Come on over...

Hey, you all! I'm finally moving. Come on over to www.thatsillygirl.blogspot.com and check out my new digs. That's where I'll be from here on out. This blog will be left up only for archival purposes. Be sure to change your bookmarks and/or bloglines subscriptions. Thanks! :0)

There have been a lot of you stopping by to look at the Eid greeting. Asalaamu Alaikum! Those of you stopping by for the Eid Mubarak greeting, I got it from here. Also, if a muslima crafting (sewing, knitting, etc.) at all interests you, you can find me here - ...that silly girl. Asalaamu Alaikum and may you have a blessed Eid!

Blogger's Breakfast recap

Well, hi!

Yesterday, Natasha and I and anyone else out there, had our Bloger's Breakfast. Of course, it was dinner, but that's okay.
The Menu:
Pumpkin soup
Cheese Scones
Apple Crisp

Well, let's just say that the only thing I didn't mess up was the apple crisp, maybe because I've made another version of it before.

-The pumpkin soup, though good, was not our thing, we found out. I was surprised at how much cream I had to use and ended up watering it down a bit with skim milk. I also wasn't completely sure how it was to turn out, so it might not have been done.

-The cheese scones were too sticky to roll out, so we had a mix between a scone and a biscuit. They were good, but I guess that's what happens when I let a two year old help me measure the milk.

-And the apple crisp was really, really good, but I was amazed at how much butter I had to use. I cut out some of the butter because it just seemed so unnecessary. I forgot to get some vanillas icecream for the apple crisp, so I just poured a bit of cream on it.I also cooked up some turkey sausage links and we had some green beans to round it out.

As for the set-up, we usually eat on this vinyl tablecloth from Land of Nod and eat on the floor. We have a small house and didn't want to clutter the space we do have with a dining room table, so we eat on the floor or on tv trays.

The best part of the experience:

-Taking the kids to the pumpkin patch, letting them play and pick out the pumpkin, and ride around in the wagon
-Having Mr. M help me cut off the top of the pumpkin and dig out the insides
-Knowing that I was sharing the experience with at least Natasha, thinking that if we were really eating together, she would be such a great hostess and that I'm sure it would taste scrumptious.

Now, there are some things I want to change for next time. I think next time the meal with be less fattening or maybe there can be some people who cook the meal less fattening so that we can experiment and see if it can be done, I think I also want to include some element of storytelling. Well, I have lots of ideas and need to get them together first and then I'll let you know.

Knitting: I just need to sew up S's hat and make i-cord strings and it's done. Hope to finish it today.

Have a wonderful weekend!

Pumpkin patchs and things I love

Okay, so later this morning, we're off to the pumpkin patch to get us a pumpkin for the first Blogger's Breakfast! Mr. M loves pumpkins, the look of them, and so it should be fun. This is just a reminder of the Blogger's Breakfast. It looks like a small turnout this go-round which, I'm sure, is to be expected. I hope those of you who are participating have great fun and I look forward to sharing a meal with you!

Things I'm loving right now:

A slice of Jiffy cornbread cut in half with margarine slathered on each side and then melted. So. Good.

Britax Marathon carseat and Traveling Tikes - I got one of these carseats for Mr. M and have not once regretted how expensive it was. It has and continues to serve us very well (should last until he's 65lbs). We ordered one for S last week and I was so excited because I found the Traveling Tikes website where they had some on sale for $40 less than the regular price, plus free shipping! They had the best sale price I had seen and they had free shipping. I don't even think there was tax. It was such a blessing. I seriously recommend this carseat. I feel the kids are very safe in it and it's comfortable, too. Oh, and it looks nice! And for those who may wonder about ordering it online as opposed to getting it from an actual store - it was still cheaper due to the sale and the no shipping.

Martha Stewart Living - I had not truly appreciated the greatness that is this magazine until I started going through some picked up from a used bookstore for collages with the kids. As I flipped through them, I found so many great ideas and recipes that I found it hard to tear things out. Such a great magazine!

Vienna Teng - such a beautiful sound(though I've only listened to samples, she sounds incredible).


Have a wonderful weekend!

Some knitting!

I have been able to get some knitting done recently.

the debbie bliss cardigan - just needs to be seamed up and she's ready to go::my husband's sock - just turned the heel::a hat for S - not so sure on the colors, but it was from stash, so I'll be happy with it::my almost finished wall pocket

It's a dreary day here, which I love, love, love. Hope your Tuesday is what you want, too.

psst...

If you plan to participate, take a button! (Save to your hard drive, please.)

Hey! The menu for the Blogger's Breakfast is up. Go on over and check it out. We've set the date for Friday, October 13th. Please join us! See FAQ in the sidebar on the blogger's Breakfast blog if you are new and want to know more.


And for those of you who check this blog for my wonderfully creative endeavours( :0) ), I have some stuff to show you tomorrow, including knitting (gasp!).

Will you join us for a Blogger's Breakfast?

Hello! Natasha and I thought it a wonderful idea to share a meal together. But how could we? She lives in England and I, in the midwestern United States. But what if we cooked the same meal at about the same time, ate at the same time and shared our experience with pictures on our blogs? It would be almost as though we were there!

Well, we shared our Blogger's Breakfast back in April and ever since have been thinking of how we could have others share this wonderful experience with us. There are many bloggers I would love to sit down with at a table and share food and good conversation, but since that's not possible, how 'bout a Blogger's Breakfast?

Natasha and I have come up with a menu, something you can add to if you would like or modify the recipes, but one that would connect us all. I mean, what better way to connect than over food! Then you leave a comment here, linking us back to your blog, sharing your experience and pictures. And then, in a few days, we'll gather pictures from some of the different participants to post on this blog, giving everyone a chance to see with whom they shared their meal. Though it's called Blogger's Breakfast, this first meal is not a breakfast. We will do breakfasts, teas, lunches, etc., but this first go round, we wanted to do something that went along with the changing of the seasons.

If this sounds like something you'd like to do, please go on over to Blogger's Breakfast and leave us a comment.

Please join us for the first Blogger's Breakfast. We'll set the date once we see how many are interested and will post the recipes in a day or two on the Blogger's Breakfast blog. Remember, you can do it another day that week if you would prefer. If there are fellow bloggers in your city/area, try to get together with them. I'm sure that would be a lot of fun.

If you have any questions, I've got some FAQ's over on the Blogger's Breakfast blog. You can also leave a comment here and I'll get back to you.

As for the recipes, well, I'll just say that they involve pumpkin, cheese and apples, not necessarily together. :0)

Blue is just a lively color...

This is a postcard for a family friend. I love how this turned out. I've been wanting to use the material on the outsides for a while, but it had to be the right project. And, truth be told, I was a bit afraid to cut into such pretty fabric. But it turned out well, I think.

There has been some knitting. As a matter of fact, I'm about to turn the heel on my husband's sock. I did that knitting on Saturday while in the van on a roadtrip to see my BIL play a football game.

I was also able to finish reading Morningside Heights by Cheryl Mendelson, author of Home Comforts, a book that is at the top of my list to add to my bookshelf, and I was really impressed with this book. Mendelson did an excellent job of weaving together the characters and their separate stories, talking about some of the characters professions and what they were working on (opera singer, pianist, science, psychoanalyst, writer, lawyer) without making a layperson feel completely inept, and I really loved how she would have a character rehash a conversation and while rehashing, would go from 3rd person to first and then back. I loved it. Now, it may be that only an English major would recognize that and appreciate it, but I did and I thought it was great. I think this is a book to put at the top of any to-read list you might have going.

I also recently read Prep by Curtis Sittefeld and I must say that I have mixed feelings. It was extremely well written and she had such an excellent grasp on the nuances of teen relatioships and friendships, and what private school(boarding school) education can be like. But, there was a bit too much of the angst and unsurity that I sometimes felt while a teenager for me to be able to finish it. I saw a bit of myself in the main character, but that wasn't the real problem. I just had this horrible sense that she was never going to figure things out, that she was never going to become comfortable in her own skin, that she would always feel she was a nonentity. And though I can be quite pessimistic at times, I have this irrational need for books and movies to end happily, or at least end satisfactorily. And I just didn't think this one would for me. So it put it down with about 100 pages left. Yes, I did read the last few chapters, but I don't want to give it away to anyone who might read it. I recommend it for excellent writing, but that's about it.

And I'm glad I can cross off a couple of books from my reading list.