A New Dress

I'll be in a wedding a week from Saturday, and I don't have a dress. I couldn't find one that I really liked enough to buy, so Mimi and I are making one. :) Woooooo.

Here is the outside of the patter, M5882.



This is the dress we're doing.



Below are the fabrics that we're using:
The daisies go on top; the yellow is for the waistline and tie, and the bottom section; the stripes are for the big section of the skirt. I'M SO EXCITED!! Mimi isn't too fond of the three patterned fabrics, but I think it'll look fantastic.



We're cutting out the pattern tonight and the fabrics tomorrow. I will keep you posted!

What I Had for Dinner

I don't cook often anymore, just because I live by myself, and there's really no need to cook a full meal every night for one person. That, and most things you buy at the grocery store (boxed meals, etc.) are family size, and frankly, I have no desire to eat Hamburger Helper five nights in a row to keep it from going bad. I know I could freeze it, but I don't have a lot of time right now, so it's mostly Healthy Choice.
However, about three nights a week I am graced by the presence of my Mimi, who makes me cook for her (she lives alone, too, and is in the same boat).
For about a week I've been absolutely CRAVING soup beans. Call it the Harold Nichols in me, I have wanted them so darn bad! So my beautiful Chattanooga Grandmother heard my cry and answered; I found a surprise quart of soup beans in my refrigerator after she left following a short visit this weekend. :) Yay!
Of course, cornbread was in order (Mimi swears mine is the best she's ever eaten). This photo is pre-baking.



And after baking/cutting. It was pretty much perfect. (Don't worry, the recipe will be at the end of the blog!)



Yay, dinner!! It was insanely good.



Dessert consisted of the following:



Very pretty South Carolina peaches that Mimi got on the side of the road. And then we added some cooked blueberries and whipped cream. I ate until my mouth started breaking out, and then some. I like to live dangerously.



So darn good.

Okay, now for the recipe I promised.

Corn Bread
(This is from my summer at LHF in Des Moines, and is the one we used at the 1850 site)

2c. Indian Meal (Corn Meal) 1c. flour
1 egg 1tsp. + baking powder
1 tsp. salt 1c. hot water
butter the size of an egg enough milk to make batter
sugar to taste

Mix meal, butter, and hot water first, then add the rest. Bake at 400 for about 30 minutes, or until a cake tester comes out clean. This won't get very brown on top, but you can remedy that by letting it bake almost done, taking it out and buttering the top, and finishing the bake on broil.

I warned you.

I did. Honestly. A long time ago, I made that statement that I am the worst blogger EVER. And the fact that I have been absent for 3 weeks proves this. My sincerest apologies and a big post to make up for it!!
I didn't manage to upload these pictures in a cohesive order, so you're going to have to deal. :) But we still love each other, right? These are a little bit of what's been going on in my life in the last three weeks.

So, the summer of MAKING has gone almost halfway by and I haven't made very much. :( However, I now have a solution!!



I've been printing off new recipes, patterns, etc. and putting them here for easy access. Yay!

Then, there is this beautiful thing:



Which may, or may not be, a carseat/carrier blanket for a beautiful kid named Izzy.



I super love this yarn!!

I finally made the Italian burgers left over from my meatball foray.



These gorgeous puppies are dressed with sauteed onions, cream cheese, a fresh tomato, and spinach. Yum! They were so good.



I found a turtle in the yard! I named him Turtle.



I was in a wedding! This is a picture of her gorgeous cake.



I celebrated the 7 year mark for this beautiful kid here.



Most of the time, she looks like this:



I completed two summer courses, and read 12 books in two months with > 150 pages.



I made my first meringue! So beautiful. And so yummy.



That is all for the update. I promise, more book reviews coming!! And (hopefully) a finished shot of the baby blanket.

Alas and alack, what to do with leftover cake??

Remember all that cake leftover from my last post?
Well, the time came to do something with it. So, I got creative.

Ingredients
Carrot Cake
Bananas
1 box French Vanilla Pudding (Wal-Mart brand is great!)
Whipped Cream

Layer them together and you get this:



It definitely has a banana pudding thing going on, but it's not very banana-y (for lack of a better word). And the whole carrot thing is interesting. Overall, I give it a 10.
Now, will someone please come take it out of my fridge? I've eaten half of it by myself. :(