Make Do Christmas

My in-laws live in Florida. It's a blustery Christmas Eve here today. Pete and Marc have spent a pretty good amount of time outside today. They even went swimming in this ocean:

Me? I'm attempting to make bourbon balls.

I, crazy nut that I am, went to the first market I could find today (I don't really know where anything is in this town) It was bonkers in there with people doing their last-minute holiday emergency shopping. People were very nice though. I was able to park sooner than I thought I'd be and the folks milling around in the market were full of holiday cheer. Everyone was wishing everyone else a merry Christmas. None of this hippy-dippy "happy holidays"crap in Florida. Hey, I was raised in the Christian tradition so I'm not offended. I wished 'em all merry Christmas right back. Why not?

Then I went back to my in-law's rental condo where we're staying.

It can be funny to try to make things in other peoples' rental condos. Often times you can't find the equipment you need. I wouldn't dare to try to make cupcakes here. Marc couldn't find a frying pan here yesterday. No way there are muffin pans.

Bourbon balls do not require baking or any sort of pan. They aren't chemistry like real baking. You just grind up cookies and pecans and mix them with powdered sugar, bourbon and Karo syrup, wad 'em into balls and roll them in more powdered sugar. So I've been told. This is the first time I've tried to make any.

I used the blender that was really intended for mixing daiquiris to chop up my cookies (took forever) and my pecans (no trouble.) I found a large, plastic bowl to mix everything in. Miraculously I even found dry measuring cups (I'm completely shocked!) and measuring spoons. I got everything successfully processed and mixed. Then I ran out of time. The dough will have to sit for a while (which isn't bad - the flavors will meld better that way) until after Christmas Eve fancy dinner. Bourbon balls for breakfast? Could be. Midnight snack? Also possible. With picklebacks? I wouldn't put it past us, sadly.

So I'm getting a quick post in before I get fancypantsed-up. That could be interesting (to me) too - I packed the morning before we left after three hours of sleep. I don't know if my fancy duds will pass muster. Well, I brought what I brought and that's all there is to it.

Come to think of it, I should start getting ready now. We're expected at Pete and Marc's parents' in 35 minutes. Pete and Marc are still outside getting blown around in this weather. Perhaps we'll be late?

This is not your storybook Christmas. It's great though. We're all half-assed. It's nice that we agree about it. Hitting all the high spots and letting everything else slide. Ha!

Since I live in the politically correct U.S. northeast I will wish you all very happy holidays!

"Beauty"

I mentioned a "ridiculous mini craft experiment" back on December 3rd. The experiment? I made my own iridescent glitter nail polish top coat. I did this to prove to my friend, Jenn, that you really could see the rainbow effect. Behold, film of the proof:

Okay, it's not really film. Or footage. Bits? I'm not tech savvy enough to know (or care that much) what to call it. But if anyone reading this knows, please inform me in the comments if you don't mind (Because I do care a little bit) I could just call it a movie. It does move.

Now we can all make fun of my crappy housekeeping! 

Another thing I want to share: my new favorite lipstick.

I think it looks darker in real life but pictures never lie, right?

I have scanned the drawings I did the other day, plus one that I did yesterday. I still have to process them though - make them smaller for posting. Maybe later tonight if I get my act together.

Chocostravaganza!

Today I made chocolate cupcakes and brownies. The cupcakes are for a friend. I made the brownies so Pete wouldn't be disappointed. Tomorrow I will ice the cupcakes with chocolate ganache. Cupcakes and icing all sinfully vegan from Vegan Cupcakes Take Over The World, which, as we all know by now, produces the best, most delicious cupcakes I've ever eaten. The brownies are not vegan. I am not vegan.

I loaded the brownies up with Guittard Extra Semi Sweet chocolate chips and walnuts. They came out very soft and chocolate IN THE EXTREME!!!! They would border on obscene in a brownie sundae. I might have had them for dinner by accident. 

Here's a scene from my two-day thank you card making exploit:

The mess I made. You can see some of Fay's beds over to the right in the picture. Also, I got some Christmas ornaments at Lord and Taylor. 30% off! They have great Christmas ornaments there.

I'd never experimented with rubber stamping and embossing powders before. Gotta say I had a lot of fun. These were my successes:

Not bad for a first try. Not especially inspired but I think the heartfelt gratitude comes through. I only really need three so I'll have to choose which I like best.

Those embossing powders are really fun. Here you can see the difference between plain gold ink, gold ink with gold embossing powder and gold ink with brown gitter embossing powder. Much fun to be had if you were to go nuts with this stuff - and you think this kind of thing is fun.

Once you start off with large photos it's really hard to go back to small ones in one post.

I did another ridiculous mini craft experiment yesterday and there's a movie that goes with it. I think I'll save that for tomorrow though. This is good enough for one day. 

I Blew It Off

I'm not in California anymore and it's 12:27 AM eastern time. I blew off Tuesday's post until now. Yes I did. I guess I was in a cranky mood and felt like shooting myself in the foot. Tonight I'll be sleeping under (or next to) a large pile of clean laundry. I did the laundry, I just haven't put it away yet. More foot shooting. Just one of those days. Tomorrow (or do I mean today?) when I wake up it will be a different day.

While I was not posting I was knitting. I mostly finished this cowl thing.

I think I'm going to take it apart though. It's a bit snug and longer than it needs to be. It was an experiment that I think needs a redesign. This is the cowl made with Madeline Tosh merino that I mentioned back in my Halloween post. At least now I know one skein is enough for a cowl and that the yarn's not itchy.

I Got Nothing For You

It's a race against time!

Will I be able to think of a post topic before Pete gets home in an hour and a half?

Me: Come on brain, think!
Brain: Nothing. Nothing. Nothing...

Me: Maybe if I eat this bag of potato chips?
Brain: Burp! More!

Me: Chocolate?
Brain: More potato chips!

Me: What? But you love chocolate!
Brain: Try meditating.

Me: You know, brain, I have a lot of stuff I need to figure out and you just don't seem to be getting with the program. I need you to pull yourself together and help me out! Come on! What do I have to do? I've been providing you excellent oxygenated blood flow, reasonable, balanced amounts of the hormones you need, I've been sleeping alright. What am I missing?
Brain: Duhhh...

Me: Okay, I'll try meditating.
Brain: Socks, cars, the number 3, it smells like apples in here. 3. 3. Sleeping. Wake up! One, one, two, two, pink, aqua, platform-heeled shoes, threeee, sleeping, three, you're an idiot, three...

Thirty minutes later:
Brain: I got nothing for you.

Sorry folks.

Viva Zucchini Pants!

I should have typos all the time! I'm getting lots of fun comments on the one below (some via e-mail/Facebook so you won't see them here) Keep 'em coming!

Some You Win, Some You Lose, Some You Win

I was home to see (and smell) the tree peony bloom!

Ants have taken down this herbaceous peony by living in its roots :(

The view on the way to dinner was spectacular though :)

Yesterday I accomplished my goal of getting all the roses and strawberries planted. Whew! Go me! Then Pete took me out for nachos and beer. It was great!

Now I am traveling again. Hopefully tomorrow I can post photos of the fried clams I hope to devour.

Well Hello There!

It has been brought to my attention (hi Alex!) that I haven't posted in a while. Life keeps whizzing on by and I haven't had a lot of time to myself to think about things. That's my excuse.

For example, I met a celebrity:

I know he seems ornery in his films but keep in mind, he is an actor. In person he's quite charming.

Today's Surliness Brought To You By The Learning Curve

It took me all day to figure out how to resize this image so I could save it for the web and post it here.  A simple photo of a revolting bowl of Count Chocula.  Yes, the process was extremely aggravating.  It's six PM and I've just figured out how to do it.

This is continuing fallout from the destruction of my laptop (I had to use the word "fallout" - my laptop fell) Yes, I lost some software and some work I'd done with it but nothing very expensive or truly irreplaceable.  I lost so many photos that I don't even know how many I lost.  Of course most of them were worthless.  I can live with those things.  They're gone and I can barely remember them.  

I have yet to figure out how to get my address book up and running using the backups I made.  I may never manage it.  There's always Facebook and waiting for people to e-mail me so I can save their contact info again but still it's frustrating.  The same is true for my Safari bookmarks - not the most devastating loss either.  It's just that I used to have a comfortable system.  I had passwords and receipts saved in my old mailboxes.  Now I have to hit the "forgot password" link when I want to sign into something unusual.  Big deal.  Once everything worked smoothly, now it doesn't.  Oh well, suck it up and rebuild.

What has probably annoyed me most though is not having Photoshop.  I have photos to post up here!  Today I downloaded a trial version of Photoshop Elements.  Adobe makes everything so much more confusing than necessary.  I'm sure I'll spend additional hours searching through the maze of tutorials to find out about stuff I don't want to do and stuff it hasn't occurred to me to do.  For today though, I can finally bring you a simple, reasonably-sized photo of a bowl of Count Chocula.

If only I could just be cool about all of this.  I know it's going to take a while for me to get back up to speed.  I chose to try to learn a new thing (Photoshop Elements)  It's computer software - of course it's confusing.  I just need to be patient.  What happened to all the reading about Zen I just did?  Things are new and different and you have to adjust.  C'est la vie...

Perhaps tomorrow I can post the photos from my birthday and begin to put this laptop incident behind me.

Now the reason I wanted to post this image in the first place is that today for the first time I found the taste of Count Chocula to be disgusting.  I believe this makes me officially mature.  It is no longer fun to eat Count Chocula.  I hope that the same cannot be said for Lucky Charms.

Life Is One Big Ball Pit - Especially When You're Juvenile Like Me

I was looking at what I'd written under the "monsters" category.  The older stuff is a little bit interesting.  I really hope I can make a comeback here sometime soon.  That would require me to have some time to think and maybe the holiday season isn't the best hope for that.

Clearly I need to make some lifestyle changes.

Another thing I was thinking about today was, well, I always think everybody else is doing better than I am.  I think everybody else is better at managing their time and being a grown up and dealing with life's details than I am.  It dawned on me today that that may not be true.

Everybody else just deals differently than me.  Plenty of people out there are dropping balls all the time.  I just don't see it.  The streets are awash with dropped balls and they're not all mine.  There are tons of things I'm terrible about.  There are all kinds of people who are better about them than I am.  But there are probably other things that I'm better about than they are too.

Wow, what am I, fourteen?

Maybe I should get back into reading the "New Yorker" more again.  At least the comics.

Post/Note/Hope

On this, the last day of NaBloPoMo 2010, wouldn't it be great if I wrote something thoughtful and insightful?  Yes it would.  This isn't that post though.  Maybe later if we're all lucky.

So far today has been completely ordinary (except that Pete got up before I did - that's unusual) and I'm feeling hard pressed to think of a subject to write about at all.

Speaking of writing, I really enjoyed NaNoWriMo.  I hope that I can keep up the writing habit.  I don't know if I have two hours every day to commit to writing though.  Hopefully I can swing one hour.

I'm not sure that the writing habits I got into this month were the best for me.  I know I did a lot of padding (you know- used a lot of words I knew I didn't need) in my attempt to reach the 50,000 word mark.  I guess I usually edit myself more as I go when I write.

Well this is working a different way and it's important to try new things.  Now I can try editing myself afterwards.  Maybe I'll do a better job now that those thoughts have been floating around in my head for a month.

Anyway, I probably only got into the "edit as you go" thing because I'd put off my assignment till the last minute and didn't have time to edit later.  Not the greatest way to get into a lifelong habit.  Yup, it's important to try new things.

I don't know if I'll try to do both NaBloPoMo and NaNoWriMo at the same time again.  I think the blog suffered.  It got less time, attention and thought than it normally would in November.  I hope I haven't alienated anyone with my uninspired posts this month.  If I have they probably aren't reading my apology right now, huh?

Okay, I'll knock off the rambling and move on with my day now.  Thanks for your patience, assuming you're still reading,
xoxo,
Mel

P.S. Now I'm really excited to take my novel into my studio and move it into it's next incarnations: comic books, videos, paintings and sculptures.  Even farther into the future I hope, a video game.

Home Stretches

In 1579 words I'll have hit the 50,000 mark.  I can do it before noon.  Then I hope I can get on to the NaNoWriMo web page, get my numbers validated and buy myself a NaNoWriMo Winner t-shirt - and underpants, socks, hankie, hat, toaster etc.

I'm a tiny bit concerned that once I've finished writing the first draft of the novel before the end of the month I'll forget that it's still NaBloPoMo and I'll blow it on the last day.  AAAAAAAAA!

Fingers crossed that that won't happen.

NaBloPoMo Filler

Uh oh, eleven PM and I haven't posted yet!  I'd better think up a topic quick!

Well, here's something:  I took a bunch of photos today of the giant dead maple tree that stands at the entrance to our driveway.  I love that thing.  It really is beautiful even though it's falling apart.  It's rather stark and knobbed and has huge funguses (oh yeah, that should probably read "fungi."  I'm not changing it though) growing out of it.  I saw an owl suffering through a rainstorm in it once.  It's dramatic.

Unfortunately, because it's falling apart some guys are going to come next weekend and cut it down.

BOO!!!!!

However I accept that that has to happen.  It could fall on someone, after all.

Another unfortunate thing is that I can't fine the folder I saved the photos to.  I'm pretty sure it said 11 somewhere in the name of the folder but it's not the folder I thought it was.  I'm going to have to download some more photos from that camera and see where it wants to put them in order to find out where it s.

Here's something else I did today:  I went to the Brookline house and got a tour from one of the new/old* owners.

Not surprisingly it looks great.  They completely renovated the basement.  They also refurbished the old windows, saving the antique glass panes and replacing the window ropes with chains.  They did a lot of new insulating too.  I could tell the place was less drafty than it had been.  Debra showed me around.  She was so excited to be living there again.  I was happy that they have it again and can afford to make the improvements we couldn't.  It's a great house and we were lucky to have lived there.

And now, random photos of Fay.  Two almost identical ones because I couldn't decide which was cuter. Of course if I had just picked one you would never have missed the other.

I looked back and am shocked to see that I never posted about the people who bought our house last year.  The people who bought our house from us are the same people we bought it from in 1991.  

Carrboro, Part One

Howdy Everybody!  I'm in sunny Carrboro, North Carolina.  Now please don't go to my house and rob me.  Thanks.

We're staying with our friends, Alex and Olivia.  They are wonderful people and amazing hosts.  Any minute Alex will come home for lunch so I wanted to just check in and do a quick post.  Hopefully I'll have some photos or video to post later.

And of course I have to catch up on my word count for NaNoWriMo.  I'm not too far behind I think.  I'm supposed to make it to at least 16,670 by the end of the day.  Fingers crossed!

Almost November

Well, it's almost November and you know what that means: NaBloPoMo.  This year it also means NaNoWriMo.  I'm going writing bonkers!

I'm really excited about writing the novel.  My plan is to write whatever the hell comes out - any goddamned thing.  I'm looking for a wild, bumpy ride.  That will probably work for two days and on day three I'll have nothing going on and think "what the hell did I get myself into?" and there I'll be.

I've been reading Stephen King's On Writing and enjoying it very much.  Yesterday I was very pleased and relieved to discover that he feels it's unwise to begin with a plot in mind.  I don't think I've ever written anything with a plot.  I'm a short story girl as far as writing goes.  It's easy to get away without a plot with those.  I certainly don't have a plot in mind now.  Characters yes, plot no.

Of course he does suggest you start with a situation as well as characters.  Hopefully a situation will come to me.

I'm having all these elaborate fantasies of coming up with something really amazing.  This project will be the magic bullet that will expose my awesome insides to The World and all kinds of interesting people will find that they want me to be their new best friend.  Yeah!  I think that with every project I start.  I also think I'll win the lottery.

An Inheritence

I have my dad's iPad. I'm posting with it right now. So far it's pretty fun to play with but I feel a little bit like a vulture. Dad would probably think it's cool that I can blog with this thing though.

Thanks Dad.

Just Checking

Just checking my blog to see if I posted anything new...

Nope.  Oh well.

Not Bloggy

I haven't been feeling very bloggy lately. Sorry. The things that are taking up the majority of my brain space are not things I've felt I could share.

Pete, Fay and I are fine though - not to worry.

We were in California last week. I brought the charger for the camera but not the camera. There was a photo I wished I could have taken to post that I didn't take of the top of a hedge.

Mom and I went shopping twice. We needed retail therapy. I bought a pair of those Sketcher butt shoes. Wait a second and I'll google what they're actually called... Oh yeah, "Shape Ups." Like my old Fit Flops, I don't know if they work but I like how they look and they are fun to wear. Instead of being bored while you just stand in one place you have to pay attention to keeping your balance. I love being entertained.

Today I ordered some plants to put in my garden in the spring. That was risky because I'm not positive I'll be in Vermont when the plants arrive. I went with it anyway.

My friend Jill says life is messy. Mine's not especially but maybe it should be. I'll try to work on that, though it goes against my nature.

I'm Secretly Really Into Makeup

November thirtieth, here you are again. It's the final day of NaBloPoMo and my final post for the month - unless I think of something better to say before midnight.

Looking back it doesn't seem as though I've had a single interesting thought all month. So in that vein I shall come clean about the latest Kool-Aid I've imbibed.

Yes, I love Bare Minerals foundation. I never thought it would happen to me. I've always been a "please God no foundation" type but everybody was making such a stink about the stuff I decided to try it. If you hit the link above you will go to the page on Sephora.com where they are selling the starter kit (while you're there you might want to pick up this, or this, or one of these as well - all bear the Mel stamp of approval - except the first one which I haven't tried and hope to get for Christmas because I'm a big dork and I believe everything I read in a product's advertising copy) This is also bound to be good. When I say "good" I mean "fun."

Okay, back to the topic at hand. This Bare Minerals stuff is great! First of all putting it on is a very calming ritual. It's powder - but not super-drying - so it isn't cold and gloopy and you don't have to worry that you're not spreading it evenly. You just dust it loosely all over your face with a big, fat, soft brush. If you want more coverage you do it again. If you have spots to cover you hit those with a dab of the touch-up brush. You can't apply it badly (though you might want some help choosing the color to use) First you do the base, then you do the blush (I often skip the blush as I tend to be ruddy in the first place), then you do the translucent top coat. It takes no time and you don't even have to look while you're doing it.

You can't feel it on and, by some miracle, it really stays on. One thing I always felt was humiliating about foundation was the way it could end up on a person's shirt collar - UGLY. This doesn't do that - though I can't say I've rubbed my face in my shirt to force it.

Not only that but it's got SPF 15 and it's completely unscented. Since all the ingredients are inert they won't give you a rash either. High frigging five!

At first I thought, "well this stuff's fine I guess" but I kept doing it because I liked the ritual and because it has sunblock. More recently though I've grown accustomed to having really good-looking skin. Maybe that's a bad thing. Maybe that makes me product dependent. Nah - I can live without the stuff. I am chocolate dependent though.

There are plenty of brands of mineral makeup out there. Some are super-hippie-crunchy-pure and some are fake. I haven't tried any of those. I just know Bare Escentuals. Typical. The department store brand. I'm so bourgeois.

Thus ends my third NaBloPoMo. Now I shall go celebrate my success with a martini with blue cheese stuffed olives. Unless I go pomegranate - in which case, really no olives.

Mild Griping

Yep, sorry, I've been getting away with posting photos for more of November than I'd like to acknowledge.

Not today though. Nope, today I'm going to ramble about something or other until I feel like I've fulfilled my posting commitment.

Pete, Fay and I are at my parents' beach house for Thanksgiving. The weather is okay. In the morning the ocean looks so beautiful. The skies are grey so the ocean is a range of shades of glittering graphite and steel. When the sun pokes through the clouds in some places the sea turns silver. It's a dazzling feast for the eyes.

I did most of the Thanksgiving marketing at the local fancy-pants market. I was pleased to be able to find a turkey breast at this late date. I plan to brine it tomorrow. I've brined chickens before and they really come out well.

Today I was going to make chocolate chip cookies. I even put two sticks of butter in my jacket pockets (wrapped) to help them soften more quickly. It kind of worked, I guess. They got a little softer on the outside. You just can't really rush butter.

Anyway, since this is the beach house and you never know who was here last or where they put anything after the last time they used it, it took me about twenty minutes to find the cookie sheets. Then I started going through the cabinets looking for things like flour and baking soda and vanilla. I found all those things but what we don't have here is sugar. Who ever heard of a house with no sugar in it? No White sugar, no brown sugar. There is some ancient Sweet and Low which there's no way in hell I'll ever use.

I guess it's good that I found out today. I still have a few things to pick up at the market, like celery and onions. I would have been pretty pissed to be in the thick of cooking and not have any sugar on hand.

I wonder what other rude awakenings I'm due for in the next couple of days?