PUMPKIN CHOCOLATE CHIP MUFFINS

and I could use some comfort food.

Here's the recipe. (It comes from my dear friend Sue Wilson (private blog) who is kicking it up in Salem, Utah. If you are in Salt Lake City you can see her amazing 12 year old daughter Maddie sing with the Mormon Tabernacle Choir and Natalie Cole at Christmas time.)

Oh yeah, recipe.

4 1/2 cups flour
1 1/2 tsp baking soda
1 1/2 tsp salt
4 1/2 tsp cinnamon
3 cups sugar
1 1/2 cups oil or thin applesauce
6 eggs
1 large can pumpkin
1 pkg chocolate chips

Mix the dry. Add everything else. Bake at 350* for 18 minutes if you are making mini-muffins, 1 hour for a loaf pan, and 30 minutes for cupcake size muffins.

I totally recommend the mini-muffins.

They make the world a better place. Try them. You'll see!

PUMPKIN PANCAKES AND HOT APPLE CIDER SYRUP

I'm no Pioneer Woman, so excuse the lame pictures.

We have friends from Spokane named Joe and Amy Lee. This is her recipe. Her blog is private, otherwise, I'd send you there.

Nothing says (or smells) like Fall like these!

Pumpkin Puff Pancakes (which I make into waffles because we like waffles better than pancakes)

2 (8) eggs
1 (4) cup buttermilk
1/2 (2)cup cooked pumpkin (I use the Libby's can)
1 1/2 (6) cups Bisquick
1/4 (1) cup oil
pinch of salt
2 (8) TBSP sugar
1 (4) tsp soda
1/2 (2) tsp cinnamon
1/2 (2) tsp nutmeg
1/2 (2) tsp ginger

(I quadruple the recipe and leave the left overs in the frig to eat at will - like when the kids are in school and I can take my time enjoying the delight.) Beat the eggs until they are pale yellow and foamy. Stir in the remaining ingredients. (I leave it all in my kitchenaid and just add the ingredients.) Pour onto ungreased griddle. Flip. OR pour into waffle iron. Flip. Open. See:

MMMMMMMM... that steam smells delicious!

Serve with this syrup:

Apple Cider Syrup

2 TBSP cornstarch
1/4 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp nutmeg
2 cups apple CIDER (not juice - VERY IMPORTANT!)
2 TBSP lemon juice
1/4 cup butter, melted
sugar to sweeten

In saucepan, mix sugar, cornstarch, cinnamon, and nutmeg. Stir in lemon juice and mix the cornstarch good. Add apple CIDER. Cook, stirring constantly, until mixture thickens and boils. Boil for 1 minute. Remove from heat and stir in butter. Make about 2 1/2 cups syrup.

Now, here's my notes. Check your cider. Usually the cider in Spokane was sweet. Here it is not (or hasn't been) so I've had to add as much as a cup of sugar. I double this recipe.

You are welcome!

UTAH'S CHICKEN SALAD

As in Utah's. As in Kristina, my dear friend. Her blog is private, or I would refer you to it.

This is her salad. It is divine. Nothing says spring or summer to me like this salad, although it is delicious any time. It makes a HUGE bowl (like a Tupperware thatsabowl) and my family can eat in a day. In a meal. It's that good. I actually double the recipe to get a full day's use out of it.

I am posting it now for Amy, my oldest friend (not the same Amy as the one who makes the pumpkin pancakes). Ahhh, we had such good times back in the day....

UTAH'S CHICKEN PASTA SALAD
4 cups chicken, cooked and cubed
2 cups chopped celery
2 cups pineapple tidbits
1 - 2 cups salted cashew halves
1 bunch green onions, chopped
1 bag Rotini noodles, cooked and cooled (we like the tricolored ones)
1 bag Bowtie noodles, cooked and cooled
3 cups green apples, cubed, skins on
1 bunch of red grapes, halved (I use a ton of grapes - so pretty and so tasty!
2 cans water chestnuts, drained

Mix it all together, except the cashews.

For the dressing: Mix 2 cups mayonnaise and 2 cups LIGHTHOUSE brand Coleslaw dressing (it won't be as good if it's not Lighthouse brand). Stir it into the schtuff in the bowl. Chill for several hours. Right before serving add the cashews.

SKIRTS!

My mom taught Rachel and Sari to sew. I have helped Rachel make pajama pants before and Sari has sewn little things, but my mom really taught them the good stuff. She even made their pattern!

I love my oldest!

Sari (is my) love!

The finished product. This is Rachel's half body shot.

This is Sari's finished skirt. The zebra stripes are SO SO SO Sari!

WE MAKE SWEATSHOP

Sew 45 dress. Back nex week.

MY FAVORITE BAG

Because my house is a wreck, the laundry out of control, I am behind on hula sewing, and the kids played behind the couch and knocked down my fabric bins (I can't push my couch back to the wall right now), I have bookclub at my house tonight, and I have to leave at 5 a.m. tomorrow morning for Baton Rouge (let's pause a moment to give props to Mom and Dad Sant who came up last minute like to stay with the kids), I decided to sew a tote for the trip:

This is hands down my FAVORITE tote of all time. I love love LOVE it! It is huge, but not too huge and it has four outside pockets. I added a zipper pocket to the inside, I so LOVE sewing inside zipper pockets! I also love the fabric - can you see the little birds on the background fabric? So cute!

SANT SWEATSHOP UP AND RUNNING

It's starting to be crunch time for hula sewing. No matter what I do or say, every year it is March before I have fabric and costume/pattern ideas cemented and I can get started. (The luau is the last Saturday in June.)

This year I have a lot of sewing to do. I have to make 9 (or 10 if "Uncle Gene" persuades Kuulei to count Molokini as an island) holokus to make. (Formal fitted mu'umu'us.) These are going into Kuulei's collection and are partial "payment" for my daughters taking hula. Kuueli is making her Luau this year a Lei Day celebration and so she will have a queen and princess representing each island (different colors) and one for the Queen in white. The king will need a large cape and the standard bearers will need smaller capes.

For the ladies who hire me to sew for them, I am making new awana (modern hula dances) dresses for them. We are roughly using this pattern:

If you look closely at the back you can see that it will be a bit tricky to add the sleeves that the ladies so desperately want. I think that I will be making 10 to 15 of these.

The ones who still need their ancient costumes will get peasant tops, pau skirts, pantaloons, and large sashes that drape across the body. I just will have 3 to 5 of those to do.

The keikis will wear kekepas that are painted like the tapa cloth that the ladies wear. I am NOT painting anyone else's tapa cloth. It takes ALL day to paint one. In any case, I think I will be making about 12 of those.

I may also sew for her Couer d'Alene students. Kuulei has about 40 or 45 dancers this year.

I will also be gone for more than two weeks in April and I was recently suckered into teaching a class at the Stake Family History Seminar in April.

In the meantime:

I sewed Sari a new pau practice skirt. She outgrew hers from 4 years ago. Go figure.

TAPA CLOTH

Kuulei asked me to teach her hula women how to make faux tapa cloth the way I did hers and Rachel (for their ancient dances pau skirts). Tuesday night we had a bunch of ladies over to learn from the biggest faker of "I know what I am doing". Kuulei brought her daughter, Tearzah and all my boys were in bed and three oldest were at mutual so I turned Tearzah loose with my camera. Here are just a few of her shots:

The women drew some really amazing designs. This leaf is perfect, in my opinion, as it will be simple to outline the negative space.

These geometric shapes are super cool, but I have to say I would tear off my own arm and beat myself with it before I would attempt to paint that.

Even this is a little complex for me, but it sure will be beautiful.

Just a few center details and this one is perfect, too.

A few of the women in my home.

And a few more. This mom and daughter team had me in stitches all night. They are perfectionists too. I will need divine intervention when I sew their dresses. Or my mom. I'll for sure have to get my machine tuned up so all my stitches are exactly the same size EVERY time.

A couple more ladies. And we aren't done yet!

Rachel's friend Erica wanted to add some pizzaz to her skirt from last year.

I had a great time! There was a lot of loud, fun, positive energy flowing.

BECAUSE I DON'T HAVE ENOUGH TO DO

Every year I try to make Valentine's Day t-shirts for my kids to wear. Here's what I just made tonight, at 11 p.m. . I had to miss E.R. to do them and so I am a little growly. And tired. Enough whine, on with the show:

Matthew's is the same as last year, but I made a new one. Really, do you think a WHITE shirt would last a year in this house? I should take a picture of last year's. It's bad. This is him with his preschool loot and Valentine's bag that he made.

(Disclaimer - the rest of the pictures are pretty bad because it is night and it is bad lighting and the flash makes everything just look white. The shirts are all bright white.)

I adore Rachel's. I've had the song "Hopelessly Devoted To You" by Olivia Newton John (Grease) in my head all day because of it. Maybe you will now, too. You are welcome.

And Miss Sari's. It has the double meaning because we sometimes call her "B" for Rebekah, her middle name, which she told me the other day that she hates. Try not having a middle name, then we can talk hating it. Plus Rebekah is a GREAT middle name. It goes PERFECTLY with the name Sari. She was 11 days late being born, believe me, Larry and I discussed IN GREAT DETAIL what her name should be. It's perfect. The end.

Daniel's. Because this is what 5th grade boys SHOULD think about love.

For the first time in 5 years, Ben participated! He selected this burning heart and it runs across the back of a vintage fit T-shirt shoulders, so it is nice and tight.

And now the piece de resistance! Folks, seriously, this picture does not do it justice. How cute is this white tiger cub growling with it's little toofers just growing in? Too cute. It is perfect for Joseph, the 1st grader, who also has his big teeth just growing in. Ben was instrumental in the design of Joseph's shirt and I think he did a really good job. Daniel just sat on the floor and laughed at Ben saying, "hugs and kisses" over and over again in his funny voice. I wish that I could upload a sound clip of that here. You would laugh too.

I made another shirt for Matthew, in a fit of insanity, because I felt bad that his shirt said the same thing as last year. Unfortunately, we were running low on ink in the printer at this point (and no new cartridges in sight) so the colors look pink instead of orange and red. Looks like he gets last year's model after all.

Why are the pictures just the shirts and not the kids? They are in bed. Where I should be. Where Larry is, after I told him to quit picking at me like a crow picks at roadkill with hot topics like, what are we doing with the tax return and when are we getting tickets and what if we have to change our Spring Break plans.

Sorry, Sweetie.

But really, I was at my limit. Still. He is a good man and I feel bad.

Anyway, I wanted to post this tonight because tomorrow I have a choir concert to post about AND Montana hair to write about too. Oh, and some stuff from the 80's and you know, my brain just gets too full and it has to go somewhere.

A PURSE and a mouse

I finally found a bag that I can live with, love even, that doesn't match my shirt (yellow and gray bag) so I don't have to change my bag if I am wearing the shirt.

I adore the colors:

I made up my own pattern, more or less, and I think it turned out okay. I should start writing notes to myself so I can do it again and not make the same mistakes, twice.

I love seeing polkadots when I open my bag and I love my pen slots.

Now that I know how to make a zippered pocket, I am completely addicted.

IN OTHER NEWS -

Sari had friends over to make cupcakes for some cupcake choir contest. The girls did EVERYTHING themselves. I didn't help with even one thing. They did a good job. The cupcakes are decorated like mice. Alyssa, Sari, and Iris.

Here's the presentation cupcake - the rest are to share with the class.

GALLETS - waffle cookie recipe

I got this recipe from a nice couple in our ward, the DuPapes. She said that it came from Belgium with her husband's family in the late 1890's. I didn't think they had waffle irons back then, but maybe they had panini makers or plain old grills. I don't know. In any case, here's the recipe:

12 eggs
3 cups of sugar
1 POUND of butter, softened
2 oz. vanilla
1/3 tsp. cream of tartar
7 - 9 cups of flour

Cream everything except the flour, then add the flour one cup at a time until you get a sticky, thick dough.

Drop by spoonfuls (I use my small Pampered Chef icecream scooper-thingy) on the hot waffle iron, in the middle of the squares. Set the done to medium but check to see how your waffle iron does.

Eat 'em warm, eat 'em cold, but eat 'em you will! Also, be sure to store them air-tight, they dry out really fast.

I asked Rachel and Ben to please take a picture of the gallets in the waffle iron and when I went to download the picture this was the only one on the camera:

Sorry you missed it folks! Ben asked me to remove the picture. Suffice it to say, it was NOT a picture of waffles.

And people wonder why I have a tic in my left eye.

I CAN POST ABOUT SOMETHING OTHER THAN A BAG (but first you have to read about the monk bag!)

Now that plans are being finalized for the second-every-few-years-or-so-Hathaway Daughters Chick-Trip (we really need to shortened that), the trip to the Oregon Coast to our favorite Bed and Breakfast, a trip to Hawaii, a trip to Washington DC for a wedding, and a trip to Utah (whew! What a summer! Yay!) I am in the market for a fabulous travel bag. It needs to have wide shoulder straps so my loot doesn't break my neck, it's got to just drop stuff in - camera, water bottle, maps and have a zipper pocket for my monies. A monk bag fit the bill.

I still need to get a zipper to try adding a zippered pocket. I also added a magnetic snap to the top of this one so that the goods don't dump out.

I think this may be my favorite bag of the four. Even if the pockets are wonky. Which they are. My eyes must be crooked. I got the pattern tutorial here at the Purl Bee.

The bag does look great on Sari but she will not be going on the Chick Trip. She'll have to wait until The Summer Before Her Senior Year.

Made another one - a prototype for my height challenged friend (she's tall) and I would think that she has a hard time finding cross-shoulder bags that don't get stuck under her armpits. I am thinking anyway ... I wouldn't know what it's like to be tall. (And while at my above mentioned friend's house, she has INDEED offered me a PHONE BOOK to sit on! And I needed it but I refused because of my short pride.)

AND ANOTHER ONE - becuase I know that you all have missed seeing my crafties

My house is a wreck, but I am really motivated to knock some projects off because there is some great fabric from a new designer named Lizzy Dish but I promised myself no more new fabric until I have some room to stash it! Or at least until I whittle it down a little.

I made this bag before. You can see it here. You'll have to scroll down about half way. It is the Birdie Sling by Amy Butler and it is super big and sturdy. This time I thought I would use lighter-than-recommended interfacing and the lining is lighter fabric, too. I also made it a smidge smaller.

Note to self, don't adjust patterns. I think the straps are too short for comfort. Update - while shopping on Saturday I noticed that a lot of purses are going with shorter straps and big bags under them so maybe this is just right after all. Sari declared it perfect and took it to her room.

When I found a turquoise zipper, I knew it was MEANT TO BE! So this bag even has a ZIPPERED POCKET!

ANOTHER BAG

I had a little purple owl fabric left over from my previous project and so I made another bag. (You can't have too many, right?)

Well, maybe you can. I might send this one off to someone ...

And the inside. Too exciting, I know. I was going to put in a ZIPPERED POCKET (my new favorite thing to sew) but then I remembered - I need a ZIPPER to sew into the ZIPPERED POCKET. Oops. A quick look confirmed my worse fear - the bright red 22 inch zipper, the only one in my stash, would NOT do. Oh well.

This simple bag pattern from SewBaby! is one of my favorite to make. In addition to being fool proof, the pattern is called "Double Duty Bag".

Did any of you see the "Scrubs" where JD and Turk crack up every time someone says "duty" because it sounds like "doody"? We did. As a result, we all crack up too. Especially Ben and me. And Sari. Daniel too. I am sure that the ward chorister was NOT impressed with the Sant Family the last time we sang, "Put Your Shoulder To The Wheel".

It is EXTRA funny to us because Joseph sings while he is using the bathroom so "do your duty with a heart full of song" makes us all about fall on the floor laughing.

So mature, I know.

I SEWED A NEW PURSE YESTERDAY

I used SewLiberated's gnome messenger bag pattern. But you wouldn't be able to tell by looking at it. Haha! I love the front two pockets. They are deep enough to hold my not-tiny cell phone without losing it (something my current purse cannot boast).

I am so EXCITED about this! I learned how to put in a ZIPPERED POCKET! That's right, folks! A ZIPPERED POCKET! It was so much easier than I thought it would be.

Except I put it on the wrong side so the messenger bag became a large purse. Oops.

Here's the back - has a large pocket. Perfect for a book. Which I must always carry with me. Never know when the car will die and I will have a nice, long time, waiting for the tow, to catch up.