RevolvingDor Blog!

This will require a lot of positives to get over

2012-01-26T10:45:00.000-08:00

I am shocked and appalled that another neighbor has chopped down another tree right by my house!! It was another big old conifer. What is wrong with these people??? Did they not see in our neighborhood newsletter that we are trying to increase the neighborhood tree canopy? And that even with all the efforts from Friends of Trees last year, our canopy cover went down? It went down because of YOU, you heartless tree-chopping people! Yes, Y-O-U, it is all YOUR fault!

Well, my only consolation is at least I just planted FOUR new trees for my birthday (two peach, two apricot), and Friends of Trees is helping me plant TWO more street trees next month. And I've seen several other F.O.T. signs around my block and overall neighborhood. So not everyone around here is a complete loser.

Our neighborhood is pretty green as it is, but it could certainly be greener, and certainly doesn't benefit from chopping down trees. We're in the Northwest, things grow beautifully here; don't you want to fully take advantage of it??

I really need some more land. My yard is getting packed and I can't keep up with replacing all the flora that's getting destroyed around me. If you're reading this in internet-land and you have space for a tree, plant one for me, would you?

Positives!

2012-01-24T12:10:00.000-08:00

OK, after writing that last post I felt cruddy, so I managed to do the following:

a) roped A. into helping me give Eleanor her much-needed bath;
b) gulped down a second cup of coffee;
c) took a walk with E and the dog in the rain and it wasn't that bad;
d) called my best friend;
e) thought up some positive things, and here they are!

(by the way, that troll artist is Rolf Lidberg)

Positive things:

a) I have hereby apportioned this corner of the dining room table for my laptop, so that I may actually do some computing while watching E. in the main room. See? I'm blogging right now!

b) I have some ideas for rearranging my computer/art room so that it's more usable. Exciting!

c) I walked by a yard I don't always go by and saw a lovely collection of painted plaster lawn animals. Nothing like smiling bunnies and turtles to brighten your day!

d) Eleanor is picking up walking more and more each day! She is on her own two feet now, if only for several steps. Cool!

e) It is also awesome how E. goes by houseplants and makes a point of sniffing them (flowers or no) ever since I showed her the concept of smelling flowers. I love this. Also how she leans in and kisses the characters in her books (totally her own idea). See? Just thinking about these things, I can't be in a bad mood.

f) Speaking of flowers, the bouquet I got from Safeway for E's birthday is still going strong!!!!

g) Still speaking of flowers, my daffodils and other assorted bulbs (a bazillion new ones I put in this fall) are starting to come up. It's not even February! So right there, despite all its faults, this Northwest climate beats the pants off everyplace else. For gardeners. Plants are our consolation prize, or something.

Good/bad

2012-01-24T10:13:00.000-08:00

Feeling down about:

* All this rain. I guess it waited till now to come down; we had a super dry Nov/Dec!! So now it's just pouring and looks like 6pm all day long. My poor solar watch only gets recharged when I hang it on a lamp. Sad. I really want to go on my normal walks with doggie and baby but I can't bring myself to do it 'cause I don't want us to all get drenched and miserable. I'd rather it was just cold; I can do cold no problem!!

* I just figured out that my neighbor is a dementor. That's why I feel so crappy after each encounter. I'll just keep eating chocolate and practicing casting my patronus. Begone!!

* Lack of sleep/poor sleep/sore body/not taking care of myself. 'Nuff said.

* That feeling when it's only 8am and you wish it was 5pm already so you could have hubby help and baby bedtime and a tasty dinner and time to yourself. Oh, and the feeling when all the days are just blending into each other into eternity with nothing to look forward to . . . I hate that.

BUT IT'S OKAY BECAUSE:

* We have a really cute new calendar for 2012 with all these watercolored trolls. I have to go into the other room to find the guy's name.

* There have been breaks each day with no rain/light rain. No sun, either, but at least I can take a walk and not become "wintry mix" embodied. Going on walks seems to be my go-to activity when I can't think of what the hell else to do with myself and baby during the day.

* I'm reading Anne of Avonlea (well, the whole series, one book at a time) and that is super good for a mood boost and a reminder to simply imagine away your troubles.

* We finally threw some doors and drawers on our living room shelving, so now it looks way better and baby can't get into it.

* I'm trying to work on some changes around here to let me more easily do the things I want to do, like art stuff, projects, oh and simply using the computer. Sometimes it seems like I go for days without using it . . . which is sort of good but I do miss having fun diversions . . . hey, wait, isn't this the good list? Rats. oh crud, baby's awake now. So much for blogging . . .

mini-review: I don't like this new Blogger interface

2012-01-17T11:34:00.000-08:00

Gaah, it's just ugly to me, and harder to use! Guess I'd better get used to it. Apparently Google thinks that its new look is modern and simple, but I think it looks chintzy and threadbare. Oh well, my opinion doesn't count.

Review: Land's End is now crap and here's why

2012-01-17T11:30:00.000-08:00

I grew up with lots of Lands' End stuff. It was always the poor man's L.L. Bean, but it was nice stuff and held up over time. Out on my own, I'd shop from them from time to time for T-shirts, sweaters, and their great swimsuits.

Well, that's all gone down the tubes. It started a couple years ago when I bought several T-shirts that were nice bright colors and a longer length. (You don't understand how much I appreciate longer-length shirts; hardly anything out there is truly long enough for my torso, and let's not even get into how much fabric a larger chest takes up -- which, by the way, the models in magazines never have . . . they always show their shirts on flat-chested people, which is totally unrealistic and misleading when trying to visualize it on myself, but that is another post in itself. Ahem.)

So the shirts were great for a while, but then they began shrinking and twisting and mis-shaping themselves until they were all stretched out in weird ways. I still have some of them, but I just wait as, after each wear, they get a little uglier until it's time to retire them. (Compare to one of my old shirts from them, which I recently had to retire after YEARS, not due to any problems of poor construction, but general wear.) Strike one against Lands' End. But I was willing to try again.

Then there was a whole fiasco with swimsuit sizing after my baby was born. Suffice it to say, I was highly annoyed by their sizing and style choices, and customer service was not helpful at all. If you want a Lands' End bathing suit, keep in mind that you're not allowed to be a well-endowed nursing mom with a long torso. Sheesh. As it turned out, I barely swam that summer anyhow. :( (I hate the Pacific Ocean for its lack of swim-ability, but again, that is another post.) Anyhow, my annoyance at Lands' End grew.

Then there was the long-sleeved shirt. That just ended it. I ordered this particular shirt, and it looked and fit great! Then I washed it and it shrank into oblivion. Sleeves and overall height lost over 2" apiece and I couldn't wear it due to a) that super-annoying three-quarter-sleeve feeling of not being able to pull your sleeves all the way down; and b) my gut hanging out. Totally felt like a kid outgrowing her clothing!! I gave the shirt to charity (perhaps some 10-year-old can wear it) and vowed to not shop at Lands' End ever again. I cannot stand it when respected companies decide to cheap out and sell you things that won't last for way too much money. You can be cheap to begin with, I don't mind that, but don't start great and then get lazy and pretend you're still selling the same great wares. I have zero respect for that.

Instead, I turned to L.L. Bean, and so far they still have quality! And constant free shipping, and sales. This, I like. I also like the Arizona T-shirts in the juniors' department of JC Penney. These are super-cheap-quality to begin with, but at least they are always on sale, are super long length and don't shrink, and hold up better than you might expect. I do respect that! I have a bunch and only need to retire them when they become riddled with holes. Ha!

Oh, and don't even get me started on "Lands' End Canvas" . . . it both mystifies and annoys me. Land's End, you are CRAP.

Napping!!

2012-01-06T14:54:00.000-08:00

I just wanted to tell you, Internet, that Eleanor did end up napping yesterday for 2 HOURS AND 15 MINUTES!! All at once! From about 1:40 to 4:00pm -- that's basically the whole afternoon right there! I was able to do a crafting project and just relax. Imagine if I had a whole afternoon to myself like that all the time! Wow. I daren't hope for any such thing, but I can dream about it. You don't even understand how many half-formed projects are getting shoved into the cupboard that is my brain because I just don't have time to do them.

However, her naps have been getting better lately, with a few missteps here and there. This week alone she had a 90-minute morning nap, then a 105-minute morning, then the magic 135-minutes (!!) yesterday afternoon, and today she slept 80 minutes this morning! She's supposed to be sleeping now but is having her "quiet time" in the crib and quietly babbling and occasionally thumping. I'll take it.

Oh, and she's been sleeping through the night again -- no wakeups from 7pm to 6am-ish -- like a champ! She's always been a stellar night sleeper (and bedtime is so easy-breezy it's kind of scary), but naps are more challenging. I've decided that it's never worth worrying or grumping over the missed naps -- she's a happy, smart, awesome baby so she must be getting the sleep she needs (though my me-time is basically non-existent, hence the grumping).

Anyway, I can't predict whether she'll sleep in the morning or afternoon, but you know, if I keep getting an hour+ chunk of sleep time per day from her, I may become a normal person again! Time alone to do something that I want to do?! These are exciting times.

Stealth gardening and toilets, oh my!

2012-01-05T11:37:00.000-08:00

(I wrote this yesterday but didn't get a chance to post till now!)

Well, the gardening isn't really stealthy; it's right there for all to see, but I felt sneaky doing it! The city has been sprucing up corners with accessible ramps, and as part of that, we got a new "entrance" to our alley. Part of that entrance was a new garden bed along the sidewalk for me!

OK, really they halfheartedly sprinkled grass seed there and threw down some hay (hay?!), but to my eyes, it was a pre-dug area of fresh dirt with no grass that was obviously to be, like I said, a new garden bed for me!

So I just took E's nap (which is miraculously long and still going on, I can barely believe it and only pray that she takes naps like this all the time, then I wouldn't be quite so crazed -- please, if you are a praying person feel free to root for my baby to take 90-minute-plus naps daily) and dug up some divisions of various perennials and groundcovers from around my yard, and planted the new bed with them! Yet to come are some lavenders, as soon as I see if the cuttings I took survive.

Oh, and toilets? On a lark, and because this device didn't work AT ALL, and our toilet had flushing issues, we replaced our main bathroom toilet with this! I have to say, it is awesome. Yes, I am excited about a toilet. It is FAST and efficient and is saving us water (from our 3.5 gallons/flush 1962 throne to 1.6/1.1 gal. modern dual flushing) and even is fairly compact so our bathroom looks bigger! What more could you want? I know, one of those TOTO jobs with a heated seat and muzak and other wacky accessories, but we don't have thousands to spare. But what we got is FANTASTIC!

(It being the next day and all, thought I should mention that E. has been awake in her crib alternately playing and crying for the past hour . . . so much for miracle naps!)

Happy 2012!

2012-01-01T16:00:00.001-08:00

January 1st and already some of my daffodil bulbs are coming up! I swear, they were not up yesterday -- they wanted to wait and greet the new year! (They are right by the front door and I have a habit of checking them daily.)

Recipe for a good New Year's Eve:

1. Put baby to bed. This is key.
2. Make a festive fun fondue with delectable dippers!

(don't worry about how your house is in complete disarray as seen in photo above)

2.5 Tend to baby when she wakes up at 9:30, get her back to sleep (takes 10 mins).
3. Sit on couch and eat fondue and watch a Harry Potter movie and note when it is midnight and kiss your spouse. :)

Happy New Year!

PS- We also gave our fridge its yearly(?) cleaning on the 31st! Hooray for a grimeless (for now) 2012!!

Yoga + Blogging = Yogging?

2011-12-29T11:03:00.000-08:00

It has occurred to me after some recent stress that I'm in need of consistent yoga. In the past I've discovered that life is simply better when I do consistent yoga, even to the point that if I go too long without it, I go a little nutsy (and my body tenses until it's a tiny crumpled-up ball of paper).

So I'm in the process of trying, for a week, to do my basic yoga routine every day. I know awhile back I tried to do a meditation routine for a month, but right now I have to take literal baby steps, because with Eleanor, the concept of time just has a whole new meaning. So, just a week to start.

Today is actually day 3! I haven't done my yoga yet, but I hope to before the end of the day. Days 1 and 2 went well, and yesterday I threw in some Sun Salutations to boot! Yay!

Also, blogging is a really good elixer for my mental health, so I'm trying to sneak that in more often as well. I have lots of ~~rants~~ reviews saved up as draft posts so I can quickly work on them here and there and post when ready! Even this post of my good yoga intentions is helpful. :)

Christmas Cheer!

2011-12-26T10:09:00.000-08:00

Here's some comicky goofiness for your Boxing Day enjoyment! Click for full size!

(and I meant what I said about blogging before; I have more on my mind to share -- just have to really really for real make the effort to make/find the time to do it. The time vortex has been messing with my days ~~lately~~ since E's been born, and I need to exert my will to realign things. Just a nerdy way of saying that I'm trying to be better about baby + time management.)

Review: Haircuts

2011-12-01T15:43:00.000-08:00

First I want to start by saying that all the best haircuts I've gotten since eighth grade have been from Thomas at Alfred Hair Design in Harvard Square. Every time I go home, I try to fit in a trim.

Now that I live in the Northwest, though, I finally decided that instead of growing my hair out between infrequent visits, I need to find a hair salon here that I can count on. Well, it took a long time and some actual tears, but I think I finally did!

I kept trying the salons on Main Street here in Vancouver, because I wanted to stay local and convenient. After several failures (more on this below), I was looking for the phone number of the salon that did the most positive shade of mediocre of the rest . . . and instead, I found Vata Salon! It's out in the mall, was rated "Best of Clark County" for a couple years, and is "an Aveda salon", whatever that meant. I know Aveda to be pricey, yet nice-smelling, and, you know, an actual product and not some knockoff brand.

Note: NOT that I have any problem with knockoff brands; to this day I use SUAVE shampoo/conditioner after many crappy results with other cheapy-cheap stuff (avoid White Rain at all costs!!) . . . it's just that, for a hair salon, I want some degree of . . . professionalism is the word I'm looking for. I guess I'm hypocritical; I love Suave but if you are a hair salon bragging about your Suave products, I'm not going to trust you. Anyway.

So I decided to give Vata Salon a try! My mom was here, so Eleanor care was not an issue. We three went out to the mall, Mom shopping while I went to the salon. They were very nice, gave me a goodie bag of freebies since I was a new customer, and had me fill out a little survey form thing. I thought this was a bit much -- sort of smoothly demanding my contact info and everything right away, but I rolled with it. They also offered me water or tea, and I took them up on water (though I should have tried their tea to see what they had).

Hannah was friendly, listened to my sad sad tales of bad haircuts and living away from my "real" hairdresser, and definitely got clear with me what I wanted. Before the haircut, she gave me a scalp massage with essential oil! Nice! The haircut went well and she was friendly and talkative (unlike some stylists I've tried; honestly do I want to sit in your chair for 45 minutes in SILENCE? weird!). She stopped along the way, checking with me to make sure things were headed the way I wanted. It was great. She asked if she could put some products in and diffuse my hair and I said yes, since products are fun for a day before I go back to my zero-effort hair maintenance. I must say it was the weirdest diffusing ever -- holding the diffuser in one spot as it got uncomfortably hot -- but whatever.

Then at the end, she asked, "is there anything else I can do for you?" which was weird because I only wanted a haircut. So I said no, but then she asked, "Would you like a hand massage?" So I took her up on that! Great stuff. I've since gotten a few marketing emails from them, but nothing too invasive.

Now I would just like to mention the salons to AVOID! I won't even do them the honor of linking to them.

Rinnovo Spa Salon -- recommended by a neighbor, total disaster cut that made me cry and hate myself for WEEKS afterward. Seriously, I hadn't had that much trouble looking in a mirror since the high school era. I'd also like to point out that the lady there said my hair looked super healthy, and asked what shampoo I used. When I told her Suave, she was incredulous. I then said that another stylist (random haircut from long ago) had told me that Suave works just as well or better than any other expensive product, to which this lady laughed nervously and said, "Shhh! You're not supposed to say that!" because another few customers had heard me. Weird. Anyway, worst cut ever, avoid avoid avoid! Also, looking at their website, I have to say that they never gave ME a scalp massage!

D Side Salon -- A Main Street place. Just a crappy cut. I don't even remember much about it except thinking that I wouldn't go back.

C. Roberts Salon -- this is the infamous salon of the Scarecut! The lady was weeeeeeird. Main Street FAIL.

Hilights Hair Salon -- I admit it, this cut wasn't that bad, and this was the phone number I was looking for when I found Vata. Another Main Street place.

So, in conclusion, at least I found a place I can trust for hair care between Thomas visits!

Oh, and the Suave I currently use is their "professional" humectant moisturizing stuff -- really good for my hair, and I've even gotten used to the coconutty aroma.

Photo post!

2011-11-30T13:29:00.000-08:00

Here are some recent photos just out and about -- places we've been to lately.

First, it's the park behind Starbucks in Uptown Village! A great place to stop and nurse the baby. :)

This was on a fabulous sunny day, and getting out for a walk was the BEST THING EVER. I had been pretty down, and the sun gave me a huge lift. (I've previously self-diagnosed myself with S.A.D. [since I've moved here, tsk], and I think it's hitting me extra hard this year or something. I just set up my poor-woman's S.A.D. light, which is 5 daylight-spectrum lightbulbs in a floor lamp on a timer, which turns on at 6:30am as I wake up. Anyway, back to the photos!)

Next, it's Mount Hood keeping watch over East Vancouver! I think we were going out to Whole Foods for our special laundry detergent (ooh, more on what we found out there in another post!)

Here's a picture from a walk downtown. We were making some crazy faces and cracking ourselves up!

These next ones are from our jaunt along the Gorge earlier this week. Just had to get out!
It was super foggy at first!

We saw a bunch of waterfalls and hiked around with baby in the frame pack. I forget which fall this was . . . Horsetail?

On our way back from this already major adventure, we walked along the waterfront downtown! I love that walk. A few times we have even walked it from our house.

Anyway, just a few photos, for fun! I may have other photos later, and definitely other posts. I have a lot on my mind!

Review: A really good sandwich

2011-11-23T14:28:00.000-08:00

I have made this sandwich twice now -- the first time, because I was trying to use up avocado, and the second time (today) because it was so tasty the first time around! Try it!

Avocado Yum Sandwich

You will need four ingredients: Bread, an avocado, cherry jam, and sharp (or medium) cheddar cheese. Tools required: a sharp knife, butter knife, toaster oven, and plate. (No glue guns or sewing needles, thank you very much!!)

First, toast your bread lightly. I like to do this on all my toasty sandwiches for that extra crisp factor, and for stability when applying other ingredients.

Then spread it with jam. I think apricot jam would also be tasty, or perhaps that fig spread they have for cheeses, or even honey. I had cherry -- a less-sugar-added, double-fruit kind -- the only kind I buy -- usually in Canada. Anyway.

Cut your avocado in half, slice up half and add it to the sandwich. The other half is for next time! Slice off some cheese and put it on. Be generous for best effect.

Toast it! This photo is actually from the first sandwich, not today's, because it's the only one I took of the first sandwich, and I forgot to take a "melty shot" today.

Put your halves together, cut it DIAGONALLY (very important for best flavor always), and enjoy!

I think this sandwich would also be excellent with the addition of bacon and/or butter, but it is fantastic as-is. I even told A. that somehow, with burning the bread a bit, the sharpness of the cheese, plus the sweet jam, it almost tasted like bacon, but he thought I was crazy. Well, he doesn't like avocado so he didn't try it. But you should!

(By the way, between sharp and mild cheddar, I think sharp wins. And make sure your avocado is nice and soft, too.) If anyone makes this, let me know!

Review: The Butterfly Mobile

2011-11-22T11:17:00.000-08:00

(I know, I said I'd find a clever title for these reviews, but all I have right now is "Review:". Sorry!)

So, in the interest of being nice to independent crafty artisan shop people, I won't be naming names in this review. Let's just say that I bought a kit to make a really cool-looking butterfly mobile for Eleanor (and myself!) at a local vendor of handmade goods. The prefab ones were $60, but for $20, I could get a kit to make it myself! Wow! I couldn't resist! Of course I could do it; I'm crafty, too! I bought it. She said that it was easy and it came with instructions.

Now, let me tell you a little about my life. I don't have any consecutive hours in a row to do anything, at least not during the day. At night, my consecutive hours after baby goes to bed are spent on important things like eating and sleeping. So, I'd appreciate it if do-it-yourself kits were actually easy and not a total time suck. I figured I was buying a "kit", so most of the work would be done already. As I said, I have limited time in my life. Usually I eschew kits of any kind because I prefer to be creative myself, but my life is different now -- time spent on creativity is for the most part a thing of the past. In fact, the only reason I have time to write this blog post is because A. is sick and not working and can watch E. in the other room since she woke up from what would have been a nap when the doorbell rang from our neighbor dropping off our dog since we don't need them to take care of her anymore because we gave up on our Thanksgiving trip to join family in Houston because of one disaster after another. BUT I DIGRESS.

So the mobile. I let it sit off to the side for a couple weeks, because I just didn't get to it. Finally I had some time when my parents were here, so I opened the box and peered in to see how to make it. Well, to my utter dismay, the box contained a million and one pieces of mobile in such a state as can only be described as "here are your raw materials to make the whole stupid thing yourself." I read the instructions: I would have to poke holes in the butterflies myself (all 165 of them), string beads and butterflies on these tiny pieces of fishing line, tie knots by eyeballing every 3 inches along the strings, determine how long to hang the strings, and basically do the entire project from scratch.

Plus, I would need a glue gun, and need to sew. There were no "tools" listed at the beginning of the instructions! Luckily I have a glue gun, and a needle and thread. But not everyone would! The instructions were convoluted and not useful for someone who, oh, is not the artist herself. Obviously this girl has no experience in designing for the user!!!!!!

So what did I do? Well, at first I closed the box and thought, "oh my god, I will never make this and I want to return it and I will just pay to get the premade one." I actually think this is a marketing ploy on the part of the artist: she makes the kits impossible, so people come back and pay her more to get a finished one. BUT, joking aside (and I'm not even really joking), I refuse to do this. Anyway, the box sat there for a while longer until I decided to sit down and attempt it. Maybe it wasn't so bad.

It was. First, I just want to say how stupid it was of her to suggest using a sewing needle to poke all the butterflies. This would injure anyone attempting it, so I'm glad I started out using a pushpin instead. Just say "use a pushpin", lady!

Second, not everyone knows what a square knot is. I had to double-check with my dad that it is indeed just a normal "shoelace" knot, aka the only knot I know how to make after all those years of sailing are a thing of the past and I don't know if I'll ever "put the rabbit around the tree and through the burrow" and all that business with tying up your boat to the cleat or whatever, even though I'd love to because I love sailing, but like I said, life is different now. Anyway. My dad showed me that there is even a right and wrong way to tie a double-knot. I never knew there was a difference!

As I knew it would be, tying that tiny micro-filament line was a pain in the butt. Also, you can't untie it. So once you knot it, you're done. No room for mistakes. I really wish that she had pre-marked on the strings WHERE the knots were supposed to go. I managed to string up one line of butterflies, having to double-tie all my knots (double the frustration!) because one was not enough to keep the butterflies in place.

So after finishing this one string, I got that deep-down intuitive feeling that this project will be a frustrating waste of my life. There are 32 more strings to go, then there's attaching them to the upper hoop thing, then doing some gluing and sewing to the hanging ribbon. This project is going to take 101 snippets of my time, and I think I'd rather use those snippets to write blog posts, or drink tea, or work on MY creative initiatives, not just assembling someone else's.

The conundrum is that I have the enticing image of the finished mobile in my mind, and I WANT IT! I also don't like giving up. Winners never quit, and quitters never win, after all. But my time is precious and I KNOW that I will be pissed off the entire time I'm making this. But maybe this is the perfect challenge for me to work on character-building and letting go and honing my patience. But will I just be annoyed every time I look at the finished mobile? This is a distinct possibility! Will I even finish at all, or will the half-done thing sit there and haunt me as yet another failure?

So what do you think? Do I complete the project, or give up and give the kit away/throw it out?

In any event, I've learned to get all the details before purchasing any kit.

Change is a-coming

2011-11-16T22:33:00.000-08:00

Well, change as in, something being a little different than it was before. As in, I think I'm going to be writing more on this blog, more often, and not holding back. You see, I am a highly critical person, and coupled with my being a highly opinionated person (oh, and highly observant), I pick apart and analyze and review everything around me, all the time. Now, my brain cannot always contain all this information, so I need an outlet.

This blog has been a keen outlet in the past, but I have been ignoring it because my life has been off-and-on in shambles. No more! (Well, the shambles part is still true to some extent because I have a 10-month old. But the ignoring the blog part shall be no more!)

I want to start a new mini-series of focused blog posts here, basically "reviews" of everything! I have so much to say all the time, thinking it is not enough. Why keep it to myself? Oh, don't worry. I will warn you when these posts are coming, by thinking up a clever title for the series (suggestions, anyone?), and slapping it at the top, so you can read it or not. But I have to write it. Oh, just you wait!

Hey! No, no, that is not true. I know what you're thinking. No, this is not just an excuse to be mean and rant away on here. Lots of what I have to say is nice! And even if it's mean, well, it's true, and sometimes funny, so that is also worth sharing, don't you think? I don't even have a complete plan for this, but I do know I have to tell you about my haircut, and those goddamn butterflies!! This blog re-inspiration was driven by having to deal with the butterflies. And I'm still dealing with them!

If you are curious about all this, well, just stay tuned!

Red peppers!

2011-10-14T12:51:00.000-07:00

Ooh, I almost forgot! To add to my last post: roasted red peppers! Red peppers have been really cheap at Winco lately (I think because they are all misshapen and long and flat, but this makes them better for roasting), so I've been buying them with gay abandon and roasting/slicing/freezing them in bulk. I LOVE red pepper. I roast them with just olive oil and they are so good on salad, sandwiches, sauces, etc. Even the baby likes them!

I tried growing my own red pepper plants, but here in the NW the summer simply doesn't get hot enough for long enough, nor does the sunshine last long enough for them to do anything but be miniscule pathetic green things that then get eaten by slugs. Someday I will grow my own, even if I need a greenhouse for them!!

Currently digging . . .

2011-10-14T12:28:00.000-07:00

* Making and drinking big pots of tea in the coffeemaker since we've gone off coffee for a few weeks! I'm sure we'll be back to coffee soon but tea is nice for now.
* Book club antics
* Freshly baked bread -- this last batch came out so good, I could eat the whole second loaf right now.
* A super cute and smiley baby -- she is so funny these days, and pleasant to hang out with for the most part
* New clothes and shoes ordered online, coming to me soon! Anticipation!
* Listening to bird songs and "dawn choruses" on the internet -- so relaxing! Baby likes it, too. :)
* Finally doing a little winter yard cleanup here and there, and will drop the piles off tomorrow at the free neighborhood cleanup!!
* Fall weather. Long sleeves and a chilly breeze are the best.

I found an old comic!

2011-08-30T21:12:00.000-07:00

Here's something I drew back in July -- but don't miss the previous post about last weekend, too!

Comic of my fun weekend!

2011-08-30T20:53:00.001-07:00

This only took 2 days to draw and post from my vantage point here in baby-land! Ah well, I may not be super fast with drawing and posting, but I'm still here doing it!

Note: these pages are a bit choppy-looking due to the paper I drew them on -- a pad of drawing paper also taken from the free box!

The Great Yogurt Showdown!

2011-08-08T21:36:00.002-07:00

As many people know, I am a bit . . . wacky. So it should come as no surprise that recently I became obsessed with YOGURT! Specifically, what the heck is up with "Greek yogurt"? People keep talking about it like it's the greatest thing on Earth, and I was unclear on what it was, and more importantly, how it tastes! So of course, I went around buying up all kinds of yogurts, Greek and otherwise, for a taste test showdown! Oh, how I love taste tests. Obviously, I must share my results with the internet!

My goal was to pit nonfat Greek, full-fat Greek, and full-fat normal yogurts against each other. These Greek yogurts claim to be all super-creamy and as good as full-fat, so I was going to see if that is true (spoiler alert: it's totally not!). I was also looking forward to just enjoying some full-fat yogurt, which I never buy, but have fond childhood memories of. Actually, it appears that full-fat yogurt is an endangered species in the world of yogurt, a world which seems to be fully in that depressing grocery category of "let's be as low-fat and low-calorie as possible for the dieting population". Ah well, down to business.

(OK, so I bought a couple extra Brown Cow flavors because they looked so good -- and they were!)

First, it should be noted that even though this was a blind test test (thank you, hubby!) and I cleansed my palate in between spoonfuls by drinking water and smelling coffee beans, this test did not have the greatest scientific accuracy. Mostly because I didn't want to have 30 open yogurts at once (another extinct species in the world of yogurt: the lid! Oh, and 8 oz. containers, but I digress), nor eat all that much yogurt at once. So I had to split the tests over several days.

I decided to compare yogurts in the most common flavor -- vanilla -- but I also found some honey, strawberry, and blueberry worth comparing, too. I bought whatever I found at Winco and Fred Meyer.

In my ratings,
1 = worst. Gross, inedible, otherwise yucky.
2 = pretty bad, but I guess I could eat it if I was hungry.
3 = A decent, good yogurt. Neither here nor there.
4 = yum! Great taste!
5 = best. Super good. More, please!

Here we go!

ROUND ONE: GREEK, NO FAT, VANILLA

(I threw a full-fat vanilla in, too, for comparison's sake. The YoBaby stuff conveniently came in a 4-pack of small ones, easy for my tests!)
Dannon Greek Vanilla No Fat: a little chalky, sweet, tacky/sticky. 2/5.
At the end of the round, I determined that this one was better than both Oikos and Fred Meyer.

Chobani Greek Vanilla No Fat: No vanilla flavor, like sour cream, too sour, OK creamy but icky taste of mildew. 1/5.
This stuff was beyond gross.
Stonyfield Oikos Greek Vanilla No Fat: Pleasant, bland, not very sweet, weird taste, some other weird taste, not vanilla. 2/5

Fred Meyer Greek Vanilla No Fat: Sweet, good creamy, strangely fruity. 3/5.
This brand was sweetened with Stevia, which is why, I think, it tasted a little weird.
Stonyfield YoBaby Vanilla Whole Milk: watery, good vanilla taste, 4/5.

ROUND TWO: WEIRD ASSORTMENT

Fred Meyer Blended Sweetened Plain: Tasty, very sweet, creamy, good, no vanilla taste. 4/5.
I had never seen a "sweetened plain" flavor before! (Guess that means it's no longer "plain".) This was lowfat. I'd buy it again!
Yoplait Greek No Fat Honey Vanilla: sour, fake sweet, tiny bit gummy, gluey, no flavor, vague taste of "basement". 1/5.
Voskos Greek No Fat Honey Vanilla: chalky, vanilla taste, too sweet, cloying. 2/5.
Stonyfield YoBaby Whole Milk Vanilla: creamy, tasty, like normal yogurt. 4/5.

ROUND THREE: GREEK, HONEY

Fred Meyer Greek Nonfat Honey: fake sweet, tacky. 2.5/5.
Again, sweetened with Stevia.
Fage Total [Full Fat] with Honey: Whoa!! Creamy, honey flavor, like dessert at a restaurant, not too sweet. 5/5.
This was out of control creamy fatty goodness! It seemed like it should be a topping for something else, not to be eaten in such a quantity. Indulgent!!
Greek Gods Traditional [Full Fat] Greek Honey: nice and smooth, preferred texture for yogurt, somehow tastes like it was made with tap water from a city I'm not used to. 4/5.
Fage 2% Lowfat Honey: intense honey flavor, nice consistency, not sour, not so creamy. 3/5
Zoi Greek Honey [Full Fat]: tangy, creamy, thicker and better than #3 [Greek Gods]. Good balance between sweet and tangy. 5/5.
This was super good without being as overpoweringly creamy-fatty as Fage Total.

ROUND FOUR: MORE VANILLA

(I had to doctor this photo because I threw in two different Tillamooks at the last minute.)
(Note: I could have included a Greek Gods vanilla one, but it also had cinnamon and orange, so I felt that was too different from regular vanilla to include. Also it didn't sound very good!)

Tillamook Vanilla Bean Lowfat: sweet, weird tap water taste, gelatinous, vanilla, not creamy. 2.5/5.
Zoi Greek [Full Fat] Vanilla: tangy, "yogurty", creamy vanilla, thick without being chalky. 4/5.
Stonyfield YoBaby Whole Milk Vanilla: thinner, not so much vanilla, nice creamy; not gel-y or chalky. 3.5/5.
This got a bit downgraded after tasting Zoi!
Redwood Hill Farm GOAT MILK Vanilla: AUGGH!! Really weird, creamy, sweet earthy flavor, bad Chinese food taste. 1/5.
Well, I guess I don't like goat's milk yogurt, at least not this one!
Brown Cow Cream Top Vanilla: tangy, good consistency, no vanilla, not sweet. 3/5.
Mountain High Original Style [Full Fat] Vanilla: tangy, good texture, thin, not as creamy. 2.75/5.
Tillamook Lowfat French Vanilla Bean: no vanilla, sticky, sweet. 3/5.

ROUND FIVE: STRAWBERRY

Yoplait Greek No Fat Strawberry: sour, tacky, no cream. 1.5/5.
Fit and Fruity Lowfat Strawberry: decent, a little sweet, good strawberry flavor; your standard, run of the mill strawberry yogurt. 3/5.
Note that this is made with sugar, not HFCS. I thought Tillamook was the only lowfat one out there made with sugar, but I was wrong!
Zoi Greek [Full Fat] Strawberry Cream: yum! Like strawberry ice cream! More, please! 5/5.
(not pictured) Dannon Light and Fit Nonfat Strawberry: fake sweet, what milk? gross gel. 1/5.
My mom had left a few of these from her last visit. She eats this sort of thing (nonfat yogurt) every day, but I think it is NASTY!

ROUND SIX: BLUEBERRY

Zoi Greek [Full Fat] Blueberry Cream: nice real blueberry flavor, good thick texture, creamy. 4.5/5.
Yoplait Greek Nonfat Blueberry: Yeeech, worse blueberry flavor, chalky, sour without being nicely tangy, thick, soap taste. 1/5.
Greek Gods Greek [Full Fat] Honey Blueberry: runnier, creamy, tangy, different blueberry flavor, somehow tastes like a grape popsicle. 3.5/5.
Brown Cow Cream Top Blueberry: nice blueberry flavor, sweet, creamy. 3/5.
Siggi's Icelandic Style Skyr Strained Nonfat Blueberry: stiff, way too thick, like cheese, very sour, no blueberry flavor. 1/5.
This stuff was disgusting. It has vegetable rennet in it, so no wonder it was cheese-like! What the hell?? I don't know what "skyr" is supposed to be, but I'll tell you what, this was gross.

ROUND SEVEN: EVEN MORE VANILLA!
I went to Whole Foods to get my laundry detergent (which they were out of, ugh, so now I have to go all the way across town some other time, arrgh), and discovered even more brands of crazy yogurt! Too bad none of them were that good. Well, they had Zoi, but it's WAY cheaper (under a buck) at my beloved Winco.

Wallaby Lowfat Vanilla: pleasant, sweet, milky, vanilla, average. 3/5.
I added this lowfat one because hubby likes Wallaby, so wanted to see how it stacked up.
Noosa Honey [Full Fat]: weird, very creamy, almost gamey, very thick, sweet, no vanilla. 3.5/5.
This is supposedly some Australian thing . . . bizarre how animal-fatty the milk tasted!
Skyr.is [No Fat] Vanilla: sour, weird gross aftertaste like suspicious meat, chalky, very thick. 1/5
This did not contain rennet, but it was just as nasty as the other "skyr"!
Liberte Mediterranee [Full Fat] French Vanilla: good creamy, good texture, tart, sweet enough, it's decent. 4/5.
Bellweather Farms SHEEP MILK Vanilla: eeeek! Did you just give me a cut lemon? super sour, very runny, no vanilla, weird aftertaste. 1.5/5.
As bad as this was, it was not nearly as bad as the goat's milk stuff!
Strauss Whole Milk Vanilla: so sad, sour gel consistency, no vanilla, yucky aftertaste. 1/5.
This one was "European Style", so Europeans must like their yogurt "unpleasant".
Stonyfield YoBaby Whole Milk Vanilla: sweeter, no creamy fat flavor, good vanilla, nothing special. 3/5.
Eros Greek Lowfat 2% Vanilla: mouth agape in disbelief, like grapes and bad Chinese food, fake freezerburnt ice cream, worst of the lot, almost gagged. 1/5.
For whatever reason, this was TOTALLY GROSS. Avoid!!!

CONCLUSIONS:

First, the big winners.

5 out of 5: Fage Total with Honey, Zoi Honey, Zoi Strawberry Cream.

4.5: Zoi Blueberry.

4: Stonyfield YoBaby Vanilla, Fred Meyer Blended Sweetened Plain, Greek Gods Honey, Zoi Vanilla, Liberte Mediterranee French Vanilla.

If I had to choose a nonfat Greek yogurt to eat, I'd choose the Dannon Vanilla. But you know what? None of them were actually TASTY, so I really wouldn't choose to eat this type of yogurt! Their claims of being "rich and creamy" are only true in the sense that they are tackier/stickier than those chalky gel-like nonfat regular yogurts. I hate nonfat yogurt, and now I know this covers Greek yogurt as well. I was amazed at just how gross a lot of these yogurts were. Perhaps eating one on its own wouldn't be so bad, but in a big taste test, a bunch of these just FAIL!

As for claims of being high-protein, this may be true for some of the Greek yogurts, but a lot of the whole milk ones were similar in protein content. No-Fat Greek Yogurt = total hype.

The whole milk regular yogurts were a mixed bag. The full fat Greek yogurts are great! Their fat content varies wildly, though. Some regular whole milk yogurts were super tasty and creamy, while others had the disappointing taste and consistency of lowfat yogurt. I have nothing against lowfat yogurt for the most part, but it's not worth it to me to eat the major fat grams in a full-fat if the taste is going to be . . . just like lowfat. You know?

I also noted that the Tillamook lowfat yogurts that I have been buying occasionally are really sweet compared to some of the other full-fat brands. I guess when companies take out fat, they add sugar to compensate. Anyway, the grams of sugar in Tillamook were about twice what they were in many of the other vanillas. I think I will stick to my Nancy's Lowfat Plain 32-oz tub (thank you, Winco!), and put honey and fruits in it myself. No more sweet mini-tubs of lowfat yogurt! If I want a treat, I will just eat some Zoi and be happy. :) Or Brown Cow Cream Top Maple. YUM! Fat is where it's at.

PS--
Wallaby Chocolate Down Under = tastes like I threw some cocoa powder into vanilla yogurt. A dud.
Brown Cow Chocolate Cream Top = a step up, but still mostly unexciting.
Better to just have some chocolate pudding on both fronts. Just so you know!

PPS-- I still want to see what brands they have at Safeway! hee hee!
PPPS-- What will happen when I freeze some of my favorite full fat ones? :)

Cloth diaper nerdery

2011-06-02T14:56:00.000-07:00

I just wanted to note that:

a) We're using cloth diapers for E. and I heart them because they're easy and cute and saving the environment and her bum and whatnot;

(Here are ALL my pockets when they were miraculously clean at the same time! OK, I planned for her to use some fitteds/covers so I could take this photo . . .)

b) I have a heck of a lot of them -- I got a wide variety of brands both starting out and over time, because I wanted to try out different things to see what works the best (answer: they all have their merits and flaws! So glad I did this instead of only getting one type);

(My stash above the changer -- now we can actually go a day before *needing* to do diaper laundry! E. goes through MANY a day because I won't have her sitting around wet. We use cloth exclusively, and so far we can double up large inserts at night and not have any leaking problems, woot!)

c) I recently used my scant sewing skills to modify a cover into a pocket diaper, and it was easy! I'm not brave enough to sew a pocket diaper from scratch (like my lovely friend Emily, who made 2 of mine, thanks, Em!), but check it out: all it takes is a piece of Malden Mills 200 fleece to sew a relatively cheaper Thirsties cover into a sleeve pocket -- no unstuffing; inserts agitate right out! Basically I made my own Thirsties Duo Diaper, but with snaps!

All I did was:
* cut the fleece to size by eye (hey, I'm trained as a designer, but let's be honest, I'm pretty sloppy),
* made sure it was as wide as the stretched elastic and a little wider in the middle to give room for inserts (and a touch longer so it could cover any sticking-out inserts),
* clipped it in place with paper clips (to minimize holes in the PUL),
* used a ballpoint needle (read about that online!) and straight stitch, sewing along the existing edges (inside the inner gussets), stretching it as I went along. Left the snaps out, of course.
* I left both ends open, because sleeves WIN!
* And because it's fleece, you don't even have to finish the edges -- but I did sew it over (hem it?) at the openings, to be fancy.
* Washed/dried it on hot to seal the PUL (again, read it online!), and it's been working great.

Obviously it didn't have its own inserts, but I always mix and match my inserts and use GMD prefolds, etc. so I always find something to put in there.

I'm so proud of myself! And now that the medium GMD fitteds I bought no longer fit E., I'm thinking of doing this to my other large covers as well. Heck, they can still be used as covers, too! But we've found that pockets are our hands-down favorite way to do cloth diapers.

Anyway, just sharing!

Before May is out . . .

2011-05-26T10:19:00.000-07:00

I thought I would put up my Mother's Day comic, finally! As always, click to enlarge!

Timpano: Part Five, the Conclusion!

2011-05-23T16:34:00.000-07:00

OK, here come the photos showing how we finished making the timpano last night!

A. cooked the pasta.

I oiled the pan well!

Rolled out the dough to almost the size of our table!

Placed it in the bowl.

Lovely drape.

Mixed olive oil and some sauce with the pasta.

Dump it in! (first layer)

Add layer of chopped salami and provolone.

Yum, hard boiled eggs!

Wheee! In they go! Note: I messed up and didn't put the full half in this layer, but that just meant the second layer had a lot more.

Add some meatballs and wait for romano cheese flurries!

Progress.

My other photographer and the wee one!

Add sauce!

More pasta, salami, provolone!

Eggs!

Meatballs and sauce and romano!

Final layer of pasta and sauce! Did I mention that the fillings are supposed to only barely fill the pan? Hey, just following instructions; I don't know how we got overflow!

NOTE: I really messed up here because I forgot to add the 4 beaten eggs at this point, and that certainly contributed to our issues with solidity once it was done!

Folding over the dough!

Almost done!

Trim the excess! I didn't worry about having too much extra dough; I like dough!

Ready for the oven!

In it goes!

I don't have photos, but after it's a bit browned, you cover it with foil and cook it to 120 degrees -- so here it is partway through, when I added the foil and thermometer!

Finished baking!!

Mmmmm, dough!

Our only big platter was barely big enough for this thing! But it worked! A. does the flip and . . .

THERE IT IS!!

WHOA!!

TIMPANO!!

I cut the 3" circle in the middle (something to do with it being a support for the pieces as we cut them),

then, the first piece!

Onto the plate!

Yummy mess of bread and meat and goodies!

Wow!

Again, wow!!

So, how was it? Well, it was quite tasty . . . but A. and I are both rather critical people, and we thought up a bunch of changes we would make! (Did you really think I could leave it at "it was quite tasty"?)

I was happy with it, but it needed WAY more sauce and WAY more cheese. When we reheat pieces for leftovers, I am totally going to top them with jarred sauce and thick mozzarella slices. Yeah!

I wish it was more solid, but that is partially my fault for forgetting the egg near the end. I thought it would be more like some sort of giant pie/dumpling with meatloaf consistency and some noodles thrown in, but it was very noodley. More like a pasta dish with a bit of crispy crust. The meatballs were not helped in the final melding, unfortunately. However, the hard boiled eggs were an extra nice touch!

A. was particularly disappointed; he could tell along the way that the proportions weren't what he imagined, and he could just not forgive those meatballs! He agreed about it needing MORE sauce and cheese!

If/when we make this again, we have decided to experiment and make it however we want with all kinds of crazy combos! But see, I made the official recipe, so now I'm allowed to play. :) I also think a dessert version of this would rule -- cake bits, brownies, custard, pudding, ice cream, chocolate chips, cookie dough, brioche, etc. etc. etc. all in a giant pie crust bowl of awesome -- that's what I'm talking about!!

Anyway, I hope you enjoyed our crazy project! Who knows what we'll make next . . . . :)

Timpano: Part Four

2011-05-23T11:01:00.000-07:00

Last night we made the timpano! On Saturday, A. made the dough and hard-boiled the eggs. Here is a picture of our assembled ingredients as a placeholder for that.

I have to get organized with the rest of the photos from the actual creation and cooking of this crazy dish!

Timpano: Part Three

2011-05-21T17:18:00.000-07:00

Last night we made the meatballs! We were pretty tired from the day, so for the forming and frying we were sitting down at the stove, ha ha! Oh, I feel old.

First we ground some beef. Ever since I got my Kitchenaid grinder attachment, I've been doing this regularly anyway (SO MUCH better than pre-ground hamburger!). We needed to re-stock, so we ground more than we needed for the recipe.

Yummy yummy beef!

The next step was actually ridiculous. You know that bread I've been drying for 3 days? Well, you put it in a bowl of WATER and sort of reconstitute it into a slimy mess, take the crusts off, and squeeze the water out.

(sorry for the poor photo quality)

If anyone can tell me WHY you do this (and why the drying), I'd like to know! I've done dry bread crumbs and soft bread crumbs, but this was bizarre -- and led to kind of crappy results, but I'm getting ahead of myself . . .

Next, A. put the shredded romano, garlic, and parsley in a bowl,

and added the meat and an egg. Then you put in the soggy bread globs and mix! I'm not providing a picture of the resultant mix, because let's be honest, it looks a little gross. The smooshed bread looked a little gross, too!

Now, you're supposed to fry up a meatball to check it for taste, adding more salt and pepper or cheese if needed. Well, we found the sample meatballs to be . . . "light". As in, more bread than meat. Sort of ooey gooey in a bad way. Bland. What is up with that watery bread?? It kind of ruins these meatballs. So A. grated a bunch more cheese in, added more garlic, and more importantly, put in about a half-pound more hamburger!! Then we fried them:

(This was when we were exhausted and sitting on chairs!) You are supposed to make these meatballs really small, and A. tried, but they were so darn wet they wouldn't stick together properly, and they turned into little patties instead of actual spheres . . . and fell apart, and it was kind of like a sausage crumble kind of thing going on. Still, I got them to brown nicely.

When we were totally done, Moxie got a treat . . .

Mmmm, licking raw meat off A's hands, ohboy!

And here is a pic of the finished meatballs (after a night in the fridge, oops).

All in all, I was unimpressed with this particular recipe. Hopefully these meatballs will meld with the rest of the timpano fillings in an exciting and fulfilling way, because on their own, they're pretty lame.

So we made these last night, and today we went out and finally found some salami and provolone cheese. These two items (in a non-sliced format) have been nearly impossible to find around here!! Winco, Costco, and Fred Meyer didn't have either, and we finally found the salami (not "Genoa", I might add, but some generic thing) at Trader Joe's, and got the deli lady to chop us off a hunk of provolone at Safeway. Can I just say that I totally miss Penn Mac, because they could certainly fulfill my every cheesy desire!!! And they'd probably have the salami to boot. Ah, Pittsburgh, I miss you for your food. :(

Tonight we're aiming for the dough and the eggs, and tomorrow we're assembling and cooking this thing, woot! Stay tuned!

Timpano: Part Two

2011-05-20T17:25:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I made the sauce for the timpano! (See previous post for what the heck I'm talking about.)

First I had to puree the tomatoes in the food processor:

And brown the two types of meat: beef . . .

Ta-da! And pork:

I chopped up garlic and onion:

(I don't know why my photo got rotated, but whatever)
and added it to the pot, meat removed:

Then I added a few other things:
(that is the bowl o' meat on the left)

and cooked it for a bit!
Next up was to add all those pureed tomatoes and some basil and oregano! (I didn't have the fresh basil so I used dried, oh well!)

Then I cooked it for 30 minutes . . .

. . . and put the meat back in, to cook for about 2 hours!

And then it was done!

BONUS: We got to eat superdelicious chunks of meat for dinner, since you don't use the meat chunks in the actual timpano recipe! Soooo good! I need to eat more beef, yum yum!

Next up: the meatballs! We will be doing this tomorrow (I hope)!

Timpano: Part One

2011-05-20T17:12:00.000-07:00

So, I saw pictures on Facebook of my Uncle Robert making this dish timpano, and it looked so super awesome, I wanted to make it, too! It's basically a big bowl full of meat and other goodies in a pastry crust. (Apparently timpano was featured in the movie "Big Night", which I have never seen, but it sounds like I should. Hmm.)

I figured I should document the process, since with all the components, it will take several days to make! A. and I plan on making it over the weekend, but there are several steps I've already taken.

OK, first you need a timpano pan! I ordered one online and it took its time getting here, but now I have it.

Check! Washed it, too! Don't you love that marbleized blue? Not only can I use it for this recipe, but afterwards, I'll have an enormous enamel bowl for other projects!

Then you need to cut up a loaf of Italian bread and let the slices air out for 3 days. This is for the meatballs.

Check! I put these out on Wednesday.
Next up: the sauce!

Oh and don't forget all the pet hair . . .

2011-05-09T10:34:00.000-07:00

And do I have the will or energy to clean it up? Nope! :)

Baked Good Showdown

2011-04-27T10:52:00.000-07:00

Well, not so much a showdown, but a chance for me to combine two of my favorite things -- food and criticizing! The past few days, A. and I sampled some local baked goods on a couple outings to downtown Vancouver. We got a few goodies at Je t'aime Bakery, and finally tried some cupcakes from Treat bakery. I say "finally" because the owner has not-so-convenient hours, and is always closed whenever we go by. But, as A. says, "At least she lists her hours -- some places don't even do that!" The posted hours being "10ish to 4ish" does grate on me a li'l bit, but I know, I know, Treat is an independent, local, one-person(?) operation and I should be supportive. Well, I would be more supportive if the cupcakes tasted better!

I decided to keep it simple and get one chocolate cupcake and one vanilla, which we could share. Don't even get me started on how pricey these trendy cupcakes are, but that is true across the board so I knew what I was getting into, and really can't complain. The chocolate was fairly standard ho-hum chocolate, nothing to get excited about. Amazingly, I am not even a huge fan of chocolate cake, though I love chocolate in pretty much every other form! I liked the vanilla with its buttery goodness way better, but it was too sweet for A. and he couldn't even eat it. Oh, I also got a peanut butter brownie, which I think was the winner of the whole thing. All in all, I'm not really enticed to go back there. I will add, though, that the owner was SUPER nice, and she had painted the depressing black wall of the shop a more "lighthearted" beige. I still think a cupcake bakery should be fluffy pink with sparkles and unicorns and the like -- you know, HAPPY, not just looking like a dentist's office -- but hey, it's not my shop!

Side note: we had great food (as usual) at Woody's Tacos next door, and the friendly guy there said they are working on a permanent outdoor seating area! This means we can bring our doggie and not have to worry about whether their wall-door-thing is open or not. Woot!

So, on to the goodies at Je t'aime. I knew that their ham and cheese croissant was good, having had it before, so I got it again. A. got a bacon cheddar scone. We ate those at the bakery with the doggie and baby! (Their entire seating area is outside.) Those two savory treats were yummy, but would have been better heated up. Oh well, "c'est la vie!" as they say in the land of "Je t'aime". The major failing of this bakery came in their sweet treats, or at least the two we tried.

Side note: I know they have excellent chocolate croissants, so they're capable of good sweet treats. Go figure.

Their cupcake was mediocre. It was chocolate cake with vanilla frosting, with a chocolate-dipped strawberry on top. To their credit, the chocolate cake part tasted better than the one at Treat -- it was more the flavor of a chocolate donut. However, the texture was dense and the vanilla frosting was too oily somehow and not all that flavorful beyond "sweet". The berry was tasty, though! The second thing we got was a banana cake with chocolate mousse frosting between the layers and on top. Major fail!! The cake part was super dense and heavy and tasted like it was made of wheat flour or otherwise trying to be "healthy". It contrasted very poorly with the chocolate mousse. Being neither "chocolate" nor "mousse", this frosting was very weak, sweet, oily, and gross. I have to say I'm spoiled on this front because every year I make A. a banana cake with his grandma's perfect homemade chocolate frosting recipe. Even though I make the cake part from a mix, it's better than the cake from Je t'aime.

OK, I'm running out of time, here -- the baby is awake and it's nice out and I have to walk her and the dog -- but I'll be back another time with more bakery reviews! Hopefully with pictures, too! Apologies if I'm too critical, here, but a business can be as nice as you please but I won't come back unless I like the product!

Just a couple drawings

2011-04-11T16:58:00.000-07:00

4am snack

2011-04-04T13:21:00.000-07:00

Toasted homemade dinner roll with butter

Scarecut!

2011-04-03T09:56:00.001-07:00

Those of you who have been reading Facebook know that I recently got a bad haircut -- a SCARECUT! There is a bit more story to it that I have yet to draw into a fun comic, but for now I wanted to at least present you with the real-life visuals.

I'm not naming names, but let's just say that I still have not found a decent hair salon here in Vancouver.

Ooh, I almost forgot! Here is the before photo of my hair:

(it's just the cut in the photo below, after 5 months of growth . . . baby is at almost 3 months of growth, ha ha!)

OK, here is the photo that I gave the lady (a Thomas cut from right before my baby shower in October). I told her to give me the same cut:

Some sort of miscommunication took place, and this haircut did NOT occur! I don't have a photo of the 15-minute-blowdryer-and-flat-iron fiasco (flat iron!? I ask you!!), but here is the scarecut after I washed it and it curled back up:

It was one part totally 80's, one part Southern belle, and 15 parts terrible and, oh, NOT WHAT I WANTED! However, note my cute husband and child. :)

Now, some of you know how I subsequently got my mom to cut the long parts off. It was already a bit lopsided, but the hairstylist did that, NOT my mom! She made it way better! Observe:

After this, I cut off the lopsided bit, and now I have a decent bob. Hey, it'll grow! Anyway, here is a comic of the process (click to enlarge):

I want to draw the full story complete with crazy unbelievable hairstylist, but I haven't gotten there yet. Give me some comments, people! :)

Happy New . . . April!

2011-04-03T09:22:00.000-07:00

Howdy! I am back to my blog after a long absence because, oh, I had a baby and stuff. :) No, really! Now she is nearly 3 months old! So you see, no time for blogging when I'm going insane/taking care of baby/getting to know my new favorite little person. Anyway, another post is comin' right up, but I wanted to say HI to all 3 of my readers first.

By the way, it looks like Blogger is doing this new "views" thing, so somehow if you add "/views" to the end of the address bar of my blog (or something?), you can view it in all these wacky new ways. Some are cool, some are utterly confusing. Hey, it's your call! I just can't be bothered to figure out all these newfangled things that come along every 5 seconds. I usually figure them out right before they're on the verge of being replaced by the next thing (unless A. lets me in on them right away, he's so early adopter! Or, well, early know-all-about-it-er.)

OK, he just informed me he's so NOT an early adopter, adding that I'd be so pissed at him if he was. True, true. But still, he is up on all the techie goodies that I don't bother with.

Catch you later! Love, me

Summer Photo Backlog, Part Two

2010-10-06T12:27:00.000-07:00

O, Canada!

My two big trips this summer were to both coasts of Canada! Let's play a little game: can you guess which photos were taken in BC, and which in NS? Answers are at the end of the post.

L.

***Answers!***
A. NS -- stopping by a beach on a nice day's drive.
B. BC -- Butchart Gardens in Victoria, a most beautiful and expensive place!
C. BC -- the ferry to Victoria Island. Note the mountains FLOATING IN THE SKY!! I had SUCH a fun time on the ferry ride. :)
D. NS -- sunset on the walk home from the beach.
E. NS -- Blomidon!
F. NS -- Fishbits at R+G Diner with A. and my parents! We ALL got fishbits. :)
G. BC -- Butchart Gardens, where you can't take a bad picture!
H. NS -- stopping by a Dairy Queen on a nice day's drive. Why aren't all Dairy Queens, and all other restaurants, equipped with a compost can option??? WHY??? Thank you for doing it right, random Dairy Queen and most other places in Canada.
I. BC -- a kiss at Butchart Gardens!
J. NS -- taking a walk on the back road in the woods by the beach.
K. NS -- pretty picture snapped stealthily in a totally overpriced and useless art boutique place that shall remain nameless ;)
L. BC -- the view out our window at UBC, which is pretty any time of day and never gets old!

Summer Photo Backlog, Part One

2010-10-05T18:07:00.000-07:00

Since I haven't done a photo post since June (oops), I thought it would be nice to catch up! Everyone knows I love food, obviously. :) So, in vaguely chronological order, here is the first installment, Foods I Have Enjoyed This Summer! Prepare to get hungry!

Here is A's birthday cake! It's his favorite, the same one every year, banana cake with Super Secret Special Chocolate Frosting!

Lots of delicious little Hood strawberries, picked by me and A. and a visiting Brian! We made lots of jam.

Oh, and I made strawberry shortcake, too!

Here is a day's harvest from our yard, during our ridiculously short summer! Trust me, we enjoyed it while we could.

More yard bounty!

A really superb (and giant) piece of Boston Cream Pie, enjoyed on a boat in the Willamette River with A. and Cory G. and some scientists. Everyone else at the table ordered the lemon cheesecake, and as the last one to order, I broke the consensus, to much good-natured kidding. But why would you NOT order Boston Cream Pie???? And lemon cheesecake, what is up with that? Maybe if it was NY cheesecake with the cherries on top and the little green pistachio sprinkles like they used to have at Linda Mae's, MAYBE, but since that is so hard to come by unless you verify it in a display case, I go with Boston Cream Pie.

A. presented this as a lunch/snack tray one day, and we devoured it. I was obsessed with peaches this summer, getting them at the Farmers' Market as often as I could!! Pregnancy craving, or good taste? You decide. :)

Speaking of peaches, A. and I canned a lot of them for the winter! Thank you, Firestone Farms, and I really hope you stay in business for at least a few more summers!!

Fun fact! A. and I have been grinding our own peanuts for peanut butter! Why? Because we are cheap, and all you need is peanuts and a food processor. Our first batches were from some delicious Virginia peanuts given to us by Grandma J., and a subsequent few more were from the bulk peanuts at Winco. Now, these bulk peanuts are already cheap enough, but they had a "too roasted" flavor for me. I determined that we could roast our own with little effort. We bought bulk raw peanuts, and after 15-25 minutes at 350 (careful! they go from underdone to burnt LIKE THAT), we had our own homemade roasty flavor. Then we made peanut butter! The flavor came out rather interestingly -- sweeter than I had thought, and a darker color because we didn't bother to remove the skins.

Just a little loaf of cheddar cheese bread! All summer I/we have kept up the bread baking and pizza making!

Now, lest you think that this food scale is tipping toward the less-healthy side, I leave you with evidence that I also got in a few salads this summer!!

See some soup

2010-10-04T11:41:00.000-07:00

I know, I've only been redirecting you to Dory's Garden Lore lately (where I have a new comic up today!), but I plan to put up some overdue photos here very soon!

I am proud of myself for making tasty soup!

2010-10-04T11:38:00.000-07:00

Five new comics . . .

2010-09-29T13:58:00.000-07:00

. . . to be found in the just-turning fall leaves at Dory's Garden Lore!

Some new comics!

2010-09-29T13:56:00.000-07:00

I drew a few new comics while I was "busy" sitting around not making money at the master gardener conference! So here you go:

And this last one is just a doodle of another major thing on my mind, which I'm now free to focus on now that the stupid conference is over!

New comic . . .

2010-09-11T19:20:00.002-07:00

. . . yonder!

I will find it . . .

2010-09-11T19:18:00.000-07:00

A bit of a time lapse between drawing this and posting it, but here you go!

I've since done more Etsy browsing, and I think I'll probably get it from someone there!

Another comic!

2010-09-01T12:14:00.000-07:00

Is available for your viewing delight over at Dory's Garden Lore! Hmm, maybe I will get good at making daily comics again, and I won't have to announce it every day -- you'll just have to go check it out yourself!

Another comic!

2010-09-01T12:10:00.000-07:00

A comic!

2010-08-31T12:40:00.000-07:00

Hey, scoot on over to Dory's Garden Lore to read a little comic I made today. Hooray!

SURPRISE!

2010-08-31T12:36:00.000-07:00

Bet you didn't expect to see new comics here! Well, here's one! Click to make big and enjoy . . .

New Art and Other News

2010-08-27T15:29:00.000-07:00

Howdy! I have two new prints up in my RevolvingDor shop! These will be the last two for a little while as I focus on printing my inventory for the MG conference, where I will have a table of my wares! The conference is a little less than a month away, so to my brain that means HURRY NOW and BE READY. It would be very, very, very helpful for my next couple months if I could actually make some cash at this, my first "show", or rather, opportunity to sell stuff face to face with the public. We shall see!

Did I mention to you, my blog audience, that A. and I are expecting our first BABY? :) Well, we are! I'm about 20 weeks pregnant at this point. Yay! This factor is also making my life seem very full-to-bursting at the moment! I feel like I have SO MUCH to do, or that I want to do, at any given moment, and not enough time. Before I know it, the sun is setting again and the days roll on by! Aieee!

For those of you who were/are fans of I'm Only Human and my old CLOG (comics log), I have TWO treats in store for ya! Treat One: I'm going to finally compile my Mega-Volume of I'm Only Human and Assorted Other Old Comic Goodies into one big book, and try to put it up in my shop in a timely fashion . . . this will be during October. Did you know that making this very book was my original reason for opening my shop in the first place?? And I still haven't made it, a year and a half later! Oh well, I'll get there.

Treat Two: I have a hankering to do a sort of ongoing CLOG again, probably to be posted on Dory's Garden Lore, the backyard art garden retreat of this blog. This is more of a vague goal than an action plan, so I don't know when comics may appear . . . but watch for them! I think I really do need to do my comics-for-mental-health thing again, and I am brimming with ideas!

Oh, and another action plan: take part in NaNoWriMo again this year, except for cheat and work on my big book from last year, which really is not a book at all but will be a comic book series or graphic novel about crazy sci-fi weirdness and fun . . . so that's November.

December, maybe I'll try to get the new comic series drawn and up and running. Or take a break. Or a mix of both.

January: give birth. Try not to go crazy during/after this life-altering miraculous occurrence.

After that, when I have my own BABY to love and care for (whee!), I don't know if I can ever plan out a single thing in my life again, ever, so I'm trying to make these efforts now, set in some goals I can hopefully stick with! Who knows??

more more more

2010-08-06T17:40:00.000-07:00

New RevolvingDor shop alert! New greeting cards, AND a NEW edition of my awesome book, My Stove Grew Wheels. Whew! Getting it all together has taken me DAYS, people, because I am a perfectionist. But now I can rest (until orders start pouring in, ha)!

Four Seasons!!

2010-07-29T12:38:00.000-07:00

I just put up the Winter print in my RevolvingDor shop!
IN ADDITION, now you can buy a set of all four Seasons prints for $50 (saving yourself $10)!
Hooray!

New Print: FALL!

2010-07-29T11:02:00.000-07:00

Ready for Fall? Even if you aren't, you can get a lovely illustration print of a Fall scene in my RevolvingDor shop! Winter print coming next, maybe within the hour!

New Print: SPRING!

2010-07-20T11:00:00.000-07:00

Take a look, I put up a new print in my RevolvingDor shop!

And I know, I haven't written a nice photo blog post in a long time. I've just been busy!! Now that I have accomplished my goal of posting to my shop for the day, I'm starting a new small secret comic series . . . secret for now because, well, it may end up being just for me. I don't know, it depends on how much fun I end up poking at these people . . . maybe I will disguise names so I can share.

But you know, comics for mental health; I must make it, just for myself at the minimum!

What do you think? Would you like to see a weekly sarcastic comic made by me? Comment!

More art!

2010-07-16T17:53:00.000-07:00

I just posted a new illustration print in my RevolvingDor shop! It is SUMMER, one of my four new SEASONS prints! Other seasons to follow next week!

Oh, and this will appear on a greeting card before too long. :)

New Book at RevolvingDor!

2010-07-14T17:51:00.001-07:00

Hi there, imaginary internet crowd! I just put up my NEW BOOK, Hubert the Hungry Whale, in my RevolvingDor shop! I am very proud of it; it may be my best book yet. A. and I came up with the story together, and I did the rest.

If the book has sold out when you click it, rest assured, I will re-post/re-stock it as soon as I can.

HAPPY SHOPPING!

Long overdue picture post!

2010-06-14T19:16:00.000-07:00

Well, here I am, back to bring you photos! I was too lazy to really caption them properly (quantity over quality today), but here is some proof that yes, I did have a (bit of a) life this past little while. These are mostly yard photos, starting with some before and afters!

Here are the raised beds of peas in early May. In the middle there are 2 old rutabaga plants from the fall that I don't really know what I'm doing with. Ha ha ha! I figure they will die back at some point and I will have two huge (that is: normal-sized!!) rutabagas!

Well, I guess a month and a half of constant rain is good for something: here are the peas now! We're finally adding some sun to the mix. Oh, and that's garlic, too, by the bed in the back.

Peas growing along in the miserable weather . . .

Aha! Early results!

Here is our raised bed (made by the talented Quentin, thank you!) in early May with purple potatoes in their little ditch, and some sage, basil, a random eggplant, and marigolds.

The potatoes now! I know, they are going to go crazy and really I'm not even going to try to stop them.

Here is the tomato bed in early May! Raised beds are "in" this year; didn't you know? :) I got all my starts from the Master Gardeners, but of course! I got my beloved cherries, but Al convinced me to branch out (har har) and try Tami G (a grape), Stupice (just really good I guess), and someone else recommended the Beam's Yellow Pear as maybe sweeter than Sungold?! If it's true, I am there! Well, I am. I planted them, so we'll see!

The tomatoes now! Yes, we got some expensive colorful cages because life should be fun every now and then!! I feel like our tomatoes are playing on a jungle gym. :) A. wanted to see how the different shapes held up and compared.

And the last comparison: my spray-painted container pots in early May! Spray-painting them was an excellent idea (pats self on back). Anyway, here we have some seeds I started: mimulus, baby blue eyes (I think), marigolds, an eggplant, and another Super Sweet 100 tomato. Because you cannot have too many cherry tomatoes.

Boiyoiiing! Now they are full of foliage!

Future blueberries! We may actually have a little crop worth harvesting this year.

California poppy

Centauria Montana -- I think this plant is SO COOL.

I liked the color contrast of delphiniums against our Japanese maple! I totally forget where the delphiniums came from and what type they are.

True geranium, Johnson's Blue! Or is it Rozanne? Well, it rules. Not to be confused with that pesky houseplant pelargonium, which has been masquerading as a geranium for years! It's OK though, I like those, too. Had them at my wedding!

The iris have exploded this year!! I got the rhizomes from some free box or other on the street, and last year they mostly just put out leaves. I love iris, and love the way they smell, too!

Merry marigolds. Grew these from seed I collected outside some church downtown! They are doing just as well as their religious relatives.

Mimulus, monkey flower! Grew these from seed, and they each look a little different. I need to take more photos to show the differences!

Here are some dianthus (pinks), which I would like to point out have survived, multiplied, and totally thrived since I planted my seeds here from the Shady Ave. garden in Pittsburgh! I have divided these into a bunch of clumps, now all over the yard.

Another Pittsburgh seed thriver: wild flax! I love love love this stuff, and it's getting really big and obnoxious by our front door. I have been re-clumping it around as well. The flowers last for MONTHS and are the best blue, and floppy and happy, too! I say, the more obnoxious, the better. :)

Future raspberries! These are going nuts. Woot!

Here is proof that we had one nice day in May!

So many roses, so little time (to do anything about the aphids, to care about the powdery mildew, to deadhead, etc. . . .) I'm convinced that my roses will survive anything (they've consistently done so), so I tend to abuse them a bit. Sorry! I did do a huge pruning this weekend, so now they're back to being bushes, not trees.

AND NOW FOR THE NON-PLANT PHOTOS:

I made a REALLY GOOD lasagna! It was my first time even making lasagna, and made me wonder why I'd never made it before. I guess those big noodles in the box just looked . . . intimidating. Or complicated. I don't know why! But seriously, you can't go wrong with noodles, cheese, cheese, cheese, sausage, and tomato sauce. Anyway, now that the world of lasagna is open to me, I plan to make a lot more!!

Little Orphan Dog is wrapped in her scrap of cloth, shivering in the cold-- no no, it's just Moxie being all cute. :)

To cheer myself up, and celebrate some nice weather (finally!!), I put out this fun tablecloth I had bought at Cost Plus. It looks so festive to me, like it's ready for a birthday party to take place around it! It's saying, "Put the cake on me! Gather round! Sing! Open presents! Be merry! Don't forget the ice cream!" I actually bought it months ago, but was saving it for springy/summer weather.

And there you have it.

oops!

2010-05-21T11:24:00.000-07:00

I know, it's Friday again, and I haven't had a good photo post on here in a while. Well, it's more of the same boringness today, sorry! But, instead of admiring all the photographic evidence of my exciting life, you can cheer me on as I work really really hard making all kinds of new art pieces for eventual sale at the MG Conference, and of course my RevolvingDor shop. It's all behind-the-scenes right now as I am going going going and not even stopping to scan stuff in because that is its own separate project for later in the game. But I will say that I am honing my watercolor technique, honing my ability to sit still and work on stuff (wow, this ability used to come so readily to me, but now I have to work on it!!), and already tired of all the ideas I wrote down a few weeks ago, so will have to come up with more. S'okay, it happens. The new ideas will be BETTER!

When not doing the above, I've been finally playing Myst 4: Revelation, which we bought ages ago (ha ha, pun intended for you Myst geeks) and just never installed! We've played all the other ones, but somehow skipped over #4. Anyway, fun obsession, and I'm trying to finish it up before Super Mario Galaxy 2 comes to us magically in the mail next week and absorbs even more of my time! Video games, very important.

And I've been mixing it up with internet radio, listening to, among other things, CBC Radio 3 and wishing so hard that I lived in Canada. Someday, someday. It's good to connect with your heritage, eh?

Oh, and it won't stop raining. Very annoying and making all the weeds grow super-speedily (yet I can't get outside to deal with them so we're looking very "vacant lot" these days, eyeroll), yet actually pretty conducive to working quietly at a desk. Which . . . I'm going to go back to doing now. Just cheer me on, OK? Don't worry; I'll keep you posted. :)

Westinghouse Custom Imperial PSA!

2010-05-12T09:05:00.000-07:00

I've gotten several inquiries about my stove / range (the most interesting part of my life, apparently!) :) , so I wanted to put up a picture of its little tag of specs (found right above the broiler area), for anyone who wanders by this blog looking for info. Info on the WESTINGHOUSE CUSTOM IMPERIAL! Here you go!

So it's Model # KFF4AXW 1, Serial # F187093, cycles 60 AC only, KW 17.79, Volts 115/230-120/240, 3 wire, installation form no. 0, and by the way, for rotisserie use 096814! There is the text for all your google-result needs, which I don't really understand. :)

Also, if any vintage stove aficionados read this, could you comment and tell me where I could find a bottom heating element for the left-side smaller oven? Mine sort of sparked out and melted and we don't use that side anymore. :( Thanks!!!

I would put this on my whole stove info/love page, but, um, as I've said long ago, I can't even get into my own website anymore . . . until I learn Dreamweaver . . . which I had a terrible time with and frustratedly gave up. Yeah, um . . .!

OK, back to your regularly scheduled broadcast!

Since last time . . .

2010-05-06T11:05:00.000-07:00

I have had a lot going on! And I haven't taken many photos. But to get back on track and satisfy any blog readers (I know there are maybe 2 of you, ha ha), here is an update on my happenings.

* For our anniversary, A. and I went up to the Olympic Peninsula! Now, not to sound all spoiled or cynical or both, BUT, after hearing how FANTASTICALLY beautiful it is there, ABOVE AND BEYOND anything you will ever see, I have to say, it really looks like most of the Northwest. Super beautiful and naturey, foresty, beachy, mossy green, but . . . so's the OR coast, and the property of the B+B we stayed at, and many many other locales here and in OR and BC. Just sayin'. We did have a nice time, ate way too much food (not a good thing), cringed and laughed at all the vampire-centric stuff because we were indeed in Forks (I do have photos to post at some point!), and enjoyed pretty much complete sunshine. In the rainforest. Yup!

* Oh, when we came back, our cat was deathly dehydrated and ill!! We took him to the vet, he had to stay overnight on an IV, and now he is temporarily on pills and blah blah blah. Everyone's best guess is that he is really quite an "attached" cat, so he got depressed from being alone, stopped eating and drinking, and just started fading away! BUT NOW HE IS IN PERFECT HEALTH AGAIN, just wanted to say that clearly! Anyway, we have left him for 2-3 days on his own before, but 4 days was apparently too much. And someone usually checks in on him, but that someone was . . . "unavailable" for their own "reasons". Suffice it to say, we're now asking someone ELSE for future care, and will never leave him unattended like that again!!

* OK, the garden has been UPDATED!
> I painted the raised beds and put them in place!
> Q. made us an amazing raised bed out of a) the kindness of his heart; and b) these log-type board-scrap-cutoffs-with-bark-still-attached and dropped it off (so that's 3 beds, plus the 3 I had before = 6!) -- so that's around the back and will be for herbs!
> I had 4 cubic yards of 4-way soil mix delivered! (Crazy, I know, but that was the minimum order for delivery to my neighborhood -- according to the crabby lady at the store -- I should have sought out the nice guy. He'd have probably cut me some slack . . .) Anyway, I used it in the beds, and all around my yard, and we offered up the rest to Q+C, and when they had all they needed, Cynthia and David and their son took more, and then Tiffany & Co. happened by and got the rest! (no, not that Tiffany & Co., ha ha!) Amazing. It was a day Mr. Rogers would have been proud of. :)

> So all my annuals are GOOD TO GO, and I've been peppering my yard with them! I had thought about giving some away, but I'm being greedy instead and making my yard a crazy color explosion. Yeah, sorry. *shrug* I did grow them myself, and I made no promises to anyone! I've popped in a few extra perennials here and there, too. All of a sudden I'm really into heuchera (coral bells) after not really giving them a second thought before.
> I also bought all my veggies from the MG's, and will put them in the raised beds this weekend (or sooner)! I will tell you all the types another time, but I have tomatoes, basil, eggplant, peppers, cucumber, and pineapple tomatillos, which SOMEONE NEEDS TO PICK UP FROM ME and give me 4 bucks, he knows who he is! ;)
> Oh and I spray-painted those big container pots outside and they look AWESOME! I will definitely have photos later. I highly, highly recommend this super-cheap fix for black plastic nursery pots.

* I enjoyed this month's book club (mmm, berry and chocolate tart!), and I'm picking up the next book from the library today. We now all supposedly have a "renewed commitment to reading/finishing the book", so I am acting accordingly. Hey, I only got lazy 'cause everyone else did, people!

* I am excited because I just bought some pants yesterday! Yes, pants. I did this clothing swap thing back when I was thinner than I am now, and gave away all my "large" pants. Then I bought all these pants that fit the new, "skinny" me! And wore them for a while, and was happy and fit. Well, those pants don't even button anymore and are up in my closet for another time. I've been cycling through my only remaining 3 pairs of pants for like 2 months now (plus my grubby work/gardening jeans) and it was getting RIDICULOUS! Anyway, I was feeling terrible, and desperate for new pants, so went shopping last night and bought 3 pairs (and 2 shorts!) that actually fit! So what if I'm back up a size? It happens, it's called life. I still have all those wee 14's in the closet for when I lose those 15 pounds again . . . .

* I created a huge plan/schedule for my artworkings in preparation for the MG Conference in September! So now I have goals and things to check off and I'm going to be a busy art-bee for the foreseeable future (but I have left slack for life in the schedule, wasn't that thoughtful of me? A. helped me figure it out!!) As part of that plan, I'm a touch sad to say that my book has been put on hold until October. I may ponder it from time to time, but this other stuff simply comes first. Oh well!

* Oh and I'm digging both the new Doctor Who (Eleven and his companion Anne of Green Gables -- I mean Amy Pond), and the old old Tom Baker stuff A. and I have been watching. I love watching those, even though I inevitably fall asleep about 75% through Part Three EVERY TIME. It's more like nodding off, but then I wake up and can piece together/watch the ending. I dunno, I LOVE watching it even with the soporific qualities! It would probably help if we started watching it earlier, like say before 8:30-9pm, ha ha!

What happened to last week?

2010-04-26T14:41:00.000-07:00

A. and I went on a trip this past weekend! So I didn't have time to update the blog. And I'm not having the greatest day today, so I don't feel like writing right now. Anyway, just a mini-update for anyone who reads this thing on a weekly basis! I'll be back with new posts . . . Friday? Well, sometime.

GARDEN PROJECTS!!

2010-04-16T16:00:00.000-07:00

A. and I did some major garden redesign in our backyard this week! It looks really different! Here is a mini-tour:

We cut down the hedge/brush on one day and then rented a trailer the next day to haul it away to the yard debris place. Yes, our Mazda has a hitch because it is AWESOME! (well, 'cause A. put it there and he is awesome!) And yes, we had free coupons for the yard debris place. After dropping that off, we went to pick up some new TREES to plant! And brought them home. After we did that, we went to Home Depot to get WOOD to make raised beds! I know, we were crazy ambitious, I don't know what got into us except for a whole lot of AWESOME!! And we'd been plotting these shenanigans for a while. So all that trailering was in one day!!

One of the trees we got was a Japanese maple -- I have wanted one for a long time, but had no good place to put it! Now I do. And I LOVE it.

The above picture illustrates why! Sure beats looking at an opaque wall of green hedge. Also it's (already) super nice to sit on the patio and watch the leaves flutter and relaaaaaaax. Super bonus, the stems will stay red in the winter for seasonal interest!

The second tree is a 4-way cherry! What does that mean? Well, 4 different types of cherry have been grafted onto one tree. We got one with Black Tartarian, Stella, Lapins, and Montmorency. The latter is a sour cherry, but A. has certain expertise in making to-die-for pies with those, so we're good to go. Apparently Lapins is a newish type develped in BC that is possibly better than Bing! We shall see. It will pollinate itself due to all the different branches. Score!

(The original plan was 2 semidwarf cherry trees, but we saw this at Yard N Garden Land and HAD TO TRY IT OMG!!!) The other thing we had to try, fully abandoning the 2 cherry plan, was this:

This is more in the side yard. (You can see, it snuck into the first maple photo all the way down the end when it was still in its pot.) Our 6-way apple is similar to the cherry, in that it has SIX apple types on one tree! Gravenstein, Fuji, Gala, Braeburn, Macintosh, and Jonagold! Thank you again, Yard N Garden Land!! And get this: it came all pre-espailered! Espalier is a technique of training fruit trees (and other shrubby stuff) in a horizontal plane or against a wall to make a sort of living fence, and/or keep your fruit crop more manageable if you don't have space for a big ol' tree (or, if you just feel like it, of course!). A. masterminded the framework for the espalier; it was pretty easy! In this picture I haven't tied the tree to the frame yet, but I did that this morning (and didn't photograph it, oh well).

Oops, it's MY FIRST TYPO in the above caption! Guess what? I am way too lazy to go back and fix it, so there it stands. Anyway. As if all those trees weren't enough, off we go and build a raised bed. Moxie LOVED sitting in there! I think we may have to make her an outdoor doghouse to be all cozy in. Can I just mention that I have the cutest dog? Your dog may be cute, but mine is cuter. Just sayin'. :)

I subsequently painted the bed white (for longevity since it's just Doug fir) and we moved it off near the espalier. More photos probably next week when we've made the second one and done who knows what else to the yard!? Oh, one last example of our insanity:

And now for something completely different:

Couple more yard-y things:

Also from this week:
* Baked 2 loaves of bread, one of which was a favorite recipe modified for the "bucket method" we've been using, and it came out YUMMY!
* Thought up a refreshing drink: water, lemon juice, and stevia powder, all to taste, over ice. No-cal lemonade!! Why didn't I do this before??? Also would be good with iced tea.
* Finalized some garden flags for the MG conference, which are going to be SO COOL, and verified I'm getting my table to sell stuff, so I am PSYCHED.
* Also, in true Dorothy fashion, as soon as I have a goal to do one thing (prepare art for conference), my brain latches on to another thing -- I started semi-drawing/continued thinking out my graphic novel of WIN! So hopefully I'll be able to simultaneously keep both projects going, because I need to. The art for possible income, the book because it is TIME. My creativity is really mad that I've been putting it off, so now I'm making a concerted effort!!
* Been watching more old Doctor Who (and falling asleep -- but I still love it, go figure!), playing Just Dance on the Wii (A. beat me!!), and we set up the new Netflix for the Wii thingie and it is wicked cool. We watched Star Trek: First Contact for the hell of it when we first tried it out. Oh Data, I do love you so.
* Is it just me or is this post especially long? OK, I'm going to go start my weekend now. Possibly by planting a LOT of zinnias. Bye!

April showers

2010-04-09T15:12:00.000-07:00

Howdy! This week was a bit rough thanks to a persistent cough, some inexplicable depression-like symptoms, and this crappy rain/sunshine/rain cycle of insanity!! At least I'm glad that there is sunshine in there at all!

When the sun was out, I did manage to do a bunch of gardening: weeding, planting 142 carrot seeds, 27 (additional) super sprint snap peas, 40 (additional) sugar ann snap peas, some perennials, and shifting the remains of my big compost pile elsewhere to make a new bed.

I forgot to take photos, but I made a big batch of my dad's bran muffins, too! Always good to have those in the freezer. :)

AND, things continue to be underway with my master gardener merchandise (hats, flags, lapel pins! more more more!) for the fall conference, and the BEST is that they might (will?) give me some table space at the conference to sell my own art! It will be the RevolvingDor shop in person! YAY!! I'm using this opportunity as a catalyst/focal point to get to my artistic goals this year. Blah blah blah, it's big news! I hope everyone realizes by now that I need these outside events/deadlines to make myself actually get stuff done, and this is the perfect thing!

I think we actually made 2 pizzas this week, but I don't even really recall! Lazy lazy me. It appears that, much like the Indian food month, the month of pizza-making has helped to incorporate pizza into the regular dinner repertoire. Nice!

Whenever I am chopping up beef to grind it, I always get the intense urge to just EAT IT!! I know, I know, you're not supposed to eat raw beef, but man oh man, everything about it is absolutely delicious. I'm convinced it's some inherent human/caveperson thing. I don't understand how some people opt out of eating meat; I really don't. They are missing out on the human experience I tell you!! Plus, how is scraping together peanuts and soy for protein remotely as satisfying as chomping on muscle mass? It's not. Anyway, I did sneak a few bits of raw stuff from the bowl, hee hee! So good.

Oh, I wanted to add that grinding your own meat is a good thing to do! Besides getting in touch with your inner caveperson (grunt grunt!), it is way cheaper than buying hamburger, PLUS you can control what's in there (I try to get really super lean cuts like bottom round roast; above is chuck but I cut out most of the fat). I guess the only thing better would be buying the "all natural organic grass fed blah blah" stuff, but, ummm, you just let me know when THAT costs $1.99/lb., okay? It's sad because I WANT to buy the natural stuff, I totally WOULD, but it is too pricey for the quantities I require. (And shoot, I eat WAY less beef than I used to, too. I'm attempting to be healthy!) I really do wish I could be a do-gooder in this area (and yeah, I even understand why it's expensive), but apparently I am more cheapskate than do-gooder! Thank god for Winco.

(Although I will add that if I were magically rolling in dough, I would TOTALLY buy one of those half-cow deals from a local farmer and wrap up all the cuts and keep it in the deep-freeze!)

I had been thinking of having a lot of "containers" in the form of cheerily-painted plastic pots -- and I may still do this to some extent. However, I cleaned up the area and found that the dirt is really nice, and does get some rainfall from the edge of the patio, and besides, our future drip irrigation reaches over there anyhow. Soooo, now I want to plant things, like maybe hebes, lavender, have some vines going up the fence somehow. Nothing too tall (would hit the patio roof!) or that would overtake/overpuff on the patio area . . . but the fence really is boring! That is short, orange crocosmia on the left, which is great (discovered when we chopped the hedge!), but it's not always there. I need all-season interest, people! Any other ideas or suggestions??? This is the view when you step directly out our back patio door.

And that is that! A. and I may do more hedge-chopping this weekend if it's nice out, to make way for cherries and apples . . . whee!

iiit's April!

2010-04-02T16:38:00.000-07:00

I was a bit sick this week (after getting caught in the rain while jogging -- somehow my system did not like this! Thanks a heap, jogging!), A. and I played more Wii, watched lots of old Doctor Who (Peter Davison with Tegan and Turlough), kept getting packages from Amazon.com, and I posted my NEW and IMPROVED and BIG version of Toasty and Snowy on my RevolvingDor shop! Wow.

The pesto was from Costco, purchased after eating . . . not pesto . . . OK, basil leaves being touted as "pesto" (um, there is more to pesto than that, people) . . . and craving REAL pesto! This summer I'll be making my own! Real pesto is one of those addictive, too-good-to-be-true foods, like corned beef brisket!

The other part of the scrapbooking project (by the way, it's the cruddiest, most simplistic scrapbook you ever did see -- this was a case of "get these things in a book and caption them before we forget what they are" rather than a creativity explosion as seen in "scrapbooking supplies" at Craft Warehouse and the like) ANYWAY, the other part was to keep the fire in the fireplace going and burn through a lot of our excess hedge-lumber before we cut down more of our hedge and have more lumber on our hands with no place for it to go! Yes, we're going to chop more of the hedge soon to make way for fabulousness.

Oh, and this had nothing to do with photographs -- photo album making is another area that I excel at ignoring. I hope to improve that situation soon, too!

Or am I crazy?

See all those black plastic pots? Some day they will be painted fun colors, magically transformed into "containers", full of plants, with vines all growing up and around in back and making that bamboo fencing way more interesting! Also little shrubbies like hebe and some bulbs and ground cover. Just sharing my vision.

We have now set up the tumbler, but I didn't feel like going out in the rain at the time to photograph it. It was great; when I shifted our giant pile, there were buggies and wormies galore!! But also lots of the pile that was dry and not-composted. So hopefully now that I have a proper device (one that I will actually turn with ease, this is key, because I refuse to go through the trouble of pitch-forking my open slow pile), I'll have quicker compost. I only filled this thing with about 1/5th of the pile . . . which we still have to do something with to cut down the hedge . . . oh, I don't know. Something. Mostly I was getting really sick of looking at the huge mound of trash in the corner. Yucksville.

By the way, do you, reader, like having this expanded commentary on the photos, or do you just like to look at pictures? Just wondering. Anyway, this evening A. and I might go on a date to Powell's to use a gift card! whee! Have a lovely weekend. (I actually had a CRAPTASTIC day of strife, but it's all better now.) Later!

Toasty and Snowy are BACK!

2010-04-01T14:39:00.000-07:00

I just re-did my Toasty and Snowy book IN GLORIOUS FULL-SIZE COLOR thanks to my 11x17 printer! The book is now 8.5"x11" in size, looks fantastic, and it's up for sale in my RevolvingDor shop! Go take a look! And if you got the half-size one back when I was making it that way, well, you may want this one, too -- it looks 10 times better BIG! Besides, it's sort of a kids' book so now the text is bigger, too! I am SO EXCITED about this, really! All my future picture books of this type will be BIG BIG BIG!

Also, all prints are now at the new price of $18.00! Thought you'd like to know. Happy shopping!

How to Make Paneer!

2010-03-26T19:07:00.000-07:00

For the Indian feast I made in my previous post, I made my own paneer (cheese)! I got the recipe from one of my cookbooks, though subsequently I found plenty of recipes on the web. It's just milk+lemon juice+technique!

I specifically got some whole milk for this project. Whenever I'm making these milk-thickening recipes, I assume when they say "milk" (especially in my old 60's recipes!) they mean whole milk. I don't mess around with lowfat versions that might not work until I make it properly at least once!

First you bring 4 cups of milk to a boil on the stove. I won't bore you with a picture of this. Then you add 2 Tbsp. of lemon juice, and "stir gently" until it curdles up and thickens. I won't gross you out with a picture of this, because it looks pretty nasty! It didn't exactly "thicken", but the curds got more numerous. I had it going maybe 20 minutes, but subsequent research shows that you probably only need about 5. Oh well, I wasn't sure what I was doing and the recipe didn't specify. Anyway, now the fun begins!

After you get your curds, you strain them out from the whey.

I read afterwards that you can keep the whey and do other projects with it, but it seemed kind of gross to me so I dumped it down the sink. Maybe next time!

You lift up your curds and squeeze out more whey, then gather everything into a sort of patty. I think I should have folded or rearranged the cheesecloth so as not to have that twist, results of which you'll see below.

Next, you press your cheesecloth bundle under something heavy! I also sandwiched it between 2 cutting boards (seemed like a good idea) and used a cookie sheet for a drip tray. I have some vague memory of cheesemaking from Reading Rainbow and lots of whey is still extracted as it sits there!

My cast iron dutch oven is really heavy, and you want something like this, to really press it down! And sure enough, I was glad I had the tray. Leave it sit for 1.5-2 hours to do its thing.

Next, you unwrap it and you're pretty much done!

I used the paneer in a malai palak recipe, and it was super tasty! Pretty much identical to paneer I've had in restaurants. Now that I've gone through this process, I think it's pretty hard to go wrong. That is to say, it's easy!! The paneer on its own was a bit boring; I highly recommend putting it in a flavorful dish (and heating it up a little).

Oh, and be warned: as with all milk-reducing recipes, the milk goes away! 4 cups only yields about a 4" diameter by 0.5" tall little wheel. But that was all I needed for my other recipe, really.

Now that I've done this, I'm curious to try some of the other fresh cheese recipes out there, like mozzarella! Has anyone done this? Don't you need rennet, which doesn't seem to be available anywhere? Tips? If I could have my own mozzarella with my own basil and own cherry tomatoes this summer, I would be SET. :)

By the way, if you want any of the recipes in the previous post, let me know!

More springy fun and a feast!

2010-03-26T18:22:00.000-07:00

This week: I took care of some RevolvingDor stuff, A. was supposed to go on a biz trip but didn't (yay!), we played tennis (!!) at some nearby courts, continued on in New Super Mario Bros. Wii, oh and I made some zany and delicious Wheat Thins candy (yes, it is goooood!), and enjoyed a few days of really nice weather!

Oh, and despite some major setbacks in the "freelance" area (tsk . . . annoying!!) I am going to take my entrepreneurial spirit and SOLDIER ON with my shop and my ideas and just make my own success. So there. Just watch me!!!

Onward to photos!

OK, so now we get to the Indian food feast that I made on Thursday night! I just felt like cooking, and I ended up making 4 dishes (5 if you include the homemade paneer, details next post), with A. contributing a cucumber raita. I know, I'm crazy, but sometimes I do crazy things to get my "accomplishment" high. Don't you? Oh, you're not a perfectionist? Nevermind. I know all my fellow high-achieving weirdos understand; you know who you are!

Ooh! Ooh!

2010-03-22T14:59:00.000-07:00

What a novelty! I drew a comic, which I have posted on Dory's Garden Lore! Maybe someday such posts won't be so few and far between, but that's how I'm operating at the moment. Everyone who knows me knows that I have about 12,000 projects going on at once! ha ha! Go check it out!

Welcome to 2010!

2010-03-22T14:53:00.000-07:00

So, with the RevolvingDor shop and various books in the works, I have not been doing any extracurricular cartooning or IF lately (um, OK, for 4-5 months!). But I was inspired to draw the following mundane life adventure from a few days ago. For the sake of swiftness, I went back to my olllld style of straight-up pen to paper, no erasing, futzing, or caring. :) Enjoy!

Master Gardener Project Revealed!

2010-03-19T12:23:00.001-07:00

This week is light on photos again, but to compensate, I feel like revealing my Master Gardener Surprise Project!! I don't know why I kept it a secret for so long (maybe to make sure it didn't fall through), but there's really no reason to anymore.

I drew some artwork for the 2010 WSU Master Gardener Advanced Education Conference (click link)! It's statewide, and Vancouver is hosting this year! That cartoon you see will be on . . . everything. They tell me there will be T-shirts, hats, aprons, gift cards, garden flags, on and on!

ISN'T THAT COOL??! :D

I love the MG's, and so should you! If you like gardening, I highly recommend doing the MG training in your area (and then volunteering!). And don't forget, I will donate HALF the proceeds from my Spring Plant Sale artwork in the RevolvingDor shop to the MG Foundation of Clark County, so shop away!

On to the photos!

March bits

2010-03-12T17:52:00.000-08:00

Here are a few photos from this week. Between getting back from my trip, being simultaneously excited and anxious over some upcoming freelance work, and doing a thorough studio cleaning, I didn't really have my mind on the blog. But at least I'm back from my trip, I have upcoming freelance work, and my studio is (sort of) clean!

Other general things: we've taken to enjoying a coffee at Dolce Gelato when we walk down to Esther Short Park. They have a nice little stealth patio out back where we can take Moxie!

Having come from the healthy world of the spa, I'm inspired to eat right. So when I was at Costco I got a big tub of spring mix greens and some feta, and have been eating salads (those 2 things plus craisins and seasoned rice vinegar) with most meals!

Mix 'n' Match

2010-03-12T17:34:00.000-08:00

Well, my blog continuity has faltered lately, but here is a catch-up post! This covers things from my last post up to last week.

I went home last week and went to a spa in the Berkshires with my mom and her women executives group; very very cool and relaxing!! While I was gone, A. took some photos for me, assembled a pair of bookcases we got for our dining room, and did whatever else he does, like his job.

Can I just add that I still don't know why my photos all show up at different sizes, even when I've sized them the same width and set them all at "large" (or X-large as needed)?! Does anyone know?

New Etsy Stuff!

2010-03-09T16:47:00.001-08:00

Check out my RevolvingDor shop for some new items! I'm going to donate 50% of the proceeds from all the "Plant Sale" art to the Master Gardeners, yay! Anyway, I'm just glad I finally got some new stuff up. Oh, and I divided my shop into sections for nice, organized ease of shopping. More to come soon!!

Hopefully I'll be back to my regular blogging schedule this Friday, too! :)

oopsie

2010-03-01T07:20:00.001-08:00

Well, there was no blog post this last Friday because I was sick for most of the week, and didn't take many photos anyhow. BUT, this weekend, those daffodils did finally open into full bloom! Of course, now I'm on a trip home, so A. will have to photograph them for me (and there probably won't be a post this Friday either, but we'll see).

I alllllllmost had a set of new items in my Etsy shop before this trip, but I didn't quite finish (photographing and uploading) before I left. But be on the lookout!

So with that, I'm pouring another cup of my parents' insanely strong coffee, playing with their pup, and going to go see what stuff of mine I can find in their basement to sort through and figure out what to do with. OK, someone put that last sentence into correct grammar for me. Thanks.

Sick, yet Spring-like

2010-02-21T12:27:00.000-08:00

First, I put a bunch of new items on my Etsy shop! I'm liking this direction of fun images on greeting cards and prints, so expect more like this!

This week's post is not that exciting; I've been slightly ill basically all week and didn't take many photos. :(
I'll add that one thing I didn't document: the herb bread I almost brought to book club (before deciding I was too sick to go to book club). I mixed dried basil, oregano, thyme, and garlic powder into my bread dough before rising it. REALLY good, and a super easy way to make your own "fancy" bread!

Also, the pizza experiment is wrapping up; it's harder to continuously eat pizza for a month than it is a whole cookbook full of Indian recipes. I'll just say that it's not helping me LOSE any weight, either, ha!

Aren't they getting tired of pizza by now?

2010-02-12T13:01:00.000-08:00

Not yet! Our pizzas are delicious and not that unhealthy! Hmm, looking at these photos, it appears that all I do these days is cook and garden. That's about right. On to the photos:

I took the daffodil photo this morning in the rain! However, the sun is out now and it's getting up to 60 today, so I'm going to eat lunch and get out there! Happy weekend!

February is PIZZA MONTH!

2010-02-05T15:38:00.000-08:00

I just wanted to clarify that A. and I are attempting to make pizza every night this month, which is why you'll see lots of pizza photos! Last year I dubbed February "Indian food" month and tried to cook it every day. I learned a lot of techniques that have stuck with me! So hopefully after this, we will be able to cook perfect pizza with ease. We're mainly using the book Artisan Bread in 5 Minutes a Day for the dough, which makes a nice small pizza, perfect for 2-person dinner and then a leftover lunch. TEEN-AGE MU-TANT NIN-JA TUUUURTLES! Pizza time!!!

On to the photos.

I was going to draw some comics from this week/last week, but my scanner isn't currently hooked up and I'm too lazy to futz with it, so I didn't even draw anything. Pathetic, I know, but true. So I will just describe something funny instead! Last week I was picking up a library book I had on hold. Now, with books on hold, you go to a special shelf where all the books are placed sort of sideways with receipts sticking out, and the receipt has the start of your last name really big, so you can find yours. Usually I'm the only TULL amongst various TURNs and TEMPs and so forth. But this last time, I found TULL, and looked at the book. "Strange," I thought, "this is really thin. I thought my book had 600 pages." I pull it out and it's "The Official Pokemon Handbook", complete with dazzling foil-sparkle pokemons all over it! Ha ha, wow, wrong TULL today! So I go to the next (bigger) book and it's called, "Stop The Thyroid Madness!" with this sassy lady on the cover putting her hand out and being all defiant. Ha ha ha ha, still not me! Next to that was my book, but it made me laugh. I wonder if those were for the same other TULL or 2 different people.

Also this week: I worked on some Etsy shop ideas (though they are far from implementation, sorry! it's slow going again, grumble), did Wii Fit Plus every day (!), have started obsessively watching Farscape with A. (it's great!), had fun at the greenhouse as usual, had a nice walk with Anita today, and tonight (since we never went for sushi and you do need a break from pizza occasionally) we are going to Indian food buffet! I can barely wait; I love Indian food buffet!

Food, plants, etc.

2010-01-30T14:26:00.001-08:00

Birthday week!

2010-01-22T14:47:00.001-08:00

A. and I had a quiet little birthday celebration and went out for pizza (and I forgot my camera). Thanks to the handful of people who remembered my birthday! So far being 31 totally sucks, actually, but I'm determined to make it great. I have 51 more weeks to work on it!

Also of note: I went to book club this week (again, totally forgot to take pictures), picked up a new 11x17 scanner/printer (thanks, Dad!!), and have started customizing my outfit on the Wii game Boogie Superstar! It looks to be a totally cheesy and fantastic dancing/karaoke game. woot!

Spring yearning and baking

2010-01-15T13:15:00.002-08:00

Last week!

2010-01-11T12:30:00.001-08:00

Hi, there! I know, I'm trying to put more photos on the blog, but this post won't have any. See, last week I didn't take any; I was finding photos from my Xmas trip! This week I'm taking new ones, and will post on Friday. Just so it doesn't get overlooked, here are some highlights from this past little week.

* A. and I started playing Super Paper Mario, and it's so hard to stop! Great game.

* I hung out with neighbors and their girls at Barnes and Noble -- a free way to occupy your kids, apparently! (books and the huge Brio train table)

* I'm back in action at the Master Gardener greenhouse, and was potting up jades and other things and mostly shooting the breeze. :)

* I quit the MG cookbook committee, because it was turning into a boring cookie-cutter project I didn't want to do. Oh well, there will be other projects that require creativity!

* Oh, and my SECRET ARTWORK for the Master Gardeners was finalized and sent off to other parties who will help make it a success all around. More details on this later!!

* A. and I hiked the Salmon Creek Greenway trail aways, finding a pretty portion of it instead of the portion that we'd hiked before.

* I've had my Etsy shop for a year! I'm not going to say it was an overwhelming success, but it is fun to do and I'm going to keep it up. A bunch of listings just expired, but I'm in the process of adjusting/adding things, so stay tuned!

December 09

2010-01-08T16:57:00.010-08:00

Welcome to my blog for 2010! I hope to post more photos this year. Wait, I mean, photos at all, because I didn't have any before! Anyway, to start off right, here is a photo journey of our Christmas and New Year's trip to Boston! (I thought I sized all the photos the same, but I guess not. ?? You can click them to make them larger, I think. The method of uploading photos is bizarre and irksome, but I will learn it and deal!)

Let me know how you like this new version of things! I want to try to bring it to you weekly. Happy New Year and happy Friday!

New year, new stuff

2010-01-06T17:33:00.000-08:00

Stay tuned!

blah blah blah another post on self-betterment

2009-11-29T18:26:00.004-08:00

I have been slowly figuring out that month-long goals work really well for me. The November novel writing went great -- although the word count goal was too low; I reached it in under 2 weeks and then just sort of gave up. (But I do plan on finishing the story! I've heard it's good to let it rest for a month or 2, then I'll try again later.)

Remember my month of cooking Indian food last February? That also went really well, and I've carried that cooking over to, well, any time and all the time.

The other day I thought about having a month for PHOTOGRAPHS, i.e. dropping everything else and making my wedding album (only 3 years overdue, ah ha ha ha!), making other mini-albums of highlights from the past few years, sorting through my "memory boxes" of other non-photo things to put in scrapbooks, and generally getting photos off the computer and onto photo paper (and maybe greeting cards for Etsy, wuaaa ha haaa!), where I will see, use, and enjoy them. So maybe in the new year I'll take a month for that, like I did for the writing.

BUT WAIT, THERE'S MORE! I have been really frenzied lately, and not able to focus, and waking up as a stressed little knot of tense ouchy muscles (what is up with that?), and I see on the horizon much upheaval of my routines and schedules (already begun with Thanksgiving) and lots of other things to accomplish before I go home for Christmas . . . so I'm making December the month of letting go! Yup, all month I will try to abandon my uptight ways, and drop my expectations, and just let go and not worry. Not to say I won't have goals, but my goals will be manageable, cross-off-a-list-able, and not really all that lofty. Because letting go is not compatible with lofty goals. I've started letting go already, and it feels great! (Well, actually, it's kind of hard, until I remind myself of the focus. Then my frustrating standards give way to mediocrity, but to let go is to welcome mediocrity, so it's OK!) Bring on December!

random thoughts

2009-11-24T21:32:00.003-08:00

* I don't understand the concept of "voluntourism". If I'm taking a vacation, I'm not gonna go do all this hard work for no money while I'm on it! (I won't do work FOR money either, for that matter! I'm on vacation!) Plus, these sort of trips cost a lot of money, so you're doubly out! Also, there is plenty of volunteer work to do in one's own community (hello, Master Gardeners), why on Earth would you turn your back on that to help people in some far off land? Totally totally foreign concept to me.

* I also don't understand why people work on/edit Wikipedia for free. First, that is so not my cup of tea, I'd never spend my free time doing it. Second, if Wikipedia is having issues with managing their content, they should just HIRE competent people to be in charge and be done with it.

* We just got a new kitchen table! Thanks, A's family and Grandma Rita! It is cute and rounded-square and has nifty retro wood chairs.

* Um, I forget. I'm going to go drink my tea and make fun of A. and family playing Super Monkey Ball in the living room! Guess I had to drop off those 2 gripes I've been carrying around lately, and share my table excitement.

NaNoWriMo WIN!

2009-11-13T14:48:00.003-08:00

Well, I just hit 50245 at my last word count 5 minutes ago, therefore,
I have won NaNoWriMo!!

However, my book is nowhere near done!!! I'm going to keep writing through November, and for however long it takes for me to get this thing in order. Because it would be nice if this story actually made sense. :)

By the way, when it DOES make sense, it will then become a super complex ongoing comic book series. You've been warned.

NaNoWriMo Update!

2009-11-09T16:06:00.003-08:00

So remember how I'm taking November to write a novel, as are a bunch of other weirdos? You don't? Well where is your attention span? I've been holing up for a portion of every day, writing as if it's my job. I'm kind of digging that part, actually.

Anyway, just wanted to report that here on Day 9 of this little personal challenge, I reached the very nice word count of

33,333 words.

Soooo, as you can see, writing 50,000 words is not going to be hard, because I am 67% done and we're not even halfway through the month, here. I knew that part when I started. It remains to be seen whether I can get the words to make sense into something coherent and compelling and TOTALLY AWESOME. But I probably can, 'cause I'm skilled like that. :)

wiiiiii!

2009-11-03T10:27:00.003-08:00

I love the Wii. I haven't been this, hmm, "obsessed" with video games since I was, what, 12? I have "obsessed" in quotes because it's not true obsession (like my inexplicable obsession with watching full episodes of Family Ties online last week), but more of a . . . OK, no, forget it, I'm obsessed.

I can't WAIT for New Super Mario Bros. Wii (I already have what few snippets of the song I've heard stuck in my head). I have several other games on my Xmas list, which has been devoid of video games for years. I love playing DDR. (Wii Fit is nice, but in practice, I get more exercise via DDR.) I love my Mii, and taking those polls on the Everybody Votes Channel, and I even love Nintendo Week, OK?? I just downloaded Kirby's Adventure the other day, and there's MarioKart, and Tetris and on and on. Whenever Mario Galaxy 2 comes out, I will shake your hand goodbye, turn into a hermit, and play it all day long.

I am so enjoying this renewed outlet for my geekery. Thank you, Nintendo!

Illustration Friday: Frozen

2009-10-29T16:13:00.001-08:00

Better late than never, I present you with my art for "Frozen" over at Dory's Garden Lore!

I.F. -- Frozen

2009-10-29T15:59:00.000-08:00

I know, this is almost 2 weeks late, but here is my art for "Frozen"! My idea was to illustrate some of the colder places I've been, where I felt really frozen! (Click for larger image)

I had a grander scheme, but ended up doing these 2 pieces:

This first picture is me, Arvonn, and Marel in Santa Fe, NM, last Christmas. It was cold the day we visited (in the teens), but that was the coldest I'd experienced pretty much all year, now that I live in the Northwest where it doesn't get cold (and I am, sadly, never frozen). We got a few coffees to warm up over the course of the day!

My old apartment in Pittsburgh was plenty cold due to single-pane drafty windows and a hit-or-miss heating system. My cheapness also made me reluctant to turn the heat up too high even when it did work. The front sun porch was coldest of all, even with the plastic sheeting we put over the windows each winter. I wore a hat indoors -- sometimes coat and gloves, too. Here I am at my old desk, frozen! I sure do miss snow.

a little MG story

2009-10-21T17:52:00.002-07:00

This morning it was drizzling, about 52 degrees, gray. I did my breakfast routine, walked the dog, set off for the master gardener greenhouse in my zippy li'l Mazda. I like going up there on the highway because it's quick and I don't have to merge -- the ramp becomes exit-only for my exit.

I get there, people greet me enthusiastically, I talk a bit with Al about the NEW upcoming cookbook project I've volunteered for. There was a hosta to divide, so I found a serrated . . . machete? . . . and started sawing away. Potted up the clumps, talked with Bret and Toni, Nancy told me she loooooves my art, which was so nice to hear! (hmm, this involves the secret project which I'll talk about another day.) Nancy had brought in a jug of Vietnamese coffee, we all took some and joked around that we were soooo busy!

Potted up more hosta, moved on to pink yarrow, borrowed clippers, identified pulmonaria, talked about everything from my hair to learning German (with the Swiss lady) to mini-golf. Kept quiet when the conversation turned to being older than 50. Drank more coffee. Untangled the euonymus and started potting and clipping. Got my spare hosta clump (yay!) and walked back to my car.

As I drove home, I realized that the master gardener crowd makes me love being here. Sure, all that stuff I mentioned before about being homesick and ornery is true from time to time. But really, if I'm feeling mopey about it in the future, I'm just going to go hang with the MG's! I have so much fun!

Dear anyone who likes gardening: become a Master Gardener! You'll love it!!

RevolvingDor FRESHNESS!

2009-10-20T09:45:00.003-07:00

So you know how I've been talking about the Toasty and Snowy book for, oh, some of you have been waiting for 4 years now . . . well, I finished it and now you can buy it!

As promised, it's up in my shop (if the listing sells right away, there are more copies!), along with a new banner and avatar, and new pricing on some things! Also, all 8.5x11 prints now come in the same format, that is, on nice paper in a plastic sleeve with backing board.

What do you think of the new look? Comment and tell me! :)

Northwest grumbles?

2009-10-19T18:46:00.004-07:00

I had a dream last night that A. and I were planning to move back East. He had gotten a new job or some other thing that made sense for us to go back. I was rather pleased about this news, getting excited and figuring out where to live and stuff. I told my friends here in Vanc/Portland, and everybody got

PISSED OFF!

Seriously, "how could you do this", "what are you talking about", "you're a freakin' moron" pissed off. They'd barely talk to me, and acted like I was an enormous traitor. Neither sad nor happy to see me go, just a "fine then, be that way!" pissedoffedness at my departure news.

What does this mean? Does the Northwest love and accept me after all, or vice versa? Is my brain annoyed at my bouts of homesickness? Are people mad at me? Probably all of the above. :( Dear everyone: I love you!

Tomorrow!

2009-10-19T14:36:00.003-07:00

OK, minor (major?) technical difficulties are delaying my promised Toasty and Snowy book today. But it will appear (along with some other shop changes and freshness!) tomorrow, or late late tonight, I guess depending on your time zone and how late you stay up! :)

Counter-points!

2009-10-17T23:43:00.003-07:00

To my RLo20OT, below. Because it will make for a nonsensical read if you haven't read below yet, and because I'm not really in that bad a mood.

1. I myself am awesome in my own way, and hopefully people are secretly seething over my life. I will imagine this from now on every time I read about these picture-perfect people with my dream job/house/situation/life.
2. Go, Fort Vancouver Regional Library!
3. sugar. cheap, delicious, natural, normal sugar.
4. waterproof shoes.
5. The puppy towel. I love my dog.
6. Other than change the station, I can't do anything about this.
7. Well I just won't listen to Car Talk that day. I'll spend my perfectly good hour doing other things!
8. I only listen to Car Talk, so at least I don't have to hear this too much.
9. There WILL be tolls, so at least all their whining will go unfulfilled, bringing me much satisfaction.
10. I guess they can't help being obnoxious. Still, avoid babies.
11. At least they and their headlights will soon be far ahead of you.
12. At least I don't have to go to the laundromat!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
13. I can't do anything about this. Instead, I will be sure to provide honest feedback and withering looks over people's crappy cooking attempts.
14. Ha ha, I get to keep standing there! Too bad for you, Ms. NonConfrontational!
15. Well, um. Hmm. People talk to me in real life! Still, it sucks. What does it take to get comments, esp. from friends? Oh well, I've long gotten over it, except for the fact that I haven't.
16. Well, I don't use it so I don't have to worry about it. I may have to tell people what a sham it is, though, so they'll a) shut up and b) stop using it. Or not. whatever.
17. See #16 above.
18. I can't really do anything about this except be assured that my mini-contributions are helping, and try to tune the rest out.
19. To Goodwill they go, and the clothing swap is coming up, and I still have a gift card for Land's End, which I will use NOT on T-shirts.
20. At least I made this counter-point list! And, just like babies, I can't help being obnoxious sometimes. :)

2009-10-17T22:57:00.004-07:00

Since I was recently reminded that people always just list the good things of their lives on their blogs and such, so you never know all the crap that's really going on, here is a random list of obnoxious things! For no reason; just feeling contrary.

Random List of 20 Obnoxious Things:

1. Jealousy felt over people's "perfect" lives as displayed on various blogs
2. Border's bookstore
3. agave nectar
4. wet socks
5. wet dog smell
6. radio ads
7. radio pledge drives
8. OPB assuming all their listeners are "Oregonians" -- hello, not true!
9. people opposed to tolls for the new bridge
10. babies
11. pickup trucks trying to "race" me at green lights . . . oh ho ho, I can trump pretty much anyone in my Mazda if I wanted to so watch yourself! (not that I know anything about racing nor would ever really want to)
12. how I have to go outside to get to my laundry room
13. people who substitute in recipes without trying the real recipe first
14. passive aggressive shoppers who won't simply ask you to please move
15. how no one ever comments on this blog -- whatever, people.
16. Did I mention agave nectar? I am so sick of hearing about it and by the way, it has more fructose than high fructose corn syrup, i.e. it is TERRIBLE for you and I don't want to hear another word about it!
17. naturopathy
18. "green" this and "green" that -- although I generally agree with the enviro-message, I am nearing a saturation point, and when I get there, I will no longer care.
19. these stupid T-shirts I got from Land's End which have turned out to be useless crap destined for Goodwill
20. me, with this list!

oh! and . . .

2009-10-16T02:49:00.002-07:00

Speaking of books, I am reeeeeeally close to having my next "picture book" up on Etsy! Monday at the latest!

Excitement!

2009-10-16T02:20:00.003-07:00

OK, so first, I realize it is past 2am. What of it? My crazy, ever-changing artistic exploration adventures cannot be contained to "reasonable hours".

So!

I signed up for NaNoWriMo 2009!! No, no -- not Nanaimo bars -- though I'd gladly welcome and consume (in tiny bites) a Nanaimo bar (or 5) at any time of any day. NaNoWriMo is this writers' motivational collective challenge where basically I will write a novel -- at least 50,000 words -- during the month of November. Conveniently, I've had . . . get ready . . . novel ideas for a novel for at least the past year and a half!

I guess I should say the convenience really lies in NaNoWriMo itself, because it will give me a fun reason to ACTUALLY write that novel (well, a first draft anyway), and not spend too much time on it if it turns out to be crap. Up till now I've just been thinking about it every now and then and

a) not really knowing how any of my ideas will go together, or
b) when I'd take the time to write them out in novel form, or
c) if I want it to be a novel at all, or perhaps rather a serial comic book, which
d) means that I was hemming and hawing over the whole project and
e) just basically doing nothing and feeling overwhelmed and sad and never starting it properly.

However, I have peppered a few notebooks with ideas over all this time, so I have something to go on. And the whole point is quantity over quality and punching out that rough draft, which is exactly what I need right now! Thank you, meandering internet trail that stemmed from an Etsy newsletter, thank you people/blogs I remembered mentioning the event in the past, and thank you, NaNoWriMo! Anyone want to participate with me? :D

new stuff!

2009-10-13T15:08:00.001-07:00

I did another Illustration Friday painting! Yay, 2 weeks in a row! Go to Dory's Garden Lore and see it!

Illustration Friday: Flying

2009-10-13T14:40:00.000-07:00

This is my attempt at communicating something like "flying over an imaginary landscape". See, there's a lake! And a city in the distance! It's kind of lame, I know. And the perspective's not very believable for flying overhead. What can I say, I wasn't very inspired this week. Also, I don't believe it's the best idea to attempt landscapes strictly from your head . . . they never come out quite right. Yeah, C+ at best. Oh well, at least it's colorful!

(watercolor and colored pencil)

Told you!

2009-10-02T11:51:00.001-07:00

Go over to Dory's Garden Lore to see my Illustration Friday drawing!

Illustration Friday: Germs

2009-10-02T11:19:00.000-07:00

Inspired by a picture of salmonella that Arvonn found for me, where they looked just like beached manatees!

Oh, yeah!

2009-10-01T15:21:00.002-07:00

I forgot to mention: now my greeting cards all come packaged in a protective plastic sleeve with backing board! I was only tying them with ribbon temporarily until I got to this solution. So now I'm there! Would anybody like to see the Deli Girl as greeting cards? Comment!

HAPPY OCTOBER!

2009-10-01T14:48:00.005-07:00

As we all know, I loooooooove Fall! I tell you, something about long sleeves and that chill in the air makes me feel totally with-it (most of the time). Here is how I officially welcomed Fall:

Last night I felt like having cake, so I found a box of white cake mix in the cupboard, found some frozen egg whites I had, made the cake with said egg whites (it was twice as many as called for), frosted the cake with tub of icing (I forget why I had all these cake-making items lying around). Then, with the dregs of a tube of icing, I wrote, "Happy October's Eve!" on the cake (because blank sheet cakes look so sad). The cake came out SUPER fluffy and cloud-like. yum yum!

So, OK, people, the real point of this post is: I'm going to do Illustration Friday again. Yup, try to draw something weekly for the theme posted on Fridays. I think I'll put the results on Dory's Garden Lore!

Hopefully this will get me into a better creative groove, help me work on some techniques, and maybe result in some good stuff to put on Etsy.

I'm going to start tomorrow!