Call Me Proud

Something tragic happened at our home a number of months ago.

We live in a basement apartment beneath Ryan's sister and brother-in-law. They signed up for Comcast on one of their great promotions and through some fluke, we were getting the signal as well (since we never ordered a second box). We could watch all the same great shows they had, but just didn't have a fancy remote to pull up the side box to see what else was playing at the same time. But who cares? We were just happy to get anything other than normal TV.

It was during this phase that I discovered my potential for serious addiction - HGTV and the Food Network. I would watch them for hours and hours.

I love "home" stuff. Anything that has to due with decorating, painting, or remodeling - I love it all. My "happy place" stores include places like TaiPan, Hobby Lobby, Roberts, Michaels and the likes. I love crafty stuff, but I don't do much of it because I don't feel I am very good at it, don't have much time for it, and because I don't have the money to buy a lot of the stuff. But I enjoy looking and getting ideas for that "someday" part of life (I at least think I have a pretty good eye for things.) One day when I have a house of my own...

I also love the idea of cooking. I say idea, because for me - it really is usually just that. I have my safety net of about 10 recipes I feel competent with and rotate through them. I really want to be a better cook. My brother is an amazing cook. He can whip out anything, any time. He can take random leftovers and turn it into a gourmet meal without even trying. Me on the other hand... I will follow a recipe to the "t" and still have it turn out wrong. I just don't have the knack for it. But I do want to get better!

Anyway, a number of months ago, our cable disappeared. They still had it upstairs, but for whatever reason, our connection had been severed. At least we still had regular TV... for a little while. Then one day, we were down to three channels - Discovery Channel, CSpan, and some other worthless channel. This lasted for a day or two, and then nothing.

I was devastated. Mostly because my beloved HGTV and Food Network were gone. You mean I was actually going to have to do something productive instead of sitting in front of the TV for hours on end watching "First Time Home Buyers" and "Iron Chef?" Gasp! It couldn't be! But it was. And now months later I am proud to show that with a little motivation, I could do a little HGTV"ing" and Food Network"ing" on my own.

I'm so proud of myself #1: Scripture Totes!

I was just recently called to be an Activity Day leader for the 11-year-olds in my ward. I was nervous, but excited. I see these kids on a weekly basis since Ryan and I have been in the primary now for 4+ years, but I have little direct interaction with them. (Ryan and I taught sunbeams together for the first year, and then I was moved to piano where I have been for the last 3+ years, and Ryan has bounced from class to class and was just recently promoted to Sr. Primary).

One of our first activities we had with the girls was to finish their scripture tote bags they had started months previous with their other leaders. For those of you have may not have heard of this little craft, they are super easy, super cute, and growing in popularity.

These are even more fancy than the ones we did. The basic idea is to pick out a place mat and find ribbon to match for handles. You sew the ribbons on, then fold the place mat in half, turn it wrong-side out, and sew down the sides. Next, flip it right-side out and ta da! Instant, cute scripture tote! You can of course accessorize with extra ribbon and flowers, but we just did the basics.

The really fun part for me was getting to use my sewing machine! My mom bought me the Brother EX660 Computerized Sewing Machine for my college graduation 4 years ago. I have only used it once or twice, mostly because I haven't had any projects to work on, and also because I don't feel very confident in using it. This machine is amazing and is capable of doing so much... I just don't know how! After this activity I made a promise to myself to watch the instructional DVD and learn to master the machine. As it was, when we first began sewing down the sides, my machine squawked and beeped at me. My first thought was that it must have been because the fabric was too thick - but this machine has quilting abilities, so it couldn't have been that unless it was on the wrong setting. Once I finished a single side, I flipped the place mat over to behold a bird nest of thread. I showed it bewildered to my companion, and she said it must be that my tension was off. "Tension? What's that? I mean, I know what tension is, but how do I fix it?" Yeah... if that doesn't tell you how far I need to go with my sewing abilities... My companion showed me the dial on the front of the machine to fix the tension and then everything was great from there. There were 2 smaller hiccups after that - one was that the thread kept slipping out of the needle right before I started sewing, and the other was that we did the whole thing backwards - we sewed the sides and then tried to put on the handles. It still worked, but it was much more difficult. The girls loved the bags and were thrilled to finally get to take them home, but I am quite confident that I was far more excited about it than they were. I sewed! I used my machine! And the creations turned out super cute! I was rather giddy about it and my companions girl's were great to boost my confidence with congratulations and praise. Hahahaha - yes, my ego was bloated due to an 11 and 13 year old telling me that I did a good job. I felt like a little puppy, wagging my little tail, oh so proud of myself for accomplishing something relatively simple.

I was going to bring my camera so I could take pictures of all the girls helping out, but I forgot. So the last girl there posed for my camera phone and showed off two the completed bags.

Pretty nifty, huh? Watch out Sabrina Soto! I might be taking over your job! Just kidding. She is my HGTV hero though. Love her.

Moving on.

I'm so proud of myself #2: "Fruit Smoothie" No Bake Cheesecake!

Ryan and I were invited to a dinner and games night at my friend's home Saturday night. I asked what I could bring and she said dessert. I didn't just want to bring cookies or a cake, so I set to work trying to decide what to make. I went to the store Saturday morning with four recipes in hand. I walked up and down the isles pricing out the items I would need and the time and effort required. I really wanted to try out this new recipe I have for a strawberry pie, but strawberries are definitely out of season and are about $6 for a small container. Thanks, but no thanks. I settled on the Fruit Smoothie No Bake Cheesecake. It sounded simple enough.

I headed home and began the graham cracker crust. I followed the recipe exactly, but discovered that in doing so, there wasn't even enough crust to make it all the way across the bottom of the pan - and that was with me spreading it really thin. So I whipped up a little extra to fill in the holes. The filling was also pretty easy. Cream cheese, sugar, a bag of mixed smashed berries, and whipped cream. I asked my sister-in-law if I could borrow her hand held electric beater to whip the cream cheese. I don't own one of these wonderful gadgets and hardly ever use one, so I would be lying if I said I wasn't surprised by the gusto it put out, even on the lowest level. ...There may, or may not have been cream cheese splattered all over the microwave and wall due to this surprise and lack of control. And my dog may, or may not have very happily licked the creamy stuff from the wall as quickly as it appeared. After the cream cheese was mixed with the sugar and the berries and whipped cream were folding in, I began spooning it onto the crust. It just kept coming, and coming, and coming. I was dumbfounded at how much filling it produced! Especially since there was a paper thin layer of crust for it to sit on! I decided to make some more crust and make a smaller dish of it for Ryan and I for another day in order to use the extra filling. So aside from the strange proportion balance of crust to filling, it turned out pretty good.

The dinner party was a blast. The food was delicious and the dessert turned out really yummy. If anyone wants the recipe, let me know! And the great thing is, if I can do it - anyone can do it!

All in all I would say it was quite a successful weekend! 4.5 years of marriage and look at that - I am starting to get the basics down. :)