Stuff and updates and venting.

Yay! The journal has been claimed! No more worries.

Yesterday, we saw a bird flying backwards, the wind was that strong.

I definitely don't like the cold - do not miss that part of the Midwest.

Someone told me they will be giving the gift I worked hard and made for them for a secret santa exchange to their friend. I think that was supposed to make me happy. It did not. If you re-gift - one of my all time pet peeves - please don't tell the person who gave it to you for heaven's sake. That's just rude.

I won a giveaway from one of my all time favorite shops - the little red door. What a nice early Christmas present - more tiny houses for my collection. :) No pictures, 'cause I already uploaded today - it's a pain doing it more than once a day.

And...I have a bunch of Christmas cards I made and decided to give away. If you would like one to keep or send yourself, please go to my shop.

Two new projects...

I am starting two new projects this month.

Project number one: I discovered Ali Edward's December Daily project this past week. I only started reading her blog this year, so, I didn't participate last year. I thought it might be a fun way to use these stickers. I originally planned to do an advent calendar, but, this is close enough. :) I also didn't realize how many Christmas themed papers I have. So, I have an idea and will be building my own album. I have the papers picked out and will be cutting and assembling the "base" for the album to be filled in daily in December. I will be posting pictures of completed pages, hopefully, every day or so.

Plus, stay tuned for a little surprise to be announced when I post page number 25.

Here's a sneak peek at my selection of papers.



Project number two: In honor of Thanksgiving, I am calling November, thank you month. I have a lot of thank you stamps and am going to try to use each of them to make a bunch of thank you cards for the shop.

Ughhhh...

Just a very quick update regarding my absence. I have been getting two children settled into college life and a third started with homeschooling. Plus all of the usual distractions of life. It seems every week, what I planned to do and I what took priority have not been one in the same.

For instance, I have this week off from chauffeur duty (hubby is off work), so, I figured I would get a few very belated chores done around the house and...wait for it...wait for it...some new work to put in my shop. Silly me. Nope. Not gonna happen.

Anywho, I have some pictures to upload and some videos to pass along and some updates to the project to post. Next week?? Yeah, we'll see. :)

'Til then.

p.s. More baby lizard news. Hubby found one, one morning, a couple of weeks ago - in one of my yarn bins. Yikes and how'd that get there?

Baby gecko

Today, we rescued a baby gecko caught between the window and the screen. It was about 2 inches long. It's not the first one, either. Some years ago, when the girls were little, we found about 5 or 6, about the same size as this one, trapped in the same window. Still don't know how they get in there. Once again, my daughter liberated it and we let it go to safety in the yard. I didn't think to take a picture until it was over.

It made me miss the geckos that shared our house in Hawaii. They never got bigger than 3 or so inches, but, they sure took care of the bugs. We'd find them up on the ceiling or walls or in the light fixtures. Occasionally, we'd find a petrified one sticking out of a power strip. Then, there was the time I accidentally painted one yellow and the time I accidentally chopped off the tail of another one with the lid of the washing machine. (they grow back, the tails do)

A WTHeck and a "well, that's just stupid"

Yesterday, Friday, we needed to take middle daughter to campus to get some things taken care of before the fall. It was going to take awhile, so, we grabbed a snack and waited for her in the student union. When I went to use the restroom, I found the lady's room was locked. Not the men's, just the ladies. Go downstairs and find the same thing. WTHeck??

This has happened before, when we were there on the weekend. It was after 3 p.m., there were still many students, etc., walking around. I don't get it. Why just the lady's and not the men's. If it's some safety issue, it's not very effective. It's just as easy to drag someone into the men's room, you know?

Also, if you watch the SciFi channel, you may have noticed the change to SyFy - still pronounced SciFi. Well, that's just stupid. We laugh and call it siffy 'cause that's what it says - siffy. I found out some supposed reasoning behind this move which also ties into why SGAtlantis was cancelled before it's time. Demographics. Now, this is what's going around the web from fans and some articles, but, apparently, we old fogies of 30, 40, and 50 aren't good enough for their advertisers. They're trying to get the young'un's. How to do that? Cancel good shows and change the spelling of your name to something "hip" (oh, and make and show really bad "B" movies that just make you laugh). It's just stupid.

Okay, I've said my peace.

I lost a day.

Ughhh. I hate when that happens. I had all sorts of plans for yesterday, but, the universe had other ideas, so, I lost a day.

First, a pie...

This is my altered formula for a fruit pie. Today, I am making peach. I'm going to assume you know the basics of a pie. As in, get some pie crust, the fruit goes on the inside, lol, etc. I use Marie Calendar's frozen pie crust - love it - turns out perfect, every time. :)

To make this pie, choose your fruit and get enough to fill your chosen pie crust. It can be fresh or frozen, but, make sure it's plain without any extra sugar and stuff. You're going to need between 2 and 3 cups. Set aside. In a bowl, mix...

1/2 cup (packed) golden brown sugar
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 cup cornstarch
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

Add your fruit and stir until it's completely mixed and covered.

Preheat oven to 400°F.

Pour your fruit mixture into the bottom crust and cover with the top crust. You can use your favorite method of top crust, just make sure you cut slits for venting.

Bake 20 minutes. Reduce oven temperature to 350°F. Bake about another 25 minutes or so until the filling is thickened. This is perfect for my oven - yours may be different, so, keep checking it.

Here is a strawberry pie I baked a couple of weeks ago.


It was super yummy. I don't like to put sugar or egg or anything on my top crust, but, feel free to do so.

Now, go make pie!

New things 2...tiny houses

I have three new houses for my collection.



The small one with the green roof is from my favorite tiny house shop - the little red door. The "neighbor" house is from famous noodle and lou. I have wanted one of these little houses for a long time. The "true" house is from a new shop I discovered recently - humbleBea. I hope to get a couple more, eventually.

New things...

I've been meaning to do this for awhile, now. I'm adding a new feature. I love to bake and I have some favorite things I make both for dinner and desert. So, I've decided to start posting pics and recipes or links to things I'm making.

Sunday, we ordered pizza, so, nothing special there. But, I did make some of my cinnamon rolls for Father's Day.


The brown stuff is melted sugar.



This is my own adaptation of traditional rolls. It's very simple. My twist on it is to use this - http://www.pillsbury.com/products/rolls/Refrigerated/RecipeCreations.htm. I love how it's not sweet and so doesn't compete with the sugar cinnamon.

This recipe makes eight rolls.

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. I used to use a pie pan to bake them in, but, recently I tried using a muffin tin and I like it so much better. So, get out your muffin tin and grease eight sections, really well with softened or melted butter - I like softened.

In a bowl, make up a mixture of equal parts brown and white sugar - I use about 1/4 cup each. Add about 1 or 2 teaspoons of cinnamon. Stir until thoroughly mixed. Set aside.

Unroll the dough onto a flat surface. Spread the dough with more softened butter. Sprinkle the sugar mixture evenly on top of the butter. Roll or fold the dough into a pinwheel - reverse the direction that you unrolled it.

Cut into eight equal slices. Place one slice into each greased muffin tin. Sprinkle any sugar mixture that fell out back onto the rolls. Bake for 15-18 minutes depending on your oven.

Icing - mix about 2/3 - 1 cup powdered sugar with enough milk to make a pouring consistancy - I add a teaspoon or so of softened butter, too. Pour over the warm rolls. Enjoy!

Collections pt 1

I'm a collector. My family would call it being a pack rat. My largest/oldest collection is a collection of frogs. Very specific frogs. But, more about them in part 2. I also collect small wooden boxes; tiny toy critters; tiny glass bottles; and more. Did I mention I like tiny.

My latest obsession is with tiny houses. These sit on the shelf above my desk.

The first one is one I made. It is about 2 inches high. I actually made more and sold the rest. I decided to keep this one and look for more tiny houses. The rest are from this shop the little red door. They are so cute. They are glazed ceramic and the smallest is only an inch tall.

I also like this shop: junque and these houses: wunderlust.

p.s. The beaded items behind the houses are mine and the bowl is by my daughter.

What do you collect??

Yikes! (and a sale)

Didn't realize how long it's been. You know how it goes. Tax time, etc. Oh, and my baby turned 19 on Thurs. I'm still in denial. Anywho, I have about a dozen ideas and issues I'd like to write about if I only had 4 extra hours in the day.

In the meantime, I'm going to be adding some new items in my shop soon. They will be more of the paper persuasion than yarn. So, I'd like to clear out some of the items still available. I will be having sales on different categories of items. This week, my tissue cozies will be on sale through next Saturday. Purchase any tissue cozy, put BLOG20 in the note to seller and receive 20% off (excluding shipping). You will receive the discount in a paypal partial refund.

I wanted to add my favorite Christopher Walken video - I love Christopher Walken - but, I couldn't find the one without embedding disabled. If you ever want to be entertained, go to youtube, do a search for Fatboy Slim - Weapon of Choice, and enjoy.

I did find one of the SNL skit with the Walken family reunion(embedding also disabled). It was a video of a tv playing SNL. Like they set the video camera in front of the tv and started recording. Okay...

Tea Pockets and Girl Scout Cookies

Introducing - Pockets. First up, Tea Pockets. These are really fun to make. And, they're not just for tea, either.

Also, we looked for Girl Scout Cookies this week and found out that different areas of the country get different cookies. We don't get "real" Girl Scout Cookies - you know the ones with the fancy names - tagalongs, trefoils, etc. No, we get these crappy, full of corn syrup, generic, ones with names like - peanut butter cookies?!?!?! It turns out that there are TWO companies that make the cookies for the Girl Scouts and they ship to different parts of the country. So, I'm on the lookout for anyone with access to the REAL cookies. Anyone?? Bueller??

Let it snow...

We don't get much snow here. Maybe 3 or 4 times a year. But, it snowed yesterday. And snowed. And snowed. And snowed.

This is what it looked like at about 7 pm last night.



This is about 1 am.



And this is today.



Yeah, it doesn't stay.

Busy, Busy, Busy

I have a bunch of new pins up in the shop. I have added the option of turning them into magnets. I'm also adding some iphone/itouch cozies today or tomorrow. Just adding some finishing touches and need to take pictures. More items to come, too. Felted hotpads and facecloths. Standard fare. Hopefully, they'll sell better than the Snarlies.

Speaking of Snarlies, starting today, if you buy a Snarly, I'll throw in the matching cub for free.

And, last, here's a link to the best homemade roll recipe I've ever made. Time consuming, but, not too complicated and soooooo yummy! http://cafejohnsonia.blogspot.com/2008/04/refrigerator-rolls-101.html

Happy Holidays!

Post Halloween Post

Belated Happy Halloween. Hope everyone had a good time.

I miss the days before everyone just went to the mall for trick or treating. We had, I think, five groups of kids last night. Five. I remember when my girls were little and the streets were crowded and my 2-year-old took off after "Barney" 'cause she thought he was real. The mall is just not the same.

We still have pumpkin carving, though. :) Here is the work of child #1 and child #3:

Stormy

I don't know if I've mentioned that my daugther is an artist. She's very good. Usually, she does animation type artwork. Characters from WoW and anime stuff. Today, she did a digital drawing of Stormy. This was from an empty canvas with a mouse.

R.I.P. Stormy the hedgehog

Stormy the hedgehog passed away last night. He was found this morning in his cage. His mouth was full of litter, so, we think he tried to eat his litter and choked to death. He had been losing his eyesight in the past several months. Needless to say, my daughter is very upset. He was about 4 years old. They are supposed to live around 6-7 years more or less. We are very sad.

Bob

I will be making some major changes in my shop very soon. I will be getting rid of the jewelry part and focusing back on my roots - paper and yarn. I have some plushie type items and a new "house" series. My new blog is almost ready to debut and I will be having some giveaways and contests. I will continue to post my favorites and Aloha Friday. And, when available, I will still put up the Etsy Spaces.

In the meantime, something for Halloween. This is Bob, he lives along our front walkway. He was put there some years ago for Halloween. Afterward, the girls wanted him to stay and so he has. He sits there year 'round. He's been rained on and snowed on. The snow makes a lovely mohawk. He even used to have a bow, don't ask, but it blew away.

This picture was taken the other night when I wanted to test the settings on my camera. I think it's kind of eerie and even looks a little real, too.

Does your Target have two floors?

A prime example of how to waste time on the Internet. I like the band Punch Brothers and subscribe to their blog. The other day, they posted a link to a bunch of short, 2-minute interviews of two of the members. In one of the snippets, Noam Pikelny mentioned that since they moved to NYC; he had found some really cool things. One thing he mentioned was going to the Atlantic Terminal Mall in Brooklyn. And, the thing he liked about this mall is that it has a Target inside. A Target with two floors. And inside this Target is an escalator - for your cart. How cool is that?

Well, I had to find a picture of that. So, after much searching, I found that it is technically called a vermaport. Apparently they have them in many Targets and Ikeas and the like with more than one floor. Then, after searching for vermaport, I found the piece de resistance - a video of one in action. And so, I give you - the vermaport.



But please, take your child out first. Um, duh?!?

Okay, I'm a geek, but, I think this is fascinating.

Two side notes. One, to be honest, what I'm really envious of is the Target with TWO floors. And two, I also use my incredible research skills for good, too, like helping with homework. lol

Getting back to normal

If you read my twitter, you know we sent middle child off to college this week. I read some bloggers posting this week about sending their kindergartners off to school for the first time. Trust me, this is way harder. Thank goodness for e-mail and cell phones. lol Already had a midnight call about a computer that wouldn't reboot and an English paper that was "trapped" inside; waiting to be printed. Youngest child is very happy to have her own room, again.

I need to get "back to work", though. I have many projects to finish, both for work and for home. Lot's of new things coming to the shop. This month has been so hectic, I haven't had any time to sit down and work on them. I'm also going to have some giveaways and finally get my next blog going - Blog Candy Blog.

Stay tuned. More to come.

Strange game.

In our house, we have a strange little game we play. One Christmas I found an old Barbie head, leftover from one of the girls. Somehow, it ended up as an ornament on the tree. Well, after Christmas was over, someone decided it would be fun to hide the doll head in the refrigerator for someone else to find. It became a game to see how long it took to find because no one was allowed to actually "search" for it.

Sometime ago, it was forgotten. Well, last week, when I was cleaning out the fridge, I found it, wayyyy back on the shelf behind some long forgotten pickles or something. So, I left it in the front of the shelf, just to see if the girls would pick it up again. And then, I forgot about it, again.

So, yesterday, I needed some eggs for something and this is what I found.

Scared the crap out of me. I thought it was a mouse. The girls did get a kick out of it as I went around the house with a, "Did you do this?". The culprit? My husband. He said it had been in there for a week - yeah, that's how often I actually cooked this week, lol.

She's back in the freezer, now. Waiting for her next victim.

Anybody else have any weird games you play in your house? ;)