Funny Story.

by Melissa // October 24, 2012 // 1 Comment

You know, I think one of the worst things about moving over, and over, and over again is how many things you lose. There are the things that just take a walk and never show up again. There are the things that get packed in the wrong box so the only way you will ever find them is by accident (just this week, I found a folder with birth certificates in it while I was looking for pieces to a Halloween costume. Yeah, nice.) There are the things that just don’t get unpacked. And then there are the things that were misplaced before your house got boxed up and could be…anywhere.

I always throw a little party for myself when I find one of those things.

Almost four years ago I made Max and Charlie some hats. And I meant to publish the patterns, really I did, but I got distracted, and then they got lost, and we had twins, and we moved, and we moved again. This week I ran across the hats and decided to look for the notes one more time (this is NOT the first time I have tried, believe me) and they were there. Pretending they had never gone anywhere at all.

If you want to buy the patterns, you can get them, because I’ve finished and published them. Here’s Pip (the stocking cap) and here’s Pep (the one with pompoms.) If you’re going to buy them don’t forget your coupon code!

Okay, time for the funny story. When I made the hats, I named them Pip and Pep. The reason that I named them that is because when I was a teenager, making lists of names for my future children (…uh, you did that too, right?) I came up with a set of names for twin boys. And those names were Peregrine (nicknamed Pippin, like in the Lord of the Rings) and Pepin, after the father of Charlemagne. Pippin and Pepin. I thought it was cute. Obviously, my tastes have changed since then – thank goodness – but when I knit those two hats I thought it would be fun to make a private reference to the names.

The funny part is that this seems to have unleashed some sort of teenage-daydream-voodoo, because a month after that post I became pregnant with twin boys. COINCIDENCE? I THINK NOT.

Finally, I wrote a silly little poem to go along with the patterns, but I couldn’t find a good place to work it into the pattern pages, so I’m going to make you read it here.

I have two boys, they have two hats.
I knit them both – one round, one flat.
One has small stripes and is quite long;
One has big stripes and two pom-poms!
The rainbow colors guarantee
That either will be met with glee.
I hope you like my silly hats –
They are great fun, and that is that!

Go check out Pip and Pep for more pictures, and I hope you enjoyed my funny story!

Batman/Superman

by Melissa // October 18, 2012 // 8 Comments

Let’s see, now. I shared that I decided to use what I had for Tommy and Teddy’s birthday, so let’s take a look at some of the presents!

How cute are these two? Obviously the crocheted Batman and Superman took center stage in the birthday presents. Yarn? Check. Stuffing? Check. Felt? Check. Those guys were free, and they are a definite hit. The twins carry them around, lug them in their little red plastic wagon, and make them “fly” across the room. They even go to sleep with them. And who can blame them?

They’re adorable! AND, through a rare display of focused effort, I have actually written a pattern for each of them and made them available to purchase! Already! Head over (click here for Batman, and here for Superman) and don’t forget the code that will let you snag them for 50% off! (Read the post on using what you have if you didn’t get it yet.) I love them!

Now, I also made them each a t-shirt cape with their hero’s logo on the back (using some t-shirts and printable iron-on transfers that I had) and a sweatshirt with another logo ironed on. You can’t see the capes very well, but I’m going to cover those in another post.

I bought the sweatshirts, and I also bought them each a new ball and a ball-catch-game to play together. That breaks down to approximately seven dollars per child – not bad for a very well received three-year-old birthday.

Pink Chili

by Melissa // October 17, 2012 // 2 Comments

Well would you look at this!

Somebody painted the trees behind my house when I wasn’t looking. I’m going to be honest: even though I smiled at their shrieks of excitement over a pile of leaves the size of a pumpkin (wait till you see what’s coming, kids), I’m almost as excited as they are to have leaves changing colors and drifting in yellow piles onto the driveway. Fall is by far my favorite season and I haven’t had a proper one in almost a decade. (Arizona? Nope. Japan? Mostly pine trees. Texas? Don’t make me laugh!) No wonder Max screamed the first time we passed a tree covered in orange.

With the cooling weather, we’ve been having soup, stew, and chili more and more – most of which are eyed suspiciously by my children and eaten unenthusiastically if at all. Last night, though, I threw together some ingredients that were hanging around the kitchen and the result was so delicious that everyone scarfed it down and the kids actually requested the leftovers for lunch today. (Crazy!)

Max told me that I should pin it to my Pinterest or take a picture of it and post it on my blog so that I would remember it and not forget where I put the recipe, and Greg laughed at me and long story short, here it is.

Pink Chili (serves 8)

Ingredients
1 lb ground beef
1 onion (chopped)
2 (16oz) cans chili beans
1 (14.5oz) can diced tomatoes
1 (4oz) can diced green chilies
1 c water
1/2-1 tsp salt (to taste)
1/8 tsp chili powder
Crushed red pepper flakes (to taste)
Sour cream

Directions

In a pot or a deep skillet, brown ground beef. While it’s browning, chop the onion and add it to the pan.
Once beef is brown and onions are nice and soft, add all remaining ingredients EXCEPT sour cream.
Stir and bring to a boil, then turn to low and cover. Simmer for about 15 minutes.
Serve into bowls. Add a big dollop of sour cream to each bowl, like so:

Then, when you stir it into your chili, it turns pink!

I am not kidding when I tell you that this is SO creamy and delicious. We had it with a pan of really good cornbread (another new recipe I tested out) and yes, I did pin both of them to my pinboard of recipes I don’t want to lose. So what?!

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