Convenient Patches

When Mo was a puppy he would consistently grab for my elbow and rip holes in my long sleeved shirts and hoodies. I tend to run on the cool side 98% of the time and inadvertently grab this gray hoodie on my way to work later realizing it has a big highly unprofessional looking hole in the elbow. Not that this looks professional, but it's better than looking like a hobo. If you are a hobo... no offense.

Rice Heating Pack

I love this thing! I had one several years ago that a coworker made me and I've since lost it.

Pick your favorite soft fabric.

Fold in half design side inward and sew into a square.

Leave a small opening for turning and turn rightside out.

use a funnel to fill the square with rice.

Sew the opening shut.

Microwave pack for 1 minute and 30 seconds inceasing time by 30 second increments. No more than 2:30 total.

Eventually the rice will dry out and you can microwave the pack with a glass of water to rehydrate the pack.

Something I love!

Silpat non-stick baking mats make up for their cost if you tend to use a lot of parchment paper as I do. I love these things. They evenly cook my cookies and nothing EVER sticks! Can't be used for oily items, but it makes baking so much easier and consistent.

Chocolate Shortbread Cookies

Ingredients:

1 cup softened unsalted butter

1 tsp vanilla extract

3/4 cup confectioner's sugar

4 cups flour

melting chocolate as desired

Directions:

-preheat oven to 350 degrees.

-Mix softened butter, vanilla, and sugar until incorporated.

-Add flour and mix until dough is well mixed and forms a ball that pulls away from the paddle.

-Roll dough out on a lightly floured surface and cut into desired shapes.

-Place cut cookies about 2 inches apart on prepared cookie sheet and bake for about 16 minutes... just until they have set and you notice they start to go golden on the bottoms.

-Allow cookies to cool on sheet for about 5 minutes before moving to cooling racks to fully cool before melting your chocolate and dipping cookies as desired.

The cookies themselves have a really nice texture, but I chose a milk chocolate and think I would really prefer something darker as it's just way too sweet on the cookie. I also have no idea how you get the chocolate smooth. As you can see I had lots of bubbles.

Pretzel Bites

I LOVE soft pretzels and have had this idea in the back of my mind for a while now, but never felt like I had the time to try it out.

This recipe is so good and really overall pretty easy to make. My teammates for my work weight loss challenge really should have expanded the toll jar beyond just sweets. I can absolutely find other things to fill in those extra calories, but i'll try to take it easy on them.

The recipe can be found here.

Weekend Windows Part 3

These are a work in progress. I'm still not entirely sure what I'm going to do with them, but at least the windows are covered.

Weekend Windows part 2

I really like how light and pretty these turned out.

Weekend Windows part 1

I've been way too busy and totally disinterested in doing any baking or sewing lately. I decided it was finally time to cover the windows downstairs. I'm totally exhausted!

Of the three sets of curtains this is definitely my favorite... surprised? I'd guess not.