I. Love. Nutella.

I had my first taste of Nutella in my high school French class.  There for awhile, it seemed like only French people or French students knew about it.  It's fairly mainstream now, and while I miss having this perceived secret product in my pantry, I'm a big fan of all these Nutella-based recipes that are popping up.

So, a few weeks back, I made these Peanut Butter & Nutella Swirl cookies for the guys at Station 2.  They were super easy and CJ reported they were gone by 1 pm.

Go find the recipe at Delightful Bitefuls (via Pinterest, of course).

let there be fire.

CJ saw a recipe -- yeah, I know that's probably not the right word, but it's all I can think of right now -- for firestarters.  It called for sawdust and wax, one of which we have in abudance here and the other which is only a few bucks at the store.

The finished product.  Ignore all the wax and sawdust on my stove.  (Ugh.)

Light up one of those babies, et voila!

If you have a fire pit or go camping, these would be great additions.  And like I said, we have an overabundance of sawdust here, so if you're interested, we'll sell you a handful for a few bucks.  Just let me know!

the great closet unveiling

If you see me frequently in person, you know that CJ had been working on our closet for quite some time, as part of this whole domino-effect home improvement scheme we planned in the summer.  To pre-empt some of your questions, things didn't exactly work out as we planned and we're now a month behind schedule.  Here's the whole story in pictures:

We have a small master "suite."  It's so small, it really shouldn't even be called that.  But it does have an attached bathroom and a nice walk-in closet, so I suppose the description fits.

Long story short, we had this big dresser in our bedroom and another matching, large dresser in our closet.  Neither was big enough to hold our clothes and our closet didn't have any organization.  So we decided CJ would build a closet system.  Then we'd sell the dressers, get organized, and I'd feel less stressed out about constantly having a mess in my house.

Okay, I'll admit that probably 95% of this mess is caused by a combination of having too much stuff and being lazy about cleaning and organizing.  That's beside the point.

One day I came home to find my entire closet had been gutted - floors, clothing racks, shelves, everything.

This photo was taken in the very beginning when it was still fun.

Actually, I think I took this picture mere minutes before I told CJ the entire closet had to be repainted before we got any further.  The fun went downhill from there.

This is just one snapshot of where our clothes went.  See those bags down there?  Those are holding my shoes.  (Not.  Cool.)

The cats are the only ones who seemed to enjoy the messy house since it's easier to hide.  Can you find Stella in this picture?

As you can see, two weeks after the initial gutting, some progress was made...

And this is the finished product!  Well, almost finished product.

Three or four weeks later, I finally got to start to move our clothes back in.

CJ still has to build drawers here so it won't look permanently messy.

And -- you can all breathe a sigh of relief here -- some (note: some) of my shoes have a home.

So what's left to do?

As you could see, we're down to the cement floors, so obviously, new floors need to go in.  And once those go in, we need to put new trim in.

None of that's probably going to happen until I can choose a darn paint color for our bedroom.  Then we need to paint, rip up that carpet, put in all new floors, and put in all new trim in the suite.

Check back in like January of next year once CJ's out of school and we finally -- finally -- get our act together with the home improvements!

cooking with cheerios

My latest Station 2 treat was these Cheerio treats.  Shamefully, not as many made their way to the fire station as should have.

Side note -- What are those special Rice Krispie treats called?  The ones with peanut butter and corn syrup?  These are really similar.  And just as easy.  And just as unhealthy.

Head on over to Kathie Cooks to get the recipe (yep, it's another pinterest find)...

bubble up enchiladas

I'm loving bubble up foods right now.  The food's good, but it's really luring me in because of how stinkin' simple it is.  Throw some ingredients into a pan with some cut-up refrigerated bread dough?  Sold.

This one's got the bread dough, cooked turkey meat, enchilada sauce, and cheese in it.  It was a weight watchers recipe, but I'm pretty sure I killed that with all the cheese on top.

If you want the full recipe, head on over to the Recipe Diaries.  Enjoy!

strip quilt: lesson learned

I learned an important lesson about sewing this week:  Fabric weights do matter.

I was moving along quite nicely with the quilt, ready to piece the entire top together.  I found some really soft blue fabric to put in between the patterned pieces.  What's not great about super soft fabric, especially for a baby quilt?

If you look past the crummy photo quality, you'll see that that blue strip in the middle has pulled at the seams.  I tried one more strip to see if it'd be any different and it wasn't.  Normally, I'd just keep sewing.  (Kind of reminds me of Dory in that fish movie -- what's it called? -- "Just keep sewing, just keep sewing!")  But, I do want to do this right and have a sneaky feeling that once I try to quilt it -- which I've never, ever tried to do before -- it's just going to look worse.

So I'll be spending some time ripping out these seams, but I suppose it'll save me time in the long haul.  Bummer.

Any other experienced sewers out there?  Any advice or helpful tips?

(Oh, and P.S. -- Inspiration for the quilt can be found here.)

reese's peanut butter cup brownies

I'm determined to not be one of those people who only pins something to their Pinterest account, never to actually try it.  (If you have an account, you understand what I mean.)

So I made these to-die-for Reese's peanut butter cup brownies.  They were so rich I could only eat a half of a brownie.  And then I sent the rest with CJ to work.  It's a good compromise, right?

Here's just part of the mixture.  Yep, there's Reese's Pieces in there.

And here's the final product (try to look past the crummy iPhone photo resolution):

This one has a layer of brownie mix.  Then there's the batter you saw above with Reese's Pieces in it.  Then there's the melted chocolate topping with Reese's peanut butter cups spread on top.

Obviously, there's nothing healthy about these whatsoever.  But if you're looking for a good brownie for a special occasion or if you really, really, really need a chocolate fix, try this one out.  You'll find the recipe at Pip & Ebby.

chocolate chip cookie brownies

I'm using my pinterest account again, this time whipping up these chocolate chip cookie dough brownies:

I'm not going to lie -- these took some time.  The bottom half is a (homemade) brownie.  The top half is (homemade) egg-less cookie dough batter.  If you decide to make them, know that it took me a lot longer to make the brownie, and I'd also switch out the semi-sweet chips for milk chocolate (but that's more personal preference).  Enjoy!

sewing help needed!

Only three people have taught me to sew:

1)  My 7th grade Home Ec teacher.  I can't remember her name, but I do remember she didn't have a lot of patience.  I made a pillowcase and a pair of elastic-banded shorts.  Both were in Looney Tunes prints.  Hot, I know.

2)  My grandma.  She taught me how to make the pillowcase when my Home Ec teacher couldn't/wouldn't.

3)  My friend, Leah, who re-taught me how to make a pillowcase fifteen years after Home Ec class.  (That class was 15 years ago?  Yikes.)

My point today?  I've pretty much only made pillowcases and I'm starting on a quilt.  I'm experimenting with other fabrics.  And when things screw up, I need to find someone to help me out.  This is where you, dear readers, come in the picture.

Here's what happened with the bobbin thread:

If it helps anyone, the fabric you don't see is 100% cotton and what you see here is terrycloth.  Oh, and try to ignore the fact that I can't sew in a straight line.  I'm a beginner.

Any ideas why the thread messed up like that?  Problem with the bobbin?  Do I need a different type of thread or needle?

clear pond it is

I once loved bold colors in our house.  Anymore, it's hit me that our house is small, and while it's sufficient for us right now, bold colors -- like the burgundy on our bedroom walls -- don't help the house feel any larger.  So, I'm in the process of trying to choose paint colors for our bedroom too...and clear pond, in the bottom corner, is the winner.  (I can make a decision!)

Any bets on how long it's going to be before I stop showing you paint samples and actually show off a finished product?!  Your guess is as good as mine!

cotton candy cupcakes

Awhile back, I pinned a picture of cotton candy cupcakes on my pinterest account.  We bought some cotton candy at a concert.  And then I looked at the actual recipe.  Turns out it was nothing special.  Just a regular old vanilla cupcake with colored icing and a wisp of cotton candy on top.

These were a win for three reasons:

1. The cupcakes and icing were homemade.
2. They looked cute.
3. I made a group of firefighters happy.  I sent 18 with CJ to work the next day and they were all gone in less than five hours.

But, these were a fail for two reasons:

1. The cotton candy melted.  Apparently that's what happens when exposed to air.  (Okay, so this made sense, but it didn't click with me when I decorated them.)
2. Turns out the colors are associated with babies.  We're not pregnant.  I just wanted the icing to match the cotton candy.  Promise.

faq

My most frequently asked question anymore is what I do with my time now that I'm not in school.

The short answer is that I don't know.

The long answer?

On a typical night, I tend to wander aimlessly around the house.  I can't quite stay focused on one thing for more than a half hour.  I dabble with a sewing project.  I might get on the treadmill.  I might sit at the computer all night, not doing a whole lot of anything.  I might pick up something around the house.

In short, there's no rhyme or reason.  Honestly, I'm not sure whether to be bothered by this or just be thankful and accept it as my reward for all the stress I've been under for the past two years.  Some other friends who have completed their master's degrees and worked full-time have assured me that this is normal and that I'll begin to find my routine again.  Fingers crossed.

This week, though, I spent the week being sick (sinus infection + some weird stomach bug).  I even had to adjust to that this week.  In the past two years, whenever I got sick, it sent me into a panic.  There was no time to be sick.  No time at work, no time at school.  There was a string of three consecutive classes where I got sick the last week of class.  I squeaked by Statistics - literally about ready to lose my voice that night and then it was entirely gone the next morning.

But this time?  I can enjoy being sick -- as much as one can enjoy being sick.  Yes, I'd really like it if my headache would go away and if my stomach would settle down, but I don't have to finish complicated economics problems or type up a coherent paper.  I can just sit on the couch, nap, and watch tv -- in other words, I finally get to be a normal sick person again.

Best close down, get back to that couch, and start thinking about everything I need to start Lysol-ing.

maybe sandstone cove?

I'm not 100% sold on either paint sample I've painted on the living room wall, even though I'm about 93% sold on one shade.  So I'm now testing out sandstone cove (on the left).

Sandstone cove is actually in our guest bathroom and it's probably my favorite color in the entire house.  But, it looks completely different here in the living room.  I'm liking it better at nighttime, but during the day, it's still too white for me.

Humph.