The Crafts

I have wasted so much money on jeans.  Blurg!  We all know the challenge of finding a great pair of jeans.  I've never bought into the belief that fitting rooms are rigged to make you look better than in the outside world, but I think I'm coming around to this notion.  The last three or four pairs of jeans I have bought looked good in the fitting room and that is about it.  They are too big, too short, and turn your rear into a hexagon.  You stand in the fitting room looking like Heidi Klum and you walk out looking like Roseanne Arnold. The other day, however, I had one of those ah-ha moments complete with a lightbulb and everything.  I have one pair of jeans that are my absolute favorites.  I bought them ages ago...I'm talking, before I was married.  That is quite awhile for jeans to last.  I wear them all the time and they have held up brilliantly.  Sadly I didn't even know the brand so I finally looked and hmm...I must have found them on clearance long, long ago

For all of you who have been to my house, you are well aware of it's beauty, it's character, it's historical value. I'm not bragging.  I just really, really love our house. The kitchen however...well...it's lacking a lot. Rather than give it the standard $20K kitchen remodel that you see in all the magazines, I've instead been trying to give it mini-facelifts.  Meet my latest addition to the Craft kitchen. In case you missed it, the addition isn't the cutie pie 3 year in too short pants...it's the little sink curtain.  I'm really not sure what to call it.  But it adds a little pizzazz while disguising the unappealing underside of an old farm house style sink.  (FYI: I love the sink but I don't love it's underside.) Kindly ignore the flooring.  Perhaps that will be another project for another time. I was just reading up on how to paint linoleum.  Whew!  That sounds like a process. A little nap time project under my belt.  It feels good to

These two are the luckiest little girls. They get to trick or treat not once, not twice but three times this year! Kate headed to preschool today in her Belle (Beauty and the Beast) costume this morning. Followed by a trip to the LPC library for story hour and trick or treating on Main Street. Isn't she a sweet faced beauty! I had planned to dress CJ in a hand-me-down cow costume. However...I wasn't able to find it...until THIS morning. And surprise, surprise...it didn't fit. Thank goodness we had some ballerina jammies complete with a tutu to pull together her Halloween look! She dug her very fashionable look.  :) I was really hoping all this early Halloween fun and skipping around Main Street would tire out these wild girls. But my ballerina has a different agenda. She has decided to instead practice her twirls and leg lifts...in bed...for like, the last hour. I guess a ballerina needs to dance.

What's not to love about pumpkin?? I love pumpkin bread.  I love pumpkin scones.  I love pumpkin half n half and lattes. And now...I love pumpkin cookies. Make them now.  Thank me later.  And save me one while you're at it. Harvest Pumpkin Cookies 2 cups flour 1- 1/2 teaspoon baking powder 1/4 teaspoon baking soda 1 teaspoon cinnamon 1/4 teaspoon allspice 1 cup butter 1 cup sugar 1 egg 1 cup canned pumpkin 1 cup chopped pecans (toasted) OPTIONAL, I did not include Frosting: 6 Tablespoons butter 1/3 cup brown sugar 2 cups powdered sugar teaspoon(s) water to right consistency Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Chop pecans. In a saute pan, toast pecans until fragrant. Set aside.  OPTIONAL In a medium bowl, mix together flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, and all spice. Set aside. In a large bowl (or mixer) cream together the sugar and butter. Add one egg. Stir in the pumpkin. Add flour mixture and mix until incorporated. (Do not over mix.) Stir in pecans by hand. Drop

Yesterday was a beautiful 70ish degrees and today it feels like a blizzard is about to roll in. Gotta love Iowa. You never know what kind of weather awaits you. And don't let this little guy fool you either. I didn't get one single, itty bitty, teeny weeny cone flower this summer. None. Zip. Zero. So I was completely surprised when I was greeted with a pink cone flower yesterday. A little late, don't you think? Maybe more will bloom next year? Well I'm off to find some pumpkin spice half n half for my coffee. Have you tried it?  It is so good.  So amazingly good. 

Back in the fall of 2008 I somehow won a chili cook-off. At first I thought to myself, "All these judges must have colds and cannot taste food right." But I won not just judges choice but people's choice as well. HOWEVER I must confess, I was only one of three contestants!  Hahahaha! Despite the small competition, I still believe I make a very delicious chili. I can't claim the recipe as my own since I did not create it.  Gasp!  (Don't take away my prize money!) I have made slight adjustments to the original. Saturday I was asked to make 4 gallons of my chili for a fundraiser at the LPC Museum. 6 pounds of beef, 12 cans, 4 pots and 87 dishes later...I am done cleaning up. Matt and LeAnn helped out, too!  So thank you! Anyway, my point in telling you all of this is that I thought I'd share my 'secret' recipe. I think what makes it so good is that you cook the veggies with the spices.  That and the fact that you DO NOT drain the grease from the meat. 

Things are looking a little spooky around the Craft house. I've put out the Halloween decorations...which isn't much, really. I love to see Kate's reaction. She really likes the Halloween pillows I made and the ghosts I hung in our windows. And, of course, she enjoys the spider rings! But what's more fun than decorating for Halloween? Visiting a pumpkin patch, of course!! Tuesday the girls and I had a chance to visit a pumpkin patch on a farm near Vinton with Kate's preschool class.  The farm featured lots of animals like ostrich, pigs, goats, bunnies and emu and was decorated with pumpkin people, pumpkin totem poles and all sorts of displays made with pumpkins. It was a lot of fun. I didn't take many pics since I had to hold CJ the whole time and really didn't have a free hand but I did snap two pictures.  I tried hard to get CJ to look a the camera but she was simply amazed by the pumpkin people. I'm not entirely sure why Kate has her arms crosse

Life has three constants. Ok, so probably more than three but right now, for me, it feels like about three. Constant #1:  Jesus I can always trust that Jesus loves me no matter what.  And I should really rely on Him more often. Constant #2: Laundry There will forever, ever and ever be more laundry.  Just when you think you have every last piece of dirty clothing washed, dried, folded and put away, someone will poop on a rug or barf on the curtains.  And then you remember, oh yah, I'm supposed to wash other things like rugs, curtains, slipcovers, car seat cushions, etc.  Blah. Constant #3: Car Screaming Whether I'm driving my sweet faced, little girls across town to preschool or across the state to Lawton, IA, I can rest assured there will be screaming.  Lots of screaming.  I never have to worry about being bored in the car from silence because I can always tap my foot to the ear splitting sounds of CJ hollering.  You could give her food, drinks, books, toys and even your cre

The Crafts had themselves a great weekend! (Excuse the blurry picture but I had to post.) We ended the weekend with a 'Craft tradition' cup on the head. Yah, we're strange, I guess. To make a long story short; once in college/grad school Matt saw his slightly inebriated cousin place a mug on his head. Matt thought that was the funniest thing, so whenever he is having a good time...he puts a cup on his head. And...he has taught that to our daughters. Our weekend began with brunch at our house with Mike and LeAnn (Matt's folks.) We haven't seen much of them so it was nice to get together. We later hopped on our bikes and rode to McFarlane Park where we played on the playground and went on a very long nature hike.  The girls LOVED it. Afterwards we cleaned up and went to Buffalo Wild Wings and ate supper with Mike and LeAnn while watching the Iowa State v. Oklahoma football game.  After watching a gut wrenching first half we came home, put the girls to bed and watc

Silly title, really, but it is so true. I love quick breads...banana, pumpkin, zucchini and my newest favorite...apple! I made two loaves yesterday. The girls and I knocked out an entire loaf in one day and we just sliced up numero dos. It isn't some tremendous, earth shattering recipe. Just found it in the ol' Better Homes and Gardens Cook Book.  Something I got as a wedding gift. I mean, Matt and I got it as a wedding gift.  I've probably gotten more use out of it though.  :) Make it now.  So delicious. Apple Bread 1 1/2 C flour 1 tsp cinnamon 1/2 tsp baking soda 1/2 tsp salt 1/4 tsp baking powder 1/4 tsp nutmeg 1 beaten egg 1 C sugar 1 1/2 C chopped, peeled apple 1/4 C cooking oil 1/2 C walnuts or pecans (if desired...desired by me but no one else around here....sigh) 1. Grease the bottom and 1/2 inch up sides of an 8x4x2-inch loaf pan; set aside.  In a medium bowl combine the flour, cinnamon, baking soda, salt, baking powder, and nutmeg.  Make a well in the cente

Today is Wednesday. We had nothing planned for today.  Under normal circumstances I would be looking forward to a day of nothing.  But for some strange reason the day dragged.  Each time I looked at the clock I expected it to be at least two hours later than the actual time.  The girls were fun and super well behaved today.  We made a trip to the park and rode bikes around the block a few times.  We played upstairs, we played downstairs, we played playdough and puzzles and blocks.  And yet, it felt rather dull.  Which got me thinking.  What am I going to feel like when winter hits.  When you go out only when absolutely necesssary.  When the only places we'll be traveling to are preschool and the grocery store.  Sure, we'll have the occasional playdate and story hour but I'm just feeling a little uneasy about the stillness of winter. Enough of my silly worries. Here are a few pics from our nothing day. Hanging out in a princess chair pantsless. Finding the bag of playdou

Craft Tales has featured two separate blog posts on Kate in Ames. Well, both those Ames trips meant CJ was left behind. The first time she stayed with Grandma and Grandpa Smith.  Yah! But also came down with the stomach bug.  Boo! The second time she was left home she stayed with her mama.  Yah! And we had lots of fun. I don't have photos to share since Matt and Kate had the camera, but they had A LOT of fun to document. So you'll have to get your CJ news in type. A quick update on Miss Claudia. *She is now walking!* *80% of the time she will stay still while you change her diaper!* *She tries her darndest to dance!* *Her sixth tooth is peeking through!* *And she discovered there are funny characters on her diapers!* (She obviously thinks that is awesome.) Under normal circumstances I would get a little hyper about such a giant mess sitting around for too terribly long.  However, she has so much fun with this game that I let the crazy, CLEAN diaper mess slide.  Plus she

This blog has a guest writer for the 1st time in its history. Sarah has gratiously allowed her husband to take over this blog post. I had been putting in a lot of hours at work recently and had a meeting in Ames Friday morning. Uncle Mike agreed to watch Kate during this meeting and it gave Kate and I Friday afternoon & Saturday to take in all things Iowa State. We'll start our journey with a picture of a urinal. Kate was mesmorized that it would flush automatically. That's right Kate, we're not in La Porte City anymore. Then we decided to have lunch at one of Iowa State's new food service stations. I never had any real complaints about food service when I was a student, but this was amazing. They have six or seven different stations where you could get everything you could ever want. I saw quesadillas, tacos, a sub station, various noodles & breadsticks, pizza, cereal, fresh fruit, casseroles & fresh grilled sandwiches. The food is made right in front of

Well it turns out no one wants a copy of Eat, Pray, Love.  And how can I blame you?  Why would you sign up for a free book with my glowing recommendation of, "I didn't like it.  I tried twice to read it and hated it both times."  It's similar to someone saying, "Whoa, this tastes disgusting.  Here, try a bite!" Perhaps I'll see if the library needs a copy?  Have a good weekend!!

This past weekend, before we were plowed over by illness, Matt, Kate and I went to Ames. (Little Miss CJ stayed home with Grandma and Grandpa Smith.) Our first stop was Reimen Gardens. It was a-a-amazing!  We loved it. Butterfly gardens, dozens of gnomes and beautiful gardens as far as the eye can see. The indoor gardens had a dozen or so glass bottle 'trees.'  So cool. One of the highlights was a 15 foot concrete gnome. Kate couldn't believe her eyes. Then we made our way to the ISU Alumni Center for lunch and socializing. Here we are with a bronze statue of CY. If that statue wasn't so pricey, I have a feeling we'd have one in our yard.  We eventually made our way to the game. Kate is in the Lil' Clone Club which allows her to go on the field. If you look closely, you can see Kate on Matt's shoulders in the middle of the pic. (Hint: Matt and Kate are both in gray sweatshirts.) And here they are near the far right with their backs to t