Weekending

This weekend was spent baking and prepping 

for Ryan and Kyle's birthdays.

Somehow I managed to have my oldest children just two days 

shy of exactly three years apart.  

This year, Ryan wanted a BIG party at his apartment...and he wanted Mom and Dad to foot the bill.  

We compromised.

I cooked all the food for the party. 

And I had a little help from two of the cutest soux chefs 

in all of Texas!

We stayed just long enough to set everything up and sing, "Happy Birthday" to the boys.  After that we were shooed away because we weren't cool enough to party with the big guys.

Plus, who wants to drink and party with their MOM?

Am I right?

 <---ryan a="" blink182="" cake="" p="" s="" song="" t="">

Kyle's cake--->

He's a Reece's ADDICT!

Happy Birthday 

to my precious boys~

I'm so proud of the young men you've become!

The Creamer Garden ~ 7.2.17

Things are growing UP in the Creamer garden this week!

Sunflowers, trellised vegetables, okra, peppers, and green beans.

Growing vegetables in small spaces means growing vertically.

You can grow so much more using homemade trellises and sturdy sunflowers as supports.

It was also a clean up week in the side garden.

I cut back all my tomato and tomatillo plants 

and cut down all the spent sunflowers.

Planting early and cutting back the plants mid summer 

has given me a second bumper crop late in the season. 

More veggies equals one happy gardener!

Mid-clean up

And with the sunflowers gone, I have a few extra feet 

to plant something new.

Mary Grace says we should plant more sunflowers, of course!

After clean up

But for now we are enjoying the fruits of our labor,

and that means pints and pints of 

Tomatillo/Jalapeno Salsa!

1-2 pounds tomatillos husks removed and washed

3 large jalpenos

half a red onion

6 cloves of garlic

1 bunch of fresh cilantro

splash of lime juice or white vinegar

sea salt and cumin to taste

Roast tomatillo, peppers, and garlic under the broiler 

until the skins are blackened.

Put all ingredients in the food processor 

and pulse to desired consistency.

Season with salt and cumin.

Sewing With a Purpose

A friend of mine approached me at work about a special project she was coordinating at our hospital.  Ms. Donna is a lactation consultant and she is spear-heading a special project during Breastfeeding Awareness Week.  

She asked if I could sew and gave me supplies for a dozen burp cloths and breast pads.

A dozen of each seemed like pretty easy work.

And then I asked how many she needed.

"Oh, just a few hundred!" she said with a smile.

Luckily she enlisted the help of many talented women

 and is well on her way to having her quota!

I figured there should be an easy way to sew this project,

'cause I'm all about sewing on the 'quick and dirty.'

So I came up with a template to make things simple.

I traced around the breast pads to make a cardboard template.

The breast pads are very easy to sew.

Just trace the template onto the wrong side of your fabric, 

cut out, and sew onto the breast pads using a zig-zag stitch.

My burp cloth center was 17"X 4" and I cut 

a cardboard template out to that size.

Place the template on the wrong side of the fabric and cut 

about 3/4" around the template.  

It does NOT have to be perfect!  

Just make sure you have enough fabric to fold over 

onto the cardboard.  

Fold the fabric over your cardboard template 

and press with a hot steam iron.

Remove the template and pin onto the cloth diaper.

Sew around the edges of the fabric and you're done!

I've got supplies for two dozen more to tackle this week,

and when I'm done fulfilling Ms.Donna's need,

I think I'll start on my own stash for baby gifts!