...If I Don't Say So Myself

I am impressed and inspired by others' skills and talents. I actually enjoy seeing what others can accomplish and often wish I had a little bit of their know-how and ability. There is a blog that I check in on, now and again, and often find myself thinking, "That looks easy to do." OR "Man, that looks hard. She sure is talented." Well, recently I ran across this post about a gathered pillow that she made. I looked through all of the steps and thought, "Hmm, that doesn't look too hard." AND, I actually went out and bought the stuff to make one for the new comforter set I had just bought for our bed. Well, the stuff sat in the bag in the corner for over 2 months before I got the courage up to actually make it. Today was the day. I cracked out the sewing machine and made this little beauty: Now, I know it nowhere compares to the quality apparent in the orginal version. I had to abandon the pillow form I had bought and just go with regular stuffing since my dimensions were WAY off by the time I was finished, but I think it turned out quite nicely, ...if I don't say so myself.

Party at Pirate Island

March begins birthday season for us. Jayden's birthday was last week, and we splurged and had his party at "Pirate Island". Frankly, I was a little overwhelmed at the thought of 9 kids at an arcade, but I'd have to say it was actually quite fun. The atmosphere is pretty cool, the food is so-so, and the kids had a great time.

We had a visit from Jack Sparrow (he seemed pretty soused - hope that was just part of the act and not for reals). Oh, and I'm over my "fascination" with Jack Sparrow, by the way.
They played a lot of games...

...And had a good time.

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

So, after hearing about what other families do to celebrate St. Patrick's Day, I felt somewhat inspired to do something different this year. St. Patrick's Day usually consists of running around at the last minute trying to find something green for the kids to throw on before school. But, this year I decided to make a green dinner. Actually, I was inspired mostly by Macey's green French bread. I figured that since they went through so much trouble to make the bread green just for one day, that I should do something with it. Soon, Landon and I were going up and down aisles looking for green food for dinner. We ended up with the green French bread, green mashed potatoes with green gravy, broccoli, green Jell-O, green juice, and mint chocolate chip ice cream for dessert served on green plates on a green tablecloth. The family thought it was fun and a bit gross, and I'm already planning next year's menu. Oh, what a bit of food coloring can do - blue, not green, was the color used most on this holiday o' the green.

All Beaten Up

Before...After
A close-up for you non-squeemish people.
So, long story long - Leon broke his glasses back last August and had to get new frames. It had been years since he'd gotten a new prescription, so he got one of those, too. After a few days of trying to adjust to the new prescription and having some eye pain, he tried different lenses. When this didn't help he tried a different frame. When this didn't help, he tried a lesser lens prescription. This went on for months, trying 3 different lens prescriptions and 4 different frames. But, to no avail - he still was having eye pain. He was seeing an opthamologist who had become stumped. All this time I kept asking him if it could be a tumor since he was also having a lot of headaches. He finally asked his eye doctor about it being a tumor. But, she said tumors would cause other issues, but that they should do a CT scan just to rule it out. The CT scan came back with no issues. He saw one of her collegues who was also puzzled. They referred him to an eye surgeon who also had no idea what was wrong. He ordered an MRI just to see what they could find. There ended up being a mass behind his eye - hmm, not quite a tumor, but close enough for me. He could either have it surgically removed, or just keep watching it for a few months. Leon opted to have it removed.

He had his surgery yesterday - a LONG day. He checked in early in the morning and the surgery was done around 11:30. The doctor came out to talk to me, and said that there was not a mass like he had expected from the MRI. He had the MRI image there during surgery, but when ge got in there, he could only see a small lump in the fatty tissue behind his eye. He removed this, but still thought there might be something else and decided to poke around a bit. He said he went farther back just to be sure he didn't miss anything, and found a vein that was a bit enlarged. He trimmed it down and cauterized it. Not seeing anything else that resembled the MRI, he closed him up and hoped he'd gotten what it was that was bothering Leon.

It took quite a while for Leon to wake up from the anesthesia. He just wanted to sleep and sleep and sleep. His oxygen levels would dip too low when he was sleeping, so they put him on oxygen. By late afternoon his oxygen numbers were still not where they were supposed to be. It wasn't until 6:00 p.m. that they finally decided to release him, still concerned about his numbers. Leon didn't feel all that well all night long being groggy and nauseous from the anesthesia - I'll spare the gory details. He didn't sleep all that well last night, but at least he didn't go into respiratory arrest - shwew. He's doing MUCH better today - just constantly hungry. I'm having a hard time keeping up. I'm afraid I'm being a poor nurse.

So, for now he's just hunkered down in bed with a lot of movies and looks like he's been beaten up.

January & February in 100 Words

This is for all of you who given me flack about not updating our blog. Really, nothing noteworthy has being going on around here. January and February are pretty dry months. Apparently, this is a trend since last year's February post sounds very familiar. I feel that any blog entry needs a picture, but as I went through the camera I only found a few sledding pictures from January (very typical) amongst a LOT of jewelry and Craigslist photos. So, unless you REALLY want to see the roofing nails that I'm selling on Craigslist, this photo will have to do:

So, do I get my $3.00?

December In Review

As most Decembers do, this one came and went faster than I'd like. To start things off, here's the one and only time you will probably see Leon this "wise" at a Neighborhood (a.k.a. Ward) Christmas party.

With all the things to do, there's nothing like the last minute to take a family photo by the tree.
Speaking of "last minute", Dallin had to make a pinata for his Spanish class that was due the day back from the break. We wanted to get it done and over with before Christmas break so we wouldn't have to worry about it. In case you can't tell, it's "Mr. Potato Head." This should be fun to bust open, huh?
The boys had entirely too much excitement on Christmas Eve.
You can always tell if it was a good Christmas by the size of the mess.

The day after Christmas we headed up to my grandmother's in Logan for our annual extended family Christmas party. We kicked things off with some sledding which featured the good ol' toboggan that has served the Eddington family well for MANY years (thanks to some tender loving care from some uncles).

Great-Grandma Eddington's party is a tradition that the kids all enjoy, especially the "ball tag" and the rough-housing in the gym. This year Great-Grandma made the older great-grandkids snow hats, which were quite a hit!

We spent several days up at my parents' house which meant a lot of good times with family. Admittedly, I'm not a very good baker, so Graham cracker gingerbread houses are the best I can do. We use empty whipping cream cartons for the structure of the house, but if you use enough frosting, you can make just about anything hold up.

Or, if you are my brother, Scott, you try to make a house without cheating, and use as little frosting as possible.

Now, no Christmas celebration would be complete without firearms, right? My brother Scott took the men target shooting and then felt the need to take the ladies, as well. We had a little bit of competition going, and it turned out that the ladies shot better than the men - who knew. Maybe us girls took it a little more seriously and weren't trying to be "Rambo".

Happy holidays, everyone! Now, on to the New Year!

Cookie Exchange

"Dinner's On Me" is doing a Cookie Exchange, and I got to thinking about the kinds of cookies that I actually make from scratch. I just made chocolate chip cookies last night and they turned out terribly, as usual. So, when considering what cookie recipe I could contribute to this Cookie Exchange, I really only have a couple of options. Lucky for me, one of the cookies that I can actually make well is Spritz Cookies. I only make these during the holidays, but they are so buttery and absolutely delicious, I'm thinking about making some right now.

Here is the recipe:

Spritz Cookies

1 1/2 cups margarine or butter

3 1/2 cups flour

1 cup sugar

1 egg

1 tsp. baking powder

1 tsp vanilla

1/2 tsp almond extract

Food Coloring

Decorations - colored sugar, sprinkles, red hot candies, etc.

Beat margarine with mixer for 30 seconds. Add 1 cup flour, the sugar, egg, baking powder, vanilla, and almond extract. Beat till thoroughly combined. Beat in remaining flour. Divide dough for as many colors as you wish; add food coloring as desired.

Force unchilled dough through a cookie press onto an ungreased cookie sheet. Decorate with colored sugar, sprinkles, or candies. Bake at 375 degrees for 8-10 minutes or till edges are firm but not brown. Cool cookies on a wire rack. Makes about 84.

(No cookie press? Well, you should get one. But, if not, you can drop the dough by teaspoon onto the cookie sheet.)