Bacon Cheeseburger Salad

I've been cutting back on carbs since I had my last baby. I'm down to the weight I was at our wedding, which I'm super excited about. Yay! But I'm still trying to lose this stubborn mommy pooch. Carbs tend to make you store fat around the mid-section, so I'm getting creative in the kitchen. This is my new favorite salad. All the richness of a juicy bacon cheeseburger, without the bun. Whether you are trying to lose weight or not you will love this salad.

Bacon Cheeseburger Salad

Super easy salad to put together with ingredients you probably already keep in the house.

Lettuce, tomato, pickles, tomato, avocado, ground beef, jack cheese,ketchup, mayo and  pickle juice.

   Almost forgot the most important part ;) in my picture above.

Almost forgot the bacon.

I do not like raw onions, so I didn't put them on my salad (eventhough it is on the recipe). My hubby is an onion lover. :( eew! I don't like the after taste. However, I do love cooked onions. If you dislike raw onions like i do, fried onions on this salad would be an awesome addition.

Enjoy!!

Pinterest Project and Potty Training and Parenting

Good Morning. After a few short minutes on Pinterest this morning I found something I had to do. A quick and easy project and a place to store my quilting notions that I use often.

This is what I made.

Mason Jar Pin Cushion

Here's the tutorial I found pinned on Pinterest. It's from Crazy Wonderful a super cute blog. Hope you get time to be creative today too.

In other news, I'm giving another go at potty training Belle. It's 9:00 a.m. and she's been dry all morning. It's still early, I know, but she's sat on the pot three times already. Such a big girl! Hopefully in the next month or two we'll be done with diapers! Forever! Bwahahaha! I can't wait.

Big Girl in Little Mermaid Undies

I'm also working on filling up--spiritually and physically. Spiritually by getting some Worship and Word in every day. Even if it is only a few minutes a day. It's hard to parent when my tank is empty. Do you ever get that feeling that you have nothing left to give? You're short on patience and feel empty? A little time in worship helps me get out of that place. Today, I'm listening to Let Your Healing Flow, Live Worship- Daniel Brymer & Friends.

And physically with good foods and lots of water. Recently I realized that I can be a rollercoaster mom (with wild up and down emotions) when I'm eating lots of carbs. I don't want sugar and serotonin spikes to affect my parenting. So I'm trying to keep the carbs down to get back into balance.

Getting my fill spiritually and physically makes for a happy mama & happy kids! (Every little effort helps.)

That's all for now. The sun is shining! Enjoy the day!

Things I've Made

There's nothing better than being thrifty and getting creative. Making something new from old items, sewing and doing crafts are my favorite hobbies (besides cooking, which will always be my number 1). Here's a few things I've made in the last year or two.

Hand Painted Wood Sign

I painted this sign for a beautiful couple getting married last December. 

Chair Redo- Before
$5 Chair from Goodwill

Chair Redo- After
Recovered with a thrifted pillow sham that I cut and stapled to the seat.

Yarn Monogram
Super simple- cardboard wrapped with yarn.

Felt Hockey Skate Ornament

Felt Heart Ornament

Sweater to Handbag. Thrift store sweater that just didn't fit right, sewn into a cute handbag.

Quilt for my adorable little nephew.

JOY- Hand Painted Barn Wood Sign

Barnwood Welcome Sign/Shelf/Coat Hanger
I love these antique doorknobs that I found at the Junk Bonanza. 

Laundry Room Re-do. Organized everything and added a small shelf above the washer and dryer.

Small laundry baskets so each child can carry their own upstairs. Made yarn letters for "wash/dry"...still need to make letters to say "fold" for above the baskets.

Lockers for Mudroom Closet.
Six 4 ft 1x12's with a 10ft 1x12 cut in half and screwed to the top and bottom. Paint, add hooks and baskets. Simple  lockers and no more hanging coats for me!!

Pin the Heart on the Grinch

Advent Calendar

First quilt I ever made for my youngest daughter.
I used the Yellow Brick Road pattern from Atkinson Designs.

I know there's more. Can't find the pics right now so I'll add more later. Now I'm headed back to Pinterest to find some more ideas.

Hand Quilting- A New Adventure

My mom says funny things in weird voices and we laugh hysterically together. Sometimes in a exaggerated crying voice she says, "my daddy's dead". It's so funny the way she says it. Guess you'd have to be there. About now I feel like saying "my grandma's dead" in the same whiny voice. I want to learn how to hand quilt and all my grandmas have passed on. Hand quilting is a dying art. It's dying with our grandmas. I'm determined to learn how and pass the art on to my girls. My first thought was maybe they have classes at a quilt shop. Sadly I found none. They told me there is no interest. Sad. So so sad.

Does anyone have a granny I can borrow?

This art is dying. Machine quilts are beautiful, fast, almost perfect. But something inside me sees the beauty in the hand made. Love sewn right into the quilt. So here I am ready to sew, all I need is to borrow someone's grandma! Well sort of....on Youtube! Yay! Youtube.com has it all. Since I couldn't find a real granny, youtube is the way to go.

Last week I shopped for fabric and supplies. Fabric selection is the hardest part. The task is daunting in itself. Try adding three little ones to the experience. Takes twice as long. They were almost angels in Joann if you ask me. A little fighting and running away but pretty well behaved. This is what I bought.

Cotton batting, thread, starch, basting spray, needles, thread, thimbles, needle threaders and needle case, seam ripper, and fabric pencils.

1/4 yd of seven (make that six) coordinating color fabics for strips (I ditched the wavy stripe-it was too Easter-y), 3/4 yd of white with gray dots for strips and binding, and 2  yards gray with white dots for strips and backing.

I'm making a strip quilt. Super simple to peice together--it's all straight lines.

Here it is all laid out before I decided to remove the wavy stripes.

I sprayed each peice with starch when I ironed so it would stiffen the  fabric a little.That way I didn't have to pin the peices together.

Time to layer. First I ironed the backing fabric and taped it to the floor.

Then I ironed the quilt top with the batting under it to smooth out the batting and temporarily hold them together. I centered that on top of my backing and smoothed out all the wrinkles.

Now this part excites me! In the past I used pins to baste my quilt layers together. Not anymore!! I pulled up each layer and sprayed the batting with basting adhesive. Let it dry a minute or two and then smoothed it down with my hands to stick it together. So happy with the results!!

Spray the batting and not the top or backing.

Pull each layer half way back, spray the batting, slowly lower it back down on to the batting. Press firmly and smooth out the wrinkles.

(The spray basting adhesive holds so nicely. It's been working great even as I'm hand quilting and moving it all over the place.)

Finally! I'm ready to begin hand quilting. So excited, I can't contain myself. Haha! Must be getting old. I watched some youtube videos to figure out what to do. This series was very helpful (even though she is definitely not a granny)!!

For my quilt I decided to do a ton of random circles overlapping eachother.

Tracing my glassware with a fabric pencil.

Beginning to stitch.

This part took me about 2 hours. :)

I've done about 2 square feet of quilting and have many many hours ahead of me. This should keep me busy through the last few Minnesota snowfalls in March. Can't wait for Spring! I'll post some better pics when it's done. Thankful for youtube.com (technology) so I could learn to create a beautiful quilt without a machine (more technology). 

What are you creating?