For the Farmgirl at heart

Everything farmgirl, vintage, handmade, homemade, fabulous and fun!

Wednesday, March 30, 2011

One sick baby

Toots is sick. She's been really ill for about five days now. Sunday we took her into the ER because we couldn't bring her fever down and couldn't figure out what was wrong with her. Turns out her little body is fighting an infection of the urinary tract variety. Poor baby. She spends her days whimpering, screaming when she pees and sleeping fitfully for a few minutes here and there. She's on antibiotics and Motrin for the fever and pain, though it doesn't seem to be helping much for either. We took her in to her regular Doctor the other day because on the Motrin her temperature was still 103.8 * F. He said we are doing all we can and that she just has to fight it off. He gave her two shots of souped up antibiotics to help things along and that did seem to help. She's not been as whiney and her fever has come down significantly. I just hope she's better soon.

Sheep

Someday I will have sheep. I will look out of my kitchen window and see this. Shady trees, green meadow grass and sheep. That is all.

Friday, March 18, 2011

Moo Turns 5!

Well we just got back from a lovely trip to see Grammy and Grampy to celebrate Moo's 5th birthday! She's already 5, I just can't believe it. Anyway, after weeks of crazy planning (never try to plan anything on your own if you have a baby - you end up driving yourself nuts) and late night painting/gluing/crafting sessions party day was finally here. Moo wanted a My Little Pony Party, but not the original ponies that I grew up with, or the ponies in their late 90's/early 2000's reincarnations...she wanted the ponies of today. The My Little Pony Friendship is Magic ponies, which just started airing about 3 months ago and who have a total of 4 toys on the market right now. So there was going to be a lot of creativity since Mommy couldn't really go anywhere to find these guys. We ended up using Moo's ponies as a centerpiece on top of an original pony tablecloth from the party store, with a bit of confetti thrown in for good measure. We bought a pinata, also from the party store and also an original style pony. As for entertainment, we played a few games. I painted a new style pony on a piece of poster board for Pin the Cutie Mark on the Pony (that little symbol on the flank is the cutie mark). I also made up a game for Moo where she had to follow the clues an evil pony (from the new series) had left her to find her pinata. She really liked that one, and the pinata.
Then, since Moo was really the only kid (besides Toots) we had a game that everyone could play. I found a website on-line for scavenger hunts and thought it might be fun, but was worried about doing a hunt in just one house. So I decided to do a funny photo hunt. I made up a list of all kinds of funny photos each team had to take to complete the challenge, then we all downloaded our photos to the laptop attached to the t.v. while we ate lunch. After lunch, we all voted on which team had the funniest photos. It was a hoot. We had two teams of three and wouldn't you know it, Moo didn't want to be on my team? It starts young, I guess. Anyway, it was really a fun way to get everyone involved and made for some great pictures. Can anyone say Christmas Card?
The cake was just a chocolate cake but baked in a bundt pan shaped like a little Christmas cottage. Grammy and my brother piped some frosting on the details of the cake to make them stand out a bit and we wrote Happy Birthday on the tray we served it on. I chose the shaped pan for many reasons. One, I wasn't sure how I was going to pull off a pony shaped cake. Two, I had one day at Grammy's house to get everything set up and make the food for the party the next day and that didn't seem like enough time to be messing around with pony cake construction. Three, it was the perfect size house for the littlest ponies in Moo's collection. Four, I just really wanted to try out that pan.
It turned out to be a perfect party. Moo had tons of fun, even though there weren't any other kids there and all the "grown ups" played kid games and ate cake shaped like a house. AND I got a bunch of great shots of the whole family in ridiculous set ups. As a courtesy to those involved I have not posted any of these pics here. But trust me, they were great. Try a game like that at your next family gathering and have some fun!

Traditional Irish Stew for St. Patrick's Day

Since becoming an Irish-by-marriage, I have been working to discover a wonderful meal to serve on St. Patty's that everyone will love, that is simple and special at the same time. Something that we don't make except on that special day. We are not fans of the Corned Beef and Cabbage that so many seem to force down on this day every year and I frequently make Shepherd's Pie so that doesn't feel special enough.
This year I trolled the internet and found a gem of a recipe on Food Network's website that I just had to try. They called it Roasted Root Vegetable Irish Lamb Stew and the reviewers all raved about how wonderful it was and how it was just like the one Mam used to make. So I thought I'd give it a try. The only problem was that I couldn't find any lamb. Nope, none. I went to the three major grocers around my home and the only thing that ONE of them had was one of those racks of lamb that you make into a crown roast. I have to admit that I considered this for a minute. But needing 2 roasts to come up with enough meat for this stew would
set me back about $40 and that's just not going to happen. So I just got the good old beef stew meat at $2.99/lb. This recipe also gave me the opportunity to work with Parsnips, a veggie I have never used before. It is a very tasty root, somewhat like a carrot but kind of spiced in flavor and with a very odd consistency. I can't say that I liked the texture of the roasted parsnip, but I did like the flavor. We shall have to explore a bit more with this veggie.
So the recipe was quite simple, but did take a long time as there were veggies roasting in the oven and meat simmering on the stove for 2 hours. The gravy base for the stew was Guinness based and tied in nicely with my Irish Car Bomb Cupcakes (see previous post). I was a bit worried that Moo wouldn't care for the stew because it contained so many veggies (none of which are on her Yumm! list) and it smelled VERY Guinnessy while cooking. But I gave her some of the meat, some potato and a few peas and she ate them all. Although I'm not sure if she did this for love of the stew or because she wanted a cupcake...I'd like to think it was the stew.
The Hubby and I both thought it was delicious.
Like I said, I was afraid it would be a bit beer-ish, but it wasn't. The Guinness just added a richness to the sauce and complimented the rosemary and spicy parsnips and buttery leeks well. I had to resist going back for seconds, but the Hubs just couldn't. He had two full servings, so I'm guessing it was a hit all around! It may not look like much, but it was fantastic. Although I have to admit that I think the first photo of the ingredients IS a more appetizing picture. But this is the way of the stew I suppose!
If you want to try this recipe, and I strongly suggest that you do, just go to...
http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/food-network-kitchens/roasted-root-vegetable-irish-lamb-stew-recipe/index.html
Delicious!!!
Happy Saint Patrick's Day everyone!






Irish Car Bomb Cupcakes??!?!!!?

So I read a post on my Facebook page from my cousin who dropped a link to these cupcakes for St. Patty's Day and just couldn't wait to try them out. Yes, you heard me right. Irish. Car. Bomb. Cupcakes. Based on the cocktail of the same name, which involves Guinness with a shot of whiskey and Baileys dropped in, the cupcakes resemble the drink in every way. You bake a chocolate Guinness infused cupcake, scoop out the center and fill it with a whiskey chocolate filling and finally frost the thing with a Baileys buttercream. OMG. And yes, this recipe called for almost 2 lbs. of butter. Certainly not for those try
to watch their weight. Or their heart health. Or any other type of health, really. Anyway, they were delicious. Moo loved the Chocolate Guinness cupcakes, she got one pre-fill and frost since the alcohol cooked off of the baked cupcakes. The beer just added a bit of spice to the chocolate, overall a nice flavor. The whiskey filling was FABULOUS! Not to strong, but nice. The Baileys buttercream frosting was intense. REALLY intense. I thought it was better today (the second day), but the Hubby and I both decided that it either needed a lighter hand with the frosting ( I only used half the batch of frosting! ) or next time we'll just skip the frosting all together and instead of filling the cakes with the whiskey chocolate mix, we'll frost them with it instead. That would make it an easier cupcake to make and a lighter cupcake to eat. Both good as far as I'm concerned. But all in all it was a very successful adventure into Cupcakeland! Thanks KPB!
You can find these yummy cupcakes and loads more at this wonderful site: http://www.browneyedbaker.com/2011/03/14/irish-car-bomb-cupcakes/
Have fun!

Saturday, March 5, 2011

Say Whaaaaaaaat????

That's not how you use a Boppy!

When it came time to feed Toots this afternoon I went looking for the Boppy and this is what I found. Moo snagged it, put it on the ottoman and used it as one of those pillows that everyone had when I was a kid...you know the ones that turn your bed into a chair? And the little booger wouldn't give it back. "Just a second Mom, I'm almost done finding all the letters!" Playing video games (on her leapster learning letter recognition) and begging not to be bothered...I thought I didn't have to deal with this for another 10 years. It was pretty cute though.

Friday, March 4, 2011

Big Babies

I have big babies. Big all over, but mostly big headed! This is Toots at 4 months. She is wearing a 6 month sized hat. It just barely stays on that big old dome of hers! This is why I know how to knit hats. I'm hoping this means that my girls will be super geniuses? Geni? What is the plural of genius? I guess that answers that question.

Tuesday, March 1, 2011

Party Prep 2

Moo's 5th birthday party is getting closer, so party planning/creating is in full swing. Here is a picture of the pony I painted on poster board for the "Pin the Cutie Mark on the Pony" game that we will play, using stickers of hearts, stars, all different shapes to put the little mark on the butt of the pony that all My Little Ponies have. Moo picked out the colors and the name of this pony, since we decided it should be a special pony for the party. Moo loves her (this is modeled after the new My Little Pony show that is on the HUB network, her favorite as opposed to the ones I grew up with). I think it looks a little evil, but I guess that's just me. One game down, a gillion more to go!

Thrift Store Decor

As you can see, I'm in the middle of painting my bedroom, so bear with me. I just wanted to share this little snippet with you. I know many of you have seen this idea on a number of decorating shows or magazines, but it really is a fab idea. For anywhere from $0.25 to $5.00 (or more, really) you can find cute little plates, saucers and trays at your local flea market/thrift/antique store and hang them on your wall to add a bit of interest and color to a blank space. I refuse to pay more than $2.00 for a plate, so none of the ones pictured here were more than that. I also prefer the kind of freeform look that hanging them as I go creates. I think the wonky shape is a bit more visually interesting. These hang above my rocking chair in the corner between my bed and the crib and I just love them. The Hubby isn't too much of a fan, but they aren't on his side of the room, so he says they can stay. Yipee!

$15 Fine Art

I have been looking for something to hang in our bedroom, above the baby crib which has an entire blank wall all to itself. Since it was going near the crib, I wanted it to be safe (we do live in earthquake country) and pretty to boot. When I couldn't find anything pre-made that fit the bill, I started thinking outside the box. So when I saw this paint-by-number kit (yup) at the craft store, I used my 50% off coupon and got it for $5. It kept me entertained for a few weeks, painting it here and there as I had the time. When it was finished, I went back to the craft store and bought a cheap mat and empty frame that you are supposed to have the professionals use to frame your work for you. Since it had no backing and no glass, it was only $10! So I took it home, used my good friend Duct Tape to hold it all together and viola! A very light, shatterproof piece of art for about $15! The colors are perfect for our room and I made it myself! Well, I followed the directions myself, same thing.

That old table

I don't want to hope you remember, but back when I was pregnant I found this beat up old table at a thrift store for like $10 or $12. I posted a picture of it and told you I would show you what it looked like once I got it cleaned up, fixed up and painted. Well here it is in it's new place, right next to Moo's bed. I fixed one of the legs since it was a bit wobbly, sanded it down, primed it with 2 coats of a special primer/sealer since it had a strange varnished finish and gave it two coats of a pretty shade of white paint. At some point in the future, that chair will be replaced by the identical bed we have stashed under Moo's bed for Toots, since the girls will be sharing a room. But for now it's just Moo and her new table. She likes all the shelves and that she can now keep her stack of books and flashlight right next to her. She likes to "read" a bit before bed. It also gives me a place to put whatever toy she falls asleep with out of the way, but someplace she can find it. If she wakes up in the middle of the night and can't find whatever it was she had when she fell asleep, then she wakes me up to help her find it. Not fun at 3 a.m. So putting it right in front of her face on that little table is WONDERFUL!!!