Let's Try This Again...

Well, four years later...I'm back.  I quit my job!  Then I was convinced to work from home part time.  This will hopefully be a short phase in my life.  I'm ready to give my time to my boys...one that I only have at home with me for one more year. /sigh.
I've also started working with Bzz Agent and will start using this blog to review products for personal gain.  Hopefully, this will lure me back to chronicling.  (It took a lot of convincing to make me believe that is how one should spell "chronicling")
I'm also finding that I'm not as wordy or smooth as I was four years ago...send one up that I get that back soon.
Let the games begin!

Take a Minute

Okay, so I have admittedly been absent for quiet some time now. But I promise to do better...really, I promise.
I finally had to shed my SAHM status and get a jobby job. The job entails security clearances and other various government snares that have been quite trying. But really the consumption of me has been having to put my little buggy bear Henry into daycare. We had drama at the church run daycare that we started with...think 3rd world orphanages with babies crying unattended in cribs. It was heartbreaking. But on the bright side that lead us to the most brilliant in home daycare and my boy is a happy, tended to baby again...and that means that I don't cry myself to work everyday. Hooray.
So, I'm working at putting together a schedule of some sort so that I can balance work, being a mom, and being a wife again. I have felt nothing short of inadequate since starting work. So hopefully reassessing and getting things on paper will help.
Light a candle for me, kittens.

Eat This: Sopa Tortilla

It was a rare occasion but when asked what he wanted for dinner my husband actually had an answer...and a weird one at that...tortilla soup. I've never made tortilla soup and it is one of those things that is REALLY open to interpretation. So after grilling him on what he thought tortilla soup to be, I set out on a soup making adventure.
The amounts below are an estimate and sometimes a guess because I really just put stuff in until it tastes right. I'm also not afraid to mess up...that is why there are pizzerias.

2 or 3 chicken breast (i just use the generic frozen ones)
1 fresh jalapeno
1/2 large onion (I used some red and some yellow)
minced garlic to taste...i probably used 2 Tblsp
1 can diced tomatoes with jalapenos
1 can tomato sauce
1 small can green chili
1 can of chicken and 1 can beef stock
some green enchilada sauce (optional - i was making enchiladas and put some of the leftovers in)

poach the chicken
dice half of the jalapeno
chop the onions (set some aside for garnish
saute jalapeno, onion, and garlic in olive oil to soften in stock pot or large sauce pan
add tomatoes, tomato sauce, green chili, chicken and beef stock
rough chop the chicken and add to soup
simmer about 20-30 minutes
**serve over cheese and beans of your choice or hominy (i really have to recommend hominy here)
**garnish with avocado, minced jalapeno, reserved onions, and corn chip strips ( i made my own)
***cut corn tortillas in half and then in strips, fry in oil until golden. Drain on paper towels and salt immediately. This gives you a lovely chip with no preservatives and no weird oil taste.

Make This: 20s Inspired Hat

I loved it at first site and I loved it even once I was done. This is the first pattern that I knit using a chart. It was fun and I would definitely do this one again. I got the pattern for Chapeau Marnier over at knitty.com.

Make This: Wrap Sweater

So, we've covered the fact that I didn't think that there was anyway that the universe would give me of all people a boy and here is another reminder of my former belief in that fact.
This is an adorable little wrap sweater from Claire Montgomerie's Easy Baby Knits. This has been sitting in the WIP box for over a year because I never bothered to get ribbon to finish it off. So here it is...

Make This: Florella Infant Set or Audrey Turned Out To Be Henry

So I'm cleaning out my Work In Progress Box and I'm coming across stuff that is done or at least like I said before, done enough.
This little sweater set was done before I was ever even pregnant but of course everything I've knit has been girlish...I of course had a boy. But this little set is from a pattern that I found online. It is a little ditty from the 40's that someone was nice enough to translate into a pattern that is understandable to my knitting abilities. It came together super easy. I omitted the tie that is supposed to lace through the yoke and the one that holds the hat on...evidently choking was not a hazard in the 40s...I even finished one of the booties. I considered finishing the other one tonight but them remember how long a booty stays on a small baby...it's about 7 seconds for those that don't know....so, I won't be finishing the other one.
If you'd like to find this pattern just search Florella Infant Set. I'm pretty sure that I knit this up with something Debbie Bliss. But it feels vintage and definitely has that look.
Maybe the next one will be a girl. Jinx.

Make This: Harris' Blanket

It's finished! Well at least finished enough. I have been working on this blanket since December of 2005. It's been pretty finished for a good while. I was going to sew a back onto it but I have instead decided to put ties in the seams to hide the dangly bits. This blanket is comprised of 63 individually knit squares all painstakingly hand sewn together. It's soft and the perfect weight ... forget your Snuggy! Hopefully one day Harris will appreciate it...until then, I will.