It's the little things

So I haven't posted in a while because I am doing lots of little crafts and not really finishing ANY!
But last night I made a yummy dinner and wanted to give you the recipe in case you wanted a quick and easy meal (BTW Jim gave it 5 stars)

Boil 2 and 1/2 cups of water and 4 tablespoons of salsa (I used black bean and corn, and a package of taco seasoning (I used 30% lower sodium). When it reaches the boiling point mix in 2 1/2 cups of minute rice and 1 large can of Bush's vegetarian baked beans (fat free). Cover and remove from heat, let stand for 5 minutes.

While that is resting chop one or two tomatoes (I bought three and only ended up using one) and some lettuce (I bought the preshredded)

When Rice is ready serve on soft tortillas with FF cheese and cover with tomatoes and lettuce!

SO EASY and SO YUMMY

Hope you enjoy it.

Meanwhile it really is the little things in life that make me happy...
Today I am wearing my new favorite shoes. They are comfy and cozy and VERY not work appropriate BUT since all the big wigs are in Cancun I am wearing them and loving life!

Ciao Bella!

It's done!

I finished Joey's headpiece. And she really liked it! I am so happy about that... I spent a lot of time on it... And honestly not that I mind the time but through out the entire thing I kept worrying that it wasn't at all what she wanted... Turns out it was everything that she wanted :-)
UNFORTUNATELY I didn't take a picture.
However her wedding is pretty soon (June 30th) and I am sure that Brenna will have plenty of pictures of it :-)
I will post them then!

While we were at Joey's we went over to TCANN and saw the Foreigner... It was terrific. I literally laughed out loud! I higly suggest that for a good night out at MUCH less the cost of a night in town.
For more information visit TCANN @ http://www.natickarts.org/index.php

What do I do?!?

I must admit I haven't been crafting lately.
I have been so busy
Monday nights I teach Hippology
Tuesday night this week I have a 3 Apples meeting
Wednesday night I am getting together with Amy (we haven't seen each other since October)
Thursday night I am going to go see Tyler James (My latest and greatest obsession)
Friday night is date night
Saturday I am going to have to spend the whole day crafting because if I don't Joey is going to kill me since...
Sunday I am going over to Joey's house to give her the headpiece she is wearing for her wedding. Is it done you ask? NO. Has anything been done on it since the last time you showed it to her is your next question, right? Nope not a thing?
Can I possibly finish it in a few hours? Yes as long as I focus on that and NOTHING else.

Sorry I can't stay longer

But I have a lot to do...
Just wanted to introduce you all to Tyler. I was there for the delivery and held him before he was even 10 minutes old. Those are the moments I will treasure all my life!

I am a bad blogger!

There has been so much going on lately I haven't had a moment to sit down and write what's up...
Let's see work is busy

Home is busy
But this is what I have been doing at home:

Helping friends "flip that house" and painting. Though tomorrow night I will tile for them :-) I hope they get lots for the house.

For myself I have been working on Cheryl's dominos (Saturday is family day), Sharon's candy bowl (though in all honesty I have not worked too hard on this since I know that she isn't coming on Saturday and Lord on ly knows when I will see her again), belts for each of the girls. I am one away from being done and that one is for Alicia (probably saved hers for last because she will care the most about it). I am making a few mugs and that won't take me too long (pictures coming soon), and I would really like to make a lampshade for Cheryl too... But if that doesn't happen it doesn't happen but if it does it will look like this one:
http://www.hgtv.com/hgtv/cr_home_accessories/article/0,1789,HGTV_3255_3246783,00.html


And for fun I have been doing a latch hook rug... I am making it for baby Tyler who is making his great appearance on Monday the 27th of March. So please send good thoughts to Christy who is all done with being pregnant!

So the exciting news is that Christy is FINALLY having this baby and I am going to be an aunty again. The even better news is that I have Monday off so I can meet him the second he is born
:-)
I love him already

I know that this is a space cadet post but I also wanted to tell you about the book I am reading. It is Marley and Me and it was recommended to me by a friend. It is a great book! Supposedly it is about life and love with the world's worst dog. In reality it is a story from a man's point of view about his life and growing up and having kids and yeah there is a dog thrown in there too!

And what else is really cool is Jim and I signed up for dancing lessons with Kat and Adam. They start in May and are Friday nights from 7-8. What a great date night that will be! I am really excited about it and will let you know more as I know more.

Also starting tomorrow and once a month for the next 5 months I will be meeting with a nutritionist/hypnotist/yoga instructor to learn more. Again very exciting! I will post any interesting tid-bits that I learn.

Hmmmmm what else is going on? Ahhh yes I am participating in the Danskin Tri. I am really excited about the run and the bike but I am not too excited about the swim...
So far my training ideas are continue to run daily and start biking to the barn 2 days a week (9 miles each way) I need a new seat for my bike. I love my bike but the seat lacks in the comfort area! Once the weather gets better I plan on swimming in the lake at the very least 2 to 3 times a week, I will keep you updated on this too

Hugs to all and talk to you soon

Can you believe it?

This is the last day that I will ever be able to say that Jim and I have been married for two years... Tomorrow we hit 3. That is crazy to me. It feels like yesterday (time flies when you are having fun) It feels like eternity (I can't imagine not having him beside me in everything I do) but it doesn't feel like 3 years.


In case you were wondering what we have done for each other for gifts so far they are:
For the wedding I gave Jim Clarie and he gave me a Harp
For our first anniversary I gave Jim a LOTR poster signed by the cast and crew, and he gave me a set of books (Shel Silverstein) that I wanted and he made me a beautiful spoon ring from my Nana's silverware (first anniversary is paper)
For our second anniversary I gave Jim a set of sheets and love poems that I wrote him, he gave me trapese lessons (the cotton in there was the t-shirt!)

So we are celebrating tonight. Jim has to work tomorrow night :-(
Tonight we are going to Kyoto's for dinner (YUM) and just enjoying each other...
We can't give our gifts 'til tomorrow (I don't know why but it just wouldn't be right)
But since I know Jim never checks this (and even if he did he won't have time today)
I am going to tell you all what I got him (maybe throw in a picture or two as well)
You'll keep my secret won't you?

I got him a bow, arrows, a quiver, and a target... He likes archery and I thought this would be a lot of fun for him... He doesn't want to hunt just play so I got him a longbow (which Robyn made a face at) I hope he likes it... It took me FOREVER (ask anyone I work with) to pick out JUST the one I wanted. It came with some arrows so that was good I think since it then means that they are the correct length and draw weight for the arrow (I have learned SO much)

Then the quiver (which still hasn't come yet) and we are all set.

Do you remember being a kid?

Okay well not all the aspects of being a kid... Just the fun ones.
This week my sisters and I went to a craft class at the condo where we have been staying (and where Jim and I will be in just a few hours) This was not an adults craft class and we knew that going in... We were going to make Paper-Mache snowmen... With flour and water paste... It was great. We had a blast. Sharon got to mix the goo and then Cheryl and I dipped out newspaper in. It was a great time. We acted like little kids and got dirty. We laughed so hard we cried... It was a kodak moment (and we didn't have a camera) it is a moment I will remember forever! Tomorrow I go pick up my little man and I will put a few pictures of him online... We are also taking "Journal making" and "Spool animals" Yup it is great to be a kid all over again. I think that we should all do it for just a little while each day...

So TAG YOU'RE IT

So much fun

Last night I *started* to work on dominoes for Cheryl and a rain stick for Bekah but then I decided to just have fun (Crafting is fun most of the time but last night I literally wanted to play)
So a while back my sister bought me a trading spaces doll house (because she knows I used to love Trading Spaces) like the one in here BUT it was only a one story (sorry it won't load ~ I wll take a picture of mine)... For some reason this looked like so much fun to me. It was pretty easy and I had a great time... Jim and I were like little kids. Now I want so cute (yet sturdy) furniture so the kids will have something to play with at my house!

yippee kie yie yay

I finished!
I finished baby Tyler's blanket...
It is all boy! I am so happy with how it came out and how much I thought about this baby I don't even know yet but love already... And it worked out just great because as I worked in the last piece of yarn my phone rang and it was Christy asking if when she goes into labor (as if she hasn't already been doing THAT for months) if it's in the middle of the night can she call me and I can take care of the girls so that Corey's parents don't have to (I really really think this is her way of keeping me out of the hospital because I am not a good hospital person)
But since the doctors said it is okay that she has the baby anytime now... (still a couple months early) and my blanket is done let the baby come!

Aww come on I want to cuddle the baby!
Anyway here is the picture of my affectionately titled all boy blanket

What's up chicken butt?

LOL Gary I heart you...

So lately I have been ignoring a lot of crafts INCLUDING baby Tyler's afghan (I think I am about one skein from done and since it feels like he will never be born I am not hurrying)

What have I been doing to keep my hands busy? Well a million little things ~ OR more acurately a thousand little things. I have been making 1000 cranes for peace. As of today I have 125 done and still have quite a number to do. I am hoping to finish them for Mother's Day... I think my mom will rally like them as a gift. At first I thought I was going to hang them for her and then I realized it would be many strands of birds in her house (and I am not sure that that's the look she is going for...) then I thought I would put them in a box and decorate the box for her, now I am leaning towards one of those LARGE mason jars because I can not imagine that all the hours of work that I have put into these cranes being stuffed into a box never to see the light of day again. It would break my heart...

Speaking of hearts yesterday was Valentine's day. It was a great day. Jim had to work late on Monday and I had a great opportunity to make him his surprise gift. I made home made Maple-nut party mix... You would have thought I gave the man a million dollars... All that commotioin and the recipe was pretty easy (okay I will grant you it is a bit time consuming but it was easy.

Maple-Nut Party mix

1/4 cup butter or margarine (I used butter)
1/3 cup of brown sugar (I used dark that is what I had in the house)
2 Tablespoons of maple syrup (I used Aunt Jemima)
4 cups Rice Chex
4 cups corn Chex
1 cup peanuts (they said honey roasted but I didn't get them because they have gelatin on them and I wanted to be able to try this treat that my husband talks about frequently)


Pre-heat oven @ 225
In a roasting pan (in the oven) melt the butter. When fully melted mix in brown sugar and maple syrup. Allow brown sugar to disolve. After the sugar is disolved mix in the remaining 3 ingredients. This is where the time comes in. This needs to cook for 45 minutes. It also needs to be thoroughly stirred every fifteen minutes. After the 45 minutes spread on to a wax paper sheet and allow to cool fully. Store in an air tight container

*** I honestly was SHOCKED by this recipe. I couldn't for the life of me (while I was making it) understand why my husband would like such a sticky mess. But somehow when it cools down it loses it's stickiness***


And I will admit to YUM!

This one's for Tircia

(said in the tone of IZ as he says this one's for Gabby)
This morning I was driving Stephanie to school when I figured out something...
MY life is broken down into thirds...
I spend 8 hours a day working, 8 hours each night sleeping (Hey what can I say my body needs rest), and 8 hours a day doing whatever I wish. FURTHERMORE I figure that 1/3 of my life is gone (a fact that freaked me out like crazy) SO I have 1/3 of each day to decide what to do with. AND I should decide to do things that I enjoy and not do the things that I hate (unless they help someone else) So here are the things that I have decided I will do... I will continue to have crafts that make sense to noone but me. I will go places (near or far) that make me happy, I will surround myself with people I love and allow those I don't to go their way and surround themselves ith people who love and cherish them.
And here are the things that I will not do (or try not to do) I will not stress over the things I can not change. I will not pretend to be someone else to make ANYONE in this world happy. I will not say that something is wonderful if it's not. I will not hurt anyone's feelings knowingly, and most importantly (for me) is that I will not let my feelings be hurt by people who I know don't mean to hurt my feelings they just spoke before they thought...

So what does this mean for you my friends? (Well in this case Tricia) That my blog will continue to be filled with things that I make that you may or may not like but are more than welcome to your opinion. But it will also be filled with fun things that I do, or interesting places that I see, or emotions that I feel...

In that spirit I will tell you that I left a 3 Apples meeting last night to go listen to Blue speak. Brother Blue is a storyteller, more importantly he is my friend. He is talented and earnest, and truthful to his love... He tells every Tuesday at Harvard Divinity... He has had Jim as the feature and my friend Laura as the feature but VERY VERY rarely he himself features and last night was one of those nights... A gift! A very real present...

Wow did this day fly by...

It feels like I just barely got up and now it is time to leave work.

Today I got and worked out (The Denise Austin workout) then while I was watching Crafters coast to coast I (for the first 15 minutes) used the stairmaster and for the 2nd 15 minutes I crocheted some more of Jim's scarf... At this rate it will be August before he gets it.

I am very excited. I learned how to do some origami... I am making paper cranes.
They say that folding the cranes promotes world peace. There is a legend and it says that when you finish 1000 God is so pleased with your effort of peace that he grants you one wish and one to whom you give the cranes...

Bigger isn't always better

I have been making this afghan for Tyler (my nephew who is due in a few months) and I have been thinking about him and how much I love him the whole time I have been crocheting it. I wanted to be sure that it was packed full of love and warmth. But even though I have never met him I already love him BIG. and that BIG part went into the blanket... So I have used up a few skeins of yarn and I go to my sister's house to show her this beautiful piece of love I have made. She looks at it and asks me who it is for. I told her it was for little baby Ty. She asks me where I got the pattern.

Pattern ~ What pattern... I mean come on now I only know one stitch and I am fairly certain that they don't have a single crochet pattern available. Well she points out to me that it is rather large (what do I know what size baby afghans are supposed to be.) and takes it over to Alicia's twin bed to try it on there... Nope too big hit the ground on both sides. SO low a behold I am pulling it apart and starting again. The good side of this (and there are many) I won't need to use nearly as much of the $10 a skein yarn AND it won't even take me as long to make... I am after all hoping to have it done by Sunday (the super secret shower day) Wish me luck!

Today I am wearing art that I made

It is so cool. I got a compliment on my pin and I have shown off my bracelet to anyone I pass by.

Talk to you soon

quick picture post

I just wanted to show you all the new crafts I have been making.

The first is a felted wool bracelet (I made it all myself including the felted beads)



The second is the "secret project" it is a bowl made of hand made papers. I want to work at another one so I can make it keep it's shape better... It is made to be a fruit bowl. It is pretty hard and after four weeks of "curing" it will be able to be washed with a damp soapy cloth.



More pictures coming...
Siobhan's skirt is coming up soon~

Oooh yeah, oooh yeah

I am almost done!
With a craft I haven't told you about... Why you ask? Because (like all my crafts) it was something I made up in my head. But this one I wasn't sure would succeed. YAY it looks like it has... I have another 30 minutes or so worth of work on it and then you all can see my latest creation. I will be making a few of these if people like them. And if you are one of those people I will give you one too...
My mom loved this first one so it goes to her. Then I am planning on a different type of one for Jim and lastly one for my friend Diana who just got married...
Jim will love it (as he has watched me sweat over this one...

When I finish this it is back to Jim's scarf and a toy for Bekah

Hope your day is happy

This has nothing to do with crafting but part of me always being Joy

I read this on Boston.com and it looked like a book I will have to read...

WHICH REMINDS ME! I read a really cute book (well I am not sure that cute is the word) it is called Heroes, hooks, and Heirlooms and if anyone wants to borrow it I will happily share :-D

What makes a marriage work?

Frank essays from female writers
By Diana Brown, Globe Correspondent January 24, 2006

TEWKSBURY -- For 18 months, Jean Trounstine and Karen Propp met in cafes, deliberated via e-mail, and chatted by phone as they co-edited a collection of moving, honest essays about marriage by a roster of heavy-hitting writers. Along the way, they discovered their collaboration itself mirrored a marriage.

''I found myself getting angry at you for the same thing that I get angry at my husband," Propp, who lives in Cambridge, said as the two friends talked in Trounstine's Tewksbury living room. Trounstine knew instantly: Propp became upset whenever she felt controlled or infringed upon.
That professional bond helped fuel the creative process for their book, ''Why I'm Still Married: Women Write Their Hearts Out on Love, Loss, Sex, and Who Does the Dishes," due in bookstores today.
The book evolved from a discovery they made in 2004 after first meeting at a reading in Providence. Having coffee afterward, they realized they both had written essays titled ''Why I'm Still Married." The title stuck because it resonated and made people chuckle.
''In working on this book; I felt less alone in my marriage," said Propp, 48, who has taught writing at Boston College, the University of Massachusetts, and the University of New Hampshire. She has been married for 10 years and has an 8-year-old son. ''People will be able to find themselves in these essays."
''The book allows you to feel that your own marriage is OK," said Trounstine, 59, a writer and playwright who teaches at Middlesex Community College in Lowell. She has been married for 18 years and has no children. ''As long as you have more happy days than not, then you feel you're in the right place with the right person. But it's a range, and we give people permission to have a range."
Reading the book is like listening to a chorus of women's voices, peeling away layers on individual marriages. It's an introspective look inside a private, richly nuanced part of life. It's confessional, but it also reads like a collection of philosophies about how an eclectic group of women navigates the bumpy, circuitous, steep, joyous, frightening, dark, and, ultimately, triumphant road into intimate partnerships.
To tell the stories, Propp and Trounstine assembled a collection of 24 writers with impressive oeuvres, including Marge Piercy, Ann Bernays, Erica Jong, Susan Cheever, Diana Abu-Jaber, Julia Alvarez, ZZ Packer, and Bharati Mukherjee. They are Fulbright fellows, National Book Critics Circle Award winners, PEN award winners, Pushcart Prize and O. Henry winners. Nearly half live in New England. ''We asked to hear about the longings, losses, and betrayals in conjugal life that had tested their commitment," Propp and Trounstine wrote in the book's introduction.
They questioned why women still marry. ''We know the dismal statistics: more than 50 percent of contemporary marriages end in divorce; married women are more depressed than married men and significantly more depressed than single women; married women with young children are the most depressed population.
''We wanted to know about the real marriages that survive, despite obstacles and struggles. We wanted people who were smart, articulate, funny, brave, and, above all, honest," they wrote.
In some cases, the authors are wrenchingly honest. Propp dissects her husband's rages in her essay, ''Matching Luggage." ''This is not an essay about healthy anger, the cleansing honesty that comes when both people trust each other enough to let their feelings rip . . . This is a story about an anger that's as bewildering as it is shameful -- a hidden emotional spring in which I almost drowned."
Susan Dworkin wrote about being married to a man who is estranged from his father: ''It was my very first encounter with the wages of divorce and the rage of abandoned kids. A bitter lesson, it lived on in my mind." She and her husband endured separation and reconciliation. ''You think everything was perfect after that? No way. Perfect is for kids, and we were -- finally -- grown-ups."
In the mix, there are children of divorce, lesbians, women who have been married once or three times, and women who have open marriages in which affairs are tolerated and celebrated. They endure cancer, strokes, heart attacks, and other health crises that can bring partners closer.
''Marriage is primal stuff -- two people confronting their own mortality," Jong wrote in her essay. ''It is not for the faint of heart. It is not for beginners."
Propp and Trounstine embarked on this literary expedition shortly after May 17, 2004, the day same-sex marriage became legal in Massachusetts -- a topic that is covered in the book by writers Elizabeth Graver and Helen Fremont. ''We fill the gaps for each other; growing into the holes left behind. We double up and increase our resistance; we are twice as brave," Fremont wrote.
Interspersed in the book, which is much more literary in tone than a ''how-to" manual, are words of advice. ''It's the angry silences that torpedo [marriages]," Jong wrote. ''Good marriages are noisy."
And the writers tried to grapple with the notion of why they stay together. ''Maybe what keeps us married is the hand that reaches across the abyss to comfort, a moment in darkness that outlasts all the fleeting brilliance of daylight," wrote Trounstine in her essay, ''The Finish Line." ''It takes us through the tough spots -- illness, job loss, our broken hearts."
Packer offered: ''We got married for love, yet we remain married for the times when love is as apparent and as obvious as the sun rising yet another day, and for all the times when our love seems so distant that we wonder why we bother with each other at all."

There are so many things going on

Friday night I was too sick to go on date night! All I wanted was bread pudding and a bed... I got both :-D The only other thing I did was start a blanket for Baby Tyler. I love love love the yarn I bought. It is chunky and beautiful...

Saturday we were LOVING the almost 60 degree weather. What fabulous temperatures for January! Best thing ever...
On Saturday I got up and LAZILY went for a run... Got a few miles in! Then I picked up Christy and her girls and we all stayed ver my sister Cheryl's house for a day of fun and food. At 6:30 I got my mom to a wedding in no time flat. (she had the wrong date and didn't want to miss the wedding) The great thing about this is that I got to have a DATE NIGHT with my husband... YAY ~ Love you Jim!

Sunday was a little cleaning and a lot of meeting with Joey and Kurt to plan their wedding

Fun times all around.

Make it up as you go along

That is how I craft and how I live...
I figured that out this weekend while I was crafting with some friends of mine... I decided Siobhan needed a skirt. I know one stitch, that's enough for a skirt, right? Well I figured that it would be if I just winged it! So I did... I think it is coming out JUST as I wanted it and I am certain she will love it! But that is how I live life too I just make it up as I go along... What more can you do? There are no patterns on living and loving happily, are there? And what happens if you miss a line of the directions? Are you just screwed? I dunno but I figure I will just stick with my just wing it attitude!
So I think that both my life and my skirt are just what is needed

Talk to you soon

A balancing act

I have been balncing my life between all my loves...
First and foremost my husband (the world's cutest man)
Then working out
and
lastly crafting...
So my time crafting has been less this week than it was in the past few weeks but I am enjoying it rather than rushing it... I did manage to finish a belt and start another, paint some of the world's ugliest maracas head, start a bowl that I want to make, and make some paper. The only thing I didn't get done was working on Jim's scarf AND Siobhan's skirt BUT I will work on both of those this weekend... My lofty dreams for the weekend? Finish the belt I am on and one more, get a good chunk of Jim's scarf done (think until I run out of yarn type of chunk) and Siobhan's skirt...
I am having a HUGE (great big) dilemma with this one. I have decided that I am going to crochet a sort of skirt onto a tee shirt for her... This shouts (yells and screams) Siobhan to me. My question is whether I should make scallops or free design long lengths.
I guess it depends on which yarn I choose. I am going to pick a yarn that I have already... Hopefully it speaks to me :-)

And if on the VERY odd chance I finish all that I am going to start my first ever belt for ME!!!
YAY. I bought the yarn the other day and I loved it right away (didn't hurt it was 50% off)

But my favorite part of my WHOLE weekend?
DATE night with the hubby tonight and I think I know where we are going, I'll let you know on Monday if I was right!