Shopping for Mom, and MORE VERY BIG LEMONS!

I've officially had my very first shopping experience on the quick-growing Etsy site. I've clicked over to see a few things that were linked in a blog or two that I follow, but this was my first intentional "shopping trip" there. I'm really impressed with all the creative crafters out there! Etsy is an online showcase of handmade and reclaimed products, and it's really refreshing to see vintage and handmade things only. What pretty and unusual finds I made! I kept to a tight, pre-travel-to-Greece budget of $20 and purchased the perfect gifts for two special moms. And I actually only spent $18.50 total. UNDER $20??? For TWO gifts??? And free shipping??? Wow, Trisha!

I know, huh? {Buffs fingernails and feels superior to you for a brief second.}

I held back on buying myself a "new" train case. (I'm pretty sure this particular piece of luggage is one of my "I'll have a whole collection of these someday" obsessions.) And, I held back on buying a pretty pink hand-dyed silk yarn. Mommies only tonight. Be looking in your mailboxes within the next 3-7 days, L and V!!!

Carlton brought home "a whole bag or something" of lemons this afternoon. I'm so pleased, all I can do is look at them in their plastic "Thank You" bag and smile. I took a picture with one in my hand this time, so you could gague how gigantic these fruits really are.



What to bake next? Lemon Scones with some sort of vanilla glaze? (I don't have a recipe for the glaze, but it sure sounds good.) Cookies? (You know your mouth is watering over these.) Hmm....

TALES OF A VERY BIG LEMON!

There are TONS of citrus trees around us here in the desert, believe it or not. In fact, they flourish. There is so much fruit in abundance that it is neglected in the yards of Arizonites (?). The branches of their trees heave over the cinder brick walls of each house and spill the citrus fruits onto the sidewalks and streets everywhere you go. (Shhh. Our next-yard neighbor has a couple of orange trees in his yard, and I've gone so far as to tote the stepstool over to the wall and reeeeeeeeach to try and get a few for myself. But, alas, my plan failed me and I couldn't actually reach any for my sneaky, greedy little self.)

Today one of Carlton's fellow work colleagues, Bret, brought in a bunch of lemons from a tree at his home.

"They blew off his tree or somethin', so he brought them to work."
"Why did you only bring me one? This is so awesome!" I proclaimed with enthusiasm.
"Because Geoff took the rest of them in a bag."
Oh, of course. Geoff brought a bag to the whole Very Big Lemon situation. Geoff with his marinades for mouth-watering kabobs and his delicious strawberry margaritas and his lack of Superbowl-watching skills. I wonder what he will do with the gigantic things?


Can you believe the size of the lemons that grew on this guy's tree? In his own yard? At his own house? I took a picture of a lemon I paid $0.50 for at my Fresh & Easy to compare their sizes. And, yes, my paid-for lemon is the same size as any regular store-bought lemon--about the size of your fist. It's really quite amazing!

First and foremost, I must give credit of my kitchen cooking cleanliness to one of Carlton's second cousins, or great-aunts... I think. Debbie Carlton Chastain sewed this beautiful apron just for me as a wedding gift. It's one of my most cherished wedding gifts, and I have it permanently hanging in the kitchen so I can at least look at it. But tonight, with an apparent whirlwind of baking ahead of me, I found it necessary to tie it on tight.


So once Carlton presented me with the gigantic lemon, I decided we were using it ASAP. I cooked my Shredded Chicken Fajita Soft Tacos, which use a bit of lemon juice in them to make the veggies tangy. Then the rest of the lemon was reserved for a recipe I briefly mentioned here before, and haven't gotten out of my mind since--the Creamy Lemon Squares!

Oh, people, this recipe was so much fun to make! However, I totally recommend NOT making this unless you have a little food processor. The cracker crust is totally hard to crunch up into dusty little particles without that nifty machine. I think I spent a really good 15 minutes crunching everything up as tiny-tiny as I possibly could. Other than that, the recipe was fun! I stuck to her recipe exactly, except for the cookie crust.

Creamy Lemon Squares

20 Vanilla Wafers finely crushed (I used Ginger Snaps instead, because really, who doesn't love the flavors of ginger and lemon together? Plus, they were half the cost.)
1/2 all purpose flour
1/4 c brown sugar
1/4 cold butter
8 oz softened cream cheese
1 c sugar
2 eggs
2 tbsp flour
1 tbsp lemon zest
1/4 cup fresh squeezed lemon juice
1/4 tsp baking powder

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line an 8" square cooking dish with foil, folding the foil up over the edges. Mix cooking crumbs, 1/2 c flour, and brown sugar until crumbly--if you squeeze it together, it will stick to itself but break apart easily. Press onto the bottom of the prepared cooking dish. To get an overall evenly-thick crust, use the bottom of a drinking glass to press it into place.

In mixer, cream together the cream cheese and sugar. Add eggs and 2 tbsp flour. Mix well. Blend in 1 tsp lemon zest, lemon juice, and baking powder. Pour over the crust.

Bake for 25-28 minutes or until the center is set. Cool on the counter until room temperature. Refrigerate for 2 hours. Serve with a dusting of powdered sugar on top.

Yes, I prepare my ingredients in those little ramekins that come with the Pyrex set, because I think it's fun. The prep work is just as much fun as the mixing!

Squish it in real good.

Lemony sugary cheesy filling prep!

Mix it up nice and smooth.

Pour it!

Carlton is taking this to work tomorrow morning to share with his coworkers, as a "thank you for the gigantic lemon" gesture. Plus, all I wanted was to taste it, and if I keep this all for myself I'll definitely turn yellow and explode.

Muddy nose pup

Vespa is hard at work again, digging tiny little holes around our back yard in the dirt. This afternoon, I noticed that Vespa had been missing, and I heard a little bit of scratching on the concrete of our back patio. I had to go see what was going on, and this is what I found:

Diggin', diggin', diggin' a hole (I hired Snoopy as Grounds Crew for cleanup later):

Comin' up for a breath... and I think I found something:

A muddy nose is sooooooo worth my buried treasure!

No, Momma, you can't see what I got. It's mine!

Ok, fine. It's an awesome buried stick. And I'm gonna chew it dead!
Nom nom nom nom nom nom nom nom....
I smile for the camera now so you'll leave me alone.

For Daddy

Sproost yourself!

When I was little--up until middle school age--I lived in a house decorated like a comfortable, colorful southern home. Rich, green walls accented by brilliant burgundy/red and brightened by a creamy white trim. Plaid furniture laid out a kid-and-family-friendly atmosphere. My very own bedroom upstairs was across the hallway from my little sister's, and we shared a bathroom. My bedroom was a pastel pink with solid blonde pine wood furniture, and the bed was dressed in a mauve-on-one-side, flowers-on-the-other quilt. White wicker tv stand and armchair in the corner.

Then when I was in middle school, we moved into a home my parents built. They had just been on their first vacation to Europe, and were so inspired, they wanted to live in an environment that reminded them of it every day. The walls are painted a warm, pastel mustard yellow color. The fireplace is a chalky gray-pink brick. Heavily-framed artwork from poor artists in Paris and Florence hangs on a gallery wall above the sofa. Rich hand-woven tapestries and the occasional statue of a romantically robust nude female figure pop into view here and there. One-of-a-kind chandeliers from Murano hang from a few choice ceilings. When I was 14 my parents set my best friend and me free in my bedroom with a few quarts of bright paint and a couple paintbrushes. We created a flower fantasy. Flowers as big as your head, and ladybugs crawling here and there. Sheer embroidered shower curtains became panel drapes tied to a thin white curtain rod by sheer ribbon bows. It was super cute.

I went to college and declared myself an "Art Major."

Wait.

Who really does that?

Interior Design really tended to my knack for neatness. My tendency to like to line things up perfectly straight. My patience to perfect every inch of a painting or sketch. I even turned my mechanical pencil as I drew a line down the edge of my 90-60-30 triangle so that the lead would be of even thickness all the way. I really enjoyed my art history courses. So much that, if I had taken just 9 more credit hours of art history courses, I could have had a minor in the subject. (Pshhhh, whatEVER, I was gonna be outta there in four years and nothing could stop that.) I learned the history behind Shaker furnishings. The first cave drawings made with berries and dried reeds. Damask prints. Wallpaper. Carpeting. Paints. Silks. Plumbing. Color theory. Lighting. And E.VER.Y.THING in between. Who had the first mirror? Why is double-paned glass more energy efficient for your home's windows? Should your family organize the living room with a sectional or multiple plush chairs? Should you have a tv in this room? Why use a dresser with drawers? Antiqued brass or polished nickel? Why are the best area rugs made of wool? Blinds, curtains, or both? I could obviously go on forever about what I learned.

But I think I un-learned a lot as well! In my design and history classes, I studied every type of design and art there is. And my problem is, I loved every bit of it all. Jackson Pollock never made more sense. Leonardo da Vinci was never so stereotypical. Frank Lloyd Wright's houses had never been this cool. And now, I find it so hard to figure out what I really like! For myself! And my own personal style!

I like purple. And tea sets. And painted brick. Oh, painted brick! I like black glass chandeliers and heavy drapes. I know I want black stained wood floors some day. And absolutely NO granite countertops. Concrete countertops would be an outta-this-world kinda cool. I love the wallpaper I bought for our rental so much that I won't even put it in our master bedroom because I want to save it for a permanent house... and maybe the inside shelves of a cabinet some day. I like shaker-style furniture and light-colored sofas with a padded back, but no back cushions. At all. I hate recliners more than any other piece of furniture ever invented. I want a clear acrylic chair as my desk chair some day, somewhere in my home. I prefer antiqued brass to polished nickel. I think I prefer painted kitchen cabinets. I have a sick obsession with lamps that is so dangerous, I can't go near the lamp aisle at Target, or I'll get myself in trouble. Every candle on display must have been burned at least once before it can be "decoration." Fresh flowers are worth the extra money every now and then. I despise stainless steel kitchen appliances. I love lacquered, handmade Chinese consoles and the pie safe my grandpa made even more. Store-bought artwork annoys me, and I only have my own artwork and photography hanging in our house. I think tablecloths annoy me. Those egg-shaped doorknobs are ridiculous. I love specialty broadloom carpet that's sculpted. It makes itself known. I love clawfoot porcelain tubs. A gold-leafed dining room ceiling would be ideal.

But what's my style?


Sproost it!

Through a blog I follow regularly, The Shabby Nest, I found this link and took the short and spot-on quiz. Just look at the picture and be honest about your instant feelings towards the room you see! Why wasn't design school this simple?

Apparently, I'm a beautiful combination of the following:

46% vintage modern
31% rustic revival
23% french eclectic

And I actually agree 100% with this result. I was just complaining to my mom a couple months ago (or something) that I was beginning to realize that my style wasn't as "clean contemporary" as I'd originally hoped. I wanted to have the clean, steril, gray/white atmosphere. But I'm just too in love with other things, like color and curves, to stick to that style wholeheartedly. Great results for me!

What's your sproost?

Razor Camisole

Toula is currently on hold. I know, CRY! There's a snag in the pattern, and I'm not really sure how to figure it out on my own without royally ruining the entire project. Right now she's in three pieces, pouting under the end table in the great room. A torso and two sleeves, just piled up and stuffed out of the way until I can be taught how to put her together properly. I'm leaving her alone until the maker of her pattern replies to my very long comment on her own blogspot. I tried emailing, but her box was full, so hopefully she'll check in on her blogspot before I go out of my mind with anticipation!

To hold me over until my work on Toula can be resumed, I took a short trip over to Joann and picked up some silk bamboo blend yarn I've been eyeing since I started Desert Rose at the beginning of 2009. I also picked up a new set of double pointed needles--the smallest I've worked with yet, a US size 1. The yarn is pretty small and so the needles needed to be small as well, so that the top won't be all hole-y and funny looking. The size 1s are really a lot tougher to work with and hold! Plus, Joann only carried a US size 1 in metal which I don't really care for (I prefer bamboo but also use plastic) because my knitting gauge is pretty slack and any loose loops just slip right off the slick metal. The naturally tidy ribbing in bamboo gives enough texture to hold the loops on nice and snug. I'm interested in trying out some ebony needles, too, some day. Gotta get this round-the-world collection of knitting needles started ASAP!

I'm pretty excited about this pattern because it's going to be easy to adjust from its size xs pattern... just add 12 stitches for each 2 inches I need for it to fit. I'm making the top pretty loose. As a silk-bamboo blend, the yarn has a beautiful pearly sheen and lazy drape to it, so I think it'd be pretty as a loose-fitting cami as long as there's a belt around my waist. It'll be pretty, cool, easy, and quick for the trip coming up!


This pattern came free from the web site I've raved about before, Ravelry.com which is an online knitting/crochet blog site. A lot of patterns are listed free of charge, which is nice. For some reason, I gravitate towards paying an artist for her pattern, so I usually pick patterns that cost a little something (the average price of a pattern is only about $3-$7 anyway). It's hard work to make a pretty piece, and I like the knitting artist to feel appreciated for sharing it with me. This camisole, however, was a free pattern and I'm glad I've got it to work on until Toula's emergency pattern surgery comes to thruition.

I'll probably just stick to "Razor Cami" for this one. And, no, this is obviously not me.

"You might want to update your blog on how brilliant I am."

That's the order straight from Carlton himself. He figured it out for us all! We watched this song performed live at the Oscars. Forgive the jank videography... this guy recorded it from his tv spot at la casa. And they deserved this win! Beautiful music. MAKE ART! MAKE ART!!!

Once upon tonight...

Now, by no means am I an avid watcher of American Idol. But I have been finding it on tv this season, somehow. I must say, I'm a very big fan of the crazy rocker dude... um, what's his name?... Adam Lambert. And, no, not just because of his name (+ an h). His performance from last week was cut from the time slot and House came on, so I switched channels. I didn't get to see it. However, the next morning on the radio, I heard some rave reviews of his rendition on the song "Mad World." I HAD to check this one out, because I have been a professed follower of the cult movie Donnie Darko since my freshman year in college thanks to friends Chris and Matt. And because of this movie, I instantly developed a love for this song. Not because it has anything to do with me, but because it is all just a beautiful sound. I must say, the scary bunny suit should show up to this version of the song. But no crashing jet engines, please!

Tonight I couldn't help but look up yet another American Idol performance. Contestant Kris Allen sang a song that Carlton and I both realized, but I had to look it up and do a little light google/yahoo/youtube research before I found anything on it. Ever heard the song Falling Slowly? Please, please, please! Tell me if you know that you've ever heard this song, and if you can remember where you heard it! I've looked it up and can only find references to the film ONCE, which I am now dying to watch after reading all the fantastic reviews.


A sweet, struggling story made magical by its soundtrack. Struggling musicians in a real world make music you could soak yourself in. Seems like a film I'll watch over and over and over and over again. Any artfully modest and understated movie will surely capture my obsessive little heart. Just ask my dad--he can't stay awake for one! Garden State. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. Napoleon Dynamite. And especially Lost in Translation. Just go ahead and buy this one, Trisha. I don't know how I missed this one. It's been out for a couple years now... so I should be able to get it on the cheap. But the song... how do I know it? Obviously never saw this movie. This would never have been a hit single soaring on the charts. Got any clues?

Relief!

So, I recently voiced my concerns over getting this Toula completed. I was afraid that knitting with (and switching out) multiple colors was going to be more difficult than I could bare. Then I finally started looking up "chart knitting" on YouTube--my knitting savior!--and found the simplest answer I could never have thought of on my own. When I'm done knitting one color, just drop it and start with the next color the chart calls for. I had this idea in my head that the unused colors would need to be carried over on the "wrong side" aka inside of each stitch. I didn't know how this could actually work out. And as it turns out, my little Curly Sue head was thinking way too hard.

I must say, I'm beyond ecstatic about this discovery, that knitting with multiple colors is going to be so easy for me. Now, instead of putting off the finished product of Toula, I'm hoping to be wearing her within two weeks, finished buttonholes and all! If any of you are at all interested in learning to knit, or refreshing your memory on getting started, I have two FANTASTIC resources for you... both on YouTube. Easy-to-follow verbal instructions describe each step these ladies are taking to create the stitches, and the videos are close up and focused in on the hands as they work the yarn and needles. I'm a lefty, and work from left to right (backwards from EVERYONE else in the world, I'm beginning to think), but these ladies work things in such detail that I find it SO EASY to reverse their stitches to fit my own backward process.

Knit Witch will teach you the very first basics of making any knit or purl stitch, ribbing, and other technical stitches. She works very slowly, and is very thorough. She uses a light colored yarn in front of a dark background, so everything is very easy to see. Her videos taught me every single thing I needed to know about making my Desert Rose (find my birthmark!), my first-ever non-scarf knitted project, if that proves anything about her teaching abilities!

Knitting Tips By Judy is very helpful as well! She posts videos of a few more "advanced" (for my ability at least) projects. She just taught me how to knit using multiple colors. I watched her "checkerboard pattern" video once and understood completely how to change colors in my Toula.


Now I can't finish the second sleeve fast enough, and can't WAIT to begin the floral pattern around the neckline. I will definitely post my progress. Wish me luck!

Sister, yours is ready!

Our Greek cruise leaves port in 38 days. And we've got an entire day both before and after that to romp around Venice. We'll be needing some extra storage for casual travel on and off the ship, don't you think, Sister?


I found a bag here that I really liked, and was inspired to embellish it a little. In this bag there are three fabrics total, and I think they all came together quite nicely. I'm a novice sewer, so please, don't mind any loose ends or kinky spots. I'll learn with practice.


I loved the overall simple shape of the original bag, with the tapered sides and round, cut-in handles. But I knew I wanted a squared-off base and side panels to add in some structure, so that this could be used to carry an extra pair of flip flops, or a sweater for a church visit, or sunglasses, or all of the above. It's big enough to carry all that plus a knitting project! But it's still only two layers thick of preshrunk cotton, so it's compact enough to stow away without taking up lots of luggage space.


Best thing about it is, it's washable. No need to worry about travel dirties. It's cotton, the "structured" base has an insert of a mesh plastic so it won't bottom out, and of course the zipper won't rust. Wash, dry, reuse! Vespa likes the orange, Sister! Claim yours quickly!!!


Many thanks to my dad for treating me to these bright and colorful fabrics for this project.

Progress on Toula

I have been working at a much slower, relaxed pace on my Toula. I think it's because I'm going to have to learn a totally different way of reading a pattern, and this way is scary. And this sweater is scary not only because it's a different type of pattern to read, but because I'll be working with multiple colors... and I've never done that before. Scary!

The Desert Rose pattern reads like an instruction manual on putting together cheap pressed wood/veneer furniture straight from the WalMart shipment box. K1 (knit one stitch), P3 (purl three stitches), K3tog (knit three stitches together), and so on. Just an itemized list. Once I watched a couple videos on YouTube, I was able to figure it out every step of the way. I learned how to make new stitches, and put those new stitches together into the sequence that the pattern listed.



Toula the Tulip, however, is so scary! It's just a grid. That's it. A colored grid. Different colored boxes in the grid indicate different colors, and in some cases, different types of stitches (in this particular pattern, they only indicate different colors). This sweater is still worked in the round (one long continuous spiral of stockinette stitch) just like Desert Rose was, but this pattern calls for the sleeves to be knitted separately and then attached later, when the decorative (multicolored) neckline is introduced.


So far I have the body of the sweater complete. I've got just about half of one of the sleeves completed as well. I'm just working so slowly because it's a scary new territory! There's a local yarn store I drove by when taking Vespa to her vet's office, so I'm considering that as my last resort if I just can't seem to figure things out for myself. I have a feeling that making these button holes, using multiple colors of yarn, and putting pieces of the sweater together (the sleeves)... this is gonna be a tougher piece to finish. Wish me luck!

"Oh, then I think I shall wish everyone a happy 'Winds Day', and I shall begin with--my very dear friend...YOU!"

Today we've been experiencing huge gusts of wind, dusty air, and a funky brownish-gray dust all around outside. This morning the weather lady Patty Kirkpatrick (I swear that's her real name) warned us all of high pollution alerts and high wind speeds of up to - or over - 50 mph.

By this afternoon, after I woke up from a much needed nap, I took a look out our sliding glass back door and realized I didn't have the "mountain view" I'm used to.

Strange... I think I sound like Britney. About 20 minutes after starting the upload on this video, I took another look outside. See? I said there were mountains out there.


And then another 20 minutes after that, another even more clear picture.


When we do have weather out here, it's really really strange.

Restoration Innovation

This is so smart, I just had to share it with anyone who might find it interesting in the slightest... and I know some of you will!

click here.