I know, I know...I'm sorry!!!

So there's nothing new and exciting - I'm so sorry for you bored Bloggers out there!!! However, I'm torn up every single day because there are SO many things that I have to get done - on top of babysitting a 2-year-old and his 3-month-old brother, and keeping up with my little guy!

Maybe I mentioned it way back during the Christmas holiday, but at the time, all I wanted to do was get the holiday over with and then do NOTHING but sit and read for days! Well that's what I've done and it's been fun! I started reading the Twilight books by Stephenie Meyer and I'm just beginning the 3rd book, so as you can tell, I've been highly preoccupied! I'm not utterly taken with these books, but it's been kind of fun to get into a story and follow it through for a while. Anybody else read the Twilight books? What did you think?!

I'll post something interesting soon!!!

Cooking 101 - Chicken Mole (ak.a. Chocolate Chicken)

Because of the fact that, for whatever reason, I have no time for anything but housework, taking care of kids, and feeding people, (and did I mention housework? and feeding people?) the only thing I have to offer right now is a recipe.

HOWEVER!...This recipe is a fun one and I hope everybody at least tries it. This isn't something I like to make on a regular basis, but my kids beg me for it all of the time! A friend of mine, who grew up in Mexico, lives down the road and we've fast become friends. She invited me over one day and showed me how she makes her Chicken Mole (Mo-Lay) and it was SO amazingly wonderful! The best new thing I'd ever tasted! And the best part....it has CHOCOLATE in it! (I can hear you panting already!)

So here's what you'll need:

1 whole chicken, washed
Chicken stock ingredients: carrot, celery, onion, parsley, peppercorns, bullion cubes, and whatever else you use.
1 jar Mole (pictured below)
Semi-Sweet baking chocolate - about 4-6 oz. - maybe more if you like
Queso Fresco - it's a crumbly Mexican farmer's cheese you can get at most grocery stores - GOTTA have this.

(Sorry for the bad pictures - I took these before I got my good camera!)

Time to cook the bird. Wash it, put it in a pot with enough water to cover it, add veggies and seasonings.

For you squeamish girls out there - JUST DO IT! You won't die!











When your chicken is cooked, set it aside on a plate to cool - cover it with something so it doesn't dry out.

Strain your broth and pour about 5-6 cups of broth into a large, wide pan. With heat on medium-high, stir in the entire jar of mole, as well as about 4-6 oz. of the baking chocolate. My friend added a little brown sugar to her sauce, but I don't like it so much, so you decide if you want to or not - but she used about 1 T. of brown sugar.

(This is where it gets tedious) Bring mixture to a boil, turn heat down a little, and stir until mixture becomes thickened. Taste as you go - if you want more chocolate, add more chocolate. Just don't over-do it!








Your sauce should be a thick gravy.

In a large bowl, tear the cooked chicken into large chunks. Gradually pour your mole sauce and mix it into the chicken until you think there's enough.

Save the rest of your sauce either in the fridge or freeze it.







YUM-O. I want some right now.

To serve, give everybody a little bowl of chicken and a plate with warm corn tortillas, queso fresco, and any other taco topping you enjoy like lettuce, tomato, sour cream, salsa, etc. I just like it plain with the chicken and crumbled cheese on a tortilla!

Okay, Okay...Last One!

I got tagged again! However, this one is different than the usual tag, so I guess I could play along this one time! (I had fun, thanks Charyce!)

1. YOUR ROCK STAR NAME: Perna Odyssey
(first pet & current car)

2.YOUR GANGSTA NAME: Mint Chocolate Chip
(fave ice cream flavor, favorite cookie) -

3. YOUR “FLY Guy/Girl” NAME: A. Wel
(first initial of first name, first three letters of your last name) -

4. YOUR DETECTIVE NAME: Red Dog
(favorite color, favorite animal) -

5. YOUR SOAP OPERA NAME: Gale San Manuel
(middle name, city where you were born)

6. YOUR STAR WARS NAME: Welab
(the first 3 letters of your last name, first 2 letters of your first) -

7. SUPERHERO NAME: The Green Diet Pepsi
(”The” + 2nd favorite color, favorite drink) -

8. NASCAR NAME: Dale LaVell
(the first names of your grandfathers) -

9. STRIPPER NAME: (oy!) Magnolia Blossom Chocolate
( the name of your favorite scent/perfume/cologne, favorite candy) -

10.WITNESS PROTECTION NAME: Gale Reay *can I move to Del Ray, FL?*
(mother’s & father’s middle names ) -

11. TV WEATHER ANCHOR NAME: Nicholson Newark
(Your 5th grade teacher’s last name, a major city that starts with the same letter) -

12. SPY NAME/BOND GIRL: Summer Sunflower
(your favorite season/holiday, flower) -

13. CARTOON NAME: Apple Jammies
(favorite fruit, article of clothing you’re wearing right now + “ie” or “y”) -

14. HIPPY NAME: Eggs Aspen
(What you ate for breakfast, your favorite tree) -

15. YOUR ROCKSTAR TOUR NAME: The Sewing Sunny Tour
(”The” + Your fave hobby/craft, fave weather element + “Tour”) -

Cute Fabric

I found the greatest fabric from Retrodepot last week and it just came in the mail! I'm SO excited. Now what on earth do I do with it?... It's retro kitchen and candy so I'm thinking about doing a really cute apron. Any other thoughts?!

Just a Little Fun

Okay, so Chanda had the GREATEST thing ever posted on her blog and, Chanda, I hope you don't mind if I share this with everyone else but it HAS to be done! Chanda found these awesome greeting cards with a twist - they're sarcastic and highly offensive! How great is that?! All of those things you WISH you could say but don't dare - well this Etsy shop helps you do that in style. I'm DEFINITELY gonna get me a few!




CarolLeeDesigns



















And for some more fun, here are some of my favorites that I've enjoyed from Etsy:

Lilla
These little felt cameo pins are so fun - I love these. I need to get one someday.









Empty George
Another card designer who tells it how it is.










Ericashmerica
This site has some of the coolest earrings: bacon and eggs, Pop Tarts, cafeteria trays, etc. They're great!

















EliNOpus
More sarcasm - magnet form.


Do you have any fun, favorite sites with some high-class, high-fashion like this?!

Valentine Bead Danglies

Here's my Valentine danglies! I like to wear these dangle-type earrings, not everyone does - so this is for those of you who DO like them!

I happened to drive by a bead shop on my way home from somewhere yesterday and although there wasn't a whole lot to choose from, I found these cute Oriental heart beads. They're made from cinnabar ,which I've learned is a common material used in a lot of Oriental carving work. Anyway - I liked the beads so I grabbed a few.

So here's how I made my little earrings:


Like I said before, stack your beads on a headpin any way you like. Then cut the headpin with your wire cutters leaving enough at the top to curl over and make a little loop.

Then attach your earring to your loop and finish off by tightening your loop and securing the earring piece.

If you're nervous about making a necklace with all of the tools, clamps, and hardware - just make a little charm and get a simple necklace at the store to hang it on.

To make a charm, use a little "O" ring instead of an earring piece.

Here are some different Valentine-type samples I came up with.

This honestly takes 2 minutes!!!

(I apologize for the ugly photo display but I'm too lazy right now to spend any more time on this!)

Call me nerdy, but these are some sets that I made about a year ago and for playful, casual occasions, I'll wear them. (I'm missing an earring as you can see on the bottom left...and I think my daughter lost my CUTE bracelet that goes with the necklace set there.)

The bracelets and the necklace are made with that stretchy cording. Nothing fancy - just string them on and tie them tight without breaking the cording. I wouldn't use those fancy, expensive beads this way - just cheap-o beads that you don't care about in the event your bracelet or necklace gets ripped off of your body by a curious, aggressive 2-year-old, and beads shower the floor. (I KNOW this...)

And now for the packaging! A gift is SO much more appealing and fun when there's cute packaging, so here's what I did for this jewelry:
















Punch holes in the card - two tiny ones for the earrings and two notches at the top for a necklace or bracelet. Obviously I didn't measure - so if you care enough to make everything aligned, go ahead and measure your hole distances.

A little trick I like to do before I tie my ribbon on anything like this is to wrap the plastic with a clear rubber band - ponytail holder thing. Now you can tie your ribbon without having to fight the plastic!

I Forgot...One More Thing...

One more little thing - in my Oriental Trading catalog, you get free shipping with an order of $60 or more - so if you got 6 friends to spend at least $10, you guys could get free shipping and have a bead party!

The deadline for this offer is Jan. 24th and you might have to have a key code from your catalog (if you get them) but if you don't have one, here's mine: PL0810797 (those 0's are zeros)

There, now! I want to see some of your cool creations!

**You can also get everything you need at JoAnn's, Michael's, or bead specialty stores.

WHAT?! I've Been Tagged...

(that's a picture of me laughing...)

Okay, okay, what's the big idea?! I've managed to avoid being tagged for a long time, but Michelle over at Cottage Home got me. Okay, Michelle - I guess I could do this - just this once! And I love your blog, Michelle - super cute! It's my dream to visit the UK, so when I do, can you show me all of the cool shops?!

I'm supposed to list 7 random/weird facts about myself: (I'm breaking the rules, though, because I don't think I'm going to tag anyone)

1.) I love chocolate. Oh, wait, you already know that. My favorite birthday cake since I could remember, was German Chocolate Cake with Coconut Pecan Frosting. No Barbie cakes for me.

2.) I come from a humongous family on my mom's side and spent my summer days on Grandpa's ranch, which was full of cows, horses, massive fields of green alfalfa, and farm equipment lying all over the place to play on. I wanted to do nothing but ride horses all day, so that's what I attempted every chance I could. To this day, I love the smell of horse corrals, alfalfa, and a saddle shed!

3.) I'm obsessed with world history. (nerdy, huh?) It's amazing to me the origins of some areas such as Europe, who got there first, how cultures have evolved, etc.

4.) (gosh this is getting hard...) I made an All-Star cheerleading group once and could have had a trip to London (and then again to Australia) to perform, but I never raised the money and so I didn't go. I'm still mad about that!

5.) I have a VERY rare talent: Back in high school, during cheer practice, I learned to master the "fake trip-and-fall" technique. So I'd be walking past the girls (always in an uncrowded environment), stumble just right, fall down, look embarrassed, get up like nothing happened, smooth out my hair, and keep walking. My friends and I would take turns doing that and I never laughed so hard in my life!

6.) I'm from a VERY small, rural little valley in Southeast Arizona, where they grow lots of cotton. I'd spend my summers playing in the nasty ditches on the sides of the roads to keep cool. Who knows what could have been in those ditches?! Chemicals, fertilizer from other cotton fields, glass, etc.

7.) (okay, last one...whew!!!) I'm such a weird person, surely there must be something good. Oh, okay - growing up my mom would make us Spam sandwiches, complete with lettuce, tomato, the works. So I can honestly say that I LIKE SPAM, although I haven't had any since then.

Beads & Earrings

The Thanksgiving/Christmas season is always so much fun, but I must say that I get GIDDY when a new year begins because I LOVE all of the upcoming fun to be had with Valentine's Day and spring projects! It kind of helps keep me from sinking into a winter-blah depression.

So today I got yet another Oriental Trading catalog in the mail but before it made it to the garbage bin, I noticed that it was their "bead" catalog. I went NUTS looking through it!!! There were so many beads that my eyes started to go blurry!

Here is a link so you can see for yourself - I've posted some pictures of my favorites!

I think that a cute pair of earrings and matching bracelet would be a GREAT, simple little Valentine gift for some of my girlfriends - so here's an easy earring tutorial for you - only 3 steps!

You'll need:
Beads
Headpins (pictured here)
Metal Earring Wires (pictured here)
Pliers such as: needle nose pliers, round nose pliers, or jewelery pliers. (Most eyelet-making kits have those round nose pliers)
Wire cutters

1.) Stack your beads on your headpins any way you like. Play with various designs until you get something you like.

2.) Cut the headpin with your wire cutters, leaving enough at the top to curl through the loop in your earring wire

3.) Curl the headpin wire through the loop in the earring wire, creating a loop.

YOU'RE DONE!

**Note: Some people can't wear anything but real gold or real silver. JoAnn's has some 14 ct. gold and sterling silver earring hooks like the ones pictured here.

Happy New Year!

Ahhhhh - SWEET! With the Christmas holiday now behind me, school starting back up today, and 45 minutes on the treadmill, I feel like a new woman!!! (with an added bonus of 5 extra holiday pounds...)

My pantry is bare, I've got 2.5 hours to dry my hair, run to the store, and get back before the kids return home, then to start dinner and homework, maybe I'll catch my breath and share some of the cool projects I've got going on. I swear - where to those successful go-getters get their energy...? Geeze.

Oh, and here's a photo of an early morning in my back yard. I had to post SOMETHING - so I thought this was pretty.