Today's blog post has pretty much nothing to do with me or anything I do. Except laughing. Which is what I did when I saw this blog post by someone else. Typos are awesome.
Background info:
Cable-knit sweaters
"Ravelry"
Goats
07 January 2008
05 January 2008
Valentine's Day... already?
Yep, Valentine's Day's a-comin'. It will sneak up on you while you're relaxing in your post-Christmas glow. But not me! I am prepared... this year.
31 December 2007
Non-permanent Vandalism
Norman and I went to the Hobby Lobby today so I could take advantage of some sweet post-Christmas sale action. (Meh... I got some Advent tapers and a spool of ribbon.) At one point I lost Norman, called him, and subsequently found him staring at a wall of plain wooden letters. You know, they're about a foot tall, flat, for painting or decoupaging and hanging in a kid's room or something cheesy like that? They were arranged on this wall to say nice things like "NOEL" and "BABY" and "GIFT" and "TREE".
Norman was staring at the wall trying to figure out what else you could spell given those letters and the constraints of only four letters across. He told me so far he'd figured out "GO LIFT PINT O BEER". So I said, "Well, let's do it!" He was afraid we'd get caught, but really, I say, what could anyone do to us? This is the result:
It's probably still there. Check out the Norman Hobby Lobby if you're curious. I kind of want to go back every day until it's different, just to see how long it takes them to notice. Perhaps we will have started a revolution, and every day it will say something different! Oh the possibilities!
Norman was staring at the wall trying to figure out what else you could spell given those letters and the constraints of only four letters across. He told me so far he'd figured out "GO LIFT PINT O BEER". So I said, "Well, let's do it!" He was afraid we'd get caught, but really, I say, what could anyone do to us? This is the result:
It's probably still there. Check out the Norman Hobby Lobby if you're curious. I kind of want to go back every day until it's different, just to see how long it takes them to notice. Perhaps we will have started a revolution, and every day it will say something different! Oh the possibilities!
26 December 2007
Holiday Food Roundup
I've been making a lot of special foods for the first time this Christmas season. Some I've remembered to take pictures of; others, not so much.
Breadsticks -- Nov 30 (church-wide Advent dinner)
They didn't rise as much as I would have liked, and they were a little too sour for my taste -- definitely could have used some dipping sauce. But all 30 or so were gone by the time I went through the line, so they at least looked tasty.
Butternut Squash -- Dec 14 (Advent dinner)
Prepared the only way I knew how -- like sweet potatoes. Sliced, put in a casserole dish with lots of butter, cinnamon, and a little maple syrup. It was delicious.
Ratatouille -- Dec 22 (Advent dinner)
I actually managed to take pictures of the process here. Whoa.
Pealing my first eggplant. Skin is surprisingly thin.
Cutting into my first eggplant. It's almost spongy. And see all those little things in there? Seeds. There's really no way to remove them. They were entrenched. So I just left them.
Chopped up and ready to be salted. Apparently eggplants contain a bitter juice that is removed by tossing the pieces with a whole lot of salt, letting them sit for an hour, then rinsing them off.
Ratatouille also contains zucchini, tomato, onion, and bell pepper. Please excuse the mess and the lack of counter space.
All done! Well, kinda. I let it keep cooking at the dinner before we ate, and it got all roasty up on top. Mmmm... It turned out very salty, but everyone seemed to like it. It was an educational experience for all involved.
Christmas Dinner!
Cornish Game Hens --
Wow. Those suckers are a lot bigger than they look. We bought two, but one would have fed us just fine. I stuffed them with fresh basil leaves and garlic and poured olive oil on top of them. They turned out very, very tasty. I'm making broth out of the carcasses later. :-)
Gravy --
I made gravy with the pan drippings. I just added some flour. This turned out to be not exactly awesome, because all the olive oil rose to the top and we had to keep stirring it and/or pouring off oil. But it was also very, very tasty.
Mashed potatoes --
Believe it or not, I had never mashed potatoes before. Wow. They're not hard to make, and they're so much better than the ones that come out of a box. Of course, that could be due to the half stick of butter I put in them. Or the heavy whipping cream. Or the whole milk. Or the cheddar cheese. Or the crumbled bacon. Yeah.
[Salad, with basil leaves and climbing spinach -- Norman made the salad. It was awesome! Thanks, Jenny, for the spinach!]
Wine --
Well, of course, I didn't make it, but we'd never bought wine for ourselves before. Turned out pretty well. Oh, but we don't have wine glasses. But we do have little off-white, ceramic Chinese tea cups with no handles and a bamboo motif. Very festive. :-)
Pumpkin Pie --
I made a pumpkin pie! Also not that hard. Interesting... All these "from scratch" things that I thought were so horrible, back-breaking, and time-consuming... Not so much. Photos!
(There's only a hole in the middle because I had to stick a knife in so it could come out clean.)
Mmmmm.... Oh yeah, and I whipped up some heavy whipping cream for the top. Again, not hard. Five minutes and 3 extra pieces to wash. And oh so tasty.
Breadsticks -- Nov 30 (church-wide Advent dinner)
They didn't rise as much as I would have liked, and they were a little too sour for my taste -- definitely could have used some dipping sauce. But all 30 or so were gone by the time I went through the line, so they at least looked tasty.
Butternut Squash -- Dec 14 (Advent dinner)
Prepared the only way I knew how -- like sweet potatoes. Sliced, put in a casserole dish with lots of butter, cinnamon, and a little maple syrup. It was delicious.
Ratatouille -- Dec 22 (Advent dinner)
I actually managed to take pictures of the process here. Whoa.
Pealing my first eggplant. Skin is surprisingly thin.
Cutting into my first eggplant. It's almost spongy. And see all those little things in there? Seeds. There's really no way to remove them. They were entrenched. So I just left them.
Chopped up and ready to be salted. Apparently eggplants contain a bitter juice that is removed by tossing the pieces with a whole lot of salt, letting them sit for an hour, then rinsing them off.
Ratatouille also contains zucchini, tomato, onion, and bell pepper. Please excuse the mess and the lack of counter space.
All done! Well, kinda. I let it keep cooking at the dinner before we ate, and it got all roasty up on top. Mmmm... It turned out very salty, but everyone seemed to like it. It was an educational experience for all involved.
Christmas Dinner!
Cornish Game Hens --
Wow. Those suckers are a lot bigger than they look. We bought two, but one would have fed us just fine. I stuffed them with fresh basil leaves and garlic and poured olive oil on top of them. They turned out very, very tasty. I'm making broth out of the carcasses later. :-)
Gravy --
I made gravy with the pan drippings. I just added some flour. This turned out to be not exactly awesome, because all the olive oil rose to the top and we had to keep stirring it and/or pouring off oil. But it was also very, very tasty.
Mashed potatoes --
Believe it or not, I had never mashed potatoes before. Wow. They're not hard to make, and they're so much better than the ones that come out of a box. Of course, that could be due to the half stick of butter I put in them. Or the heavy whipping cream. Or the whole milk. Or the cheddar cheese. Or the crumbled bacon. Yeah.
[Salad, with basil leaves and climbing spinach -- Norman made the salad. It was awesome! Thanks, Jenny, for the spinach!]
Wine --
Well, of course, I didn't make it, but we'd never bought wine for ourselves before. Turned out pretty well. Oh, but we don't have wine glasses. But we do have little off-white, ceramic Chinese tea cups with no handles and a bamboo motif. Very festive. :-)
Pumpkin Pie --
I made a pumpkin pie! Also not that hard. Interesting... All these "from scratch" things that I thought were so horrible, back-breaking, and time-consuming... Not so much. Photos!
(There's only a hole in the middle because I had to stick a knife in so it could come out clean.)
Mmmmm.... Oh yeah, and I whipped up some heavy whipping cream for the top. Again, not hard. Five minutes and 3 extra pieces to wash. And oh so tasty.
21 December 2007
Branching Out
In an effort to take my little business to the next level, I've started consigning some of my items to various places. You can find my neck tie stockings at a little antique store in Fairmont, MN (hi, Mom!). You can also find an assortment of my wares at Pink Andie Beads in Mechanicsburg, PA. It's a small bead store that just opened earlier this month, which also carries a smattering of handmade goods. Check out the pictures, and see if you can spot some of my items!
And another picture that for some reason doesn't show up at the above link:
(Those are my book journals, board game coasters, and lavender sachets!)
And another picture that for some reason doesn't show up at the above link:
(Those are my book journals, board game coasters, and lavender sachets!)
09 December 2007
Estate Sale Shopping Hazards
Yes, you read that correctly -- hazards. Not physical, just emotional. ...This time.
I attended an estate sale this weekend (both Friday and today). It was a lovely sale. I bought lots of stuff. Books, linens, clothes, crochet hooks... all sorts of stuff. Today I went back for the half-price sale to pick up a bunch of 35mm slides for my Etsy shop. And I did. Three shoe boxes full of sets in smaller boxes. Great stuff -- it's all from the 50s and 60s, lots of travel photos and family gatherings. I'm excited about them.
However -- tucked away at the bottom of one of the smaller boxes, in a folded slip of paper were two slides of a NAKED MAN. I'm not talkin', like, no pants or something. No -- Buck. Naked. Thankfully, they were candid shots, not really posed in any way. Somehow that would have been much worse, I think.
Usually I'm a sucker for speculating about people and their lives and why they do the things they do. But in this instance, I really just don't want to know.
(Oh, and you can thank me later for not adding photos to this post.)
I attended an estate sale this weekend (both Friday and today). It was a lovely sale. I bought lots of stuff. Books, linens, clothes, crochet hooks... all sorts of stuff. Today I went back for the half-price sale to pick up a bunch of 35mm slides for my Etsy shop. And I did. Three shoe boxes full of sets in smaller boxes. Great stuff -- it's all from the 50s and 60s, lots of travel photos and family gatherings. I'm excited about them.
However -- tucked away at the bottom of one of the smaller boxes, in a folded slip of paper were two slides of a NAKED MAN. I'm not talkin', like, no pants or something. No -- Buck. Naked. Thankfully, they were candid shots, not really posed in any way. Somehow that would have been much worse, I think.
Usually I'm a sucker for speculating about people and their lives and why they do the things they do. But in this instance, I really just don't want to know.
(Oh, and you can thank me later for not adding photos to this post.)
28 November 2007
Practical Hints for the Household
Excerpts from Godey's Lady's Book and Magazine
August, 1886
"We so frequently hear the remark from women that household duties are distasteful, and uninteresting; upon consideration, most necessary occupations in this world inevitably bore us, if we do not endeavor to take some sort of interest in them.
...
Under most circumstances at the best of times housekeeping is a disagreeable occupation, but, as it is impossible to evade it during some period of one's life, the best plan must be to extract from it every atom of interest which it is capable of yielding.
...
It is surely quite possible for any woman, possessing an average intelligence, to become, after the experience of a few months, a perfectly capable housekeeper without being "born" so; and moreover, a score of reasons could be given, if space permitted, to show why household affairs should not be devoid of interest to a clever woman.
...
A woman should not, however, only consider herself in the matter, but remember that the whole comfort of the home depends upon her cheerful performance of the duties devolving upon her. If the husband, father or brother does his duty in supplying the necessary wherewithal to supply the needs of the household, her duty and pleasure should be to add by every means in her power to the comfort of all beneath its roof."
"The average girl at marriage is well instructed in sewing. To take her place at the head of a family without a fair knowledge of this useful household art would be to disgrace her mother and herself in the minds of all their acquaintances."
(Thanks, Kelly.)
August, 1886
"We so frequently hear the remark from women that household duties are distasteful, and uninteresting; upon consideration, most necessary occupations in this world inevitably bore us, if we do not endeavor to take some sort of interest in them.
...
Under most circumstances at the best of times housekeeping is a disagreeable occupation, but, as it is impossible to evade it during some period of one's life, the best plan must be to extract from it every atom of interest which it is capable of yielding.
...
It is surely quite possible for any woman, possessing an average intelligence, to become, after the experience of a few months, a perfectly capable housekeeper without being "born" so; and moreover, a score of reasons could be given, if space permitted, to show why household affairs should not be devoid of interest to a clever woman.
...
A woman should not, however, only consider herself in the matter, but remember that the whole comfort of the home depends upon her cheerful performance of the duties devolving upon her. If the husband, father or brother does his duty in supplying the necessary wherewithal to supply the needs of the household, her duty and pleasure should be to add by every means in her power to the comfort of all beneath its roof."
"The average girl at marriage is well instructed in sewing. To take her place at the head of a family without a fair knowledge of this useful household art would be to disgrace her mother and herself in the minds of all their acquaintances."
(Thanks, Kelly.)
26 November 2007
Trashion Sale
As you may or may not know, I am a member of the Etsy Trashion Street Team. "What the heck does that mean?" you ask. It's basically a group of people who:
1. Sell things on Etsy
2. Incorporate recycled materials into their items (hence the "trash" part)
Well, we're having a sale! You can find out all about it here and here. (Yep, there I am! 20% off everything next Sunday, December 2nd!) Also, shopping guides!
So, as I mentioned before, buying handmade for the holidays is good. But buying handmade and recycled is even better! Check out the Trashion shops. There's some pretty neat stuff.
17 November 2007
Three Things
One:
A nice lady wrote a nice blog entry about me and Chaos Into Art.
Two:
Shout out to my mom! We make a great team.
Three:
Apparently along with the Writers, the Writers' office chairs are also on strike.
A nice lady wrote a nice blog entry about me and Chaos Into Art.
Two:
Shout out to my mom! We make a great team.
Three:
Apparently along with the Writers, the Writers' office chairs are also on strike.
14 November 2007
Buy Nothing?
I've been hard at work (yes, still) getting ready for what I hope will be a busy holiday buying season. I had my home show last Friday (a smashing success -- thank you to everyone who showed up to support me!), and I have a booth at a craft show in a week and a half.
And because the holiday shopping season is upon us, whether we like it or not, buzz has started up again about "Buy Nothing Day". You can read all about it at the link, but the basic gist is -- don't buy anything on the day after Thanksgiving. This day was chosen because it's usually the biggest shopping day of the year, and people get up at the crack of dawn and trample each other trying to get to the bargain big screen TVs and mp3 players.
Now, while I am certainly against 1.) getting up at the crack of dawn, 2.) trampling people, and 3.) measuring your love for another human being by how much Christmas credit card debt you rack up in their name, I really can't get behind Buy Nothing Day. One day, and then you can get back to swiping those credit cards to your heart's content? Eh... It makes a great press release, but isn't there a more consistent idea out there?
Now here's something I can get behind: The Handmade Pledge. "I pledge to buy handmade this holiday season, and request that others do the same for me." You know you're going to give people gifts around Christmas. It happens. And it's fun! And by buying (or making!) handmade gifts, you can participate in all the good ideas behind Buy Nothing Day in a productive way.
Handmade gifts mean thought, care, and individualism. Buying handmade will support someone who works at what they love. Buying recycled handmade helps rescue stuff from the dump (literally or figuratively), and assures you a one-of-a-kind gift.
Here are some links to get you started:
Etsy
another handmade shopping website
Craftster (ideas and tutorials for making your own gifts)
Martha Stewart (gift and decoration ideas)
Wists.com (make an online wish list with links to any web page)
(Am I just saying all this so you'll come to my show that happens to be the day after Thanksgiving and buy stuff? No. Do I care about this because I make handmade gifts for a living? Yes. Is that the only reason I care? No.)
And because the holiday shopping season is upon us, whether we like it or not, buzz has started up again about "Buy Nothing Day". You can read all about it at the link, but the basic gist is -- don't buy anything on the day after Thanksgiving. This day was chosen because it's usually the biggest shopping day of the year, and people get up at the crack of dawn and trample each other trying to get to the bargain big screen TVs and mp3 players.
Now, while I am certainly against 1.) getting up at the crack of dawn, 2.) trampling people, and 3.) measuring your love for another human being by how much Christmas credit card debt you rack up in their name, I really can't get behind Buy Nothing Day. One day, and then you can get back to swiping those credit cards to your heart's content? Eh... It makes a great press release, but isn't there a more consistent idea out there?
Now here's something I can get behind: The Handmade Pledge. "I pledge to buy handmade this holiday season, and request that others do the same for me." You know you're going to give people gifts around Christmas. It happens. And it's fun! And by buying (or making!) handmade gifts, you can participate in all the good ideas behind Buy Nothing Day in a productive way.
Handmade gifts mean thought, care, and individualism. Buying handmade will support someone who works at what they love. Buying recycled handmade helps rescue stuff from the dump (literally or figuratively), and assures you a one-of-a-kind gift.
Here are some links to get you started:
Etsy
another handmade shopping website
Craftster (ideas and tutorials for making your own gifts)
Martha Stewart (gift and decoration ideas)
Wists.com (make an online wish list with links to any web page)
(Am I just saying all this so you'll come to my show that happens to be the day after Thanksgiving and buy stuff? No. Do I care about this because I make handmade gifts for a living? Yes. Is that the only reason I care? No.)
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)