Happy Birthday To Me!

It's been a crazy day! A crazy week, actually! My son's first grade class is doing the Nutcracker (the play, not the ballet) on Friday. Today was dress rehearsal, and they did very well! I need to finish up some hats for the costumes, but it's all coming together...

And as promised, I went to random.org to pick a giveaway winner. I had 14 entries between comments here, on my Facebook fan page and Twitter. The website randomly picked #7, which is Ann! Check out her shops on Etsy... she's very talented! I linked to only one of her shops, but she has 3 others, and they can be found by clicking "read more" on her shop announcement. Congrats, Ann!

Ok, that's it for now. I have a new year's resolution already, and that is to blog at least twice a week. One post will be about what I'm up to in my shops and life in general, and the other post will be featuring some other lovely Etsians. If I don't get back here before the new year, have a Happy Christmas and a terrific new year!

It's the busiest time of the year...

I don't know about you, but I have so busy lately! Making gifts, trips to the post office, baking, and making costumes and sets for my son's 1st grade play has kept me out of trouble! Downside is there has not been much "me" time...

That changes Wednesday when my birthday rolls around again. The best gift I can give myself this year is a day of down time. :)

You are invited to celebrate my birthday with me by entering to win my giveaway:



This is a stretchy bracelet, in the European 4 in 1 chainmaille weave. It has little silicone rings matched with aluminum rings. It is very lightweight - many people who own this cuff say they don't even notice it's on.

So, how to win? Simply go to my shop at http://RedBessBonney.etsy.com, pick your favorite item and come back here to post it in the comments. Here's how you can get two extra entries. You can follow me on Twitter and RT this giveaway. Be sure to @RedBessBonney so I know to add an entry for you. You can also like Red Bess Bonney Creations on Facebook, and leave a comment for me. On December 15th, I will use random.org to pick the winner. Once your address is confirmed, I will ship the bracelet out.

Ok, so go enter! :)

Zombie Dinner!

Unfortunately, I didn't take any pictures last night...

But I made the most fun dinner!

It was actually a baked ziti with cauliflower. My husband commented it looked like brains. I got to thinking that if you substitute spaghetti for the ziti, that it would be an awesome zombie meal of bloody brains and veins...

Here's the recipe:

8 - 10 oz spaghetti
1 head cauliflower, cut up
1 T olive oil
1/4 t salt
1/4 t pepper
2 T fresh shredded basil, or 2 t dried basil
1 14.5 oz can diced tomatoes
1/4 c mozzarella

1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.

2. Cook the spaghetti in a large saucepan according to the package directions. After draining, return spaghetti to the saucepan.

3. Meanwhile, toss the cauliflower, oil, salt and pepper together on a rimmed baking sheet. Roast, stirring once, until golden brown and tender, about 20 minutes. Stir basil and tomatoes into cauliflower and bake 10 minutes longer.

4. Add the cauliflower mixture to the spaghetti and stir well. Put the mixture in a casserole or baking dish. Top with mozzarella. Bake until cheese browns and bubbles, about 5 minutes.

This recipe originally came from the Cook Yourself Thin website, and makes 4 servings at 310 calories each. And it's vegetarian!

Tips: Feel free to play around with seasonings - make it to your taste! Add garlic to keep away the vampires.. ;)

Off to a rough start..

School started a week ago...



My son didn't get the teacher that I thought would be the best fit for him. We tried to switch, but the principal gave us an option that was unacceptable. For now we're going to see how it goes, and document anything unusual. I'm volunteering in class this afternoon, so I can see the dynamics of the class first hand. I'm hoping all will be well, and we won't have to go to the district or transfer schools - unless, of course, hubby gets a new job elsewhere. But that's another story...

I have been taking advantage of longer school hours to create new jewelry. Money has been tight for new supply purchases, so I've been seeing what I have and going from there. So far I've made these necklaces out of vintage belt buckles, and the earrings are from my mom's button stash.

I got to go to the "World of Color" Meet-Up!!!

A couple of weeks ago, Disney announced they were doing a meet-up at California Adventure, open to the first 300 people who RSVP'd via e-mail.. I thought I'd try, but never thought I'd get in... but I did - as well as my son, who was my guest.

So last Thursday we got to Disneyland a little early. We met up with some friends at Disneyland and tried to keep cool while going on a few rides. Before we knew it, it was time to head over to the check in table. At check in they gave us wristbands and a packet that contained a photo of "World of Color" and a list of who we would be seeing - Sayre Wiseman, Steve Davison and Mary Niven - who were all involved in the creation of this fabulous show.

We had a bit of time, so after we grabbed a bite to eat, Colin (my train obsessed boy) wanted to see the new trolley tracks. He is waiting very patiently for these to open...



When it was time, we headed over to Stage 17 in the Hollywood Pictures Backlot area..



After going inside, we waited a few minutes before they opened a curtain to the stage and seating area.



What followed was a very interesting and entertaining evening, listening to stories of the show by the creators..



followed by a really great viewing spot for "World of Color"! For those of you who haven't had a chance - here's some parts of the show:







Here is the Disney Parks Blog recap of the night as well.

Here is a photo of the swag we all got, including a special apple!


I am so happy I got to experience this! I can't wait for a chance to go to the next meet-up!

Vacation Wrap Up

So when I last left my vacation adventures, we had 3 days of vacation left...

Colin loves trees. Nebraska City is the home of Arbor Day and the Arbor Day Farm Tree Adventure.

It was very nice - it had trails and a tree house.. here's some pics -











At the end of your tree adventure, you get a free tree to take home and plant. Colin and Grandma planted one..



The next day we had tickets to the Omaha Royals game at Rosenblatt Stadium. Many years ago, when I was in college, I worked at Rosenblatt as a concession stand manager. In the years following, I went to several games and knew many of the season ticket holders and ball players. It was a shock to me to find out that this is Rosenblatt's last season - they are tearing it down to make a bigger parking lot for the zoo.













The Royals lost, btw...

The next day we headed back to the Kansas City area. We ran into some flooding on the highway around Nebraska City...





In the second picture, that water is completely covering the right lane..

Once we got to Kansas City, we visited with some old friends before dropping Colin off with the grandparents so Chris and I could have a nice dinner alone. The next morning we headed home.

Our summer adventures didn't end there.. we've managed to have a bit of fun since being home - I'll share some of our fun at a later date..

I hope you've enjoyed our vacation! :)

A New Wardrobe!

I have been reading a blog called New Dress A Day for a while now. It's very inspiring because A. cash is low for new clothes and B. I hate the styles/colors/fabrics at the stores right now.

I decided to try my own makeover of a thrift store dress. Saturday the local thrift had a 40% off sale, so I got this for $4.60.



Awful, isn't it? Not flattering in the least... Even the camera was disgusted - it didn't even take a good picture!! ;)

So, after thinking about what I wanted to do with it, I decided to turn it into a tunic. I cut off some length, and those awful sleeves. After hemming, here's what it looks like now:



Much better! I love the flutter sleeves! It gives me a whole new silhouette! (of course, it would help if it wasn't laundry day, and I have on some pants that are too baggy..)

I can't wait to hit the thrift stores again... Unfortunately, the local ones here are all so pricey.. I see a trip to Ventura in my future... :)

P.S. I haven't forgotten about finishing up our vacation... I have just a couple of days to go....

Go Big Red!

One afternoon we decided to go to Elephant Hall at the University of Nebraska. It's officially called Morrill Hall, but it's always been known as Elephant Hall.. It was always a favorite spot of mine when I was a child - and I love the fact my son loves it now too! It's very similar to the Natural History Museum here in LA. It's not really big, but at least you can see everything with a 6 year old in one day without any complaints of being tired.. ;)















After the museum, we took a little walk down the street to Memorial Stadium, home of the Nebraska Cornhuskers! Colin has been to one Nebraska game, but it was when they played USC here. This was his first chance to see the stadium.









To be honest, I don't think he was overly impressed. :)

Insurance Adventures and a Farm..

What to do when you get sick on vacation and need a doctor? We had two options - emergency room or finding a local provider our insurance would cover. We were staying in Leavenworth, Kansas. The nearest urgent care our insurance would cover was in Shawnee, Kansas. So we packed up the boy and went to the doctor. He was diagnosed with pneumonia - a very mild case, luckily. My husband had it before vacation, so I'm guessing that's how Colin got it, even though we tried to do everything we could to avoid contamination. He got some antibiotics, and the doctor said they would knock it out in two days.

The next day he was better - hardly coughing at all. So we tried to salvage a little bit of fun and went to Deanna Rose Children's Farmstead. He had a lot of fun there...

















Chris, on the other hand, maybe didn't have so much fun...



Colin was doing very well, until we took a hayrack ride that stirred up dust and his coughing. On the way back to Leavenworth, he started vomiting. It was not a good way to end the day for us, as we had to clean out the back of the van. Colin, on the other hand, felt completely fine and spent a few hours playing in the bath.

The next day we headed up to Lincoln, Nebraska to see my parents. Colin proceeded to vomit once or twice a day for the next 4 or 5 days. We ended up going to a different urgent care in Lincoln on the 4th of July, where we got another antibiotic that really did work well and right away, thank goodness. In the meantime, his Kansas grandparents came up to Lincoln, as did his great-aunt so we could have a nice 4th. We bought lots of fireworks, and had a fun shooting them off. Colin watched out the window, as it was too smoky for him to be outside. We kept things low key for a couple more days, with only family visits. Once he got over the vomiting and the coughing stopped, we crammed in a lot of activities in just a few days...

Next up, a trip to the University of Nebraska....

If you want to see more pictures, please visit Flickr.

Etsy-versary Giveaway Winner!

I went to random.org to pick the winner... and the number was 3, so Andie is the winner! Andie, I will be contacting you via e-mail for your address.

Thanks for playing! :)



p.s. the vacation blog posts will resume soon...

Marceline, MO and Walt Disney

One of the best days of our vacation we traveled to Marceline, Missouri. Marceline is where Walt Disney lived as a child. He never forgot his time there, and it became a huge influence in his films and Disneyland.



We first visited the Walt Disney Hometown Museum. It resides in a renovated Santa Fe train depot. The trains still whiz past the depot, but none stop there anymore. I loved how the tour guides would patiently pause during the train whistles!



Pictures are not allowed inside the museum, but if you scroll all the way to the bottom of this site, under Missouriland, you can see a couple of pictures. The museum has lots of photos and letters, and an original midget autopia car. We had a wonderful tour guide - unfortunately I can't remember her name! During one of Walt's visits back to Marceline, he stayed at her house because the town hotel was not the best and they had the only air conditioning in town. It was really amazing to meet someone who had known Walt!



Our next stop was Walt Disney Elementary School. It was being worked on, but we still managed to peek inside the door to see some original artwork by Disney legend Bob Moore.



From there we decided to stroll down Main Street. We first stopped at a wonderful ice cream shop, Sweet Tunes. I had a scoop of chocolate marshmallow, and since Chris can't have dairy, he had root beer. Refreshed, we started our walk...







Ever visit "Coke Corner" at Disneyland? It was modeled after this building..



We also stopped in Ripley Park. They were setting up for their 4th of July celebration, so we didn't linger too long.





We also went to Marceline's other park - the Walt Disney Municipal Park. It was home to Midget Autopia. If you're curious about the Disneyland ride, please visit Yesterland.. it has loads of info, including the fact that Walt and Roy donated this ride to Marceline when it closed at Disneyland. All that's left of it now is the neglected track at the park and a single car at the Hometown Museum. Chris walked the entire track...



From there we headed to Walt's dreaming tree and barn, and the house he lived in.





I'll start with the dreaming tree... The poor tree is not in such good shape these days. It was diseased, and hit by lightning. I wanted to sit under it, but just standing under the ground was so soft and spongy - it was a very weird sensation!





They have planted a sapling of the dreaming tree, called son of dreaming tree.



Just past the trees is the replica of Walt's barn.





I didn't get any good shots of the inside, which is covered in names of visitors. Unfortunately, we didn't have a pen, so we were unable to add ours. I'm okay with that, though, as our son opted to spend the day with his grandparents that day. Next time he'll come with us and we'll all get to sign. :) Here's some lovely views from the barn..





On our way back to Leavenworth, we saw a sign for a covered bridge. We decided to check it out since it wasn't far off the highway. But... it did involve a few turns, a few gravel roads, and a hike through an area that had flooded not long before we got there. The bridge was pretty cool, but it was in the middle of nowhere and sits over nothing since the creek moved decades ago.



And that was the end of our fun for a bit. We got back to find out our son had a fever of 102 and had not really been well all day. I felt like the worse mom ever - leaving to gallivanting around the countryside when I should have been with him. But other than a cough that we thought was allergies, he showed no indication of being ill. More on that tomorrow...

If you want to see more of my vacation pictures, please go to my Flickr. :)