house sitting in paradise

We are currently house sitting for Jake's boss. They asked us to come watch their beautiful home for two weeks while they took their family on vacation. When I say beautiful, I mean large gigantic new construction mansion. Some of the perks are two hot tubs (one private one off the master bedroom complete with fire torches and a waterfall, and one built into the pool), a theater/game room (complete with ginormous movie screen, a pool table, arcade games, air hockey, and a large comfy couch to lounge on), an outdoor area to die for (imagine pool, outdoor shower, humongous bbq, propane fire pit, outdoor fireplace, two hot tubs, basketball court, fire torches, narnia lamps...), a library, and a state of the art kitchen. Oh and did I mention at least one flat screen tv in every room, including our guestroom suite? It is such a fun treat for us!

We've been soaking in the pool time, cable tv, and cooking great food in the gourmet kitchen. Bonus to this house sitting job is that they only have one outdoor cat to feed daily, and some plants to water. They also have a 20 head Beefalo (mix of cow and buffalo) ranch, that we have to run irrigation for and mow. But any time that Jake spends working on those projects, he gets to knock off his work week. It really is like a two week vacation at a resort somewhere and I am loving and appreciating every moment.

from the front:

the bbq got a lot of use while we were there:beautiful dining room/kitchen area:
taking care of the beefalo:
the private, fully stocked fishing pond:
from the back of the house:

homemade knockoffs

Recently, while perusing crafty homemaker blogs I have run across multiple recipes imitating delicious store bought treats. Lately, I've had time to give a few of them a go...

Example numero uno: homemade oreos. Recipe here.
Delightful rendition of the classic. The filling was spot on, the cookie was a little off, but still rather delicious. Refrigerate for a hard cookie to dip, store on the counter for a softer chewy version.
Example numero dos: homemade samoas. Recipe here.
Excellent resemblance to the household favorite. Punching the holes got a little messy and time consuming. Would be easier to make in bar form.
Example numero tres: homemade cinnabons. Recipe here.
One of my favorites! A dead ringer in our books. Will be making again and again.
It's hard to replicate these products to the T, but I was highly satisfied with the outcome of each of these recipes. Definitely will be making them all again.

the longer the time between postings...

...the more projects I have to share in one post. That's the only excuse I could come up with for such an atrocious length of time since I've been on here. Not that anyone really reads these anyways. Anywho, here a couple projects I've been working on in the time that's past.

This wrist pin cushion, inspired by this tutorial. Because I was just getting tired of my boring old red one.

This wet sack, inspired by this tutorial. It was my first attempt at a zipper - successful. It's regular fabric on the outside, but lined with plastic on the inside. I'm so excited to try it out! I thought it would be perfect for throwing wet swimsuits into this summer.

These two tank top refashions. My wardrobe was starting to feel drab and redundant, so I decided to spice things up a little. Playing around with various concepts is not only a fun creative outlet, but also good sewing practice.

Before: just a plain old ribbed tank

After:

Before: free camisole hand me down from my mom

After: