I've been watching Battelstar Galactica (the original) the past few days. Picked the entire series up from the library and reliving my old love for this show. I don't remember it well but I do remember the episode with the angels, that one has stuck with me for years. So since I've been enjoying this fun show, thought I'd share.
Wednesday, October 19, 2011
Sunday, October 2, 2011
Petite Nutella Pochettes
One day while on youtube I ran across this video and I just sat there, drooling at the thought of what those little pockets tasted like. How could you go wrong with butter and nutella? You can't! So I thought about making them but needed to find a reason for it. That way I wouldn't eat them in one sitting while watching tv, or at my desk at work. Last weekend I served at church, running lights and camera for the team that's short handed. So I decided to make then then. They were so easy to make but I found one slight problem with the recipe as it was written, my hand mixer wasn't strong enough to mix the dough once all the flour was in it. Then again I did make the mistake of missing one important bit of information in the recipe... Do not over-mix! WOOPS! Oh well I just left the dough in the fridge for a couple hours and all was fine.
However before I even made the final decision to make them, I read the reviews knowing that some times food network recipes aren't correct on their website, as they were given in the shows. Of course there is the problem where the recipe was the same but the end results were vastly different than what was said to be on the show. This happened with a Giada recipe for granola bar type things. So in reading the reviews I saw people said the dough was bland as given so they jazzed it up a bit, some added a little powder sugar, while others went so far as to add vanilla extract and some, orange zest in addition to the powder sugar. Hate me if you want, but that's taking an excellent recipe for a French pastry to an American extreme. Of course I did make a minor change to the recipe and it was the addition of a little powder sugar to tone down the cream cheese taste. Never having had these before I didn't know if the end results were supposed to have a strong cream cheese taste (for the dough) so I added a little powder sugar just to tone it down. I don't feel like that addition changed the taste as drastically as the other additions that people were making to the recipe. But next time I make these I will be omitting the powder sugar and see how the dough tastes then.
I didn't have the same biscuit cutter so I just used a regular coffee cup and gave it a little decoration with the tines of a fork after I sealed the pochettes. I tasted one when it was still a little warm and nearly died, it was so good! Cold was good to but much better warm. Next time I make these I'm going to just use my stand mixer, it will save me from having to take the hand mixer apart again to clean it out. Also I'm going to split the dough in half before putting it in the fridge to chill. One of the reviewers suggested only working with half the dough at a time because it will get too soft from the butter melting and make it harder to roll out and cut. Yep that happened to me.
Petite Nutella Pochettes
Ingredients
* 1 cup (2 sticks) butter, at room temperature
* 8 ounces cream cheese, at room temperature
* 2 cups flour
* 1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons chocolate-hazelnut spread (recommended: Nutella)
* Water, as needed
* 1/2 cup confectioners' sugar
* Special equipment: 3-inch fluted biscuit cutter
Directions
In a medium bowl, using a hand mixer, cream the butter and cream cheese together until light and creamy. Add the flour slowly until the dough forms. Do not over-mix! Shape the dough into a ball and cover. Let the dough rest in the refrigerator for 30 minutes.
Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.
On a lightly-floured surface, using a lightly-floured rolling pin, roll out the dough to 1/8-inch thickness. Using a 3-inch fluted biscuit cutter, cut out as many circles as you can. Form the scraps into a ball and reroll to make more circles.
Fill each dough circle with a small spoonful of the chocolate-hazelnut spread. Dip your finger in tap water and spread on the edge of half the circle to help create a seal. Fold the dough over to create a crescent. Bake until golden, about 15 minutes. Cool, then sift the confectioners' sugar on top and serve.
Sunday, September 25, 2011
An update of sorts....
I wanted to post an update before I got lost in a sea of organza for the next few weeks. I'm gearing up to put my organza peonies in a shop across the street from my work, that's like a craft mall, the owner supports local artists. When I went in there a few weeks ago and looked around, I started talking to her and as we talked I got excited about the prospect of having my things in there. I didn't feel the same way about the place closer to my house, and knew this was where I needed to venture into the world of renting shop space. In addition to that, my friend is planning on having an artist holiday open house at her place in last November/early December this year. So I've been busy focusing on making peonies (well steps one and two of it) for over a week now. I've gotten a lot done in terms of cutting my old stash of fabric, most of that is gone and phase two of the process is almost fully finished with that first stack of cut fabric. I'm going to finish those up tomorrow (probably) and then start cutting more fabric, probably finish up the old fabric before I move onto the new one. So that I can finally get all my old fabric finished.
In addition to the peonies, I talked about putting my wine glass charms in there. I might hold off on those for now though, I feel like I'm spending all of my paychecks before I get them. Although I've only gotten one so far, but still; if I want to go to my cousin's wedding thanksgiving weekend I'm going to have to cut back on my spending. So I'll probably pull the wine glass charms from my shop and put them in that store for starters. I'm looking forward to moving onto phase three of the peonies though, but for now, I'm trying not to feel impatient when cutting fabric so that I don't burn myself out before things really kick into high gear.
In addition to all of this, I'm learning the updated software for our lighting console at church and because we're adding more LED lights every week or two, it's starting to take longer to do the programming. Which means two weeks out of the month I have to go in to church on Thursday nights to get my base looks programmed (if not more) when worship team is rehearsing, and then make any tweaks on Saturday so that I can get back to doing more dynamic lighting.
There are other, some what minor things, but they aren't as important. What does all of this mean for my etsy shop you ask? Well after I list the last two peonies from the six I made last week, I'm going to take a break from making and listing new things for there until close to Christmas. If I even start listing anything new by then that is.
With that I'm going to leave you with an email I got from my friend last night, Romance Novel 2011
In addition to the peonies, I talked about putting my wine glass charms in there. I might hold off on those for now though, I feel like I'm spending all of my paychecks before I get them. Although I've only gotten one so far, but still; if I want to go to my cousin's wedding thanksgiving weekend I'm going to have to cut back on my spending. So I'll probably pull the wine glass charms from my shop and put them in that store for starters. I'm looking forward to moving onto phase three of the peonies though, but for now, I'm trying not to feel impatient when cutting fabric so that I don't burn myself out before things really kick into high gear.
In addition to all of this, I'm learning the updated software for our lighting console at church and because we're adding more LED lights every week or two, it's starting to take longer to do the programming. Which means two weeks out of the month I have to go in to church on Thursday nights to get my base looks programmed (if not more) when worship team is rehearsing, and then make any tweaks on Saturday so that I can get back to doing more dynamic lighting.
There are other, some what minor things, but they aren't as important. What does all of this mean for my etsy shop you ask? Well after I list the last two peonies from the six I made last week, I'm going to take a break from making and listing new things for there until close to Christmas. If I even start listing anything new by then that is.
With that I'm going to leave you with an email I got from my friend last night, Romance Novel 2011
He grasped me firmly, but gently, just above my elbow and guided me into a room, his room. Then he quietly shut the door and we were alone. He approached me soundlessly, from behind, and spoke in a low, reassuring voice close to my ear. "Just relax." Without warning, he reached down, and I felt his strong, calloused hands start at my ankles, gently probing, and moving upward along my calves, slowly but steadily. My breath caught in my throat. I knew I should be afraid, but somehow I didn't care. His touch was so experienced, so sure. When his hands moved up onto my thighs, I gave a slight shudder, and partly closed my eyes. My pulse was pounding. I felt his knowing fingers caress my abdomen, my ribcage. And then, as he cupped my firm, full breasts in his hands, I inhaled sharply. Probing, searching, knowing what he wanted, he brought his hands to my shoulders, slid them down my tingling spine and into my panties. Although I knew nothing about this man, I felt oddly trusting and expectant. This is a man, I thought... a man used to taking charge. A man not used to taking 'No' for an answer. A man who would tell me what he wanted. A man who would look into my soul and say... "Okay ma'am, you can board your flight now."
Thursday, September 15, 2011
Cheaters Enchiladas chicken and cheese and onion
Ok I'm calling these cheaters enchiladas because I didn't use a traditional recipe. When it comes to authentic Mexican food, I tend to refer to Rick Bayless and his vast knowledge. I cheated by using a store bought rotisserie chicken although after looking at this recipe, I see Bayless did the same thing for the chicken, used store bought rotisserie. So maybe this isn't really cheating after all?
Since I don't have exact measurements due to making two kinds at the same time, I'm going to write this up the way I made it.
1 28oz can enchilada mild sauce (I used Old Elpaso)
1 19oz can enchilada mild sauce
1 10oz can enchilada medium sauce
4 large yellow onions (I prefer vidallia onions but the store didn't have any. However these were about the same size)
3 (2 cup) packages shredded cheese (I typically use the taco blend, but since I didn't realize I'd use all of the cheese up, I only bought two taco blend and one regular mild cheddar)
2 packages medium sized flour tortillas
1 1 pound 13 oz store bought rotisserie chicken (traditional recipe), reserve drippings from bottom of rotisserie package
kosher salt
olive oil
chili powder and pepper flakes to taste (optional)
Slice the onions and set in a large bowl while you preheat the pan up on medium heat. When pan is heated, coat with olive oil (I didn't measure this) then toss onions in, only as much as your pan can handle. I used a smaller pan so I worked in four batches. Let onions cook a bit and sprinkle with salt and let cook down (the salt brings out their sweetness). If you can multi task without problems then move onto the chicken, and start removing the skin and fat and pulling the meat off the bones, shredding it as you toss into a bowl. Keep an eye on the onions and stir processionally. If you only want the onions to sweat more than caramelize then don't cook them too much. I normally just cook them to remove the bite since they never cook in the oven when I'm making cheese and onion enchiladas. I like raw onions so it's not a huge issue, but it's nice to have cooked onions when eating enchiladas. When onions are desired doneness toss in bowl and repeat with second batch (if you need to cook them in batches).
Keep going with the onions until all are cooked and set aside. Continue shredding chicken when onions are done, give it a quick chop then add drippings from package to shredded chicken and stir together (you'll be surprised how much meat you get from that one bird!). Take about half the cooked onions and mix in with the chicken (add more or less to your preference). If you like your food with a little kick, then mix in some chili powder and pepper flakes in with the chicken mixture. Empty all three cans of enchilada sauce into a large (8 cup) measuring cup and give a quick stir to combine the mild and medium (it was about 6 cups of sauce all together). Pour enough sauce into chicken and onion mixture to be good and wet once it's all stirred together. You'll want to have more sauce in there than you'd think too keep everything from drying out during reheats (if this lasts that long).
Preheat oven to 375F as you wrap and roll. Spray pans (yes I said plural, I used 3, they were more or less 9x13 each, the big casserole one might have been a tad bigger) pam, or better yet, line them all with aluminum foil and then spray the foil to make clean up even easier! I forgot to line them this time and that is the last time I'll forget that. Pour a little enchilada sauce on the bottom of the pans to keep the bottom of the enchiladas moist. Take one package of tortillas and fan them out to separate, set them on a plate or cutting board. Add a good heaping portion of the chicken mixture to one end and sprinkle with cheese (again to your preference, I wound up using an entire 2 cup bag on all of the chicken enchiladas), tightly roll the enchiladas and place seam side down in pan. Repeat until all the chicken enchiladas are done.
Mix one 2 cup package of cheese with the onions and stir in enchilada sauce. Again don't worry about being skimpy with the sauce, as long as you have plenty for the tops of the enchiladas you'll be fine. There's more than enough sauce with the 3 cans to be generous with the fillings. Take the other package of tortillas and fan them out to separate, set them on a plate or cutting board. Just as with the chicken filling, scoop a generous amount of the onion filling onto one end of the tortilla and tightly roll up, placing seam side down in the pan. It's best to keep these separated from the others so that people that don't want/like chicken know which ones these are. It's easiest if you have different kinds of pans to remember which one is which. Repeat with all the onion filling. When the last one is in the pan, evenly pour the sauce over the enchiladas in all three pans. Split the last package of cheese between all three pans, cover with foil and place in oven. Cook for a half hour covered (if not longer), until sauce begins to bubble. Remove foil and rotate the pans around (move the one from the top rack to the bottom and put the two that were on the bottom, on top) and continue to bake until the cheese is cooked.
Let stand a few minutes to cool and serve with sour cream.
Since I don't have exact measurements due to making two kinds at the same time, I'm going to write this up the way I made it.
1 28oz can enchilada mild sauce (I used Old Elpaso)
1 19oz can enchilada mild sauce
1 10oz can enchilada medium sauce
4 large yellow onions (I prefer vidallia onions but the store didn't have any. However these were about the same size)
3 (2 cup) packages shredded cheese (I typically use the taco blend, but since I didn't realize I'd use all of the cheese up, I only bought two taco blend and one regular mild cheddar)
2 packages medium sized flour tortillas
1 1 pound 13 oz store bought rotisserie chicken (traditional recipe), reserve drippings from bottom of rotisserie package
kosher salt
olive oil
chili powder and pepper flakes to taste (optional)
Slice the onions and set in a large bowl while you preheat the pan up on medium heat. When pan is heated, coat with olive oil (I didn't measure this) then toss onions in, only as much as your pan can handle. I used a smaller pan so I worked in four batches. Let onions cook a bit and sprinkle with salt and let cook down (the salt brings out their sweetness). If you can multi task without problems then move onto the chicken, and start removing the skin and fat and pulling the meat off the bones, shredding it as you toss into a bowl. Keep an eye on the onions and stir processionally. If you only want the onions to sweat more than caramelize then don't cook them too much. I normally just cook them to remove the bite since they never cook in the oven when I'm making cheese and onion enchiladas. I like raw onions so it's not a huge issue, but it's nice to have cooked onions when eating enchiladas. When onions are desired doneness toss in bowl and repeat with second batch (if you need to cook them in batches).
Keep going with the onions until all are cooked and set aside. Continue shredding chicken when onions are done, give it a quick chop then add drippings from package to shredded chicken and stir together (you'll be surprised how much meat you get from that one bird!). Take about half the cooked onions and mix in with the chicken (add more or less to your preference). If you like your food with a little kick, then mix in some chili powder and pepper flakes in with the chicken mixture. Empty all three cans of enchilada sauce into a large (8 cup) measuring cup and give a quick stir to combine the mild and medium (it was about 6 cups of sauce all together). Pour enough sauce into chicken and onion mixture to be good and wet once it's all stirred together. You'll want to have more sauce in there than you'd think too keep everything from drying out during reheats (if this lasts that long).
Preheat oven to 375F as you wrap and roll. Spray pans (yes I said plural, I used 3, they were more or less 9x13 each, the big casserole one might have been a tad bigger) pam, or better yet, line them all with aluminum foil and then spray the foil to make clean up even easier! I forgot to line them this time and that is the last time I'll forget that. Pour a little enchilada sauce on the bottom of the pans to keep the bottom of the enchiladas moist. Take one package of tortillas and fan them out to separate, set them on a plate or cutting board. Add a good heaping portion of the chicken mixture to one end and sprinkle with cheese (again to your preference, I wound up using an entire 2 cup bag on all of the chicken enchiladas), tightly roll the enchiladas and place seam side down in pan. Repeat until all the chicken enchiladas are done.
Mix one 2 cup package of cheese with the onions and stir in enchilada sauce. Again don't worry about being skimpy with the sauce, as long as you have plenty for the tops of the enchiladas you'll be fine. There's more than enough sauce with the 3 cans to be generous with the fillings. Take the other package of tortillas and fan them out to separate, set them on a plate or cutting board. Just as with the chicken filling, scoop a generous amount of the onion filling onto one end of the tortilla and tightly roll up, placing seam side down in the pan. It's best to keep these separated from the others so that people that don't want/like chicken know which ones these are. It's easiest if you have different kinds of pans to remember which one is which. Repeat with all the onion filling. When the last one is in the pan, evenly pour the sauce over the enchiladas in all three pans. Split the last package of cheese between all three pans, cover with foil and place in oven. Cook for a half hour covered (if not longer), until sauce begins to bubble. Remove foil and rotate the pans around (move the one from the top rack to the bottom and put the two that were on the bottom, on top) and continue to bake until the cheese is cooked.
Let stand a few minutes to cool and serve with sour cream.
Monday, September 12, 2011
RIP Cuppa Joseph Coffee
We regret to announce the passing of Cuppa Joseph Coffee, known to his friends simply as "Cuppa Joe".
Although many of his detractors considered him a drip, he was a regular early morning fixture in diners all over the city. The latte Mr. Coffee was known for his perky attitude, nervous twitch, and was always ready to shake your hands.
In recent years he became brewed-y as he grew weary of the daily grind. He had bean on the decline spending much of his time in the sack.
All of his friends filterable about his death. One said, "He has passed much too soon and too often."
According to family tradition his full body will be decaffeinated, cream-mated, and placed into the grounds.
He is survived by his family members, Mrs. Olson, Juan Valdez, and the Hills Brothers who wish to express Sankas for your sympathy.
Although many of his detractors considered him a drip, he was a regular early morning fixture in diners all over the city. The latte Mr. Coffee was known for his perky attitude, nervous twitch, and was always ready to shake your hands.
In recent years he became brewed-y as he grew weary of the daily grind. He had bean on the decline spending much of his time in the sack.
All of his friends filterable about his death. One said, "He has passed much too soon and too often."
According to family tradition his full body will be decaffeinated, cream-mated, and placed into the grounds.
He is survived by his family members, Mrs. Olson, Juan Valdez, and the Hills Brothers who wish to express Sankas for your sympathy.
Thursday, August 4, 2011
What Were They Thinking?
I love Kraft Foods Food and Family magazine, I miss getting it in the mail. You see I was one of those thousands of people that had a free subscription to it but didn't have the money to keep it when they switched to paid memeberships a few years later. It was the same thing with my sister, but she buys the magazines off the rack usually the holiday issues. Which brings me to my post. I was over at her house last week to pick up the purse she bought for me from the Smokies and hung out for a couple hours just chatting. She was still trying to reclaim her house from the floor reno that went on while she was out of town. My mom and I had cleaned her countertop and cabinets a bit the day before they came back but we were going to my brother's block party so we couldn't do much. Plus despite my offer to clean after the floors were redone, my sister turned me down, saying she'd take care of it when they got back.
So while I was there and we were chatting, I helped her move her dinning room table back and forth while she vacuumed and put it back in place. Then she pulled out her cookbooks and magazines and went through the magazines, purging them. She gave me all of those particular magazines, which were mostly Paula Deen magazines, one Taste of Home and the one Food and Family magazine (holiday '09). While flipping through the Food and Family magazine just now I noticed a recipe Catalina Cranberry Chicken.
Now I'll admit, I don't eat chicken, nor have I ever had Catalina dressing, but I do know what onion soup mix and cranberry sauce taste like. Which is why when I saw this recipe I couldn't help but wonder if this would taste good. I mean it seems lke it's about six flavor profiles too many going on here. How can something like that taste good? Maybe one day I'll make this for someone and taste the sauce before I put it on the chicken. Still I can't get past the thought of cranberry sauce mixed with onion soup mix. Just doesn't sound appealing to me.
So while I was there and we were chatting, I helped her move her dinning room table back and forth while she vacuumed and put it back in place. Then she pulled out her cookbooks and magazines and went through the magazines, purging them. She gave me all of those particular magazines, which were mostly Paula Deen magazines, one Taste of Home and the one Food and Family magazine (holiday '09). While flipping through the Food and Family magazine just now I noticed a recipe Catalina Cranberry Chicken.
Now I'll admit, I don't eat chicken, nor have I ever had Catalina dressing, but I do know what onion soup mix and cranberry sauce taste like. Which is why when I saw this recipe I couldn't help but wonder if this would taste good. I mean it seems lke it's about six flavor profiles too many going on here. How can something like that taste good? Maybe one day I'll make this for someone and taste the sauce before I put it on the chicken. Still I can't get past the thought of cranberry sauce mixed with onion soup mix. Just doesn't sound appealing to me.
Thursday, July 21, 2011
Sitting outside while I soak up the heat and surf the net...
Wait, what?
My sister and her brood are out of town, on vacation and for whatever reason, decided to schedule their floor redo for this week. So I've been house sitting since Monday, only sleeping in my own bed and driving here to let the guys in and check up on them from time to time while I hang out on the bed in the master suite, watching tv and surfing the web.
So today is the last day of construction, they're finishing up the powder room and then will be sanding and staining and hopfully putting the first seal coat on. I decided to sit outside instead of inside, even though it's hot and I have my laptop. I know the air quality is only going to get worse in there once they start sanding. As it is, when the guy does a batch cut job of the hardwood planks, I can smell and almost taste it when standing at the top of the stairs. So I figured I'd save myself al the trouble of that today and stay outside. It's not so bad now since the temps are relativly low still but it's supposed to hit 94 degrees today, I'm not looking forward to that. If it does get bad I'll just go hang out in the laundry room with my laptop. Although that will still be in the house where they are working. *sigh* I guess I just need to sufer today if it means not breathing in anymore sawdust.
At least I have a quickly warming can of pop and Queen to keep me company. :)
My sister and her brood are out of town, on vacation and for whatever reason, decided to schedule their floor redo for this week. So I've been house sitting since Monday, only sleeping in my own bed and driving here to let the guys in and check up on them from time to time while I hang out on the bed in the master suite, watching tv and surfing the web.
So today is the last day of construction, they're finishing up the powder room and then will be sanding and staining and hopfully putting the first seal coat on. I decided to sit outside instead of inside, even though it's hot and I have my laptop. I know the air quality is only going to get worse in there once they start sanding. As it is, when the guy does a batch cut job of the hardwood planks, I can smell and almost taste it when standing at the top of the stairs. So I figured I'd save myself al the trouble of that today and stay outside. It's not so bad now since the temps are relativly low still but it's supposed to hit 94 degrees today, I'm not looking forward to that. If it does get bad I'll just go hang out in the laundry room with my laptop. Although that will still be in the house where they are working. *sigh* I guess I just need to sufer today if it means not breathing in anymore sawdust.
At least I have a quickly warming can of pop and Queen to keep me company. :)
Wednesday, July 6, 2011
Christmas in July
Christmas in July sale, enter coupon code ATCIJ15 to save 15% off all items. Sale ends July 24, 2011
Amy's Treasures
Tuesday, June 28, 2011
The Artfire Experiment Begins
Yesterday I spent a couple hours cutting circles to make peonies, I had planned to go through the whole creation process with them yesterday but the mail didn't arrive until around 5 PM and I got distracted online earlier in the day. So I didn't start to actually work on cutting circles out until 3:00. So since I was off to such a late start I cut out several circles and then took a couple hours break for dinner. I planned on going back downstairs at 7:00 to move onto phase two of the flowers but despite feeling rushed, I didn't get back down to the basement until close to 7:30. I had a bowl of ice cream and wanted to keep it away from the fabric, so I didn't have to worry about something happening. That and I didn't want to come back up the stairs once I finished it, because I knew I was going to just start working after that.
So I finally made it to the basement and popped the dvd in and worked. I blew through the entire dvd (all four epsidoes of Emergency! and the bonus Adam-12 episode), I had most of the fabric singed and I made a pair of earrings. All in all it was about midnight when I finally came up from the basement. But I didn't actually make any peonies last night. So this morning I moved onto phase two, assembly and finishing of penies. Because I wanted to have them photographed around 11, I only made four new peonies which took me longer than expected. Of course I am working with almost no workspace in my room due to my tiny desk, so that might have caused a delay.
At any rate, the four were done and I went outside to shoot them. It was a gorgeous day out, nice and sunny, perfect temperature only problem was it was a little windy. So I had to move operations insde due to the fact that my peonies were taking off like Dorothy's house in the Wizard of Oz. So after some frustration with trying to find the perfect spot, I was able to take the rest of my pictures. You can see the first two listings here:
www.artfire.com/modules.php?name=Shop&op=listing&product_id=3515870
www.artfire.com/modules.php?name=Shop&op=listing&product_id=3514660
Something Needs to be Done
As most people know, sales are non existant on etsy these days so I'm going to give my artfire account a try. Right now I only have two things in there but I'm going to be listing some peonies in there to see how things go. I haven't promoted my artfire shop at all and only have a free accont. So this will be interesting to see.
Thursday, June 23, 2011
Baby Shower Blanket
As some of you know, there's more to me than making jewelry and flowers, I am also crafty at other things. A couple weeks ago I got an evite from an old friend, someone I've known for a good 30 years. It was for a baby shower/house warming party. I took one look at her baby registry and said "I'm making something." The reason for this was two fold, one I'm out of work and can't afford to spend much, and two, I just didn't see anything on her registry that I wanted to get for little money. So I decided to make my money go further by giving her a handmade blanket.
Since I can't sew a straight line to save my life with a sewing machine, I decided to do a handmade blanket, fleece to be exact. Rather than tab the edges of the two pieces of fleece to attach them, I went with a blanket stitch. A quick search on youtube and I found this video:
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| in progress |
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| in progress |
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| finished |
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| finished |
All in all, it took a little over 2 hours to stitch together. Trimming the fabric so that they were even took less than a half hour, I asked my mom to do that for me because I can't cut a straight line anymore and didn't want to ruin this.
As for the results... it was a huge hit with the ladies that were sitting close and paying attention to what was going on, including my comment about it being handmade. Not only did my friend love it, but she kept wrapping herself in it. I kept reminding her that was was for the baby, not her, but she was so cold (the air was on in the house) that she couldn't resist. As I was walking to my car I once again teased her about the blanket being for the baby, I told her I'd make her one if she wanted.
As for the results... it was a huge hit with the ladies that were sitting close and paying attention to what was going on, including my comment about it being handmade. Not only did my friend love it, but she kept wrapping herself in it. I kept reminding her that was was for the baby, not her, but she was so cold (the air was on in the house) that she couldn't resist. As I was walking to my car I once again teased her about the blanket being for the baby, I told her I'd make her one if she wanted.
Friday, June 17, 2011
Just a little something to share
I spent far more time working on this than I should have this morning because I forgot I have an Illustrator type program now, something I spent over a year without. So with that said.... Please feel free to share this.
Monday, May 9, 2011
Not off to a good sart
Last week I had a goal, I said I wanted to have 70 pages written by the end of this week. I started today with having 39 pages done, having done about half a page of wirting over the weekend. So that leaves me with 31 pages to write to make my goal of being on page 70 of the story by the end of this week. It's a lot to do, I know but I had planned on locking myself in the basement with some dvds, my laptop and powercord. Some days the internet is very distracting to me, especially on the days when I'm not very motivated to do something. Those are the days when I need to get away from my desk, take my laptop and park my rear on the couch with laptop and tv.
I also said I was going to start working out again today but again that didn't happen. The weekend turned out differently than I thought it would. Originally I was going to church to train a new guy on lights but he didn't show up Saturday so I had to both program and run lights. I also ran camera two Saturday night since we were short a camera guy. I was asked to come back Sunday just in case the light guy wasn't there and sure enough, I was running lights again. The upside to that was a very funny moment that happened a few minutes after the first service ended, which will end up in the book somewhere. I ran upstairs and told the folks in the tech booth what happened, along with our techinical director and they all died laughing. We couldn't stop laughing about it for a while either.
Yesterday afternoon was no help either; instead of grilling like we originally planned, so we got stuck at Cracker Barrel (leave it to my brothers to not plan ahead) and didn't eat lunch until 4:00. Yeah just what I love doing, starving myself for the day only to eat lunch at dinner time. *sigh* So after that we hit HOBO and then it was back here for dessert and tea. After they left I basically got nothing done, I was tired and just needed some time to not run anywhere or feel like I had to be anywhere. I still haven't seen Thor yet but I will see it one of these days. I need to find out what my schedule will look like this week and then can plan to escape for a couple hours to catch a matinee. I got an email from my friend asking if I was free Wednesday or Thursday to do some work for him, and I said yes. So that's going to eat up a few hours of my time this week.
I really want to push myself this week and write, preferably the planned 31 pages so I can get further into the story than I normally would be at this point. That way I'll feel like the book will be finished and published by this time next year. That's my ultimate goal, if I can pull it off sooner than even better! I'm really hoping I'll get a good advance for the book so that I can both pay off my car loan and put some of it down for a down payment on a house. I don't want to spend all of it on a downpayment, I will need some money to pay bills after all, and buy furniture since I won't have much.
Next weekend won't be any help either, I'm going to a brunch on Saturday then most likely, go straight to church from there for my regular weekend on lights. Plus my cousin said she's going to come up for the weekend for her birthday. If she does and she doesn't change her mind, then we're going to go to a Persian restaurant in Milwaukee for lunch on Sunday. It's tiring just thinking about this, think about how much worse it would be if I had a full time job. UGHLast week I had a goal, I said I wanted to have 70 pages written by the end of this week. I started today with having 39 pages done, having done about half a page of writing over the weekend. So that leaves me with 31 pages to write to make my goal of being on page 70 of the story by the end of this week. It's a lot to do, I know but I had planned on locking myself in the basement with some dvds, my laptop and power cord. Some days the internet is very distracting to me, especially on the days when I'm not very motivated to do something. Those are the days when I need to get away from my desk, take my laptop and park my rear on the couch with laptop and tv.
I also said I was going to start working out again today but again that didn't happen. The weekend turned out differently than I thought it would. Originally I was going to church to train a new guy on lights but he didn't show up Saturday so I had to both program and run lights. I also ran camera two Saturday night since we were short a camera guy. I was asked to come back Sunday just in case the light guy wasn't there and sure enough, I was running lights again. The upside to that was a very funny moment that happened a few minutes after the first service ended, which will end up in the book somewhere. I ran upstairs and told the folks in the tech booth what happened, along with our technical director and they all died laughing. We couldn't stop laughing about it for a while either.
Yesterday afternoon was no help either; instead of grilling like we originally planned, so we got stuck at Cracker Barrel (leave it to my brothers to not plan ahead) and didn't eat lunch until 4:00. Yeah just what I love doing, starving myself for the day only to eat lunch at dinnertime. *sigh* So after that we hit HOBO and then it was back here for dessert and tea. After they left I basically got nothing done, I was tired and just needed some time to not run anywhere or feel like I had to be anywhere. I still haven't seen Thor yet but I will see it one of these days. I need to find out what my schedule will look like this week and then can plan to escape for a couple hours to catch a matinee. I got an email from my friend asking if I was free Wednesday or Thursday to do some work for him, and I said yes. So that's going to eat up a few hours of my time this week.
I also said I was going to start working out again today but again that didn't happen. The weekend turned out differently than I thought it would. Originally I was going to church to train a new guy on lights but he didn't show up Saturday so I had to both program and run lights. I also ran camera two Saturday night since we were short a camera guy. I was asked to come back Sunday just in case the light guy wasn't there and sure enough, I was running lights again. The upside to that was a very funny moment that happened a few minutes after the first service ended, which will end up in the book somewhere. I ran upstairs and told the folks in the tech booth what happened, along with our techinical director and they all died laughing. We couldn't stop laughing about it for a while either.
Yesterday afternoon was no help either; instead of grilling like we originally planned, so we got stuck at Cracker Barrel (leave it to my brothers to not plan ahead) and didn't eat lunch until 4:00. Yeah just what I love doing, starving myself for the day only to eat lunch at dinner time. *sigh* So after that we hit HOBO and then it was back here for dessert and tea. After they left I basically got nothing done, I was tired and just needed some time to not run anywhere or feel like I had to be anywhere. I still haven't seen Thor yet but I will see it one of these days. I need to find out what my schedule will look like this week and then can plan to escape for a couple hours to catch a matinee. I got an email from my friend asking if I was free Wednesday or Thursday to do some work for him, and I said yes. So that's going to eat up a few hours of my time this week.
I really want to push myself this week and write, preferably the planned 31 pages so I can get further into the story than I normally would be at this point. That way I'll feel like the book will be finished and published by this time next year. That's my ultimate goal, if I can pull it off sooner than even better! I'm really hoping I'll get a good advance for the book so that I can both pay off my car loan and put some of it down for a down payment on a house. I don't want to spend all of it on a downpayment, I will need some money to pay bills after all, and buy furniture since I won't have much.
Next weekend won't be any help either, I'm going to a brunch on Saturday then most likely, go straight to church from there for my regular weekend on lights. Plus my cousin said she's going to come up for the weekend for her birthday. If she does and she doesn't change her mind, then we're going to go to a Persian restaurant in Milwaukee for lunch on Sunday. It's tiring just thinking about this, think about how much worse it would be if I had a full time job. UGHLast week I had a goal, I said I wanted to have 70 pages written by the end of this week. I started today with having 39 pages done, having done about half a page of writing over the weekend. So that leaves me with 31 pages to write to make my goal of being on page 70 of the story by the end of this week. It's a lot to do, I know but I had planned on locking myself in the basement with some dvds, my laptop and power cord. Some days the internet is very distracting to me, especially on the days when I'm not very motivated to do something. Those are the days when I need to get away from my desk, take my laptop and park my rear on the couch with laptop and tv.
I also said I was going to start working out again today but again that didn't happen. The weekend turned out differently than I thought it would. Originally I was going to church to train a new guy on lights but he didn't show up Saturday so I had to both program and run lights. I also ran camera two Saturday night since we were short a camera guy. I was asked to come back Sunday just in case the light guy wasn't there and sure enough, I was running lights again. The upside to that was a very funny moment that happened a few minutes after the first service ended, which will end up in the book somewhere. I ran upstairs and told the folks in the tech booth what happened, along with our technical director and they all died laughing. We couldn't stop laughing about it for a while either.
Yesterday afternoon was no help either; instead of grilling like we originally planned, so we got stuck at Cracker Barrel (leave it to my brothers to not plan ahead) and didn't eat lunch until 4:00. Yeah just what I love doing, starving myself for the day only to eat lunch at dinnertime. *sigh* So after that we hit HOBO and then it was back here for dessert and tea. After they left I basically got nothing done, I was tired and just needed some time to not run anywhere or feel like I had to be anywhere. I still haven't seen Thor yet but I will see it one of these days. I need to find out what my schedule will look like this week and then can plan to escape for a couple hours to catch a matinee. I got an email from my friend asking if I was free Wednesday or Thursday to do some work for him, and I said yes. So that's going to eat up a few hours of my time this week.
Tuesday, March 29, 2011
Today was a Slug Day
I feel like such a slug today, I've basically done nothing all day. The only productive thing I've done today was to make a package of pasta, and it was one of those lipton boxes too, so not even from scratch or anything like that. I tried to go down to the basement to make something but I felt blocked creativly, I blame my etsy bill for that one. I looked at it late last night while I was downloading my sales information for taxes and it was scary! The amount kept blocking my creativiity today and I just had to walk away from my beads. It just wasn't worth trying to force something when I wasn't there creative wise. I'm better off going back to my beads another day.
Remind me not to look at that again. ;)
At least that block doesn't affect my wirting, that is, assuming I actually did some writing for my book. I didn't of course, just kind of slacked off all day. And here I was going to sweep and mop the kitchen floor today. Well yesterday actualy but I forgot to do it then. SSSHHHHHH New NCIS tonight so I won't be doing anything for a good two hours while both shows are one. Which means I should go down to do something now. If only I had a clue what I wanted to make for dinner...
Friday, March 18, 2011
The Hunt is on!
Looking for some fun and bargins? Well look no further, or should I say, there's a scavenger hunt going on! Find the coupon codes and save, sale ends Sunday 3/20/11.
Wednesday, February 23, 2011
NINE WORDS WOMEN USE
(1) Fine: This is the word women use to end an argument when they are right and you need to shut up.
(2) Five Minutes: If she is getting dressed, this means a half an hour. Five minutes is only five minutes if you have just been given five more minutes to watch the game before helping around the house.
(3) Nothing: This is the calm before the storm. This means something, and you should be on your toes. Arguments that begin with nothing usually end in fine.
(4) Go Ahead: This is a dare, not permission. Don't Do It!
(5) Loud Sigh: This is actually a word, but is a non-verbal statement often misunderstood by men. A loud sigh means she thinks you are an idiot and wonders why she is wasting her time standing here and arguing with you about nothing. (Refer back to # 3 for the meaning of nothing.)
(6) That's Okay: This is one of the most dangerous statements a woman can make to a man. That's okay means she wants to think long and hard before deciding how and when you will pay for your mistake.
(7) Thanks: A woman is thanking you, do not question, or faint. Just say you're welcome. (I want to add in a clause here - This is true, unless she says 'Thanks a lot' - that is PURE sarcasm and she is not thanking you at all. DO NOT say 'you're welcome'. That will bring on a 'whatever').
(8) Whatever: Is a woman's way of saying "Go to hell." (edited)
(9) Don't worry about it, I got it: Another dangerous statement, meaning this is something that a woman has told a man to do several times, but is now doing it herself. This will later result in a man asking 'What's wrong?' For the woman's response refer to #3.
* Send this to the men you know, to warn them about arguments they can avoid if they remember the terminology.
* Send this to all the women you know to give them a good laugh, cause they know it's true!!!
Monday, February 21, 2011
I think I've been watching too much A-Team...
Friday afternoon I was prepping for something I was going to bake later that night, Chocolate Filled Filo Triangles. The recipe is from the Classic Stars Desserts book that I picked up some time last year from Borders. This is my third recipe from the book and I was hopeful that it would be as good as the French Silk (pictured on the cover) and lemon squares that I made last year for my brother's block party. The downside to the recipe is that it only makes eight servings (or four like I did because I forgot one crucial part of the recipe), so I just planned on doubling it and bought enough ingredients to make three batches but wasn't sure I was going to make the third as I was shopping.
Getting back to Friday afternoon, while prepping for the recipe, I had to measure out 1/2 ounces of bitter sweet chocolate and decided to go with the three batches. But I didn't have nearly enough prep bowls to keep all the chocolate separate so I looked around, trying to rack my brain for ideas. My initial thought was egg carton, but as I fond out, we didn't have a near empty egg carton like I thought. So then I thought ice cube trays, but I couldn't find the extra ones so I was back to square one. I looked around the house wondering what in the world I could use to keep all the measured chocolate separated and ready to go for that night. Spotting my glass 8x8 pan in the dinning room I thought that would work, if I lined it with aluminum foil and used foil to section it off. But then I remembered that some of the chocolate was cut down into little pieces and shavings so that wouldn't work. It would be near impossible to try to get the chocolate out of that later.
Then it hit me, cut pieces of aluminum foil into squares and shape them into cups.
So I grabbed the aluminum foil out of the pantry and cut strips about four to five inches wide, then folded them over to crease and cut (by hand) in half. Once I had that done, I took the first square of aluminum foil and placed it in the palm of my hand, forming it into a cup. I put the chocolate in that and set it on a cookie sheet. After the initial one I used the small prep bowl to form the aluminum foil bowls and filled them with the chocolate pieces already cut. And went on to finish cutting all the chocolate into 1/2 ounce pieces.
Worked great! I just set it aside until later that night when I made the triangles and tossed them when I finished.
Getting back to Friday afternoon, while prepping for the recipe, I had to measure out 1/2 ounces of bitter sweet chocolate and decided to go with the three batches. But I didn't have nearly enough prep bowls to keep all the chocolate separate so I looked around, trying to rack my brain for ideas. My initial thought was egg carton, but as I fond out, we didn't have a near empty egg carton like I thought. So then I thought ice cube trays, but I couldn't find the extra ones so I was back to square one. I looked around the house wondering what in the world I could use to keep all the measured chocolate separated and ready to go for that night. Spotting my glass 8x8 pan in the dinning room I thought that would work, if I lined it with aluminum foil and used foil to section it off. But then I remembered that some of the chocolate was cut down into little pieces and shavings so that wouldn't work. It would be near impossible to try to get the chocolate out of that later.
Then it hit me, cut pieces of aluminum foil into squares and shape them into cups.
So I grabbed the aluminum foil out of the pantry and cut strips about four to five inches wide, then folded them over to crease and cut (by hand) in half. Once I had that done, I took the first square of aluminum foil and placed it in the palm of my hand, forming it into a cup. I put the chocolate in that and set it on a cookie sheet. After the initial one I used the small prep bowl to form the aluminum foil bowls and filled them with the chocolate pieces already cut. And went on to finish cutting all the chocolate into 1/2 ounce pieces.
Worked great! I just set it aside until later that night when I made the triangles and tossed them when I finished.
Wednesday, February 16, 2011
I know, I know, I'm late in Mentioning this but....
I'm featured on Joy De Vivre's blog today, take a look! There's even a give away. :)
Tuesday, February 15, 2011
Neda
Getting a little serious here....
When the election and protests broke in Iran, I, along with several other friends and family were spread the videos, links, etc. Then of course things died down and so did our posts on the subject, but we of course posted the occasional link, video, etc. Last night my cousin posted this video:
After I watched that I ran across this great video.
And then I found this documentary about Neda and the revolution
Neda means voice in Farsi
When the election and protests broke in Iran, I, along with several other friends and family were spread the videos, links, etc. Then of course things died down and so did our posts on the subject, but we of course posted the occasional link, video, etc. Last night my cousin posted this video:
After I watched that I ran across this great video.
And then I found this documentary about Neda and the revolution
Neda means voice in Farsi
Monday, February 7, 2011
Chuck
I'd just like to say how much I love that show. It has so many great moments and lines.
Seduction Impossible
need I say more?
Seduction Impossible
need I say more?
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