Patriotic Birthday Blast

Yesterday, was my Patriotically themed birthday party. We played the game True American and were challenged with dressing up as ‘Murican as possible.
I ran to Goodwill and found the above shirt. My mom found tons of red, white and blue star spangled beads for guests to wear.
I also had a headband with ribbons and lengths of nylon that looked like red, white and blue dreadlocks. And, it flashed the ‘Murican colors through the dreadlocks.
My brother went all out on costume. He wore American flag  karate pants, as seen on Napoleon Dynamite. It was super fly.

I don’t have any photos, of course, because my phone died not long after I got home. It was great fun! In addition to the drinking game, there was tons of food. We had potato soup, veggies, crackers, sweets, spinach artichoke dip. We ate like kings. Or shall I say, presidents.

I got to blow out a candle inside the longest cave in the world when my husband led a tour group in singing ‘Happy Birthday’. Another good birthday to add to the list of awesome.

Sorry I haven’t been posting recently as up to my birthday I have been battling a stomach virus.

What Are You Reading?

Unlike school kids, most of my reading goes on during the fall and winter. These times of year are when things begin to slow down. Less work, on and off the farm, and less to do out of doors–if you’re cold natured like me.
As things have slowed down, I have gotten to hang out with some of my siblings and our conversation circled around to, What books are you reading?
Sadly, my answer was, nothing.

So, I have made a point to change that!
I am rereading this L’Engle book. A Wind in the Door. I read it as a kid and just began re-reading it this year. I still had a bookmark in it from months ago and found it wasn’t very hard to jump right back into the story.

It is a tiny book, somewhere around two-hundred pages. So a great way to get back into a regular reading schedule.

My sister loaned me a copy of a new manga she has been reading and really loves. Bride Story by Kaoru Mori.
Even my mom likes this manga, so I am pumped to find out what she is so enthralled with.

What are you reading right now?
Need some inspiration?

Your Next Read
Or try What Should I Read Next?
I found these websites accidentally on Pinterest and love the idea. Type in a book you have read and liked, it will find a list of books similar to it. My results from the second website showed some similar books I love and some new books I have never stumbled on.

Make some tea and take some time to read today.

Pear Pie–Needs Some Adjustments

Can you see the hidden shapes on top of the crust? I attempted to cut the vent holes with the same shape, but they stretched and lost their awesome.

I used the fantastic apple pie recipe I found online and it is almost perfect. But instead of apples I used pears from our farm. I forgot that I decreased the temperature of the oven the first time I used this recipe. So…my crust was well done and my fruit was still a little hard.

We’ll see what my coworkers think.of it today. I’m nervous and not entirely thrilled that I made such a silly irrevocable mistake.

Update
My coworkers made it disappear easily during my eight hour work shift. Everyone agreed the crust and flavor was great.

They made some legit recommendations about a future fix. First, being if I have particularly hard fruits, I could cook them down in a sauce pan with the sugar to help soften them up.
Second, they also agreed that 375°F was high for pie and I should lower the temp.
I also hope to cut up my pear chunks into more even sizes. I think the larger pieces were the undercooked ones.

Bibs for Baby K

Recently, I found and got inspired by some plain baby bibs and have begun putting some simple embroidery designs on them.

Each bib will have one item on them, I feel that too much fancy takes say from the wearable napkin purpose of it.

A blue anchor on the blue bib, ‘Hungry’ on the green, ‘Feed Me’ on the yellow, and the baby’s name on the orange.

My little cousin is coming soon! I had better get crackin’! I can’t wait to meet the little sucker!

Addition: Mug Hooks

I have been swooning over the fancy mug rack DIY projects on Pinterest since I first saw them. However, Kit and I agreed we don’t like our cabinets and do not mind if we drill them for of holes.

I even used the power drill! I was proud of myself for learning and frustrated that I wasn’t an expert immediately. I did put up several of the hooks without completely ruining anything.

I am super pleased at the final product! My mugs are easy to access, they look pretty on display, and it cleared tons of room in my quite limited cup cabinet.
Yes, I am very aware my hooks aren’t even. My life is a little janky, so it fits me.

What do you think?