Tuesday, June 26, 2012

i've been out in the desert on a horse with no name...








i was trying to think of a title for this blog post and that is what  popped in my head.....what can i say. 


DISCLAIMER:  i have only had 1 1/2 hours sleep, not continuous, and a gynormous heaping caffeine infused drink.  my head and body are going at 2 completely different speeds and i am kinda feeling like a nutball at the moment.  yesterday and parts of today have been... challenging, yea, challenging sounds like a postive spin on crappy, right?  i have the pms equal to that of an entire tribe of women.  my ovaries feel like they are the size of watermelons and the girls feel like they could explode at any moment.    you have been warned. 

wanna hear read something funny.......i just typed this big post, and even though blogger saves...i hit some demonic button that wiped out all my work.   so here we go....again.

you know, they say that when you are about to come up higher the debil gives you a hard time....between these last 2 days and the umpteen problems i have had with blogger today....we must be coming up in one beyond our wildest dreams kinda way!  


at&t finally figured out our problem and it is fixed....whoohoo!

after putting my etsy shop on hold and thinking about it......i am going to give it another shot.   many of the photos to not convey the 'feeling' of some of the pieces i have created and i will be taking new photos of most of the pieces.   now that might make-ah-me-cuhrazy if i am not already.  i really am hoping i can finally get the photos to look like what i know i want. 

i have been in search for the perfect spot for that perfect natural lighting.   the other day i looked across the hall, in to my daughters room, and found it.  currently her bed is about 1 foot from the window so i will be doing some stretching as i will need to become a contortionist in order to take photos there.  

it has been about 3 weeks since i have been in my studio, and if i do not get to put some serious time in down there soon i might need therapy.  yesterday i saw some beads, on pinterest of course, made from newspaper.  last night i watched a movie and managed to fill about a half of a grocery bag. 

since i had not yet played show and tell with the latest necklace i completed last month i thought i would try out that natural lighting sweet spot in my daughters room.   these photos were taken on steph's blankey, and i will in the future be using props and such. 












remember last week i was telling you about my trip to the local teacher/artist resale/upcycle shop i went to?   you get to fill as many grocery sacks as you want for 8 bucks each.  i filled mine half full and got it for 4 to my surprise....normally the meanie lady that works there does not do that for you.  we were lucky a nice lady was working the register.  

show and tell time!  squeeeeeeee!





these cake topper candle holders look worn, loved, and well used.  guessing by looking at the font on the bottom they are no older than the 80's i am sure.  it says lakeshore.  i googled it and could not find anything?





 lace, lace, lace, and more lace.....swoon.



already know what i am doing with these guys!



according to the price tags on these, you are looking at about 30 bucks in stamps.




i have a bright idea for this trio.



bangles that actually will slide over my big hands! 



snow -cycles to add to our january docorations.  we celebrate all things snowy.




some stuff my daughter calls webbing....i think.  i just liked the colors!




a humongous jingle bell



i used a torch to burn off the paint and give it a pretty patina. 




saturday morning we had nothing in the house to eat.....but i had the ingredients for this.....




pinterest is my new cookbook!   i don't know what i would do if pinterest went poof, seriously, i might end up in da bin, the looney bin that is.

pumpkin bread recipe:

Cream together
 3 c. of sugar
 1 c. of oil
 and 4 eggs
  sift in 3 1/3 c. flour, 2 t. baking soda, 1/2 t. salt, 1 t. cloves, 1 t. cinnamon, 1 t. nutmeg 2/3 c. hot water
  Add 2 c. (1 can) pumpkin.

Bake 1 hour at 350.


if i had applesauce i would have used it in place of the oil.

it was pretty darn good, not my fav, but we liked it.   we all found it a bit sweet, so next time i might only use 2 cups of sugar.

i did not have the cloves and nutmeg, so i used 2 teaspoons of cinnamon.

i had 2 cans of pumpkin that were, i think, 15 ounces each.  it came to a bit over the 2 cups.  i used it all.

since i was using 2 cake pans and 1 pie plate i reduced the bake time.  it ended up taking about 45 minutes to bake.  


this afternoon i picked up some store brand, regular, NOT extra virgin, olive oil and made these!   squeeeee!  (there was suppose to be a picture of a tortilla here, but it is down there)


they are so good i will never buy store bought again!


ok...this is quite a mess.  you see in i am a instant gratification girl who is tired.  i had hand washed dishes covering the kitchen table....we still need that hose for the dishwasher....i wanted to make the tortillas....NOW and i am tired.   i made it all on the stove top.  it was a wee bit squishy, but it worked out. 




the top part of the photo is a plate full of tortillas....i dunno what is on the bottom part.  either my phone or the computer weirded out on me and i ended up with this collage.

it also ate 2 really awesome tortilla photos.


 the other photos made the tortillas look so much prettier. 

 this is recipe:

2 1/2 cups whole wheat flour
1/2 cup olive oil

mix together until crumbly and then add 1 cup of warm, microwave for 1 minute, water.  add to the crumbly mixture until smooth.

you are suppose to add salt, but with the meniere's disease i try to avoid adding it and i don't think it is neccesary.

they used a mixer and mixed for several minutes.  that is a luxury that i currently do not have, but will someday soon...i just know it.   i mixed it with muh feengers i did and it worked just fine. 

they squooshed it in to a log and divided it in to 12 equal pieces.   i used a 1/3 cup measuring cup and got 7 and i have to tell you if you try to get 12 out this mixture they would be tiny.

when rolling them out try not to have too much flour on your board (er, foil) or it will burn.

i put a bit of the olive oil in the pan, which was preheated to medium heat.

it took a bit less than a minute on each side.  they begin to poof in spots as they are cooking. 

the original author use avocado oil instead of olive.  

here is a link to her blog   

i have explained health issues, and unexplained.   the docs look at me like i am crazy, but i have a sister going through many similiar issues so i know we can not both be delusional and crazy....right?! 

in an effort to weed out some issues i now only use vinegar, peroxide, baking soda, dish soap, and occasionally bleach...but i have developed an allergy to bleach and try to avoid it if i can.  i make my own laundry soap.  i no longer use store bought cleaners with all of the icky chemicals. 

i have also begun to change our family over to a diet that contains fewer processed foods.   my kids have stomach issues that 3 gi docs could not figure out, a long with a host of other issues that for years i have wondered if they were a result of diet.  

this is going to be a slow process since this family of 5 has been use to the convenience of store bought this and that and oh do i wish we would have never let them eat fast food.  one of my biggest parenting regrets. 

the link i gave you above is filled with lots of wonderful information and recipes for eating non-processed foods.

i am not going to kid you or myself.   i know without becoming radical i will not be able to eliminate all processed foods.  someday down the road i would love to grow some of my own fruits and veggies.  i never have been much of a meat eater, and would love to have our new home on some land so we could have some chickens......but we will just have to wait and see what the next chapter in life has in store for us. 

i was worried about the expense, because as you all know, that 'other' and better door has not yet revealed itself and opened just yet.  money is tight.   according to the blog's author, their family of 4 can eat for less than a months worth of food stamps.

the hubby and daughter just walked in the door so i gotta run.   talk to you soon.   smooches.

Thursday, June 21, 2012

Ima virgin

At using Blogger on my cell phone.  I just installed the app.  Figured I would check in so you all did not think I ran away.

Not quite a month ago I gave in to the family and agreed to switch to at&t.  It is a bit cheaper and we all get a dvr.

8 days ago we started having connection issues with the tv, phone, and internet and the technicians can't figure out what is going on.

Today I went to a local artist/teacher recycle/upcycle shop where you get to fill-a-grocery-sack with other peoples discarded crap for 8 bucks and today I got 4bucks worth of happy crap and  I can't wait to play show-n-tell!

Hoping tomorrow the tech figures out what is causing our issues and I can show ya.

We have had a couple of weeks of life's ick, yuck, and blech which has sucked the creativity right outta me, but hoping I find my mojo this weekend. 

So auto correct is about to drive me flipping nuts.....I typed nasty and my phone decided I really meant masturbate......so I am gonna say nighty night  for now. Glad I caught that before I published! 

Monday, June 11, 2012

oh what a pinteresting day

so, 2, yes 2 hours ago, i sat down to write about a couple of pinterest goodies....and i am finally just now doing it.

why?  because i was on &(#$^@# pinterest!

you know you are addicted when you pull up a new tab every hour or so, so that you can go back later and check out what the latest pins were so you don't miss anything!


a couple of weeks ago i showed my mom the hows of pinterest and now if i do not see any pins from her i begin to worry!   in a couple of weeks she has pinned 1,962 items.   in nearly a year i have only pinned 5,329.  at the rate she is going she will have out pinned me in about 6 weeks!

my hubby takes the computer from me and goes on my pinterest for hours sometimes.  i had to start a board for him, called vvvvvrrrrroooooommmmm, because he started messing up my boards and pinning neato cars and such all willy nilly on me!

i have a diy and yummmmmm pinterest board a mile long and have decided i need to start trying some of these projects.

how many neato projects have you pinned with good intentions?  probably about as many as i have.    

i worked on two at the same time yesterday and they were both successes!


when bath and body have sales on their scented candles, and only when they have sales, we buy a few.  their candles are awesome.   right now paying for a recycling bin is not in the budget, but i really hate throwing away the glass container.   after i saw a pin on how easy it was to get the wax out of the container i just had to give it a try, totally expecting a fail.

step 1......put your jar in the freezer for an hour or so



step 2....poke it with a knife.   if it has been in the freezer long enough the wax will crack.  you can see i had several test pokes and found the wax was not yet ready.




as long as it has been in the freezer long enough, the wax comes right out!




if these doo-hickeys get stuck in the bottom of the container, just run hot water over them and the glue un-stickies itself and they pop right off.  

i take them out of the wax so that i can save the wax.  when i have enough wax i will melt it down and make emergency candles.  all i will have to buy are the wicks....that is if i can not find a way to make my own in the interwebs!



step 3....wash your container and it is good as brand spankin' new it is!   i think this one will be a holder of cotton balls it will. 


the beginnings of my wax collection for future emergency candles candle making.  oh lawdy this has the makings of a hoarder.  yipes!


a little over a year ago a big ole door closed, and while we are waiting in faith for an even bigger and better door to open, i have needed to find ways to cut expenses.  

several months ago i started making my own laundry soap.  it saves us 75 bucks a month.  i will post my recipe soon for that one. 

i have found that by sticking a large DRY  fluffy towel in the dryer  it only takes 1/3 of the time to dry my clothes.

i cut my dryer sheets in half, and can use them twice, sometimes 3 times! 

food has been a biggie, and i have to admit we have gotten in quite a rut when it comes to eating and that becomes depressing.

i have also been looking for healthier ways to eat and clean.  fortunately healthier ways to clean are also much cheaper than the store bought cleaners.  if you have dawn, peroxide, vinegar, and baking soda you can pretty much cure and clean just about anything.

when it comes to food, eating healthy is expensive.  we are starting small.   i hope to get my family free of a majority of processed foods. 

pop tarts are not exactly healthy, but the home made version is healthier.  there are no preservatives and what not in this version.  

i have always made my own pie crust.  for the pop tarts i added sugar.

my mom's pie crust recipe i have always used:

1 stick of butter
1 1/2 cups of flour
1/2 tsp salt
5 - 6 tbs of very cold water

i added about 1/3 cup of sugar to this. 

after combining the ingredients i shape it in to a ball and put in the fridge to chill it.  it rolls out much easier.   you want to have a marbleized look to your dough, leaving tiny pieces of the butter visible.  this will make for a flakier crust.

gather your pop tart inerds.  yup the inerds. 

i used smuckers strawberry jam and a cinnamon brown sugar mixture.


when i researched the gazillion pop tart recipes many people added cornstarch and water to their jam and boiled it.   blech....too much work.  i just plopped my jam in there and it worked beautifully!   

i will tell you, when i first started researching this i almost said for-get-it.  one guy wrote an essay.  miles of chitter and chatter on how to make a flippin' pop tart.   a woman gave exact measurements...like 3 x 4 1/2 and after she managed to roll her dough out in a perfect rectangle she used a ruler....yes a ruler..... and measured out perfectly perfect pop tarts.   aw-hell-no.  i just happened to find my handy dandy tool at the back of my baking tool drawer. 

the cinnamon mixture i used was:

1 cup brown sugar
1 tbs cinnamon
8 tbs flour.......don't ask why, but every recipe i found said to add it....so...ok.  i did. 


a blob of strawberry jam...



top on.....


this photo shoulda come first.  this is the handy dandy doohicky i used to cut out my pop tarts dough.  after the filling and second layer of dough are added you put this a top of the pile and push the lever and the inner thingy-ma-bob seals it.   

many of the recipes said to brush egg over the dough to help seal it.  i kinda forgot to this and it worked just fine.  there was no oozing of inerds during the baking process. 





this photo was suppose to show the neato seal that the neato tool above did, but my hands were all doughy and gooey and it was hard to work the camera.



a bit of butter cream icing and whaa-laa!


i am hoping soon that i can top strawberry jam pop tarts with drizzled dark chocolate.  

i will never ever ever ever ever buy a store bought pop tart again.  

so i am off to figure out what it is in life God destined for me to do.  that means i will go stand in my studio and stare for a bit.   all i can say is God...remember i am blonde, hearing impaired and i sometimes miss the subtle hints.   speak loudly.  i need to hear ya as i am feeling kinda lost.

hope you have a beautiful day.  much love to you.   smooches.

Wednesday, June 6, 2012

times they are a changin'

this past saturday my first boy, my oldest boy, my middle guy, graduated high school.

sam....in his true goofy form.   i love this boy.  i am worried for this boy.  i have faith in this boy. 


i so love it when you capture peeps in their true form and not posed.....the kids weren't feeling the love when they saw the photos i chose to post. 


yup, my youngest really does have his arm wrapped 'round his brother.  these two...night and day, sun and moon, their personalities so very different that if they did not look like me and their daddy i would not believe they are related.




their daddy took this photo...yea...i thought i was technology challenged!  *snort*


that's me with my sammy. 


and sam with his daddy.  wow this emotion from the hubs was so unexpected.  this man has cried just a handful of times in the 26 years i have known him.  he cried earlier that day when they called sam's name.  i have many thoughts on the why of it all.  we did not talk about it.  in true man fashion he just does not choose to tell you his thoughts...or feelings.  




i guess by now you have noticed i have played with the font...we will see if it is a keeper after i publish. 

last thursday i had a play date with my mom and sister.  and with the exception of some funky stomach thing that i am still dealing with today, i had so much fun.  i wish we could have played for many more hours. 

a bit of what i made....










i have lots more schtuff to make out of polymer before i can begin assembly of necklaces and such.   some pieces will be given a schmere of patina here and there first. 

those of you who know of my love of science and a long lost dream of being an archaeologist, anthropologist and such....these pieces are right up my ally. 

a few weeks ago i put my etsy shop on vacation mode to take some time to think. 

  • is this what i am suppose to be doing?
  • if it is, why is my stuff not selling?
  • what do i need to change?
  • should i give up
  • what else am i suppose to do
  • God...why aren't you answering me
  • God...why am i not hearing you

i have lots more questions, but in the end it all comes down to the same thing. 

i know if i am going to keep going i need my photography to reflect more the style and feel i have when i view my pieces. 

blech.

i so love taking photos, except for when it comes to the etsy shop.  i know though once i find the sweet spot(s) in my house with just the oh-so-perfect lighting, that it will make it so much easier. 

today when i snapped photos of the polymer pieces i did last week i played with a spot in my foyer.   it is close to what i want.  so close.

so, in pondering on the do i shut it down or keep it open thoughts on the etsy shop, there has been nagging voice in my head to pick this book up again and not only finish reading it, but start over from the begining.


i still have faith that God is going to bring us through this awful storm we have been in, and i know that it will happen on His time table and His way, but i also know that i am not to sit on my behind and just wait either, but in the confusion of it all i find my self doing just that at times.

i still am fighting having a 'life is a struggle' and poverty mind set.  it is hard not to when that is what you see and feel everyday. 

i am so thankful i finally listened to that voice that told me to pick up the book.....

maybe i am receiving my answer afterall....


"one of the tricks of opportunity.....it has a sly habit of slipping in by the back door, and often it comes disguised in the form misfortune, or temporary defeat.  perhaps this is why so many fail to recognize opportunity."

"before success comes in any man's life, he is sure to meet with much temporary defeat, and, perhaps, some failure.  when defeat overtakes a man, the easiest and most logical thing to do is to quit.  that is exactly what the majority of men do."

"truly, thought are things, and powerful things at that, when they are mixed with definiteness of purpose, persistence, and a burning desire for their translation in to riches, or other material objects."

"thomas edison dreamed of a lamp that could be operated by electricity, began where he stood to put his dream into action and despite more than ten thousand failures, he stood by that dream until he made it a physical reality.  practical dreamers do not quit!"

"remember that all who succeed in life get off to a bad start, and pass through many heartbreaking struggles before they 'arrive'.  the turning point in the lives of those who succeed usually comes at the moment of some crisis, though  which they are introduced to their 'other selves'"   

and of course there is another quote that i must not have highlighted that again mentions
'burning desire'.

i have wants, likes, dislikes, thoughts....but after reading the 2 chapters last night i realized that being in 'survival mode' for several years along with  mommy mode and such i gasped at the realization that i do not have the burning desire for anything...yipes! 

so, the plan is to

  • get my brain out of survival mode
  • write down, once i figure them out,  what my burning desires are
  • re-take photos for my etsy shop
  • re-work a few pieces of jewelry for my etsy shop
  • putting my foot down and no longer settling and just surviving
  • add to this list as needed

i am guessing i am gonna be a busy girl for the next several weeks.  one of the first tasks on my list is to get back to blogging nightly! 

well, that is the hubby calling...gotta run!