I think I might be hungry....

Okay so I have been on the hunt for some really good pumpkin recipes that I can use to make something delicious and bring to our Relief Society Meeting this week. I am surprised at how many GOOD cooks there are. Now I define GOOD as someone who is down to earth and uses simple ingredients to make delicious food. Lets face it, we don't all have dry sherry in the cupboard or heavy cream in the fridge all the time.

So while looking, I found some awesome blogs/websites I want to share with everyone.

Our Best Bites This site is ran by Kate and Sara. They are stationed here is Utah (what can I say us Utahns are AWESOME!) I love how they have TONS of pictures and take the time to explain what they are trying to say! Here is some of just my fall recipes that I HAVE to try....(These are all of their pictures)

Candy Corn Cookies 

Sugar Cookies (what drew me was how it looked like Grandma's Big Cookie....)

Carmel Corn (this is the same recipe that I use, but she cooks the carmel in the microwave!!)

Cinnamon Bun Popcorn (Trav wants me to make this without the almonds though)

Easy Pumpkin Chip Muffins

Ginger Spice Cookies 

Homemade Pumpkin (A great way to use those pumpkins we decorate our front porch with)

Single Pie in a Jar (I think I might make some for my Father in Law for his birthday...something that he would LOVE after a long day of work!)

Then the second site that I found that has AWESOME recipes is Taste and Tell from what I have searched on her blog and whatnot, she is from Utah as well! We have some AWESOME cooks in Utah. Here are some that I have tried and can't wait to try as well! (These are her pictures as well)

Baked Creamy Chicken Taquitos

Puffed French Toast

Homemade Jordan Almonds (These are some of my Mom's favorite candy, when she visits in December I plan on us making her a batch to eat on the way home)

Zucchini Cobbler Bars

Halloween Popcorn Cake (I have made this already....so dang good!!! But I didn't do it in a bunt ban or add peanuts...but just as good! It is now my Halloween Popcorn!)

Lemon Candy Corn Bars (I can make these after Halloween right?)

Pumpkin Chili

Caesar Pockets (I remember when Wendy's used to have these when I was a teenager, oh how I LOVED them! But so excited when I found this! I am definitely going to have some for my lunches!)

Check out these ladies' sites and find some good stuff. If you make something and try it, let me know! I am always on the look out for EASY and YUMMY recipes...now I am a lazy cook...so SIMPLE is very important!

General Conference Weekend

I have been a wee bit behind on my blog posts yet again but not too far behind this time. The first weekend in October we had General Conference. For those who aren't aware, I belong to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, aka LDS or Mormon. Every 6 months we have a General Conference where our leaders speak to us. It's a wonderful Conference lasting 2 days where we can get inspired and receive comfort. If you are curious about it you can go here.

During this time, Travis and I sit and listen/watch it on our computers- love technology, and play either games or sew. I took on the project of cutting out 2 1/2 inch squares. I don't know how many I cut, but I took quite a bit from my scrap bins.

I also was able to get a whole quilt top done too! I can't share pictures of that one just yet, but I was thrilled with how much I got done.

There were amazing talks given and I can't wait to read through them again once I get my Ensign next month.

Colored Ribbons

I am PUBLISHED!!! I am so happy that I can now share this!!! Remember when I made this post?

 

I complained how long it took me to guilt  this....43 hours....

Well this is what it made....

  I present Colored Ribbons!! One day while I was visiting my Mom last year, I just created a block and just started to fill in....and this is what it became!

 This is the back of the quilt. I changed thread color to match the color of the block.

 This quilt and instructions appeared in "The Quilt Pattern Magazine". They contacted me and said that they were creating a new online quilt magazine and needed designers and asked for me to submit something.

 At first they weren't going to be able to pay designers at all, but as the magazine got more advertising they said they could now pay their designers. I am not sure of the amount yet or what it depends on, but if you are interested I will let you know.

 This is about 90"x90". So a nice queen size quilt, although it's not really easy to keep it tucked in! (We have a really tall footboard).

 Can you see why it took me 43 hours to quilt it? It's actually a really simple quilt design, the block is just a maverick star/sawtooth star block!

 I used scrap fabric (okay so I went and bought fabric for this quilt) but it's designed to be made with scrap fabric that you have.

This is my very first colored quilt that I have made, so I hope you all enjoy it! I am planning on making one with white background....but I personally love the black...just makes all of the colors POP!

To-Do List

Okay I am making a to-do list to help me organize my life...(see last post!) I have a lot of craft things that I "need to-do" and things I "actually need to-do". So if I write it down and try to keep myself organized, I might not be so stressed....theroritactly anyway.

1. Make Kimball Dinosaur Costume
2. Make Nathan Dinosaur Costume
3. Make Brandon Dinosaur Costume
4. Finish Recent MBS (Moda Bake Shop) tutorial
5. Baste and Quilt "Cowboy Up quilt"
6. Finish my Halloween skirt
7. Quilt I-Spy Halloween quilt

Not too bad for the month....Too bad I need to have all the Halloween costumes done by the 22nd! The rest by the end of the month.

Life...

PLEASE tell me that I am not the only one that finds life frustrating and terrible all at the same time?? Okay so I will try to be positive...life goes up and down and right now is a DOWN time.

Okay I won't be that negative, not all of life is negative - just most parts of the day are negative. Mostly having to deal with ALL of the responsibilities that I have (want me to name them?) and with this little guy...

 

(And yes, this is his school picture for the year)

Okay now if it was just the picture, which everyone thinks I need to lighten up about, but is it so wrong to want a nice smiling picture like all the previous years? I am also told I will laugh at it eventually..not yet. 

This year has been such a struggle with him! We are only in the 2nd month of school and lets see....

1. We have gotten a total of 3 citations for the bus (4 total are allowed for the year) and is now suspended from the bus for this week. The first 2 weeks of school he got his first 2 citations.

We have most of the kinks worked out on the bus now, and frankly strike 3, was him mostly being a stinker compared to the first 2 were just him having problems adjusting to the bus. 

2. We have already punched a little kid at school in the nose and gave him a bloody nose. He almost got suspended from school for that for a day, but the Principle in his wisdom and experience with Autistic children let it slide. We were also very lucky to have the kid he punched and his mother were understanding and laid back enough to let it go. 

3. I receive on average a phone call a day from Brandon from school with a problem. They let him call me when he wants just to appease him, which is NICE because talking to me helps him calm down. 

4. The resource teacher, who we LOVED had to quite, which lets be honest, I cried! She has an older son with Aspergers and understood Brandon SO WELL!! She was a great mediator for him and helped him cope so well! 

I don't know what this little boy's problem is this year, or what is causing him to be so anxious this year. It has been more stable this year at school ( last year was the very first year for this new charter school, so it was a complete work in process). But it has caused my stress level to sky rocket! 

I used to think he was a "high functioning" aspergers kid. But what did I know when he was younger. It was a LOT easier when he was younger, but now as he is getting older and you get the "normal" expectancy of 8 year old boys you find that he is quite severe! I mean simple little things that you would think was just "natural" just doesn't register with him! He just plain doesn't know. That has been a big struggle. What is the difference from him just "not knowing" and him being a "stinker and playing the system". Cause this little boy, is just SO SMART! Just has the social capacity of a 4 year old. 

Now that I have that out of the way....there are some MAJOR positives with him too. He is so loving and is always willing to give me a hug or a snuggle at the end of the day! He is so smart in math that he is working on PER-ALGEBRA! 7th grade math! It comes so easy for him! In fact the Math Department asked him to be in the American Math Challenge this week (starts today) for a few days! Which means he just gets to do math all day for two days! He LOVES it! Since Math and Science are his favorite subjects he is happy. They have asked kids in all grade levels, but only 40 out of the whole school (several hundred) were  asked! 

Also he is doing so well in Cub Scouts and has progressed so well! He has accepted that he won't like everything in Scouts and has dealt with that and just has stepped up! SO PROUD OF HIM! 

So out of all the "stress" there is some positive. But just add this to everything else a "typical" mom has to do, you can see how life just sucks for awhile right? 

I do know that no matter what, my Heavenly Father will NOT give me anything that I cannot handle and that is some comfort to me. So I know that I can handle ANYTHING that comes my way. 

I also think that good times are coming, I am a FIRM believer that things get really bad before things get really good. Just the way Satan works and tries to get us down. So I know that there is a light at the end of the tunnel even though I can't see it just yet...but I KNOW it's there! 

Thanks for listening to me vent, and I definitely wanted to write this down so I can look back on what life is like right now with Brandon. 

Also if there are people out there (I know of some) that have kids with Aspergers or kids with Autism,  drop me a line! Tell me your horror stories so that mine don't seem that bad! LOL But also any advice with an 8 yr old Aspergers!

Patience

I have the best husband in the world. He is VERY supportive of my crafting/quilting anbissions. He doesn't have much input to what I do, meaning the designs or colors but always gives the right answers and tells me that I am the best in the world....The very best sort of support any self consiouse person needs!

The one thing he CAN'T stand is when my stuff starts to crouch his side of the desk...this lately has happened a little too much. Even though he doesn't like my things on his side of the desk, he doesn't care where it creeps else where. So where our computer desks/ crafting area is (main dining room area) I have almost taken over the entire room!!

 I have all my stuff piled up on the other side of our desk area. And by our counter area to the kitchen and stools.

 Just SOME of my "in process" projects right now....

 A sample of my scrap pieces. I am using some to make a new quilt design....hoping to finish soon! It's a last minute project!

A pile "need to quilt" and quilt top you name it!

I am in the process of organizing my fabric area upstairs, and so unfortunately I can't put these all away for a bit, but I am very lucky to have a hubby who doesn't mind much! (Well at least until it gets in his desk area!)

Special Powers

Often times people who are not aware of Autism, or just don't know a lot about them think that all kids with autism have "special powers" like Rain Man.

This is NOT true. There ARE people out there with Autism that has "special powers" but not EVERY child with autism has them. Now my personal thought that when a child with autism - they have a lot areas that they have trouble in...A LOT of problems, and the areas that they actually are good in, whether it is a "normal" level or slightly higher level we go all nuts with it, and we think it is their "special powers" which is true in a way, for them it is their "special powers".

So with that said, IF Nathan would have a "special power" this would be it...

Okay so it's not making super paper airplanes, it is making things out of paper. He LOVES to make things out of paper, 3D forms out of paper. He has made guns, airplanes, claws, card holders, nativity scenes and dinosaurs.

Some are very lucky to receive some of his "master pieces", and if you are me, you will love them and cherish them, but feel free to send them on their way either in the trash or the recycle bin....don't worry another one will come along shortly.

I joke around with people saying that I should take stock in the tape and paper because we go through  A LOT of it in our home!

Giveaway Winner and I-Spy Swap Annoncement

I want to thank all of those that entered the giveaway! I had 20 diffferenty entries and let me tell you, I wish I had 20 charm packs because I would send one to each one of you all! But alas I only have 1!! Maybe in the future I can try and do some more giveaway for my followers, and then hopefully you all will be able to win!

So here are the results (most important thing right? :

Chiska said...
I love the charm pack! Cool spiders. I love admiring my stash too. Sometimes it helps me curb my fabric buying habit. Sometimes.

Congratulations Chiska!! I will go ahead and send you an email asking for your address and get it off to you this week!

Second I wanted to announce an I- Spy Swap....

Sharon over at Sew in Peace is hosting an I-Spy Swap. It's a little different from mine, a 5" block and prewashed fabric. I have participated in one of her previous swaps and I was very pleased and happy with it! So feel free to head on over and sign up! She is aiming for 40 swappers and has a little under 20 now.

Are you done yet?

I have finally started compling all of my collected dinosaur fabrics. Well this was mostly due to the fact that Nathan was tired of waiting. We waited until we received all of the free Spoonflower dinosaur fabric samples that our family and friends were kind enough to get for us.

So what is the end result??

 Nathan's Dinosaur I-Spy Quilt!

 I can't remember how big it is, but it is big enough to fit his twin size bed.

 I decided not to add any borders or sashing, as in I had plenty of squares to make the quilt.

 I only had about maybe 10 different prints and the majority of them were all of the same fabric.

 I used all the dinosaur I spy squares I had...so the squares I had were 4"...so I cute the rest to be 4" squares as well.

 I tried really hard to make it so not two of the same squares matched, but who knows how it ended.

 Here is the back of the quilt...I had quite a bit left over, mostly of the same ones...so I used the last of them on here.

But while making it, I had a feeling I was adding things wrong or something, so when I laid them out to acutely baste them, I realized that it was WAY too small!! Oh well! So I need to add a little more, about this wide on the back. I thought I just had extra, I guess I should have gone with my gut and recalculated everything!

I now get constant requests as to when it will be done....so I better get going on it...

Who is this??

This week Kimball got off the bus and it wasn't Kimball! It was.....

a doggie!!! He was so cute! He was insistent that it was in fact Kimball and not a stray dog!

 He was so cute! He didn't like to actually to wear his ears, but loved his face paint!!

 Nathan was so inspired that he created some "bunny ears". If that is what he wants to call them, then okay. We got some carrots from Grandma Walker's garden (which the boys loved!) and he thought it was very important for bunnies to eat them.

I am so glad they give me these little moments...keeps like simple!