Garden Growth

I haven't really figured out the gardening yet. Of course I haven't tried that hard. That's on the list for next year. But one of our rose bushes has a very ambitious branch. 

What is up with that? It kind of weirds me out, but I've enjoyed watching it bloom.

This was one day.

And this was the next. 

In other good plant news, I have a couple tomato plants in a container and they're blooming! Fingers crossed they'll be real tomatoes soon. 

Bowls

Notice what's missing?

Bowls.

I use a lot of bowls. I think that's because I'm a messy eater. Things are so nicely contained in bowls.

The dishwasher is full of bowls and not enough of anything else to warrant running a load. I guess I'll have to start using plates again for a few days.

A Moment to Brag

Can I just take a moment to brag? Lee is freaking awesome.

I've been struggling with some laziness lately and to compensate I have made a ridiculous list of things I want to accomplish this week. I often ask Lee to help out, but for whatever reasons in how my crazy mind works I've spent a lot of time over thinking when I can get certain chores done this week and how Lee can help and maybe I should just do it all myself...

So this morning as we were getting ready for work I asked Lee if he could dust tonight and maybe something else, I hadn't decided, so much to do... And then -- this might not seem like much, but it meant a lot to my dorky OCD heart -- he told me, "Can you just tell me everything you want to me to do now because when additional tasks are hypothetically looming, I'm less likely to start on them." Then he incorporated an amusing analogy about needing to know how much the check needed to be made out for because once it was written he didn't appreciate requests for additional cash withdrawls. I could ask for any amount, but I needed to decide on an amount and ask. Which is totally fine with me.

Over the course of our relationship, one of the central frustrations has been me struggling to delegate yet getting grumpy that I do it all myself. And once I delegate, I micro-manage and don't understand why things aren't being done right now. (What do you mean Warhammer doesn't have a pause button?!) But lately we've really hit our chore groove and Lee has been sharing important insights, like how of all the kitchen tasks he least hates unloading the dishwasher (Oops, I forgot to add that to this evening's list. Hmm...) and he prefers a task list up front as opposed to me perpetually tagging on random things.

So tonight Lee will dust, vacuum and hopefully unload the dishwasher, leaving me plenty of time to go to the grocery, make dinner (tortellini, EVOO, garlic, parm -- both easy and delicious), laundry, and clean the bathroom. I feel so much better about my to-do list now!

Things I've Made Lately

I baked a yummy apple pie. (Yes, that is caramel drizzled on top.)



The apple slicing did not take as long as I thought.



I finished my pj pants. Now Lee and I have a matching set!

Although mine have fancy seams and were not bled on. Yay for improvement! This week I start learning to knit.



A pillow for my chair at work.

Randomly Found Internet Things

I was at AdRants today, one of my favorite blogs for doing "work research" and found a couple very interesting things.

I was very intrigued by the Tide Total Care commercial and it's promises, only to later by horrifically sticker-shocked when I went to go purchase it at Walmart. One should never be sticker-shocked in Walmart. Apparently though, it's just as good as another type of Tide at half the price, which works as well as the All Small and Mighty I've been using since college. Tide, you have lost my trust; Tim Gunn, never!

I watch The Bachelor and The Bachelorette, so on many levels I feel that I can't judge this. And I respect arranged marriages as a cultural institution as long as everyone's a willing participant and not 12. But arranged marriage realty TV? I'm not surprised it's on Fox and CBS.

Sarcasm + Cooking = Cooking for Assholes. Brilliant. (I don't think this had any relation to AdRants, but was found today.)

Non Self Promotions

Okay, well maybe the first one is a little self-related.

In case you didn't know, I'm a proud member of JASNA (Jane Austen Society of North America...duh.) and the regional chapter in Louisville. Our region is hosting an awesome Jane Austen Festival in July and Margaret Sullivan will be speaking, author of AustenBlog and The Jane Austen Handbook. Ms. Sullivan posted about us last week and you should check it out and come to the festival because it is awesome.

Also, one of my favorite blogs is This Young House. They are in a Better Homes and Garden 48-Hour Makeover Challenge and they need your vote. Everyday. (Okay I forget to do it everyday but at least try for most days.) If you don't like their makeover the best and don't want to vote for them, then please don't vote at all. Need additional incentives to vote?

1. Don't you want to learn about the projects they'll do with the prize money?

2. If this visual doesn't inspire you, then I don't know what will.

Image courtesy of This Young House

New Craft Idea!

I've been struggling lately with trying to decide how I want to organize my calendar. I like having it electronic, but I don't like the calendar format on my phone. I have a Google calendar, but since I don't want to pay for the internet on my phone that's not a portable option.

I'm starting to consider a return to the paper calendar.

At Target yesterday I found one I absolutely loved! Tragically, I can't find it online because I'm going to botch this description. It was a standard, spiral-bound planner but it had a cover made from really cute fabric. At the end of the year, you could slip that planner out of the canvas cover and slide a new one in.

My next thought was, "I can make this!" It didn't seem difficult really, I'm just not 100% sure on my current abilities. Especially since this would rely more strongly on me actually sewing in a straight line. Maybe with some practice though I can get one done for Christmas.

Apron!

Finally! Pictures of my fabulous apron! The project on which I learned to sew with Lee's Great Aunt Billie!

A close-up of the pocket. Yes, that is a real, working button and button hole. Observe the decorative stitch!
Tomorrow night Aunt Billie and I will begin our next project: sewing from a pattern. I'll be making Lee and I some pajama pants with the fabric below. Since Joann's was having a 2 for $5 on Simplicity patterns, I got one for the pants and one for a future awesome project.

Curtains!

After some previous issues with my curtains, I now have one complete, non-ghetto curtain to use.

I had some issues with the aligning on the first curtains because by the time I hemmed the front and back, they weren't the same size and I did not compensate for that well.



So I bought some new fabric that is the same pattern as the green above but in brown so hopefully just one panel of it won't let in too much light but still be mildly attractive on the wall. And just one sheet of fabric was much easier to deal with.



So yay! Curtains complete. Next (once I made another curtain for the other window): Bed skirt! *fingers crossed*

Mantel Revamp

I'm perpetually second-guessing most of my home decor decisions and lately I've been concerned about our mantel. Back in January I finished mantel decorating, and being super proud of me, shared my achievements. However, as I was recently scouring my new favorite blog, This Young House, I came across a how-to article on how to avoid being matchy-matchy. I prefer not being matchy-matchy, but it's so much easier than being tastefully non-matchy-matchy that I often succumb. The mantel is a perfect example. I shifted some things around and now that it is assymetrical I'm hoping it's less matchy-matchy.

Before
After

Oops!

I was just trying to be clean last weekend when I threw my place mats in the wash. Oops. Now they won't lay flat. Not even Grandmommy in her infinite domestic wisdom could flatten them. I guess I'll just to have sew me some new ones.

Speaking of sewing, my awesome apron and first sewing project ever is complete! Hopefully I will post pictures later this week. I started on some curtains yesterday. I hope to finish one of them tonight so I can see if it will turn out as screwed up as I think it might. My poor counting skills and my novice sewing skills appear to be conspiring against me.

Time

Now that I've picked that as a title I can't get that Hootie and the Blowfish song out of my head. Anyways...

I've been thinking lately about time and how I spend it. I've noticed that there are a couple things in my life that I spend much more time doing than I want to or need to, ultimately leaving me without time to do the things I really love. So I have some sans-New Years resolutions.

I think it's time Google Reader and I take a break. I don't actually have to read every headline and see every picture that Apartment Therapy posts (although they are exquisite!), yet when I see that there are currently 72 unread items, I feel like I need to clear that out by spending an hour skimming, when really I can just "Mark All As Read" and move on with my life. Just because about once a week the NYTimes will have a feature article I'll really love doesn't necessarily mean I need to spend several hours a day looking and waiting for it.

Also, I am going to adjust my means of procrastination. When I come home from work I tell myself that once I complete [insert evening's chores] I will [watch movie/catch up on DVR/read/call friend/craft something]. But what happens is I procrastinate on the chores by watching TV that I'm indifferent about, playing Solitaire, Facebook stalking or other random crap. I would much rather be reading or movie-watching, but since I have to do the chores before I can do those, I just wind up totally wasting the evening. So from now, I will procrastinate with things I actually want to do. I did this other night when Jane Austen defeated my laundry. It was a great evening.

Potlucks and New Projects

I love potlucks. In my Lexington life I had an amazing job with amazing monthly potlucks (There were themes each month, which generally amounted to food coloring mashed potatoes, but it was still awesome.) Once I moved to Louisville I started crashing Lee's work potlucks because I love a potluck. A couple months ago I found another amazing job but they were lacking potlucks so today we had our first potluck! The theme was Cheeseballs and Garlic, since today is National Cheeseball Day and tomorrow is National Garlic Day. Duh. I brought a tasty recipe I found for easy, cheap crockpot lasagna and it was pretty good!

Despite the fact that I have yet to finish my apron or curtains, I have found my next sewing project that I am eager to start...once I finish all the other ones...

I'm Just Mad About Saffron

Last night I made my creamiest risotto yet. However, it could have tasted better. It didn't taste bad, but I made a few cost-saving changes to the recipe for Chicken and Prosciutto Risotto (found in random cookbook I got for wedding gift that is perhaps my most favorite cookbook yet) and 2 out of 3 worked.

Good: I always use bacon instead of prosciutto and it has always worked well.

Good: Instead of 1/2 cup of white wine I used white grape juice which worked well but perhaps it was only because it was a small amount of wine. This might not work well on recipes that call for lots of wine.

Bad: Did you know that saffron threads are $14.99 at Walmart?! Yeah, I wasn't about to pay that. During some taste tests toward the end of the cooking process I realized that the risotto tasted like chicken broth, not hard to imagine since the recipe called for 7.5 cups of it. I tossed in some oregano because at that moment I liked the way it smelled over the other spices handy. In the end, it still needed some extra flavor boost.

But by golly was it creamy!

I Can't Count

Despite getting a 4 on the Calculus AP exam my senior year of high school, (An achievement that I will tout until my dying die. I was also high school valedictorian. And that's it.) I've never been good at basic math. I'm particularly bad at sewing math. I knew I should have sat down in a calm environment and calculated exactly how much fabric I needed for my curtains before I went to Joann, but instead I waited until I was next in line to have my fabric cut and had to rely on my last minute math "skillz."

And I was wrong.

But I have a plan!

I'm just doing plain rectangular sheets to hang on a tension rod over the windows, not too hard. The front was going to be a nice green swirly pattern with a tan back. Now I think I'm going to have a 6" tan border at the top so I don't have to buy another 2 yards of the more costly green pattern and I just need another 2 yards of the cheaper tan fabric.

So last night I pulled out my mom's sewing machine which she has given me as I start my new crafting adventure and figured out how to use it. I hope to actually start stitching on the curtains tonight but I'm going to actually cook tonight so it might have to wait until Friday.

Expect some culinary disaster or success story tomorrow!

Domestic Achievements

I've been pretty hardcore in the domestic department lately. Here are some samples.

My first sewing project is nearing completion! This week I learned how to gather! Check out that skirt on that apron! (If you can since it's a low quality cell phone photo.)

I made some cute magnets and thumbtacks for a birthday gift.


I even made a cute envelope to put them in.


Tonight I baked some Banana Banana Bread for Lee's potluck. The batter tasted yummy so hopefully it'll be just as delightful when baked.


My goals for this weekend include making some kind of wall art and/or curtains. *fingers crossed!*

Decorating Style Extravaganza!!

Thanks to one of my new favorite blogs, I discovered a variety of online quizzes regarding my decorating style. These quizzes are much better than the lame ones on Facebook so I encourage this as a top-notch means of procrastination.

Sproost says I'm 33% Traditional Country, 33% Nantucket Style and 34% Wine Country.

Ikea says I'm Country Antique, which breaks down to 60% Country, 40% Scandinavian and 0% Modern.

MyDeco says I'm Funky Modern. Kind of contradicts the previous two, but oh well.

I do think it's kind of funny how I like "country" styles yet I actually do not like the country at all. (Other than a weakness for ducks and the British countryside. In Britain, the country makes me think of Jane. In America, it just makes me think of ticks.) I'm a city girl, with a weakness for whicker.

Crafty Ambitions

I recently started taking sewing lessons from my great aunt-in-law. She says that I'm doing very well and making great progress, which is what all teachers say to their students but she's also not one to sugar-coat so I have confidence that I am actually awesome. In fact, my certainty of my own awesomeness and general excitement over learning to sew has given me some pretty big ambitions for what I'll soon be able to make. Just to share, here are some anticipated upcoming projects:

dog sweaters!

adorable purse, clutch and checkbook cover

clothes I might actually wear

awesome Halloween costumes

And, the project that started it all, my Jane Austen dress!

My thoughts have also been turned to how I want to design my sewing room, you know, once we have that second bedroom.

Domestic Disasters and Trying to Re-Board the Wagon

Last week I decided that I would take an exciting new idea I found in the land of home blogs to try to cut down on my grocery bill: shop for the month. Plan a monthly menu and shop for that in one trip. You'll need to run in again for milk and produce of course, but get everything else. It sounded like a good idea, and I plan on trying it again, or at least maybe trying to cut it down to twice a month, but this month did not go well.

First off, if I plan dinners, I plan nice dinners. Normally in a month, despite the best ideas, I might pull out one new recipe. The rest of the time it's cheese tortellini with olive oil, parm and spices or frozen pizza. I say I'm going to plan a weekly menu, but just wind up going to the store to pick up foods for lunch and some generic spaghetti dinners. When I pull out all my cookbooks and try a new Giada recipe once a week, it's a bit more expensive. I need to find some cheaper recipes.

Secondly, that one grocery trip wass hell. I was frustrated when they were out of something (Purina One Adult Dog Lamb and Rice) because this was my "one trip." After an hour and a half, our cart was full, we were exhausted and depressed by how much was still on the list. We gave up and checked out. This lead to an additional problem of me wrongly assuming that I had everything for the lasagna I had planned to cook that evening. Who knew lasagna needed eggs? I didn't until I had already started making some special Giada sauce. We ate frozen pizza instead.

I regrouped and adjusted our menu for the rest of the month with what I had managed to buy. I'll try again for next month, but maybe just shopping for two weeks at a time.

So on a slightly different topic but I'm actually going to tie it all together today (Gasp!), I've fallen off the exercise wagon. I fell off several weeks ago. I'm hoping that the longer days and warmer weather will help, and I'm trying to devise a new workout plan. I'm also trying to remind myself that it's better to do something than nothing, because I often wimp out because I know I don't have a full 30 minutes or I think this is the only day I'll have time this week so why bother. I need to start bothering. Maybe I need to try to find a 5K or something so I have a goal. I'll look into that. But yesterday, as I was eating Doritos (I try to eat healthy more often than not but I can never give up my bad food! I rely on exercise because dieting kills my soul.) I had an idea. What if I bought junk food for the month and that's it! This would be a way to curb excessive junk food eating, perhaps, by buying so much and then having to spread it out over the month. So I can have a monthly bag of Doritos, but if I eat it all in the first week, then it's gone and I can't get anymore. I don't really eat that much junk food, Girl Scout cookies excluded which is really more of a special season that one must savor while it lasts, but this might be a good way to keep from overdoing it.

Misc. Nonsense

I hosted a wedding shower a couple months ago (Has it already been a couple months? Holy crap -- is it March?! Close.) and spent a long time surfing the internet for some way I could calculate how much food to prepare, which of course I stumbled upon today. Also observe Real Simple's neato new website.

I'm in hypochondriac mode. I know it's not meningitis. Might be strep or flu or sinuses or a bad week.

And there are really no words to express the grief, sorrow, concern, shock, disappointment, etc., I felt last night. An excerpt from my conversation with Lee during half-time:
Me: I've decided that my least favorite three-word phrase ever is, "Another Kentucky turnover."
Lee: So I guess this makes your least favorite five-word phrase, "And another turnover from Porter."