Wednesday, December 30, 2009

Just for Your Entertainment

My sister-in-law just posted some pictures from the extended Johnson Family Christmas.  This is what happens when you try to take a "nice" family photo at the end of the day.



As you can see, myeslf, my husband and my sister-in-law thought the last picture was one too many.  But when I look back, these are always my favorite.

Tuesday, December 29, 2009

Holiday Crazy

So, the actual holidays are now over and I can relax right?  Wrong. 

Now its back to the ole grind, both in work and with the house.  Unfortunately, its still not done completely no matter how much I wish it would be.

But our time to work on it is limited.  Even though Christmas is over, we have lots of friends and family who are visiting from out-of-state.  Since they don't come home very often, we try to open our schedule up as much as possible in order to see them a hole bunch before leaving.

I love having everyone around.  My sister-in-law, brother-in-law and his wife are all here from California which is so wonderful.  Its awesome having everyone in the same room, especially for my husband's parents.  Each time we are all together, a family photo has to be taken.  This is the curse of having a professional photographer in the family.



Here we all are, oh Johnson family.  I hope everyone has a marvelous Christmas holiday and are now able to relax and recover.


Thursday, December 24, 2009

Being Domestic

The night I spent making the paper doll, I also wrapped a bunch of presents and make some granola. I wanted to make something for my grandparents, but wasn't sure of what to get.  Then came Martha Stewart's Christmas magazine and my problem was solved!

Here are the containers that I made, which are based on the Martha Stewart idea.  I had to put one batch in a non-glass container since I was mailing it to my Grandmother in Florida.  Last  year I sent here a candle which unfortunately didn't make it there in one piece. 



Here's the recipe if you want, because, as my husband says "it's so good".

4 cups old-fashioned oats
1 1/2 cup sliced almonds
1/2 cup packed light brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 vegetable oil
1/4 honey
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 1/2 cup of dried raisins or dried cranberries


Preheat oven to 300 F.  In a bowl mix oats, almonds, brown sugar, cinnamon and salt.  In a saucepan warm the oil and honey.  Whisk in vanilla.

 

Carefully pour the liquid over the oat mixture.  Stir gently with a wooden spoon; finishing mixing by hand.  Spread granola in a 15x10 inch baking pan.

Bake 40 minutes, stirring carefully every 10 minutes.  Transfer granola-filled pan to a rack to cool completely.  Stir in raisins/dried cranberries.  Seal granola in an airtight container or self-sealing plastic bag.  Store at room temperature for 1 week or in the freezer for 3 months.



I was actually surprised at how well they all turned out.  I started with the mindset of filling four of those jars for each grandparent/set of grandparents but screwed up the math and bought way more than I needed.  Instead of returning, I ended up making 8 batches.  Now almost everyone gets granola for Christmas  :)

I would encourage everyone to try this.  I am definitely not a cook or baker but this wasn't really hard, I actually had a lot of fun making it.

These helped a little though...


Good tea and a little companionship, it was a very successful evening.  Now off to enjoy Christmas festivities with my family.  I hope you have a marvelous Christmas Eve & Day.

Saturday, December 19, 2009

First Attempt at Being Crafty

For Christmas, several of us went in on a gift for my sister-in-law who lives in California.  The item is very large so we had it shipped to someone already there so its ready and waiting when she returns.  This makes for one problem, how do you let her know what you got her?  I definitely wasn't going to cut out a receipt/picture and just give her that....BORING.

So, I thought up a creative way to let her know what her present was from all of us.  And in order to prove I have a small, but growing crafty bone I took pictures to document it.  Plus, posts with pictures are always more interesting.   We got her something for making clothes, so I thought it would be cute to give her a paper doll.


I found images online, but had to make sure they were big enough to withstand a pretty good size increase.  I printed them all on cardstock paper to avoid tears and bought a sturdy piece of posterboard.


I cut each out leaving taps at the shoulders so she could "dress" her doll.  In order to prevent damage when she dresses her doll, I reinforced it with the posterboard I purchased.

I bundled everything in to a cute box and put a little note inside stating "just something to help get you started".

I am so very excited to give it to her.  As you can gather from her gift, she is also crafty.  I hope she enjoys it as much as I do.

So, there is my first original crafting experience.  I can't wait to do more, but I may have to wait until next week since we can three Christmas parties this weekend and I have yet to make food for them.

Happy Holidays :)

Friday, December 18, 2009

Too Much Time On My Hands

So, I don't like my display name/header, its just BORING.  I have been sitting here, wracking my brain to think of something cute and creative, yet descriptive.  But since I am trying oh-so hard, I am drawing more and more of a blank.

If you have any thoughts, my imaginary followers, please let me know.

Also, I made a paper doll to indicate what I got someone for Christmas since they won't actually receive it until January.  I am so proud of myself for a.) thinking it up all myself and b.) being crafty enough actually accomplish it successfully.  So to commemorate this momentous occasion, I have taken photos along the way and will be posting them soon.

This is Teresa Johnson signing out....good day.

....................................................................................................................................................................

So, about 30 seconds after I published the above post, I thought of something I might like instead of my original header.  "at least I tried" isn't too bad.  I think I am going to try it out for a bit.  Plus, its the interet, if I end up not liking it as much its just a click away from being changed  :)

Wednesday, December 16, 2009

Dreaming of a Crafty Christmas

I have realized recently that I am absolutely obsessed with reading blogs.  I think I could do it for a job if someone wanted to pay me or even if they didn't  :)

There are several I read on a daily basis, which is made possible by the fact that work is very slow right now.  Most of the blogs I am dedicated to are craft/photography blogs.  There are so many inspiring ideas that I want to take a week off, spend all out money at Hobby Lobby and go craft crazy. 

But even if I didn't go coo coo for crafts, at this moment there isn't enough time to even think about it; on top of the fact that I'm not a naturally crafty person.

But seeing such wonderfully simple, creative ideas makes me want to dig deep down and find that small, crafty bone in my body.

Its especially hard because right now all the ideas revolve around the holiday season.  There are so many ornament, packaging, gift and decorating ideas I think I would need to start now for next year.

Someday though, I will have/take the time to stretch this hidden creative muscles but until then, I am just making sure to write down my ideas.

I should start planning craft Saturdays with my girlfriends.  It's a good idea, I may just do that  :)

Tuesday, December 15, 2009

Finishing Touches on the Big Projects

Last night, my wonderful mother came over one last time and we finished painting my kitchen cabinets.  I have had fans on them since 7pm yesterday in hopes of them drying enough to put pots & pans & food away.  The kitchen is the last big project of the house, then we can start getting rid of all the massive boxes that are making Eric claustrophobic.

And while the paint dried last night, I started my Christmas present wrapping.  I am not quite finished shopping (2 more to go) and I have to make some granola but I am feeling good.  I can't believe the holidays are already upon us.  We have two Christmas parties this weekend and then...Christmas is here.

I am very thankful that the house is coming together in time to actually enjoy Christmas and possibly take some time away to spend with friends and family as opposed to living with paint in my hair.

I am so grateful to everyone that came and helped and all the people who so graciously offered their time.  We are so blessed to have such wonderful family and friends.

And on top of everything, we still cut down a Christmas tree.  It may only be 2' tall this year, but its still there, lit up with ornaments standing in our corner  :)

Friday, December 11, 2009

Progress!

We moved in to the house this week, which is a really great feeling.  An even better one came last night when the couch was mostly arranged, which made our place actually look like we're living there.

Our bedroom is set up for the most part, just need the clothes taken out of suitcases and put away.  The only thing that is preventing us from truly being moved in is the kitchen.  The walls and ceiling is painted, I am just trying to finish the cupboards, which take FOREVER.  Once that's done, I can unpack my kitchen, touch up the paint we scratched and DECORATE! 

My favorite part is coming slowly but surely, though I want to take my time.  I want to find cool, unique pieces that really give our house personality but it usually more patience than I want to have.  So I will have to be patient and content until those little things come. 

We have a couple furniture pieces that are unique but we are finding out that our living room isn't as big as we had thought or that our couch somehow grew while in storage of the last three months.

And once we feel like we can relax, onto the next adventure!

Thursday, December 3, 2009

Pouring Rain

Unfortunately, the awful cliché "when it rains, it pours" is often times very true.


This is how we are feeling a bit. Progress in being made at the house, but now we're at crunch time. Still a lot to be done and time is getting shorter and shorter.

Along with a few other occurrences, we are started to feel like we're between a rock and a hard place. But we're sticking together and going to be dry soon enough.

We just hope that the saying is true for good things too :)