Tonight I am blazing a trail into unknown territory. There is a little project I have been wanting to do for a long time, and tonight I got out 3 pairs of scissors and I started it.
When I was little, I had a very special, very favorite blanket, named Wooby. My great grandma Maggie made it for me when I was tiny,and it was perfect. On one side there was pastel wild flowers (my VERY favorite thing!!) and the other side had an amazing technicolor 70s print complete with yellow lions, pink puppies, and Raggedy Anns. It had a silky binding that I would rub on my cheeks when I needed to feel it. (you know, therapeutically). My mom was continuously mending it and fixing the binding, (real love is tough on things!) After many years of good, solid, hard use, I lovingly wrapped it in tissue and put it away in a box in the garage. I was leaving for college.
A few days later I married Alan and adopted his childhood blanket-cowboy blanket. Alan's blanket was not as good, but I was IN LOVE with this boy, and it smelled like him, and I thought it was cool that it had been his for such a long time. (Honestly, it was made of the same type of fabric as my Wooby, and that is why I really loved it.)
A few years back, my mom brought Wooby to my house, and we washed it up, and Maggie snagged it for her own at first sight. I was a little, um, hesitant, but how could I say no? It was obvious that she felt a similar kinship to Wooby that I had felt as a little girl. (and let's be honest, for therapy now, I need a little more than a silky rub on the cheek) I let her put it on her bed. Every thing was fine until one night she yelled from her room that she was "ALL TANGLED UP IN THE BLANKETS!!" I went in to rescue her, only to find that there was a gigantic hole through one side of Wooby. I untangled her, gently gathered up my blanket and retired it once again.
Alan's cowboy blanket is falling apart at the seams, and the nasty 1975 polyfill batting keeps trying to touch my face when I am sleeping. Against Alan's wishes, I still have it on our bed (well just on my side-he hates it and thinks I am nuts. I am.)
Anyway, in my mind (where I am 120 pounds and a superior crafter) I have done this amazing project where I salvage my favorite fabric of all time (it's a loose weave cotton, and feels soooo soft, there is nothing like it available now)from both of these blankets, and piece them together into one amazing super Wooby, to snuggle with to the end of my days. So tonight I cut them all apart from their battings and bindings, and cut through all of the 1970s yarn ties and started cutting them into 6" squares to build my very first quilting project. Please don't be confused here-I have NO IDEA what I am doing. I don't even have a book.
The blankets were both in a horrible state of disrepair, and honestly couldn't have been in much worse shape, so I don't feel too nervous. My Wooby had patches and mismatched binding (some yellow, some blue, some thick, thin, silky, cotton) it was almost a quilt already. Cowboy blanket was literally falling apart. I feel like since I am doing this project for myself, it can't really go wrong.
With a heavy heart I disassembled them. Maggie was there and got really upset. "Mama! Why did you cut up that blanket?!? I LOOOOOVE that blanket!!!" I told her I was going to try to fix it. She believed me until she saw me cut it up into little pieces. I hope she likes the final product, I will probably have to share.
I really like the idea of a project so long in the making. I think of Alan's mom making cowboy blanket for him when he was just a little thing. And I think of my grandma Maggie sewing together all of the colorful fabrics that she had picked out just for me, when I was so small. I think of the hot California nights when I had to go to bed when it was still light out, so I hid my face under the blanket and felt the cool cotton on my cheeks. All of the tears that my blanket dried when things went wrong, and all of the mud puddles that it got dragged through just because. It was a fort, it was a cape, it was stuffed under my shirt to be a pregnant belly. It was a friend.
Now I am using my hands to give it a new life as one of the coolest things ever. A blanket. No matter what, it will be perfect. (I am leaning towards a silky binding.)
Tuesday, September 21, 2010
Wednesday, September 15, 2010
cookie monster
So it is a week into my current diet and I am feeling great! I have been on countless diets before and some have worked, some haven't. Never the fault of the diet, always the fault of the dieter. If you stick with a program, it will work, the trick is keeping up the hard work until the weight comes off. Believe me, I know, it is hard work. Always before I have decided that I didn't like the way I look (usually after seeing myself and all of my chins in random pictures that friends took, in awkward poses, usually 2.5 sheets to the wind-not pretty under any circumstance-but I digress...) this time, my motivation is different.
I used to work with a girl, she was average. Her hair was normal, her face was pretty, her belly was jiggly-you know, my kind of girl. Just like me in fact. She just posted some pictures of herself on facebook (or the downfall of civilization, as Alan calls it) the other day, and she is a knock out! Seriously, it's ridiculous. I looked at her, and then I looked again.
Here was a normal girl, that I knew, that had lost 65 pounds by just getting it done. (sounds easy right? HA!) Well, feeling my pants get tighter and tighter wasn't a strong enough motivator (plus I totally ROCK yoga pants, so why bother with jeans anyway-right?) but besting this girl was. Leave it to me to find a bitchy way to find my muse. (it's a gift) I decided right then that if she could do it, then you bet your sweet ass that I could do it too. It was ON!
So here I am, a week in and doing fine. Better than ever before on a diet even. Any time I need to remember what my goal is, I can peek at her gorgeous skinny pictures and remember right away. She is now a super model and I am rolling around in stretchy pants. (please note that later when I fall off of the wagon, I will need support and lots of cookies. Also note, PMS is rapidly approaching..that of course needs no further explanation)
I have been spending all kinds of time swapping recipe ingredients to make yummy things that I can eat and still feel full and have the foods I want. (and need, let's just be honest here for a minute-why do you think I am in this position in the first place? cookies=need)
Without further ado, I give you
diet friendly kick ass almost peanut butter chocolate chip cookies (WHUT?!-OH YEAH!)
1/2 C sugar free maple syrup
1/2 C Better n' Peanut Butter (fake peanut butter, find it at Trader Joes)
1 tsp vanilla extract (I used almond, I'm a freak like that)
1 C whole wheat flour
2 Tbsp mini chocolate chips
preheat oven to 350*. Put parchment on your big cookie sheet. In a large mixing bowl whooge together syrup, nut butter, and vanilla. When it's nice and smooth, stir in flour. When it's a nice stiff dough, add chippies. Use your cookie scoop to plop it all onto the parchment (I got 21 this time, they don't grow much so you can crowd them) and stick it in the oven for 10 minutes. They will slip right off the parchment no problem, so you can eat them right away. (I know this is important!)
these little babies will knock your socks off and they are only 40 calories each! even less if you leave out the chips-but why would you EVER do that? These whip up in minutes-please learn from my mistake and make them when no one is looking, or you will have to share. (which really isn't fair at all)
that's all-j out
I used to work with a girl, she was average. Her hair was normal, her face was pretty, her belly was jiggly-you know, my kind of girl. Just like me in fact. She just posted some pictures of herself on facebook (or the downfall of civilization, as Alan calls it) the other day, and she is a knock out! Seriously, it's ridiculous. I looked at her, and then I looked again.
Here was a normal girl, that I knew, that had lost 65 pounds by just getting it done. (sounds easy right? HA!) Well, feeling my pants get tighter and tighter wasn't a strong enough motivator (plus I totally ROCK yoga pants, so why bother with jeans anyway-right?) but besting this girl was. Leave it to me to find a bitchy way to find my muse. (it's a gift) I decided right then that if she could do it, then you bet your sweet ass that I could do it too. It was ON!
So here I am, a week in and doing fine. Better than ever before on a diet even. Any time I need to remember what my goal is, I can peek at her gorgeous skinny pictures and remember right away. She is now a super model and I am rolling around in stretchy pants. (please note that later when I fall off of the wagon, I will need support and lots of cookies. Also note, PMS is rapidly approaching..that of course needs no further explanation)
I have been spending all kinds of time swapping recipe ingredients to make yummy things that I can eat and still feel full and have the foods I want. (and need, let's just be honest here for a minute-why do you think I am in this position in the first place? cookies=need)
Without further ado, I give you
diet friendly kick ass almost peanut butter chocolate chip cookies (WHUT?!-OH YEAH!)
1/2 C sugar free maple syrup
1/2 C Better n' Peanut Butter (fake peanut butter, find it at Trader Joes)
1 tsp vanilla extract (I used almond, I'm a freak like that)
1 C whole wheat flour
2 Tbsp mini chocolate chips
preheat oven to 350*. Put parchment on your big cookie sheet. In a large mixing bowl whooge together syrup, nut butter, and vanilla. When it's nice and smooth, stir in flour. When it's a nice stiff dough, add chippies. Use your cookie scoop to plop it all onto the parchment (I got 21 this time, they don't grow much so you can crowd them) and stick it in the oven for 10 minutes. They will slip right off the parchment no problem, so you can eat them right away. (I know this is important!)
these little babies will knock your socks off and they are only 40 calories each! even less if you leave out the chips-but why would you EVER do that? These whip up in minutes-please learn from my mistake and make them when no one is looking, or you will have to share. (which really isn't fair at all)
that's all-j out
Tuesday, September 7, 2010
back to school
every year (for the last 3 so far anyway) the back to school season makes me think of the bad Adam Sandler movie "Billy Madison," and more specifically this scene.
I can't start getting school ready without this silly song getting stuck in my head. (and feeling an almost desparate craving for snack packs) The worst part is, I don't know any of the other words of the song after "Back to school," and it must be sung the same goofy way as Adam does it. The result is me walking around sounding like an idiot singing the same 3 words over and over again. I have actually made up quite a few of my own verses just to break up the monotony. (and they are pretty good too, if I do say so myself, clever words rhyming with school are kind of tricky to come up with)
Anyway, it is back to school time for us, or rather, back in school, since we don't really go anywhere for a while. We are taking lots of creative classes this year (read as: classes I don't have to teach, where the girls get to learn things I don't know, and we get to be away from each other for an hour at a time-YIPPEE!) We are all really looking forward to classes starting, but are finding ways of keeping busy and schoolish until we get to move on to more exciting things.
Layla will be starting second grade this year and my baby will be in kindergarten. Somehow this seems kind of like a big deal to me. I feel torn between relief that they are finally growing up and, um, nope, that's it I guess. I thought for a minute it would be a little sad, having my baby officially a grade schooler, but I am doing ok for now. (let me remind you that school hasn't technically started for us yet-tomorrow is our first day, so I reserve the right to change my mind and get all freaky and hormonal over it in the next few weeks, or year, or you know, ever.)
We have had a fantastic fun filled summer, and besides my tomato bushes being loaded with giant green tomatoes, and the onset of fall without a single one making it to ripeness (pause for breath-phew!) I am ready for fall to make it's appearance.
We have made lots of jam with fruit we picked (and local honey-mmm) and are planning to make some applesauce soon, our new classes are very exciting, and it is always fun to meet new friends and learn new things. I am ready to get back to our days having some kind of schedule and consistency, I am NOT looking forward to the early mornings, but have some fun and yummy breakfast and snack ideas. (leave it to me to use food as my motivator)
Speaking of that, I thought I would follow up the "IlovemyselfIamadandelion" post with a bout of I hate being jiggly self loathing, (oops) so today is the start of a new diet. Let's not call it that though if you please. I would much prefer, "days of delicious breakfast shakes (and another for lunch, and a sensible dinner)" instead, because somehow, that sounds less daunting and more manageable. Actually, instead of sensible dinner, let's say mouthwatering, wonderful dinner, just a bit less than I want to have because I am watching portion sizes, or something like that. You know, to keep morale high. I am carefully choosing some motivational items (read as: amazing things I want to buy on the internet but don't have a good reason to justify the purchase) to reward myself when I reach goals. (goal today, do NOT eat my weight in chocolate, or chips...let's start small, so we don't get set up for immediate failure) It is currently almost 3 o'clock and I still get 2 more shakes and a yummy dinner. I am feeling pretty good! I see new earrings in my near future!
ps-I will take some first of school pictures and share them soon, maybe this weekend when we go to the Rogue Valley. It is currently raining here, so we are stuck inside and look a little crazed (I think the cabin fever is sinking in-NOT good since it is just the beginning of the dark seasons!) not a good look for pictures (although, probably more realistic-ha!)
I can't start getting school ready without this silly song getting stuck in my head. (and feeling an almost desparate craving for snack packs) The worst part is, I don't know any of the other words of the song after "Back to school," and it must be sung the same goofy way as Adam does it. The result is me walking around sounding like an idiot singing the same 3 words over and over again. I have actually made up quite a few of my own verses just to break up the monotony. (and they are pretty good too, if I do say so myself, clever words rhyming with school are kind of tricky to come up with)
Anyway, it is back to school time for us, or rather, back in school, since we don't really go anywhere for a while. We are taking lots of creative classes this year (read as: classes I don't have to teach, where the girls get to learn things I don't know, and we get to be away from each other for an hour at a time-YIPPEE!) We are all really looking forward to classes starting, but are finding ways of keeping busy and schoolish until we get to move on to more exciting things.
Layla will be starting second grade this year and my baby will be in kindergarten. Somehow this seems kind of like a big deal to me. I feel torn between relief that they are finally growing up and, um, nope, that's it I guess. I thought for a minute it would be a little sad, having my baby officially a grade schooler, but I am doing ok for now. (let me remind you that school hasn't technically started for us yet-tomorrow is our first day, so I reserve the right to change my mind and get all freaky and hormonal over it in the next few weeks, or year, or you know, ever.)
We have had a fantastic fun filled summer, and besides my tomato bushes being loaded with giant green tomatoes, and the onset of fall without a single one making it to ripeness (pause for breath-phew!) I am ready for fall to make it's appearance.
We have made lots of jam with fruit we picked (and local honey-mmm) and are planning to make some applesauce soon, our new classes are very exciting, and it is always fun to meet new friends and learn new things. I am ready to get back to our days having some kind of schedule and consistency, I am NOT looking forward to the early mornings, but have some fun and yummy breakfast and snack ideas. (leave it to me to use food as my motivator)
Speaking of that, I thought I would follow up the "IlovemyselfIamadandelion" post with a bout of I hate being jiggly self loathing, (oops) so today is the start of a new diet. Let's not call it that though if you please. I would much prefer, "days of delicious breakfast shakes (and another for lunch, and a sensible dinner)" instead, because somehow, that sounds less daunting and more manageable. Actually, instead of sensible dinner, let's say mouthwatering, wonderful dinner, just a bit less than I want to have because I am watching portion sizes, or something like that. You know, to keep morale high. I am carefully choosing some motivational items (read as: amazing things I want to buy on the internet but don't have a good reason to justify the purchase) to reward myself when I reach goals. (goal today, do NOT eat my weight in chocolate, or chips...let's start small, so we don't get set up for immediate failure) It is currently almost 3 o'clock and I still get 2 more shakes and a yummy dinner. I am feeling pretty good! I see new earrings in my near future!
ps-I will take some first of school pictures and share them soon, maybe this weekend when we go to the Rogue Valley. It is currently raining here, so we are stuck inside and look a little crazed (I think the cabin fever is sinking in-NOT good since it is just the beginning of the dark seasons!) not a good look for pictures (although, probably more realistic-ha!)
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