His and Hers Pizza

I am still trying to perfect my pizza making abilities. I'm getting better. HIS--Sausage, yellow tomatoes and jalapenos.

Hers--Artichoke hearts, red onion, sundried tomatoes, rosemary, greek olives.

Ellery helps too. This is an apron I made for her long ago. Probably got one more year of use before I make another. I lub the pom-poms.

I'm Learning My Place

The maturation process for me includes realizing that people aren't really interested in what I think. So my place, that seemingly is the most comfortable for everyone else, is to be funny. Happy to oblige:

7 "MOST IMPORTANT" Tips TO KNOW IF YOU OWN A HORSE.
-To induce labor in a mare? Take a nap.
-To cure equine constipation? Load them in a clean trailer.
-To get a horse to wash their own feet? Clean the water trough and fill it with fresh water.
-To get a mare to come in heat? Take her to a show.
-To get a mare in foal the first cover? Let the wrong stallion get out of his stall.
-To make it rain? Mow a field of hay.
-To make a small fortune in the horse business? Start with a large one.

I Take Dares

What could I have possibly done to shock my daughter like this.


She saw this on the counter for dinner:

"I Dare You." That's what the trout said to me as he stared and grinned me down at Costco through plastic wrap. Alton Brown had convinced me to try trout--cheaper, easier on the environment than salmon and tuna. OK but when I looked at it, I wasn't sure of myself.

So I chopped the heads off and gave them to the dogs. Don't do this if fish breath lasting for days bugs you when your pooch wants a smooch. I know I won't again.

I put small bits of butter and lemon slices in the body cavity and rubbed the outside with my favorite salmon rub. Then BBQ'd on a cedar plank on the grill for about 15min. Three fish fed the four of us with enough leftovers for trout salad sandwiches for the next day.

I take dares--I will jump off cliffs and do other things that scare me. One thing that scared me was "could I feed my family well and still work?" It sounds benign--so 80's. But it was a fear. I took the dare. It's working out. This fish is like eating butter.

Baptism Dress

I don't think I ever posted Ellery's baptism dress that I made. A short gathered yoke, short sleeves, and a-line skirt. Simple, so I found a velveteen with a wave pattern in it for some texture.

The back. The butterflies were a clip I made her. She wore it well and has worn it to church often as well. The backing on the fabric is not very skin-friendly (I found it on a website that sold pool table fabric) so I shopped for a full slip in her size. Does no one put their daughters in a slip anymore??? I finally found one on a site that sold Amish clothes. Really. I don't have a lot of time to sew. There is a quilt top I could finish for the Battered Women's Foundation "Day to Shine" event. There is a project bag (pattern, fabric, notions) ready for a nightgown, a purple winter dress and a peach sundress, each. I haven't been carving out time lately enough though.

But, I love how what we make has a story behind the making that is interesting apart from the thing that was made. Children's birthstories, home building, Theses, business beginnings, and even clothes. Maybe it's the historian in me. I love to know how things came to be the way they are (and "God wanted it that way" is usually the least interesting answer.") There's always a fabulously interesting 'why' that could possibly include a mix of pool tables and the Amish. Who knew?

Happy Birthday (Suit) Mr. Brown

I have a lot of friends who are very happy to see this guy in a Senate seat. I too am breathing a sigh of relief. Thank goodness for independent minded Massachusetts. Although we are happy to see him in a different way than Cosmo readers were happy to 'see' him back in the 80's. Congratulations Mr. Brown.

Art Lessons 2

I found this on Katy's blog:

The truly creative mind in any field is no more than this: A human creature born abnormally, inhumanely sensitive. To them... a touch is a blow, a sound is a noise, a misfortune is a tragedy, a joy is an ecstasy, a friend is a lover, a lover is a god, and failure is death. Add to this cruelly delicate organism the overpowering necessity to create, create, create -- so that without the creating of music or poetry or books or buildings or something of meaning, their very breath is cut off... They must create, must pour out creation. By some strange, unknown, inward urgency they are not really alive unless they are creating.

Pearl Buck US novelist in China (1892 - 1973)

At the bottom of an Email

Sometimes people have sayings on their email formatted signatures. Here's one I got today:


Live your life in such a way, that when your
> feet hit the floor in the morning, Satan shudders and
> says.......... "Oh shit.... she's
> awake!!!!"

Art Lessons

From Heather Jansch:

"I hated the confines of school and was a disruptive student except during blissful art classes. I took A level art two years early and failed all my O levels except English language but miraculously that got me to Walthamstow College. There, drawing was regarded as the first essential. I was enthralled and excelled. I went on to the now famous Goldsmiths College in London where sadly, at the time, figurative work was unfashionable. There was a life room, and models too, but no tutors ventured near. They liked and encouraged (typically) 6ft square green canvases with triangles and circles in bold clashing colours and sculptures using planks and blocks of polystyrene.

At the end of the first year I was asked to leave the course. I was told that I did not have the stuff that painters were made from and, if lucky, I might scrape a place somewhere to do graphics. My confidence was shattered. I was not interested in graphics. I liked the country, painting and constructing things from what lay around.

But that was then, and I went on to achieve my dream by virtue of fate, the generosity of others, luck and determination. I went my own way, not always wisely and not always to accolade from the establishment."

More about 40

Really? You think I'm taking my birthday too hard? huh.

Give Good Face

For my birthday I got a make-over at Ulta and got the low-down on the make-up. (Lots of prepositions as nouns just now.) I wanted a liquid eyeliner tutorial but the beauty lady encouraged me to use cream eyeliner. Easier to use with same effect. With the angled brush I can get right above my lash line. The other end of the brush is a smudger for blending.

This foundation is called "cream to powder." It feels moist like a cream but you brush it on with a flat brush and it turns to mineral coverage. Like radios, HTML and ears, I don't get how it works-but it does.

I have half-eyebrows so I need to be Johnny Cash and draw the line. This set is from Urban Decay--I draw the angled brush across the wax then feather each side of the brush with each tone of brow powder. Like it because the brush is much thinner than I have been using and said beauty lady told me to draw way out farther than I was.

The green is a primer that I put on under foundation. It evens out red and makes the skin smoothie-licious.

Eye lash curler--I heard I could heat it up with a hairdryer. Beauty lady told me to mascara, then curl, then mascara again. But that seems to wasteful since I leave lots of mascara on the curler. I like the dryer way. How do you do it. What maquillage products do you like?

The Foreign Feeling of Crying

Yesterday I cried. I was standing in front of the dryer, folding clothes and it happened. I started and then I wondered why it felt so weird. I can't remember the last time I cried. Not my normal "I can't remember what happened yesterday." But like "what is this my body is doing?" Today I am trying to figure out why it happened:

The kids had argued/complained/ignored me/hit eachother/whined for 2 hours straight. (Their schools closed because of the cold and ice and Southerners don't like either.)

I had wanted to get housework done quickly so that we could have a free day together at home. They just wanted me to work while they slept, argued, put many items on the floor, and watched TV.

I stayed home from work to be with them and realized it had been a while since I had to clean and referee children at the same time. Took me back to my least happy days.

I heard an interview on the radio saying that while married women are less happy, healthy, more prone to depression and alcoholism than single women, married men are more happy, and healthy than single men. Hmm.

Then Cyler came in with news from his State of the Union conference call with the company he works for. They will no longer provide health insurance for dependents, implementing salary cuts, and they are "restructuring" bonuses (not in our favor). Here is irresponsible capitalism and the negative side of socialism come to kick me in the rear.

And then I cried because I don't know how to fix any of it.

Ellery's NY Res

I'm inspired. Here's mine:

Have joy everyday
Lose a few inches
Be nice to my Cyler
Stop being a sucker

Big girl pants and new year's

I feel like I have nothing to say. But since when did that stop a blogger from posting. The holiday was a whirlwind of late nights, cream cheese and wrapping paper. Through it all though I managed to stay in budget, but not in my skinny jeans. I am in my big girl pants, looking forward to my detox eating plan. I feel puffy. My birthday was uneventful the day of. I worked. Cyler went golfing. But THEN I got a free day to myself. Here was my New Year's Eve Birthday-Extravaganza-Let's See How Long I Can Stay Away From Home-Day:

8am Sauna Session at gym
Chiropractor adjustment/massage
Shopping-World Market
12:30pm Pick up Becky
Sushi
Shopping-Zara
Drop off Becky
Shopping-Anthropologie
5pm Movie-"Nine"
Home in time to pick up Cyler for New Year's soiree at Suzanne's

THEN, on the weekend we went with Reeds to eat Thai and see "4 Day Weekend" an improv comedy troupe. The Tom Kha soup was yummy, as was the fried banana and Pad Thai. The place was kind of in the gett-toe and service was tar-slow but the experience was still fun and cheap. The show was hilarious. They dressed up like people from the audience, they made fun of lines from newclippings on the spot. They made up entire skits from one liners from the audience. Amazing!

Well, now that I'm forty, I know:

• how to wipe counters
• umm. . .

I thought I would have enough to justify a beautifully elongated bulleted list. No matter, I'll just keep trying to learn stuff.