Dandelion Wine

I've decided to try making dandelion wine. I've done my research and gathered my flowers (I think that's the hard part?), now I just have to find the time, motivation, and supplies to take the next steps (my flowers are chilling out in the freezer).

posted from Bloggeroid

Shrubbery

A friend pull three boxwoods out of her yard and offered them to us. I can't say I'm a huge boxwood fan and at the time I didn't have any idea where to put them, but it seemed like a good opportunity to get some fancy shrubbery.

We got them planted Sunday, now we just wait to see if they survive...

Out with the yuccas, in with the boxwoods.

via mobile

Renovation!!

Some pics of the process and progress...

Painting the Kitchen (in My Dreams)

Several friends and family have expressed interest in seeing our projects and some before/after shots, so, I'm going to attempt to chronicle our progress. Here's a few things for starters, even though we don't own it yet...

We've been pondering paint colors (because it needs it bad) and so I did some digital mock-ups...
This is something like the current kitchen (sans the terrible chicken wall border, rusty porcelain sink, and dingy grout):

The counter top and backsplash are white tile, which, while I'm not a fan of white, I am a fan of tile. It's real. It's not some fabricated, plastic-like surface. So, we're planning to keep the tile the way it is and (being the dark souls that we are) paint the white trim and white cabinets a dark, dark brown. Also the wall color, the salmon, it's got to go. Here's what we're thinking:

We'll see if it ever pans out quite like this. :)


I made my digital creations on Lowe's Virtual Room Designer. It's awesome.
Doing the dark brown with the white tile was largely inspired by this photo.

We're Buying A House! (Soon) (Hopefully)

We have been browsing houses for about two years, looking through everything in our price range (and quite a few that weren't) and only found three that interested us enough to schedule a viewing (although we've done countless drive-bys). To say we're picky may be an understatement. However, we don't mind doing work when we find potential...

That said, we think found what we're looking for--or at least close enough, and as picky as we are, close enough is really close.

The bank says we're good to go, offer has (finally) been accepted, we're anxious to see how the inspection(s) go(es), and closing is scheduled for mid-January. Exciting.

Cards: Happy Birthday [Sister]

Sister's bday.

Made with dark blue, hand cut cardstock (the card and the center oval-traced a stencil), a page from the 'scrabooking calendar' (you can see it in the background here!), Happy Birthday sticker + red, yellow, blue paint markers to liven it up a bit, and the golden ribbon tied around it (actually, I think I had two pieces, glued each end on one side and tied each end on the other). I stuck the red square on the inside to write on, but unfortunately, I forgot to take another picture until I'd written on it.

Okay, that's all I can handle for now. I have like 8 more though. Another time...

Cards: Delight in the Day

Feeling creative, nothing particular going on. Sent this to my grandmother.

I really don't remember anything about the inside.

Made with pre-cut and pre-scored cardstock (from a great little pad of cards by Making Memories Wholesale Inc.--I'm not even sure where I picked it up.), a page from the invaluable 'scrapbooking calendar' (which I've found enough motivation to find and source, it's the 2004 calendar from Accord Publishing Ltd.), tan bias tape from my sewing collection, random 3D star stickers, a "Delight in the Day" vellum clipping with some woven-print (?) paper behind it, mounted on foam sticky blocks.

I took the general design of this one out of a picture in a magazine (I would have never thought to cut the bottom like that on my own). When I finished this one, I felt pretty awesome.

Cards: Happy Birthday Ya Monkey

I made this for a terminally ill friend of the family. I'm glad I spent the time.

Made with yellow cardstock (hand cut, not my favorite thing to do), a page from the aforementioned 'scrapbooking calendar' (the monkey + the stripes were one page; I xacto-ed them apart and put foam stickys under the monkey to raise him. I also used some colored pencils and markers to brighten his cake and hat.). The inside is all stickers and some marker text.

Cards: Stay Warm

This was my first real attempt at anything more than gluing magazine clippings to printer paper.

Made with pre-cut and pre-scored card stock, scrapbooking paper (red), and part of an old 'scrapbooking daily calendar' that I acquired (snowmen), some letter stickers (winter), and stencils + pencil + paint pen left over from high school.


I don't recall what was on the inside, but I think it was very plain, likely nothing at all other than some hand writing.

It was supposed to say "STAY WARM this winter," but my 'this' turned out irrecoverably badly. So, I just stuck some more snowmen over it (but not very well, apparently).

Cards

My recent hobby of choice and creative outlet has been making handmade cards. I have a ton of random scrapbooking things and have recently invested in some (cheap) stamps and ink pads. I've tried to take at least a picture or two of all my homemade cards thus far along the way. I figured I might as well make use of my pictures and post some. I think I'll do them in individual posts. Incoming...

New Glasses

I bought new glasses recently. Buy one, get one. I need to upload pics of the frames to use elsewhere, so I'm just going to post them here. Enjoy my new glasses...

Warm Juice on a Cold Morning

We've inherited a juicer and have been doing a bit of juicing again. I just did a take on a recipe from one of my earlier posts, changes initially coming from not having enough apples.

Winter Crumble, variation 3:

2 small apples

1 pear

~2 cups blackberries ("freshly frozen" and partially thawed with warm water)

~1/4 tsp cinnamon

~1/4 tsp nutmeg

Juice fruits and berries, heat for ~1 min, stir in spices, enjoy warm juice on a cold morning.

I'd Marry Bourbon

"I’d smile at rum.  Coy… but not really coy.
I’d say hello to vodka.  I’d wave, and smile with teeth.
I’d totally make out with gin… tonic and lime everywhere.
But bourbon.  I’d marry bourbon… as long as bourbon understands that I often stay up until 3 am writing silly blog posts, with a scarf on my head, a shaky leg, and post-it notes everywhere.  But I have a feeling that bourbon understands me.  I’m not too worried."


- Joy Wilson of http://joythebaker.com

Try her recipe for...

SWEET TEA BOURBON COCKTAILS

When I Grow Up

Career Inventory Test Results Extroversion ||||||||| 23% Emotional Stability ||||||||||||||||||||| 70% Orderliness |||||||||||||||||||||||| 73% Altruism |||||||||||| 36% Inquisitiveness ||||||||||||||||||||| 70% You are a Planner, possible professions include - management consultant, economist, scientist, computer programmer, environmental planner, new business developer, curriculum designer, administrator, mathematician, psychologist, neurologist, biomedical researcher, strategic planner, civil engineer, intellectual properties attorney, designer, editor/art director, inventor, informational-graphics designer, financial planner, judge.

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Personality Test by SimilarMinds.com

Emotions

Skimming through this article: Emotions - How To Understand, Identify, Release Your Emotions




Some excerpts:

Dr. Maurice Elias says, “Emotions are human beings’ warning systems as to what is really going on around them.  Emotions are our most reliable indicators of how things are going on in our lives.  Emotions help keep us on the right track by making sure that we are led by more than the mental/ intellectual faculties of thought, perception, reason, memory.”

There are only two basic emotions that we all experience, love and fear.  All other emotions are variations of these two emotions.

When we have an experience that we find painful or difficult, and are either unable to cope with the pain, or just afraid of it, we often dismiss this emotion and either get busy, exercise more, drink or eat a bit more, or just pretend it has not happened.  When we do this we do not feel the emotion and this results in what is called repressed, suppressed or buried emotions.

The following are a few examples of the methods people use to avoid feeling their emotions.

• Ignoring your feelings
• Pretending something hasn’t happened
• Overeating
• Eating foods loaded with sugar and fat
• Excessive drinking of alcohol
• Excessive use of recreational drugs
• Using prescription drugs such as tranquilizers or Prozac
• Exercising compulsively
• Any type of compulsive behavior
• Excessive sex with or without a partner
• Always keeping busy so you can’t feel
• Constant intellectualizing and analyzing
• Excessive reading or TV
• Working Excessively
• Keeping conversations superficial
• Burying angry emotions under the mask of peace and love

The following are some major symptoms of buried and repressed emotions.

• Fatigue
• Depression without an apparent cause
• Speaking of issues/interests rather than personal matters and feelings
• Pretending something doesn’t matter when inside it does matter
• Rarely talking about your feelings
• Blowing up over minor incidents
• Walking around with a knot in your stomach or tightness in your throat
• Feeling your anger not at the time something happens but a few days later
• In relationships, focusing discussions on children/ money rather than talking about yourselves
• Difficulty talking about yourself
• Troubled personal relationships with family, friends, acquaintances
• A lack of ambition or motivation
• Lethargic – who cares - attitude
• Difficulty accepting yourself and others
• Laughing on the outside while crying on the inside

When you have repressed emotions, your behavior and reactions to events in the present moment are really reactions to past events as well as the present.  This has a negative effect on all relationships in your life.  You cannot be fully present with those you love in today until you have released your emotions from the past.  You buried emotions because they were too painful and difficult to deal with when they occurred and your reactions to today’s events are affected by this pain and hurt that remains buried in your body.

Record What Makes You Feel Strongly For Two Months:  Keep an ongoing record of strong emotions for 8 weeks.  Regardless of the cause, if it’s the weather, the traffic, your husband, wife, children, politicians, the stock market, your fellow church members, whatever and whoever, add it to your list.  Try to identify what really made you angry.  Sadness is a mask for anger, and anger is a mask for fear.  If you can identify yoTu real fears, what you are afraid of losing or not having, you are well on your way to emotional health. Again, writing this down will help you see things much more clearly, increase your awareness, and help you to know your emotional self at a much deeper level.

If you have had a very painful experience, write one sentence and sit with this sentence and cry.  Then write another sentence and sit and cry.  In time this process will relieve some of the sensitive pain around your experience and eventually make it endurable.  With time, the pain around the situation will lesson, as long as you allow yourself to feel it.

We can play all sorts of games with our minds, denying reality is something we all do.  However, it’s much harder to do that when we write things down.

You might want to consider seeking the assistance of a counselor, therapist, or minister.  They can help you to see things in a more balanced fashion, and help you understand more fully what you are observing in yourself.  It can be difficult at times to be objective about yourself.

We need loving friends in our lives.  Many people pay for a therapist to listen to them because they cannot tell their friends about their experiences.

One of the most important things about releasing an emotion is to concentrate on the emotion rather than what caused the emotion.  Forget who did what that caused the emotion, forget about the person who did something to you, concentrate on the “I hate” or “I am angry” or “I am so hurt”.  It’s the emotion you need to release.

Secrets are shame-based and incidents kept secret or feelings hidden from others will make these feelings deeper and longer lasting.  Emotional secrets lead to emotional and mental illness.

   Detach Yourself:  When your emotions are running high and you are having difficult reducing the intensity, try to detach yourself from the situation and the emotion.  Try to imagine the same situation happening to someone else. Try to see if the behavior would be the same if someone else were in your situation.  If the answer is yes then you can begin to see that the experience is not necessarily being focused at you.  The other person is probably acting unconsciously, and you just happen to be the individual “in their way”. Detaching yourself in this manner can help you move through very difficult situations without taking the abuse personally.  You might need to terminate the situation  causing the emotions, but your detachment allows you to look at things more rationally and quietly.

What are the fears underlying your emotions?  You will need to know and understand your fears.  To do this you will have to swallow some pride and admit and accept that you have many fears that are affecting what you do each day.  These fears are often not at the conscious level.

Mary Kurus

http://www.mkprojects.com/fa_emotions.html

Gonna try again. Maybe some short and sweet.

Lunch at Home Cafe and Marketplace

I opted for the grilled cheese with soup special.

posted from Bloggeroid

Juice Pulp

Compiling ideas for what to do with the leftover pulp from the juicer...

mix it with cream cheese to make flavoured spreads for crackers or bagels
http://www.food.com/bb/viewtopic.zsp?t=290072#ixzz1armphCiu

Orange Babycake Cheesecake
http://www.food.com/recipe/orange-babycake-cheesecake-124317

Juicer Pulp Recipes and Ideas
http://www.all-about-juicing.com/juicer-pulp-recipes.html

Orange Juice

posted from Bloggeroid

Juicing

The mister and I have decided to start doing some juicing. We shared one juiced beverage, where he threw in one of every kind of fruit that we had (I don't recommend this method). He did one the other day by himself. And we each did our own thing for breakfast this morning. He made something with carrots and ginger and who knows what else (when I got up the kitchen was orange and the cat smelt of ginger). I, this morning, made something quite delicious. I got my recipe by combining 2 others that I found in The Big Book of Juices and Smoothies (a great book loaned to us by the same friend that loaned us the juicer).

4 apples

2 cups of blackberries ("fresh," but frozen for who knows how many years)

~1/2 tsp cinnamon

And then I heated it for about 30 seconds. Amazing.

I'm excited about all the potential combinations (and all the fruits and veggies)! And I hear bran muffins (and perhaps other things?) can be made using the pulp left over from juicing. Fruits, veggies, and fresh muffins... :)