Back when I lived in an apartment, Aaron got me a Rock Tumbler for Christmas. I tried to make shiny shiny rocks, but the Rock Tumbla (we like to call it that sometimes) was so stinkin' loud, I was worried it would disturb my neighbors... I had to stop tumbling.

Recently, I was rooting around in my attic when I found the packed away Tumbla and since I now have a basement it was time to fire it up. Of course to make shiny shiny rocks it takes three steps... coarse, medium and fine polish... each step taking two to three weeks.

We almost went mad from the constant rumbling noise in the basement, but a month later and the rocks are done!

Back in December I bought a Koziol powdered sugar shaker guy at TJMaxx for $2! That month TJ Maxx was hacked into and I was issued new bank card. As I was trying to memorize a new pin number I wasn't too happy with my powdered sugar guy. I blamed him.

This week Chuck made these amazing nutella ravioli and I needed to sprinkle powdered sugar on them. I forgive you powdered sugar shaker guy.

I was feeling so good about knitting my mittens that I tried another non-square item... a hat. I used Lion Brand Landscapes wool and a pattern from this card deck.

I was excited to try out my pom pom maker to top off my hat. Stewie is obsessed with my hat's pom pom. Sometimes I let him wear the hat and that makes him feel better.

 

Some background on my Year to Year pictures over on 1000 Words, and cold weather fun on Rocha-chatter.

Tonight I had my annual Oscar's Party. Some of the food I had based on the five Best Picture nominees were... Babel - Coke (no ice), The Departed - cranberry juice, The Queen - finger sandwiches, Little Miss Sunshine - bucket of chicken, Iwo Jima - bottled water. I had some other things like steamed dumplings and kettle korn too.

Tina got the most winners right and went home with the prize... A Ticket Stub Diary. This is about the third or fourth time she has won and I am starting to wonder if she has connections in academy.

Today at the dairy we bought a carton of creme brulee mix. All you have to do is pour it into ramekins and bake it. Brilliant! Aaron sprinkled sugar on top and melted it with a little kitchen blow torch thingy to make the crispy top.

The nice thing about going to the dairy in the winter... we can put the milk in the pile of snow in the back of the truck and it stays cold on the way home.

I found these eggs that you put in water and in 12 hours a chick peep starts poking his way out of the egg. The chick peep is one of those toys that grows when you put them in water. It was fun to check on him every morning and see how much he had pushed out of the egg.

Chick peep started to get so big I had to move him over to a bigger glass. He is so squidgy it is taking all of my will not to pinch him.

This evening I discovered Starbucks has cupcakes again. I was really happy because I was getting tired of marshallow cripsy treats every Sit & Knit night. I like the special cupcake carrying boxes. They also have super cute cupcake stickers... they gave me a couple extra. It was a good cupcake day!

This is the latest magazine I am in love with... Cook's Country. I was attracted to the cover and then I discovered it was from the Cook's Illustrated folks. My friend Joel swears by Cook's Illustrated, but I found the plain black and white illustrations... well... not very exciting.

Cook's Country, however, has all the great info CI has, but it also has cheery photos and graphics inside. I love the recipes too... I always thought about getting Gourmet magazine, but the dishes always seemed too elaborate for me. CC's recipes are mostly down home cooking with lots of 20 minute meals. Crunchy Potato Wedges and Sticky Ribs... Yum-meeeee.

Aaron and I had lobster on a tuesday night!

It was because The Lobster Trap opened a branch in the city and yesterday was their first day of business. I had been waiting for this for weeks.

I wrote about it at Rocha-chatter.

I can't take my eyes off those people at Method for a second! They just came out with mops! They actually go by the name omop. You can get an "all floor" or "wood for good" starter kit. These consist of items such as

• an ergonomic mop with first-ever curved pole
• non-toxic and biodegradable floor cleaner
• mop pads that can hold seven times their weight in dirt
• compostable sweeping cloths made from corn

The green-ness! The design! Too much! Ackkk!

I am currently, practically, totally obsessed with This Next. I have been recommending goodies that I have blogged about in the past on my This Next page. I posted the omop immediately.

Other than making crepes, Aaron and I spent most of the weekend outside. We just discovered that Ellison Park turned one of their parking lots into an ice rink, so we threw all our gear into the back of the truck and went to the park for ice skating. After that we did some snowshoeing. I uploaded pictures of us out in the cold to my Gallery.

We snowshoed over to the sledding hills and watched sledders barrelling down over the hills. We are now also in the market for a sled. Any sled recommendations?

Yesterday, Aaron and I took a crepe making class with Tina and Shruti at Simply Crepes. When I first saw our instructor make one I though "Awww no way... this is gonna be a mess."

But by the end of the class we were all making nice round thin crepes. I think the "magic stick" (t-rake) is essential. We bought one and took it home to make our own crepes for breakfast.

The best part of the class was filling them up with ingredients like chocolate mousse, berries and maple syrup.

So far at home we have made nutella/banana and scrambled egg/maple syrup crepes.

I took pictures of our class and added them to my Projects Gallery.

For Valentine's Day Aaron took me to Simply Crepes for dinner and then to see Music and Lyrics. Dinner was great... four courses of crepe goodness.

We are really excited now because we are taking a crepe making class this weekend!

I make no secret of the fact that I am spoilt rotten. For Valentine's Day, Aaron got me Mariebelle chocolates (while apologizing for not making the chocolates himself) and a Paul Frank Pugly watch.

What I really loved though... was the work he put into packaging the gifts. He actually made the gift tags by gluing patterned paper inside craft paper and used a hole punch to cut heart shapes through the front. And check out the ribbon! (which I immediately hoarded away)

I was amazed. All these years of crafting in near proximity of him has paid off!

Here are a few things I made my friends for Valentine's Day. At the top is a chocolate bar cozy (in other words, good for hiding it away so others don't eat it). The hearts are just for hanging.

They are all made of felt because I dislike hemming things. Each heart has a button pinned to it.

Aaron got me a button maker for Christmas and I was itching to use it. I was a little disapointed though as they made sub-standard buttons. I didn't realize the button makers from Michael's or Joann's were so different from the professional quality ones. I am on the lookout for an affordable "real" button maker... any suggestions?

Happy Valentine's Day everyone!

Smooch!

Every February, my french door curtains get laundered... because I take them down so I can hang my Wax Paper Hearts from the curtain rod.

These are so easy to make and I think they brighten up the room in the middle of winter. I added pictures of how to make them to my Projects Gallery.

"How to kill a two hours on Valentine's Day" over on Rocha-chatter.

Since I am not busy enough... Hah!... I have started blogging for the Insider. The pay is super... (nothing)... but it should be fun.

The blog is called Rocha-chatter and my first post is about some Valentine's Day dinner ideas for Rochestarians. Check it out and let me know what you think.

I got this plain red apron at our office store for a couple bucks and wanted to embellish it a bit. I stitched three felt hearts to the front and viola! Seemed like a good idea especially since I never did finish the hearts apron I started last year. *SHAME*

Valentine's Day is getting close and my house is plastered in hearts and cupids.

I put up the heart tree like last year. Only this year I have a kitty whose eyes glaze over with longing when he sees all those dangly hearts swaying to and fro. He has knocked it over once already.

In an attempt to slow down, Aaron and I have been trying things like eating breakfast together at home. Friday mornings we go for coffee together before we go to our respective offices.

When we are out like this... the two of us... we pass the camera across the table and take pictures of each other. We have done it enough that I have a Flickr set of just Across the Table pictures.

After I saw the super cute fabric Lucky Olive found at Joann's I went to check it out too. Instead of the savory anthropomorphic food, I went with the sweets. I got some to trade for a Hello Dunny and some for me. What to make with it?

I also struck gold in the Joann's $1 bin with these spools of ribbon. This is the kind of ribbon I will hoard and never actually use.

It has been bitter cold here in Rochester over the past few days. As a result, our animals have been even more snuggly than usual.

In order to be toasty they spend much of their time either sitting on us or pressed up against one another. I am sure they each consider the other one to be a furry hot water bottle.

Today I go into more detail about how I made my calendar cubes for Christmas over on 1000 Words... check it out.

I went on a shoe buying extravaganza and I am embarrassed to say I came home with THREE pairs of new shoes. But I love them so much I don't feel that bad. I am on some sort of red accessory kick.

I did get all three at discount stores and I plan to go through my closet and donate some of my barely-worn-thus-time-to-let-go pairs.

Yesterday while other people were scrambling around Wegmans looking for tortilla chips and chili powder, I was drooling over the baked goods case. These little suger cookies are my favorite as I think they have the proper cookie to frosting ratio any good cookie should have.

I also succumbed to the call of these mini-croissants and sugar brioche. Can you stand these croissants? tiny=cute

We went to a friend's Super Bowl Big Game party this evening and there was a contest for the best team sign you would wave in the stands. I was very excited to get out the felt and the pipe cleaners. As you can see we went with a 3-D experience.

We won the contest but the Bears lost. Bittersweet victory.

My phone battery is starting to give up the ghost, so I am getting phone envy again. I love this Mashimaro phone. Well, I love the little Korean bunny character in the first place and that makes the phone irresistable.

Of course, they are not available in America as far as I know. At least the LG Chocolate phones offer some variety... and they just released the pink Strawberry Chocolate. My contract isn't up until June, and I refuse to pay the non contract price so I will be drooling until then.

Today was the first day Aaron and I have been snowboarding this season. We went with my friend Shruti who skis.

It has been awhile... so it took some time to get comfortable again. Also it was the first time I had been snowboarding since I got my hair cut... once a kid yelled "Don't hit that guy!" to his friend and I realized it was me. Nice.

This is a picture of my grandma's table right before all the Christmas yummies were piled onto it. She just got this vintage tablecloth from my great aunt and I was admiring it all during dinner.

I kept seeing tablecloths like it when my mom and I were going to the flea markets and antique shops. Mom told me she thought she had some at home that I could have. Lo and behold she pulled them out of her sewing room and they had big chunks cut out of them! "Oh yeah, I made dish towels out of them" she says. Arrrrghhhhh!

My mom promised to keep an eye out for some more for me. I am hoping for some beauts like these. Or these.