Musing Mondays (Apr. 7)

Musing Mondays asks you to muse about one of the following each week…
• Describe one of your reading habits.
• Tell us what book(s) you recently bought for yourself or someone else, and why you chose that/those book(s).
• What book are you currently desperate to get your hands on? Tell us about it! 
• Tell us what you’re reading right now — what you think of it, so far; why you chose it; what you are (or, aren’t) enjoying it.
• Do you have a bookish rant? Something about books or reading (or the industry) that gets your ire up? Share it with us!
• Instead of the above questions, maybe you just want to ramble on about something else pertaining to books — let’s hear it, then!

I remember, when I was about three or so, seeing "Peter Pan" on tv.  This was the Mary Martin version which was actually a stage production.  It seems that after a performance, they decided to do it all over again to film it to show on television.  I was enchanted.  Then came the movie version thanks to Walt Disney.  Again, totally smitten -- gotta love Tink!  Now you can find several "spin-offs" so to speak on tv -- Tinkerbell heading up the Disney fairies and Jake and the Neverland Pirates.  I still find them totally captivating although nothing compares to that 1950-ish version.

So, while perusing the sale table at B&N, I decided that I would like to read the book.  Of course, the cover took me in as well, but I just want to see if any of those media productions do the book justice or did they improve on it.  I actually just want to see how Nana -- the world's best babysitter -- is portrayed.  So, this will be my next read after "The Master Quilter" in which I am totally immersed.  

I will let you know if Nana lives up to my expectations!  

I Always Knew Dragons Could be Pesky

I have had this cross stitch pattern for quite sometime -- bought it from Monique Keylon, if I remember correctly.  I loved him from the beginning but set him aside to pursue other things.  I finally started on the project, did the border and then started on the little guy whom I refer to as Alford.  I was about a third of the way through with his body and realized things weren't right -- I was off and I couldn't figure it out.  So, I put him up for another LONG time and went back to quilting.

The other day, realizing that I am sort of burned out on quilting, I turned my attention to cross stitch again and started sorting out my WIP's, of which there are many.  My eye was caught by Alford, who was basically no more, but the fabric was still in the q-snap so I gathered up all the thread and the pattern and all the other things needed to work on this and I gave him another look. 

I have never gridded a project before - I figured that I had done enough of this sort of stitching that I didn't NEED to.  Ever heard "pride goeth before the fall"?  Yeah.  Ok, so I decided to check the border and it was ok -- counted correctly.  So, I decided to grid from there and try that.

I used pink sewing thread to mark the grid figuring it would be easy enough to see but not obstructive and with a single strand, it should be easy to pull out. 

I grabbed my pattern and some sticky notes.  I made a copy of the pattern so I could scribble on it, and isolated each little 10 X 10 square with a sticky note on all four sides.  I started stitching and was thrilled at how easy it was going. 

Who knew how easy it would make it -- I guess you are never too old to learn!  I have a perfect place to hang this once I get it finished and framed.  I have become quite attached to Alford.  The only thing I wish is that I had chosen different colors but he is cheerful and will look nice on the wall.  I am happy and  I have to say that I was also burned out on cross stitching but I think this might turn that around. 

Random Rant aka Meal Planning Blog


I don't care for cooking.  I like my own cooking better than anything else but my husband isn't a fan.  Due to lots of circumstances, we have taken to eating out almost every night and it is spoiling my husband for restaurant food and I am getting tired of it.  So, I have been giving a lot of thought to both of these situations and have come to a couple of conclusions.

First, my husband needs to get over it.  He is diabetic.  The restaurant food isn't good for him.  He has been eating my food for almost 42 years.  Zip it, Hubs and sit down and eat.  Plus, I just have to accept the fact that he is never going to enjoy broccolli. 

Second, I need to get a grip and face the resident evil head on.  When I think about meal planning I morph back into Home Ec at Mark Twain Junior High School.  I think "meat, a starch, two veggies and fruit".  I try to plan meals around that paradigm and therein lies the problem -- we just don't eat like that anymore.  I can make a mean roast with potatoes and carrots but that generates leftovers -- Hubs won't eat leftovers.  I blame that on living with his mother who actually cooks for leftovers -- a weeks worth of yellow squash.  I can see the problem.  He doesn't care for fish and he isn't a a fan of chicken, especially boneless, skinless chicken breasts that come in large bags with several pieces --you know the ones, you get them in the freezer section at the store.  Yep.  Not his thing.

He says I need to plan meals which is great except he can't tell me anything to put on the list.  I thought about why we can't plan a weeks worth of meals and it dawned on me that I am planning meals which are fine but they aren't what we eat.  If I want to plan meals, I need to look at what we actually eat.

Ok, so here is what I want to do -- I want to plan meals for home, that I cook, like the ones we eat out.  There, I have said it.  I think this is the only way I am going to solve the issue.  If I do that then maybe we can quit asking each other " what do you want to eat" -- and I will spend less money at the store because half of what I buy we don't want to eat.  I am trying to be good about it but I think I have to face the fact that our eating habits aren't great but maybe I could make it better by doing it at home but in the same vein as what we eat out.  Maybe I am just bored.

So, I sat about trying to figure out the best way to plan the meals which was going to result in the purchase of a notebook, page protectors, paper and the time to pour over books, magazines, etc.

Then I ditched that idea.  I have a little white board on the side of my fridge with a section divided off for each day.  I am assigning a "theme" to each day - i.e.  if you ever went to public school in Texas and ate in the cafeteria, you ate Mexican food.  Since that was our life for twelve years, we are stuck in the "if it's Wednesday, you eat Mexican food" mindset.  So, Wednesday will be Mexican food day.  See where I am going with this?

Then, I am going to have to figure out what I can do in the crockpot as we are gone every day of the week and what I can cook ahead and freeze, if I need to.  Bread, cornbread, biscuits, etc. come to mnd.  I am thinking about making a tossed salad at the beginning of the week for several days or as long as I can keep it fresh and then fill in with REALLY simple food. (Steamed yellow squash?) I think I can do it.

So, that is what has been playing in my mind for the last 48 hours.  I don't like to cook but I don't think I like to eat out so much anymore either.  It has become a chore in and of itself.  Besides, I like my own cooking such as it is.

I have to ask -- how do you eat?  How do you plan?  I need hints and tips!

Mark-ups April 3, 2014

Filed under: Wordpress — --Deb @ 1:29 am

Do you write in your books? Highlight? Make notes? Or do you like to keep your copies as pristine as possible?




Today, on Booking Through Thursday, we are discussing marking in books -- do you?  Don't you?


When I was in college and the books were my own, I made notes in my books and highlighted them.  If there had been sticky notes in those days, I probably would have used those as well.  Nowadays, no, I don't write in my books.  I try to use bookmarks so the pages aren't dog-eared.  I like my books to stay as new as possible but it is difficult since I do carry them around in my purse.  I know that books aren't as valuable as they used to be, in this day and age of paperbacks, but I still value them a great deal and like to keep them nice, if I can.

Teaser Tuesdays (Apr. 1)

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along! Just do the following:
• Grab your current read
• Open to a random page
• Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
• BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
• Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!



My teaser comes from The Master Quilter by Jennifer Chiaverini, page 7.

"Don't be ridiculous," said Sylvia, glancing at the clock.  "We have a lot to cover tonight.  We shouldn't waste time preparing extraneous desserts. Chocolate is never extraneous, said Gwen, but the others quickly agreed with Sylvia, eager to get her out of the kitchen." 

How could anybody be too busy for chocolate and.....why do they want her out of the kitchen?  It is a mystery!

 

Musing Mondays -- March 31, 2014

I am currently reading The Master Quilter by Jennifer Chiaverini.  This is the sixth book in the Elm Creek Quilt Series and I am already unable to put it down.  I absolutely love this series and I think part of it is the setting.  It is set in the small college town of Waterford, Pennsylvania and, even though I have never visited Pennsylvania, I identify with it because part of my family came from Pennsylvania.  The  idea of a huge mansion, a historical home being turned into a quilt camp with lovely grounds is right up my alley.   I also have a great admiration for the main character, Sylvia Compson.  While we aren't even close in age, I admire her spirit and would like to be like her when I get to her age.  So far this series has been really enjoyable and I don't think this particular book is going to be any different.

This last week I went on a bit of a splurge with book shopping.  I have a love/hate relationship with my Nook but one day I decided to love it and set about exploring the Barnes and Noble site, concentrating on the Nook Book section.  I picked up several books on their "under $5" section.

These books are:

Relatively Dead  Sheila Connolly
Firefly Lane  Kristin Hannah
The House Girl  Tara Conklin
The Norfolk Mystery - Series #1  Ian Samson
Asylum Madeleine Roux

That should be enough to keep me going for a while -- not to mention the 75 unread books on my bookshelf.  So, yeah, guess I better go get started! Have a Happy Monday!

Growing Up or Growing Old?



I have been reading a good deal of minimalist blogs and articles lately and I am having a change of mind about things.  An epiphany, so to speak.  This great revelation?  I hate clutter.   I REALLY hate clutter.  The thing is -- what, exactly, IS clutter? 

I have had a creative streak all my life.  From the time I was little and begged Granny Schmidt (my OTHER grandmother, actually no relation) to teach me to make pot holders on a little loom from the five and dime, I have had my hands in some sort of crafty endeavor.  However, crafty endeavors usually involve space and mess. It used to not bother me.  I could sew with a baby on my lap or cross stitch with kids on either side of me making a mess of the thread.  I could leave it there to pick up again in the next ten minutes or the next month and it never bothered me.  Now, not so much.

I don't have a lot of time to get involved in crafty things anymore and honestly, I don't have a lot of interest anymore either.  It seems like the enjoyment is overshadowed by the mess.  I don't have a dedicated sewing room -- and don't really want one because I am afraid it would make me crazy if it wasn't cleaned up and everything put away all the time.  It seems like my life is just taking a different turn.

I have been doing a lot of thinking about what I think would make me happy at this point in my life.  The first thing that I see when I close my eyes is a clean house.  I don't mean just dusted, vacuumed and mopped -- I mean every flat surface empty.  I can see having what I need and no more and all those things in their place. When I think about all the crafting things stashed in drawers and cabinets and closets I feel my skin crawling.  I spent the better part of the weekend going through and throwing away magazines and I was almost physically ill because to me it seemed I was throwing away money but the truth of the matter is, we have no more room to store magazines.  Pure and simple.  The dust the emanated from the piles sent my allergic response into a tail spin so those piles of mags were literally making me sick.  I finally just threw everything away. 

The second thing I see is taking care of myself.  Less stress for one thing.  For some reason I feel like I SHOULD be doing all these crafty things, that I should WANT to do them but I don't. That causes me stress because I feel like I am not doing something I should be doing. What do I want to do?  I want to get my hair done and polish my toenails.  I want to take walks and sit on the patio and watch the birds.  I want to read wonderful books and go to bed early in a clean, uncluttered, undusty bedroom.  I want to walk in my bathroom and see a clean vanity with NOTHING on it.   I want my world to be calm and quiet.

I don't know if something is wrong with me, if I am just getting old or maybe just growing up.  I don't know if I am finally looking at my life through my eyes at what I want rather than what other people want me to do or what I think I should do in comparison to other people.  Maybe I am just becoming true to myself.  Maybe there are just not enough hours in a day and I am having to prioritize.  I think that is what it is.  I am having to decide what is the most important way to spend my time, what things do I find enjoyable and what environment makes me the most comfortable.  Maybe I have learned I can't do it all and truthfully don't want to. Maybe I have learned that less is more. 

The answer to the initial question -- what is clutter?  In my eyes, clutter is anything that isn't used, beautiful, loved and doesn't have a place. Clutter is anything that saps your energy or creates anxiety (NOT children -- children aren't clutter!).  There are all sorts of clutter -- paper, supplies, books, magazines, noise, decor, color -- whatever creates chaos in your existence. The eight bottles of extremely dated, stinky cologne that I won't throw out because they were gifts comes immediately to mind.

Now that I have identified clutter -- the trick is to get rid of it in a timely manner sans guilt.  Yes, that is a trick.  I don't think a person should feel guilty over inanimate objects like fabric or scrapbooking supplies.  My problem is that I see these things as money -- they cost money so to throw them away or give them away is the same is throwing away money.  I have to get past that.  Maybe donating them would be helpful.  However, whatever it takes is what I will do because I need to set about creating this new environment and way of life for myself.  I don't want to feel guilty over passing along some sewing stuff.  What I want is to feel like  I don't have to practically renovate the house for somebody to walk in the front door.  It is more important to me to have a clean, welcoming home than to have copious amounts of stuff around me taking up precious real estate in closets and drawers.  There, I said it.  That is what I want.  I want the things and activities that are important to me and I want to get rid of all the junk.

So, am I growing old or growing up?

Stream of Consciousness

I was looking for a new meme for Sunday and ran across this one at allthingsfadra.com.  The idea is to set a timer and write for five minutes, whatever comes into your head, whatever you are thinking about -- possibly even word association, I would suppose.  So, for the next five minutes I am going to give it a go.  One, two, three -- go.


Do you believe in genetic memory?  From what I understand, genetic memory is memory(ies) that is passed on to you through your DNA -- memories of your parents, grandparents, etc.  I think the idea is completely bizarre except for the dream.  

Yes, I have always had a recurring dream -- well, not always -- it started when I was a child and continued until I went on a quest to find the house. I found the house and never had the dream again.

In the dream I am standing behind an old high school near downtown. Like most of the buildings of it's era it was imposing and elaborate.  It was the only high school in town for a long time -- the first high school, if you will.  I was on the street behind it looking at a house.  I was in current time but the house was not-- it was almost like a split screen on a tv program but part of it was very foggy -- like an old sepia photo -- and there was a wagon with a horse attached sitting in front on the street. I knew this house, it was familiar, I knew who was in the house.....I woke up.

Ok, my five minutes are up.  That is what I woke up thinking about this morning.  I don't know why, I haven't thought about it for a long time.  Maybe it is because I am planning a summer return to my hometown and that is where this house is.  Every time I go I try to see the house -- one day I am sure I will go and it won't be there.  I will be sad because this house draws me in -- not in a bad way -- and I need to know the connection.  Ah, genealogy -- there is never an end to it.

The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald

In a recent Facebook conversation with some younger folks, the subject of required reading in school came up.  The youngsters were discussing what they were required to read and The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald was mentioned.  When I responded that I had never read the book shouts of horror reached the heavens.  I further explained that it wasn't required.  More shouts.  In my defense, I threw out titles like Beowulf and Canterbury Tales but that did not impress.  Somehow, because I had not read The Great Gatsby my education was in question.  So.......I stopped by my neighborhood Half Price Books and picked up a copy and read it.  Now I don't have to be ashamed of my lesser education -- I have been duly instructed in the writing style of Fitzgerald.

F. Scott Fitzgerald, born in 1896 (the year of my grandfather's birth) in Minnesota.  He attended Princeton University and published his first novel in 1920.  He married Zelda Sayre and lived between New York, Paris and the French Riviera.  He was part of the expatriate group including Gertrude Stein and Ernest Hemingway. He went on to write such masterpieces as The Beautiful and the Damned  and Tender is the Night.   He died in 1940 of a heart attack.  Fitzgerald is acknowledged to be one of the most important American writers of the twentieth century.

I enjoyed the book a great deal but honestly, I feel like I have read it before.  I know I haven't seen any of the movie versions but it seems hauntingly familiar to me.  The setting in this book was lush.  I was taken back to an era that I have only read about -- the jazz age.  I could envision the extravagance of Gatsby's lifestyle, the alcohol, the dresses, the lifestyle of the rich and famous of the 1920's.  I could almost feel the cool breeze blowing across the patio and the party goers broke into their intimate groups.  I could see Gatsby standing at the top of the steps surveying his world -- the world he built for Daisy.

From the beginning I thought the character of Gatsby to be sad.  With all his wealth and opulent lifestyle, he seemed to be the loneliest, most insecure man on the earth.  I disliked Tom immediately and I felt that Daisy wasn't what she appeared to be.  Jordan seemed to be cool, level headed and not willing to put herself on the line for anybody.   The story is told from the viewpoint of Nick Carraway.  While he seemed to be curious and somewhat awed about Gatsby and his life he was also frustrated by it all.  He was caught up, for three months, in Gatsby's world but he never really became a part of it.  It seemed that Carraway was the most grounded of all the characters.

The plot progressed nicely.  I really enjoyed the interaction between characters -- it was a good window into interpersonal relationships and mores of the time.  As was noted by the New York Times "gin was the national drink and sex the national obsession" as was evidenced in this work.  Yet, while life had a definite wild side, there was still a decorum to be upheld.  The reader knows what is going on the book -- read between the lines -- but it is never overtly discussed -- it is assumed.  The book flows well an it is difficult to put down.  It is a short read and goes quickly.  I enjoyed it and would recommend it.

There -- I feel like I have just written a book report and I guess I have.  Now, I just might watch the movie.

Rough Month

This has been a rough month for friends.  One diagnosed, one dying and one gone.  The one in the process of her journey will probably be gone by morning.  I am sad.

I Can't Believe --

it has been 10 days since my last post.  What in the world have I been doing?  Hmmm...in a word -- nothing.  Well, nothing of any consequence anyway.  I have been reading some and rearranging craft/sewing stuff a bit (about ready to just toss all of that) and going through magazines.

I have a problem with magazines.  I enjoy them.  I really enjoy them and I pay money for them but they seem to multiply themselves in the dark, I have nowhere to put them and I hate to throw them away because I feel like I am throwing money away.  So, what is a girl to do?  Well, I dragged everything out of my magazine hidey holes (there are several) and started going through them.  I finally got so tired of it I just threw everything in the recycling bin and didn't look back.  I really need to keep on top of the magazine situation.

Oh, yes, Sunday I went to church and walked across the windy parking lot into the building.  Halfway through the service it hit me.  I developed a terrible allergy headache and since then have been having a horrible allergy attack.  I don't think I will need to see the doctor but I am a bit tired of it now.  This is the second allergy issue in as many months.  Yeah.  Did I mention that Hubs is in the same boat?  Bad allergies with him as well.

Oh, yes again, I was grating soap for my laundry soap and managed to mangle my thumb on the grater.  I started thinking then that I should just use the food processor to grate the soap but then that would defeat the purpose of trying to be "green" now, wouldn't it.  I finally got it all finished but I was very careful.  The Kirk's Castile soap is much harder than the Dr. Bronner's so I might go back to Dr. Bronner's. 

I tried a new biscuit recipe tonight.  It is the one on the back of the White Lily flour bag and I have to say it was really good.  I usually use Pioneer biscuit mix but I haven't been liking it so much lately so I decided to try this -- very easy with the self rising flour and they were really good.  The only thing I changed was to use butter instead of shortening.  Hubs like them and that is all I need to know to put something in my permanent recipe rotation.  He is very hard to please but he needs to lighten up because his blood sugar is running way too high and we are going to start eating MY way.  He has just become spoiled on restaurant food and we need to change our ways.  I digress.

Anyway, that is all that has been going on with me.  Bad allergies, no energy, grumpy husband -- all the makings of a riveting post! On that I will close - maybe more tomorrow.