Wordless{ish} Wednesday: That's a good meatball!

{I've invited a few friends and their kids over for an Italian dinner tonight--on the menu is homemade meatballs and baked rigatoni.  I decided to make things easier on myself and made the meatballs last night.  They're super easy to make; you just have to be sure to give them enough time to simmer in the sauce--I recommend 35-40 minutes at the very least.}

{The recipe is my grandmother's; according to my dad, she got it from an old Italian woman in our church years and years ago.  I tested them out on Captain Husband, who promptly informed me that they were just as good, if not better, than the ones his grandmother makes.  If that's not a ringing endorsement, I don't know what is!}

The terrible {burp} towel

It's no secret that I'm really enjoying my new sewing machine; I've got a list of projects that I'd like to attempt that grows by the day, thanks to my Pinterest addiction.  The other day I came across this great tutorial on how to make your own burp cloths and I knew I'd found a winner, especially as I've got a brand new nephew and second cousin make them for.v

I bought a pack of pre-fold cloth diapers at Target and a yard of some awesome Steelers fabric that I scored for 25% off.  After I had washed everything, I started cutting my fabric.  I'll be honest--the most tedious part of the whole process was the ironing and pinning, which I probably could have skipped but I wanted these to turn out nicely.

I managed to sew all eight of them in about a half an hour while Sammy napped and I'm pretty happy with how they turned out.  Hopefully Henry and Alex (and their parents) will like them.  If you know anyone that's expecting, I highly suggest giving these a try--they'd make a great shower gift.

It's funny how the sounds of the sewing machine transports me back to my own childhood; my mom was an avid sewer and I remember helping her pin and cut out patterns when I was little...I don't know if I'll ever get to her level, but I'm certainly having fun trying.

On a roll

Captain Husband and I were enjoying some time together on Saturday when we both realized that it was rather quiet in the house.  Suspiciously quiet.  I called for Sammy and was promptly answered with some giggles coming from the powder room...and I soon saw why:

In the ten minutes or so that he had been unsupervised, Sammy managed to unroll half of the toilet paper in the bathroom and was having himself a ball playing with all of the tissue on the floor.

In his defense, he probably thought he was doing me a favor by getting me some tissues--I've caught a heck of a cold and have been going through the kleenex like it's going out of style all weekend long.

Get your glow on

I was on Pinterest the other day when I saw a really great idea--glow sticks in the bathtub (linked from here).  I had purchased a bunch of glow sticks last week from the dollar bins at Target, thinking that they might be fun to have on hand for Halloween.  There were quite a few left over, so I threw a couple into Sammy's bath last night and waited to see how he would react to the glowing bath tub.  Needless to say, Sammy thought that the glow sticks were the best thing since sliced bread and was not happy when bath-time was over.  I think it's safe to say that we'll be doing this again soon.

Have a great weekend everyone!

The sling is the thing

I was chomping at the bit to test out my new sewing machine, so I decided to try my hand at making a book sling for Sammy's play room.  Armed with this awesome tutorial as my guide, I ran out to my local Hobby Lobby and picked out some cute green gingham fabric and some other assorted notions to get started on my first sewing project.

I was actually surprised by just how easy it was to make this, especially as it's been a long, long time since I've done anything with an actual sewing machine.  I think it turned out pretty well, all things considered, although I may have to rethink my fondness for all things gingham--sewing this had me going cross-eyed at times.

The fabric sling is suspended by two 5/8" wooden dowels and then hung using two double-curtain brackets that I picked up at Lowe's for a couple of dollars.  All in all I'd have to say that this project cost me about $15, including fabric--not too shabby for a custom book holder!

The installation process was made a lot easier thanks to my little helper--Sammy watched intently as Captain Husband and I mounted the hardware in place and then mimicked our every move, complete with "drill"noises; he also did this with the level and the drill's battery.  (Don't worry--the drill was unplugged when he started playing with it, and I had removed the chuck.)  I think I know a certain little boy who's going to be getting his own tool kit for Christmas this year.

While we're on the topic of Sammy's play room, I thought I'd share a little before and after; another project that my dad tackled while he was here was refinishing this adorable vintage 1930s oak children's table. As you can see from the before photo, the finish was really degraded and there was water damage to all four of the legs. I found the table and chairs in Hancock, Maryland, on one of my trips to visit family in Pennsylvania last year, but somehow never found the time to do the refinishing myself.

My dad spent a few hours sanding the table down to the bare oak and then gave it a couple of coats of lacquer to finish it off.  I honestly couldn't be happier with how it turned out and I think Sammy feels the same way--he loves to climb onto the chairs and use the table to work on his puzzles or play with some of his toy cars.

Wordless{ish} Wednesday: Sew what's new?

{I've been toying with the idea of getting a sewing machine for awhile now, but the simple fact that I haven't sewn since I was in the 8th grade was a bit of a deterrent.  Captain Husband thought I should go for it, though, and last weekend he bought me a brand-spanking-new sewing machine.}

{I managed to wind a bobbin, thread the machine and sew a few straight lines--all without swearing in excess or having the sewing machine blow up in my face.  Thanks to Pinterest, I have a whole slew of projects lined up, like a book sling and some canvas storage bins for Sammy's play room.}

{It's a good thing I traded my antique brass bed for a vintage 1965 double tanker desk last week--it's the perfect work table for all of my sewing and crafting needs--plus free is always good.  I still have some organization to do and shelves to hang, but I think my new sewing set-up is coming along rather nicely.}

Boo at the zoo

Since Sammy is still a little too young to actually partake in any actual trick-or-treating, Captain Husband and I decided to take him and my dad to the El Paso Zoo this past Saturday, where Sammy was able to wear his costume and have a little bit of fun.

The El Paso Zoo is pretty small as far as zoos go, but it's the perfect size for an antsy toddler--you can easily do the entire zoo in an hour and a half.  The small size also allows you to get that much closer to all of the animal enclosures, which made for some great photography opportunities.

There were candy stations scattered throughout the zoo and many of the animal enclosures were decorated for Halloween; my particular favorite was a display of tombstones on which the names of recently extinct species were labeled...it definitely drove the point home.

Even the spider monkeys got into the Halloween spirit; one of them managed to get his hands on a lollipop treat, which he appeared to enjoy greatly.

And in a textbook case of monkey-see-monkey-do, Sammy helped himself to a treat, too!