one of the last crochet projects for 2010

This is one of those great pics you really only get if your there, but I asked my husband to try the slouch cap I was making for my daughters boyfriend and he jokingly said he was already feeling the Rastafarian coming out. The boyfriend has a giant fro, so this will be fuller with hair, than my hubs.  I think the beer and college sweatshirt just add to the look. 

Boxing Day and the 12 days of Christmas

Sitting with my daughter and her boyfriend the other night we were discussing the 12 days of Christmas.
The fact that the 12 days of Christmas occurs after Christmas day, and that it ends on Epiphany, which is usually the 6th of Jan, but some calendars celebrate it on the 7th.  This Website offers a good theological discussion of the 12 days of Christmas,http://www.crivoice.org/cy12days.html.  There is some controversy over the song being a mnemonic for the teachings of Catholicism.

Over the last 20 years or so , I've seen Christmas even more commercialized than I remember as a child, with the large departments stores like Macy's playing Christmas music in the beginning of November, and the all the presales that started in November well before Black Friday.  When I was a child, it was and event to go to Black Friday with the female relatives in the family, looking for the best deals and seeing the decorations up, There was something magical. Now Its how much can you buy, the lowest price and by Black Friday, the sounds and magic of Christmas seem old hat. 

We only did a tiny tree  (table top 15 ") this year.  It still holds magic, because it represents the birth and celebration of Christ.  Epiphany will come and we will celebrate Three Kings day, but it will be odd, as my daughter will have returned to San Francisco already. 
We exchanged our presents with extended family Christmas day, and so currently we don't celebrate on boxing day, other than recovery from the excitement of having all the family around.  I hope that you and yours had a wonderful family event this year.

going on a jet plane

This weekend is going to be whirlwind.  I'm off alone ( hubs is staying at home for important meeting) to San Francisco to catch a performance of my daughters.  So close to Christmas I wish we could have made it a family holiday.  But work gets in the way of life.
I had to include this photo as she actually has a view (eye of a needle view )of the golden gate bridge from her new digs.  Which makes her quite happy.
So my lovelies, I hope your weekend is good, and I will touch base with you early next week.

DIY Christmas rush

I just realized I have a little less than 2 weeks to finish several gifts and get them mailed out. Not including the gifts I am not sending, but want to be able to have boxed and wrapped so it doesn't seem like a last minute thought.

One gift that I'm making is a holiday CD holder.  I made about 5 Cd's from my Itunes account of Holiday music I've collected over the years.  These I'm putting into a  small case made from card stock and scrap booking papers.  The person that is getting this I think will truly enjoy it, and its something that they can open when they get it, and use every Christmas afterwards. 

Trying to finish up a scarf which I think I will make into a cowl to go with a hat I made last month, is also on my list. It shouldn't take too much longer.

And some major sewing projects.  This wouldn't be so bad, but I'm going to San Francisco to visit my daughter for a few days this week, and would like to have achieved most of this before going.

Just saw, a great recipe for homemade vanilla, using 3 vanilla beans, 1 TBS of Rum, and fill the rest of the bottle with Vodka, takes 7 months to cure.  Wow, I might have to do this for a couple bakers in my life.

Gingerbread for the little one's

I love the smell of gingerbread baking.  Its one of the most tempting smells during the holidays.  Gingerbread cake, gingerbread cookies, even gingerbread lattes have a certain appeal.

When my daughter was in preschool the teacher shared this very simple recipe for :

Gingerbread Cookies

1 package of instant butterscotch pudding

1 egg

1/2 cup brown sugar

                                                    1/2 cup butter

                                                 1 1/2 cups flour

                                                 1 tsp Cinnamon

                                                         1/2 tsp soda

                                                     1/2 tsp ginger

Mix all ingredients to form a dough.  chill dough for about and hour or longer.  Roll out, cut and bake cookies at 350 degrees for 10 -12 minutes.  Yields 12 cookies.

Make the dough up in the morning, then its ready to use later when the kids come home from school. Or if you children like to do the mixing, we made it a 2 day project. One to make dough, and one to cook and ice the finish cookies. I like that it only makes a dozen instead of a larger amount.



a little martha stewart sample



making cookie gifts

Do you find that you have more people you want to remember at the holidays than your pocket book could possibly handle?  I know I do, and I'm always looking for things that are meaningful in some way to my friends.   I want something that will offer a bit of myself.  Since I love to bake, my favorite idea is to pick a cookie or two that's special and make those. Put into a cute container, you can give someone a little taste of the holidays without overwhelming them with too much. 

In my family my mother made these cookies called Kolatchkies.  She recieved the recipe from a neighbor when I was bout 7 or 8 and always made them after that.  Ours were made with a nut filling but I've seen others do them with a fruit filling.  .
I still make kolatchkies, it wouldn't be Christmas without them.

 Since everyone is looking for ideas, I thought I would share this link its got a few ideas too, brought to you by Real Simple http://www.realsimple.com/food-recipes/recipe-collections-favorites/easy-recipes-handsome-holiday-gifts-00000000023442/index.html

 
So todays little gift is my family recipe for Kalotchkies

ingredients: 1 & 1/3 cups of sifted flour

             1 cube of butter (1/4 lb)

                                             4 Tablespoons light cream (half & half works)

Mix all ingredients into a dough, and roll thin on a surface sprinkled with powder sugar.  cut into 2 inch squares and place a  1/2 tsp of nut filling in the center of each cookie. have the square look like a diamond,  then fold up 2 opposite corners to look like a swaddled baby.  Bake at 375 degreees for 12- 15 minutes til lightly golden and filling is puffy.

When cookies have cooled, sprinkle powder sugar lightly over them to look like snow.

Nut filling:  1 cup of ground walnuts

        1 beaten egg white

                     1/2 cup of granulated sugar

                  1 1/2 teaspoons of vanilla

Blend ingredients together and use 1/2 tsp per square.

we have some new friends who are from Russia originally and they make a similar cookie.  They cut their squares a little bigger and use a bit more filling.



how quickly Christmas comes.

Only last week it was Thursday and  Thanksgiving.  Suddenly on Friday its Christmas.  We have always put up Christmas decorations the weekend of Thanksgiving, more because of time and they are so involved, you want to enjoy them as much as possible.  This year, we were so busy enjoying having our daughter home that we did not.  Our time was spent with her, attending movies, shopping for her birthday, and enjoying good meals together.

So this week I'm looking trying to figure what decorations to put up.  Since the house is still on the market, I feel like I should not put up all the usual doo dads. So I'm trying to find things maybe a little more elegant and less clutter like.  Is there such a thing?  After being at the craft store, I wanted to just borrow their tree and bring it home.  Life would be easier. However I did decide to change my floral arrangement in the foyer, and this is what I was able to create.  You know when you see something in the store, and you think I want to change that up, and make it my own? After I made this, it would have been less expensive to purchase theirs, but then mine has my own touch on it.  I love the little red bird as he is the little surprise in all the green, white and gold. 

I thought I had a great idea for the large wreath to put over my fireplace, i bought a stand for wreaths, and the wreath would have covered it all up, and I wouldn't have to put a hole in the wall, something I'm very conscious of these days.  But alas, the wreath ways so much it won't stand up.  So I believe all that's left is a nail.  Bummer.

After that I'll probably drape the garlands on the stairwell (which is made for garland and begs for it) and call it good for a couple weeks. 

Hope your decorating is going well.

Loving the "Artic Blast" and Pumpkin soup

Our recent snow storm was hailed as the Artic Blast by the news people.

The roads yesterday were miserable and 2 hours for 25 miles was pretty average across the freeways.  My hubs spent 4 + hours driving 50 miles from work. Riding the metro wasn't really a better deal, as everyone was stuck on the roads and the myriads of accidents, ice, and confusion.
Seattleites aren't really good at snow driving. It's just a fact.

Now the sun is out, and its quite beautiful but the temperatures are low.
So to warm you up, I'm going to share my Pumpkin soup recipe.  There are so many versions of this soup, and everyone has there favorite.  I put this one together a few weeks ago.

PUMPKIN SOUP

1 sugar pumpkin med size cut in half seeds removed, and roast with meat side down on foil lined baking sheet.  I cook at 450 degrees for about and hour or the meat is very tender.
1 can of light coconut milk
1 Tbsp approximately of mild red curry paste
1 16 oz can of chicken broth ( you can use more if soup is too thick)
additional, 1/4 tsp ginger, 1/4 - 1/2 tsp coriander-ground, cayenne to taste, if you don't like ginger or coriander, not a big deal if you don't add extra.
about a quarter of finely chopped onion.
(seasoning is so up to individual, I try to not use much salt, as it is usually in the chix broth.)

Put all the ingredients into soup pan, and heat, I use and immersion blender to smooth out the pumpkin, be careful to not splash your self, or use the blender before heating the liquid. You could also put half the mixture into a regular blender and repeat with 2nd part.

Once it is all heated thru serve with some yummy whole wheat french bread, and a side salad.

Hope you enjoy it.  It warms up your kitchen as well as your table.

How time flies.

I just realized its been about a month since my last post here.  Not intentional to let so much time pass, sometimes it just happens.

I'm still waiting for my home to sell, which is nerve racking as the time gets closer to the holidays.  Between trying to keep up the appearance of constant house cleaning, and trying to keep and eye on the market if it does sell, its quite tiring both mentally and physically.   Obviously now is not a great season to sell a house, however we don't always have total control.

My daughter celebrated her 19th birthday last week, the first one away from home.  It was very weird as a parent to not share that day with your child.  We sent an edible fruit bouquet to her dance classes, with birthday balloons, and her friends went out with her for dinner and desert.  In the meantime, she has found new digs to move to after Thanksgiving.  So she'll be saying goodbye to the flop house, and hello to the challenge of moving in the city without a car.  I believe she will be much happier in the new place, she will have her own bedroom, and the girls all speak English. As you may remember her so far she's had a Korean roommate who had very little English language skills, and currently has a roommate from Turkey. This girl has better command of the language, but long conversations are still difficult.
In 2 days she will be coming homing to celebrate Thanksgiving.  Last year she was in the local Macy's parade on black Friday, and we spent all of the day downtown, this year that's not happening.

Well this is just a quickie.  I will post some more in the next day or two. 
Oh yes we have Snow!  Snow before Thanksgiving, is quite uncommon in Seattle overall, and to occur before the Thanksgiving holiday is even rarer.

Fall

I love Fall! The weather for a bit is sunny, dry and crisp while the leaves begin to change colors. In the Seattle area this can be quite short, before the rain begins to settle in but it doesn't dampen the spirit of fall.

The leaves still turn colors of red, yellow and brown. They still fall with a crunch sound underfoot.  The skies are clear but you smell the hint of wood burning from the many fireplaces in the area. What people don't often know is the rain isn't a constant happening- MOST DAYS (occasional freakish storms do happen). It's off and on throughout the day, with many dry periods.  This is a little tree in my backyard that doesn't get many flowers in the summer, but when the weather turns it becomes a beautiful red. I wanted to get one last picture before it loses it leaves.

I love the fall colors as well.  I'm very fond of yellow and reds.  When I was a teenager, my room was done in yellow and white, and my grandmother helped me make my first quilt which was done in yellow gingham, yellow solids and a print that was yellow, orange, and green.  I love color in general, but am not committed to any one color scheme. I like prints so that I can pull accent colors out that are in MY favor at the time.

Being fall, I feel the need to decorate, regardless of selling my house.  It hurts my soul to not be able to put something seasonal out .  I ran to the craft store, looking and searching for nothing to cheesy or commercial.  I found this  rustic candle holder, which I  LOVE!  I filled it with fall potpourri that has some pops of color, and then bought electric candles for the  holders.  I'm a huge fan of these battery operated candles.  I can put them on when I leave the house for a showing to set a mood and not worry that anything will catch a fire. There are so many types out, and most are set inside candle wax, so even if your into scented candles, you can still have them. 

Then I found these Chinese lanterns, which are the coolest plant when you see them in a garden.  They grow these lovely papery lantern shaped flowers that dried are so beautiful.  I've even seen these used for making cute pumpkin decorations. But I've put them currently, they may not stay, inside my cake keeper, along with one of those lovely buttery colored battery candles.  I just had to bring this pop of color to my dining room table.


you don't see the wire where its placed.



Lastly I found a twig pumkin that I filled with mini lights that were orange and yellow colored, added a spray of fall flowers to it for color.  It's not much but now I feel that I have some seasonal decorations which will last me until Christmas and with Luck we will hopefully be in a new home. 

weekend round up.

Last week a very dear woman in my family passed away.  She was born in 1910 she passed one month and one day prior to turning one hundred.  My aunt never married, and was the oldest of six children.  When my grand parents were aging, she took care of them both until they passed away themselves. She loved everyone, and treated everyone the same.  When I think of all the things that she saw happen during her life- automobiles and there changing styles, flying, man going to space, among so many other things.  She loved sports, and treated herself to big screen this last year to watch sports.  She was and extremely devout woman and loved her church and the community she lived in for the last 50+ years.
Her funeral was Thursday and the services were attended my the majority of the family, as well as some extended family and friends.  There must have been over a 100 people there. Immediate family went to the cemetery meaning her two surviving siblings, (one is 95, and one 78), one sister in law, nieces and nephews and their children too.  We then went to the church hall to celebrate her life. 

Many of us don't see each other except for weddings and funerals. My brothers were here as well and its the first time I've seen them in about 8 -10 years.  I had forgotten I was so short compared to the two them. The tallest one has 3 children  between 12 and 3, and the shorter one has a daughter who is about 17 months older than my own daughter.  Our children were not present. It's not a great photo but probably the first one of the 3 of us since about 1981.  And I can't stand my hair looks so bad, it was so HOT there, and we had been outside at the cemetery just frying. I kept running my hands through my hair and it totally messed.  Meanwhile I look at many of my girl cousins my age, and they must have a love affair with hair products, because some of those women didn't have hair that budged, not a hair misplaced.  OH well, and so it goes.

I made a quick trip from the funeral to visit my daughter.  Its only 120 miles or so, and once in the area it would be a crime to not see her.  So she and I had dinner at a little Greek restaurant called Mycos? I think down on Polk st. Then I took her grocery shopping for some things she might not be buying usually.  It was a very quick visit but one I was glad to have.  I would have stayed another day, but her BF was coming into town for the weekend and 3 in this case is definitely a crowd.  She'll be home for a week in November though to celebrate her birthday and Thanksgiving.

I finally sold my car this weekend.  Yeah! is all I can say, and goodbye sweet little KIA.  I have enjoyed my Spectra 5.  It was a fun car, and I wish my daughter had been able to get the hang of it.
Now if my house would sell things would be even better. 
We checked out a couple houses today.  One was not great but had pretty gardens and yard. One was ok, but needed some work, and one we liked the outside, but it ended up not being open.  Then we went and looked at the new houses we looked at several months ago by Inglemoor high.  They are still are so pretty and for the price, to have a new house vs one with issues.    I don't know, its not all about location, but a big part.

catching up

Hubs is out of town this week.  On sunday we had a birthday dinner for his dad.  While we were eating our daughter called in a "help" moment.  Her computer had crashed and things weren't coming back like they should.  She was able to talk with her grandad, and wish him a happy birthday.  Then got jealous when her dad said we were having a Corned Beef.  I promised when she came home for Thanksgiving, I would make it for her as her birthday dinner which is the week before she comes home.  This will be her first birthday not being home.  OH how times change.

To fill in the emptiness this week I made it to the movies and saw "CASE 39".  Its very intense and very much a thriller.  It had a couple of really creepy scary moments.  Its not like Halloween series or Carrie, or those other gross movies.  Tomorrow off with a girl friend to see "Men in Dance" at the Broadway hall in Seattle.  It's looking to be quite interesting program, including Peter Boal the director of Pacific Northwest Ballet will be performing a piece choreographed for him by Donald Byrd. Our friend Eva Stone who is the director of Stone Dance Collective is providing a piece done in the past by my daughter and some other girls in the company, but this time will be all boys, and obviously have a bit of a twist on it.  Both my friend and I have children in dance. Her son is Germany dancing for Stuttgart ballet, and my daughter is studying dance in San Francisco this year.

Can't wait for the hubs to come home.  This is a big empty house after the first or 2nd day.  And the cat she makes a lot of noise, but is not the lovey dovey type. 

Limosuines and Laughter; Parties ever after

Sunday we found we had a little free time with no impending projects or phone calls demanding our time.  So we headed to McCormicks and Schmidts for happy hour.  Unfortunately on Sunday they have what they call Game day fare.  It's not happy hour that's for sure.  We had a couple drinks and I  tried the fish tacos while Gordon went for the Tempura shrimp.  We watched the end of the SeaHawks game and then decided we would go elsewhere.  So we went up stairs to The Parlor.  They always have a good happy hour, with a new menu coming soon.  Here we had a few more drinks. Gordon had the Sliders, while I tried the Asian beef satay.  While there we played with the phone camera.  After numerous terrible shots, like both of our Glasses reflecting the flash - you know that Stars in your eye look, or the camera would cut one of us off, or the angle was so ridiculous you would laugh hysterically, we finally came out with one sort of OK picture- seen here.

The nice thing about happy hour, you can go have a early dinner (via the happy hour bites) and a drink or two and be home by 7.

Empty Nester's

I was at dinner last night with friends and my father in law.  My father in law has launched three children of his own  on this world of ours and now is watching his 3rd grandchild head out there.  He made a great comment, about he doesn't have to worry so much he can watch the girls and make comments etc. but its not his responsibility.  Actually what really cracks up about this statement is that he probably worries more than he will ever tell.  He is always making sure the girls have what they need, but he also made the comment to me he only hears from them when they need money.  When my husband and I were newly married, he was always there for us financially.  If we asked he provided, even though it may have been a bind for him.  He never told us.  He did at one point tell us we needed to start paying for my husbands tuition on our own, but it was to be expected. 
Last night his friend made the comment that I was being such a good mother in understanding my daughter's need to go off &  follow her love of dance.  Supporting her financially and through this time.  I almost wanted to laugh.  Our daughter is our only child.  We love our daughter, and want her to succeed.  We don't always agree with her but it certainly is our desire to see her happy and grow into a responsible adult.  When your children are at home, the last few years are so crucial in teaching them responsibility, respect for others and how to take care of themselves. You hope they have learned enough independence and confidence to succeed on their own.
 I believe our world is very different than it was 30 years ago when I went off to school.  I went to college, being driven by my grandmother, mother and aunt to the dorms.  I had 3 boxes of stuff no suitcases.  They helped me carry my boxes up, looked around and said goodbye.  We had no cell phones, or computers.  You could write letters, or make a traditional phone call.  I was far enough away the call was long distance so it precluded making those kind of calls. Parents didn't hang around, decorate your rooms, or stay with you. I kind of felt like it was a sink or swim situation, BUT I was determined that I would swim. I had never paid a bill, my first job held that summer-2 months part time before going away to school. I didn't care about what I didn't have. I cared about what I would accomplish and do on my own.  Some of us seem to have more challenges than others to succeed.  I learned those challenges and how we handle them, are what make us the person we become.  Many times I've wanted to curl up in my mothers or grandmothers lap and say, I'm so done with all of this, but then I look at what my grandmother accomplished and overcame in her life and realize that self pity in short spurts can feel good, but gets us no where.
So you're wondering where is this all going?   Well I guess I miss my daughter.  We are fortunate to be able to share a few text almost every day. Do I miss her presence and her hugs. YOU BET!  Am I proud of her taking on the challenging of following her dream, living in a large city, without any real friends or family, living in a dorm that's not associated with her school, so the community feeling you get when you live in a school dorm isn't there. She is taking the bull by the horns. And I hope with all my heart she succeeds. 
As a parent, I don't feel like I deserve compliments for "allowing", or helping her to go.  I know from my own experiences, she would find a way to do it.  With our help she has a better chance at success,but certainly its all about her.  I have several friends who are all in the same boat.  We all have our own ways of handling it, but its a fact that our children grow and mature(at least we hope they do).

projects updated!

Well as promised, here is a picture of the pink Brazilian cotton shawl.  I finished it while we were driving back from San Fran. Of the several photos I took this is the only one that came out, where you can see it ( however it is a bit blurry).  My little body form its on will be going back to the studio this weekend.  I figured, when I move I don't have room for it, I have two others. one is a junior form I use for my daughter- since she is petite. This form is for a small woman, but definitely not petite in length.  Since many of the dancers at the studio are taller, this will benefit them.

My next project is this shirt.  I saw it in an advertisement for  Dillard's.  We don't have Dillard's in the northwest, and although I'm quite sure I could find the shirt at one of the bigger stores like Macy's, i don't want to search.  So I'm on the search for a tunic pattern- probably have one in my stash that I can convert the front to this type of detail.   It's  silk organza on a silk blend knit.
My daughter really liked  it too, so if successful, I will do one for her.

wow time has gone by so fast.

I returned home last Thursday from taking my daughter off to her new city digs.  It was hard to say goodbye, especially when the tears welled up in her eyes.   So my question is, why is it when our kids get old enough to do things with us, and you can enjoy each others company, instead of feeling like its work, that they move away? It's just very odd for nature to do this to us. 

I finished a shawl I was crocheting while traveling.  Made from a Brazilian cotton blend.  I'm not sure what I will do with it, yet.  While in Ashland I was able to pick up a lovely silk blend yarn on sale, in two colors, one a gorgeous but not overly bright coral- intended to be made for Emilee. And a very soft grey I want to use for myself.
It was on sale for 25% off so I felt like I hit the jackpot.  We only stopped for lunch, but the yarn shop was on the way back to the car. 

I've been so busy, I haven't read blogs, or written on my own here. =)   
I just came back from meeting with the realtor to discuss the house.  I recently  found before leaving to San Francisco 2 perfect houses. Same neighborhood, similar floor plan etc.  one sold just before I left and the other, went pending this weekend.  There was one other I had marked as a favorite, and its gone pending too.  So now I' have two other houses same area, but opposite side of the neighborhood with  my eye on.  I'm afraid to like them too much or they'll fly off too.  One has been on for 6 months is priced to high, and desperately needs fresh paint inside and a little updating.  The other one I've not been in but the seller is offering to update the kitchen counters on sale, so that's a big deal.  Would like to see in it one of these days.

Next on the list is the box of things forgotton and asked for by darling daughter.  So I need to run around and collect her goodies and mail out to her. 
I will soon throw a couple pictures on here of the shawl and trip.

Taking my daughter to college

Well here it is the weekend we take our daughter off to college.  She's not finished packing yet, no surprise, but we told her we have to leave by a certain time and she needs to be ready.  But of course this is all 2nd to getting together with friends, saying goodbye, attending Seattle Bumbershoot musical festival.  In fact we are leaving a day later so she can attend the festival.  Then there was the housing, although we found what we wanted, it was more difficult to get finalized.
So it is with excitement and tears that we get ready to pack up the car and figure out what to take.  We tried to make a trip to container store and pick out a few things that might make life easier but its so difficult to do without knowing the rooms details.    So in a few days, my daughter will start her new life as a student living away from home in a few states away, and we will be worrying that she's ok, happy, and healthy and doing well, as all parents do.  I read where one parent went to and amusement park and rode the roller coasters after dropping off her daughter at college.  I'm kind of in a mind to do that.  Where screaming your brains out, till tears come, can give you some release of all the pent up feelings.  Yep that sounds like a good idea but I don't know that there is one anywhere near.  Oh well, we'll stop and visit my aunt who is almost  100 for a little bit.  She sleeps most of the day but it will be good to see her too.

Country Village in Bothell

I don't know if you have ever had the chance to go to Country Village. It's changed over the years, different shops, places move stay in the village but move to different locations. When my daughter was little we used to go to fill the time.  It had my favorite independent fabric shop. Here I learned to quilt by hand, and to do traditional English smocking, not using a sewing machine, but the smocker with numerous needles you threaded to gather the fabric and then did embroidery stitches over. 

We (my daughter and I) would go and feed the ducks and chickens.  They also had bunnies and some other birds - doves, and occasional peacock.  It seems like most of the stores and restaurants have changed over the years.  Many of my favorites are gone.  Some replaced by something similar and some replaced by something completely different. 
We ( my hubs, my girlfriend and her hubs) went to a fund raiser wine walk on Saturday.  You pay 20 dollars for 10 tickets for tasting, and bring your own glass.  We meandered around, looked thru a shop here and there, but not enough to really offer them business. We did also wander thru the various small bites put out.  Some were delicious and some we ordinary.  But we did stumble upon the most deletable sweet shop called Susan's Sweets.  She sits out of the way, and we only found our way in as a wine vendor was set up inside.  The wine I don't remember but this woman has quite the hand for making delectable desserts. We sampled her cheesecake, pecan bars, macaroons, and chocolate.  It was incredible.  She's got to have the best deserts in Seattle.  My daughter and her boyfriend were wondering around the village as well.  They ran into us at the sweet shop. They took home a pumpkin cookie that was almost like cake, with cream cheese frosting.  We spent some time listening to music with them.  Then they went off and so did we.

We headed to the Italian restaurant to get a little food.  They have happy hour all day everyday in there bar.  But they are pretty stingy with their bread products.  When asked for another piece of  pita bread they said it would be 2 dollars. which we all snubbed our nose at.  My girlfriend was more upset than we realized though.  She took charge of paying the bill, and we'll leave it at that.  LOL.  I love my friend and she had her reasons.  The service was bad, wrong orders delivered, 10 minute wait for them to correct their mistake, with no apology, so the bread should have been a freebie for their mistake. We love happy hour, but its safe to say, we won't be back there.
I was inspired to go back another day though when its not a special event and I can browse the stores. 

finally finished!

I started this little market bag, for my daughter while she was down in San Francisco in July.  After working on it for awhile I kept thinking something was wrong with the pattern instructions because it always came out wrong.  And so I scrutinized it and decided that I had interpreted it wrong and proceeded to take out and redo. It turned out much nicer the 2nd time around.

I'm thinking I might put a little decoration on one of the handles where it connects to the bag just for some added pizazz.

 If you look at the photo to the right, you can also see a layering top I made her last summer but could never get her to decide how much she wanted the side sewn- until now.  No green is not her favorite color, but when I go to the yarn shops I get into these moods for green and if its strikes me right. Too bad little one.  I'm actually very happy with how both items turned out.  The bag is a good size for a few days worth of shopping.  Since she will be using metro and her legs, I didn't want to overwhelm her with too big of a bag.  She also passes the store on the way to and from school.

I've already started my next crochet project.  A shawl made from a peruvian cotton in pink.  It's not really what I would call lacy but its open weave.  I think it will make a great gift. The pattern is by Bernat and free through their website.

Don't get too distracted by junk on my work table.  I always have stuff out there, either starting a project and get sidetracked or storing things. like etsy baby booties there on the right.  Since I give most of the things I make away or sell, its always nice to kind of revel in their presence until they go away.  Does anyone else ever feel that way?

Third Thursday Wine walk

I just recently found out that locally we have what is called a Warehouse Wineries Wine Walk every 3rd Thursday.  For 20 dollars, you bring your own glass and then there up to 30 participating wineries that offer tastings.  Some offer only 2 tastings maybe a red and a white and others offer  up to 4.  So its quite a variety of what you can find there.  Along with the wine tastings some local restaurants also offer "small bites" which run 1-4 dollars for anywhere from a slice of  pizza, to pasta, smokehouse bbq etc.  These are just the right size to pair up with certain wines- for taste value AND to help hold the inebriation down.. LOL  
My girlfriend and I went yesterday, and had a hoot of a time.  We ran into a group of school teachers who teach in her dept. at school several times.  We also found 2 chocolate vendors who paired up with some wines that were extraordinary!
If you live in the area, they are going to be doing this at woodland park zoo on the 27th and also at Country Village Aug 28th. We already have plans to go with our husbands for to the Country Village event.

Inspired but stuck

Our home still has not sold but the real estate agent assures me, its still not close to the average days on the market before sold. mls seen here The home next door sold after 270 days, They had planned on taking it off the market in August, and it sold August 1st. It's good for us, instead of having 2 homes side by side on the market, but I wish mine had sold first.
I'm ready to be decorating.  And I have ideas but I can't move on them yet. I've never settled into this house.  I gave up most of my style when I moved here.  I had and eclectic style with a yearn towards traditional English before.  Now I have builders beige, but nice touches of granite, cherry cabinets, and various tiles. 

I love summer, and all of my summer decor except for 3 little candle holders are packed away.   I like sitting on the patio or deck, listening to music, feeling the breeze and enjoying the flora .  I have always had a fondness for White wicker like this set on the right.
My husband is not of the same mind though.  He actually detest it, but I'm not really sure why. Someday, I will have a couple pieces of this on my new deck or patio. 

I want color back in my life, with walls that take notice because they are a rich color of green or blue, or even a brown.  My prior home had Teal in various shades, in the main living area.  The family room which was also a daylight basement was done more in cabin colors with the honey golds, reds, navy blues and green.   The trend when we moved was to do Dark red walls in dining rooms and living rooms, also using dark dark browns on the walls. I kind of fed into this, but find I never committed to it.  I kept thinking I would paint some of these colors, but I just couldn't commit the time and effort into this house.  So now, yes I'm ready, and if anything, my only issue is that I love the cottage look in summer, with white white walls and light soft colors of mint green or faded blue jean with touches of bright red or yellow.  I'm ready for a project that doesn't involve packing boxes or taking things to the salvation army. 

Week in review (part 2)

McAllister Tower , Ems summer digs

Sunday, NO BF.  He caught and early flight home.  I'm still unsure why he would spend 300 dollars for a day and half.   Daughter and I looked through adds trying to find housing, and sending out all kinds of emails for room shares.  By the time we got ready and out, breakfast was long over everywhere. 
We hopped the F line down to the union square. Here we went and grabbed some light breakfast. We went to Macy's after that so I could get a light weight jacket.  Then we decided to try and go look at a couple of residence housing places that are like dorms.  One is right on Turk and near the police station and past the opera house etc.  During the summer alot of the students stay here from the dance school.  It's clean and has most of what you need, including being furnished with bed and desk, and shared kitchen &  also have laundry on site. Although a lot of students stay here its not all students. 
We went to check out a second one, but the front desk person wasn't at the desk so we couldn't get in. and decided we would hit again on Monday after emailing them.   For dinner we headed to the Crab House.  My daughter went here with friends.  It was delicious.
We shared an appetizer and then had crab enchiladas (these were the best) and cioppino.  The crab needed to be cracked for the cioppino so it was extremely messy, but the tomato soup with it was surprising spicy.  We set next to a table of 4 Italian college age boys, who had the appetites of Seals, and the manners (at least some of them) of wild boars.  With about a 150 dollars of crab legs on their table among other things, one of them continuously burped his satisfaction of the feast.  One of them kept looking over at my daughter in embarrassment every time this occurred.  Lets just say the croaking was not pretty.
Em and I made our way through the pier looking around a bit, and listening to the street musicians.  We realized it was getting late, and needed to grab the F line back to the hotel.  So we headed over there.  I think it was the last one for the night, and it was a ride well worth the 2 bucks! 
The coach was so crowded, and each stop a few more would try to squeeze on.  The driver who extremely joyful, finally shouts out repeat after me " WE will we will rock you", and then demands a beat.  People start stomping and clapping, and singing.  The driver says at every stop. Whoo whoo, you 're on the party bus.  What ever happens on the party bus stays on the party bus.  Finally we are all so crammed its worse than any sardine can.  Then she has to drive by a stop because no one was getting off and there just wasn't room for any more bodies.   People had video camera's out filming all of this, and singing, and one guy was singing in Italian.  It was pretty awesome. 

That was also the night we passed the shooting on the way back to the hotel where a nightclub had a private party and it was kids between 13 and 17 but some had managed to bring guns.. Of course innocent bystander visiting from Germany celebrating her 50th b-day and anniversary, was killed.  Oh yes, this country and its guns... priceless possessions that can't even be taken when you claim bankruptcy now.

out side the Wipe Out

we looked through more housing stuff.  We thought we early enough to get breakfast so we headed out to the F line and back down to the pier.  We  were past the ferry building and  not down to 39.  I was ready to just go to Denny's down there.  It's not on the pier but a couple blocks up.  The power went out on the Cable line, and we were stuck. After 15 minutes of no return of the power ( and listening to the mews of my daughter- "I'm hungry,") we hopped out and walked the rest of the way to Wipe Out for lunch on pier 39 it was berfore Denny's,  haha.  They have mixed reviews, and I grew up in Southern Cali, and this in no way resembles the surf shacks that served food that I remember. However, these guys have the best fish tacos I've ever eaten.  Even the ones in Kauai at Dukes didn't match these.  The fish is grilled and the sauce is a cream sauce with jalapeno.  Got a salad with it and it was the perfect mix.  

We then went back towards the housing residence we wanted to check out.  She was really happy with this one. It's on the fringes of the tenderloin/civic center area but is all students from different colleges.  Its a few blocks from the Conservatory of music and about 8 blocks from the Dance Conservatory.  It really offers a nice interior environment.  It has large shared kitchen , laundry area, exercise room, music practice rooms, a large communal area with TV, pool tables, ping pong etc.  Overall its the most like regular college dorms.
We have put in and application and wait to see.
Dinner was over at Boudin in the bar upstairs.  They have good happy hour. 

skeleton man. weird but amusing

Then we strolled down and had to make her obligatory visit to Ghirardelli.  Something about the awesome sundaes with overwhelming chocolate.  WE compromised and had a strawberry chocolate, since I'm not the chocoholic she is.
Monday I was glad to be going home.  We walked to the hotel around the corner for breakfast, they were less expensive and had a better menu.  Then back to pack and take the Bart to the airport. 

The week in review [part 1)

Last weekend seemed to go by pretty quickly.  Flew down to San Fran Friday, and rode the Bart from the airport to the hotel.  I was staying in the civic center area, because my daughter was staying in the same area- McAllister Tower of the law school.  It was her first experience of living in a high rise. She was ensconced on the 19th floor while another good friend was on the 15th.  The sky room was the 24th floor, and they could take meals up here. 
I had wanted to get in early enough to catch the show Friday night, but not being familiar enough with the area where the theatre was, I was very hesitant to try and get there halfway through it, carting a weekender bag on top of it.  So I headed to the hotel instead.  I was surprised by the room, as I managed to get a free upgrade and was on the executive floor for the weekend.  I chose this hotel because it had a pool, but we never seemed to make it out there.  Always back to late to use the jacuzzi at night, and too chilly in the mornings.  However its location to metro stops and the Bart was "most excellent" as bill and ted would say.
Friday, I ended up eating in the hotel the bar was small and should have been more pleasant but the bartender was one of those, who didn't feel he had to serve you UNTIL one of the hotel managers camped out in there.  HAHA. However they didn't have any of my new favorite liquor for summer which is Firefly tea or Sweet Carolina tea ( its vodka infused with sweet tea)  mix it with some lemonade, and its just like an Arnold Palmer with a kick!  then I had a dry and tasteless turkey BLT.  adding mayo or guac or even mustard would have helped, but  the key word is HELP, I couldn't get the restaurant guy back in there to ask for some.
Saturday, I googled the theatre and bus routes, and headed over a little early.  Ended up walking past the Urban food market store, as well as the dance studios where my daughter had been working all summer, and finally hit the bus to the theatre.  I believe there may have been a quicker way than walking 8 blocks to the bus, but it wasn't a bad walk.  Once at Z space, I ran over to the Coffee Bar and had kind of a brunch- creamy tomato soup that they make and a Limonata Pellegrino.  YUM.   grabbed a coffee to go over to the theatre and wait.
While at the theatre ran into my daughters room mates parents and we chatted for awhile. Oh did I mention her boyfriend was there?  I'm really not sure, WHY when these kids have limited funds he would spend for a ticket to basically fly down for one day.  This isn't really that big of a deal. 
Show was really interesting, but I did hear from our friends they weren't used to this kind of modern.
My daughters group did a 19 minute excerpt from Robert Moses "Lucifer's Prance".  I would like to see the whole thing someday.  Its a pretty amazing piece. She was in a few other pieces too, all interesting to watch.
Once the show was over and the students all say good byes to each other we needed to head over to the tower to get her luggage.  This is where I started to get grumpy.  The boyfriend, decided he should monopolize my daughter.  This actually started at the theatre.  As we walked up the street they continuously walked 20 feet in front of me.  I had planned on this being a weekend for my daughter and myself.  (This young man has spent almost every weekend at our house since October 09, and much of any vacation too.  Its rather difficult and intrusive sometimes.  He stays in a guest room, but I'm not all that approving of him anymore.  Prior to this, he was a relatively nice kid, but hes' done somethings that make me less than impressed with his ethics.  Henceforth I would prefer they are not together so much.)  So we made it to the tower, grabbed the luggage, and walked through the civic center to the other side where my hotel is.  After dropping off the luggage, we decided dinner was necessary.  They chose a place in Haight Ashbury called the Squat and Gobble.  They make crepes filled with some less than traditional fillings as well as breakfast crepes.  I had the Mediterranean crepe as did my daughter.  It is delicious, filled with feta, eggplant, squash, kalamata olives I think.  It was perfect.
After a quick stroll through the rest of the street, we went to Amoeba records for a bit.  Then grabbed a bus back to Union square.  By this time I was getting chilled, and had realized that I didn't pack a jacket- so with 10 minutes to spare to closing, ran into Westfield to try and find something that didn't cost a weeks worth of pay.  Unfortunately that didn't happen.  As a last effort to do something ran up to the movie theatre but nothing great there I hadn't already seen also listening to BF say he can't really afford a ticket.  We headed to Borders and they are serving a miraculous Carmel apple cider.  That was pretty delicious.   Funny here the BF had plenty of money to spend on coffee drinks.
It was getting late, and I have learned over time, walking in certain parts of the city is not desirable. having to go thru the tenderloin this late isn't Hot on my top 10 list of things to do. I had told them I wanted to take the bus back, but of course BF just really wants to walk (personally I think he was too cheap to put the 2 dollars up  for the bus),  His naivete is ridiculous.  A street person tells him he wants to shine his TENNIS shoes.  So he sits there and starts talking with him.  At this point I was ready to take off and say you're on your own.  Em says "he's too nice, to just say no" and I'm like he's too dumb.  Someday he will be mugged, I'm fairly sure.  So after 10 minutes he comes over and says "Can you even shine tennis shoes?"  ARRGHHHH.  I made a comment this is one of the reasons I don't like walking out here at night.  I also have a sacrum that slips out of place, and have adjusted a couple times a month but if walking alot it can be a constant pain from misalignment.  My feet were swollen from eating take out foods with more salt than I normally have along with being on my feet for over 12 hours. And again, they start in on the walk several feet in front of me.  By the time we got back to the hotel, I walked straight into the shop there, and bought some Motrin.  I had seething anger and pain running in my veins.  I got in my room and headed to the bathroom.  Where BF says" are you OK?"  REALLY you are asking me this? "No I'm not dammit. My feet hurt, my back hurts, I don't like walking through the tenderloin at night," (Left of the reply "You 've monopolized my daughter, I've been feeling like I"m Asian and required to walk 20 paces behind the husband or something.)" Yeah I'm freaking great," and shut the bathroom door.  When I walked out he was leaving, although he asked if he could stay for awhile prior to that.  After all he was going to have to take the Bart to Oakland because he was too cheap to pay for a youth hostel in town.   Whatever.  After he left, and the Motrin and a hot shower washed away the city  and the anger, I was finally able to relax.  The rest of the weekend went much better.  Which I will post in 2nd post here.

Tomorrow is the day!

I am so excited to go on my trip tomorrow and see my daughter.  I'm hoping I will make it in time to catch part of her performance at the theatre.  I know I will see Saturday's show but she's much more excited about her Friday night performance.
If you are in San Francisco, I would suggest going to see the San Francisco Conservatory of Dance's show. Its Friday evening and Saturday matinee. I attended this last year and was amazed at the performances of these students.  They have been studying for 4 weeks intensively, and start with choreography the first week. I know that one of the pieces my daughter is doing is 19 minutes long, and they get it to perfection. 

We will hopefully get some housing issues settled while I am there too.  I'm disappointed that the school does not have a dormitory nor is it involved in helping students get roommates and housing for fall.  Since students audition and come from all over, it would be helpful to develop this service. It wouldn't take them that much time to develop a relationship with a few places and cross reference in coming students. Maybe after this year I can encourage them to do this..=)

Well back to packing and making sure the house is clean just in case someone wants to come by and take a look at my house!!

What a difference a day can make!

I am in shock, still from my afternoon of working with the kids.  I usually teach Friday afternoons.  When I get my group or groups of kids, its usually one of the last classes of the day, AND the last class of the week.  So usually they are a bit tired, antsy to go home, and right now I'm working with middle school-ers, and often feel like hari-kare would be a good alternative. I don't in all honesty know how academic teachers do this age group day in and day out.  I'm fortunate to have a class that is active and involves physical activity.  However, when you have a class of 27 kids and a quarter of them talk & talk& talk& and you tell them to stop, and they keep going, and You make them do things like jumping jacks to  wear them out more, they still talk.  These are the children I would like to bring duct tape in and use it liberally.

But due to travel plans for the weekend, I needed to change my class schedule this week.  So I taught the last class BUT it was on the first day of the week.  It's absolutely astounding the difference.  They were quiet, listened, participated without complaint. I was able to get through the whole workout without having to threaten, or cajole.   And I can't wait to see how they act on Friday for the teachers who usually have them on Monday.  It should be very interesting.

Movie time.

Monday my husband had a dental appointment and used it as and excuse to take the day off.   So we headed to the movies.  Salt with Angelina Jolie was out.  We liked it, its very thrilling, lots of intense action.  Some of the reviews have not been so kind, referring to it a a large budget to blow things up, and the script was written on post it notes, but I do have to say its deeper than that.  After seeing Inception the week before, which is also intense with some interesting subtleties, I thought it was still a good flick.

On of our friends just returned from several weeks in Germany so we headed to the movies with her today.  Surprisingly we saw Dinner with the Schmucks and it was MUCH MUCH better than anticipated.  We laughed so hard, and you do need to stay all the way thru the credits for the last little bit.  We were the only ones in there, when we were surprised by this little bit.  I am not a big fan of Steve Corel but I know many others are.  I am slightly amazed he got some of the lines out with blowing it. 

So if your looking for intensity and espionage, see SALT.  If your looking to lighten your mood and have a good time, see Dinner with the Scmucks.

Saturday & Sunday Shenanigans

Ah Saturday was one of those beautiful Seattle area days.  Barely a cloud in the sky and a sea of blue above you.

I started my day making Strawberry Pie. Make a simple crust- I always use the refrigerated crust, I know its dependable.  Then chop up a enough berries to cover the bottom of your crust, and cover those with hole berries (hull removed) .  make a glaze- mine uses strawberry jello, sugar, and cornstarch. You cover all the  berries with the glaze and refrigerate until its set and cold.  Serve with Whip Cream.  Its a perfect Summer treat especially with local berries.
I then followed up with a batch of raspberry freezer jam. The local berries are HUGE.  I quickly had 6 jars made for the freezer.  And think I will run to the fruit market again this week before they all disappear to make some more.

We then head over to friends house for dinner and drinks.  We always have a good time with these guys. After sitting  on the porch consuming some spiked Arnold Palmer's, made with Carolina Sweet tea, and then my girlfriend got out the Honey Bourbon, and sweet tea.  We shared a great meal and dessert.  WE laughed so hard most of the time I'm sure the neighbors had an ear to their windows.  We were discussing a book someone had given them as a gift- which turned into a bathroom reader.  It was hysterical.  After laughing for so many hours we finally headed home quite late.

Sunday my phone started ringing at 7:30.  I always answer these days in case its a realtor.  But it was a friend who doesn't understand that I stay up late( wee hours of the morning) and get up after 8am at the earliest and Sunday is my sleep in day unless we have early plans.  I finally got back to sleep and the phone started again, at 10. so I figured that was it. 

My hubs was finishing the man door to our garage, it wintered very terribly this year and need stripping and painting.  Took the whole weekend to do properly. But its finished now, and no longer a concern when people look at the house. Check that one off the list.  Then we found this crazy British comedy called The IT Crew.  We love British comedies so not everyone has the same taste but we watched the various episodes of the first season through out the day. 

Of course this evening is saved for the opening of MAD MEN season 4.  Now there's a show that took off. If you haven't watched it you need to go back and watch the first season to find out all the players and their parts.  But its one that has my whole family hooked.
Hope your day was great!

Ah the weekend starts with a bang.

My Friday started as usual teaching a class at 8:30 am.  Then went with

my friend who is and avid estate sale goer to not 1 but 2 estate sales.  Purchasing a depression glass plate-3 dollars, and some small hand embroidered cut-work napkins for and incredible 2 dollars for all 4. I have collected depression glass for years, since seeing the pieces my mother had from an old friend ( I was 4 or 5 when Lilly gave her the first pieces- so I thought Lilly was ancient regardless of her real age).  I have gotten pieces as gifts over the years, and received pieces from various family members. The glass I bought was similar to another piece I have already in a light pink but this one is gold.    The Cut-work, is so simple but beautiful and I think they are in perfect condition.

Then I went to get a much needed haircut.  Its a wee bit- okay a whole lot, shorter than I was thinking,- I feel like my hair is in pony tail all the time since there is no hair on my neck. I think once I'm used to it I will like it, but  my hair grows very fast so it will all be good.

Back to the dance school to teach my class. I have a HUGE class of 10 - 13 year old's.  There are 27 kids in there. Barely enough room for them to all be out on mats, and then the noise level. I love my kids, and want to give each and every one the attention they deserve.  I know most of them won't go on to be great dancers but they deserve the best support while they are learning.

Followed up by a trip to the fruit market for some delicious raspberries to make freezer jam, and Strawberries to create a fresh strawberry pie, like they used to make at Bob's Big Boy restaurants in California, to take to friends for desert on Saturday.

back side -these were done by hand

I miss my things and the easy living of summer

I know it sounds silly.  But one part of selling ones home that I dislike is that you have to put so many things away.  During that time, you can make cute things but you can't put them out, you can't have any projects that take more than a few minutes to clean up. I've seen and thought about so many cute ideas this summer, and miss being able to act on them.  I miss my summer decor items. My house seems so blah to me.  You take away all the things that make your house a home, instead its just a show room. I'm just ready to move beyond this now.
Since this is my 2nd post this afternoon, I guess I have a lot on my mind.

Not my best.

Do you ever have one of those days, where you don't feel like yourself? Maybe its the heat, or the top I'm wearing or the guilt I'm wearing from not getting out enough to exercise with purpose, but today I feel like Jabba the Hut.  Obviously I'm not green and warty, nor does my face resemble his, but I naturally have a wide back and biceps. And my body is not as toned as it could be.  Unfortunately this is what comes to mind.  I know I won't feel like this tomorrow- hopefully, but when I feel like I'm nothing but fat, this awful thing comes to mind.  Its what I don't want to be so believe me its the worst image I can come up with. When I exercise and am toned I'm not so concerned about my weight in general. But the last couple years I've been so preoccupied with my daughter, that I put my self aside. NOW is my time. Time to get back into action for myself.