I can't wait

For everyone at my house to not be sick. 
To get back in the swing of things at school.
For the leaves to turn.
To make these for Halloween again:

{Owl cookies!}

Mike's grandma (in whose house we now live) passed away about 8 years ago, but she always made these every Halloween before that.  I decided last year that it would be a tradition I would like to carry on, so those in the picture above were my first attempt.  They're adorable and really yummy, too.
In case anyone else wants to give them a shot, here's the recipe:


Owl Cookies:

2 1/2 C flour
1/2 tsp salt
2 tsp baking powder
3/4 C butter
1 C brown sugar
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla
1 1/2 squares unsweetened chocolate, melted and cooled
1/4 tsp baking soda

Sift together flour, salt and soda.  Set aside.  Cream together butter and brown sugar.  Add egg and vanilla to creamed mixture and then add dry ingredients gradually.  Add baking soda to melted chocolate.  Remove 3/4 of the dough to a floured surface and knead in chocolate. 

Roll out 1/2 remaining light dough into a 10" x 4 1/4" rectangle.  Shape 1/2 chocolate dough into a roll 10" long and place it on the light dough rectangle.  Roll the light dough around the chocolate dough and mold them together.  Repeat with the second halves of the dark and light dough.  Wrap both rolls in foil and refrigerate for 2 hours.

Remove foil, cut the dough into slices about 1/4" thick.  Join two slices side by side on the cookie sheet.  Place a cashew by the joint for the beak and chocolate chips in the center of the chocolate for the eyes.  Bake at 350 for 8-12 minutes.

And that's it.  You have to plan a little ahead, what with the chill time, but they're so worth it. 
Maybe later this week I'll get something new up.  It's hard to say.  I teach at a local university- just a few classes a week, very part time- and I'm always amazed at how much of my time it eats up.  It's fun, though.  Geology is awesome.

A riddle.

What do you get when you have these:

and these:

and you add:

and

and

{my favorite}

and then you throw in a little of this business:

{the ones with almonds and the caramel filled ones}

{for those who prefer the classics}

and then finish is all off with some of this:

??????

A SMORE-GASBORD!!!

Oh man.  Pretty good, right?  I am a pun champion.  Mike and I and the Mim were away this weekend with some of our friends and we put this together for dessert the night we were in charge of dinner.  The possibilities were endless.  I don't have any pictures of our actual set up because it was dark and our camera's just not up to a challenge like firelight, but we did have all these things.  I will never go back to plain ol' smores again.

Scrap Owl

First off, let me apologize for the general photo crappiness that's coming your way- these were taken at night, with a flash.  I hate the flash so much.
So, I thought of something to do with one of my fat quarters that I bought for no reason!
I remembered these owls from Pottery Barn Kids:

They were cuter in my memory.  I don't really like that green one at all- I think it looks kind of freaky.  So I poked around some more and saw some really cute ones online:

{I got the image here.  It's actually from Craftsbury Kids, but they no longer carry it. }

{Image from here.}

{This one's from a Target bedding collection}

So, I combined some elements and came up with my own:

I used a fat quarter, some felt scraps, a pair of my husband's old pants, and some embroidery floss.

I hand sewed all the bits to the bird's front using a whip stitch and a running stitch and one other stitch I don't know the name of, and then a blanket stitch around the feet.  I cut strips from my husband's pants (they had an un-mendable rip) and sewed them together until I had enough to go around the circumference of the bird.  Then it was mostly just about pinning like crazy.  And sewing.  and stuffing.  And then hand sewing the hole closed.  And then...

I hope Mim likes her.

Thinking about Halloween...

We love Halloween at my house.  I've never really decorated for it (although I do have plans for it this year), and I'm not a huge fan of all the creepy/scariness, but I do love candy.  And I do love dressing up.  And Mike lets me dress him up (as long as it's a costume he thinks is cool).  I'm super proud of our costumes from last year:

{I made Mike grow out his mustache for a of couple months.}

Mario, Princess Daisy (the yellow and orange dress wearing, brunette version of Princess Peach), and our little toadstool.  The best part of our costumes is that I made them all the night before (I knew what we were going to be for months, but I procrastinated).  Jokes, that's not the best part.  Mim's hat is the best part.
My first idea for this year was to be Mike, Sully, and Boo from Monsters Inc.  When she has her hair in pigtails, Mim looks just like Boo.  We would probably rent a costume for Mike, and then, if I was pregnant, my tummy was going to be Mike Kwasoski.  So, since I won't be pregnant enough at that point (even if I got pregnant immediately, I would only be 2.5 months along).  I just had to share my plan A though, because I think it's such a good idea.  I know we could still do it, but the pregnant belly as Mike was really my favorite part.  Besides Mim being so adorable.
So my plan B:  Princess Leia, Han Solo, and an ewok.  The costumes should actually be pretty easy, I'm thinking.  A huge white dress that I would cinch around the waist with a belt for me, a black vest for Mike (as well as some knee boots- that'll be the hard part to find for cheapies), and then a snow suit-style outfit for Mim made out of some faux fur.  Add in some blasters made from plumbing parts and spray paint, and I think we'll be good.  Except for all the little details.

{Don't worry, it didn't fall over her face, the hole wasn't big enough.  It's just the angle of the camera.}

So, what do y'all think?  Any better ideas out there?  Anyone know where I could get a size 13 knee high boot?  Is it lame that I'm thinking through our Halloween costumes already?  Anybody need to know how to make a huge mushroom top hat?

New bedroom wall art

I decided, after I put up the closet door, that it was time for the master bedroom at my house to get a little redo.  I've wanted to change my above the bed wall art since almost immediately after I hung it.  The fabric I used was another fabric store panic.  Remember fabrianxiety?  Is that how I spelled it last time?  Well, it was happening a year ago when I bought this fabric:

I had wanted a brown and white or brown and cream damask, so don't even ask me how this happened.  I think what got me is that the gray flowers (that you can't see very well in the picture) were the exactly same color as the walls, which I thought was great.  But even though I don't have anything against the fabric itself, it really lacked the contrast I wanted.  It looks meh.
Anyway, for the past year, I've been thinking about what I really want there, and although I'm not quite there, I made some major steps in the last few days.  So here you go:

{Yeah, we got married that day after Valentine's Day.  It's kind of a joke that we have.  Also, after I painted in the date I totally had a tiny panic attack that I had written it down wrong.  I didn't...phew.}

Much brighter, much more contrast- that's what I'm talking about.  I wanted vinyl lettering, originally, because I knew it would be so much neater, but my craft allowance is gone until next payday (seriously, I had to start giving myself an allowance for it because I was just going crazy) and I just wanted to go for it.  Some weird stuff happened with the names, but it's kind of growing on me.
What I did:
I already had the stretching frames, they were 5$ each from IKEA (bless its heart).
The fabric was an old sheet.
And I used acrylic paint because I know nothing about painting.  I'm sure there was a much better medium, but I was working with what I had.
I traced a rough outline of everything and just went for it.  I cut leaf shapes out of some foam and again, I just went for it.
I'm pleased, but I'm not sure I'm done.  Have you all seen this at Decor Chick?  (Love her, by the way.)  What if I did that, over the whole background or maybe just in parts?  I also entertained the idea of tea staining, but I think that would dull the brightness and contrast that I love so much, like I maybe mentioned.  Maybe adding some branches in something metallic?  Like this, that I love so much.   Hmmm.  Well, more on the bedroom later, after I have craft allowance (I blew the last one on fat quarters that I don't even have a project for) again.