Ok more pictures. Granted they aren’t much better than yesterday’s but it’s been windy here and my allergies are kicking my butt. My poor nose is so sore from all the blowing. At this point I don’t much care, I’m so miserable.

Ok, so the fabric I goccoed on. Here was the master I used. I’ve been bummed that I didn’t buy any red riding hood fabric from Superbuzzy. So I’ve been thinking about making my own fabric for a couple of months now. I told my sister and Olinda and was quite excited. I wish I had mentioned it on here because then maybe someone could have told me how crazy I was. How insane thinking I could make my own fabric with my little gocco which is only what…about 3″ x 5″ print.

But I wasn’t thinking about that. I just wanted my own little one of a kind fabric made by me. So the look I was going for was a polka dot sort of. I wanted it sort of subtle. And Alan would keep saying, it’s so small you can’t really see it from far away. To which I would reply, well that’s what I was going for.

And I even tested it out how I wanted the stamp to go. Turning this way and that, two different directions because let me make it as hard as possible for myself. And looking at this picture now I don’t know what I was thinking. There’s a diagonal pattern going on there that I DO NOT like.

So everything went wrong. My first screen didn’t burn correctly. I don’t know if my lines weren’t dark enough or if I didn’t push the top down right but one wasted screen and two bulbs. Then I didn’t want to stamp on our hard floors so I had Alan put some cardboard in the bedroom. That was a mistake. The cardboard had creases and it was soft and not easy to print on. And then when I started stamping I wasn’t doing it straight and not as close as my pattern test, I couldn’t remember where to stamp my design (I should have printed out my test), and on and on with the wrongs. I stamped on about 2 yards of 100% cotton fabric. I also bought some linen to try printing on but didn’t even get to it. When I was done with just those 2 yards my arm was sooooo sore. Yes it was just a major disappointment all around. But…BUT I do have some stamped bits I like. Some.

Next time, that is if I want to tackle fabric again, I think I will design one big drawing and just do a big design like Alan told me to originally. Or hey even better maybe my drawings on little onesies and tshirts like I thought about ages and ages ago.

And because my gocco on fabric was such a bummer. Here’s something to cheer me up. Isabelle “helping me clean”.

Do you have one of those days where you just don’t want to do anything. I’m not in the mood to draw or sew or anything. But pictures, pictures are always easy. And it’s always easy to take pictures of Isabelle! What a way to eat!

Maybe the cooking done me in today. Baking cookies from scratch!

I love cooking. I cook practically everyday from scratch. But baking cookies. Not so much.

Well this past weekend Alan was in San Bernadino for a paintball tournament. Wem issed him so much, I baked him cookies, yes you read that right. Wem issed him so much. Hee hee hee…click the link, then you’ll know what I’m talking about.

The recipe was for a vanilla sugar cookie because the cutout cookie recipe said chill 2-3 hours and I just didn’t have that kind of time. They worked out ok as a cut out cookie. They did spread so they looked like bubble letters but you could still tell what they were.

It was so good that I made it again today. Except I actually followed the directions correctly this time. When I was making them today, I realized I only added half the amount of butter last time. Which is great because otherwise they might have spread into little circles and not looked like letters at all. In fact I think I might like them with less butter. But of course they don’t get nice and flat like these with less butter.

Well here’s the recipe. Does anyone know if it’s ok to share recipes from magazines? Well if it’s not ok I guess they can tell me! Well anyhoo…this is from the Winter 2005 issue of Fine Cooking.

Makes about 2 dozen cookies.

• 8 1/2 oz (1 3/4 c.) unbleached all purpose flour (I always weigh my flour. Always)
• 1/2 tsp. baking powder
• 1/2 tsp. table salt
• 1/2 lb. (1 c.) unsalted butter, softened at room temp (or microwaved to soft as is always the case with me because taking the butter out early is just too much thinking ahead for me.)
• 1 c. granulated sugar; more for coating
• 1 large egg
• 1/2 tsp. pure vanilla extract

Position a rack in the center of the oven and heat the oven to 350F. (Yes I always remember to preheat my oven but forget to take out the butter. And I can’t recommend an oven thermometer more. I found out my oven runs 50 degrees too hot)

In a medium bowl, whisk the flour, baking powder, and salt to blend. Using a stand mixer with the paddle attachment or a hand-held mixer, beat the butter and sugar on medium speed until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes (I don’t have either. I just used a stick blender with only one speed and mixed until nice and fluffy…no stinkin’ 3 minutes because I was worried my stick blender would explode ha ha ha!). Scrape the bowl with a rubber spatula. Beat in the egg and vanilla until thoroughly combined, about 2 minutes. Scrape the bowl again. With the mixer on low speed, slowly blend in the flour until incorporated, about 30 seconds (If you use only half the amount of butter be careful it is a lot stiffer. My stick blender would not have stood up for it. I used a spoon to incorporate the flour).

Drop the dough by rounded tablespoons into a bowl of granulated sugar and roll to coat (a lot easier with less butter); then set the coated balls about 3 inches apart on ungreased cookie sheets.

The cookie can be stored in an airtight container for up to three days.(Not in my house. They were gone before 3 days!)

Note: Be sure to bake these cookies on a cookie sheet not a rimmed baking sheet; otherwise the dough will spread too much, and the cookies won’t retain a nice, round shape.

MMmmmm yum!! I’m usually a chocolate girl but I still really liked these cookies.

Usually Isabelle will go right down at nap time. But at night she fights it a little. What am I talking about? She fights it A LOT! She tosses and turns and crawls over me and generally is very active. Well lately she’s added a little twist to her routine. When she’s finally ready to sleep she nurses a little, then she’ll pull off, scootch herself perpendicular to me, place her little legs on top of me, and then falls asleep. I wonder if she does that because she knows I get up after she’s asleep. Maybe she’s trying to keep me there. Hmmm…never thought of that before. Makes me feel owned. Is that a weird thing to say?

And I’m still experimenting with my drawing. I started out drawing my regular doodle (as you can tell by my big big head) but decided to try going more realistic again (Isabelle’s little feet and legs). But I couldn’t decide what to do with the eyes so they are blank. Drawing like this takes a lot more time because of my line. Usually my line is so thick I can just throw the color on carelessly, well not really carelessly but easily. But this line is so thin the color has to be spot on.

I am starting to like it. Maybe I’ll tackle more realistic eyes next time…

Last night we had a bit of a scare. Around 8 PM I turned on the heat because it was a little cold and Isabelle was fighting against wearing pants. Well around 1:25 AM I started to smell gas.

So long story short: the heater was turned off, a window opened, me and Isabelle went outside, and the fire department was called. They came and didn’t smell any gas so suggested I call someone to look at the heater today. They asked if we had a carbon monoxide detector. Why yes we do. Is it plugged in? No it isn’t.

The short story actually sounds quite orderly doesn’t it? Well it wasn’t quite that calm really. I’m not good with emergencies. What is it they say? Three types of people. Those who do something, those who run, and those who freeze. I’m the freeze type of person. It takes me a bit to get going.

So here’s what really happened, the long story: When I smelled gas I immediately called Alan and got his voice mail and said “I SMELL GAS!”. Then he called me back and I said “I SMELL GAS!” But he wasn’t home so what could he do?

I turned off the the heater and opened the window. And then wandered around the house not knowing what to do. So I made the decision to go outside but couldn’t sit in the car because it was in the garage. And I was too scared to go into the garage because you know they say don’t turn on lights and the garage has a light that turns on automatically. So I got the baby dressed went outside and was sitting there freaked out waiting for Alan to get home.

Then I called Alan and said ok now we’re outside. But again what could he do? He was on his way home and freaked out and worried. I made him even more worried because when I was getting Isabelle dressed she was fighting it. He called and I didn’t answer the phone because right at the moment I was trying to get her pants on.

So after Alan was yelling “I’m not there!” as he was driving home all worried I thought ok maybe I’ll call the police dispatcher and ask what to do. They connected me to the fire department and they came over. The dogs were still wandering around inside the house and I had to put them into their crate before the firemen could go in. But they didn’t want Isabelle to go back into the house. So I had to hand her off to one of the firemen. I rushed into the house and put the dogs into their crates while Isabelle was crying outside. They didn’t smell anything not surprisingly because it must have been 30 minutes from when I first smelled it. But I didn’t realize so much time had gone by because I froze. Damn me with the freezing. I felt so bad for dragging the firemen out in the middle of the night. And poor Isabelle awake later than usual.

So the question: DO YOU HAVE A CARBON MONOXIDE DETECTOR IN YOUR HOUSE? And also as important: Is it plugged in?

Right now we’re waiting for someone to come check out the heater. I don’t want to think what could have happened if I had been sleeping.

Update: So the heater guy left. He said our heat exchange unit is broken. I think I’m getting that correct. He turned off the gas. He gave me some estimates to replace the air conditioner and the furnace. Why both? Well because they are freaking old. Like 19 years old and 2 years ago the AC broke and a guy came out talking about replacing it…which we never got around to. So the amount is $6700 for a Bryant 165 (doesn’t mean anything to me. just gobliddy gook) and a furnace. So…anyone have any experience replacing their furnace and air conditioning out there?

Oh and our carbon monoxide detector. It plugs into the wall and it has batteries. I can’t remember if it’s unplugged because Isabelle was too interested in it or if it was because the batteries needed to be replaced. Probably the batteries. I think it needed a screwdriver to remove the back plate or something difficult like that and yes excuses excuses. I should have known better.

In a better mood then when I drew that, with more realistic eyes but still with a big big head.

We had so much fun yesterday at a friend’s. We had yummy food and Isabelle ran all around exploring. Then she sat there splashing her little feet in the pool getting her onesie all wet. Too bad I couldn’t take more pictures but as I said, Isabelle running around and hello…pool. Wish we could have stayed longer.