Jan3

Kirigami everyday

Posted on by
Standard

It really doesn’t take much to make me happy. Good food, quiet time and new crafts are right up there with flowers, cross stitching and a movie I want to watch again (I’m really picky as I get older though about movies). This little rip-off calendar is making the entrance into the dreary days of January more fun for me! That’s the practice one, then the ones for the last few days. Notice that the one you cut for the previous day is displayed on the current page-cool! And on the bottom is a sneak peek for tomorrow’s snowflake. I have almost mastered the fold-I have to rethink the fold lines (on the calendar page there) and do eventually get it. It comes with detailed directions too! Then you cut out the printed design. Tomorrow’s will be rather wing-like! I’m adding these to my collage scrapbook. My niece Tori would love these. I can cut squares out of new paper and redraw the patterns and let her go to town.
I will learn some other folds-starburst, spider, quilt, half/square fold, pop-outs, 3-D flowers and weaving and bows. All for $7.50! Run to Borders and get one! (uh oh-tomorrow is a starburst fold!)

Jan2

Where’s the gas?

Posted on by
Standard

We finally found a BP station with gas tonight! The two Luk Oil places didn’t have any gas! My tank was running a little dry and we were getting concerned. I only gas my van up every few weeks as it is. Bri’s the heavy gas user in this family. Now don’t think I’m not also thinking about global warming-but that’s his job, driving around collecting ads for local newspapers. I’d love him to be up in the next town like he was when he first started, but no, they had to send him off to first Maryland (!) and now Lancaster county. He’s put a ton of miles on his Taurus.
Not much new-we hit Wally World as I needed to get out of the house. I got some things for 75% off from the Christmas aisle. Love the silverplated initial ornaments with the crystals I got for the guys for $1.24 each. I got some cute galvanized mini buckets to make into ‘something’ for next year at 30-97¢ each. My best find was a MaryKate/Ashley poufy gold nylon skirt with sparkles throughout and a gold ribbon waist band for Tori. I’ll probably give it to her for her April birthday. : )
I scheduled my very expensive dental work for the 15th-I so want to get it out of the way. I have about 3 cavities, one is under a crown on a dead tooth. So I have to have some bone taken away next to the trouble spot as I need a higher ‘new’ crown. They can’t recycle the old one-too bad. The only good thing is the dentist- Dr. B-only about 28-30. : )

Jan1

An Inconvenient Truth

Posted on by
Standard

Now that another new year is under way, I want to tell you all to rent the documentary DVD by former VP Al Gore. It’s really important because global warning isn’t going to go away but only get worse. Just look at the weather we are having. It’s in the 50s in January here! Hurricane Katrina was a result of global warming. In fact the earth hasn’t been this warm in 650,000 years and is only getting warmer! If Greenland ‘goes away’ many places will be flooded out. I didn’t like the fact that the Netherlands was used in two incidences-the Greenland problem and in an example of insects that hatch too soon and the birds can’t feed their young (as I have friends who live there).
What can we do? Rally for environmentally safe vehicles for one thing. The future is in our hands!
Visit the website
I mentioned the above on MySpace and you can add a link to Amazon to buy the documentary. Over 300 people there gave high praise to it! Someone said people got up and applauded at the end of it in the theater.

Click to make bigger if necessary

Dec31

Alton Brown kinda scares me…

Posted on by
Standard


I got ‘I’m Just Not Here for the Food-baking’ cookbook from Food Network’s Alton Brown for Christmas, at my request. I think Alton is pretty cool on his show and has a way with words and explaining things down to every minute detail. I knew he’d do the same thing with a baking book. Many people, Rachael Ray included (is she a bit overexposed these days-down to the Triscuit box?) are afraid of baking. Alton explains that baking is an ‘exact’ science. You can’t go around messing with how much butter you put in your batter as you will mess with the formula. Cooking is different-you can toss in a little more, say chili powder to your pot of chili and it will still be basically chili.
Alton suggests a few things that made me rethink the way I’ve been baking for over 30 years. For instance, you should really be weighing your ingredients instead of scooping them out of the flour jar, etc. He suggests getting a digital scale in your kitchen. He also aerates his flour with his food processor before he uses it in the recipe. I always skipped even sifting it, but he doesn’t like sifting-the food processor ‘fluffs up’ the flour. And did you know there are different mixing techniques? I really screwed up mixing the first time I used my KitchenAid when I decided to make muffins. I should have never used a mixer for muffin batter. I incorporated too much gas in the muffins and their lids fell flat.
I am learning many new things. Alton does include measuring we are all familiar with, but I am thinking about getting a scale now. There are oddles of new ideas in this book. If you like to bake and want to be more of a pro at it or even learn new techniques (like me), I’d invest in this excellent and informative book.
I guess I’m not really scared of Alton, I just need to try things in a new way.

Dec31

Bri shots

Posted on by
Standard

Bri told me I could have had the camera set at a different setting for my Longwood Garden photos. Too bad he didn’t show me how to set it and I may have gotten better shots. He still has some shaky shots from a slow shutter, but these I really liked (from last night)

The front door-has a spot light on the very light reflective wreath

Looking through the front window-some of the snowbabies can be seen, but the tree looks pretty too!

No flash, just tree lights

Looking at the house from the long side of the yard

He redeemed himself a little taking these awesome shots, but I’m still mad about the basement. So much work to do!

Dec30

ABCs of me

Posted on by
Standard

When I got up this morning there was almost a near disaster. I knocked into something on the end table and it hit Brian’s coffee mug (which I begged him never to place over my cross stitch stuff). Most of what was left in the mug went on the rug (oh great) and an old mailing envelope. I found a dot of coffee (so far) on a scrap piece of white aida. Whew.
Brian decided to move his childhood desk into the bathroom in the basement. He has some attachment to a rather ugly piece of furniture. It doesn’t look right in there. The reason he moved it is that I want to set up a big table for crafting in a finished room we have. The problem is the room is loaded with junk-mostly old toys! So he just pulled the desk out and everything fell over. I sure hope I can use the room and my allergies won’t get the best of me. I can at least start projects down there and store my gifts on the table. I can’t have them in my small bedroom anymore.
Brian had on the funeral service for Gerald Ford earlier. One funeral was enough for me in one week. I wonder if Kathie Lee and Frank Gifford were there as they were pals with the Fords? Katie Couric and another reporter were saying that Ford and Jimmy Carter were friends too. I didn’t know that.

The ABC’s of me -nabbed from Barbara’s blog, Mainly Stitching.
A – Available or single?:
Married a long time : )
B – Best Friend?:
Bri as male, Mom as female
C – Cake or pie?:
Devil’s food cake with white icing or
yellow cake with chocolate icing
D – Drink of choice?:
Always brewed iced tea with lemon and the pink stuff
E – Essential item I use every day:
My computer.
F – Favorite color?:
Aquamarine
G – Gummy Bears or Gummy Worms?:
Neither-bad for my crowns
H – Hometown?:
Media, PA
I – Indulgence?:
A box of chocolates I make last a few months
or gift moola that I can blow in on anything
J – January or February?:
February because of Valentine’s Day
K – Kids and names?:
Sean Matthew
M – Marriage date?:
April 14, 1984
N – Number of siblings?:
3 brothers
O – Oranges or apples:
Apples all the way
P – Phobias or fears?:
Big spiders, low laying snakes
Q – Favorite quote:
Take it one day at a time.
R – Reasons to smile:
A funny show or movie that tickles me and whoever is watching it. Giving a gift someone really loves.
S – Season:
Spring.
T – Tag 3 or 4 people:
Anyone who reads this and wants to try it.
U – Unknown fact about me:
I couldn’t hardly type before we got a computer in ’93.
V – Vegetable you don’t like:
okra
W – Worst habit:
Procrastination-but I usually do whatever I am holding off doing.
X – X-Rays?:
Had a few
Y – Your favorite food?:
Chocolate or lobster
Z – Zodiac sign?: Scorpio

Dec30

Photo hunt-NEW

Posted on by
Standard
PSHunt
Grab the Scavenger Hunt code.Photo Theme. Join the blogroll. Visit participants.

A few nights ago, I went to a gorgeous place called Longwood Gardens and got to try out our new
camera. The first fountain is part of the newly renovated part of the conservatory. I took an awesome photo of the pair of these last year. The second photo is a shell fountain at the Pierre DuPont home on the property. At least I have a theme going here. : )


Dec28

Sad end of the year

Posted on by
Standard

The three of us got up at the crack of dawn-no light-not our time of day at all. It’s cold and dark. But we did it for our family and to remember dear Aunt Berenice. We took separate vehicles as I went to get my mom and the guys had to be at the church a little earlier. It was nice to have quiet on the way down and not hear complaining about the early rising, etc.
B had 11 members of her immediate family there before her closed casket (what she wanted). They were pretty good, but Aunt Sue was a mess. She and B had been like sisters. The entire 25+ yrs I have know her, I haven’t seen her that upset. It was a nice mass with the priest recalling a newlywed B cooking ham and cabbage for the first time and forgetting to take it out of the can. : )
Mom and I didn’t go to the cemetery, but we drove around a little. Mom wanted to see the house that she lived in for 15 yrs in the same town. We were holding our breath, and lo and behold, it was still there and being renovated much to our surprise! I think that made my mom feel good.
We went to the family home (B’s daughter, s-in-l and two kids lived with her). Gerry, her daughter had beautifully decorated the entire place for Christmas-every nook and cranny. I was wondering if she would and she had started a few months ago. I never saw so many Christmas arrangements! I don’t plan to take my stuff down until January 6th or so-we call it ‘Little Christmas’. I go to a lot of trouble to decorate and taking it down too soon just won’t do. The only things that may come down earlier are the outdoor stuff.
So we visited a little and then headed home. Mom wanted to see her old friend’s house in the same town. We didn’t know that Bri and Sean were following behind us. They were wondering why we were turning here and there. Ha!
I left about 2:30 from mom’s and got stuck in a lot of traffic. I stopped off at Borders to get a few 50% off calendars-a watercolor one for mom and crochet, Victorian fairy and origami ones for me!

Dec27

Longwood Gardens 2006

Posted on by
Standard

My mom, sister-in-law, her mom and Kenny and Tori came out to our house so the kiddos could open their gifts from us. Tori got a Tinkerbelle ‘head’ lamp as her main gift. Kenny got an assortment of t-shirts (his favorite thing to wear) and drawing stuff. I had chili, chicken salad tea sandwiches, ham pasta salad, fruit salad and pastries as snacks before we went to Longwood Gardens. It was jammed packed and Sean and I had to walk at least 1/2 mile to get to the front door. My mom and Colleen’s mom got pushed around in wheelchairs, though the kids got a ride when we went into the conservatory. I was using the new camera and it’s hard to get good nighttime shots-I deleted a bunch, but downloaded 60 photos! Here are some of my favorites-

Me and Tori in the main conservatory
Some of the outdoor lights
Stars on the ceiling of the main conservatory
 White tulips
Blue tree outdoors

I finally went over to the ‘side window’ and got my frequent visitor pass so I can go as much as I want. We didn’t get to see the ice skating there which is new this year. We may go again next week. I got tonight’s visit taken off the price. : )