This is what Pumpkin thinks of the new arrival. :) We're hoping she'll warm up to her in time. If not, we're in trouble!

The newest addition to the Crafty Household. What should we name her?

The party.

Here's a pic of us all dressed up for a cocktail party we went to this weekend. Woohoo! Lookin' good, Mr. Crafty! And dig my $5.00 coctail dress? I did!

First of all, let me say in advance...forgive the punctuation mistakes in this. I tend to really screw up big time in that department when I'm typing fast and very tired. :) OK? Good. Here we go.

Some of the people I have told about the "Cooking Club incident" have suggested that I try again. Only this time, they say I should give more info about what a cooking club does. And also, I should have the meeting at a better time, say on a weekend or earlier in the evening.

What bugs me about this is that the meeting last time was clearly posted as being an information meeting and if you don't know what a cooking club is or does don't you think you should go to the information meeting and find out? Secondly, who's to say that if I do set this all up again that anyone would bother to show up?

I know I had some really good ideas and it would have worked beautifully if Michelle, Jenni, Kristin, Katie and Bonnie were there. But since they're in OK, and I'm not, there goes my ideal cooking club! :) What do you say, ladies? Would you try again if you were me? Or should I wait until I have some definite members in mind at a later time?
I'm listening. :)

Oh, and speaking of listening. You should all go to www.johnmayer.com right this very minute and hear his awesome song "Who Did You Think I Was". I listened to it about 6 times before I went to work today. I heart John Mayer. But not nearly as much as I heart my hubby. :) (Gee, I'm slick, aren't I?)

Note to Mr. Crafty...it's OK honey. If Paz Vega ever comes knocking at our door, I give you permission to run away with her. I know she's your pretend celebrity girlfriend and you know what? I'm OK with that. :) Love you!

I am not a morning person! It's not even 6 am yet and I've already helped my husband jump start his truck, wrestled the temperamental garage door shut, and started dinner in the crockpot...all before my first cup of coffee. Let's hope the rest of the day is so productive! Happy Monday!

The Cooking Club that wasn't.

So, I wasn't sure how many people would show up last night. Good thing I didn't have high expectations, because not one person came.

We got a chai latte, waited around for about 15 minutes and when it was clear that no one was going to show, we went to dinner. We went to our favorite Mexican place and I proceeded to thoroughly embarrass myself, my husband, and our cute little Mexican waiter by bursting into tears right there at the table. I didn't realize just how excited I had been about this project until no one came. It just really made me miss my friends back home. (B,J,K,and M, I KNOW you guys would have been there and we would have had a blast!)

Mr. Crafty knew how upset I was and decided I needed some "shopping therapy". We both needed new clothes for work, so we hit all our favorite places. He got 2 pairs of pants and I got some green pants, a green shirt, a funny t-shirt that will be my halloween costume, and a brown skirt. Now how many men would take their wives shopping just to cheer them up? Not many. I know, I know, I'm VERY lucky!

Tonight, I went to my first Pampered Chef consultant "cluster meeting" and it was so much fun! Everyone was really nice and had a lot of great suggestions. But what the heck did I do when I volunteered to do a recipe demonstration at next month's meeting?! Me? Uh, ok. Yeah, sure. I haven't even had my 1st show yet and don't have a clue what I'm doing, but who better to practice on than some fellow PC consultants, right? Then at least they can offer suggestions about what was good and what to do differently at shows. And I have a whole month to practice. I'm sure Mr. Crafty won't mind that a bit!

Yay! My comments don't appear twice. Thanks to Chris from RudeCactus for stopping by and commenting. Otherwise, I don't think I would have ever taken the time to look closely at the blogger template and figure it out. And that double comment thing was REALLY starting to bug me!

What a busy week this week! I had that meeting tonight, tomorrow after work, I'm going over to help a friend w/her computer, Wednesday I'm going to watch a fellow PC consultant do a kitchen show, and Thursday night I have the 1st Red Apron Cooking Club meeting. (More about that later) Then, Friday night is free, but Saturday and Sunday Mr. Crafty will be out of town, so I may cook up a crafty lil project to keep me occupied. Can't wait for Friday!

About the cooking club meeting...I have no idea how many people will show up. So far, the only people I know of for sure that will be there are myself and my husband. Which would make for not so much a cooking club, but just a regular weekend cook-a-thon at the Crafty household. That would suck. It took major effort and guts on my part, if I do say so myself, to dream up and actually implement such a thing as the cooking club. I am so very shy, naturally, that it is REALLY painfully hard for me to talk to people I don't know, much less try to organize something like this. But I am trying very hard to overcome this shyness, so that my cooking club and my Pampered Chef business are a success. Wish me luck!

Can anyone give me a hint as to why my comments are showing up twice? I have no idea and since I don't really know much about html, I'm not sure what I'm looking for in the template. But those double comments are about to drive me crazy! Any help would be greatly appreciated! :)

I got my Cooking Club cookbooks in the mail! Yay! 2 cookbooks I can use in my discussion next week about starting a cooking club. I am SO excited!

And it gets better! Today I got my Pampered Chef consultant kit in the mail. $350.00 worth of products for me to use and it only cost me $90.00! Woohoo! It's like Christmas! I've already got some flyers printed up (or is it fliers? Luckily I don't have to spell that one!) and some business cards and address labels with my contact info too. I'm dropping off some info at my bank tomorrow and at my dr's office. Here's hoping I can get some business so that my $90 investment pays off quick! Wish me luck, cause I sure am not very good at talking to strangers! ;)

OK, I now have the Red Apron Cooking Club website up and running. It is very plain and boring looking right now, but all the info is there. Check it out at

The Red Apron Cooking Club.

(For future reference, I also added a link on the left under "Devilishly Good Eats".)

Why can't every weekend be a 3 day weekend? Mr. Crafty and I had a great time this weekend. He watched some football (Booo! OU lost!), I did some cooking.
Sunday, we had my friend N. from work over for brunch. It was her birthday. Happy Birthday, to you! I made quiche, spoon bread, strawberry fruit dip with fruit, mimosas and a caramel apple coffee cake that is definitely one of my new favorites. I got that recipe and the spoon bread recipe from this month's Southern Living magazine. (Hmmm...anyone want to know what to get me for Christmas? A magazine subscription would be great!)
Today, we just lazed around all day and did nothing. We certainly were lazy on Labor Day weekend! Hope everyone had a great weekend. Yay for a short work week! :)

The finished bathroom. Makes me feel like I'm in a Tiffany's box. :)

And a closer look at 2 of my favorite things in the room.

Now to go scrub the blue paint out of my hair.

Anyone other than me find this funny?
Don't know how well this pic will turn out but this is my new kitchen gadget.
The package says "Authentic Mexican Lime Squeezer. Made in Taiwan".

Was going to post some whiny story about how I got ripped off at Walmart and charged about 10 bucks for some broccoli cause the guy didn't know what he was doing. But in the wake of Katrina, my dumb little story seems so pathetic. Everything I type seems so insignificant and petty. Nothing I say can adequately express how much I want to help and how little I am able to do so. Even monetary donations feel wrong to me. I want to be doing so much more!