With William's room I'm going for a vintagey forest theme. No mushrooms, but themed around his frogs and a little turtle stool Erik had from his childhood. I plan on painting the walls sky blue and sponging on white clouds. I also would love the little turtle you find in all the baby boutiques these days, the one that puts the night sky on the ceiling.

Don't you just love scanners! So here's a concept drawing I made for Erik and my bedroom, the way I would like to decorate it. I have two poster prints which would be in the blank spaces, but I wasn't going to attment them. If you're curious, they are "Le Belle Dame Sans Merci" by Sir Frank Dicksee and "The Accolade" by Edmund Blair Leighton. Also, the settee would probably be a low bookcase (we have too many books and a settee though beautiful is rather impractical).

Okay, here's another of my new favorite recipies.

Spicy Beef Noodles

2 Pkg. Soba Noodles (the ones from the refrigerated section)(comes with 3 packs)
2 C. Beef broth
1 Tomato, diced
2 C. Fresh spinach
1 tsp. of Hotsauce
2 Tbsp. Soy sauce (salty not sweet)
Garlic salt, to taste
Onion salt, to taste
Heloise's no salt seasoning, to taste
Ginger, to taste
2 Tbsp. Olive oil

In a bowl combine beef broth, hotsauce, soy sauce, garlic salt, onion salt, garlic and seasoning.
Set aside.
In a wok or large pan (I use an oversized skillet) combine olive oil, spinach and tomato
Saute until the spinach shrivels down
Add contents of the bowl, simmer just enough to heat the liquid
Add Soba noodles and heat long enough to warm the noodles and allow them to expand a bit
maybe 4-5 minutes.
Makes two portions.
If you're me you add a smidge more hot sauce on the way to the table.

This recipe is a nice light snack. Next time I am going to add some cooked chicken to make a more substantial meal of it. You could also add cooked strips of beef. I am also adding some fresh garlic next time.

It's not quite Mongolian barbeque, but I'll get there one day.

Well, what more can I say about my cooking. I guess it's heavenly. See the halo!

Okay, so obviously I'm kidding. Especially since the item I was cooking when I created this phenomenon was Johnson's Chedder Brats. I love crockpot cooking because everything comes our great. So, here's my recipe for a HOT Potato Soup which I altered from a crockpot recipe book. I didn't like the choice of meat, the prep of the potatoes, or the amount of hot sauce. So it's pretty much my own personal recipe now.

HOT Pot Soup (altered from Fix-It and Forget It, Feasting with your Crockpot)

1lb kielbasa sausage (works great even with low fat variety)
apr. 4-5 red potatoes, washed skin on
24 oz tomato sauce (apr. 1 1/2 , 15oz cans)
salt and pepper to taste
2-3Tbsp hot sauce (I like Frank's Red Hot Original)
water

1. Cut kielbasa in 1/2 in. rounds, then in half
2. Dice potatoes with skin on
3. Place all ingredients in crockpot
4. Add enough water to cover ingredients
5.Cook on low 8-10 hr. or on high 5 hr. (potatoes should be tender, not falling apart)

The salt and pepper tend to cut the heat from the hot sauce, so if you like it real hot omit the other spices.

I'll post more later, but I need to figure out measurements for the ingredients to my meatloaf (usually I just throw some in) and I'm not making it this month.

Will blog back shortly with a few recipes and a craft project. I figured I had better get a bit of a start on this or risk not getting back to it at all.