c beef broth
                                                      4 tbsp (half a stick)
                                                      Olive oil
                                                      salt and pepper and any other delicious seasonings of your choice
                                                      I used garlic powder in addition to the salt and pepper.

So if you've never made Shepherd's Pie before, it consists of several layers. Ground beef on the bottom, followed by peas and carrots, and topped off with mashed potatoes.

Preheat oven to 375 degrees
First off, make some mashed taters! I think everyone has their own special and favorite way to make delicious mashed potatoes, but for the purposes of this recipe, I will share what (I think) I did for mashed taters last night.

Bring a pot of water to boil. Add cubed potatoes. Let boil for 15-20 minutes, until tender. Drain and return to pot. Add the butter, milk, and 1/2 c of cheese. Mash until desired consistency is reached. I like my mashed potatoes a bit lumpy. Season with whatever seasonings you wish. Don't be afraid of seasoning!

In a skillet, heat approx 1 tbsp olive oil over medium-high heat. Add the onions, and saute until onions become tender and translucent. Add your ground beef and season with a little salt and pepper (maybe some cayenne, we like it spicy here in the Coxson household). Brown your beef until its done, drain the fat and return to pan. Sprinkle the flour over the beef and mix, letting cook for about a minute. Add 3/4 c of the beef broth (save the rest for the veggies), bring to a boil and let simmer for 5 minutes.

Now with the veggies, I just threw them in a pot with some water and let them heat up a bit (since the carrots were canned, they were already tender). Then I mashed them a bit. Just a bit. Not a lot like the potatoes, but just so they were combined a bit. Then I added the remaining beef broth, some more salt and pepper and let that simmer for a few minutes.

Now you are ready to layer your Pie.

This "recipe" fills up a 9x9 pan just right for us. So if you want more, double it. If you want less...well I dunno what to tell ya!

Spray down your pan with some non-stick spray.
Layer the beef mixture on the bottom, spreading evenly.
Next add the veggies, again spreading evenly.
Top with mashed potatoes.

I sprinkled the remaining cheese on top. Pop that sucker in the oven for 20 minutes or until heated through all the way, and serve!

Mmmm don't I look so yummy?

Oh I also topped mine with Tabasco sauce. Delicious. Hot sauce goes on everything here.

Well. That's about it for the Shepherd's Pie. You're welcome! haha I hope yours turns out as good as mine, because I know you are all going to make it tonight, right? RIGHT??

I don't think I've got anything left in me to blog about today. So I'm just going to go hang out with my awesome kid, and work on the many many projects I have left to crochet this week.

Peace out!