Where Has the Time Gone?

Has it really been so long since my last post? Obviously. It is already nearly February of 2010. I wonder if anyone ever checks this blog anymore other than people adding spam comments to old posts?

I have been thinking a lot about the friends who I kept in touch with through this blog. Is it ever too late to correspond with an old friend? Is it ever too late to reconnect and try to reestablish a friendship?

Currently, I am more interested in following other people's blogs than my own although I have thought of creating a new blog entirely focused on creative endeavors like those cards and ATC's I used to post here.

Then again I could try to revitalize this sad, long ignored blog...

If anyone is still out there reading, I would love to hear from you.

My Cuttlebug

I haven't been posting often, but I have been busy. Now, maybe someone out there will notice I did not post September's artist trading card and you are right. When I tried taking picture of all of them before I handed them out, I only encountered technical difficulties and lousy picture after lousy picture. I intend to attempt to take a picture of the card I kept so you can see the design. But of note (to me at least) is that the day I worked on my September ATC's was the day I bought my Cuttlebug machine and from that moment on I have been embossing and cutting like a fool.

The following two cards are for men...a couple of my uncles to be more exact whose birthdays are this month.

This first card is actually very similar to my September ATC as I even used left over background paper I had made for those. Do you see those swirls? Those were done with my Cuttlebug. And do you see the ovals? Those were done using my Spellbinder's Nestabilities dies cut and embossed with my Cuttlebug.


Do you see the white and brown mesh looking paper? Cuttlebug and the Cuttlebug Mesh embossing folder designed by Christine Adolph (the same who designs the lovely stamp lines with Stampington).



Here is another card I made for someone who loves purple (could you tell?). Notice the panel behind the flowers? That is the Textile Cuttlebug embossing folder designed by Christine Adolph. And the borders are made using Martha Stewart Craft's Doily Lace border punch which I finally found at a Michael's in Dallas when I went to visit a friend of mine. Did I mention that I brought along my Cuttlebug and Cuttlebug embossing folders and my friend spent one night and the next morning happily embossing away and then went out that week to buy her own Cuttlebug? Yes, I am an enabler.

The polka dot brackets are from a set by Inque Boutique and the oval a Nestabilities die cut and embossed using my Cuttlebug of course. And the squares were also cut using Nestabilities. These dies are fantastic and I buy a set a month as I have a VIP coupon from Cut@Home.

And lastly for now here are the artist trading cards (ATC's) for the Vintage Halloween theme:

I think they came out pretty well. I used Kiwi Kiss from Stampin' Up! for a punch of color with the black and white--I love this color! The scary cat face is from Paper Source (when I was in Dallas I bought it), the cat with the swirly tail is from Papertrey Ink's Spooky Sweets II set, the beware stamp is from Pink Paislee's Trick or Treat set. And yes, I used my Cuttlebug for the black cardstock base which I embossed with the wonderful Swiss Dot embossing folder and I cut the black cat heat embossed on the vellum with a scalloped oval Nestabilities die.

Lately I have been hard at work on my Halloween party invitations. They include the same Kiwi Kiss color, black, white and some other colors for good meassure. I will try to post some pictures at some point.

More Cards

I thought I would share a few more cards made recently before I am off for my trip to see family (and hopefully that includes my year old twin cousins).

First up is a card I made for a maternal male cousin turning 10. This card was done without any real thought. I just pulled things out and tried things out and hoped it would work out. It turned out to be something I really liked.

Below is a card for my only paternal female cousin that I hope to see this week for the first time in well over 5 years. The card ends with the green.

This is a card and the envelope I made for my friend, Erin, who is moving into a new phase of her life.

Here is a better picture of the card alone:

Some more birthday cards for friends (notice a color theme on the last two?):

This is a card I made last night for an aunt I am going to see this week. I hope she likes it!

Have a great week! I know I will.

Some More Cards

Wow, another post in less than a month! First, I apologize for the quality of the pictures. I have mentioned more than once that I am no photographer.


Here are some more Artist Trading Cards with an "Orient Express" theme to share from my trade last night. It is hard to tell, but in the background is a train on the right and the skyline of Istanbul behind the image of the woman (by Dawn Houser, Inkadinkado).




I also wanted to share a card I made for my twin cousins' 1st birthday (yes, they are MUCH younger than I am). For some reason the card looks very crooked, but I don't remember it being that way. The stamps were bought especially for this card from Papertrey Ink (Bitty Baby Blessings) plus the kraft cardstock, aqua mist cardstock and ribbon are from Papertrey Ink as well. Can you faintly see the tiny sailboats on the onesies? The Bitty Baby Blessings stamp set is downright adorable and I was so excited to try them out on my cousins' baby cards especially as one of the sayings was "Good Things Come in Multiples" perfect for twins, right? I was also excited about the color combination. Have I mentioned my love of Papertrey Ink? The dots are from metallic white craft paint which I also used on the ATC's above. I do tend to use similar products for a while much like I can listen to the same CD for months.

Before July Ends

Gracious it has been a lot time since I posted anything! To be honest I had lost some of my enthusiasm for blogging...a new puppy, computer issues (does anyone else deal with quirky computers?), catching up on all my work at work, doing a lot of things at home (like sifting through 20 years of papers) and such does have a way of cutting into my blogging. Plus, right now I am more interested in other people's blogs than my own.

With that said I have been meaning to share a few things I have made in the last couple of months.

Here are *very* simple father's day cards for my grandfathers. At this point I can't remember if I even made my dad a card (another problem is I have more memory issues than usual of late).


Here are Artist Trading Cards I made for this month's trade with a Star theme (that is Greta Garbo).

Hope you are enjoying the summer wherever you may be!

Bright Bird

Happy June! I thought I would share with you all the Artist Trading Cards (ATC's) I made for June's trade. The theme was Creative Challenge using rubber stamps...my! what a hard challenge since I never use rubber stamps. Actually, I have to hold myself back from all the tempting stamps, papers, inks, paints, embellishments, books and the like. I can talk for hours with friends about products, companies and blogs.

Here is the picture of the ATC's I made entitled "Bright Bird":


Right now I go to Nichole Heady's blog {capture the moment} a lot. She once designed for Paper Crafts Magazine (a really great magazine for ideas for cards and other projects) and now co-owns and designs clear stamps for a marvelous company, Papertrey Ink. What is also amazing is that Nichole Heady is only 28, is married with 3 kids which makes me feel rather old and lazy...anyway, have fun looking at her work, the Papertrey Ink design team's work and enjoy Papertrey Ink's products! I am excited about this month's releases.

Too Adorable

Here are a couple of other pictures for you to enjoy of Remy. You can more clearly see his blue-gray coloring against the verdant grass and clover. Remy is so cute that even my horrendous photography captures his appeal.

New Addition

This past Sunday we added to our family. Leia's death left a huge hole that we have known would need to be filled.

Our latest addition: Remy (full first name is Remington) who is a tiny, wild, little blue (gray) male chihuahua with green eyes. He was born on April 1st and is one smart little man. He is already coming to the office and charms all who see him.

Without further ado here is Remy:

Hobson's Choice

I have considered deleting yesterday's post, but that is me in all my unglory so I think I will let it stand. I do thank you, dear reader, for your patience with my petulance. At another point in my life I would have remained firmly entrenched in my self-pity, but I don't want to do that anymore. Even if things are occassionally bad I still have so much to look forward to and enjoy. Plus, I am moving forward in several ways and I hope evolving however slowly.

I saw a sweet film on Monday night on TCM entitled Hobson's Choice. It is about the eldest daughter of an alcoholic shop owner in Victorian England grabbing hold of her destiny in her very capable hands and marrying the talented, demure bootmaker at her father's shop. The wonderful thing is the evolution of the bootmaker as he becomes more confident with the help of the woman who believes in him without reservation. It is a funny, sweet and charming British film with some lovely performances by a stellar cast including Charles Laughton as Hobson (the father), John Mills as Willie (the bootmaker) and Brenda De Banzie as Maggie (the daughter) . I would recommend this little gem for those with any romance in their souls or in need of a dose of hope.

Stinking

I have come to the realization that I truly stink at being a friend. Hell, I stink at being a daughter, a sister, a granddaughter and a niece. I stink as a student. I stink as a employee. I stink as a patient. Am I having a good pity party? You bet. A huge lavish one. I can throw those like the best of them. I am good at self-pity. I am good at complaining. I am good at being lazy. And I am good at sticking my head in a book and hoping the world passes me by and I disappear into a pile of ash.

Okay, it is time for me to dust myself off and realize it is not the end of the world that I failed. Well, failed pretty miserably in all my relationships. I am not universally abhorred yet only a very flawed person with profound interpersonal difficulties. At least that means I have a lot to improve upon. And I can grovel. It is one of my endearing/annoying traits.

Minor Annoyances

Maybe one or two of you have noticed I haven't written in a month. I have been experiencing aging and one the lovely byproducts of aging: decline in health. In the past several months I have come to the realization that I am falling apart on various levels. I am not that old nor have I lived much of a life much less a hard one and there it is. Nothing very serious, but it all adds up. Maintenance is now taking a healthy chunk of whatever money I have. And being someone cheap about spending money on my health I don't like it one bit. I rather spend money on important things like books and magazines. Oh well. It was bound to happen. I had been lucky thus far. No broken bones. No serious accidents or illness.

At least mentally I am still pretty darn dopey although occasionally cranky if I am in pain. My energy level is even lower though than it used to be and anyone who knows me can attest that is frightening as I have the energy of a slug on a good day (perhaps that is unfair to the slug as he is only slow--a better animal is the koala as the only thing they eat actually doesn't give them sufficient energy).

All in all life is good. Even the annoying parts are just that--annoyances to work through and perhaps help to appreciate what isn't annoying and trying.

Belated

Yesterday was a college friend's birthday. Of course I am still working on her card as I just can't get it right. It isn't a work of art even at its best, but it needs to be something that shows how much I care especially as I haven't spoken with her for months now. Why do I let so much time elapse? Why do I hesitate to write or call friends and family back? Why do I let days, weeks and then months (or even years) go by before responding?

I remember during the summers I would go a month or two without talking to my closest friend at the time. Both of us were too involved in other things and we didn't mind the time spent without talking...it made no difference in our friendship. I suppose this is what it is to be at heart a loner and a homebody. It is hard to explain how wrapped up you can become in your own mind, thoughts and world unless the other person is likewise occupied.

The Joy of Tasters

I made Let's-Put-Everything-In-That-Isn't-Tied-Down pasta last night. Originally it was going to be pasta with Italian sausage and broccoli rabe, but I thought I should use the broccolini in the refrigerator and then there was some cherry tomatoes sitting out that needed to be used too.... In the end the pasta also had some garlic, extra virgin olive oil, saffron, red pepper flakes and tomato paste added too. On the top freshly grated parmesan cheese. Taster A (I must protect the innocent, but there has to be a better way to distinguish my tasters. Still thinking about names from mythology) felt it was lacking something. Taster B had two helpings and really enjoyed it (also took some to work to eat for lunch). Taster C thought it was good, but not what she wanted last night.

I have noticed a trend. Taster A and Taster B don't often agree about what they love. When Taster A is ecstatic about dinner, Taster B may respond by saying: "This is chicken? Are you sure? What did you put in this? I just can't place it." I reply and ask whether he likes it: "I am not sure. It isn't disgusting." High praise indeed. Another thing he will comment with is: "It is edible." Wow, what a glowing compliment!

When Taster A doesn't like something she'll say: "It wasn't my favorite thing. It could use something. It isn't as favorable as your other dishes." Keep in mind that she says everything with her facial expressions. Taster A could kill a person with her dark and withering scowl or make your stomach tense up with a look of pure and unvarnished disgust. Her face can say: you are worse than sewage or dumber than dirt. Although when she likes something she is very enthusiastic: "Everything was delicious! The rice was cooked perfectly. The chicken was so moist and tender. That asparagus rocked!"

Tasters are finicky or at least mine are as I can only satisfy 2 out of 3 at the best of times. You slave over a hot stove, spend ages cleaning up after your mess and this is the payback? Yes. One person happy with the meal and it was all worth it.

Blast From the Past

This was a draft post dated September 28, 2007...I think it is time to dust it off and publish the sucker. Please remember that I was writing about the past and it may not properly reflect what I now feel. I have been working on my perception as perception is so incredibly important! In fact your mind can persuade you of quite remarkable things and some of them aren't healthy in the slightest.

I have been meaning to share a very special blog with you, dear reader. I think the minute you begin reading Orangette you realize what a blog should be: personal, warm, friendly, witty, informative, whimsical and charming. In fact, it is little wonder that Molly met her husband through her blog. For a lovely little real life romance centered around food (a certain lemon cake actually) check out the link to their Food Network profile.

I think this brings home how blogs can bring people together. I know that in the food blogging world (yes, there is one) fellow bloggers have established friendships exchanging ideas, tips, stories, recipes and information. They also actually visit each other. I find this sweet and amazing as I find it hard to even catch up with friends that live in the same city. I think it opens my eyes to what lives other people lead that seem to have sweeping vistas.

For me most trips are carefully, nearly painfully pondered where I have to skirt around possible problems and constraints: financial, time, logisitics, not to mention the huge clothing dilemna. I make everything much harder than it should be and it is all due to insecurity on my part. The actual travelling I relish, it is the process prior to the journey that bothers me. I have this fear of what people from my past will think of me to the point I have hidden when I have seen someone from high school in a store. This is arrogant on my part as I don't think they would necessarily remember me anyway. I usually remember people while they forget. The problem is this fear extends to family and friends. I hide from them too. When I didn't I had to prepare myself for it and I wasn't always successful....

In July of 2003 I went to a college friend's wedding in Maine. The trip in general was fantastic and the wedding lovely, but the night before the wedding I was struck with such waves of sadness, embarassment and a sense of not belonging or fitting in that I couldn't eat (a highly unusual occurance for me) and sat reading some local paper fighting back tears for which I luckily snapped out of later that evening and was in good spirits for the rest of the weekend. Still, I felt awful about my moodiness and inability to deal with the emotions in a "normal" way. In the back of my mind the episode only reinforced my own ideas of being socially inept and too damaged to be much of a friend. I had faced a similar situation at my maternal grandparents' 50th Wedding Anniversary a few years before in which I felt paralyzed by a feeling of profound alienation and shame at being me whilst surrounded by family.

The years following college I had a crisis of identity and I forgot how to related to others. My world became smaller and smaller as I tried to find meaning and understanding about myself. My route diverged from the norm quite radically. I didn't pursue a career nor did I pursue a romantic relationship. My feelings of alienation only increased until I became isolated, anxious, and ashamed. I assumed it would be better to stay out of people's lives than corrupt them. Yes, dear reader, I was maudlin.

Links and the Mighty Dollar

It only took me 10 months or so to add links to the blogs I have mentioned. Nothing like promptness to keep this blog active and fresh! I think I could mention dozens if not hundreds of blogs. So, I will only add to my list when I actually blog about them. How cool is it that the woman behind Cupcake Project left a comment on my blog thanking me??? Pure class. I will never stop marvelling at how people can find you in this vast world of ours.

On to another subject a couple of Saturdays ago (or three who can keep track which is why I blog and journal) was a day to weed through old cookbooks. We are talking about microwave and lite cookbooks along with other cookbooks mostly dating from the 1970's and 1980's. Five boxes later we took them to our local Half Price Books and received less than $40.00 for the lot (including some stellar dvd's like Honey) which we burned through (and more) with new purchases that fit into a single bag. A lesson in the value of the dollar and inflation, dear reader! What is even more enlightening is that we were estatic with that they took everything. What a feeling of freedom and lightness!

Another Friday Night

This Friday night I couldn't fall asleep so I watched AMC's Fear Friday. I remember the AMC of old which showed wonderful classic films without commercial interruption much like TCM today. There was even the AMC host Bob Dorian who introduced the films. Do movie hosts have to have Bob as a name to be considered? Think of TCM's main movie host Robert Osborne and then the much missed Joe Bob Briggs who used to be on TNT. Then again on AMC the other host was none other than George Clooney's father Nick Clooney--no Bob there.

I discovered this blog post about the evolution (or perhaps devolution) of AMC. I could not agree more, although it is best not to look backwards. At least the new AMC is being bold with its original shows like Mad Men and Breaking Bad...that is progress. I do like the concept of Fear Friday as well, but I found myself really distracted and annoyed with the numerous commercial breaks. Every commercial increased my appreciation for TCM and made me long for the old AMC more.

Last Friday they were showing Brian De Palma's The Fury. I had seen this movie several years before, but I couldn't remember much of it other than some teenagers with incredible psychic abilities going insane. I did not remember Kirk Douglas as the secret agent (spy) father of a psychic son kidnapped and willing to do anything to get his son. The son is played by Andrew Stevens the son of Stella Stevens (I mistakenly thought Connie Stevens was his mother) who happened to be in a lot of tv movies and shows in the early 1980's and he often played someone with a disturbing intensity: a stalker or a young man who prefered wealthy older women, but had the vibe of Joseph Cotton's character in Hitchcock's Shadow of a Doubt. The young woman who is just discovering her psychic abilities is Amy Irving (has anyone seen Crossing Delancey with her in it? It is a family favorite).

I think this viewing of the movie I particularly enjoyed all of the disparate threads that make up this film. The Fury is a curious mix of cloak & dagger, action film with horror/psychic film added in for good measure. There is death from the usual car crashes and gunfire, but also from extreme loss of blood that is a hallmark of horror films. There are beaches in the Middle East under attack, covert government agencies without restraint and ruthless power, exclusive all girl high schools, luxurious scientific foundations discovering psychic abilities and a huge remote estate. If you look closely you will see a very young Daryl Hannah and Laura Innes. With a larger role is Dennis Franz as a New York cop of all things.

I won't write a summary of the film as I am terrible at them, but if you enjoy 1970's horror based upon powerful psychic ability and some over-the-top blood scenes not to mention levitation and blue glowing eyes you will have fun with this one.

Cupcakes

I have been very inattentive lately. I think I have had other things on my mind. Still, it is already the 10th of April and unforgivable if I continued to leave my blog sadly empty. Recently I have been really interested in cupcake blogs. One or two of you may remember I wrote about a cupcake blog many moons ago. Cupcakes happen to be a very popular subject for blogs. I subscribe to one: Cupcakes Take the Cake that culls the internet for news on cupcakes and delivers it to its cupcake-happy readers several times a day.

One blog they recently introduced me to is Cupcake Project. This is a blog with a mission and purpose. It began as a way to chronicle the baking of cupcakes for the blogger's friends' wedding and after that success she is baking for Bride & Groom 2.0 as she calls them. You can read all about it--her cupcake triumphs and not-so-triumphant cupcake experiments there. I love how she chronicles the tasters' reactions.

I think I may need to have tasters and also cute nicknames for everyone. I am thinking gods and goddesses, as I love mythology. If you are particularly taken with a certain god or goddess please let me know. If you wish to become a taster you must love food and be adventurous. As it is usually somewhat difficult to deliver food across state lines without great expense and trouble, being near me may also be critical....

By the way, as much as I wish I could claim credit for the lovely cupcakes at left, they aren't mine, but an image I found at UW Libraries Blog of all places (talk about perfect combination: cupcakes and books!).

Hatless?

There are many things you can miss in life...one such thing for me are women wearing hats on Easter Sunday at church. I have never seen it, not once. I haven't even worn a hat for any other reason than it being cold, playing softball with family or occasionally for Halloween. I take that back now...when I went to St. Thomas for my friend's wedding this past July, I bought myself a straw hat as my single souvenir (Although I did receive a gorgeous larimar pendant later on from another friend and her family as the most thoughtful and generous of souvenirs of our time together. Larimar is only found in the Caribbean and I fell in love with the creamy blue-green stone whilst there. See the picture at right for a sample of larimar) and I walked the beach and sat by the pool in that chocolate brown straw hat with mother of pearl buttons.

My sister is actually a lover of hats and has several although I am not sure she has worn them out in public. I wonder why she doesn't wear them? Why do women not wear smart little hats like they used to? Think of those stars in the 1930's and 1940's in their dresses and suits and those beautiful hats crowning their glossy upswept hair the alluring lacy netting seductively partially shrouding their lovely faces. Or perhaps a hat like the one Greta Garbo wears above (but let's face it, Garbo could have worn anything and looked beautiful). I think hats can tease and flirt. I think we little a more elegant playfulness in our lives now.

What brought hats to mind was listening to a program with a woman who is a proponent of bringing back hats. What do you think of hats, dear reader? When have you worn a hat? Have you ever bought a hat because you were drawn to it?

Roasted Sweet Potatoes with honey-lime glaze

I am very behind on posting about Sunday meals I have made, but I will post this recipe for you all because I made it for a second time last night and I really enjoy it as it is spicy, sweet, savory, tart, earthy and fresh all in one bite.

The recipe is from Cuisine at Home which is a wonderful cooking magazine. Every single recipe I have tried from their magazine or cookbooks has been delicious and sometimes they become incredibly longed for (like the southwestern turkey breast and cornbread stuffing we made for Thanksgiving or the fruit salad with a jalapeno-lime sauce made for Christmas brunch).

Roasted Sweet Potatoes with honey-lime glaze
Cuisine at Home, February 2008
Makes 8 cups; Total time: 45 minutes.

Ingredients:

3 ½ lb. sweet potatoes, peeled and cut into 1” chunks
1/3 cup olive oil
½ teaspoon cayenne pepper
Salt to taste
½ cup honey
¼ cup fresh lime juice
¼ teaspoon ground cinnamon
Chopped fresh cilantro

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 425 °F.
2. Toss sweet potatoes with olive oil, cayenne and salt in a large bowl until coated. Transfer to a baking sheet and roast until fork tender, about 25 minutes.
3. Whisk together honey, lime juice, and cinnamon in a small bowl while potatoes roast. Once potatoes are tender, coat with glaze and roast 5 minutes more.
4. Garnish with cilantro.

Another Interesting Search

I have five posts of varying degree of completeness written for this month and guess what I am going to post about? Read on to find out.

I was searching for a particular book as a friend requested some recommendations of steamy novels that won't disappoint and I went in search of one I read several years ago by Lisa Valdez by the title of Passion. Sex with a very well endowed stranger at a public exhibition in Victorian London...what is there not to like? The author's website has inexplicably disappeared in the few months since I last went there to check on the progress of her next novel Patience which has been delayed in being published for years now and has no set publication date.

In my search I stumbled upon a blog, It's My Blog And I'll Say What I Want To! (which has since moved) that made me laugh and a previous entry really snagged my attention.

The entry's title you may wonder:

I Guess Sperm Really Is Good For The Skin...

Yes, dear reader, I am that concerned about skin care (and my mind is often in the gutter).

UPDATE: Lisa Valdez's website is up and running again so if you want to read an excerpt of Passion or Patience follow the links.