Elvis Pancakes...OMG

Everyone should be so lucky to know a pregnant lady like me (so says me).  I have crazy dreams every night, but two mornings ago I woke up nearly embarrassed to share one dream with the hubs.  I dreamed about Elvis.  Not the cute, young Elvis...but the older, chubby hunk-o-chunk of burning love...wait, it gets better.  I was his cook!!!  The dream continued on that I made him his favorite sandwich...pancake style. 

 OMG, I better have this baby soon, I am for sure turning into a truck driver!!!  I have nothing against truck drivers, I just fancy them to be crazy eaters too, since they hit up truck stops galore...ya know?!?

What you need:

Pancake Mix (do what you like, but I love me some Krusteaz, just add water)

I used 2 cups of the pancake mix to 1 & 1/3 cups water (mix as directed)

1 banana, cut length ways then across into bits

5 strips of well cooked (crunchy) bacon, crumbled

Peanut Butter Syrup Topping:

2 T. butter

1/2 cup pure maple syrup

1/4 cup natural peanut butter

(heat in microwave safe glass bowl for ~45 seconds) 

ladle batter into a pan well heated, over medium heat.

Top the batter with pieces of bacon and banana.

Wowza, yum!!!  Just wait for the delish topping! 

The heated butter, maple syrup and peanut butter (as

stated at top) thickens a bit and becomes the consistency

of scrumptious caramel.  I just decided this would be

equally delish on apple slices. 

Beautiful stack of Elvis Cakes.  Topped with peanut

butter syrup and garnished with a few chunks of banana

and bacon.  Just because. 

Yum!  Dare you not to lick the plate!

Fabrics Galore...

I saw these burp cloths on Etsy and was immediately obsessed, until I saw the asking price of $31 for a set of 4.  I do love me some chevron fabric, but I am also blessed with a mother-in-law who knows her way around a sewing machine.  All I have to do is send her a picture, or draw up an idea and she knocks it out.  How do you ever repay someone for being so generous with such a talent?

So, I googled 'chevron fabric' and found the holy grail of chevron fabrics at fabric.com.  I googled 'fabric.com coupon' and found one that saved 10% on my order, and even received free S/H...score!.

I gave my mother-in-law a quick ring to make sure this was okay.  She was game for the project, so I had the cutest stack of fabric shipped to her!  She is so sweet, she was measuring out fabric for another project I had in mind for Logan and baby (and I cannot wait for it to be completed so I can share with you all!!!  Just you wait, it is adorable!) 

Here are a few things she has whipped up for me off of ideas I had or have seen in magazines:

The curtains in Logan's old room.  I drew up what I wanted, picked

out the fabric and she whipped them up! 

My favorite old 'log cabin' quilt (to the right) that was beyond

the condition for practical use.  My mother-in-law and I  used the

old beauty  as our guide for picking new fabrics that had that same

vintage feel, to create a quilt for Logan's 'big girl bed' (to the left), that

will certainly be with her for a very long time.  Soon enough we will be

in our new house and I will share pictures of her bed, all dolled up.

This is one of the first sewing projects we worked on together.

She is a very patient instructor!  I had the idea for a pillow

for the rocking chair in Logan's room.  I decided I loved the lavender

chenille fabric so much I wanted to use it on the reverse for the

pillow cover, then the flower is stitched chenille side up. 

Another sewing lesson.  I saw a similar bird and owl

 at a store, but didn't love the fabrics.  So I picked

out my favorites, drew up patterns on newspaper and created

these cuties with my fearless instructor.

We always get out the sewing machine when the in-laws are visiting...I just need to be more confident in making stitches when she isn't visiting (soon, that must happen!!!).  Here are the cutie fabrics I just had sent off to Minnesota for her to whip up a couple cozy blankets and burp cloths for baby boy.

Just like I saw on Etsy, right?

I ordered extra of the gray chevron fabric for a

cozy blanket.

For a snuggly blanket. 

Burp cloth copycat...go ahead and call me that!

One more on the copycat train.

Too cute not to have something whipped up in this fabric!

Reduce, Reuse, Recycle: Structures

I have many a cool cats in my life, and I am about to show you some kick ass structures

whipped up by two of them.

First of all let me tell you a bit about my brother, Tate.  He is an artist.  He teaches art at a college in southern Arizona.  He lives in a converted jailhouse that he bought when he moved to Bisbee and also owns loads of land down in southern Arizona.  Always one with a flair for thinking outside of the box, he started drafting ideas to build a structure on a bit of his land.  I have a hard time not thinking of the Pauly Shore classic (ahem, right) Bio-Dome when I think of a desert structure, but as Jem would say, 'this is truly, truly, truly outrageous'! 

A mock-up of the desert structure in clay.

Hollow shell.

Construction on the interior. I adore the use of glass blocks.

Roof angles for rain flow and collection.

Construction and another look at the roof angles.

Stop it, right!  The lines and shape are crazy amazing.

The area surrounding the door is recycled bottles.

I am beyond obsessed with that feature of the structure.

Local restaurants saved their recycling for Tate to utilize as

functional art.

This is what inspired me to write up this blog.  The

use of the bottles as art, light reflection.  Crazy innovative!

Close up: glass bottle bottoms

 (and a little Mother Mary, probably for good measure).

I hope you all enjoyed the little virtual 'walk through' and a glimpse inside the head of my brother, who is beyond words talented in what he creates.  I will report back upon completion.

***

The next structure I am currently obsessed with is a green house that has more meaning than just a garden growing shed.  The GREEN is also in the structure itself, as it is constructed completely of recycled windows and doors that Kurt (a chef I used to work with in Oregon) acquired for free off of craigslist. 

Free booty off of craigslist.  I would love to get my hands on

some of these windows and pop mirrors in them!!!

I only have one picture of the completed structure,

but it is totally drool worthy!!

So there you have it folks, literally think outside the box and who knows what you might come up with on your little plot of land.  I feel so inspired, can't wait to get my hands on our new home...

2 months and 1 day to go!

Before the After: Mid Century Dresser

While it's true that we will officially be homeless in a few short weeks, I will certainly be filling my shopping cart (yes, the one I will have to remove from the Target parking lot to push all my possessions and child around in...) with this adorable little mid century dresser, that I just acquired!  I am so in love. 

When I first saw this beauty on the Internet (I was technically looking for homes, but got side tracked when I accidentally opened craigslist and searched 'mid century') I channeled Rachel Zoe in thinking the dresser for sure needed to have a turquoise moment, but when we drove over to pick it up and I saw the beauty of the walnut (and the look on Zac's face when I told him of my brillz turquoise idea)  I decided the turquoise moment would have to wait.

Just need to find a home, to find this baby a home. 

All it needs is new drawer pulls

(I did kind of oversell with the title 'before the after'...but I am sure that really peaked your interest?!?)

I will report back, as soon as this little guy is all dolled up, where it is supposed to be!

(so, for the real estate Gods that read my blog...I am talking a cutie little house in  

Golden, with views of the mountains.  Do what you can.)