Spring Faerie update

She's coming along pretty well. I ran out of a color, but my mom's supposed to pick it up today.

Rather annoying news: I found a fradulent charge on my credit card this weekend, so I had to go through the hassle of canceling my card. Argh!

Cookies and cream cheesecake cupcakes

We have a winner! These cupcakes from the Martha Stewart book came out really well. Matt loves cheesecake, but I rarely have any luck with them. These mini cheesecakes have Oreos in the bottom and were really easy to make.

Also, I'm very tardy with my ort jar picture for the Totally Useless SAL. I've been pretty busy stitching on Spring Faerie. New pic tomorrow!

Spring Faerie update

I didn't manage to stitch much this past week because I was pretty sick with bronchitis. Logan's almost completely better, and I'm on the mend finally. I'm really tired of being sick every other month.

To answer those who asked, no, Hobby Lobby did not give me a refund. I didn't ask because the person who told me they used acid-free materials (some student) was long gone, and I had no proof. Believe me, I was so sick when I realized they had framed all my stuff that way. I still have four or five pieces I need to get redone. And umpteen million that aren't framed at all.

Spring Faerie update

Not much progress this week. Still working on that wing.

This weekend I disassembled Dragon Alphabet because Hobby Lobby had not framed it with acid-free materials (after telling me they did). The mat and foam core hadn't burned the fabric, but the frame had! The edges were dark yellow. I washed the piece in Orvus, and it didn't come out at all, as I expected. I brought it to the LNS in Austin to have it redone. The framer is going to use tape or something on the frame to protect the fabric from further damage. I have a few other pieces I need to get redone when money permits.

While at the LNS, I picked up Witch's Hat Scissors Case by Historic Stitches. I just couldn't resist!

I also started TW's Lady of Shalott at long last. I've just put a few stitches in, but I feel good about it.

Kid's sick again: Logan apparently picked up a bug at the hospital. He has a runny nose, cough, and fever, and the doctor said it's in his chest now. Poor kid. Oh, and yes, Mommy did get it too.

Mint-filled brownie cupcakes

This week I tried another of Martha Stewart's cupcakes. I was again underwhelmed. This one has a peppermint patty inside a hard brownie. The peppermint puffed up and split most of the cupcakes. Then it shrank as it cooled and became a hard piece of candy, rather than the soft center they show in the picture. They tasted OK, but I wasn't overly impressed. My mom's coworkers seem to like them, though. :-)

Spring Faerie update

Here she is again. Lots of color changes in that wing, so it doesn't look like much progress.

Kid update: I thought codeine was supposed to make kids sleepy, but it's just revved up Logan. We switched to regular acetaminophen, hoping that it would calm him down. He's had a little fever, but the meds help that. He's been talking more than he ever did before the surgery. Several people told me this would happen, but I really didn't expect such a drastic change so quickly. He was reluctant to even try words before, but now he's dropping them left and right. He's also going stir crazy from being in the house for so long. He'll probably go back to daycare Wednesday, so one more day of enforced inactivity and soft foods. Here's a cute pic from a few weeks ago. He's 20 months old now (yes, Gio noticed my booboo).

Snickerdoodle cupcake

My mom bought Martha Stewart's cupcake book, so of course I had to try one out. I made the snickerdoodle cupcake earlier in the week. It's a cinnamon cake with meringue frosting and a sprinkle of cinnamon on top.

So I have discovered that snickerdoodles have nothing to do with Snickers and that the cookies by the same name must be rather lackluster. These cupcakes were OK but nothing to write home about.

And the best part about my experiments is that my mom takes all but a handful to work with her so we don't have to add on the pounds (we do just fine with that on our own)!

Next week I hope to try the mint-filled brownie cupcake. These things aren't quick to whip up either--I usually spend an entire evening on these, just like making a cake. Sheesh.

Everything went well

Logan made it through just fine. He got the tubes in his ears, and since his adenoids were huge, the doctor took those out while he was at it. Logan's on codeine, so he's pretty wobbly but otherwise happy. He can only eat soft foods, so that's giving us a bit of hassle since he wants his normal foods. And we somehow have to keep a toddler from being active. Yeah, right.

Logan's surgery

Logan gets tubes in his ears tomorrow. I'm scared and trying not to think about it. My poor baby!

Spring Faerie update

I started this May 16 and worked on it here and there. I'm enjoying working on the faerie so far.

Organizing: I've been working on organizing my bedroom. It's amazing how much dust accumulates! I hate giving up books, but I just have so many of them that I've been purging the ones I don't like much. I saw this website on Carol's blog: paperbackswap.com. It's pretty handy, especially since the books I'm generally looking for are hard to find.