Cooking is not my strong suite
Last night I stepped outside of my normal cooking realm and made stuffed cornish hens. Considering my typical cooking routine this is *wild and crazy*! Before I cooked them I called my Dad, who is a wonderful cook, and verified the cooking instructions. Seemed pretty straight forward. After all, I have made stuffed turkeys for Thanksgiving so this should be a snap! Make the stuffing. Check! Wash the hens. Check! Dry the hens with paper towel. Check! I have to admit that I felt weird while performing this step. I know this sounds gross but I felt like I was giving little hens a bath before bedtime…like maybe the next step should be put them in pjs and put them to bed! (Crazy! I know!) The fact that I was about to cook them and eat them messed with my head a bit. So the only way I could get over this guilt is by talking to the hens. That’s seems logical, right? I thanked them for their life and handled them tenderly. That’s not crazy, is it? 
Now that the guilt was lessened it’s time to move on. Salt and pepper the hens both inside and out. Check! Now it was time to stuff the hens - but before I did that step I decided to get really *crazy* and add some rice to the stuffing thinking it would absorb the excess moisture and keep the stuffing from getting soggy. I was quite proud of myself for thinking of that…I was really *cooking* now! We are really going to enjoy this special treat tonight! So about 6:30 we sat down to eat. Imagine the next scene. Both of us put a fork-full of stuffing into out mouths and begin to chew….and this is what we heard…CRUNCH…CRUNCH…CRUNCH. Okay…get out the Notes to Self book…write down “Do not add dry rice to stuffing. While it seems like a good idea, it is not.” Oh well. Fortunately the meat was very good so that made up for the bad stuffing. Do I get an A for effort?
The website is coming along very nicely! Here’s another little peak!
Conspiracy theory
I’m convinced this purse is conspiring to drive me nuts. “What’s the deal!?” you must be saying to yourselves….I agree…I’ve said that many, MANY times! I swear when I’ve finished this thing I’m going to throw it in the corner and stick my tongue out at it. So there! Sit there all by yourself you are going to be difficult!!! Actually, I think I should throw a grand parade and proudly display this little monster so everyone can see what a week of torture and $40 of sewing machine repairs produces.
I have learned a valuable lesson during this experience — if I like the design of something but would like to tweak it a bit then I should attempt to make it the way it was originally designed FIRST before tweaking it. There are reasons why the designer made it the way it is. Unfortunately I had this realization after I’ve stitched most of it together. But I have found the solution and currently taking the whole thing apart to fix it. I must persevere! As Tim Gunn would say “Make it work!”
Any way, now you know what I’ve been doing. There has been a bright spot in my week — got some new music and HIGHLY recommend the following:
The lead singer of Train has gone solo and it’s great! Pat Monahan - Last of Seven
Jet - Get Born This has been out for awhile so you’ve probably already heard of them and/or have it. I love it! Great stuff! If you listen to “Are You Gonna Be My Girl” and not have the urge to dance and toss your hair around wildly then there is something wrong with you. Go to the doctor immediately!
Well, I’ve got to get back to my insanity. I hope you are having a great day!
Getting back on track…slowly
Five days and $40 later I will have my sewing machine back (I’m going to pick it up this afternoon).
I promise I will obey the #1 Sewing Rule for now on: Never sew when tired.
Which is why I have to go to Starbucks BEFORE picking up the sewing machine…because we are out of coffee. GASP! I know! It’s like not having…oxygen! Can’t function without it! I firmly placed blame on my husband, Josh, this morning for this catastrophic event. He didn’t tell me that we were down to the last bag of coffee so I could pick some up before running out. AND we are down to the last 10 beans (seriously!) so I couldn’t even make one cup of coffee! I think he should have to do jail time for such an offense. I DEMAND JUSTICE! Okay…must leave now…loosing control of my emotions…must have caffeine soon…
The purse won
I fought the purse…and the purse won. 
It’s a very deceptive purse…while I was at lunch it broke my sewing machine! It showed me who’s boss! I have no idea what the problem is - the stitches are getting knotted up inside the machine. I’ve tried everything. (sigh) I will have to take the machine to get serviced. I just hope it won’t take too long. Sometimes these places are three weeks behind on service requests. Yikes!
Shhh…I’m going to let you in on a secret…little does purse know but I have another sewing machine…it may have won that battle but the war is not over yet!!
As the purse turns
The purse drama continues…I may have beat the purse in one challenge yesterday but I was defeated last night. So tired…had to go bed. I was starting to go cross-eyed and couldn’t think straight anymore so it won. The problem is I am altering the pattern a little and that gets complicated. Of course I wouldn’t make it the standard way the first time I make it — I have to ((shake)) things up and make it the way I want it. And I wouldn’t start with a pattern I’ve already made…nooooo…I have to try something new. So silly and stubborn…so typical of me.
Getting a late start today — didn’t sleep well so my head is still in a fog– so will post it as soon as it’s done.
Sew confused…
Okay, so I thought I would finish the bag this afternoon. I’ve hit a wall and can’t for the life of me figure out how to get two of the pieces together without making it a jumbled mess. I’m sew confused!! So I am going to take it to the sewing gurus tomorrow (Fri.) and ask them for their help. So anticipate a picture tomorrow (hopefully)!
6:07pm update… I figured it out!! I had to walk away from it for awhile - frustration was getting the better part of me. I’d like to think that I walked away from it, then snuck up on it, arm-wrestled into submission and pinned it down. (< Holding my arms up in the air >) TIFFANY IS THE WINNER OF THIS CHALLENGE! Whew! Who said I needed to go talk to those sewing gurus?! Puhh! I’m offended!
I did get a few injuries during the fight - a couple of bleeding spots from stick-pins and a burn on my pointer finger. Note to self: DO NOT iron your finger — only the fabric. Got it. Moving on.
Come to think of it… I figured it out when the Footloose sound track started playing on my i-Tunes…coincidence?? I think not!! I love me some Kevin Bacon.
Okay, I”m going to trudge on. I WILL finish this bag tonight!!! Persevere! But first I have to go cook some dinner. Gah! 
Sew, sew, sew my purse…
…gently down the fabric…merrily, merrily, merrily, merrily…life is but a dream!
Do you like my new version of that old song? That is my motivation music lately. Actually my motivation music has been a strange mix of AC/DC, Dave Matthews, and INXS — strange mix, don’t you think?! I’m taking a short break from sewing to write this quick update. I should finish the bag this afternoon which I will share a picture with you.
I spent most of yesterday afternoon happily sewing which was peppered with enthusiasm, confusion, cursing, and then back to enthusiam. I ended the evening with confusion thinking I sewed the wrong things together and then I threw in the towel. I told Josh that the universal #1 rule of sewing should be: Never ever sew when you are tired. Bad, bad, bad mixture.
Also, thank you everyone who took the surveys! I really do appreciate your time and the information will be most helpful. I’m so glad I setup those surveys because it is giving me a lot of insight as to what colors will be popular. And I’m really surprised at some of the results — it proved me wrong on a couple of assumptions.
Note: Some of you may not have noticed that there are three surveys. Be sure you take the Colors and Shapes survey — I think five of you missed that one. If you haven’t done them yet there is still time! Thanks again!
I’ll check in with you later! I hope you are having a great day! 