Oh I Feel Special, Oh So Speical

Saturday night, although I was sick, I dragged myself out of the house, picked up a friend and went to the ReddingHandmade event here in town.
ReddingHandmade is a group of artist and crafters from Redding (that's in Northern California for those that might not know) that are supporting each other in their creativity...and I think most of them have an Etsy shop (don't know what Etsy is???  it's an online community/store where people sell vintage, crafty, cottagey stuff...so cute)
Those are some amazing ladies...I think it's all ladies, didn't see any men...

A good friend of mine (and fellow blogger), Mrs. Smith

had a table at the event and she was showcasing these adorable, cute, trendy, sweet, lovely little flower lapel pins.  

I was planning on blogging on how cute there were and that everyone needed to head over to her Etsy shop and buy them all up...

...but shhh, don't tell her, because she gave me one...
GAVE it to me...
just asked which one I wanted and gave it to me...no strings attached... 
(I chose the one that looks like it's made out of men's boxers!)

well...she might have mentioned that it'd be nice if I happen to mention it in my blog...but I was going to anyways because they are so terribly sweet!


So head over to Mrs. Smith Blog, read about the life of Mrs. Smith and all the ways she uses burlap (a challenge that she stole from some of us in the Children's Ministry department at the Church!) and you can become a follower of her too, I don't mind...and then head over to her Etsy Shop and buy yourself one of these flowers...
now I just need help figuring out how to wear it...any suggestions...

Sew Many Projects, Sew Little Time!

I started this blog because I wanted to share different things that I do/make...hence the name "ChambersMade"...well it's turned into an almost just recipe blog....
why just recipes?
Well, I have lists and lists of projects that I have started or want to start or dream of starting...yet life is so busy that I'm left having to do what a mom has to do...COOK!
...so, since all I do is cook that's all I've had to post...

hopefully that will begin to change...

my friend Rayna and I made an apron this week

(sneak peak at the fabric...more pictures to come soon, I promise) and we're working on another two (matching mommy & me)...

and then I have a few art projects bumping around inside my head that I would LOVE to share with all of you...(great idea for an inexpensive kids room art/decor)...

Oh, and I have this beautiful whimsy Valentines door wreath that I've put together... inside my head... but now with Valentines just a week away I will probably keep it up there for another year!

And the plans for my yard...I have some "before" pictures to show you...but the "after" pictures are so far away from reality that I can't share those yet either...

Then there is the bed spreads for our kids room that I'm working on and reorganizing and decorating their room...in my head...that I can't wait to share...still have to get them out of my head and into this place called reality!

Oh, and we have some amazing plans for our office/media room/dump all...but those plans are waiting for a few months or until the $ fairy shows up...

So, what do I have to share with you today...
I have a wonderful head cold I could share...
...
no really, here is my ChambersMade Spa Night @ home

when Wilson was in the bath the other night, I pulled a chair into the bathroom, rolled up my jeans and soaked my feet in the tub with him...and bonus...

he WANTED to use the fun foot scrubber thingy to scrub mommies feet...

There you go moms (and dads)...next time you need a good foot soak just throw the kids in the tub and let them scrub at your feet!

Now, off to find the cure for the common cold...any suggestions besides water and vitamin C?

Can you do that?

I tried something last night that could have been disastrous!

it could have knocked the earth off of it's rotation!

it could have re-aligned the stars...

I made Sunday Night Potato Chowder on Wednesday night...

and guess what...the family ate dinner and went off to church and the world just kept right on turning!

Sunday Night Potato Chowder (or Wed night or any night)
4 pieces of bacon (optional, I didn't have any bacon so I used some bacon fat I had in the fridge...yes, I have bacon fat in the fridge...and some bacon salt...yes, I have bacon salt!)
4 cups of onion tater tots*
2 cups milk
1 can chicken broth
1 cup frozen corn, thawed (optional)
salt and pepper to taste
grated cheese to top (optional)
1.  cook up bacon in saucepan until nice and crispy, drain and chop into pieces.  Leave about 1 tsp bacon drippings in pan, add tater tots and cook for 2-3 minutes stirring constantly until they thaw some.
2.  Add milk and broth to tots, bring to boil, boil for 2-3 minutes and then reduce heat to a simmer and simmer for 10 minutes, salt and pepper to taste.
3.  Serve with bacon on top and grated cheese.


This was an amazingly FAST recipe to make, very good throw down meal, from start to finish this dish was on the table in under 20 minutes!   I wouldn't say it's my family's favorite, but it will go on the list of fast yummy soups.  The only way my son ate it was covered in cheese, but nothing wrong with that!  I also left out the bacon (didn't have any) and the corn (the daughter requested NO corn!)...
*Personal note: I have NEVER EVER purchased tater tots before until I needed them for this recipe...my daughter was ecstatic because she LOVES when they have them at school...(she eats them off her friends trays!)
Serving Suggestions:  I served the chowder with the rest of the tater tots and then some sliced cheese, and next time will probably also throw some fruit on the table.  

My Ride

I am 32 years old, have been driving since I was 16.5... 

(almost half my lifetime!)

In the, almost, 16 years of driving that I have under my belt I have "owned" or possessed (isn't possessions 9/10 of the law?) 4 cars (that's about 1 every 4 years)...

My first "ride" was a hand-me-down x2...it was my moms, then my sisters, then mine...(and it was used when mom got it...)

the silver '81, Mazda GLC station-wagon...the upolstry was patchy, the radio was spotty, and I had no idea what gas mileage even meant...

...

off to college I go, leaving my sweet ride in the driveway never to be driven again...

...

Met my beau...
no, really, He's my Beau (and he HATES when I call him that)...

and I start driving his gold'ish '89 Honda accord...

Then we marry and my name goes on the title...first car I owned...

Nothing too special about the Honda...no fancy rims, no banging sterro, it gets us from point A to point B...most of the time (there are a few stand alone blogs about when it didn't get us from point A to point B)...and because of that...and a pregnancy we decided with the help of some family to make our first car purchase as "adults"...

the Ford Focus..we loved her...well, maybe it was just me that loved her...

we went to the dealership, test drove some cars (I felt like a grown up)...ordered the car (they didn't have the color we wanted) and bought a BRAND NEW car, when we picked her up she had less than 6 miles on her...she was so pretty...shinny dark green....

This was OUR car, the family car...

dependable...

safe...

affordable...(thanks to grandparents)

OURS...we picked her out by ourselves...sort of...

...

she made 3 moves with us...(okay so they were just across town moves not like across the country moves, but there were still moves)
she was the car that drove us to the hospital when I was in labor with Madison...

she was the car that we brought Madison home from the hospital in...
the car that took us to the hospital the day Wilson was born...and the car that brought him home...

and in my crazy head, the car that I had imagined being Madison's 1st car, and me telling her that the car was older than she was!

...

Life happens...

grandparents move into town, down the street actually...

grandpa falls and breaks his hip and is no longer in the home with grandma but in the recovery hospital...

I now spend about 2 months (on and off) using their car...a '03 tan'ish gold'ish Buick LaSabre, to pick up grandma, load her wheel chair into the trunk along with Wilson stroller (Wilson's 5 months old), drive grandma, Wilson and Madison to the hospital, unload everyone, push grandma and Wilson thru the hospital halls to visit grandpa...and then back again, I was trying to take grandma twice a day...

Grandpa decides to give us their car...the '03 tan'ish gold'ish Buick LaSabre...because he can't use it anymore and I am using it a ton, the Buick has become my car...

I'm 32 and I've never been proud of my "ride"...

..okay, that's a lie...I was proud of the Focus...

but I never cared if my car had the fancy paint job, the best stereo system, the cool car seat covers, the neat stearing wheel thingie...and what ARE rims???  (are they the tire, the hubcaps, both, neither???)...
Yeah, it'd be nice if the car was pretty, but if it gets me from point A to point B safely, dry and warm or cool depending on the season...then I'm pretty okay...


It's been 4 years now with the Buick...we had to sell the Focus 
(a bitter sweet day for me, 
sweet=I was glad to see it no longer just sitting sadly in our driveway, bitter=my dream of it being Madison's 1st car had to die!)
4 years of  kids...diapers...potty training...sippy cups...vomiting...fast food meals...family vacations...vomiting...camping trips...animal crackers and gold fish...trips to grandmas...first day of school...dr. appointments...grocery shopping...vomiting...countless hours of music blaring...crying, yelling, laughing, hitting, bitting..."he touched me," "well, she touched me first" fights....
4 years of explaining why ME, a young'ish (28-32 yr old woman),
not very hip...
but not too by-the-book 
kinda of girl drives a car that people over 60 should be driving!
No disrespect for all my friends over 60...
but if you drive by our church parking lot on any given Sunday there are at least 5 other Buick LaSabre's just like ours and EVERY other Buick owner is at least in their 60's (some might be a tad older!)...
all this to say...
I want don't want my Buick anymore...
I want a grown up car, but not THAT grown up...I want...

wait for it...

I want my next ride to be a mini van!  YES...I want to embrace my station in life...I should be driving a mini van NOT a Buick...I should be driving some foreign made vehicle shipped to me from Korea! 
I WANT a MINI VAN...yes, that's what I want my ride to be!

Menu for Feb 1-7th

Okay so I have made menu's on and off again my entire marriage...sometimes I will start off really good, and keep at it for a good...week...

I know that making a menu helps on so many fronts...it helps me not have to think about "what's for dinner?" at 4 pm...

it helps my kids not ask, "what's for dinner?" the entire afternoon 

(I just tell them to look at the menu)...

it helps when I grocery shop...

it helps keep my fridge cleaned out rather than keep adding to the leftovers already in there...

so now that I've been blogging for 2 months (whoot whoot) I've tried to put out a menu for every week...and I think I've done it...not that I've stuck to my menu, but I've stayed pretty close...and my grocery budget is doing good too...

Monday

     Lunch-grilled cheese

     Dinner-Sloppy Joes

Tuesday

     Lunch-quesadillas

     Dinner-Wonton Soup and Fried rice

Wednesday

     Lunch-chicken salad

     Dinner-Sunday Night Potato Chowder

Thursday

     Lunch-leftovers

     Dinner-Meaty Ziti

Friday

     Lunch-egg salad

     Dinner-Concert w/ pizza there!

Saturday

     Lunch-taco soup

     Dinner-dinner out and Mulan play 

Sunday

     Lunch-leftovers

     Dinner-Cheddar Roast

Running Woman...or at least very fast walking...

I want to RUN...I want to be one of those women that jumps out of bed, throws on my cute running clothes, grabs my cell phone and runs out the door for my daily 5 mile run...

you know the ones that you see on tv or the movies...with theme music and a Rocky video montage... or the ones in your neighborhood...the skinny ones...

I have this vision, of the family all nestled in their beds and me out for my morning run, running past the newpaper kid while he's delivering papers...Running past the old couple taking their dog on a walk...Running past the local doughnut  shop while the cops change from night to morning shifts...Running past the bread delivery guys as they make their morning deliveries to the local grocery store...(not that I have a local grocery store close enough to run to...well, maybe if I was the woman in my vision I could run to the store that's up the street, and I guess it's less than 2 miles from my house, but it's up a hill and on a CRAZY busy road without sidewalks...)...Running in the rain, Running in the fog, Running in the early morning fresh start of the day, Running in the heat, Running with my iPod in my ears and all my cares being left behind me on the sidewalk...(don't have an iPod, but the woman in my vision does)

But I get up in the morning and just start to think...think about strapping myself into my support system that allows me to attempt running and then I just start to think too much...does that woman in my vision eat breakfast before or after her morning run, does she brush her teeth, does she pound a cup of coffee,  does she check her facebook before she runs out the door, do her kids get up and need breakfast before she leaves, did she do all her dishes the night before and not have them screaming from the kitchen sink at her during her run?  Does she not have an amazingly cuddly, dashingly handsome, warm and cozy husband that she would rather crawl back in bed with than run out that door...

And then I realize that if I'm going to attempt to become the woman in my vision I need to stop thinking...and start doing...and maybe have my internet turned off between the hours of too early and bright and early so I won't be tempted by facebook and blogs...oh, and need to buy an iPod!

and it would also help if my good friend Rayna bought the house 4 blocks down from me, so I could drive to her house, while she brews the coffee, we both pound a cup back and then start our brisk morning walk together....
well a girl can dream right?


blog update...
So the reality happened like this...
I woke up wrapped myself in my warm robe, came upstairs to blog about wanting to run, waited for my automatic coffee maker to brew me my cup, facebooked my friend Rayna and asked if she wanted to go, got dressed in my cute new running clothes, brushed my teeth, didn't eat breakfast, didn't pound a cup of coffee because I hadn't set my automatic coffee maker last night, read the boy child two books, and then drove across town to meet up with Rayna and briskly walk for 1.5 miles and then kick our butts running the last .25 up hill, coughed up a lung, drove home, still coughing up my lungs, ate the pancakes my dashingly handsome husband made for the family, pound the cup of coffee that he also made (love him), and updated my blog!

What's Poppin' for Dinner?

Okay so I might be weird but I like to read...

...read cook books that is 

(well, really almost all books I like to read)...

so anyways, I was reading my "Dinner Doctor" cook book that I got for Christmas (Thanks Julie) a few weeks ago and came across a Popcorn Soup recipe...

okay, must have read that wrong, can't make soup out of popcorn...

rewind...

yep, it said Popcorn Soup...

after reading the recipe I realized that the name was a little tricky because it's actually a corn soup/chowder that you top with popcorn right before serving...but had to give it a try...

AND...the meal ONLY took 10 minutes, that's right 10 minutes!

...the hardest part was opening cans and listening for the microwave popcorn so it didn't burn!

Popcorn Soup

2 cans cream-style corm

1 can corn kernels, drained

2 cups half & half

1 chicken-flavored bouillon cube

1 tea sugar

2 Tbl butter

Black pepper

2 cups popped popcorn

Hot Pepper Sauce (Optional)

1. Place the cream-style corn, corn kernels, half & half, and bouillon cube into 4 quart saucepan and heat over medium heat, stirring constantly for the first few minutes.  Continue cooking, stirring occasionally, until the soup thickens and is hot, but not boiling, 10-12 minutes total.

2.  Remove the pan from the heat and stir in the sugar and butter.  Season with pepper to taste.  Ladle the soup into serving bowls.  Top with popcorn* right before eating. Pass the hot pepper sauce for the adults that want to spice up their soup...

*You may want to give it some time to cool down for the kiddos.  

The popcorn shrinks up pretty fast and then just gets soggy...

we ended up giving the kids a bowl of popcorn and having them add a few pieces, eat that, and then add a few more...it was a fun dinner..

oh...minus the fact that we learned that the girl child doesn't like corn (not so fun when the entire meal revolves around corn)

but she did good, she ate the popcorn and the broth and didn't make too many weird faces...

oh, and what do you serve with Popcorn Soup?  We had a plate of cheese and Beau was craving chips and salsa...the recipe book also suggests some sliced fruit and bread...maybe cornbread? (or is that overkill?)

Next time we may try a few things...
*one, I realized once I sat down to type up this recipe that it also called for 2 cups low-sodium chicken broth that I completely left out (didn't see it when I read over the recipe 3 times!), but not having the chicken broth gave it more of a chowder than a soup feel and it didn't seem like any liquid was missing.  If you want to add the broth you add it at the beginning with the corn and half & half.
*some crisp bacon would be nice tossed on top and maybe even some shredded cheese.
*pieces of left-over deli chicken mixed into the soup for some added protein
*steamed broccoli
*I thought some crab or shrimp would add to the chowder feel of it, but my family all said NO...bummer!