angry chicken

I will sort of miss you ice cream pie.

Okay. I am totally serious about the no sugar thing now. For real. Only fruit as a dessert. Not forever, but at least until I lose some more weight. I do pack on baby pounds and this 3rd baby really tipped me over the edge. I have made great progress, but am at a stand still right now and need to get serious. So, goodbye Mr. Ice Cream Pie. I don't even like you anymore. You are sort of a bad friend anyway, you take and take and then leave me way too many messages asking for more. I've had enough. And hello to you Miss Valencia Orange, you are amazing. I love you. Or at least I like you a whole lot. Way more than that lame Pie Man over there. Don't even look at him, I don't want him to start acting up. This won't last long, Mariko, I promise.

-Beans!! Firstly, thanks so much for all the advice on homemade corn tortillas (I still need a press) and soaking beans. I have only soaked/cooked black beans (lentils and split peas don't count in this experiment, cause they are easy, you don't need to soak them) so that is all I can vouch for, but the defrosting went great. I just freeze the barely undercooked beans with a little liquid, (in glass containers or zip-locks depending on my hysteria) then to reheat, I run them under water to make them individual beans again not a unruly block of bean ice. Then I heat them up as if they were canned. Awesome. Firm, not mushy, and far superior. I'm going to try red beans and cannelli beans soon. I make 4 cups of brown rice on Sundays and freeze it too (in 1 cup serving sizes) so I will just add beans to the list.

Next up this week is to make a font of my own handwriting for a mere $9! (via How About Orange, she links to the coolest stuff.)

And I feel remiss, I realize that a meme went around, (a "you make my day" meme) and that several sweet people mentioned this in my comments. Thank you!!! I am the black hole of memes. I always think I will play along in some way, but then I sort of freeze, especially when it involves tagging others. Sorry to be a meme-lame-o.

And happy10 year anniversary honey! No cake for you!

oh the drama.

Okay, I haven't read this book but it's on my list and I am very excited for the movie as well. . .

I was fascinated by the Tudors series over the summer (or was it spring?) but I had to take a break and my viewing was sporadic, using my mom's HBO and all. I recently read The Secret Diary of Anne Boleyn and also have been reading about the Tudors over at Grammie's (she kept all her college texts—dang that woman underlined a lot.) and can't get enough.

Sounds like, from the description of the The Other Boleyn Girl novel here, this portrait of Anne is not so flattering. But, in The Secret Diary of Anne Boleyn, she is portrayed very sympathetically. There are so many differences in the historical facts—they seem like completely different stories. Hmmm. At any rate, I love this stuff, so tragic and horrible and interesting—all in great clothes. And, what I want to know is, does Natalie Portman have a 6th finger!? Come on!! Cause Anne did, I'm just saying.

Speaking of highbrow entertainment, we finally watched Superbad last night after having the DVD from netflix for probably 2 months. I don't know what was funnier, watching it or watching Pete laugh at it. I think at one point he almost fell off the sofa.

 

spring window shopping

I love the simplicity of these shapes and colors over at Little Fashion Gallery. I feel a sense of calm just looking at them. That, and a  total fear of kids paint or the frozen blueberries my middle child is addicted too.

This color is so wonderful.

I can't get enough of these folky dresses.  Just exquisite.

early spring for a few days

Thanks for the sweet comments about all that stuff! I feel very grateful and a bit sheepish and really tired, actually. I have been getting these low-level headaches this week, I can tell I need to rest and veg-out with a movie (or 3.) God, remember the days when you could sit and watch 2 movies in a row? I don't. I wish I could do that now. Man, that would be awesome.

Okay, we went out of town last weekend to the coast and it was amazing! Warmish and so sunny. Oregonians know how rare this is. It's a big deal. This sand worm here has two teeth and is trouble. Watch out.

It was warm, but not hot, about 55 and sunny, but my 2 older girls are no coat wearers and this middle child seems impervious to cold of any kind. I am refusing to believe that running around without enough clothes at the beach on had anything to do with the fevers this week. Of course little miss no pants here didn't even get sick.

a few items from the brain cupboard:

-I am searching for easter chocolate/candy molds now. I am overly excited about this.

-I am no longer buying canned beans (she said confidently) after soaking and cooking batches this week and freezing them, I have had enough of the mushy expensive canned variety. The homemade cooked ones are so much better, firmer, and tasty. I will report back on this new development.

-I am going to start making my own corn tortillas. I need a press, but then I am all over it.  I also have put on hold about 4 Rick Bayless cookbooks from the library. I am excited. Boy, he can do some yoga! I find this freaky and funny and kind of weird.

-The Easter dresses have been cut out.

a bunch of stuff about me

Okay you crazy sewers, BTR just went into it's third printing this week!!! Woo-hooo! I am so proud and excited—thank you!!! It's funny, many people have asked (or suggested to me) that writing a book is like having a baby. It's not. I did both at the same time, and it's really not the same. Writing a book will not give you swollen ankles. However, that book also won't smell good. But, one similarity is—once you put them out there, the book or baby, they have a life of their own. I love it when I get compliments on my book (or my babies) and try not to take it too personally when I get criticism. (Ugh.) Ultimately, it feels like they have less to do with me, and more to do with themselves and how people relate to them. Enough of the baby/book analogy! You can see the life Bend-the-Rules Sewing has over on the Flickr group. There are more than 2000 photos now—seriously!! Never in a million years did I think I could help/inspire sewers to make so many things. The discussions and question topics are so great too—and I just added a topic regarding what sewing machine to buy for you newbies, so hopefully that will spark some good recommendations. Please visit this group, look at the photos, upload your own, and ask your sewing questions. I visit often, and the ever diligent group members are super fast (thank you!!) so someone will help you out lickety split.

Okay, in other news, I just finished up an e-mail interview at mamazine, thank you Amy. I try to not be too repetitive. And my blog b-day (3 years!) is today, or tomorrow, not sure. I wanted to do a give-a-way or some cool PDF thing, but haven't gotten to it yet. Um, you saw Alicia's amazing dishtowel embroidery designs she posted as PDF for free, right? Can I just use that as my gift? Alicia, I will bring you caramel corn that has been on fire, okay?

And, when not starting a fire in the microwave (I didn't really) I am in the middle, in a dead heat ,actually, of working on book #2. Yup. I am very very excited about it. It's going well and taking up all of my brain time and craft time and everything in between. Oh, the time management is hard—it's like blood from a turnip, man. I still hope to squeak out some Easter dresses and all that, but there has been not much play and a lot more work around here. Good work, but work nonetheless. Creative work, which at times can be an oxymoron.

So, the Blog Birthday. It's all such a trip and I am not feeling particularly articulate right now (obvious?) but it's safe to say almost everything in my life, creatively, has changed since I started this blog and my kingpod site before that. Thank you all for reading this blog and buying my book, and laughing at me. I have come to realize that my two favorite emotions are humor and empathy. I think they go hand in hand. Oh, I am worried this all sounds cheesy! (Two kids have a fever today and I am still trying to avoid sugar so I am a bit crazy. I should edit this, but I am not going to.) Anyhoo, it's all good. That's what I mean to say. Blogging is fun and writing book #2 is fun (remind me of this in 3 months) and seeing all the BTR projects on flickr is WAY fun. So, thanks you guys, very much.

the instigator

So, here's what made me kick sugar for a while. I got the idea in my head to make homemade caramel corn and had to make it right away. Right away. Like during bathtime right before bed, which was already running very late. I actually said to Pete, "I'm going to just research caramel corn recipes, I won't make it tonight or anything," me=liar. I didn't mean to lie. When he came out of the bathroom, I had a huge bowl of popcorn already popped. There's nothing like hot sugar syrup + kids + chaos + a first time recipe, all after 8:30pm. (More like 9:00pm)  Awesome. My husband is the most patient man ever. The recipe is insane. You actually make all of it in the microwave. (!?) Then it involves stuffing a big brown paper grocery bag full of popcorn into your microwave. Like you have to cram the thing in. It doesn't fit easily, you totally have to shove it in, making it ridiculous to watch.

I found this same recipe in about 20 places after I searched around. I followed it exactly and yes, the sugar coating sticks to the inside of the bag, but there is still plenty left to coat it and it's so sweet anyway, it really is okay if a bunch sticks. Here's the recipe:

1 stick butter
1 c. light brown sugar
1/4 c. white corn syrup
1/2 tsp. fancy salt if you have it

add later:
1/2 tsp baking soda
slivered almonds or nuts of your choice (optional)

Put about 3 quarts (I used 3 bags of non-creepy microwave popcorn) in brown bag and set aside. Mix first 4 ingredients and put in microwave. Boil on high for 2 minutes. Stir in 1/2 teaspoon baking soda and nuts. Pour caramel over popcorn and shake. Put in microwave, cook on high, 1 minute. Shake, cook on high for 1 minute again. Shake, spread out on wax paper to cool. You can store this in jars or some other airtight container. This makes a whole lot, like 2 cookie sheet full. Also, in my research, I discovered that you can bag your own popcorn for the microwave, which is wonderful because then you know what's really in it. Or, you could just make it the old fashioned way, or air pop it. Did I mention that this is so very good? I got very very sick eating too much of it for breakfast. Lesson learned.

When I told friends about this in an over excited way they either said, "Oh yeah—sounds good sort of?," or "I thought you got rid of your microwave?" Tough crowd. I did, while pregnant with Liddy, go through a patch of intense paranoia which involved a lot of things (like plastic) and the microwave was taken away and put in the garage and replaced with a toaster oven—which I love to bits. The microwave came out again this Christmas. I still have issues, but it sure is handy.

nature n' stuff

We had a lovely morning adventure walk this week at Tryon Creek State Park. I love that place. It was a sunny day, but quite misty, cold, and mysterious in the forest. The girls were on the look out for fairies and possibly talking wolfs. They are heavy into fairy tales right now. I told Sadie the real version of The Little Mermaid recently, which she prefers to the happy one, of course. Tragedy is way more exciting. We are however, editing out the beheading of the suitors in the 12 Dancing Princesses. Pete thinks that punishment is unnecessarily harsh. I figure, if a bunch of dudes are trying to find out where these 12 dancing princesses are going off to at night, being beheaded if they failed would be a huge motivator. He says it would severely reduce the amount of suitors taking up the challenge.

Some things making me happy and/or excited:

-Wee Wonderful's newest Stitchette is available. Quilting Bee?! Gads, they are cute!

-This fabulous object by decoylab has made me $28 poorer in the best way (Thanks sarah, you are a terrible influence.)

-The Small Object has clothespin doll kits!! Good lord! With the face already printed on, no more swearing at the horrible wood grain/bleeding pen disaster.

-Who could have dreamed I'd have reason to bring up the Shatner again this month? I just read about this.

-I was thinking about the garden and instead of working in the yard and starting some much needed clean-up, I sat on my hiney in front of the computer and found this great gardening site, Heavy Petal, instead.

happy monkey day to you

We have another flurry of small people birthdays coming up and I can't seem to hand-make anything right now, it's just too crazy around here—but I love giving books. These are my 2 new (old) favorites to give. If I were smart I'd buy 3 copies of each, because it seems this one above is out of print (?) but that would involve too much planning ahead. They are I'll Be You and You Be Me and A Hole is to Dig, both by Ruth Krauss, illustrated by Marice Sendak. It's hard to describe how magical and amazing these books are.

We first read them from the library last summer by accident. They ended up in my bag and I don't even know who found them and put the them in there. The drawings are diminutive and charming—in a detailed black and white, pen and ink style that I love. The text is written the way children really speak to each other—nonsensical yet sweetly formal, which is how my kids talk. They are just so heartwarming to read. Ruth Krauss has many more books too, but these are my favorite. I think she actually just quoted kids directly for the text in these books.

    
I could barely read these at first, I was too distracted by the drawings and all the small details. The illustrations are grouped in a very unique way, often with little hand drawn borders and lots of white space. The clothes the kids wear in these pages are classic—the books are from the 1950s and I love this style of dressing.

Here's some info about Ruth Krauss and her husband, Crockett Johnson (best name ever?) of Harold and the Purple Crayon fame. I am sure many of you already know about these books and love them as well, but just in case. . .they are golden. (Here's Powell's, too.)

chocolates and stuff

Here's a small cake. It's orange chocolate. I made 6 of these all baked in white, red, and pink heart shaped ramekins—super cheap from Micheal's. Mariko and I added an easy frosting (about 4 oz melted chocolate chips and 2 tablespoons sour cream) and it was amazing. The cake recipe is from One-Pot Chocolate Desserts, a book I have had for 10 years. I love it. It's very bare bones and basic, great for the girls because they love to hand mix everything.

I didn't get around to buying heart molds. Pete suggested the lollipop molds. . .brilliant! This is a good quality milk chocolate chopped from a huge hunk, melted, and supposedly tempered in the microwave, but I don't think it worked. These are still tasty as all get out, anyway. They get melty fast which makes the sticks even more handy. I am so into melting chocolate into shapes now instead of buying over-priced junk for the holidays. I need to get going on easter. I want to try a bunny, 3-D style.

We had a valentine craft get-together last week with some fun friends. Paul made some pretty cool valentines, I wasn't prepared for such intense parental participation with the craft projects, I'm glad I had enough supplies to go around. Melissa was pretty deft with the heart shaped paper punch.

big love, tiny style.

These are valentines I made for the girls. They are shrinky dinks—some special ink-jet shrinky dink stuff, the opaque white kind. (Second item on this link over at ReadyMade) I was going to include a little magnifying glass. I still need to find that. I also need to make 2 more tiny envelopes. Each will be tucked in a little box, and then hopefully be put in the baby books (that don't exist yet) to save. Actually, I will have to print another set for that, these will disappear in no time. Who am I kidding?

Each of these mini letters have a little bit about each girl and some sweet observations like "You are funny and like to climb trees" and "I hope you take a bath soon" Pete got all misty eyed when he read them. I actually got this mini letter idea from a random shrinky dink pack I had lying around from last year and I thought it was super cool. I burnt the first round of these, by the way. Don't use a convection toaster oven, it's way too hot.