OK, this is the "blogging before work, gotta make it a quick one" post. Which is good, since you don't have to wade through another LOOONNNGGG post like the last two. :)

Got the master bath painted "Cool Breeze". It matches my shower curtain perfectly. Yay me!

Made some "set your mouth on fire and make you sweat and cry at the same time" jalapeno poppers. Ate as many as I could stand and threw the rest away. Why the heck were those peppers so hot this time?!

Went to the Winchester Farm Market yesterday and bought some blackberries and the best apples I have EVER TASTED! Anybody ever had a Ginger Gold apple? If you are lucky enough to find these somewhere, DO IT! They are awesome!

And the very best thing? 3 day weekend coming up! Woohoo! OK, now everyone go plan to do something fun. Have a great day!

P.S. Later, I'll have to post about my $10 broccoli salad adventure.

I am having an awesome day today! Today, work went SOOOO slowly!! But once 5:00 rolled around, Sonja and I went to a kitchen store called "Terra Cotta Kitchen" where I found just the thing I needed! A cute red and white gingham apron for my cooking club. I'm going to have it embroidered with "The Red Apron Cooking Club" on it in red letters and I think that will be so pretty! I bought that to be the "traveling hostess apron" I mentioned in my last post, but I think I'll buy myself one while I'm at it. I'd say the founder of the cooking club needs her own personal apron, wouldn't you?

And I also bought a white pie bird to put in my kitchen. I have a really pretty black birdcage that is empty and I've been looking for something to put in it but until today I had no good ideas. Ta-da! I'll start collecting pie birds to put in there! (For those of you who don't know, a pie bird sits on top of your pie to let steam escape and keep your pie from bubbling over and all your filling from ending up covering the bottom of your oven. These little ingenious things are usually shaped like birds and some people collect them. Myself now included.)

And I bought PAINT!!! I have been just itching to cover these boring white walls since before we moved in here and I finally bought some paint for our master bathroom. I'm going to paint the walls a soft teal color called "Cool Breeze". Funny thing is, I'm wearing a twinset and carrying a purse in the EXACT color of paint I picked out! I'll be sure to post pictures.

And MORE shopping news today (can you tell it was payday at the Crafty house today?)...we went to Target. I found 3 candle holders on clearance for under 3 bucks a piece! 2 blue for the teal bathroom and one red for what will later become the tan and red bathroom. Again, I'll post pictures of the rooms and their accessories when they're done.

It will be a while before I get the whole house just the way I want it, as I can only afford to do one room a month. But I am SO excited about finally getting to paint!!!!

Maybe I'm weird, but I just love paint names. Can I have that job? I'd love to name paint for a living. The other colors I'm using in our house are:

(these are all paint colors found at Walmart)

Painted Desert-a light tan color with pinky undertones for the bathroom off the hall.

Soft Glow-a light spring green that will be in the living room and dining room.

Golden Margarita-a buttery yellow that will be in the kitchen and one wall of the dining room.

Green Chalkboard paint-not a shade exactly, but this will also be in the kitchen and will serve as my backsplash. How cool will that be to just write my grocery list on the wall!!!!

Myrtle Blossom, Calling Bird, Lazy Day, and Picasso Blue-all varying shades of blue that will all be in the master bedroom. Going to use a dark grey-blue on the ceiling, a medium blue on the walls and 2 shades of blue glaze over this (one light blue and the other dark blue). See the picture I posted April 19th 2005 for a better idea of what this will look like. It's too hard to describe.

I have no idea what colors we'll paint the other 2 rooms, but I probably will not be able to resist painting them too. I think it will look funny to have all but 2 rooms painted. What do you think?

It is 10:23 and I do not have to work tomorrow until noon. I am pretty sleepy, but it is seriously taking me some real willpower to keep from getting started on the painting. Another BIG thing that keeps me from doing it right now is the fact that I have no paintbrushes. :) Must get those tomorrow so I can paint tomorrow after work. Does that make me weird that I LOVE to paint?

OK, see what happens when I don't post for a while...these last posts have been huge! Oh well, guess those of you that read my stuff don't mind. At least I hope not! :)

OK, no, I have not fallen off the face of the earth, I promise! Just had nothing too blog-worthy to report until now.

I'm in the process of starting a cooking club and that has been what I've been focused on since this weekend. Not really sure how it's going to go yet, but I'm pretty excited about the response I've gotten so far.

Here are my ideas thus far:
We will meet for our fist meeting at a local coffee shop and get things started.
At this meeting, I want to propose my ideas and ask for suggestions and see what the others have in mind. I suggest that at the first meeting we have a sign up sheet and everyone sign up to host a dinner the 3rd Thursday of every month. We will have a different hostess every month and that the hostess decide the "theme" for her dinner. I have thought of several themes to choose from or they can choose their own, whatever. The hostess will be given an apron to designate her as the hostess. This way if any guests come, they will immediately recognize the apron wearer as the hostess. The hostess will announce the theme and the rest of the members must bring something that ties in to that month's theme. I want to make sure that everyone feels comfortable and doesn't stress out about trying to impress other people, etc. Myself for example, I know I don't have enough seats for a crowd, so we'll make do and eat on the patio or in the living room, or wherever someone decides they want to eat. I don't want people to think they have to run out and buy a larger dining room table and matching chairs to accommodate everyone. I want this cooking club to be a way for people to make new friends who enjoy cooking and sharing their food and recipes with other people. Oh yeah, and to discourage someone "cheating" and buying something to pass off as something they made, they must bring the recipe for the food they cooked for that night. And everyone has to help the hostess clean up after dinner.

Do I still have someone reading this? I'm amazed! I just wanted to brainstorm for a minute and put things in writing so they sound clearer to me. How do my ideas sound? Does it sound fun or like too many rules?

In other news, I'm signing up this week (I hope) to be a Pampered Chef rep. I'm pretty excited about it, since I LOVE Pampered Chef products and have wanted to do this since I first talked to a rep back in '98. I also used to be a rep for Country Bunny Bath and Body and am thinking about joining back up to be a rep with them again too but I think I will get my PC business off the ground first and look into CBBB later. (MB if you're reading this, CALL ME!)

This past weekend, hubby got a present. DirectTV with 120 channels plus local channels, satelite radio stations, and their "all sports package" so he can watch his Oklahoma teams. Guess the football/basketball/baseball watching parties will be at the Crafty household! Hmmm....maybe I can get out of watching sports if I say I'll cook food for the games. :)

So that's what's going on with me lately. Just working, brainstorming about my cooking club and still living the Summer of Salsa. People are STILL giving us bags and bags of fresh tomatoes! Yay for us, but I am getting a little tired of making salsa. Actually, my husband actually heard me yell "NO MORE SALSA!" this weekend when I cut my thumb while slicing the jalapenos. YOWCH!!!!! Hey, when I sign up to be a PC rep, I won't have to do that anymore, cause I'll have my handy dandy chopper. Can't wait for that! :) Don't worry, the cut was little, but the juice for the jalapenos sure didn't feel very good!

And by the way...no, I won't try to sell all my friends something, so don't be afraid to call me ladies! :)

Not too much to report lately. We bought plane tickets home for Thanksgiving. Woohoo! We are very excited about that. It will be one year since we've spent any time in our hometowns and we are really looking forward to it. Maybe this next year we can get home more often.

In other news, we're finally getting cable! Mr. Crafty called and ordered Dish Network for us. Of course, he had to get the sports package so he can see all his Oklahoma Sooner and Oklahoma State Cowboys sports games. Great, looks like I'll be in the other room watching HGTV or the food network. :)Or blogging a whole lot, cause I sure don't want to be watching football!

And that's about all the excitement for us this week. Like I said, not too much to report, but that's OK. Sometimes no news is good news, right?

Oh yeah, a special hello to my dad, who is probably going to be reading my blog for the first time pretty soon. Hope you like what you read here. Feel free to comment if you want. Love and miss you!

You know, sometimes I get to reading other blogs and I start feeling bad about what I post on this blog. Sometimes I have the most boring/goofy posts and sometimes I don't even post anything for weeks at a time. When I started this blog, I used to think I wrote some pretty funny stuff once in a while.
I'd love to be able to write like Dooce or RudeCactus or Snidget or Bakerina (their blogs can be found on my blogroll, to the left). It seems some people just have a way with words. (Thanks to B, who said some of my earlier stuff was witty. Even if you did accidentally spell it "whitty". Ha!ha! Love you, B!)
I used to spend so much time on this computer, it was unreal. I used to post a whole lot more and I really enjoyed it. But, I started spending more time on the compouter and on my blog, than I did with my husband and it was really starting to take a toll on our relationship. So when we moved up here, I made a new rule. No posting during the week. Just relaxing, hanging out, just the two of us...my honey and me. (My honey and I? Whatever, you get the drift.)
So, yes, this blog does end up being one of those "what I did this weekend" or "what we had for dinner" type blogs, but guess what I decided? That's OK! 'Cause I'm really enjoying just spending time with my husband, who I am crazy about, by the way!
Just thought my friends would like to know why I don't post during the week.
Gotta go!
If you want to get ahold of me, you can find me on the deck. Hanging out with my best friend.

This week, I received an invitation in the mail. It was for my grandma's 80th birthday party. Unfortunately, I can't attend, but I was asked to share some memories about grandma that will be made into a book that will be her birthday gift from our entire family. Well, it was hard to do, but I sat down and wrote down every single memory about grandma that I could think of. One of my favorite things we did when I was very little was make homemade playdough. I remember that grandma's recipe called for baby oil and to this day, when I smell it, I think of Grandma Nanny's playdough. So, this weekend, I was feeling nostalgic and decided I'd make my own playdough at home. Kinda silly, I know, since I don't have kids to share this with, but some of my friends do, so here's the recipe for my grandma's playdough. And one for Kool-Aid Playdough, too, which I had to try out just to see how it smelled. (VERY GOOD!) Now the question is, what am I gonna do with all this playdough? :)

Perfect Play Dough

2 cups flour
1 cup salt
2 cups water
2 tbsp baby oil
2 tbsp cream of tartar
a few drops liquid food coloring

Combine dry ingredients. Add water and oil. Stir well. Microwave on high 4 to 5 minutes. Stir again. Microwave another minute. Stir. Continue to microwave one minute, then stir, until dough is the consistency of mashed potatoes. Cool it enough to touch. Knead in food coloring until dough is desired color. Store dough in air tight container or ziplock bag.

Kool-Aid Play Dough

1 cup flour
1/2 cup salt
1 packet Kool-Aid unsweetened drink mix
3 Tbsp vegetable oil
1 cup boiling water

Combine dry ingredients. Add oil. Add boiling water. Stir well and knead until soft dough forms. Store dough in air tight container or ziplock bag. THIS DOUGH SMELLS GREAT, BUT IS NOT EDIBLE!!!

For more dough recipes, go to http://www.theholidayzone.com/recipes/dough.html

Salsa Part II

Ask and ye shall receive...that's what I learned this weekend. First, Ms. Lee from Mr. Crafty's work gave us a huge bag of tomatoes. I made salsa last weekend and it was a hit. I gave it all away and commented that I would make more if someone gave me tomatoes. Whoa baby! Did I ever get some tomatoes! And potatoes, cucumbers, and squash, too! Me, being the dork that I am, just had to take a picture of all the lovely free stuff that people gave me. (Because I just LOVE that blogger Add Image button!)
So then, my boss brought me a big bag full of cherry and roma tomatoes. I used some tomatoes from the store plus the ones she gave me and made a GALLON of salsa! (Yes, A GALLON!) That's the first picture.
After I got the kitchen cleaned up from that fiasco, Sandy, another lady that Mr. Crafty works with called and asked if we'd like some tomatoes and potatoes. YES! You can never have enough tomatoes if you ask us! Especially the homegrown variety. :) So she came over and brought us everything you see in that 2nd picture. WOW! Those tomatoes are the best ones we've had all season and the potatoes are HUGE! I sent her home with a jar of salsa and we got three bags of stuff. I think we got the better end of that deal, don't you?

So, the salsa recipe. Yes, I will gladly share it with you, but let me first say that I don't know how to make small quantities of it because I only seem to be able to make it by the gallon. Ha!ha! This is one of those recipes you'll just have to experiment with and find out how you like it. I am guessing on the amounts here, so use your best judgement and add more or less of anything you want to make it to your taste. The following recipe is for a medium-hot salsa.

6 to 10 tomatoes (depending on size, could be more or less)
1 white onion
2 jalepeno peppers
2 cloves of garlic
2 Tbsp fresh cilantro (or 2 tsp dried, but fresh is MUCH better)
1 tsp salt

Cut the tomatoes, onion, and peppers into quarters. Place onion, peppers, garlic, and cilantro into a food processor and pulse until it is the consistancy you like. Pour into a large bowl. Next, pulse tomatoes and salt in food processor. Add to onion and pepper mixture and stir until combined. Store in a covered bowl in the refrigerator.

*Be sure not to chop the tomatoes too much or you will end up with very runny, watery salsa!

One morning as Mr. Crafty was leaving for work, he went outside to find this...
all the geese that live in our neighborhood (18 of them!)were hanging out in the street in front of our house. See, they heard I cook and they wanted some of that goofy looking bread. Ha!Ha!

Here's a wobbly looking loaf of French Bread I made a while back. It sure doesn't look very pretty, but it tasted good! :)

Feelin' hot, hot, HOT!!!

Someone in Mr. Crafty's department gave him a huge plastic grocery sack full of home-grown tomatoes today. YUM! I immediately thought "salsa" when I saw them. On my way home tonight, I stopped at the store to get peppers, garlic, onions and cilantro. Then, when I got home, I threw everything into my food processor and turned it into enough salsa to fill a small wading pool. Good thing we like salsa! And it is SOOO good, if I do say so myself. But it is so hot that it will surely set you free (as my dad says)! So, I'm keeping some for myself and taking the rest to work in a couple of jars.

Speaking of work...I forgot to mention what someone brought in a few weeks ago. One day, one of our patients brought in the most delicious chocolate chip cookies I have ever tasted. They were gone in no time and everyone still raves about them. (Must figure out where she found that recipe and copy it. Hehe!) So then, a few days later, she calls and asks if she can bring something new in...something she's been wanting to try out. We say "heck yeah!" thinking it will be some more of the same yummy goodness she brought in before.
Well, she brings in what looks to be more chocolate chip cookies and we are pretty excited since the last batch was so good. You will never guess what was in these cookies. Little green specks that looked like sprinkles. Someone had to try them first and being the foodie that I am, I volunteered. WOW!!! HOT! Those little green specks were JALAPENOS!!!!!!!!! What the heck would you go and screw up a perfectly good chocolate chip cookie like that for? Needless to say, people usually only had one of those little jewels.
But you know, the thing that boggles my mind is that she actually thought they were good! This was not some practical joke she was playing! This woman is actually trying to start up a small dessert catering business from her home and thinks that people would want to eat chocolate chip cookies with jalapenos! Scary! What do you think? Would you try one?

Oh, and on another note about food...I've been trying out smoothies. They're basically vanilla yogurt, milk, and whatever fruit I happen to have on hand.
One of my favorite concoctions tastes a lot like an Orange Julius. YUM! I took one to my friend Sonja and she said it was pretty good! Actually, when I had her try the berry one, she said I should open up a smoothie shop. Boy, that was good for my old ego! :)

When Mr. Crafty and I were first dating, I let him in on a little secret about me. You know how they say that the way to a man's heart is through his stomach? Well, the way to mine is to compliment my cooking. See, this CraftyLilDevil is just the teensiest bit vain. OK, I relish a good compliment and think about it for weeks, that's how bad it is. But at least I'm honest, right?! Anyway, one of my favorite things in the world is to cook something and share it with other people. But what REALLY makes my day is for that someone to tell me how much they enjoyed my cooking! That's why sometimes I just go on and on about a new recipe I've tried or what I cooked today or whatever. So, sorry to bore you all with what has turned out to be a food blog, but that is what I like to do these days, so that is what I write about lately. :)

Hope you had something yummy for dinner tonight! Anyone want some homemade salsa? I've got plenty!