HALLOWEEN!

I know you are all just dying to know how my huge sewing project turned out, those of you who knew I had a huge sewing project. The rest of you are... well... anyway, here you are! (Movie Quote.. kinda)

I have to preface this post with the fact that Bethanie is the one that came up with the ideas for the Trunk-Or-Treat. I had nothing.... I told her I had a dress and a tea set and she ran with it. If you ever need ideas, ask Bethanie. I couldn't do the Columns and Lions, but the rest of her ideas were pretty good.

Bethanie suggested I take my tea set (a couple pictures were taken today),
and I remembered I had my cool lamp and doilies,and set up on a chair and table for tea. (In my naivete, I though I could go out Saturday to Walmart and get an ornate patio set but apparently they are out of season. IN VEGAS? Also, furniture is expensive. Just FYI. )

She had many suggestions for what to put behind me, but I settled for an ornate picture and flowers (I wanted a BIG SPRAY of those artistic branches, weeds, and grasses behind me but... well.. apparently I have NO concept of price). I was going to be working on embroidery, but in the haste to get out to the car I had put the hoop somewhere and I didn't find it until this morning (on top of the cookie jar).
Do you like my table cloth? It's my half finished alter cloth from about 4 years ago. I'll finish it eventually.

And then, there was the dress... (ignore the hair... no time)It turned out much better than I thought. My shawl looks nice too, huh? Too bad I put beads on it and now I very much dislike the little clicking sounds they makes.

Here is the problem with a train though. At least its washable.

Most of my time was actually spent on the underdress. I took a picture of it using my timer where the view is weird and... well.. here it is. (Ignore the pile of finished projects to the side. I have WAY too much free time and don't know what to do with a bunch of baby outfits and blankets)I look rather large. The outer material is shear so for the bodice I actually had 3 pieces of material to work with. Even so, you can still see the line of my petticoat under it at the neckline.

The dress was a little tight and I didn't have time to put in all the hooks down the back (which I wouldn't have been able to do up myself anyways. Do you know how hard it is to do up a dress like that BY YOURSELF?)...
Hence why I wore the overcoat. I had a better picture of it gaping in the back but then it was a little...

Be glad I didn't put the picture in.

And I didn't have time to hem the bottom shear material or the lining.
You didn't even notice that in the trunk or treat pictures did you? Ha... that's what I thought.

Then, as long as I was undressing and taking pictures... here is my petticoat.
Had you worried for a sec, didn't I? I thought u'd rather hear than see my testimony.

And here is the back. I know you've seen the bottom of this before. The skirt of the petticoat is a little more period correct than my costume. The pattern I was using didn't have any pleating/gathering in the back and I didn't notice until I put the skirt onto the bodice.

Sometimes my middle name is more of a reminder.

The underdress would probably fit better with gathering in the back which is why I didn't worry too much when the bodice was a bit tight. I did add material to put two pleats in the back of the overcoat, but had thought I had added enough material to make more. Well it is just a costume. The sleeves are WAY too big to be period and the train is so NOT.

Not that I know these things.

Anyway, I hope you all had a wonderful Halloween! I love a chance to dress up. I just hope my ward doesn't think I am even more socially unacceptable than they already know me to be.

PS. I ran out of my chocolate (Reese's) candy in the first fifteen minutes (I had bought over 150 pieces) that I started giving out ONE smarty each. Then I went to Smiths afterwards and got myself more. Now I'm having my own after Halloween party.

PPS. I'm a little worried about next year. This year was SO MUCH better than last year but I don't know if I can top this one. Although I did see a lady at Smiths dressed up as Willie Wonka (complete with goggles and top hat). Ah.. the possibilities.

Let There be Light

A warning to the father figure: This post is based on knowledge gained from helping wire your current house. You exposed me to too much knowledge/perception of my own abilities. Some things in this post may bother you. I'll warn you when that might occur.

I have a lamp in my back bedroom that isn't performing its duty, ie providing light. The poor thing can't handle it after its light bulb broke.

Unfortunately it requires a round fluorescent light bulb that has four prongs in the middle whereas all the fluorescent light bulbs at Walmart and Home Depot have four prongs on the side.

Poor Lamp. Poor Melanie. Poor visitors that don't have light.

But then I got this good idea.And look... it worked!

OK Dad, stop reading now. That is really all you need to know. The following graphic pictures will most likely cause you to weep, cry, gnash your teeth, wail, and call your SMART daughter. Resist the temptation... on all accounts.

All it took was a trip to Home Depot for a spool of red 14 gage wire, a pair of scissors, my engineering know how I inherited from my father, and I HOT WIRED the lamp.
Four prongs, four wires. Here it is cold wired. (My camera has trouble with up close and personal so I had to make the pictures small)Look at those mad wiring skills!

And now it is hot wired and has been so for a week or so (nothings blown yet, so I think we're safe). What can I say? My middle name is smart.

Just sayin'.

PS. Dad, I warned you!

My own Treats

Thank you all for ur kind thoughts and willingness to send me treats. However, since none of you are close and my YW failed to step up, I had to take things into my own hands.

I have lots of cocoa and sour cream to use up so I thought I'd make myself a cake. The only recipe I could find in my cupboard was a "World War I Chocolate Cake" made with mayonnaise. I looked on-line and it said you could substitute sour cream. So I thought I'd go for it.

Then I made frosting to try and help. Unfortunately I had increased the cake recipe and failed to do so for the frosting as well.

Here is the results (I frosted it AFTER I had already tried to eat some). So what do you do with a cake that tastes... OK (you really can't go wrong with chocolate and sugar)? You take it to church and feed it to unsuspecting YW and their leaders!!

Ya! All gone but the bitter end.

Then I could get down to the business of making myself some REAL treats.

Look at those cookies. I did add too much flour (more flour is good in chocolate chip cookies, but apparently not so much in roll out cookies... especially wheat flour) so they are a little crumbly, but shore do taste good! Maybe just a little nutty.

And you know what makes them even better? GREEN FROSTING!

OK, so I'm not a good froster. They still taste the same.

To bad none of u are here to share with. My VTee's will get to share in the bounty of crumbly frosted cookies.

Then I tried French Bread. That's certainly a good treat!

I don't know what my problem is. I followed the recipe with the water bath in the oven and sprayed them with water in the first few minutes of cooking but I ended up with pretty dense bread.

Good thing I don't mind dense bread. It just makes very small sandwiches.

Now I just need some good ice cream to go with those cookies. Guess what was on sale at Smiths? Mint Chocolate chip! PERFECT. I'm going to get myself some more right now.

PS. I read in my cookbook (America's Test Kitchen) that mayonnaise is pretty salty and they cautioned against adding any to the cake. Since I was using sour cream instead, I think a little salt woulda helped. Just FYI to those of u who care.

New Gloves

I've now decided that I crashed because of these new gloves.Bethanie told me to say it was a bee, but I think it was because I wasn't using my trusty old gloves.

After 6 months I finally pulled out my new gloves for the ride.

Big mistake. See how my old gloves hugged my hand?

It had to be the gloves. They are why I still feel it every time I breath deeply or cough or turn my head the wrong way.

And now my new office mate who bikes to work (and sometimes breathes loudly so I have to use my ipod. Just sayin') had an accident yesterday on the way home and is taking all my glory. Shore he broke his shoe clip and has a patch of road rash on his elbow and down his leg.... (so he says.) I still hurt and its been 4 days. BEAT THAT. I'm still complaining and he hasn't uttered a peep. What a wimp.

I'm going back to my rice sock. It helps my poor neck feel better.

BTW. Cookies and ice cream seem to help as well. I told my girls on Sunday but I haven't seen anything from them yet. They probably just forgot (although I did remind them Tuesday night at Mutual).

Crash and Burn... and Flat

Many of you know I participated in the Viva Las Vegas Bike ride with my coworkers today. We did the 35 mile ride and my company even sprung biker jerseys for us. I was SO excited to get it cuz now I was a real rider with 2 jerseys. This was what I was going to blog about.

But from the title, you might guess I'm planning on deviating somewhat from that subject.

Yup, not even 5 minutes into the ride I overcorrected (I was all by myself so I don't know what I was correcting, but I'm SURE something was wrong) and went down in front of all my coworkers.

My first crash (falling over doesn't count). I guess NOW I'm a real biker.

Luckily someone had a band aid and I had taken Advil before I left so I headed out again. My sunglasses were toast.

Here is the picture Della took with my phone at the aid station at the top of the hill before they bandaged it up. Della took one with her camera but I can't wait until Monday to get it before I post.
Can you see the dirt on my shoulder continuing down my arm? Unfortunately the band aid is covering my war wound up so I took the liberty of taking another picture after I got it all cleaned up. It's opened up some and started bleeding again.So after the crashed, I took it slowly up to Summerlin with Della cuz my side hurt somewhat. Poor Della was breathing hard and I was kinda chomping at the bit but I felt bad heading out since most of the slow group had waited for me. All the big wigs that were participating were way ahead of us. (Most of whom I was hoping to showup stay with.)(Although the sponsors did remind us at the beginning this was a ride, not a race. This was what I was reminding the big wigs as I passed them a minute before I crashed.)

But it was a good thing I stayed with her cuz the band aid overflowed ("Honey, your dripping") halfway up and she helped me replace it.

On the way around and back, I decided I wanted to head out. I was planning on SOME exercise today.

With 5 miles left to go, I got a flat.

The group caught up just as I was putting my tire back on. I rode the rest of the way in with them.

This picture is as I was heading out to my car. I am all dirty down the side and my legs are covered in black from both the crash and the tire changing. You can't see it in the picture, but there is blood on my shorts and jersey.

Now I'm sore and it hurts when I laugh (thanks Bethanie :-). Unfortunately the bruising and bumps are in places not conducive to photography. On the bright side, Emily reminded me that Gage knows how to give me a hug without hurting.

Next year, the 65 miler. I'm ready. I've been broken in.

Two jerseys and a crash. I'm a REAL biker!

PS.. I almost forgot. As I took my air pump off of the valve, the nut that keeps it closed broke off. That nut is a second line of defense, so the tire held. I was greatful.

Swimming Woes

I have such great commenter's! It makes me feel loved.

But I think I can stump you on this one.

Tuesday night my swimming cap broke. My lovely yellow one I got from Pumpkinman last year. I guess a year is probably a good run for a swimming cap, but I'll miss it.

See how sad it is? Have I mentioned that yellow is my favorite color? FAVORITE EVER?

Have I ever mentioned what my least favorite color is?

This cap I got from Kokopelli might give you a clue.

And do you know the worst part about it is? Now the 5 people I see at the swimming pool (of which zero actually care) will think I purposely got this color of cap to match my swimming suit.

You are probably asking yourself how this plethora of pink happened to one so steeped in yellow (yes, I made that sentence up all by myself). Think Lands End sale three years ago where I might have bought a bunch of swimming suits dirt cheap for friends. This was one of the ones nobody wanted.

You can't just give a never been used LANDS END swimming suit to DI. Hello, those are good quality swimsuits! They last FOREVER (2 years). Just like you can't let a "free" cap you got from a triathlon go to waste.

My mother has been trying for years to put my in red and pinks cuz as a redhead she can't wear them. Her prayers are answered.

I miss my yellow cap.

Baking Bread

Now that it's cooled off I turned on my OVEN after Conference! Yes, it was an exciting day.

Before that, I've been baking bread in my little Toaster Oven outside. I decided I had the time and means, so why should I pay someone else to cook bread? Besides, I had a cool wheat grinder.

I found a little recipe in my mixer cookbook for french bread that only called for flour, salt, water, small amount of butter, and yeast.

First time I baked it, as I was punching it down the first time I realized I had forgotten the salt. So I kneaded it in. Made for some salty bread... almost like a soda bread. It also didn't rise much... but I liked it! Next time I remembered the salt at the beginning but the final product was still kinda salty. Oh well, must be a salty bread recipe.

The next time... I noticed my yeast wasn't proofing very well. Mmm.... so added more. Then I added more.

This time it raised VERY well and wasn't salty.
Now I've opened some new yeast and every time I make it the bread is perfect (unless I let it raise too much). Except, sometimes I miss the salty bread.

Before the triathlon, I had run out of bread so the morning Mom and I were leaving for St. George I quick started some. I timed it just right so that it would come out of the oven right before we left.

After I opened the garage, started up the car, and Mom and I got in to head out, I suddenly remembered "THE BREAD!". I had forgotten it in the oven out on my patio! Luckily only the top was a little carbonized which Mom removed. Disaster adverted. Can you imagine what my poor neighbors might have had to gone through?

Of course, the problem with baking bread is that 15 minutes after that last picture was taken: Half the first loaf is gone.

Hey, its full of fiber from the ground wheat, right? Its good for me.