At the rate I’m going, it will be a very, very tiny island.
Month: January 2014
Ten Sticks of Butter, Hold the Veggies
I just watched the Pioneer Woman make a meal that contained, in total, ten sticks of butter. Two in the cake, three in mashed potatoes, one on top of mashed potatoes, one spread on each half of a loaf of French bread, and two melted and poured over beef tenderloins.
The only veggie was a cheese-topped salad the guests brought. Also, the cake had layers of whipped cream and Nutella, and the potatoes had half-and-half, cream cheese, and heavy cream in them.
And right after that, Trisha Yearwood showed a couple how to make a meal that contained zero veggies.
My stomach hurts just from watching that. I’m also wondering why the Food Network hates vegetables.
Boxful of Eeevil
I got some cheap-ass winter boots that came in a box with an attached lid. I put the crumpled tissue paper that was stuffed inside the boots in the box, and was going to recycle it all, but Piglet has other ideas. He’s sitting in the box, with the lid closed, and when anyone gets too close he pops out and smacks them with his paw.
Busy Bee
Frances is a busy bee. That’s what her temperament evaluation papers from the shelter say, and it’s the truth. But if you throw a ball for her until her tongue looks like it’s going to fall out, you will be rewarded with a dog who will happily spend the rest of the afternoon napping on the couch with her head on your lap. I tend to think that this is a pretty excellent trade-off.
(Photobomb by Henry, who may be made of evil, but who also loves her dog.)
Bad Frances
That’s oil paint. Blue oil paint. Blue oil paint that stains like you would not believe. Frances’ tennis ball got stuck in a corner where one of the canvases I’ve been working on was drying.
In digging out her ball, she made a giant mess.
And for the second time in less than a month, I have removed oil paint from my dining room carpet. Also the living room carpet, because she tracked it everydamnwhere.
Notes to Self
I’m not a “fake it til you make it” person. I freaking HATE being preached at about the power of positive thinking. I might actually punch the next person who tells me that I am too negative or cynical. However, I’ve been thinking a lot lately about getting up off my ass already and doing the things that need to be done, and a while back I had a “duh” epiphany about how unhelpful procrastination is. That thing that I keep putting off? It won’t get easier tomorrow, and if I’d have gotten my shit together and dealt with it a year ago? I’d have it all sorted right this minute. Which is simultaneously encouraging and depressing, but probably a little heavier on the encouraging side of the scale.
ETA: Progress is not always linear, and sometimes you take two steps back for every step forward. I need to remember that that’s just how it is, and no to get discouraged by the back-sliding. Take that step forward, because it equals out to one step back, which is way better than taking two steps back with no steps forward. In other words, don’t make things worse than they have to be by giving up.
(This is something I need to remind myself of periodically, so this is as good a place to save it as any.)
Coffee
Some days, my coffee needs backup coffee.
A Drawerful of Henry
An open dresser drawer will function as a cat trap, in a pinch.
Finished!
I finally finished the basket I was making for Franny’s toys, and it’s not even June. I used the tutorial here as a jumping off point, but I changed several things.
1. I pulled the strips of T-shirt, to make them curl into yarn-like tubes. I think they’re easier to work with that way, and the edges are rolled to the inside, so they aren’t likely to fray.
Flat
Curled
2. I used a no-sew method to join the ends of the pieces together.
Stack the ends on top of each other, fold over, and cut a small slit in the center of the folded edge.
Unfold, then pull the opposite end of the new piece through both slits.
Pull the end of the “parent” piece through the slit of the “child.”
Pull taught.
3. I aligned the braids so that the stitches are invisible. I’m right handed and worked from left to right. If you look closely at the direction of the strands in the braid, you can see that they mirror the direction of the thread. That makes it easy to hide the stitches under each section of braid.
4. To start and finish, I tucked the ends of the three strands under sections of braid on the back side. The original tutorial showed tapering the braid to finish, but I didn’t like the way that looked.
Finished start.
Finished end.
And…
The End.
ETA: I opted to omit the handles. I’m using this as a dog toy basket, so I didn’t want to encourage Franny to drag it around the house. I also changed the way I started and finished. I didn’t like the way the gradual step-down looked, so I wove the strands from the ends of the braid back into the braid on the coil below, then stitched them into place. Like so.
red paper boat 