Picture Post!

I finally uploaded pictures from our camera, so I thought now would be as good a time as any to share some of what we've been up to this past...month and a half.  These were all the "events" that were on my camera.  I just haven't been motivated to take pictures lately.  I hope that changes once McBaby gets here!  I'd hate to miss out on those first few days of prime newborn picture-taking just because I "don't feel like it!"  Anyway, without further ado...pictures!

________________________________

When we first arrived back in Canada, Lennox had a close call with a skunk.  Gross.  He spent a couple days outside and got a scrub with a peroxide/baking soda mixture as well as with tomato juice.

The peroxide mixture is supposed to actually get rid of the smell, while the tomato juice apparently just masks it.  It did help alot, but he still smelled like skunk when he got wet until just recently.  Or maybe he still does...I try to avoid wet dog as much as possible these days.  My nose just seems to be extra-sensitive to doggy smells right now...  The white eyebrows in the picture looked so funny!  We put petroleum jelly on him so that he wouldn't get the peroxide in his eyes.  I don't think his eyes burned, but he sure didn't enjoy the cold water from the hose.  He looked at me with such sad, pain-filled eyes and whimpered like I'd never heard before...poor guy.

_______________________________

The next pictures are from just yesterday.  Nathan and Josh were playing XBOX 360 yesterday morning when one of them (probably that wonderful husband of mine) had the idea to hook up another XBOX to another tv so that they could each play online and be on a team.  Now, our tv was just sitting in the basement, unused, and each of the brothers has their own XBOX, so they shifted around some furniture, hooked up some extra equipment and nerded it up BIG TIME!

Seriously, that was some nerd-fest that was going on down there in the family room.  They each had their headsets on, each had their own tvs and game systems, and they played ALL day.  In fact, they're playing again right now.  I just heard Josh rejoicing quite loudly in what must have been some sort of victory.  Now they're talking through their strategy for what to do next.  Funny guys.  I've been left to entertain myself the last couple days so I've been baking and sewing, which leads me to my next pictures...

_______________________________

These are the pillows that I've been working on for the past two days!

We had four throw pillows in our old house that were in need of rejuvenation.  They were a bit faded and dirty and, while I could have just thrown them in the washing machine and at least had clean pillows, I felt that they needed a bit more.  Besides, it was something small that I could do already to work toward making our new place our own.
 

Three of the pillows are the grey plaid fabric above.  It was a bit frustrating to work with because the fabric wasn't square.  I would cut straight along the lines of the plaid and hold the fabric up and it would have an obvious slant to it.  I don't really understand, because surely the lines of the print would be straight, but in fact it was the fabric itself that was stretched or just poorly made.  Anyhow, I managed to get all the plaid lined up squarely on the pillows and even matched the pattern on the front and back of the pillows.  If you'd seen the crookedness of the fabric I was working with, you would be impressed.  I certainly am!  I'm just hoping that the next time I buy plaid fabric I won't have to deal with that!

This is the yellow fabric that I used the other two pillows.  When I found the grey plaid, we both liked it, but Nathan felt that it was a bit boring to just use grey.  He's usually the one in this relationship who loves to spice up our decor with some bright colors.  I usually appreciate his opinions, but gently gear them toward classier designs that aren't too tacky (as bright colors can be if done wrong!).  For instance: Nathan wanted something more "fun" than the grey so we picked out this yellow with a swirly white design to go with the plaid.  It's a pop of color, it matches the yellow thread in the grey plaid fabric, AND it isn't over the top.  It's a nice fabric that I can live with so in this case I'm glad that Nathan suggested something bright.  It worked out perfectly and I love our new cushions!

I also tried piping for the first time with this project.  I learned a few things throughout the process of sewing on piping...let's just say the second pillow is better than the first.  And if I were to make a third pillow at some point, I'm sure it would be better than both the first two combined!  I think the piping adds a nice, finished edge and I won't hesitate to try it again.  It does take practice, but I definitely suggest going for it if you ever find yourself thinking about it.  I'm no sewing pro and I did it.  It's always worth a try!

____________________________________

I also mentioned that I have done some baking in the last couple days.  I baked burger buns yesterday for our Canada Day bbq and also made the following recipe of cookies.  They are SO good.  I suggest only doing a half batch, as the full batch made me 4 dozen good-sized cookies.  And while freezing cookie dough for baking later often works, I don't know that it would work in this case with the corn flakes in there...

Buffalo Cookies

• 1 cup melted margarine
• 1 cup white sugar
• 1 cup brown sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1 tsp. vanilla
• 11/4 cup oatmeal
• 1 tsp. baking soda
• 1 tsp. baking powder
• 11/4 cup crunched cornflakes
• 2 cups flour
• 1 cup coconut
• 1 cup raisins
• 1 cup milk chocolate chips.

Instructions

1. Cream margarine with sugars, adding eggs.
2. Add vanilla, baking soda, baking powder and mix.
3. Add flour and mix.
4. Add the additional dry ingredients and mix well.

Bake at 350 degrees for about 12 minutes, till they are lightly colored.

The recipe is from this great site called Mennonite Girls Can Cook....you can find the recipe HERE.
___________________________________

There...how's that for a long, hodge-podge of a post?  Hope you're all having a good Canada Day long weekend!  If any of you have any suggestions for what kinds of projects I should do next, I'm all ears!  I'm always on the lookout for new and interesting things to make.  Right now I've got a baby blanket for McBaby on the go and I'm re-doing an afghan that I made last summer because I just don't really like how it turned out.  But I'll be done those in a matter of days/hours, so seriously...anything interesting that you've been making/doing lately?  Let me know!